Mazinger single-handedly kickstarted the japanese action figure industry and its popularity both in japan and outside during the mid to late 70s was mind-boggling, a testament to which is the life size statue of Mazinger Z in Tarragona, Spain, constructed 25 years ago.

The regret of Nagai’s life though has always been that his more favoured shows like Devilman and Cutey Honey never became even close to how successful Mazinger did.

Because of that he has often spoken out more about his other series and western anime critics due to that have always been quick to brush Mazinger aside, often forgetting or even unaware of its success.

I guess what my point is that the seeds for the Mecha genre were layed with series like Tetsujun 28 but the genre itself’s first ever series is without a doubt Mazinger Z.

Sure we can talk on msn Dante bro, PM me your ID, I’ll add you up.

I’ve done a reasonable amount of reading up on this subject myself, as I wouldn’t have made a remark at all, though I will score you on the point that most of my sources are English and American anime historians from which Mazinger rarely gets a mention.

We’ll have to agree to disagree for the moment (maybe continue on MSN sometime) as this isn’t going to be resolved quickly. ^_^

Or for that matter how big it was in europe, south america & the middle east along side its spin off series Grendizer.

The series only got a shitty dub repackaged as ‘Tranzor Z’ in america, which is why the American anime community probably doesn’t really view it as anything of importance.

If you want to argue for the sake of argument about this series then it can go on forever.

However almost all japanese anime historians trace the actual start of mecha with Mazinger.

While Tetsujin 28 was older and Go Nagai himself said he was inspired by the said manga to create Mazinger, Tetsujin 28 was a giant robot that was remote controlled.

Mecha in its recognizable form considers Mazinger Z as its ‘Father Adam’.

As for idiots that think this show is crap. This is a re-imagination of THE GRANDFATHER of all mecha anime. Faggots that are into NGE and Gundam should realise they wouldn’t exist without this.

I’ll watch a few episodes, before I say it sux.

To each their own, I guess…

It isn’t crap and its viewing rates on television in Japan during August, while not terrifically high, is generally good compared to some other shows.