History MazingerZ / TropesDToF

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Kouji's grandfather gets assassinated in the first episode. Shortly before dying he reveals to his grandsons that he was secretly building a HumongousMecha.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: In several series there is at least one princess:
** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Maria Grace Fleed, sister to [[spoiler:[[TheHero Duke Fleed]]]] was a sweet {{Tsundere}}, [[WarriorPrince Warrior Princess]] and mecha pilot. Princess Rubina a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth FieryRedhead was daughter of BigBad King Vega and [[spoiler:Duke Fleed's fiancee]] ''attempted'' to convince everyone to stop the war and find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
** ''Anime/GodMazinger'': Princess Aira, who ruled the kingdom of Mu alongside her father.
** ''Manga/NewMazinger'': Princess Krishna a DistressedDamsel Major Kabuto met when he was accidentally thrown in another dimension. She was trying to keep her kingdom together after her father got murdered in an ambush.

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: The ''Big Swing RocketPunch'', one of Mazinger's most infamous [[FinishingMove Finishing Moves]], is simply Kouji having Mazinger spin its arms around, to build up major momentum, before launching its fists. It's several times more powerful than the normal RocketPunch.

** ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Maria Grace Fleed, sister to [[spoiler:[[TheHero Duke Fleed]]]] was a SpoiledSweet {{Tsundere}}, [[WarriorPrince Warrior Princess]] and mecha pilot. Princess Rubina a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth FieryRedhead was daughter of BigBad King Vega and [[spoiler:Duke Fleed's fiancee]] ''attempted'' to convince everyone to stop the war and find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

* TheDogShotFirst: Inverted. In the ''Mazinkaiser'' OVA, [[spoiler:Doctor Hell dies because his base exploded while he was trying to escape.]] When Go Nagai penned the ''Mazinkaiser'' manga, [[spoiler:Kouji shoots him in an abrupt, albeit iconic and stylized, sequence.]]

* FiveBadBand:
** BigBad: Dr. Hell, although he also has traits of EvilGenius.
** TheLancer: Baron Ashura.
** TheEvilGenius: Archduke Gorgon. On the surface he would seem TheBrute, but in reality he was a manipulative, conniving, scheming, MagnificentBastard prefered using his intelligence before his -considerable- physical strength- and provided the BigBad with increasingly powerful weapons.
** TheBrute: Count Brocken. Although he is not so physically powerful like Gorgon, he commanded his own corps and would often rather using strength instead of cunning. He is an ex-Nazi officer, so he definitely liked getting his hands dirty.
** TheDarkChick: Viscount Pygman. He was not a girl but [[CaptainEthnic he definitely]] [[BodyHorror stood out]] and he definitely was considered a freak. His skills, abilities and powers were also very different of his colleagues' ones.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This show was considerably darker than former HumongousMecha shows such like ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' or ''Anime/Astroganger''. It is obvious when you compare TheHero of ''Mazinger-Z'' -a {{Jerkass}} IdiotHero teenager- with Shotaro Kaneda from ''Tetsujin 28-go'' -a likeable, good-natured child-. Or TheProfessor of earlier shows with MadScientist Yuzo Kabuto.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This show was considerably darker than former HumongousMecha shows such like ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' or ''Anime/AstroGanger''. It is obvious when you compare TheHero of ''Mazinger-Z'' -a {{Jerkass}} IdiotHero teenager- with Shotaro Kaneda from ''Tetsujin 28-go'' -a likeable, good-natured child-. Or TheProfessor of earlier shows with MadScientist Yuzo Kabuto.

!!!''Anime/MazingerZ'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* FollowTheLeader: SuperRobotGenre shows like ''[[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]'' already had their own success, but it was ''Anime/MazingerZ'' that solidified the concept of piloting a robot (via a cockpit within its head, rather than [[TheKidWithTheRemoteControl remote control]]) and started a revolutionary trend that attracted [[MerchandiseDriven toy makers]] and captivated children. Such influence would eventually lead to all sorts of landmark works that keep said genre alive and relevant to this day.
* FranchiseZombie: The original anime series was supposed to wrap up at episode 57. However, the series was so wildly succesfull it was continued for other thirty-five episodes. And then two movies were made. And two sequels. And more movies. And crossovers. And spin-offs. And reboots. And remakes. And Creator/GoNagai has stated he has got offers for a Mazinger-Z live-action movie... TropesAreNotBad however as the series is still popular and Mazinger makes appearances to this day.
* FriendOnTheForce: Inspector Yamitaro Ankokuji, which appeared in the first episode of the original manga and aided the good guys for some chapters.
* FrickinLaserBeams: They are all over the place in the trilogy. Mazinger-Z is equiped with EyeBeams, making it -again!- the TropeMaker in HumongousMecha, and Grendizer is armed with three or four kinds of different laser beams. Plenty {{Robeast}}s from all series are equiped with sundry kinds of laser beams, and the Vegans were mainly armed with ray guns or rifles. Dr. Hell also build ray guns for human use but intriguingly his minions nearly never used them. his CoDragons and {{Mook}}s [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter prefered guns or machine guns shot bullets]]. Of course, both {{Humongous Mecha}}s and {{Robeast}}s are frequently seen dodging beams.

* EyeBeams: "Koushiryoku Beeeeeeeeeam!"
* EyeScream: 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. And in another episode, Sayaka blew up with her Aphrodite-A Breast Missiles the only weak points of the Mechanical Beast Gumbina M5... its eyes. Double ouch.

* FacelessGoons: Ninety percent of the {{Mook}}s wore uniform concealed his faces. The Iron Masks wore a black suit, ancient armor and Greek-looking helmets fully hid their faces minus their mouth and chin. Subverted into a NightmareFuel fashion when one of them got their helmet removed and [[spoiler:he was missing his skull's upper half, removed by the BigBad when the mook was ReforgedIntoAMinion. The purpose of those helmets is not to protect their heads but to replacing their ''skulls'' and protecting their ''brains''.]] The Iron Crosses have identical uniforms, resembling modern-day soldiers, but they also seem identical and all of them also wear helmets covering his face up his mouth.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Throughout the entire Mazinger trilogy and ''[[Manga/NewMazinger alternate]]'' ''[[Anime/ShinMazinger series]]'' Creator/GoNagai tried to send the message of WarIsHell. Cities were destroyed and burnt to ashes, innocent people were hurt and suffered, died in horrible ways (there are several instances of genocide), lost their loved ones, were enslaved or brainwashed... and victory always had a high prize. Unfortunately, he did so by showing really cool battles between colorful and awesome {{Humongous Mecha}}s and impressive, imaginative monsters duking it out with spectacular WeaponsOfMassDestruction, so a lot of viewers kind of missed the point.
* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud: Played more or less straight in ''Anime/{{Mazinkaiser}}''. One of its weapons is Rust Tornado. Mazinkaiser blews ''three'' tornadoes from its grill mouth. Of course, anything it touches gets obliterated, and the wind gales kick big dirt clouds and leave a trail of destruction in its wake (in the movie it dug a wiiiiide trench across Mount Fuji). Though the area surrounding the attack does not seem so affected how it should.

* {{Delinquents}}: The MoralGuardians of the era didn't like Kouji, because he skipped school and used rough language.
* DespairEventHorizon: Kouji almost, ''almost'' crossed it during the Mazinger-Z vs Great General of Darkness movie. After several Mykene Warrior Monsters have easily destroyed four major cities (Paris, London, New York and Moscow) they strike Tokyo. He launches Mazinger-Z to fight them... and he barely walks out of it alive. The Warrior Monsters easily rip his mecha apart and turn Tokyo into burning ruins as he is unable make anything to stop them. Back in the HomeBase, he learns MORE Warrior Monsters have visited while he was away. His HomeBase is in ruins, Sayaka and Boss' {{Humongous Mecha}}s have been destroyed, and worst of all, his little brother Shirou got hurt cause a collapsing ceiling and is in coma. Later, Kouji was sitting on -the remains of- his room, and he cried as he said he knew he could not win and he was going to die in the next battle; poor Sayaka, who was eavesdropping, also cried as hearing him.
** It was way, WAY worse in one of the first chapters of ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'', where he '''did''' fully cross it. Straight after [[spoiler:seeing his grandfather murdering his father and murdering Sayaka after raping her, and losing one of his arms]] he was thrust in Mazinger-Z and his body absorbed by the machine. Turned into a raging TheBerserker, he began fighting Mechanical Beasts in spite of he not even knew what they were or whence they came, and his negative emotions -pain, rage, despair, sadness, loneliness- fed Mazinger-Z until [[spoiler:its sleeping consciousness woke up, transformed into an EldritchAbomination by poor Kouji's despair, and it burnt the world to ashes.]]

* EldritchAbomination: Several of them showed up in the trilogy, often overlapping with GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: the demons of the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, Great Emperor of Darkness [[spoiler:as well known as Hades]] (BigBad from ''Anime/GreatMazinger''), Gilgilgan (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo movie), Grangen (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G feature), Dragonsaurus (of Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu movie), Varon the Annihilator (Bigbad of SuperRobotRetsuden, a {{Crossover}} penned by Creator/KenIshikawa featuring the most popular HumongousMecha of Creator/GoNagai)... and in the ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'' manga [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z itself.]]

** DragonWithAnAgenda: Gorgon. Supposedly he allied himself with Dr. Hell, but in reality he only was biding his time for betraying him, getting him killed ([[spoiler: He literally backstabbed him in the Gosaku Ota manga)]], and destroying Mazinger Z. [[spoiler:[[{{Badass}} He succeeded on all fronts]].]]

** Dr. Kabuto in the original manga was a LargeHam MadScientist with an evil-looking scar running across the left side of his face. He had never met Dr. Hell and built Mazinger-Z because he felt guilty of his grandchildren were parentless and he wanted to give them something to protect themselves (and he told Kouji he would be able to take over the world using Mazinger-Z). In the anime version he was a well-meaning, average-looking, kind scientist built Mazinger-Z to fight back the menace of Dr. Hell. The GosakuOta manga version uses that characterization, but later retellings usually use the original GoNagai version. In ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' he is a CrazyAwesome MadScientist. In ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero''... he is a monster.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Throughout the entire Mazinger trilogy and ''[[Manga/NewMazinger alternate]]'' ''[[Anime/ShinMazinger series]]'' GoNagai tried to send the message of WarIsHell. Cities were destroyed and burnt to ashes, innocent people were hurt and suffered, died in horrible ways (there are several instances of genocide), lost their loved ones, were enslaved or brainwashed... and victory always had a high prize. Unfortunately, he did so by showing really cool battles between colorful and awesome {{Humongous Mecha}}s and impressive, imaginative monsters duking it out with spectacular WeaponsOfMassDestruction, so a lot of viewers kind of missed the point.

* EldritchAbomination: Several of them showed up in the trilogy, often overlapping with GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: the demons of the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, Great Emperor of Darkness [[spoiler:as well known as Hades]] (BigBad from ''Anime/GreatMazinger''), Gilgilgan (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo movie), Grangen (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G feature), Dragonsaurus (of Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu movie), Varon the Annihilator (Bigbad of SuperRobotRetsuden, a {{Crossover}} penned by Creator/KenIshikawa featuring the most popular HumongousMecha of GoNagai)... and in the ''Manga/ShinMazingerZero'' manga [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z itself.]]

* FinalBattle: It varies depending on if we are discussing the GoNagai manga, the anime series or the GosakuOta manga, but it had two battles at the end of the series. At the final of the anime series, [[spoiler:the main characters located Dr. Hell's SupervillainLair at last. Quickly they began to make preparations for the final battle, but Hell used a last scheme to hinder them as he completed his own preparations. Mazinger-Z, Venus A and Boss Borot stormed Hell's Island, supported by the Japanese army, but Dr. Hell sent against them his last Mechanical Beasts. The three HumongousMecha got severely trashed, but Mazinger-Z could still work. Kouji stormed the base, destroying and blowing up all what he saw. Hell set his Lair to self-destruct and he and Brocken tried to flee on the aerial fortress Guru. However, Mazinger-Z chased them and they faced off for last time on an aerial battle over the ocean.]] It was subverted, though, since all of it happened in the second-to-last episode, and the narration -and the scenes involving a smug [[DragonWithAnAgenda Gorgon]]- warned the last episode would be NOT a happy day. The events were very different on the GoNagai manga [[spoiler:(Hell attacked first, deploying several dozens of Mechanical Beasts at once to invade Japan. Ashura and Brocken coordinated their squads in the assault, and the Japanese army used Mass-Production Mazingers against Hell. Finally, Kouji and Sayaka fought alone against the Island of Hell, what had transformed into a humongous HumongousMecha)]]. The GosakuOta episodes are similar to the anime, but [[spoiler:Gorgon makes his move while Kouji is storming the base. He goads his Warrior Monsters against Mazinger-Z and backstabs Hell when he is distracted before leaving the base. Enraged and dying, Hell pulls a lever. Hell's Island takes off and flies towards the Institute to crash on it. However, Great Mazinger arrives, defeats the Mykene Beasts, fetches a defeated Mazinger-Z and runs away with it. Meanwhile, the battle has altered the course of the island, and it floats upwards, leaving the atmosphere and losing itself in the space...]]

* FranchiseZombie: The original anime series was supposed to wrap up at episode 57. However, the series was so wildly succesfull it was continued for other thirty-five episodes. And then two movies were made. And two sequels. And more movies. And crossovers. And spin-offs. And reboots. And remakes. And GoNagai has stated he has got offers for a Mazinger-Z live-action movie... TropesAreNotBad however as the series is still popular and Mazinger makes appearances to this day.

* DeflectorShields: The Photon Atomic Power Research Institute was equipped with deflective, energy barriers that surrounded the whole building to repel the strikes of the MonsterOfTheWeek and raids of enemy ships and airships. Unfortunately, a strong enough Kikaijuu could shatter the barrier by employing enough brute force, and TheDragon was DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough to search and blow up the devices that made the barrier working.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: 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.

* TheDeterminator: Kouji never gives up. Not even when he is going against several [[{{Robeast}} Kikaiju]] at once. Not even when the {{Robeast}} is completely impervious to his HumongousMecha'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.

* FemaleGaze: Kouji Kabuto. In the anime he was shown half-naked more often than Sayaka. And in the manga he visited a hot springs resort, and stripped himself once [[NakedPeopleAreFunny for not reason at all]]. Duke Fleed from ''UFORoboGrendizer'' also "suffered" from it. An example was when Kouji went to Duke's room late in the night to discuss a matter was worrying him, and both of them were naked up waist during the conversation.

** In ''ShinMazingerZero'', the characters are locked in a GroundhogDayLoop where [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z has became a demon/EldritchAbomination and destroyed the world.]] It has happened 2,977 times so far...

** TheBigBad: Dr. Hell, although he also has traits of EvilGenius.

** TheEvilGenius: Archduke Gorgon. On the surface he would seem TheBrute, but in reality he was a manipulative, conniving, scheming, MagnificentBastard prefered using his intelligence before his -considerable- physical strength- and provided TheBigBad with increasingly powerful weapons.

* ForMassiveDamage: See AttackItsWeakPoint and other examples.

** In ''ShinMazingerZero'', the characters are locked in a GroundhogDay time loop where [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z has became a demon/EldritchAbomination and destroyed the world.]] It has happened 2,977 times so far...

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Done by Kouji Kabuto in the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, when he [[spoiler:beats the crap out of an army of demons]] by piloting his HumongousMecha.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The ''Anime/MazingerZ vs Anime/{{Devilman}}'' feature is a title example. Several weapons names (RocketPunch, Drill Missiles, Iron Cutter, [[FreezeRay Freezing Beam]], [[TorpedoTits Breast Missiles]]...) count as InUniverse examples.

* DetachmentCombat: 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 [[MidSeasonUpgrade the]] [[RazorWings Scrander Jet/Scrander Kaiser]] off themselves. Moreover, Mazinkaiser used its wings like a cutting, oversized boomerang).

** It is subverted with Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 90 from ''MazingerZ'', 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. [[spoiler: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.]]

** Dr. Kabuto in the original manga was a LargeHam MadScientist with an evil-looking scar running across the left side of his face. He had never met Dr. Hell and built Mazinger-Z because he felt guilty of his grandchildren were parentless and he wanted to give them something to protect themselves (and he told Kouji he would be able to take over the world using Mazinger-Z). In the anime version he was a well-meaning, average-looking, kind scientist built Mazinger-Z to fight back the menace of Dr. Hell. The GosakuOta manga version uses that characterization, but later retellings usually use the original GoNagai version. In ''Anime/ShinMazinger'' he is a CrazyAwesome MadScientist. In ''ShinMazingerZero''... he is a monster.

** 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 ''MazingerZ'' 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.

** It was way, WAY worse in one of the first chapters of ''ShinMazingerZero'', where he '''did''' fully cross it. Straight after [[spoiler:seeing his grandfather murdering his father and murdering Sayaka after raping her, and losing one of his arms]] he was thrust in Mazinger-Z and his body absorbed by the machine. Turned into a raging TheBerserker, he began fighting Mechanical Beasts in spite of he not even knew what they were or whence they came, and his negative emotions -pain, rage, despair, sadness, loneliness- fed Mazinger-Z until [[spoiler:its sleeping consciousness woke up, transformed into an EldritchAbomination by poor Kouji's despair, and it burnt the world to ashes.]]

** And in the episode 36 of ''MazingerZ'', [[spoiler:Baron Ashura pretended being]] a witch.

* DyingDeclarationOfLove: In ''ShinMazingerZero'' Sayaka [[spoiler:tells Kouji she loves him as she is getting awfully murdered.]] It was especially heart-breaking because, unlike in the original anime, they had managed go past the WillTheyOrWontThey CantSpitItOut UnresolvedSexualTension BelligerentSexualTension by that point.

* EldritchAbomination: Several of them showed up in the trilogy, often overlapping with GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: the demons of the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, Great Emperor of Darkness [[spoiler:as well known as Hades]] (BigBad from ''Anime/GreatMazinger''), Gilgilgan (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo movie), Grangen (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G feature), Dragonsaurus (of Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu movie), Varon the Annihilator (Bigbad of SuperRobotRetsuden, a {{Crossover}} penned by Creator/KenIshikawa featuring the most popular HumongousMecha of GoNagai)... and in the ''ShinMazingerZero'' manga [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z itself.]]

* FlatWhat: In a chapter of ''ShinMazingerZero'', 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 OhCrap stares- try to explain it is not what it seems, and Minerva is not human but she actually is a Super Robo created by TheProfessor Dr. Kabuto to be Mazinger-Z's partner. Sayaka's reaction?

* FreakinessShame: In ''ShinMazingerZero'', 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 [[IAmAMonster if she was as terrified of that sudden show of inhuman ability as he was]]. [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shin_Mazinger_Zero_C01_34img.jpg Sayaka's response]] can be summed up as, "Hell no! That was both completely awesome ''and'' hot."

* EldritchAbomination: Several of them showed up in the trilogy, often overlapping with GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: the demons of the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, Great Emperor of Darkness [[spoiler:as well known as Hades]] (BigBad from ''Anime/GreatMazinger''), Gilgilgan (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo movie), Grangen (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G feature), Dragonsaurus (of Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu movie), Varon the Annihilator (Bigbad of SuperRobotRetsuden, a {{Crossover}} penned by KenIshikawa featuring the most popular HumongousMecha of GoNagai)... and in the ''ShinMazingerZero'' manga [[spoiler:Mazinger-Z itself.]]