Shin Mazinger Zero

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tl;dr: A manga that clearly builds upon the Mazinger franchise, but that is still a pretty great standalone mecha manga.

This manga is described as a fresh take by a new author on the legendary Mazinger Z series that builds directly upon its predecessors but takes things in a different direction. Thus, I will begin this review by making clear that this this was my first foray into Mazinger franchise. I of course have known about it due to its historic importance to the mecha genre and have picked up various things about it through osmosis. But I’ve never actually watched a season or read through ... any other manga of it. Thus, this review is from the perspective of someone who is new to Mazinger and is not coming in with any preexisting appreciation for the franchise, nor any built up knowledge to use as a lens to better comprehend.

Coming at it in such a manner, it was pretty clear immediately that this manga wasn’t really intended for me. The manga begins right in the middle of things without any explanation of what is going on or who the characters involved are. Throw in some time loops and as a newcomer things got really confusing. However, in volume three it went back and through an extended flashback fully explained the background of the world and essentially explained who everyone was and their relation to what was happening. After this point things were easy enough to follow. Now, I’m sure that there were still loads of references to other Mazinger media or deconstructions of common Mazinger tropes that I completely missed. And I caught a few references to other Gou Nagai works, so I’m sure there was a lot I ended up missing there too.

However, even without any of that, the manga still felt like it was telling a complete story, and a pretty great one at that. The plot is well paced with big twists thrown in at great moments to keep things interesting. The characters are well written and very likable and thus easy to get invested in. The romance between Kouji and Sayaka isn’t particularly complex, but it’s still pretty cute and heartwarming. The mecha action is exciting and incredibly well presented. And even though I don’t have any background with Mazinger, Mazinger was the origin of a lot of common tropes and themes found in the mecha genre. And thus, while I may not be able to appreciate this manga in the specific context of the Mazinger franchise, there was a lot I found very cleverly done in how it twisted and played around with core aspects of being a mecha work. The biggest issue I had with the manga turned out to the be the ending, wherein although the climax is fantastic, the manga ends incredibly abruptly immediately after without even the simplest of epilogues.

The art was very interesting. It was clear the mangaka was trying to emulate the style of the original work, but at the same time their own style was clearly also shining through. I think there were some rough spots early on, but things eventually settled into a style that worked really well. There were great character and mech designs, though I’m not sure how much of it is original and how much is from earlier Mazinger works.

In 1972, Mazinger Z by Go Nagai debuted, creating the entire mecha genre with a formula that still gets used to this day. Now, while I’ve always been a fan of its charismatic cast and cool battles, it’s never been a particularly deep series, with modern reinventions rarely deviating from what was set 50 years ago. So, in 2009, two projects under the Shin Mazinger banner were made, bringing a more intricately written take on this classic franchise in different mediums, Shougeki Z-hen as anime and ZERO as manga. Here I’ll be talking about the lesser known, but more interesting, Shin Mazinger ZERO.

Shin Mazinger ZERO ... is a very unique take on the Mazinger mythos, with its main divergence being the addition of cosmic horror elements, capitalizing on the iconic quote that Mazinger Z can become a god or a devil by showing what said devil would be and why depending on its godlike power may not be the safe heaven it’s normally presented as. The entire first volume of the manga is the most hopeless and bleak Mazinger story ever made, showing some of our familiar characters turning insane or dying even BEFORE Z becomes Mazinger ZERO, letting us to see how Koji slowly loses all his emotions and gets consumed by its power as it ravages the world. And then, we start again.

Shin Mazinger ZERO is a very unique take on the Mazinger mythos, with its main divergence being the addition of cosmic horror elements – but it’s also about time loops. Character of the week turned main Minerva X has been going for thousands of iterations of the world trying to stop Mazinger ZERO, so when it seems she has finally reached an ideal world where ZERO won’t surface, she’ll make everything in her power to make sure that devil isn’t born. We get a multitude of flashbacks showing previous worlds, and how everything, no matter how hopeful, always leads to ZERO ending the world. While the main plot during this time is a standard Mazinger plot, its backstory of showing how unstoppable ZERO is puts the stakes Koji is in trying to become stronger without unleashing the devil into a perspective no previous entry did, ZERO itself looking really unnerving helping the horror all scenes with it look for.

And yet, despite corrupting the franchise’s symbol of hope into an all-consuming monster, Shin Mazinger ZERO is a story that perfectly gets the fundamentals of why this series ever worked. The cast is as a lively as ever, but it’s particularly good to see how it puts greater emphasis on their more human side, with the adversities and insecurities they feel being greater focus than every previous series. The battles are fantastic, the beautiful and detailed art all over the series helping sell the immense scale of these clashes, and the final battle in particular has incredible pieces that look straight out of Getter Robo. The story gives actual depth, development and themes to the conflict, but doesn’t forget to retain the sense of levity traditional of the franchise, filled with cameos and fanservice that’d make Uncle Go proud. It’s, in essence, a perfect representation of every aspect of this series that made it appealing, not working as only a good popcorn show, but also a legitimately good example of a pro humanism tale.

Why I wouldn’t recommend it to people not familiar with Mazinger beforehand, Shin Mazinger ZERO is an essential addition to the Mazinger canon, deconstructing its iconic hero to reveal its core appeal with a never seen before level of depth, making it probably the best this franchise will ever be.

Thank you for reading

I don't have a lot to say about this one, so this will be a relatively short review. Shin Mazinger Zero was pretty cool in the first half, but I had completely lost interest by the end.

After the first few chapters, this series finally feels like it settles into a regular plot. Kouji fights Dr. Hell's goons in Mazinger, Sayaka and Boss try to help, you know, the usual. However, there is a new character in the android Minerva X, and strange hints about the setting that kept me reading to learn the truth.

The authors plays with a lot of classic Mazinger villains and story ... beats in fun, metatextual ways, but it's nothing too deep. Plenty of characters from other Nagai properties make cameos which make this feel like a fun celebration of his entire body of work. The art here is really good, especially the mech illustrations. Mazinger is one BEEFY boy this time and I love it. There are a good handful of ecchi moments, and some sick pages with attack names crossing the page in huge letters.

BUT THEN, everything takes a turn for the worse, in my opinion.

Without going into too much detail, the plot basically grinds to a halt as we dive into flashback after flashback. Every chapter starts to blend into the next one, as they all consist of nearly the same elements. There are lots of tight close up shots of people yelling, with those large, page spanning letters being used for regular sentences (Thus diminishing their impact when used for attacks). Mazinger will try something new in battle and when it doesn't go as planned, they feel the need to cut to reaction shots for the entire supporting cast that haven't lifted a finger in ages. The art quality doesn't really change, but it gets stale when the artist has to draw the same subjects in roughly the same situations over and over again.

It was in this stretch of the manga that I put it down for several weeks before coming back to it. When I did, I was hoping for the chapters to start having some more variety and excite me again, but it was still more of the same through to the end.

So, who should read Shin Mazinger Zero? If you're a fan of Mazinger, I think it's at least worth checking out. The first half does have some genuinely fun stuff in it, even if you decide to drop it before the end. If you're not interested in only reading half a manga, or reading a full manga which stagnates in the second half, steer clear of this one.