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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godmazinger5sk1_7889.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Giant, ancient stone god fights army of dinosaurs]]
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4''God Mazinger'' (ゴッドマジンガー, Goddo Majingā), also known as Majin Densetsu (魔神伝説) is an anime, manga and novel series created by Creator/GoNagai. Initially it was to going to be the sequel to ''Anime/MazingerZ'', but the idea was scrapped in favor of creating ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'', and the concept was fully reworked until it had nothing to do with the original series (still, it is counted between the Mazinger series). The [[Creator/TMSEntertainment TMS-helmed]] anime aired in 1984 in Nippon Television with 23 episodes. The manga was originally published in tankobon format by Shogakukan in 4 volumes published in 1984. The novelization was published in 1984 and lasted 10 volumes. The three of them share the same basic premise but have a different story.
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6Hibino Yamato/Yamato Hino is a Japanese OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent one day begins to see visions of a strange world and feels something is calling him to a place named Mu. Frightened and confused, Yamato thinks that he had hallucinations.
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8However Mu is a real place, an ancient kingdom located in another dimension and whose civilization reminds of the ancient Greece and Rome.
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10The Kingdom of Mu is ruled by King Muraji and his daughter Princess Aira, and it is being attacked by the Dragonia Empire, ruled by Emperor Dorado and his son, Prince Eldo. His army of dinosaurs is assaulting the borders of Mu, and it is a matter of time until they overcome the defenses of the kingdom. Mu has a powerful weapon: God Mazinger, a gigantic stone statue. It is said the ancient god stands ready to defend the population of any threat. Unfortunately, it is sleeping and it only can be awakened by the chosen one.
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12Finally the dinosaur army breaks through the borders and invades the kingdom. Like a desperate, last-resort measure, the king and his court pray before the statue of the god Mazinger to find the chosen one: a brave boy whose name is Yamato.
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14Back on Earth, during a thunderstorm, an inter-dimensional portal opens before Yamato, and a lightning bolt strucks him, dragging him into the parallel world where Mu is located. Suddenly the statue of the god relives. A luminous beam covers Yamato, and he is absorbed into the body of the statue. God Mazinger begins to move and defeats the invading dinosaurs, making the army flee.
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16Yamato joins the court of King Muraji, becoming the champion of the Kingdom of Mu, always ready to repel the attacks of the evil Dorado and his fearsome dinosaurs.
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18God Mazinger had not too much success, and it is little known among Mazinger fans. However it has shown up in other media. Its most prominent appearance happened in the "Dynamic Super Robots Taisen" clips that were included at the end of the [=DVDs=] of Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo.
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20In the ''Manga/MazingerAngels'' manga, there is a saga dedicated to ''God Mazinger'', where Princess Aira appears controlling a female version of God Mazinger and with the help of ''[[Anime/GreatMazinger Jun Hono]]'' defeats the Mykene Empire Army menacing the kingdom, after Jun and Prof. Nonaka accidentally end up in the Kingdom of Mu. It is later with the help of Aira that Venus A becomes Queen of Gold.
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22----
23!! This show provides examples of:
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25* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Yamato is a way nicer person in the anime than his original manga counterpart. For starters, he does not harass his high school crush (actually getting dumped by her, instead), is protective of his younger sister and is immediately willing to fight for Aira Mu's cause.
26* AmazonBrigade: Yoname commands a unit of identical-looking haughty female fighters in swimsuits named "Shamans". While dangerous and AlwaysChaoticEvil, the girls are no more than CannonFodder for the heroes to slaughter with impunity, with several of them even foolishly dying by jumping straight into their swords.
27* {{BFS}}: The blade of God Mazinger. Unlike other Mazinger-named robots, it is his ONLY weapon.
28* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Literally. It went to another world to find Yamato.
29* DropDeadGorgeous: The protagonists slice and dice several scantily-clad henchwomen throughout the series, with an increasingly higher brutality that artbook commentary implies to [[https://twitter.com/zangya_of_cruel/status/1705211442457358643 have been intended as erotica]]. It culminates in their leader Yoname being horribly impaled, slashed in half and dying naked as her body vanishes.
30* FirstChurchOfMecha: God Mazinger is the protector god of the kingdom of Mu.
31* {{Foreshadowing}}: Subtle, but clearly there. In the anime version, Yamato's unnamed high school crush rejects his love confession, disgusted after seeing him [[ExactWords "fight like a barbarian"]] during a rugby match. Immediately giving the audience a glimpse of what Yamato's role in Mu would be like.
32* HeroesPreferSwords: Both Yamato AND Mazinger wield one. As noted above, it is Mazinger's only weapon.
33* TheHighQueen: Aila Mu is the teenage queen of Mu, being kind, compassionate, and rather charismatic [[WiseBeyondTheirYears for her age]]. She's also Yamato's love interest.
34* HotBloodedSideburns
35* HumongousMecha: Well, more "Humongous Moving Statue", but it functions pretty much the same.
36* InNameOnly: It is named ''Mazinger'', and official material (the ''Mazinbible'' book, published in 2002) counts it among the Mazinger series, but it has no relation with the original series.
37* InconsistentSpelling: Hibino Yamato or Yamato Hino?
38* {{Jerkass}}: At times, Yamato can be a real ''asshole'', to put it very mildly. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold He is, however]], also very caring torwards his friends and wants to protect Aira and her kingdom.
39* NoNameGiven: The first Shaman who appears in the series is mentioned by Yoname to be named Mitsume. All the other identical-looking assassin girls are never named.
40* PhysicalGod: God Mazigner is a divinity resembling a stone statue.
41* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: It was foretold when a threat befell the kingdom, the chosen one would appear to awaken God Mazinger, and it would protect the kingdom. Guess what happened.
42* RelatedInTheAdaptation: [[TheLoad Kaoru]] is spared from being a victim of Yamato's lust - as well as from circumstance - by instead being turned into his [[TagalongKid younger]] [[TokenMiniMoe sister]] in the anime adaptation. The latter version proves surprisingly helpful on several occasions.
43* {{Shapeshifting}}: The Shaman girls can transform into animals. One transforms into a dinosaur, another one turns into a large crow and then three of them combine into a giant centipede.
44* ShouldersOFDoom: God Mazinger. They are big and even reinforced with studs.
45* WholeCostumeReference: Those [[BattleBikini sexy sling bikinis]] the Shaman girls are barely wearing? Producer Shunzo Kato [[https://mikasu99.hatenablog.com/entry/2023/09/03/190759 brought materials]] from ''Manga/SpaceAdventureCobra'' and asked character designer Satoshi Hirayama to use those as references for those henchwomen. The first prominent character wearing this in ''Cobra'' is the unnamed blonde executioner lady who is brutally killed by the protagonist while he's joking about being James Bond. This means there is a link from the eroticized violence on women in ''God Mazinger'' to James Bond fighting the scantily-clad Bambi and Thumper in ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'' (in a scene that, ironically, ends with the agent comically dunking their heads under water without outright drowning them).
46* WouldHitAGirl: Yamato and his comrades have no qualms about killing the Shamans with extreme prejudice, with an intentional emphasis of how cold-blooded they are to do things like lassoing a woman in a high wall by the neck to crush her head against the ground. Yamato himself [[https://mikasu99.hatenablog.com/entry/2024/02/25/114133 kills 9 of them]] throughout the series.

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