Shin Mazinger Zero - Television Tropes & Idioms

A God saves the world... Or a devil will destroy it?

Rage. Pain. Sorrow. Every emotion. Everything coming together. Flowing to the same place... To the Demon God of Demise. Inside every wish becoming zero. At my wit's end, I can just watch.

Shin Mazinger Zero (真マジンガーZERO,) is a manga that was released at nearly the same time as the anime Shin Mazinger in the magazine Champion Red, and a part of the Mazinger Z Cash Cow Franchise. Despite the similar titles, it has no connection to the anime. However, it DOES have a connection to the original Mazinger Z anime, as Minerva X is shown to be a reincarnation of the robot with the same name from that show.

Kouji Kabuto is an Ordinary High School Student. He has a beautiful girlfriend, he rides a bike, he has a certain Delinquent air, and the only unusual thing about him is his father and grandfather are two world-renowned scientists.

However, one day he starts having horrible nightmares feel scarily real... nightmares where the world has been burnt to ashes by a huge, robotical, god-like devil named Mazinger, and a pretty but not-quite-human-looking lady offers him the chance to save the world... and then she kills him.

After one of his nightmares, he and his girlfriend Sayaka are asked to go urgently to Sayaka's father's workplace, the Photon Atomic Power Research Institute, to assist with an emergency. Kouji and Sayaka ride to the Institute without knowing what their lives are about of changing radically.

In few moments, Kouji loses his father, his girlfriend, his grandfather and an arm, and his body gets absorbed by the mechanical devil he saw in his dreams. As he is crossing the Despair Event Horizon with the subtlety of a rhino ramming through a china store, a group of unknown mechanical monsters attack a city. Consumed by a berserker rage and feeling his sanity slipping, Kouji goes to fight them in spite of he does not know what they are, what is the monster he is sitting in, or how he is supposed to control it...

It ended up in 2012 after releasing ten volumes. A sequel -Shin Mazinger Zero vs Ankoku Daishogun- has been announced to be released in December, with plot by Yuuki Yogo and art by Yoshiaki Tabata. It will also be published in Champion Red.

This manga provides examples of:

Arc Words: Remember when kabuto's gramps says that mazinger has the power to become a demon and destroy the world? he wasn't kidding.
After the End: The manga starts this way.
Apocalypse How: DYNAMIC FIRE
Bad Future: Minerva-X sends Kouji back in time to stop one of happening.
Berserk Button: Killing or attempting to killing Sayaka in front of Kouji is not the last thing you want to do. It is the last thing you will ever do.
- Dr. Hell does not take kindly when his underlyings making him seeming ridiculous, either.
Breather Episode: after two very cynical time-lines the actual chapters are more lighter and comedic.
Broken Bird: Minerva X. she gone through at least 2798 cycle of life of despair by witnessing the events where Mazinger become a demon in all of them, what can you expect ?
Blue and Orange Morality: Minerva-X. Despite -or maybe because- she was created by humans, several of her personality traits -mainly her conception of what love is- are completely bizarre. Because she was created to be Mazinger's partner in battle, she is in love with Mazinger in spite of she knows it is a machine and it is not sentient. She also treats the pilot of a Humongous Mecha like if it was another part of the mecha (presumably, the brain). Thus, she teases Sayaka because she saw Aphrodite (Sayaka's Fem Bot) fighting alongside Mazinger and got jealous, got... all bothered when she was inside Mazinger's cockpit, and she told she loved Kouji... but she loved even more Kouji piloting the Hover Pilder, and she loved above all Kouji on the Pilder piloting Mazinger. Usually Kouji and Sayaka only hake their heads and accept her like she is.
Call Back: Tons of the flashbacks which was important to the plot. Also, The first chapter where the Gamia sisters are killed are a direct call back to the original manga.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Sayaka. Even more than in the original series. Get her jealous -and mad- enough, and she is able to tear three Mechanical Beasts apart. At once.
Combat Tentacles: Professor Juuzo Kabuto
Composite Character: 2798th version of Demon Mazinger Z are a combination of Mazinger Z with Mazinkaiser essentialy "pictured" on it in appearance.
Darker and Edgier: Might or might not be for every other continuity. And HOW!
Despair Event Horizon: 2797th and 2798th cycle version of Koji Kabuto.
Downer Ending: This manga as a whole serve as one for original anime and manga continuity.
Dying Declaration of Love: In the first arc Sayaka tells Kouji she loves him as she is getting awfully murdered. It was especially heart-breaking because in that timeline they had managed go past the Will They or Won't They? Can't Spit It Out Unresolved Sexual Tension Belligerent Sexual Tension by that point.
Eldritch Abomination: Apparently, Mazinger Z itself has potential to become one.
Fanservice: It's Mazinger, what can you expect? Especially (and constantly) true with Minerva X
Fan Disservice: Sayaka's death...unless you are a fan from snuff...
Flat "What.": In a chapter Kouji and Minerva-X are together inside the cockpit. During the battle Minerva lands on Kouji on a very awkward and embarassing position. Sayaka -who has just arrived and destroyed three Mechanical beasts in a fit of jealous rage- sees him, and they -after displayin a tremendously comical Oh Crap stares- try to explain it is not what it seems, and Minerva is not human but she actually is a Super Robo created by The Professor Dr. Kabuto to be Mazinger-Z's partner. Sayaka's reaction?
Sayaka:... What.
Freakiness Shame: After Kouji finishes utterly trashing a ten-foot robot with his bare hands in front of his girlfriend Sayaka, he freaks out and asks her if she was as terrified of that sudden show of inhuman ability as he was. Sayaka's response◊ can be summed up as, "Hell no! That was both completely awesome and hot."
From Bad to Worse: In this picture◊, Kouji is dashing headfirst in the Despair Event Horizon after his father has been murdered, his girlfriend has been raped and murdered, and he has been forced to kill his Mad Scientist of a grandfather, losing an arm in the process. It gets worse? Oh, yeah. Straight after an Eldritch Abomination dwelling in the body of a Humongous Mecha will possess his body and will use him to fight an army of Robeasts. During three months he will fight relentlessly Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts army, gradually losing his sanity as the whole world becomes ruins. Finally his mind will snap, and the Eldritch Abomination -fed and fueled by his negative emotions of rage, despair, madness, grief and pain- will get loose and burnt the world to ashes. The funny part? That is the first story arc.
Fun with Acronyms: Multidimensional Automaton Zillion Infinity Neural Generative Exterminate Reverter, it surprisingly It Makes Sense in Context
Grievous Harm with a Body: In the first story arc Kouji has his arm ripped off. Like a last resort, he does pick it up and Rocket Punch his enemy with it.
Groundhog Peggy Sue
Gut Punch: Multiple punches in the first arc. Kouji and Sayaka go to meet Kouji's grandfather. Hey, that is Kouji's father! Scratch that, it is Kouji's father head! Dr. Kabuto has turned mad(der) and has beheaded his own son? And now he is trying to off his grandson? He has just raped and murdered Sayaka impaling her with a dozen of metal rods? And Kouji has killed him in turn, losing one arm? And now Mazinger has absorbed Kouji? Wait, that is not a "normal" Humongous Mecha, that is an Eldritch Abomination... that has just destroyed the world. Then again, it had been completely overrun by Dr. Hell's armies, so there were little left to save. Let's reiterate: this is the first arc.
Hope Is Scary: Minerva-X has failed 2,798 times into averting the End of the World as We Know It. She does as much as stating all of those times she hoped, and her hope was in vain. However, in the current timeline she is stuck in, she is seeing signs of maybe -maybe- things will finally be different this time around. So she feels a glimmer of hope... and she is afraid of being hopeful only for getting disappointed and heart-broken again.
Hope Spot: An expecially cruel one. After failing nearly three thousand times, the heroes achieve saving their timeline. The epilogue show them living peaceful, happy lifes... but at the last pages Prof. Morimori makes a terrifying discovery before being murdered by Archduke Gorgon, and the last page advertises the sequel: Shin Mazinger Zero versus Ankoku Daishogun. Any remotely familiar with the Mazinger myths knows the world is becoming a Crapsack World, very, very quickly, and Mazinger-Z is about of being destroyed, making the Kouji's triumph over Dr. Hell useless and meaningless.
Hot Blooded: maybe even more than the original! Hell, in Chapter 6 & 7, Sayaka, of all people, becomes this after hearing some sexual innuendo.
Hot Blooded Sideburns: Kouji's ones are even larger than his original incarnation's sideburns. It fits because he is even more hot-blooded.
Human Pincushion: In chapter two Sayaka died when her body was impaled by several dozens of iron rods.
Humongous Mecha: Take a guess.
The Immodest Orgasm: Minerva X's reaction while the Pilder docked with Mazinger Z.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In one of the first chapters Sayaka was impaled by several huge, metallic rods. Later, Toros D7 tries to impale Mazinger and Aphrodite.
Innocent Innuendo: Minerva X makes "interesting" sound after finally reunited with Mazinger Z(its complicated) inside the Pilder while sitting on Kouji's lap in a suggestive pose, much to Sayaka's chagrin.
Laughing Mad: again, 2798th cycle version of Kouji Kabuto.
The Mole: The Gamia sisters infiltrated into Kouji's institute to murder him.
- Reverse Mole: In the original series Dr. Hell had a lot of moles and spies infiltrated in scientist research compounds and army bases in different countries. In this series he created Minerva-X believing she would work for him but in reality she was always on the heroes' side and was only biding her time before defecting the first chance she got.
My Hero Zero: Awfully subverted. Mazinger Zero is an Eldritch Abomination.
Not What It Looks Like: In a chapter Kouji and Minerva-X are together inside the cockpit. During the battle Mazinger moves a lot and Minerva lands on Kouji on a very awkward and embarassing position (face-down and on top of Kouji, with her head hovering above his groin and Kouji's head stood between her legs). Sayaka -who had just arrived and looked absolutely scary due to the she was almost literally burning with jealousy- sees them, and they -after displaying tremendously comical Oh Crap stares- try to explain it is not what it looks like. Sayaka did not believe them and tried to murder them.
Offing the Offspring: Juuzo does this to his son Kenzo. He then tries to do the same to his grandson, Kouji, and kills Sayaka just in case Kouji has impregnated her. He really wants the Kabuto line out of the way.
Refusal of the Call: Kouji Jumped at the Call in the original series. In the first timeline seen, he refused the call and we got to see the outcome. It was not pretty (unless your definition of pretty includes the planet scorched away and the humanity wiped out by Mazinger-Z).
Reincarnation: Everyone, but most notably Kouji, before the start of the manga.
Ridiculously Human Robot Girls: Minerva X and the Gamia Q's
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Deconstructed. Both Kouji and Minerva have it. However Kouji's memory is faulty, and he only remembers what happened in former timelines through dreams and sudden flashbacks, and they are so vague and so random -and seldom he has them when he needs them- that they are all but useless. On the other hand, Minerva remembers with utter clarity how they failed thousands of times in averting the End of the World as We Know It, and how her beloved, her friends and the whole humanity died several thousands of times because she failed.
Robeast: Dr. Hell's Kikaijuu (Mechanical Beasts) and the Mykene Sentoujuu (War Beasts) in the sequel.
Shipper on Deck: Minerva X ships Kouji/Sayaka in spite of being a Clingy Jealous Girl.
Shout Out:
- Look to this page. Mazinger goes berserk, its mouthplate splits, the Humongous Mecha roars and it chewes a Kikaijuu. Pretty blatant Neon Genesis Evangelion, would not you say?
- The Kouji and co. teacher in chapter 5 is a character of Harenchi Gakuen, another Go Nagai series.
- In Chapter 6, Sayaka, after hearing the words "Gangan Gangan" says that this is not Getter Robo.
Technobabble:
- Mazinger is acronym for Multidimensional Automaton Zillion Infinity Neural Generative Exterminate Reverter
- And in chapter 6:
Sayaka: Aphrodite A Immediate activation! number 1. Number 2. Number 3. Check! All Green! Retention bolt, begin release!
Walking Shirtless Scene: Subverted when Dr. Hell -the seventy-years-old, Obviously Evil Big Bad- has one scene of him walking without shirt. Can you tell Fan Disservice?
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Oh dear god...hehe, god
X Meets Y: Mazinger Z meets Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Actually you can tell the first arc is original Mazinger Z manga meets End Of Evangelion. The Hero's girlfriend is brutally murdered? Check. The Hero crosses the Despair Event Horizon when he sees her corpse? Check. He activates an Humongous Mecha / Eldritch Abomination with a penchant for going berserker and biting its enemies, and he accidentally uses it to trigger The End of the World as We Know It? Check. Humongous Mecha ends up floating in space? Check. Pale-haired, non-human girl with powers beyond the human comprehension, who harbours strong feelings towards The Hero, and was designed by one of his relatives gives him the chance to revert it? Check.
- Given that we are blending a Unbuilt Trope (the original manga was pretty dark) with a Deconstructionit is no wonder that that arc was a Mind Screw.

This is the memory of meeting Sayaka again after ten years... Remembering... Throbbing in my heart until then... Pounding... I thought at the time... People don't think with their head, they think with their heart... Everything wasn't inside of this meeting... But. That... Disappearing... everything... everything... Disappear... ing... What is it in there? My body? Then the me that's seeing... is who? Mazinger... My rage. Sorrow. Pain. Every emotion, being swallowed by Z into one... No, becoming ZERO. Disappearing. Completely vanishing...

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