valondar
Active Member
[sadht]Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen[/sadht][sadhl=2375]shin-mazinger-shougeki-z-hen[/sadhl][sadhdc][/sadhdc]
Just curious as to whether or not anyone else saw this complete trainwreck of a series.
I thought Mazinger had a fair bit going for it - this is really impressive animation, in some respects I liked it a lot more than Basquash's animation (specifically, while CGI is used the mecha remain 2D, which would be my preference) and the style is gorgeously retro. Not 'retro' in the updated, dark, angsty style of Casshern Sins. Retro retro. As in almost none of this would feel out of place in the 1970s AT ALL.
Unfortunately, what brings down Shin Mazinger is... it's retro. Allow me to clarify by invoking everyone's favourite recent Super Robot anime, Gurren Lagann. Gurren Lagann may be ripped wholesale from hoary old cliches, but it was definitely a modern Super Robot series, giving us characters who were clearly defined and likeable and who did things other than smash each other up with their mecha.
Shin Mazinger is a throwback to the days when character and personality don't matter a wit. You just need a broadly drawn cariacture and you're good to go. For four whole episodes people have either fought, acted epic, been hotblooded and/or ridiculous, given expository dialogue, or fought. Unbelievably crazy mecha silliness is jampacked into each an every episode with such intensity that it might EXPLODE but given how completely shallow the affair is it's just no bloody fun at all. I mean this makes me appreciate the subtelty of the classic Gundam series's characterisation... and that series isn't subtle at ALL. I just think a series which dresses Zeus up in this insanely campy gold-plated robo-suit (it must be seen to be BELIEVED) should be, um, entertaining.
Also the cast is frigging enormous, a whole ocean of simply defined characters that likely aren't going to get any deeper. What's the deal with the two identical twin girls who each sit in a breast of their giant robot? Hm, I think that IS the deal. Etc.
The OP is fairly awesome, though, the incidental music is great (you couldn't ask for a more wonderfully bombastic super robot sound), production values etc. etc. And I might be a little harsh on it - I guess if you're looking for nothing more than stolidly melodramatic excess it works fairly well.
Just curious as to whether or not anyone else saw this complete trainwreck of a series.
I thought Mazinger had a fair bit going for it - this is really impressive animation, in some respects I liked it a lot more than Basquash's animation (specifically, while CGI is used the mecha remain 2D, which would be my preference) and the style is gorgeously retro. Not 'retro' in the updated, dark, angsty style of Casshern Sins. Retro retro. As in almost none of this would feel out of place in the 1970s AT ALL.
Unfortunately, what brings down Shin Mazinger is... it's retro. Allow me to clarify by invoking everyone's favourite recent Super Robot anime, Gurren Lagann. Gurren Lagann may be ripped wholesale from hoary old cliches, but it was definitely a modern Super Robot series, giving us characters who were clearly defined and likeable and who did things other than smash each other up with their mecha.
Shin Mazinger is a throwback to the days when character and personality don't matter a wit. You just need a broadly drawn cariacture and you're good to go. For four whole episodes people have either fought, acted epic, been hotblooded and/or ridiculous, given expository dialogue, or fought. Unbelievably crazy mecha silliness is jampacked into each an every episode with such intensity that it might EXPLODE but given how completely shallow the affair is it's just no bloody fun at all. I mean this makes me appreciate the subtelty of the classic Gundam series's characterisation... and that series isn't subtle at ALL. I just think a series which dresses Zeus up in this insanely campy gold-plated robo-suit (it must be seen to be BELIEVED) should be, um, entertaining.
Also the cast is frigging enormous, a whole ocean of simply defined characters that likely aren't going to get any deeper. What's the deal with the two identical twin girls who each sit in a breast of their giant robot? Hm, I think that IS the deal. Etc.
The OP is fairly awesome, though, the incidental music is great (you couldn't ask for a more wonderfully bombastic super robot sound), production values etc. etc. And I might be a little harsh on it - I guess if you're looking for nothing more than stolidly melodramatic excess it works fairly well.
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