FAKEANIMEGIRL

Seeing the Mazinger franchise get another animated entry is quite uplifting. Shin Mazinger turned out to be among the best mecha series ever created, yet it made the presumptuous decision to set itself up for a sequel that would never find the funding it needed, leaving Kouji and company in an unresolved limbo that felt somewhat appropriate for the franchise's never-ending legacy but was nonetheless disappointing when more was promised. Infinity doesn't follow Shin's continuity, but it works as a sort of new conclusion for the entire franchise, meaning that in some sense it may as well be the sequel to nearly any entry of yourchoice. It would've been easy and predictable for Infinity's staff to go for another bog-standard story where Mazinger defeats a resurrected Dr. Hell for the umpteenth time and everything is restored to the status quo, but the team took more creative liberties that by and large paid off. This isn't simply more scraps for the fanbase that barely struggles to survive, this is a taste of something new. A celebration of everything associated with the Mazinger brand as is appropriate for its anniversary but made with enough affection to understand the fans' desire to see these characters grow to new heights and capstone their worthwhile journeys. Infinity makes the bold choice to set itself in the future of the Mazinger universe, perhaps a sort of acknowledgment towards how long these characters have been on a hiatus. A loving one that says the Mazinger family wasn't neglected and left for dead in the interim following Shin Mazinger's lack of success, but rather they were off still doing their own thing and growing as we waited for them to come back, and they all have something to show for their time. It's a treat to see every character's newfound success after cycles of endless war and minor character development. Relationships are formed, which means they even went so far as to drop the exhausting "will they/won't they" shonen trope of Kouji and Sayaka's romance. Shiro has grown from a snot-nosed brat to a suave-looking young man who, along with his mech, looks like he could be a punk rock band. Professor Yumi has gone as far as to become the Prime fucking Minister of Japan, leaving no respect unpaid for any of these veterans. Well, Boss is working at a modest ramen shop, but he seems to enjoy it. Of all the creative liberties taken, the most left-field is perhaps the addition of Lisa, a cyborg that desperately wants Kouji and Sayaka’s approval of herself and each other. At first, she comes across as a ham-fisted unnecessary original character, and perhaps that’s what she even ends up as, but she’s largely background noise for conflicts that still revolve around the main cast, so she doesn’t steal the show despite her eventual importance. It’s upsetting to see her still get more speaking lines than a classic character like Boss, but her cute naivete is endearing enough that her involvement is not for nothing. The fight scenes are spectacular. To the point where I’d say they’re some of the best choreographed in the entire mecha genre. Gone are the days of shot-reverse-shots of Mazinger firing off an attack in a straight line, a mecha being hit by it, and then exploding. Infinity’s Mazingers are acrobatic stuntmen. You’ve seen Iron Cutter, Jet Scrander, and all the usuals, but you’ve never seen them used like this. The Mazingers infuse their classic techniques with dynamism, constantly coming up with clever ways to strike the enemies on the move and lead each attack into the next. Environments play a key role in how fight scenes play out, and with callbacks to moves used in earlier fights, such as Jet Scrander being launched to destroy five Mechabeasts, only to on its return get one that's approaching Mazinger from behind. There’s an element of strategy to these fights that sacrifices absolutely none of the speed and intensity while making every action all the more deliberate and impressive. The CG mechs aren’t quite as nice to look at as the 2D animation surrounding them, but in both respects this is the best the Mazinger cast has ever looked. An advantage of CG is that it probably allowed for these utterly dense action scenes to even happen, and they also allow for consistently placed battle damage that makes the fights just a touch more engrossing. While the movie breaks new ground with its matured framework of the world itself, the core story is completely typical for a super robot series. Dr. Hell is revived, and Kouji must defeat him with the literal force of willpower. The surrounding character drama is fairly fresh, but at its center lies a rote good and evil story. This is likely appropriate for the inverse reasons as to why developing the characters was such a treat. They’re mixing evolution with the familiar to show that the franchise can evolve while still recognizably being a Mazinger story. If they went with a left-field storyline perhaps more akin to Shin Mazinger while also slightly morphing the characters, the audience may have been too alienated to accept this as both a celebration and growth of the franchise. If it were too unfamiliar it wouldn’t be the former, and if it wasn’t the former then we wouldn’t be able to associate the growth with the characters we once recognized. It’s a nearly ideal mix that doesn’t feel compromising so much as it was the only logical way to take the story. Watch it, and enjoy the terrible credits music.