Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen

Shin Mazinger Impact! Z Chapter is a new entry in Go Nagai's Mazinger series, directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa (Giant Robo, G Gundam). While it features many characters and machines from other Go Nagai series, it is not a remake or sequel to the original TV show and manga but a complete reboot for the series intended for viewers new and old alike.

Set in the near future (or rather, the near future as imagined in The Seventies), humanity enters another energy revolution following the discovery of Photon Power. Derived from the Japanium ore discovered under the foothills of Mt. Fuji, its intended use was to solve the world's energy problems with its unimaginable power. Seeking this energy is Dr. Hell, a madman who wishes to twist the energy to his own means, who with his subordinates Baron Ashura, Count Brocken and Viscount Pygman, commands an army of Humongous Mecha excavated from the depths of Ancient Greece to seize the Photon Power Lab for himself.

Meeting the attack head on is the Hot Blooded teenager Kabuto Kouji, who pilots the Photon Powered Super Robot Mazinger Z, built by his aging grandfather. Joining him is a rather large cast of eccentric characters with their own reasons for being invested in the fight against Dr. Hell. As the fight rages on, the many mysteries and legends surrounding the cast are gradually revealed.

The Shin Mazinger Zero manga was released near the same time, but is not actually related to the plot of the anime.

A character sheet is under construction.

This series features examples of:
" "W-who are you?"
 * Badass (The series seems to be trying to extend this to as much of the cast as possible... of particular note are Nishikiori Tsubasa, her followers, and Baron Ashura)
 * Even the most useless or meek of the characters get at least one "holy shit awesome!" moment by the end of the final episode.
 * Back From the Dead (Being steeped in Gothic horror tropes, many of the cast were supposedly dead people revived by science)
 * Back to Back Badasses (Tsubasa and Stroheim pull this off in episode 15)
 * Badass Grandpa / Cool Old Guy (Juzo Kabuto; the Shin Mazinger portrayal of him is widely agreed to be the single most enjoyable and likable in the history of the entire franchise. )
 * As of episode 22 he kinda is,
 * There's also Kikunosuke, a Badass Granny who wields a garotte wire made of Super Alloy Z, has Super Speed, and is described by the other Kurogane Five members as being the strongest of them all!
 * Berserk Button (For Kouji, it's insulting his grandfather Juzo. For Baron Ashura, it's his/her appearance... especially when it thinks you're the one responsible for it)
 * Big Damn Heroes (The ENTIRE first episode is essentially a series of Big Damn Heroes entrances, by the entire cast. Likewise, the series seems to specialise in awesome sudden entrances from heroes and villains, usually as part of a Cliff Hanger)
 * Brainina Jar (The Kedora)
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall (Several times throughout the series, including characters talking to/hearing the narrator or being aware of their own role in the story)
 * When Boss steals Count Brocken's head to create a distraction and gain some time, this little exchange takes place:

 "They call me Boss. Not even the Author knows my real name.""

" "I AM A TRAGIC CHARACTER!""
 * Later, when the confusion hits it's peak and Boss and Brocken's own soldiers are playing soccer with Brocken's head...

"Yes! It, the world's strongest alloy, is what makes the Mazinger Z an unsinkable castle of steel! Fearing none, thwarted by none; even if it is encircled by a thousand foes, its invincible castle of a body protects him from any number of attacks! Once more, let's call it out! That alloy's name is Super Alloy ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
 * Breath Weapon (Z's Rust Hurricane)
 * Calling Your Attacks (With Kabuto Kouji piloting, what else do you expect?)
 * Captain Ethnic (Viscount Pygman, a pygmy shaman "hailing from a scorched land," who can use curses and control wild animals)
 * Chest Blaster ("Breast Fire!")
 * Classical Mythology
 * Cliff Hanger (Almost every episode)
 * The final episode ends on an enormous one. Rumours abound about a concluding special or sequel series.
 * Crazy Awesome (Let's just go with the easy route and say everything, but, beyond anything, Juzo Kabuto.)
 * Crazy Prepared (Juzo Kabuto, Nishikiori Tsubasa, Dr. Hell, )
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass (Boss's two flunkies are capable enough in a fight to beat some of Baron Ashura's men on their own)
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome: More like a Crowning Super Robot Show of Awesome.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: Baron Ashura geeks out over the Pilder in a manner that would make him seem like the second coming of Ryusei Date and even tries to dock it into Mazinger. He crashes it into the side of its head instead.
 * Boss, Mucha, and Nuke have since played soccer with Count Brocken's head. And it was glorious.
 * As said in an imageboard: Brocken ball! The game where everyone wins, except the ball. Which is Brocken.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: When you've got JAM Project doing the opening themes, that's a given.
 * Kanjite Knight, the first opening, deserves special mention.
 * Curb Stomp Battle (In Episode 1. Archduke Gorgon attempts to attack Kouji, only to get near-instantly obliterated by Zeus's gigantic spear)
 * Delinquents (Boss and his gangs. He's apparently gotten the support of every delinquent group in Japan behind him)
 * Depleted Phlebotinum Shells (Django's instant-freeze rounds and Ankokuji uses something that can hurt Pygman despite his magic defenses)
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu (In episode 18,
 * And right after that,
 * On another note, in Boss Borot's glorious debut, it manages to deal significant amounts of damage to Mechanical Beast Baron Ashura. While Ashura's Humongous Mecha isn't quite Cthulhu, Boss Borot is, well...
 * Downer Ending:
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: A very rare
 * Einstein Hair (Juzo, since he's a Mad Scientist)
 * Everybody Hates Hades
 * Excited Episode Title (Every episode except the first ("Finale") follows this format)
 * Eye Beams (The Photon Beam. Reaches the caliber of a Wave Motion Gun at full output)
 * Dr. Stroheim also has a laser eye.
 * Face Heel Turn (Although it's not a true Face Heel Turn in the actual series, one of Go Nagai's other Super Robot creations - Groizer X - makes a cameo appearance as an enemy robot in several episodes)
 * Fan Disservice (In episode 2 - Juzo, and in episode 12 - Baron Ashura)
 * Faux Action Girl (Sayaka)
 * Fem Bot (Aphrodai A, Venus A and Million Alpha)
 * How could you forget the Gamia sisters?
 * Five Man Band (The Kurogane Five/Kurogane Goninshuu, comprised of Yasu, Cross, Django, Sensei, and Kikunosuke. They don't really fit into any of the set archetypes, though)
 * In some cases, it's not that clear. But Cross is definitely The Big Guy due to having the most raw strength and defense, Kikunosuke is some twisted subversion of The Chick by being so freaking old and also the strongest by far, Django's The Smart Guy due to his specialized gun rounds and reliance on indirect combat, Sensei's The Hero due to his directness, and Yasu's The Lancer due to the fact that if any of them are going to die in battle, it's gonna be him with that bomb inside his body. Yasu can make a good hero since he's the one who talks. He is the one who kind of takes the viewer (Shiro and Ankokujii) and introduces them to the five. Sort of the link into the group.
 * Foreshadowing (The appearance of Blade, )
 * Not to mention that
 * Episode 2 foreshadows that
 * Tsubasa being  has been hinted at repeatedly since the first episode.
 * Hell, the show has plenty of it, if you go back and rewatch previous episodes.
 * Fridge Logic (Kouji and Shiro's parent's first met ten years before the beginning of the show. So... How can they possibly be their parents?)
 * They left Bardos Island 10 years ago. The expedition started some years before, as did their first meeting.
 * That still doesn't explain how Kouji is their son. Even if he was born during the super long seven year expedition that the previous troper is implying, why wasn't he with them when he escaped? Was he sent back to Atami before it was over? Who the hell would be watching him then? Dr. Yumi? The Kurogane House?
 * Also they escaped Bardos with just Juzo and Tsubasa, and despite her not showing any signs of pregnancy, when Stroheim found her she was with Shiro so ... what, did she not tell Stroheim she was back for 7 to 9 months until he was born?
 * Full Body Disguise (Baron Ashura and his/her men often don these. Played for laughs, since they shouldn't be able to disguise themselves as convincingly as they do - the Iron Masks for example manage to wear helmets under their rubber masks)
 * This is a Running Gag throughout the entire Mazinger franchise, and can be seen in at least one episode of Mazinkaiser off the top of my head.
 * I think just Pygman in general falls under this trope.
 * And there was that time Count Blocken disguised himself as Kenzo while piloting Energer Z
 * Gag Boobs (Aphrodai A's breasts have covers which can be flipped open to reveal machine guns and missiles. Then there's Million Alpha, which sits Lori and Roll in two cockpits jutting out the chest. Later on they get a twin-pronged pilder which docks with the two holes in Shin Million's chest, forming its breasts)
 * Gambit Pileup (A huge amount of them from both sides, to the point that in the penultimate episode Dr. Hell essentially says that the entire show until that point was just a series of backstabbing, plots and deception)
 * Gainax Beginning: Don't start with the first broadcast episode. You'll be EXTREMELY confused.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself Man
 * Gone Horribly Wrong (The Kedoras. A relic of the Myceneans, they at first appear loyal to Dr. Hell; one serves as a bridge for Archduke Gorgon before Zeus smites them both, and another attacks Kouji, stating its intent to "destroy all foreign civilizations". It then shows Dr. Hell in his lab destroying all his Kedoras, as "foreign civilizations" apparently includes Dr. Hell and his henchmen)
 * Gonk (Many, many characters, as per Go Nagai's cartoony art style)
 * Guns Akimbo (Django, with both revolvers and gatling guns)
 * Hadaka Apron - Gamia Q3 in one episode, humorously revealing her doll joints (which Ankokuji still finds attractive).
 * Heel Face Turn (Between series. In the Mazinkaiser OVA, there were three Gamia Q machines, they were evil, rarely spoke, and apparently were Baron Ashura's "daughters". We've only seen one so far, but she was definitely a protagonist)
 * Well, we've seen five of them now. Maybe they're rebuild her from the parts of the first four...
 * Like daughter like mother-father hermaphrodite. As of episode 19 Ashura's helping the heroes.
 * In the final episode,  makes a Heel Face Turn for real.
 * Heroic BSOD (Kouji, when he realizes that by piloting Mazinger in the village, he's accidentally crushed many civilians)
 * Being haunted by has caused Tsubasa to fall into one as well.
 * Heroic Sacrifice (As of episode 18 Cross, Django, Yasu, and Master have all seemingly bit the dust due to being crushed by one of the myceanean gods, having his torso bitten through by a tiger-centaur thing, blowing himself up to give the others the chance to get away, and being impaled by the humanoid part of the tiger-centaur. However considering what we saw in the first episode its doubtful either of these will be permanent.
 * Hot Blooded (Kouji, just... Kouji. Imagawa seems to be attempting to outdo Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann in this department)
 * Even the Narrator is extremely Hot Blooded.
 * "ENERUGAAAAAAGH ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTO!!"
 * Hotblooded Sideburns (Of course!)
 * How We Got Here (Episode one is titled "Finale" and it seems to tell the story of the character's climactic final confrontation. Episode two is entitled "Activate! Mazinger!", making it the real 'first episode' in terms of chronology)
 * HUGE Ham (The narrator. Good Lord, the narrator)
 * Even the Narrator is extremely Hot Blooded.
 * "ENERUGAAAAAAGH ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTO!!"
 * Hotblooded Sideburns (Of course!)
 * How We Got Here (Episode one is titled "Finale" and it seems to tell the story of the character's climactic final confrontation. Episode two is entitled "Activate! Mazinger!", making it the real 'first episode' in terms of chronology)
 * HUGE Ham (The narrator. Good Lord, the narrator)


 * To the point that Kouji scolds him for being a bit too hammy.
 * Too hammy?
 * Humongous Mecha
 * I Have Many Names (Zeus, of course. The series gives "Zeus" and "Z Mazinger")
 * Implausible Fencing Powers (Master covers this trope)
 * Intergenerational Friendship (Detective Ankokuji and Shiro get along pretty well. This is gets lampshaded when the later gets rather sad after his friend goes missing in action)
 * Internet Backdraft (When the first episode aired there were lots of reviews that utterly trashed it. Regardless of your opinion on the episode, bringing this up in certain areas of the internet is an excellent way to start a Flame War)
 * JAM Project (They're playing under a slightly different name for this one song, but it's pretty much 100% JAM Project doing the opening song)
 * The opening, "Kanjite Knight", is a song previously written and performed by Hironoby Kageyama's band LAZY. Since some members of that group have passed on, JAM Project filled in the gaps, hence "ULTIMATE LAZY".

Second opening "The Gardian" is also by them, and is even more hotblooded than the first. That looks like a typo. It's "The Gardian" in the anime credits, but it's "The Guardian" in the OP 2 single CD.
 * Latex Space Suit (The pilot suits for both the male and female characters)
 * Licking the Blade (Django's done this with his GUN. And his tongue is long enough that the KISS guys would be green with envy)
 * Lightning Bruiser (Danube Alpha One, which was designed to circumvent its inferior armor compared to Mazinger with drastically improved agility thanks to being a self-aware machine.)
 * Like Mother Like Son
 * Loads and Loads of Characters (37 named characters, and it's a 26 episode series. Despite this, they are all tied into the story somehow and get their own chances to shine)
 * Long Title (The full title of the show, in English, is True Mazinger Impact! Z-Chapter on television)
 * Luke I Am Your Father (Tsubasa was once Dr. Hell's assistant and was just as gifted in the field of biomedical research as he was. Together they made Viscount Pygman and Baron Ashura.  )
 * Macross Missile Mazinger Rocket Punch Massacre
 * Mad Scientist (Arguably half the focus of the story. Dr. Hell, Kouji's grandfather Juzo and Dr. Schtroheim are classic examples,  probably count too)
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover (For Go Nagai. In addition to Mazinger, the series includes several characters from other Go Nagai manga, though with different roles and personalities) These include:
 * Tsubasa and her followers (Cross, Master, Yasu and Django): Violence Jack
 * Sis Kiku is from Abashiri Family, though under a different name. In Abashiri Family, "Kikunosuke" is the main character, a schoolgirl.
 * Tsubasa actually originally appeared in a manga called Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko, as the leader of a school guerrilla. In Violence Jack, a manga known for taking old Go Nagai series and Deconstructing them, she was aged up and made the leader of a group of criminals. Imagawa must have liked this portrayal better, so he chose to use it in the show.
 * Likewise, Pygman's character design is taken from Violence Jack. The actual character himself is from Mazinger Z, but his new appearance is not.
 * For irony points the character design is the Mazinger analogue for Violence Jack: Jim Mazinger.
 * The enormous black demon seen in several episodes: Mao Dante
 * The minor Go Nagai machine Groizer X is revised and made one of Mazinger Z's enemies in several episodes.
 * Energer Z, the original design for Mazinger Z that Go Nagai drafted up prior to revising it into the machine we all know and love, is introduced into the series proper near the end.
 * Magnificent Bastard (Tsubasa's turning into quite the ingenious schemer. We're lucky she's on Kouji's side.)
 * Master of Disguise (Baron Ashura and his/her men)
 * Scratch that. Make it EVERYONE that serves Dr. Hell.
 * Mechanical Horse (The Iron Masks often ride these)
 * Meaningful Name (The "Mazin" in "Mazinger" is composed of two words. "Ma" meaning Devil, and "Shin" meaning God. This refers to Juzo's statement about how Mazinger Z is powerful enough to make its pilot a God or the Devil)
 * Kouji Kabuto: Kabuto means "Helmet", and Kouji pilots his machine by attaching the Jet Pilder to its head.
 * According to the first episode, the "Z" in Mazinger Z might represent "Zeus", too.
 * Memetic Mutation (SUPER ASHURA, due to his/her fight with Mazinger Z in episode 3, putting him on the same level as Master SUPER ASIA)
 * Mixed Metaphor (Mazinger Z is apparently an "Unsinkable castle of steel")
 * Monster of the Week (Averted, despite Mazinger and Super Robot tradition. Many episodes have no robot fighting at all, and when the villains do attack it usually involves multiple robots at once or in the same day)
 * Morally Ambiguous Doctorate (Subverted with Dr. Hell. Turns out long before he dabbled in mad science, he was a perfectly sane and respected biomedical researcher)
 * Most Wonderful Sound For this Troper its the sound which Mazinger makes when Pilder docks and Mazinger's eyes lit up. Its the sound that proclaims incoming Badassness and ass whooping.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast (Dr. Hell, The Great General of Darkness and The Emperor of Darkness)
 * Nice Job Breaking It Hero
 * ESPECIALLY
 * For those of you not understanding how that works,
 * Never Bring a Knife To A Fist Fight (Averted in Episode 16 when the Kurogane Five faced down . Kikunosuke asks Master if it would really be smart to take on   with nothing but a katana blade and offers him a boatload of guns. He accepts, and it probably helps make things easier for him)
 * Never Mess With Granny (Kikunosuke)
 * No Endor Holocaust (Averted hard in Kouji's first battle, when he accidentally crushes a bunch of civilians during a robot fight)
 * Older Than They Think: Zeus tossing his arm as a Rocket Punch was originally done nine years earlier, by a Real Robot no less.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist (Averted - all of the scientists are specialised in different fields such as robotics, biomedicine, energy research and so on, and they frequently turn to each other for their knowledge)
 * Power of Love (The only explanation for why half of Baron Ashura's body was rotted, except for the halves that were touching each other, right?)
 * Prehensile Hair (The Gamia sisters)
 * Rage Against the Heavens (Zeus vs. the rest of the Gods)
 * Recap Episode (Inverted. By the looks of it, the first episode is made entirely up of clips from the second half of the series)
 * The first half of episode 6 has a recap though, and 22 is this peppered with new footage as well.
 * Reed Richards Is Useless (Averted. Kouji and Shiro note that their grandfather makes a killing on the patents for all his inventions. However, he spends most of his money on his research)
 * To no one's great surprise, it turns out he actually spent his money building Mazinger Z.
 * Revolvers Are Just Better (Django's Magnum Z revolvers, which fire Super Alloy Z bullets that can penetrate anything and are so durable that he can pluck them out of his victims for re-use later)
 * Robot Girl (The Gamia sisters, and )
 * Robotic Reveal (While several characters are later revealed as robots/cyborgs,  fits the classic version of this trope)
 * Rocket Punch (It's a Mazinger show so there's lots of them. The titular robot can even transform into a giant Rocket Punch itself, which Kouji calls the "Big Bang Punch")
 * Taken to ridiculous extremes in the last episode.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can (The mechanical beasts, sealed behind the statue of Zeus in Bardos Island)
 * Sequel Hook (And how! With so many mysteries left unsolved,  we can look forward to Great-hen. That is, unless history repeats itself...)
 * Serial Escalation: (The series is constantly outdoing itself and hits the peak in the final episode, which claims to feature 100 Rocket Punches)
 * Shout Out (There are tons of these sprinkled all over the show, mostly to other Go Nagai manga)
 * The above mentioned fight with is particularly notable because it's aimed at a similar act done by Dai Guard, which in turn was a tribute to the ORIGINAL Mazinger Z!
 * Spam Attack / Rapid Fire Fisticuffs
 * Might also count as a
 * Stripperific (The Gamia sisters, who end up wearing just cloaks with nothing on underneath)
 * Super Powered Evil Side
 * Super Robot (Again, it's a Mazinger show, so this is kind of a given)
 * Super Robot Wars (Is making its debut in Super Robot Wars Z 2, to the [[And the Fandom Rejoiced joy of the fans]. Though even before this was announced, the franchise was explicitly name-dropped by the mechanical designer, who said he was requested to come up with an "all new, awesome MAP attack" for Mazinger. Z2-2 finally gives Mazinger a MAP weapon in form of Big Bang Punch.)
 * Technical Pacifist (Well, Yumi wants to use photon energy for peaceful purposes... but will not think twice about shooting you into oblivion if you endanger his daughter)
 * The Ace (Tetsuya, so much so in fact that ASHURA calls him the best pilot to ever exist. What did he do to claim such a statement? Why nothing short of winning against a Kedora in a half-assembled Mazinger prototype. Thats right -- an unfinished prototype!)
 * The Big Guy (Cross, who is actually )
 * Theme Music Power Up (Kanjite Knight in episode 8, which gave Mazinger enough power to halt a SUBMARINE ISLAND)
 * And again at the end of 23. The final two episodes even managed to take the ending theme and turn them from sugary J-Pop crap into freakish hot-blooded awesomeness.
 * By the way, the second ending theme is mostly about War Is Hell.
 * The last episode does this THREE times, with the second opening, second ending and finally the first opening. Then they turn this on its head in the closing minutes:.
 * The Professor (Prof. Yumi as well as the Three Doctors)
 * The Woobie (Baron Ashura. Sure, it's a weird hermaphrodite, but it's like the whole show is against him/her!)
 * This Is My Name On Foreign (Gee, I sure wonder who that Blade guy could be...)
 * Those Wacky Nazis (Count Brocken, a headless undead cyborg Nazi who carries his head around with him at all times, and his Iron Legion air forces)
 * Together in Death (Baron Ashura... who became together in life again, when they were resurrected as two halves of the same person)
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future (Played with. The show takes place "in the near future," but as a homage to the original series made in 1972, the world resembles The Seventies)
 * Unwitting Pawn
 * Values Dissonance
 * We Can Rebuild Him (Aside from all of Dr. Hell's subordinates, the gangsters that work for Tsubasa were saved from the edge of death by her and have become ridiculously strong as a result)
 * What Could Have Been (Energer Z is actually based on Go Nagai's original concept sketches for Mazinger. He efentually rejected the motorcycle gimmick for being "too Kamen Rider".)
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome (Its name is... Its name is... ITS NAME IS... ITS NAME IS... ITS NAME IS--!)
 * ROCKET PUUUUUUUNCH!
 * The mere existence of the Big Bang Punch
 * Zeus picking up his own severed arm and throwing it right through Hades, after seeing Kouji's Rocket Punch
 * The amount of objects in the series made from Super Alloy Z gets increasingly more ridiculous as the series progresses. At first we have standard weapons in Super Alloy... then the Super Alloy mining pick appears, and it takes off from there. By the end of the series we've got Super Alloy shovels, Super Alloy frying pans, Super Alloy toothpicks, Super Alloy bamboo... the list goes on.
 * The ENTIRETY of Episode 26!
 * Why Am I Ticking (Averted: Yasu knows he has a bomb inside him (a Photon Power bomb, no less), and is willing to give his life to protect his mistress Tsubasa)
 * Your Mind Makes It Real (Double Subverted. During the journey into the Kedoras's illusions, we were told this would happen and not long afterwards Master, Django, Yasu, and Cross died in various ways. They seemed gone for good. Come episode 19 they've returned, but all sporting some injuries... possibly implying that yes, their minds did make it real, just to a muted extent)
 * Your Mind Makes It Real (Double Subverted. During the journey into the Kedoras's illusions, we were told this would happen and not long afterwards Master, Django, Yasu, and Cross died in various ways. They seemed gone for good. Come episode 19 they've returned, but all sporting some injuries... possibly implying that yes, their minds did make it real, just to a muted extent)
 * Your Mind Makes It Real (Double Subverted. During the journey into the Kedoras's illusions, we were told this would happen and not long afterwards Master, Django, Yasu, and Cross died in various ways. They seemed gone for good. Come episode 19 they've returned, but all sporting some injuries... possibly implying that yes, their minds did make it real, just to a muted extent)