Considered to be THE granddaddy of the Super Robot Genre, Mazinger Z is the first entry of the Mazinger trilogy.Mazinger Z tells the story of young Hot BloodedIdiot Hero Kouji Kabuto, grandson of a genius professor named Juuzou Kabuto. The Professor secretly built a Humongous Mecha named Mazinger Z, to battle the forces of evil - led by his rival gone mad, Dr. Hell. Unfortunately, Juuzou gets assassinated quickly, but he still manages to inform Kouji about his creation. The Professor tells him to take over, but warns him that he could become "a God or a Devil" with its power.Along with his brother Shiro, Kouji takes Mazinger, reaches the Photoatomic Research Institute directed by Juuzou's former right hand man Dr. Gennosuke Yumi, who practically adopts the boy. Eventually he's pitted in a continuous battle against Dr. Hell, presented in a good ol' Monster of the Week fashion.Mazinger Z was followed by Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer.Following the success of Super Robot Wars, and the Mazinger Z upgrade Mazinkaiser created for the series, this anime received a retelling as an OVA series, Mazinkaiser, which introduces said mecha into the Mazinger canon. The OVA also featured the characters from the second of the trilogy, Great Mazinger.Made by Go Nagai, who would later inspire the creation of (but not, as common misconceptions would have you believe, actually create) ANOTHER granddaddy of Super Robot anime: Getter Robo.In the US, Mazinger Z was aired under the title Tranzor Z as a response to the popularity of Voltron. In this dub, Koji became "Tommy" and Sayaka was "Jessica." It was later given a shorter, but more faithful dub run commissioned by Toei. The Toei dub was hugely popular in the Philippines before Ferdinand Marcos ordered it off the air, and some episodes were released on VHS in the U.K.; before Tranzor Z, snippets of this dub had been aired in the U.S. on a Christian Broadcasting Network public-affairs program about Japan.A new series, Shin Mazinger Impact! Z Chapter, began airing in April 2009.
This series features examples of:
Abusive Parents: Prof. Yumi suffers from this. Throughout the series he rather neglected Sayaka. It was obvious his family was less important to him than his career, and often he was absent when her daughter needed him. Likewise, his niece Yuri is a conceited, cranky, brat, and he explains that is cause her parents never have time for her. YMMV if this is caused by the huge number of problem that is caused by Doctor Hell, forcing him to work harder.
A bigger example is Kenzo Kabuto. He almost died cause a laboratory experiment gone wrong, but his father saved his life. However both of them thought it would be better not telling Kouji and Shiro -Kenzo's sons- he had survived. For YEARS Kouji and Shiro grew up mostly alone, thinking their father died alongside their mother while he was building a Humongous Mecha to defend humankind. When Kenzo revealed the truth to them, Kouji was too glad to hold a grudge, but Shiro took a long while until he could forgive him. Also, Kenzo had no troubles slapping his adoptive son when he thought Tetsuya was crossing the line. All of it finally bit everyone's butts at the end of the series.
Justified, considering what happened in the series, its rather understandable why he dont reveal himself to be alive, since he took care of Tetsuya and Jun. How he treated Tetsuya on the other hand, is a good example. During one the first chapter of the manga, he ordered Tetsuya to throw his doubt and attack the enemy who hold Jun hostage(which is not only his love interest, shes technically his family). Sure, Tetsuya is a trained soldier, but the way that Tetsuya reacts shows how much of a Sadistic Choice it really is.
A Glass of Chianti: Dr. Hell and his lackeys are sometimes seen drinking fine wine.
Action Girl: Sayaka was among the first action-geared ladies in Japanese anime
Alternate Continuity: There are several manga versions. The original one was written and drawn by Go Nagai. A second version was drawn by Gosaku Ota -one of his assistants- that ran parallel to the anime series and was heavily influenced by it (That version was made when Sueisha realized two Mazinger Z mangas would make more profit that one). Gosaku Ota's manga showed the backstory of the Dr. Hell and his underlyings and it can be regarded like the superior version (Your Mileage May Vary on this). Other versions are: New Mazinger, Mazin Saga, Mazinger Angels, Shin Mazinger, Shin Mazinger Zero, diferent one-shots and short stories -one of them made by Ishikawa)... And then you have the different anime versions...
Badass Family: Dr. Kabuto and his son built the most powerful robots in the world. Kouji has fought and stomped whole squads of armed soldiers, and trashed dozens of massive war machines. Even his little brother is also perfectly capable defend himself on one fight.
Bash Brothers: Kouji and Boss (when they were not fighting), Kouji and Tetsuya (when they were not arguing) and Kouji and Duke.
Beam Me Up, Scotty!: In the Spanish dub, Kouji's infamousRocket Punch line was translated as "¡Puños Fuera|" ("Fists Out!") instead of "Puño Cohete", and Sayaka's Oppai Missile attack was traslated like "¡Fuego de Pecho!" ("Breast Fire!"). However, a huge chuck of the Spanish-speaking fandom is downright convinced she told "¡Pechos Fuera!" ("Breasts Out!") despite of she never told that line.
Body Horror: The Iron Masks (what lies beneath their helmets is not pretty), Viscount Pygman, the Kedora, a lot of Mykene Monsters... Given that this is a work of the creator ofDevilman, it was to be expected.
Boss Subtitles: Every time a Kikaiju appeared for first time, its name was splashed on the screen. Two exceptions were Zaila and Danchel, since the title stated their names but not their respective letter/number code. You would have to read any of the Mazinger-related books for finding out.
Brain in a Jar: The Kedora. Ken Ishikawa one-shot "The Relic of Evil" revealed that the Mykene controlled his Robeast by grafting the brain of a soldier taught to destroy all no Mykene civilizations into a parasitic organism, and it fused with a robot, giving the Mykene soldier complete control. They would show up later in Shin Mazinger
Breast Expansion: In a rare, non-human example Aphrodite A once got this. Kouji thought it would help to fight a flying mechanical beast (Gelbros J3). It Makes Sense in Context.
Character Development: It was not huge but it was there. For example, Kouji's sexism diluded somewhat through the episodes. At the beginning, Kouji flatly refuses Aphrodite gets modified into a full-fldged battle robot, declaring he does not need aid, and stating -to Sayaka's face- girls should not fight (Predictably, Sayaka was not amused by this). Several dozens of episodes later, Aphrodite A is utterly destroyed in battle, Sayaka nearly loses it (see Heroic BSOD example), and Kouji asks the professos are building Sayaka's new robot endowing her with weapons.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Sayaka, sometimes. The most egregious example, though, is "Minerva X", a Sentient Mecha that loves Mazinger Z and is openly jealous of Sayaka's Aphrodite A.
It happened to Sayaka whenever a beautiful girl hang around Kouji: Hitomi, Erika, Misato...
Combat Pragmatist: Koji, like you wouldn't believe. In his first appearance, in which he just received Mazinger. his fight is filled by abusing the fact that Mazinger really IS invincible(at least for that point). During his second appearance, he is not above tricking his opponent to think that he gives up the fight only to kick ass. And he does this several time during the course of the series.
Conveniently an Orphan: Kouji and Shiro's parents died on a car crash but in reality only their mother died. Sayaka has also lost her mother.
Cool Airship: Guru, Count Brocken's aerial fortress. It appears for first time at the episode 40.
Cool Bike: Kouji is a Go Nagai main character. Go Nagai main characters ride bikes. Sayaka and Boss also ride bikes.
Cool Helmet: Kouji and Sayaka wear one. Kouji began wearing it (along his Latex Space Suit) after his first battles since his head got hit several times.
Cool Ship: Salude and Bood, Baron Ashura's submarine fortresses.
Creepy Crawlers: Several Kikaiju resemble slightly humanoid insects.
Crucified Hero Shot: Both Kouji and Mazinger are subjected to this several times in the course of the series. So did Shiro, Boss, Nuke and Much. Ashura seemed to love this Trope. Also, Devilman himself in the movie Mazinger vs Devilman.
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Dr. Hell is wealthy enough to build dozens of giant, humanoids war machines, Doomsday weapons, squad of cyborgs, several HQ, aircrafts, submarines... It was kind of justified in the Ota's manga when Dr. Hell revealed shortly after finding the old Mykene's mechanical warriors, Count Brocken took over several ancient European Mafia in order to earn cash for Hell.
It is played straight with Kenzo. His sons, Kouji and Shiro grew up believing their parents had died cause a laboratory experiment that went wrong. However, Kenzo's father saved his son's life by turning him into a cyborg. However, neither of them told Kouji and Shiro he was alive because Kenzo was going to build a Humongous Mecha to repel the Mykene invasion they predicted, and train its pilot. And both his father and he wanted to shield Kouji and Shiro from danger and psychological shock. It was not a bad reason, even if it was somewhat weak because Juzo was also building another Humongous Mecha and he raised them, even if he hired a maid because he was nearly always absent. When Kenzo revealed the truth to his little son, it took a long while for Shiro forgiving him. Though Kouji forgave him right away.
It is subverted with Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 90 from Mazinger Z, their mother appeared in the Institute, revealing she was alive and asking meeting her sons before telling them why she let them believe she was dead during years. Shiro was happy of getting his mother back, but Kouji was distrustful. It turned out that Kouji was right. Their mother was truly dead and that woman was a cyborg had fabricated Dr. Hell to infiltrate in the Institute and destroying Mazinger from within. So her "good reason for abandoning them" was false.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: The Kikaiju Grengus C3. It confronted Mazinger-Z in a lake. The first thing it did was violently hitting the water's surface to splash the Pilder's glass cockpit. So Kouji was unable to see its attack and prepare for it.
Detachment Combat: Several of the giant robots fought by Mazinger Z had this ability: Deimos F3, Velgas V5 (its parts had individual rocket propulsion and could attack separately), and a third one. Mazinger Z itself and one of its successors, Mazinkaiser, also did it sometimes (detaching theScrander Jet/Scrander Kaiser off themselves. Moreover, Mazinkaiser used its wings like a cutting, oversized boomerang).
The Determinator: Kouji never gives up. Not even when he is going against several Kikaiju at once. Not even when the Robeast is completely impervious to his Humongous Mecha's attacks. Not even when it has abilities his robot could not match (he faced submarine and flying Kikaiju long before Mazinger got upgraded to be able to fly or swim or got weapons worked under water or in air). Not even when he is buried under rubble. Not even when he gets dumped into a freaking volcano! Not matter the odds, he will think fast, analyze his foe (and its weapons and capabilities), come up with a plan or cheat like crazy.
Geez, not even when he KNOWS the fight is utterly hopeless and there is no way to win he will quit. In the last episode of Mazinger Z and in the movie Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishogun he deployed Mazinger Z as stating he was not walking alive out of that battle and he knew that... but he did not care.
The only way you can get him stopping to fight is holding someone hostage. And even then he will try to exploit any edge to release the hostage and giving you a sound trashing.
Delinquents: The Moral Guardians of the era didn't like Kouji, because he skipped school and used rough language.
Disposable Woman: Rumi was the maid Prof. Kabuto had hired to take care of his grandsons while he was creating Mazinger Z. She was cold-bloodly murdered by Baron Ashura less than five minutes after her first appearance. Kouji and Shiro cried when they found the corpse, but she was not mentioned again after the first episode.
Distaff Counterpart: Aphrodite A and Diana A; Minerva X is a greater example, since it is quite literally a feminine version of Mazinger.
Similarly, in the Mazinger Angels manga (a spoof of Charlie's Angels) the main characters are Sayaka, Jun, Hikaru and Maria, piloting Aphrodite A, Venus A, Diana A and Minerva X, respectively. It's like your usual Crossover blending Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer, but Gender Flipped: the male pilots and their robots are nowhere to be seen, and the main characters are the female leads and robots.
The Dog Shot First: Inverted. In the Mazinkaiser OVA, Doctor Hell dies because his base exploded while he was trying to escape. When Go Nagai penned the Mazinkaiser manga, Kouji shoots him in an abrupt, albeit iconic and stylized, sequence.
Do Not Adjust Your Set: Baron Ashura likes doing this to throw menaces around or make demands in behalf of Dr. Hell.
Doomsday Device: Several of them. Dr. Hell and his minions love build superweapons.
Dragon with an Agenda: Gorgon. Supposedly he allied himself with Dr. Hell, but in reality he only was biding his time for betraying him, getting him killed ( He literally backstabbed him in the Gosaku Ota manga), and destroying Mazinger Z. He succeeded on all fronts.
Enemy Civil War: Brocken and Ashura openly hate each other and compete for Dr. Hell's approval
Eye Scream: In the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness, Kouji shot Mazinger's drilling missiles right in the eye of a Mykene Warrior Beast. So the tiny missiles drilled through its eye and exploded inside its head. Ouch.
Falling into the Cockpit: Kouji knew absolutely nothing about piloting a giant robot -or any manner of robot, really- and in the first few episodes it shows. Mazinger went on a rampage the first time he activated it because he kept punching random buttons, and he got beaten in his first battles. Sayaka and her father did their best to teach him quickly, but until then he only survived due to Mazinger's impressive weaponry and sturdy body armor... and Kouji soon revealed he was a quick-thinker that could come up with new strategies on the fly.
Flying Brick: Mazinger Z after its MidSeasonUpgrade, but also several Kikaiju. one of the worst offenders was Jinray S1 (It flew at Match-5 speed when Mazinger could not fly yet, it threw bolts of lightning, and shot missiles)
Forgotten Phlebotinum: For the most part it is played straight. Often Dr. Hell built a monster or invented a device that put Mazinger in serious trouble, but it was only used in one episode (in an early episode, a Kikaiju used a liquid could melt Aphrodite's armor. It was not used again. In episode 23, Dr. Hell created Jinray S1, a monster could fly at Match 5 speed. It obliterated one whole city and stomped Mazinger so hard and fast Kouji didn't know what hit him. Dr. Hell never built another Kikaiju could fly so fast), but sometimes it is subverted and Dr. Hell reuses and even improves some strategies (one example is Deimos F3, a demonic-looking Mechanical Beast could split apart and rebuild itself at will. A later Kikaiju -Velgas V5- used the same trick, but each and every individual part could move and attack on its own. Another later Kikaiju improved that tactic). And sometimes he planned tactics expecting the enemy believed he was using the same trick, in order to deceive them.
Freeze Ray: one of the weapons of Mazinger Z: its helmet's horns shoot freezing beams tat turn the enemy into a chunk of frozen, brittle ice. It is called REITOU BEAM!!!
Freudian Excuse: Dr. Hell was an a unwanted child -a fact his mother took great pains to remind him of constantly-. When he was a school student, he was constantly belittled by professors (who believed it was impossible he got those marks without cheating) and beaten by his schoolmates. When he was in college, he took pride on his grades... and then a foreign student (Juzo Kabuto, Kouji's Grandfather) surpassed him easily before wooing the woman he was in love with. After saving a little girl and being beaten up by her father (since he falsely believed he was molesting her), he declared he was sick of it all and one day everybody would kneel to him. And then Nazism happened and he... got tips.
Giant Equals Invincible: For the most part it is played straight. In the first episode Garada K7 and Doublas M2 are trashing a city. Bullets, missiles, tanks, jets are thrown in their way... and they not even put a dent in their armor plates. It is not until Mazinger shows up they are trashed in turn. However, FemBots are not invincible -even if they were crushed by other giant robots- and sometimes Aphrodite A was overwhelmed and briefly deterred by an army of Iron Masks using conventional weapons.
Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: Several examples. A particularly awesome instance happened in the episode 28 when Mazinger Z saved Professor Yumi with a Rocket Punch when he was falling down a cliff. In the Ota equivalent manga chapter, he was faling from a flying fortress and Aphrodite A was the one caught him.
Gundam Jack: After a fashion. Minerva X was designed by Professor Kabuto, but never actually built; Dr. Hell got his hands on the plans and constructed Minerva, using mundane armor materials instead of Super Alloy Z, and installing an AI "crown" piece in place of a Pilder.
Ham-to-Ham Combat: In the Dynamic Heroes e-manga, Kouji Kabuto fought Great Marshall Of Hell as riding Mazinger. It is noteworthy as it was, maybe, the first time in the history of the franchise Kouji and Dr. Hell faced each other directly as both were riding giant robots. Too bad it was a Curb-Stomp Battle.
Heroic BSOD: Sayaka, after Aphrodite A is destroyed. She even almost drowns herself in a lake when she thinks she's hearing Aphrodite calling out to her from there.
Heroic Sacrifice: ... Just one too many. Specially in the Mazinkaiser movie. Subverted by Boss at an early stage - self-destructs the Boss Borot, but shows up a short while later asking "Why do I have to die for you, Kouji!?"
Hoist by His Own Petard: Dr. Hell designed a Mechanical Beast (Spartan K5) resembled a gladiator but it was a pacifist refused attacking unless provoked. Baron Ashura decided testing it against Mazinger Z, but Kouji actually befriended it. Enraged, Ashura ordered several Iron Masks putting a time bomb on Spartan K5 to blowing it up. Later, Spartan was accidentally goaded into attacking Mazinger Z and UTTERLY BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF IT. It was about of delivering the final blow when the bomb went off. Kouji and his friends felt sad. Hell and Ashura threw a fit.
In episode 27, Ashura captures Aphrodite A and scans it in order to learn how building a photong engine. He hands over the records to an Iron Mask and commands him go and hand them out to Dr. Hell. Though, a Kikaiju -that had been deployed by Ashura to delay Mazinger Z- is returning to base right on that moment, and steps on the Iron Mask, killing him and ruining the records.
I'm a Humanitarian: The Chip Kamoy in the Gosaku Ota Manga. They were a species of giant, fish-like, maneater humanoids from another dimension that raised herds of humans like cattle. However they had depleted their homeworld's natural resources and were running out of food, so they crossed over to our dimension to find more preys. It can be interesting mentioning one of them declared "humans taste better when they are skinned".
If we're seeing how he actualy fights, both in anime and the manga, Koji is FAR from being a Idiot Hero instead more of a Genius Bruiser. He purposefuly gives up only to attack his enemy with the Pilder AND saves the day, and in other moments, he grabbed one of his enemy, and throw it to the other when they attacked resulted in the destruction of said enemy with bare hands. Its a pretty awesome not to mention genius feat on itself. Of course, with Mazinger being such a powerful robot, most of the time his battle consist of direct brute force than planning.
Improbable Aiming Skills: One of the Dr. Hell's Mechanical Monsters (Jenova M9) can shoot down anything as far as one hundred kilometres away. Baron Ashura decides trying its aim shooting down a passenger plane.
In Name Only: Go Nagai's manga and anime series, God Mazinger has aboslutely nothing to do with Mazinger whatsoever. The original concept was intended to be a M Azinger sequel, though.
It's All About Me (Dr. Hell wants to rule over the entire world because he got fed up with being insulted, scorned, envied and beaten when he was young, and he wants to purge the world out of idiots and forcing the survivors to kneel before him. Likewise, when he was a college student, he befriended Juzo Kabuto. When he realized the woman he loved was in love with Kenzo, he convinced himself they had pretended being his friends planning to backstab him later. The resultwas... not pretty)
It's Personal: Dr. Hell got Kouji's grandfather assassinated (and Rumi, the maid took care of him and his little brother as his grandfather -and father- were away). As revenge is not his only motivation to want crushing Hell, it is definitely an important factor.
JAM Project (Both openings and endings to the Mazinkaiser OVA and movie, and the movie insert song... and the band's original founder, Ichirou Mizuki, sang the original Mazinger Z opening, too)
Kick the Dog: Sort of averted. Baron Ashura is not above of pettty acts of cruelty, but usually he does them with a purpose in mind. Still, some of those acts include: hitting children on the head to knock them out, blowing up the wheelchair of a paralytic little girl to prevent her from running away, ordering one of his Iron Masks to kill a little cub whose mother had just got killed...
Last Episode New Character (An entirely new cast, from both the antagonist and protagonist sides, are introduced in the last episode of the tv show, setting up Great Mazinger)
Latex Space Suit (The pilot suits for both male and female characters)
Lensman Arms Race: Throughout the series, Mazinger Z has to be constantly upgraded and endowed with new weapons and capabilities in order to battle Dr. Hell, increasingly powerful robots. Of course it drove Hell to create still more powerful Robeast and when Mazinger Z finally could not catch up, it was replaced with an entirely new robot, Great Mazinger.
Long Runner: Forty years after the inception of the series, more Mazinger Z-related manga, anime, games and toys are being made.
Macross Missile Massacre: Ashura and Brocken's ships and many kikaiju tried that tactic against Mazinger Z. Results varied.
Made of Indestructium: An early Anime example. Mazinger Z is made with Alloy Z, an alloy made of Japanium, a rare metal can be found only in Japan. Dr. Kabuto discovered the metal and built Mazinger Z with it, thinking Mazinger would become indestructible. Throughout the series, the mecha got hit by giant monsters, missiles, bombs, got burned and electrocuted, got dumped in lava and doused in acid... and even though it got damaged every so often, the Alloy Z endured all of that until the last chapter, and kept Kouji alive. Several times Dr. Hell and his dragons would try and get their hands on a sample of Alloy Z to build his Robeasts with it because Mazinger's armor was too tough to break it, shatter it or dissolve it easily. The concept of chogokin ("Super Alloy") became so pervasive and widespread all Super Robots followed Mazinger were made of chogokin, and it baptised one whole toy line.
Mad Scientist (Dr. Hell. In some versions, Dr. Juzo Kabuto as well)
Marth Debuted in Smash Bros. (Mazinger was beaten in export to France by UFO Robo Grendizer, and since Kouji appears in that show as well, when Mazinger came over it was seen as a cheap imitation. Grendizer also technically beat Mazinger to American shores but due to name changes and the like nobody really noticed until years later.)
Meaningful Name: Professor Kabuto describes the titular mecha as being powerful enough to make its pilot a devil - "Ma" in Japanese - or a god - "Zin". This is also the first line in Mazinkaiser's first theme song.
Also, "Kabuto" means "helmet" in Japanese, alluding to the way Koji activates Mazinger by landing his Jet Pilder on it's head like, you guessed it, a helmet.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Dr. Kabuto dies in the FIRST episode after handing Mazinger Z over to his elder grandson.
Mid-Season Upgrade: Several of them. Mazinger Z was routinely upgraded to allow it fight on different enviroments successfully or to endow it with new weapons to fight increasingly powerful enemies. The most promintent of those upgrades was the Jet Scrander.
In episode 90, Dr. Hell fabricated a cyborg looked right like her and sent it to the Institute in order to wreak havoc while he made preparations for the final battle. Naturally, that stratagem caused much grief, especially to Shiro.
Mooks (Baron Ashura's Iron Masks and Count Brocken's Iron Crosses)
Ms. Fanservice (The busty yet brainy twins Lori and Loru, from Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser. Sayaka also wasn't free of this; just watch the 4th OAV.)
Near Villain Victory: Several times Dr. Hell and his followers were on the brink of winning, and only through of extreme competence and sacrifice of Kouji and his allies or of utter incompetence of Hell's minions, the situation was saved.
No Endor Holocaust: Averted. The show has no troubles showing how much death and destruction would cause a humongous war mecha rampaging through the land or a battle between giant robots in a highly-populated city, and often Kouji has to suffer the consequences of it.
Oh Crap: It is used many times. A memorable one is when Ashura was fleeing in his/her submarine fortress and then he/she was shown Mazinger could swim now.
Obviously Evil (During his time overseeing a research team, despite his blue skin and "somewhat telling name", the scientists didn't seem to suspect Dr. Hell might just be evil)
One-Man Army: It is both played straight and subverted. Mazinger is certainly powerful enough to trash an entire army... but when Kouji has to fight more than two Robeasts at once, he struggles (Mazinger versus Devilman) or loses (Mazinger versus Great General of Darkness, Mazinkaiser...)
OT 3: There are not many fans who do this, but some of them consider Kouji/Sayaka/Maria is a solution to the most important Love Triangle in the trilogy (nobody seems considering Kouji/Sayaka/Boss or Tetsuya/Jun/Boss, nevertheless. Poor Boss).
It is lampshaded in this Super Robot Wars Yonkoma comic: [1]◊
Pyrrhic Victory (After a long and hard battle, Kouji defeated Dr. Hell with Mazinger Z. However, the Mycene immediately attacks without giving any time to rest and he is unable to do anything to stop them. He's saved by Tetsuya and his Great Mazinger, who claims that Mazinger Z isn't needed anymore.)
Pragmatic Adaptation (The anime softened the personalities of several characters. Original manga's Dr. Kabuto did not quite seem sane since Go Nagai wanted to show that Mazinger could have been just so easily used for evil. The anime's Dr. Kabuto seemed utterly sane, kind and likeable. Original Manga's Sayaka also was a Type B Tsundere because Go Nagai wanted making her different than his previous heroines, but anime turned her into a Type A Tsundere, just like several of Nagai's previous female characters. He was amused about it)
The Professor (Sayaka's father, Dr. Gennosuke Yumi. Also the trio composed of Sewashi, Nozori and Morimori. Dr. Kabuto is sometimes this, overlaping with Mad Scientist in the manga and Mazinkaiser.)
Ramming Always Works: A Kouji's favored tactic when he is battling flying fortress is ramming through them, destroying and blowing up so much as he is able before using one of Mazinger's stronger attacks to shoot the airship off the sky.
Razor Wings (Mazinger Z has the Scramble Cutter, an attack in which he uses his Jet Scrambler's wings to slice into the enemy.)
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the Ota's manga, Count Brocken delivers an EPIC one to Dr. Hell during the final battle.
Robeast (Dr. Hell's Kikaiju (Mechanical Beasts) and Mykene's Warrior Beasts)
Spell My Name with an S (Notable for managing to largely avoid this, outside the twin blonde research assistants. Rori, Loli, Lori, Roli? Roru, Lolu, Rolu, Loru, or possibly Roll? Nobody knows for sure.)
The Starscream: Vizcount Pigman. He earns brownie points, though, for being the only Dr. Hell's henchmen showed some spine in front of Gorgon.
Super Prototype: averted. Mazinger Z was lacking a lot of its special features at first and regularly had to be upgraded and re-outfitted with new equipment. As it turns out, the realSuper Prototype is MazinKaiser...
Averted throughout the OVA, though. Shin Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser are explicitly stated to be the finished models, their predecessors are the prototypes.
Super Robot Genre (May not have started, but certainly defined and named the genre)
Super Robot Wars: All of them. The only ones that may technically not count are the ones that do or will use the reimaginings Mazinkaiser or Shin Mazinger.
In a number of Super Robot Wars games you can convince Minerva X to join your team. At least 2, 2G, Compact 1, and Advance, although in 2 she only joins temporarily and in Advance she 'dies' and you have to assign an actual pilot to the robot.
That's No Moon: Salude, Baron Ashura's submarine fortress camouflaged itself as a island when it surfaced. The first time Kouji saw it, he exclaimed: "That is not a island!"
This Is a Drill: Several robotical foes (such like Danchel and Stronger T4) were endowed with weaponized drills. As well, one of the weapons of Mazinger Z are drilling missiles located in its upper arms.
Tsundere: Sayaka, one of the first anime lead girls to have these qualities. Her type varies: she's a Type A in the original TV series, but switches to Type B in the manga and in Mazinkaiser.
She seems to have gone back to Type A in the Shin Mazinger Zero manga, but when she sees Minerva X and Kouji together...
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: In episode 89 we meet an impersonator of Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 92 we meet Kouji and Shiro's supposedly late father. His wife was definitely beautiful. He... not so much. Although maybe he was more handsome when he was younger and he was not a cyborg.
UngratefulBastards: People constantly blames Mazinger and the Photon Intitute for the destruction the battles between dr. Hell and Mazinger spawn, apparently forgetting if Mazinger Z didn't exist, all of them would be dead.
Unobtainium: Japanium. It is a rare mineral can only be found on a lode on Mount Fuji and was discovered by Proffesor Kabuto. Mazinger Z, Aphrodite A and Great Mazinger are built with it and the Kikaiju after Dr. Hell stole a sample
Thou Shall Not Kill: Played with. Kouji kills an IronMask in one of the first chapters of Nagai's version and he freaks out about it. Then a secondary character reminds him he was defending himself and informs him "a manga character is never wrong" anyways.
Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Subverted. For start with, the Headquarters of the good guys are not in Tokyo but in the vicinity of Mount Fuji. Therefore, the enemy feels not compelled to exclusively target and attack Tokyo. A lot of Japanese cities are destroyed, ships are sunk in ocean, and often Mazinger-Z needed fighting in open sea (and in one chapter of one of the manga alternate continuities, it got deployed in another country). And in the Mazinger Z versus Great General of Darkness movie, the Mykene army struck New York, Londres and Moscow before striking Tokyo.
Villainous Breakdown: It happened to Dr. Hell several times. The first of them happened in the SECOND episode, when he realized Juzo Kabuto still could surpass him and thwart his lifelong plans even after death.
What IS Evil?: Baron Ashura delivers this speech to Koji in the Gosaku Ota Manga.
What Measure Is a Mook?: The Iron Masks and the Iron Crosses are reanimated corpses turned into cyborgs, mindless and faithfully serve Dr. Hell and his henchmen. Kouji wonders in the manga if it is right kill them.
You Have Failed Me: Amazingly averted with Dr. Hell, who admittedly can grow frustrated at the failings of his subordinates and punish them, but never kills anyone for trying their hardest and failing. Worst he did in the Mazinkaiser OVAs when Baron Ashura failed one too many times was throw him in a jail, and that was partly because Ashura had gone over his head. And even then, when he saw how determined Ashura was to make it up to him, Dr. Hell let him go anyways.
You Watch Too Much X (In the first chapter of the manga, Mazinger ends up going on a destructive rampage during Kouji's first attempt to pilot it. When some concerned citizens try to tell the police about it, their claims of a "giant monster" destroying the city are dismissed with "You watch too much TV.")
Your Princess Is in Another Castle (Dr. Hell is defeated before the final episode... and, needless to say, the final episode wasn't just a peaceful day)
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