Mazinkaiser is testosterone. In its purest sense. It’s completely brainless, full of action, fighting and needlessly yelling out attack names. it’s meant as a homage to the Mazinger-franchise, condensing its plot into just 7 ovas and one movie, and just about everything is dedicated to recapturing the essence of the many manly giant robot series that graced the seventies and eighties ad nauseam.
Just about everything here is over the top: the fanservice, the acting, the characters, the action, the explosions, the comedy. Who cares about that thing called substance? This series is really for those who want to see giant robots sending waves of badly named attacks at each other. It’s really something I would recommend to the fans of the cheesy giant robot series out there, because this series really knows its action: it’s greatly animated, and an excellent watch if you want to let loose of some energy.
But yeah, the problem really is that there is no substance whatsoever; and I really mean none. The plot is only about a bunch of robots fighting each other. If you’re not a mazinger fan here, then you shouldn’t even bother with this series. It’s series like this that, as a homage, have a select audience: one that’s already familiar with a number of other giant robot series. Overall, I too noticed that the quiet moments (in which nobody was fighting and the creators were trying to build something up) were just boring, simply because the cast is paper-thin and never tries to be anything more than they are, and even the action itself would have been more enjoyable had they actually had a bit of depth. Because of this, half of the action-scenes in this OVA failed to be interesting.
On top of that, this series also has lost a bit of its value after Shin Mazinger appeared, which did just about everything this OVA did, plus a whole ton of more things, including a bigger cast, character-development, and actual multi-layered plot and actual plot twists. Especially Baron Ashura in Mazinkaiser feels just a shallow shadow in comparison. The only reason why you would want to watch Mazinkaiser over Shin Mazinger would be the animation and I feel like I would have enjoyed Mazinkaiser a lot more if I had not watched the new Mazinger before it.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 – Knows it’s a homage, and does just about everything to recapture the mazinger feeling. |
| Characters: | 7/10 – Likable, but no depth whatsoever. |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 – Excellent animation, plus an over the top soundtrack that fits the mood perfectly. |
| Setting: | 7/10 – Simple good versus evil. Very true to the Mazinger standards, but the setting feels just like a collection of random names. |
Suggestions:
– The New Mazinger
– Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
– Betterman
