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1[[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mazinkaiser2xl8shrunk.JPG]]
2''Mazinkaiser'' is a seven-episode SuperRobot {{OVA}} re-imagining of the ''Anime/MazingerZ'' story released in 2001. It tells the story of how [[TheHero Kouji Kabuto]] discovers and masters his grandfather Juzo Kabuto's final legacy, the most powerful of the Mazingers.
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4Mazinkaiser originally appeared in ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars4 Super Robot Wars F Final]]'', when developer Banpresto asked ''Mazinger'' creator Creator/GoNagai to design a new mecha for Kouji to use as a MidSeasonUpgrade. The idea was for Mazinger Z to be upgraded through exposure to [[Manga/GetterRobo Getter Rays]] into a new monstrous form, later redubbing it the Mazinkaiser. ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'', the next "major" installment of the franchise, revamped the origin of the robot into being the ''original'' Mazinger SuperPrototype that ended up being too difficult to control, necessitating its sealing away until Kouji finds and tames it (this version also conveniently fills out the long-standing plot gap of "what was the accident that nearly killed Kenzo and his wife?" in ''Mazinger'' mythology). The idea was such a hit with fans that Nagai quickly [[CanonImmigrant incorporated it into canon]] in anime and manga form, using the ''Alpha'' version as its origin story.
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6During a massive attack by Mechanical Beasts created by MadScientist Dr. Hell, the Mazinger Z and Anime/GreatMazinger sortie to battle, but are overrun through sheer numbers. Kouji's Hover Pilder is ripped from the Mazinger Z and hurled from the battlefield, and the machine is captured by Dr. Hell, who turns it into a mechanical devil for his own purposes and sends it against the Photonic Research Institute. Outnumbered, [[Anime/GreatMazinger Tetsuya]] [[TheLancer Tsurugi]] heads to battle with a damaged Great Mazinger when a new, insanely powerful and more demonic looking Mazinger suddenly appears with Kouji at the helm.
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8The seven-episode OVA was followed up by the movie ''Mazinkaiser vs. [[Anime/GreatMazinger The Great General of Darkness]]'', a remake of the 1974 film ''Mazinger Z vs. The Great General of Darkness'', where the [[Anime/GreatMazinger Mycenae Empire]] invades while Kouji is vacationing in Paris, forcing him to fight his way back to Japan and take the Mazinkaiser into battle once more. Said movie canonicity to the OVA is ambiguous, with it not even using the same version of the Mazinkaiser mecha, though ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' installments since ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment'' have used them together.
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10See also ''Anime/MazinkaiserSKL'', a three-episode OVA released in 2011, an entirely different re-imagining with all-new characters.
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12----
13!!Tropes:
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15* AdaptationalWimp: In the original Mazinger manga, Venus was a huge step up from Aphrodite A, allowing Sayaka to destroy several mechanical beasts and helping Kouji fight Gordon Hell. In Mazinkaiser it being more powerful is nothing more than an InformedAttribute, being defeated just as often as her old mecha.
16* AdaptedOut: Count Blocken, Hell's usual [[CoDragons second-in-command alongside Ashura]], doesn't seem to exist at all.
17* AllYourColorsCombined: In the first episode, Mazinger-Z and Great Mazinger used their ChestBlaster weapons in combination to melt a Mechanical Beast to slag.
18* AndThisIsFor: Kouji finishes off [[spoiler:Ankoku Daishogun]] with this.
19* AscendedExtra : The blonde twins Lori and Loru. Back in the original manga, they were nothing but [[RedShirt Red Shirts]] who last for 2 chapters. [[spoiler:They fill the same role in the movie, but in a more glorious manner.]]
20* BeachEpisode: Infamous for its brief, nude moment with Sayaka in episode 4.
21* BigBad: [[DragonInChief Baron Ashura]] serves as this, while Dr. Hell serves as a GreaterScopeVillain of sorts.
22* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The true Great Mazinger]] in the last few episodes.
23** [[spoiler:Tetsuya does this in the first episode too.]]
24** [[spoiler:Boss, in the last episode and the movie.]]
25* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: Made in an EPIC way in ''Mazinkaiser vs. The Great General of Darkness''.
26* BloodierAndGorier: ''Mazinkaiser vs. The Great General of Darkness'' in spades. From the [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family Unfriendly Deaths]] of [[spoiler: Lori and Loru]] to numerous [[RedShirt Red Shirts]] being sliced in half.
27* BoomerangComeback: [[spoiler:Great Mazinger pulls one off in the movie.]]
28* BreathWeapon: Rust Tornado, a version of Mazinger's Rust Hurricane, combined with Great Mazinger's Great Typhoon: Mazinkaiser blows several jets of particle-charged wind from its mouth grill that corrodes the enemy into nothingness (assuming the terrifying gale winds did not break it apart first). Its huge destructive force dug a ditch through a side of Mount Fuji.
29* BroughtDownToBadass : For some reason, Tetsuya [[spoiler:switched back into old Great Mazinger in the movie.]] He's still as kickass as ever.
30* CanonImmigrant: Everything that could be explained about this one has already been addressed on the page description.
31* ConvectionSchmonvection: In the last 2 episodes, Mazinkaiser gets dunked in lava. Since Mazinkaiser is MadeOfIndestructium, Kouji can survive for a short while in that enviroment, but everyone knows they had to get him out of the volcano quickly, or he would die. Averted with Mazinkaizer's Fire Blaster, which melts foes even when the visible beam misses them entirely.
32* DeathByAdaptation: If the OVA episodes do not share the same continuity with TheMovie, then [[spoiler: Dr. Morimori, Lori and Loru]] are taken out in the latter while more or less surviving in the former.
33* DistractedByTheSexy: It happened fairly often in the original manga. Usually it was Sayaka who was the (unwilling) distraction -either because her clothes were torn or because she was involuntarily naked-, but sometimes it was done by enemies to distract Koji. One of those scenes was animated in the BeachEpisode: Kouji accidentally undoes Sayaka's top[[note]]he was trying to grab her shoulder and missed[[/note]]; she's actually more upset by Boss getting a look at her breasts than she is by Kouji, even though he [[DistractedByTheSexy weaponizes her boobs]] in order to escape the enemy fortress.
34* DragonInChief: Although they are Dr. Hell's [[TheDragon Dragon]], Baron Ashura more or less behaves as the story's main antagonist.
35* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: In the movie, Tetsuya is fighting [[FishPeople Angoras]] and [[BigCreepyCrawlies Scarabeth]], two commanders of the Mycenae Empire army. Tetsuya throws Great Mazinger's [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang Great Boomerang]] and right after shoots [[BreathWeapon Great Typhoon]]. Both attacks miss, both commanders laugh and ask where he is aiming at... when Great Mazinger's boomerang slices them both from behind. As he is dying, Scarabeth -Mycenae army's best tactician- realizes Tetsuya had missed his boomerang throw on purpose, and he shot Great Typhoon to change the boomerang's trajectory. So he caught them by surprise and killed both of them at once.
36* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler: Lori and Roll]] in TheMovie, which doubles as TearJerker.
37* FanDisservice:
38** Baron Ashura naked scene. Fortunately for us, it doesn't show the squicky bits at all. In fact, it's [[RuleOfFunny hilarious]] in context.
39** The BeachEpisode has Boss in a swimsuit.
40* {{Fanservice}}: Sayaka and Lori and Roll in the BeachEpisode, especially with the topless scene of Sayaka. Let's face it, that was probably the main reason this episode was made. Especially when you consider that when it happens, they play it up like someone just found the Ark of the Covenant.
41* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Apparently Baron Ashura's mooks can't tell the difference between Boss in a helmet and one of their co-workers. The mooks that were ''assigned to guard him and Kouji specifically, no less''.
42* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In episode 5, Baron Ashura detonates multiple bombs they set at the Photon Research Institute...only for Boss to reveal that he gathered them up into a briefcase and hurl them at Ashura just before they go off.
43* HotterAndSexier: This show has more fanservice than any adaptation of ''Mazinger Z'', especially the episode 4 that has sexual humour and nudity.
44* LargeHam: If the dub acting was any hammier, you could serve it for Christmas dinner. Special attention goes to Dr. Hell, who is chewing so much scenery that his fortress should be collapsing around him.
45* LatexSpaceSuit: The pilot suits for both the male and female characters.
46* LavaIsBoilingKoolAid: In one episode Mazinkaiser (with Kouji inside it) was tossed into the crater of Mount Fuji (paying homage to an episode of the original series). Kouji fainted due to the extreme heat and sheer pressure... and that was it. The characters pointed out not even Mazinkaiser could endure that for long and they had to get Kouji out of the magma RIGHT AWAY, though. However, given the kind of punishment Mazinkaiser shrugs off throughout the series, withstanding a lava bath seems almost trivial.
47* LetsGetDangerous: The twins Lorru and Lori when it's time to get serious.
48** They also show their stuff in the movie, what with piloting a Robot and all. Too bad that's where they die.
49* MadeOfIndestructium: Mazinkaiser takes this concept and runs with it. Nothing seems being capable to even scratch it. This video should show it convincingly: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiZwGqhTP5I&feature=related]]
50** [[WordOfGod Go Nagai himself]] has remarked that Mazinkaiser is the "indestructible shield" while [[Manga/GetterRobo Shin Getter]] is the "unstoppable sword", a reference to the Chinese version of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irresistible_force_paradox irresistible force paradox]].
51* MadScientist: Dr. Hell. Juzo Kabuto was one, as well.
52* MaleFrontalNudity: At the beach, there's a very jarring ExtremeCloseup of Boss's scrotum poking out of his undersized swim briefs.
53* {{Mooks}}: Iron Masks.
54* MsFanservice: Two of them: Loru and Lori. Sayaka also had her moments, specially the fourth OVA episode.
55* MythologyGag: The second ending theme shows a cross section of the Mazinkaiser, on what appears to be a Lego background, exactly like the ending of the original Anime/MazingerZ anime.
56* PutOnABus: Tetsuya is written out 2 episodes in to recover from injuries and repair the Great Mazinger. [[spoiler:He returns in grand fashion in the final episode.]]
57* RedshirtArmy: The Mazinger Army in the movie
58* {{Robeast}}: The Mechanical Beasts.
59* ShooOutTheClowns: Inverted. The first two thirds of the movie are ''[[DarkestHour very]]'' dark. Then Boss comes back. The rest is history.
60* ShowyInvincibleHero: Taken to the limits with this. Mazinkaiser, [[WordOfGod the ultimate defensive force according to Go Nagai]], is still awesome to watch in action thanks to great music and creative opponents.
61* SpoilerTitle: PlayedForLaughs; episode 4's "next on" section announces that the next episode will be named "Kouji Kabuto Dies in Magma", to the shock of Kouji himself. [[spoiler:He doesn't actually die.]]
62* SuperMode: The SRW version has two: "Devil" mode, which makes the Mazinkaiser go sentient and berserk, and "God" mode, which is theorized to be on par with a full-powered SRW [[Manga/GetterRobo Shin Getter Robo]]). SRW games also has Mazinpower that activates at 130 will giving a power boost.
63* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Throughout the entire OVA, absolutely ''nothing'' that Dr. Hell throws at Mazinkaiser can hope to even scratch it due to it's impressive armor. So, in episode 7 final battle when Kouji summons the Kaiser Blade, it involves removing a small but crucial portion of chest armor....thus exposing it's internals and allowing Baron Ashura's attack to electrocute it, resulting in Kaiser's cockpit taking severe damage and temporarily crippling it.
64* TakingYouWithMe: In ''Mazinkaiser vs. The Great General of Darkness'', [[spoiler:Roll uses her final moments to activate the Million Alpha's self-destruct function and kills General Birdler in the process]].
65* TelescopingRobot: Mazinkaiser had theee blades hid into its body (two of them into its shoulders and the bigger into its chest), and its midsection stored one giant missile.
66* TruerToTheText: Despite the introduction of Mazinkaiser, in some ways this is closer to the original ''Mazinger Z'' manga than the TV series - like a much closer art style to Nagai's, and Gamia Q appearing.
67* {{Tsundere}}: Variation. Sayaka was a Type A (tsuntsun) in the original series, but she mellows out a bit and is mostly a Type B (deredere), like in the manga.
68* UseYourHead: Tetsuya ''used'' it with Kouji in the manga. Agreed, both of them were riding their respective HumongousMecha, but still...
69* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:Subverted; Dr. Hell prepares to escape his exploding lair in the final episode, only for his escape pod to be caught in the explosion.]]
70* WalkingArmory: Mazinkaiser's arsenal consists of...
71** {{BFS}}: The (Final) Kaiser Blade from the OVA.
72** BreathWeapon: The Rust Tornado, which still has the corrosive component
73** ChestBlaster: The Fire Blaster; notably, it's theorized the Fire Blaster can punch a hole through to the Earth's core; it's [[WaveMotionGun so powerful]] that even though the main blast goes over a bunch of mechanical beasts, the sheer heat of it still melts them anyhow).
74*** Also technically the Gigant Missile, though it comes from Kaiser's navel.
75** DualWielding: The paired Kaiser Blades from the movie; the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' original version calls them Shoulder Slicers.
76** EyeBeams: The Photon Power Beam, which doesn't get a new name.
77** KillItWithIce: The Freezing Beam from the movie.
78** PowerFist: The Kaiser Knuckle in the movie.
79** PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: In the movie, the [[MidSeasonUpgrade Kaiser Scrander]] can be pulled off and used as one. [[spoiler:It even slices cleanly through the flying fortress Demonika.]]
80** RocketPunch: The Turbo Smasher Punch which, like Great's Screw Crusher Punch, [[SpectacularSpinning makes everything better by spinning]].
81** SphereOfDestruction: The Kaiser Nova from the manga (and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''), where Kaiser charges its Photonic Energy to full power and releases it in a single gigantic burst.
82* TheWorfEffect: Both Mazinger-Z and Great Mazinger suffered this within the first two episodes, with both machines falling to Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts' army. Also, Tetsuya had been established in both ''Anime/MazingerZ'' and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' like a highly-skilled AcePilot, CombatPragmatist BloodKnight and TheDeterminator, HotBlooded badass. In ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}'' the animators showed a situation was dangerous and an enemy a real threat by severely injuring or incapaciting Tetsuya, or showing him struggling.
83** TheMovie took it even further by crushing Great, Venus, and the Mazinger Army. At least half of them didn't survive.

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