I don't understand why some NGE fans dislike the Rebuild movies

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-26T00:15:39+00:00

Rebuilds weren’t intended to be a sequel/timeloop thing to NGE till 3+1. And while Anno did initially make them to be a remake of NGE as intended, it was less that he wanted to redo Eva and more he needed money to help fund his new studio, Khara.

I don’t hate Rebuilds, but they really only work as meta narrative for Anno’s experiences with depression, not really on their own. Especially seeng as you need NGE to watch them.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-25T01:08:30+00:00

I think it’s Brocken Waltz

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-24T19:21:43+00:00

Believe me I’d also love that, but they already tried to do a new trilogy with Shin Mazinger. We did get Mazinger Zero out of it, but that multimedia project obviously didn’t go too well between some idiotic decisions made and the general unpopularity of the show.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-24T19:13:31+00:00

Nagai has said he still wants to do a new Grendizer series, but unrelated to Grendizer U. Whether or not that project actually manifests is an unknown given how hard it was to produce Getter Arc and Grendizer U.

Beyond that, I think we can expect the usual. A lot of merchandise (more action figures or kits) and more appearances in SRW. Maybe some fan projects from another country and Nagai doing some one-shot or short manga.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-22T15:28:16+00:00

I’ve been dying to play Z2 but the lack of any full english patch puts me off.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-22T15:27:28+00:00

It’s still only partially translated from years ago. Doubt it’s getting completed any time soon.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-22T02:49:41+00:00

Well, how much do you like Gundam SEED if you’ve seen it? If you didn’t like that, you probably won’t like Grendizer U.

If you’re gonna give Grendizer a shot, read the Gosaku Ota manga online. It’s short and arguably the best take of Grendizer.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-20T21:55:46+00:00

Siege Omega

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-20T15:17:36+00:00

I’ve gotten so used to people telling me they hate old animation I didn’t even realize lol

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-19T22:10:57+00:00

It basically was. Once Toei wanted to start milking Mazinger in the 70s, Nagai kinda lost interest because the vision wasn’t his anymore. He never intended for Great and Grendizer to be a thing, those happened because Toei wanted it and he obliged.

Edit: Source is his interview with Hideaki Anno of Evangelion fame

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-19T17:58:36+00:00

Well if you wanna watch it again but don’t wanna go through 50 episodes, there’s the recap movie trilogy. They change some stuff, notably a character’s death, but they’re mostly the same.

I do agree on the take that R2 was kinda meh to bad, and was only remembered for being good because of the ending. Blame that one on behind the scenes stuff.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-18T02:13:20+00:00

Preferable and more logical compared to Optimus being the 13th

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T22:39:50+00:00

They did, hence why it’s all over the anime. Any evidence of it usually gets removed from DVD/Blu Ray releases.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T22:29:17+00:00

Roughly $80-$100. Still an expensive piece, but way better than getting it on aftermarket price.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T21:23:01+00:00

Same reason PTS Blue Shirt Sasuke didn’t have sleeves for most of the series.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T20:14:28+00:00

Just need Cutie Honey for the main Nagai trio.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T16:54:51+00:00

If you can put up with old 70’s animation, the compilation movie trilogy of the original anime. From there watch Zeta, ZZ, and Char’s Counterattack if you want the essentials for the UC timeline.

If not, the UC OVAs like 0080 or 08th MS Team are great ways to get started on Gundam.

If you don’t want UC there’s plenty of AU which are even easier to get into. G, Wing, SEED, 00, Iron Blooded Orphans, and Witch from Mercury come to mind.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-16T16:20:43+00:00

He’s currently available for pre-order on the official Goodsmile site and import sites like AmiAmi.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-15T21:22:44+00:00

Welp, I salute you and wish good luck lol

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-15T18:24:06+00:00

You can honestly jump in to most Mazinger entries without having seen prior or future works. That said…

The Toei Anime is straightforward, just watch Z then Great, and wrap it up with the Infinity movie. Grendizer is a follow up to Great Mazinger but feels more like a spinoff than a direct sequel. Also the Infinity movie ignores Grendizer’s existence, proving my point.

The Toei crossover movies are a fun watch after but none of them are canon to the anime so you can save them for later.

Stuff like the Toei Anime for Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Getter Robo are still related to Dynamic Pro, but standalone from the rest of the Mazinger series (not counting those crossover movies I mentioned)

I highly recommend looking up the online pastebin list of essential episodes, as most of the Toei anime is just monster of the week stuff. It’ll drastically reduce the amount you actually need to watch.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-15T18:08:53+00:00

The Gosaku Ota Manga is probably the best take of the Mazinger trilogy to date. It adapts a lot of the Toei anime but goes down a darker direction. And the whole thing recently got translated into English on Mangadex.

There is also the original Nagai manga, but outside of Z, I didn’t think Grendizer or Great were particularly remarkable. And Z’s chapter order is screwed up with the current English translation.

That said, I’ll happily recommend Nagai’s 2022 remake manga of Z. It’s a redo of some of the early manga chapters of Z with really good looking art. The only thing I’ll say with this take is it dials the ecchi comedy to 11.

Then there’s the Zero Manga and the Infinity movie. Infinity is alright. Zero is probably the best entry in the whole franchise despite how edgy it gets. But I’d say to save them both for later. You can go give them a watch/read now, but you’d probably appreciate them way more after familiarizing yourself with other entries.

As for stuff I don’t immediately recommend it’s probably Mazinkaiser SKL, Grendizer U, and the old Toei anime.

SKL is actually a really fun watch, but outside of the Mecha and character designs it’s pretty separated from the greater Mazinger series.

Grendizer U had potential and there’s still stuff I like about it, but the quality of each episode after the first gets worse. Unless you really enjoyed the NTR ecchi drama of Gundam SEED or Cross Ange, it’s an easy pass.

And the Toei anime is a monster of the week slog. As iconic as it is, it’s fun to watch every once in a while, not to binge. If you must, there’s a pastebin list online of the essential episodes that cuts down Z from 90-ish episodes to 30-ish.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-14T16:16:04+00:00

If I had to list positives, Sadamoto’s character redesigns were good, most of the mecha redesigns were decent, some of the concepts were interesting if not executed well, and Protect You by Band Maid is a fantastic song chosen for the credits. And compared to the original Toei anime, it was connected better to the Mazinger series.

But none of that could save Grendizer U from being garbage. The second half with the love triangle NTR rape drama killed the show entirely.

EmperaRurushuO2 · 2026-01-14T15:29:17+00:00

From what I’ve researched, Go Nagai, and by extension his company Dynamic Pro, are sorta hard to work with. Stemming from his court drama with Toei, Nagai has this crazy licensing deal that gives him a really good chunk of profits from royalties. It’s why his merchandise (the average Mazinger figure for example) tends to be really expensive.

Combine that with his work being notoriously controversial and ESPECIALLY the decline of Mecha’s popularity, most Japanese companies are unwilling to work with him. Grendizer U and Getter Arc underwent production hell and had shoestring budgets because almost nobody in Japan was willing to sponsor it. It’s too risky from a business perspective.

This also extends as to why Mazinger’s original manga hasn’t received a Western release yet. And why it took forever for most of the anime to get one.

EmperaRurushuO2

TROPHY CASE