In 1972, Mazinger Z by Go Nagai debuted, creating the entire mecha genre with a formula that still gets used to this day. Now, while I’ve always been a fan of its charismatic cast and cool battles, it’s never been a particularly deep series, with modern reinventions rarely deviating from what was set 50 years ago. So, in 2009, two projects under the Shin Mazinger banner were made, bringing a more intricately written take on this classic franchise in different mediums, Shougeki Z-hen as anime and ZERO as manga. Here I’ll be talking about the lesser known, but more interesting, Shin Mazinger ZERO.

Shin Mazinger ZERO is a very unique take on the Mazinger mythos, with its main divergence being the addition of cosmic horror elements, capitalizing on the iconic quote that Mazinger Z can become a god or a devil by showing what said devil would be and why depending on its godlike power may not be the safe heaven it’s normally presented as. The entire first volume of the manga is the most hopeless and bleak Mazinger story ever made, showing some of our familiar characters turning insane or dying even BEFORE Z becomes Mazinger ZERO, letting us to see how Koji slowly loses all his emotions and gets consumed by its power as it ravages the world. And then, we start again.

Shin Mazinger ZERO is a very unique take on the Mazinger mythos, with its main divergence being the addition of cosmic horror elements – but it’s also about time loops. Character of the week turned main Minerva X has been going for thousands of iterations of the world trying to stop Mazinger ZERO, so when it seems she has finally reached an ideal world where ZERO won’t surface, she’ll make everything in her power to make sure that devil isn’t born. We get a multitude of flashbacks showing previous worlds, and how everything, no matter how hopeful, always leads to ZERO ending the world. While the main plot during this time is a standard Mazinger plot, its backstory of showing how unstoppable ZERO is puts the stakes Koji is in trying to become stronger without unleashing the devil into a perspective no previous entry did, ZERO itself looking really unnerving helping the horror all scenes with it look for.

And yet, despite corrupting the franchise’s symbol of hope into an all-consuming monster, Shin Mazinger ZERO is a story that perfectly gets the fundamentals of why this series ever worked. The cast is as a lively as ever, but it’s particularly good to see how it puts greater emphasis on their more human side, with the adversities and insecurities they feel being greater focus than every previous series. The battles are fantastic, the beautiful and detailed art all over the series helping sell the immense scale of these clashes, and the final battle in particular has incredible pieces that look straight out of Getter Robo. The story gives actual depth, development and themes to the conflict, but doesn’t forget to retain the sense of levity traditional of the franchise, filled with cameos and fanservice that’d make Uncle Go proud. It’s, in essence, a perfect representation of every aspect of this series that made it appealing, not working as only a good popcorn show, but also a legitimately good example of a pro humanism tale.

Why I wouldn’t recommend it to people not familiar with Mazinger beforehand, Shin Mazinger ZERO is an essential addition to the Mazinger canon, deconstructing its iconic hero to reveal its core appeal with a never seen before level of depth, making it probably the best this franchise will ever be.

Thank you for reading