Super Robot Maniac Talk and "Robot Girls Z"! Super Robot Comics Festival" Report

The "Super Robot Manga Festival" was held on Sunday, November 12 to commemorate the sequential release of "Mazinger Z Blu-ray BOX" (all three volumes) on Wednesday, December 6 and "Robot Girls Z Full Combo Blu-ray" on Wednesday, January 10, 2018.

Mazinger Z" is a manga serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) by Go Nagai in 1972, and can be said to be the originator of the giant robot animation series that depicts the activities of Mazinger Z, a giant robot with a variety of weapons and overwhelming strength, and its pilot, Kouji Kabuto. The TV animation series broadcast in the 1970s recorded the highest viewer rating of 30.4%, and has gained a large number of fans around the world. In January 2017, it was announced that this work would be revived as a theater animation.
⇒ The official website has been opened and image graphics have been released !　The official website has opened and image graphics have been released.

In addition, "Robot Girls Z" is a TV anime that was broadcast on CS broadcasting Toei Channel in 2014. The series is based on Go Nagai's original "Mazinger Z," "Great Mazinger," "Grendizer," and other super robots of the past that have been made into girls (anthropomorphic beautiful girl characters), and features hot special move battles such as "rocket punch" battles, mini-skirts, swimsuits, and open-air baths. The following year, in 2015, the series became a hot topic as a Roboga anime that included the standard bishojo anime elements such as miniskirts, swimsuits, and open-air baths. The following year, "Robot Girls Z Plus," a web-distributed anime, was released in 2015.

The "Mazinger Z Blu-ray BOX" (3 volumes) and "Robot Girls Z Full Combo Blu-ray" will be released on December 6 (Wed) and January 10 (Wed), 2018, respectively.

To celebrate the release, a "Super Robot Manga Festival" was held on Sunday, November 12 within the "Nakano x Suginami Anime Fest 2017" at Congress Square Nakano Convention Hall.
The event was divided into two parts: the first part was a "Super Robot Maniac Talk" focusing on "Mazinger Z," which marked the 45th anniversary of its TV anime broadcast, and the second part was a "Robot Girls Z Corner" featuring the cast of "Robot Girls Z," an anime in which super robots are transformed into beautiful girl characters. Corner" featuring cast members of "Robot Girls Z," an anime in which super robots are transformed into beautiful girl characters.
Here is the official report from the event.

Official Report Part 1】 ※Titles omitted

(MC: Ikugi Tanabe, Koji Igarashi, Guest: Toshio Katsuta, Kazuhide Tomonaga, Kazuhiro Ochi)

The production team of the TV animation series talked about the unknown particulars of those days!
Matsushima: "The role of Sayaka Yumi was an important work that connected me to my later roles.

In the first part, former AKB48 member Ikki Tanabe appeared in costume as Sayaka Yumi, the heroine of "Mazinger Z," and served as MC together with Koji Igarashi (animation researcher). When it was announced that "Mazinger Z Episode 34 'Red Lightning: Mazinger in the Sky'" would be screened, the audience cheered enthusiastically, indicating the enthusiasm of the audience.

After the screening, the first half of the talk session began with the appearance of the "Mazinger Z" TV animation broadcast staff, including Toshio Katsuta (director), Kazuhide Tomonaga (original drawings), and Kazuhiro Ochi (manga filmmaker),who shared their valuable production secrets from theTVanimation broadcast era.

Igarashi asked, "What did you devise as a director when adapting the original story to anime? Katsuta replied, "I was particular about bringing out the texture of the chogokin (superalloy) in the close-up shots. I was always conscious of expressing a sense of scale throughout the entire film since it is a "giant robot. Tomonaga, who worked on the original drawings, said, "I wanted to create realistic explosion scenes, so I went through a trial and error process." Ochi praised Tomonaga, saying, "Tomonaga's original drawings (of explosion scenes and the weight of the robots) have permeated other works and made history in robot animation.

The second half of the talk featured talk guest Minori Matsushima, who played the role of Sayaka Yumi in the TV anime series. When asked by Tanabe about her thoughts on the role, she replied, "The role is really important to me. This role broadened my acting range as I experienced romantic scenes and a girl of her age. I think it was a role that led me to my subsequent work," she said, expressing her love for the role of Sayaka Yumi. After showing the latest trailer for the movie " Mazinger Z/INFINITY " (to be released in January 2018), he mentioned that Matsushima is actually in the movie and playfully said, "Guess which scene she is in.

[Official Report Part 2

(MC: Ikki Tanabe, Guest: Mariko Honda, Kaoru Takaoka, Yukiko Morishita, Aki Saidrenji)

There were a lot of contents such as quiz, comedy, surprise birthday, etc.!
Honda: "Everyone who has always supported me has a strong heart! (laugh)."

In the second part, Tanabe was the MC as in the first part, and four guests, Mariko Honda (playing Z-chan), Kaoru Takaoka (playing Gai-chan), Yukiko Morishita (playing Garada K7), and Aki Saidrenji (playing Guro-chan), took the stage. First, the history of "Robot Girls Z" was reviewed, and "Robot Girls Z Episode 0" and a new Petit Chara animation were screened. The guests and the audience were all laughing together during the new animation, which was shown for the first time at the event, as well as the episode 0, which was accompanied by a live audio commentary.

Then, "Aki Tiger II," who resembles Saionji, suddenly appeared as a "challenge from Aki Tiger II" and took over as MC for Tanabe, who held a "Robot Girls & Nakano Collaboration Quiz. In addition to questions related to "Mazinger Z," there were also a variety of other questions, such as a "Kulton Nakano," a character from Nakano City's Nakano City Tour, who came up with a new name for the city, and other questions that were like a comedy competition. The final question was answered correctly by all except Takaoka, who was the only one who answered incorrectly and came in last overall. Takaoka, who was in last place, had to leave the stage once to prepare for the penalty game. Aki Tiger also left the stage, and when Takaoka returned, Saionji reappeared with a birthday cake and a surprise for Takaoka, whose birthday was coming up in four days, on November 16. The audience sang a chorus of birthday songs and wished Takaoka a happy birthday with placards that read "Happy Birthday! Thank you very much.

The Roboga event was again full of exciting content, and at the end of the event, each guest said, "This is the first time for me to voice a character in an anime, and I have always enjoyed the warm atmosphere of Roboga" (Saionji), "Roboga has been an important work for seven years now, and I hope it will continue for a long time to come. I hope it will continue for a long time to come." (Morishita) "I think we are able to continue like this because of the staff who have been working with us for a long time and the fans who have always supported us as the ROBOGA team. I hope it will continue in some form in the future." (Takaoka) "This is the first time for me to look back on the history of ROBOGA, and I felt once again that the hearts of the people who have continued to support us are very strong. The staff also loves ROBOGA, and they are working on it with the feeling that they will never give up. It is such a passionate work, so I am sure there will be more in the future.

Product information

Mazinger Z Blu-ray BOX VOL.1" (initial production limited)
Release date: December 6, 2017 (Wednesday)
Price: 25,000 yen (excluding tax)

Robot Girls Z Full Combo Blu-ray
Release date: Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Price: 7,000 yen (excluding tax)

・ Sold by: Toei Corporation
・ Sold by: Toei Animation Co. Toei Video Co.

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