Mazinger Z: Infinity is a movie adaptation of the Mazinger franchise meant to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the original manga and television anime series. It takes place 10 years after the original series. A colossal robot of unknown origin - dubbed the Mazinger Infinity - is found inside Mount Fuji, along with a mysterious girl named Lisa. Soon after, the supposedly-dead Doctor Hell reappears along with all his minions and mecha-monsters. Mazinger's pilot, Koji, must unravel these mysteries to save the world.
Tropes found in Mazinger Z: Infinity include:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The story takes place 10 years after the Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger series. Photonic energy is now a common energy source, as are giant robots.
- Above Good and Evil: Dr. Hell acts as though he's become this since his return, and his new world-destroying plot is simply the actions of an impartial observer passing judgment on the world. Being Dr. Hell, this is just another expression of his megalomania, and when he starts losing to Koji he quickly reverts to his old self.
- Ace Custom: The military Type-Ichinana/MP Mazingers mostly come in shades of blue, except for Shiro's personal unit that gets to rock the classic Mazinger paintjob.
- Achilles in His Tent: Koji takes his sweet time to get back into the Mazinger Z and join the fight.
- Alpha Strike: Mazinger Z combines one by Koji having it combine its Photonic Beam, Breast Fire, Drill Missiles, and Southern Cross Knives into a single devastating barrage.
- Ambiguous Situation: The situation with Lisa apparently being Koji and Sayaka’s daughter in the end credits. Whether this is the work of reincarnation, time travel, or a simple coincidence is left completely up in the air.
- Antagonist Title: The titular Infinity is what Dr. Hell plans to use to overwrite the current reality with one that he desires.
- Babies Ever After: Tetsuya and Jun are expecting a baby at the start of the film. At the end in a flash-forward, we see that Lisa will be Koji and Sayaka's daughter.
- Back from the Dead: Dr. Hell and his minions.
- Badass in Distress: What caused Koji to get back into piloting the actual Mazinger Z instead of some mass-produced one is when he learns that the missing Tetsuya was captured and he and Great Mazinger were grafted onto Mazinger Infinity. With a little help from Shiro, he succeeds in rescuing Tetsuya, who returns the favor by lending his sword to Shiro to use Great Mazinger's trademark Thunder Break on Dr. Hell, while he himself uses a Breast Burn in combination with Z's Breast Fire.
- Beta Couple: Tetsuya and Jun to Koji and Sayaka.
- Big Bad: Doctor Hell.
- Bigger Is Better: The Mazinger Infinity is so large the regular giant robots fit inside its head! Later on, Mazinger Z grows to the same size thanks to Lisa manipulating reality.
- Blood Knight: Koji has a problem with that. Even after years of becoming a scientist, he still feels eager to jump into action, and is a bit ashamed to say he was more excited than anything when Doctor Hell came back from the dead. Hell himself isn't much better: even Brocken and Ashura notice he's practically giddy at the thought of taking on Koji and Mazinger again.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Subverted — the Mazinger in the museum is a fake. It's played straighter with the long-abandoned original Photon Power Lab, which is where the real Mazinger is and is once again used as the heroes's main base during the movie's climactic battles.
- Call-Back
- Every mechanical monster that ever appeared in a Mazinger Z episode returns here.
- Watching Lisa take on several of his Iron Cross soldiers with over-the-top acrobatics causes Brocken to wonder if the Photon Power Labs managed to reverse-engineer the Gamia Q killer cyborgs. Lisa actually gets mildly offended at the thought.
- When Sewashi and Nossori start messing around with their super-3D printer, the items they churn out are figures of Aphrodite A, Bakarasu, and a miniature Reinforced Rocket Punch.
- Dr Hell's personal mech is a recreation of his ride as a Mycenae general in Great Mazinger. When it appears Koji almost calls him "Great Marshall of Hell" before correcting himself.
- Canon Discontinuity: Infinity is a distant sequel to the events of the anime versions of both Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, taking place 10 years after the events of the latter. However, it seems to ignore the events of UFO Robo Grendizer as no references to Grendizer itself, the Vegan Empire, or Duke Fleed are made. Super Robot Wars T imply that they still happened, but there was no time to mention it in the movie. Associate director Nakano Yuu eventually reveals that this is actually an aversion
: Grendizer is still part of the canon, but the story didn't mention it because any mentions of them while not planning to have the titular mecha itself appear would lead to audience disappointment, so they chose not to mention the series and its cast to avoid a backlash. - Comedic Relief Characters: Boss and his robot, as usual. Though they do help by distracting the enemy army.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: When Kouji and Mazinger Z go to battle the Kikaiju, Z stomps them with very little problem. When Baron Ashura and Count Brocken come in, Z's given trouble. It's when Hell himself steps in that Z starts getting trashed.
- Cool Old Guy: Professor Yumi is now the Prime Minister of Japan.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Dr. Hell's Mecha-Monsters are too strong for Japan's regular giant robots.
- Distant Sequel: The story takes place years after Mazinger Z. Kouji Kabuto is no longer a hotheaded teenage boy fighting for justice, but has graduated into a respectable researcher of Photon Energy. His girlfriend Sayaka Yumi has become head of the Photon Research Lab while her father went on to become the Prime Minister of Japan. His little brother Shiro is about to graduate from high school and has taken a side job of test pilot of mass-produced Mazinger machines. His adopted older brother Tetsuya Tsurugi has joined the army to bolster Japan's defenses with his good ol' Great Mazinger, and has married his childhood friend Jun Honoo and is expecting a child. The threat of Dr. Hell seemed to be a memory of the past until it came back knocking just in time when Kouji discovered a REALLY huge Mazinger...
- "End of the World" Special: The Mazinger Infinity's ultimate weapon, the Goragon, is effectively this: it has the power to override reality with any parallel universe the pilot desires. Most of the movie is about preventing Dr Hell from activating it.
- Face–Heel Turn: Doctor Hell tries to take control of Lisa. It does not work.
- Fanservice: The main reason for the Mazingirl Robot Pilots and their mecha.
- Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Koji is now in his 20s but is no longer a mecha pilot. His little brother Shiro is, though. Sayaka is now head of the Photon Research Lab. Boss and his sidekicks run a ramen restaurant. Tetsuya still pilots the Great Mazinger.
- Leitmotif: Quite a few are used (Lisa and Boss have fairly recurring ones) but the most obvious is Mazinger Z's own leitmotif, which is the show's original theme song.
- Living MacGuffin: Interestingly averted with Lisa, who easily could have fallen into this role but turns out to be an Action Girl who is never captured. Instead, Dr. Hell circumvents using her as the key to Infinity by capturing Tetsuya and using him and the Great Mazinger.
- Love Confession: Koji finally said it to Sayaka. Problem is, he said that right in front of everyone and with questionable phrasing (less "let's get married" and more "let's make a baby"), embarrassing the hell out of her and landing him a slap in the face. The intent behind it is still accepted, though.
- Matter Replicator: Professors Nossori and Sewashi were making one of these in secret at the old lab, with Boss delivering parts and supplies over. It takes the form of a four-legged gun battery with its replicator at the bottom. The professors use this unit alongside Boss during their diversion tactic, generating spiked/explosive balls for Boss Borot to kick.
- Mundane Utility: Boss has been using the Borot as a backup generator for his ramen shop. It's silly, but it also means his place is a beacon of peace during the mass blackouts caused by the attack on the Photon Power facilities.
- Mysterious Waif: Lisa, the android girl who arrives with the Mazinger Infinity. She's based on Koji and Sayaka's future daughter.
- The Dragon: Baron Asura and Count Broken.
- The Power of Friendship: Variation. Not emotion based but everyone in the world shares their photon energy to power the Z enough so it can destroy the Infinity.
- Pregnant Badass: Subverted. Jun tries to sortie to save Tetsuya, but it turns out her pregnancy means she can't even properly reach Venus A's controls and fails to even leave the hangar. Everyone, including herself, points out that this was not a kickass move and way more of a despair-filled act of reckless stupidity.
- Product Placement: Every car in the movie is a Nissan, often with gratuitous shots of the brand logo.
- Reality Warper: Lisa, once she accesses the power of Infinity.
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Subverted with Lisa. While she resembles Rei and is also an artificial human like her, Lisa is a Genki Girl, unlike Rei who is emotionless.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Mass-Produced Mazingers aren't like the Mazinger Army the Photon Power Plant once fielded or even the Mass Produced Great Mazingers the Mikene Empire once used. Instead, they're gun-toting robots resembling the Mazingers but function more in line with GMs. It's even justifiable, as Juuzo Kabuto spent a massive portion of his money investing in the Mazinger family, whereas the mass-production Mazingers here are produced under a stricter budget.
- Take Over the World: Koji points out that Dr Hell's world-conquering ambitions don't make much sense. Actually ruling the world would be more of a giant pain than anything. Instead, he posits that as a scientist, Hell's main goal was curiosity, and wanting to know whether the world we live in is worth existing. Unfortunately, he's concluded that it isn't, which is why he's trying to effectively reboot the whole thing.
- Time Travel: The cause of all the events in the movie.
- Took A Level In Bad Ass: Shiro is a competent pilot now.
- Tsundere: Sayaka is still this, though she is more mature and responsible now.
- Villain Has a Point: Notably, Dr Hell's point that humanity's greatest weakness is its sheer diversity effectively ensuring that true understanding will never be reached is never truly refuted. Only his conclusion to get rid of humanity altogether is.
- Near the end, all of humanity works together to send the entire planet's output of photonic energy for a Combined Energy Attack to power up Mazinger in his fight with Dr. Hell. Not just military or government, but also individuals and the private sector. In the end, human diversity was "overcome" with human cooperation.
- We Can Rule Together: In the final battle, Doctor Hell offers Kouji the chance to work with him, noting how the chaos of battle is where he thrives. Kouji refuses.
- Worf Had the Flu: In the beginning of the movie, Tetsuya fought the horde of Mecha-Monsters single-handedly, but had his options limited (he's not allowed to use Great Booster) due to fighting in an area with civilians around. This made Baron Ashura's ambush a success and Tetsuya ends up as a Badass in Distress for the majority of the movie. Koji had no such problems since there are no civilians in the area he fights during the climax of the movie.
