Shin Mazinger Z is the second major work from Yasuhiro Imagawa that I watched this year, and it is pretty freakin’ awesome despite the decidedly mixed reaction (to say the least) to its opening episode. The show’s a constant thrill ride, especially during the big turn at the halfway point when it seems that every successive episode drives the viewer closer to the edge.
And that continues right until the very end. Everything seems to build up to Kouji Kabuto ass-kickingly awesome victory over Dr. Hell — with motherfucking ZEUS as his tag team partner! — but in the background, something unsettling is going on. Tsubasa learns something that shakes her to the core. She runs outside, desperate to stop Kouji from defeating Dr. Hell, but by the time she arrives, it’s too late. Dr. Hell is vanquished.
And then some crazy apocalyptic shit goes down.
With Dr. Hell dispatched, Baron Ashura — poor Baron Ashura, the eternal buttmonkey, kicked around and betrayed so often — has the last laugh. Only Dr. Hell knew of the true war (presumably he is too much of a selfish bastard to let everyone else in on this), and with him out of the way, Ashura is able to sneak in and complete the ritual that allows for the resurrection of the gods of Mycenae.
Blood is shed. The gods are reborn. Mt. Fuji is destroyed. And the heroes are totally fucked.
All glory to Mycenae.
UNMEI KAIHEN 