Might want to guard that chimney

Yes, there was an evil robot Santa Claus before Futurama

Mazinger Z vs Transformers crossover manga

Announced on Japanese side Villagebooks is an unexpected but cool upcoming crossover.

Plot: Hiroto Ishikawa
Synopsis: Naoto Tsushima
Artist: Hayato Sakamoto, Hayato Yoshioka, Hidekazu Yoshiya, Yoshiya Yoshioka, Masayuki Fujisawa, Makoto Tsushima
Cover: Akira Nagai
Gallery Art: Funazu Nonaka, Go Oshima, Yuki Isao, Fumitaka

D180223 has posted a video containing all the known information about it:

But are they Super Alloy Z balloons?

Toei has announced plans to crowdfund a large-scale Mazinger Z to promote the upcoming Mazinger Z movie.

Made of balloons.

Apparently a giant balloon robot costs 2.5 million yen. (A little over US$22,000.)

Also details about the plot of the movie, and if I’d heard the date (in Japanese theaters January 13, 2018) before I didn’t remember it.

Humanity was once in danger of its downfall at the hands of the Underground Empire, which was led by the evil scientist Dr. Hell. Koji Kabuto piloted the super robot Mazinger Z, and with help from his friends at the Photon Power Laboratory, he thwarted Dr. Hell’s evil ambitions and returned peace to the world.
It’s been ten years since then… No longer a pilot, Koji Kabuto has taken after his father and grandfather by starting down the path of the scientist. He encounters a gigantic structure buried deep beneath Mt. Fuji, along with a mysterious indication of life…
New encounters, new threats, and a new fate await mankind. The former hero Koji Kabuto has a decision to make about the future: whether to be a god or a demon…
This grand action film depicts the fierce battle fought by the people and Mazinger Z–once again entrusted with the future of mankind!

I guess this is one version of Mazinger that won’t need a Jet Scrander to fly.

My 10 Favorite Anime OPs of the 1970s

Instead of doing the traditional single list of favorite OPs, I’ve decided to sort it by decade. Technically you can consider this my favorites of the 70’s and earlier, but the actual top 10 are all from that decade. (The older one that came closest to making the cut was the opening to Tiger Mask.)

10. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, “Gatchaman’s Song” by Masato Shimon and Columbia Yurikago-Kai

This is actually the second opening…and the same song as the first ending. For some reason, the first season of Gatchaman used the slower “Defeat Galactor” as the OP and “Gatchaman’s Theme” as the ED; later seasons switched them and the songs definitely fit better that way.

Super Robot Wars V: haven’t seen some of these guys in a while

Up until today, about the only things known about Super Robot Wars V were that it has a pretty good series list including the debut of Yamato, and that it would be the first licensed SRW game ever available in English.  Which was enough to get my attention, but with this new video it’s looking more certain that this will be a really interesting one.

Super Robot Wars V announced: Yamato, Cross Ange, Might Gaine

SRWOG: The Moon Dwellers isn’t out yet, but another new Super Robot Wars game has been announced for PS4 and Vita. Super Robot Wars V. (Surprisingly, for “Voyage”, not “Victory” or “Five”.)

Here’s the first trailer:

So, let’s look at those debuts.

My Mecha Anime Recommendations

In the process of writing my Mecha that Changed Anime posts, I unavoidably also thought about what I’d say here.

These are my top ten (plus one) favorite mecha anime. (Note there are series with some mecha elements that I’d consider better than some of these, but aren’t quite “mecha” enough to belong on this list: Magic Knight Rayearth, Tekkaman Blade, and FLCL come to mind.)

Mecha That Changed Anime: Beginnings

Last April, I mentioned that I had “mecha that changed anime” as one of my search terms, and said that might be a good idea for its own post. Well, better late than never, and it’s going to be a series of posts rather than just one.

Note that it’s “mecha that changed anime”, not “landmarks of mecha anime”; the categories obviously have overlap, but anything that had impact outside its own genre is of particular significance, and non-anime mecha that had influence on anime are also eligible.

How would Kannazuki no Miko fit in Super Robot Wars?

Okay, I’ve probably written enough about one anime for one month, or maybe it just seems that way because of my relative lack of other posts. This is the last one, and only loosely related.

Here are my previous posts about Kannazuki no Miko:

1. Overview
2. Chikane, Himeko, and THAT part
3. Why does it have mecha?
4. In defense of Souma

As I’ve said before, I like mecha, though I’m not as enthusiastic as Minerva X:

Yeaaahhhh….moving on…

I also like crossovers, so when I see a series with mecha in it I sometimes try to think about how they’d fit into Super Robot Wars. Despite new series debuting every game there are still a fair number that would easily fit and haven’t been included (particularly since their increased willingness to include material that hasn’t been adapted into anime means there are even Mazinger and Getter series they haven’t used, such as the manga the page above is from), as well as a few which would present some obvious difficulties, notably Bokurano, where it’s a central concept that Zearth takes the life of its pilot every time it is used.

So, what about Kannazuki no Miko? The biggest apparent barrier to adapting it closely might be the same one as Bokurano; Ame no Murakumo requires the life of one of the priestesses to reset the damage done by Orochi. Simply leaving this aspect (or the reset itself) out wouldn’t really work because the idea that one of them must die is the only reason for Chikane becoming an Orochi. (Unless they change that to brainwashing or something.) Note, however, that unlike Zearth, this is only for the reset and not necessarily for every time Ame no Murakumo fights. (And having the reset actually happen in a crossover presents problems of its own.)

Song Challenge Day 25: Acoustic song

“An acoustic song you love”

How about four? I just happened to find this medley around the time I needed to decide what song to use here. It’s JAM Project, unplugged and playing the instruments themselves. The songs are “Fire Wars” (Mazinkaiser), “Nageki no Rosario” (Gravion), “STORM” (Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo), and “DRAGON” (New Getter Robo).

(uploaded by okun mizuki)