Sixty Years Since Mighty Atom: 1972
Jan. 10th, 2023 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerIn the fall of 2010 I marked a merely personal anniversary (fifteen years since I joined my university’s anime club) by watching a bit of anime from all the years I had access to. Back then, the oldest series I had was 1972’s Gatchaman on DVD from ADV, following up on having seen Battle of the Planets many years before while visiting the kids next door (they had cable; we didn’t). It had taken until almost the end of Gatchaman before I got to the single episode I could remember real details of after that long, though.
Now, after having watched my way through sample episodes from nine previous years, I was intent on dropping in on a different series from 1972, Mazinger Z. I suppose it was both a matter of “one single series can’t define a year’s production” and “Gatchaman may have helped set up ‘the five-person superhero team,’ but Mazinger helped establish ‘the piloted super robot.’” Of course, two series don’t really define a year in themselves either; I took interest in a recent retrospective of 1972’s anime and noted how its series could very much be seen as aimed at kid audiences. Mazinger Z’s pilot Koji Kabuto may be old enough to tear around on a motorcycle, but it was easy enough for me to think his kid brother Shiro an audience-identification figure. That two people died in front of the Kabutos in the first episode might not matter that much there.
Still retaining an impression Mazinger hadn’t gone into action right away, I watched two episodes. The relative simplicity of its evil-versus-good setup was easy enough to think of as “it’s a starting point,” but I had made it all the way through the lengthy series with continued interest before (and gone on to its immediate sequel). One thing I was inclined to contemplate, though, was how for all that the episodes built some drama out of “Koji’s had no training whatsoever before getting into Mazinger,” he was able to launch attacks without yelling their names. I remain quite sure that didn’t take long to show up.
Now, after having watched my way through sample episodes from nine previous years, I was intent on dropping in on a different series from 1972, Mazinger Z. I suppose it was both a matter of “one single series can’t define a year’s production” and “Gatchaman may have helped set up ‘the five-person superhero team,’ but Mazinger helped establish ‘the piloted super robot.’” Of course, two series don’t really define a year in themselves either; I took interest in a recent retrospective of 1972’s anime and noted how its series could very much be seen as aimed at kid audiences. Mazinger Z’s pilot Koji Kabuto may be old enough to tear around on a motorcycle, but it was easy enough for me to think his kid brother Shiro an audience-identification figure. That two people died in front of the Kabutos in the first episode might not matter that much there.
Still retaining an impression Mazinger hadn’t gone into action right away, I watched two episodes. The relative simplicity of its evil-versus-good setup was easy enough to think of as “it’s a starting point,” but I had made it all the way through the lengthy series with continued interest before (and gone on to its immediate sequel). One thing I was inclined to contemplate, though, was how for all that the episodes built some drama out of “Koji’s had no training whatsoever before getting into Mazinger,” he was able to launch attacks without yelling their names. I remain quite sure that didn’t take long to show up.