Henshin Robo Genndyzer (Or, Mike’s Quickie Review of SYM-BIONIC TITAN!)

Going through my referrals, I discovered that the one entry on this blog that always generated a large portion of the weekly hits turned out to be my report of Genndy Tartakovsky’s new series, Sym-Bionic Titan. It wasn’t so much because of it being a hard-hitting article, but rather the wait for its broadcast felt like listening to the first prolonged note of a three-hour opera –you want it to just start already! Thankfully enough, as of Friday night, that first note finally carried into what we came for.

Sym-Bionic Titan finally made its premiere on Cartoon Network, one of the two things worth watching that night (the other being the Star Wars: The Clone Wars season premiere. Screw everything else), and I’ll just tell you right now: It was worth every second of the wait. I posted about it on Facebook straight away, telling my friends “Animation buffs, you will love what they did with the style and backgrounds. Mechaholics, you will love all the homages and nods. Star Blazers[/Yamato] fans, you will cream yourselves at the climax”. Really, that’s the shortest possible way I can best sum up this premiere, but if you want the long-version? Hit the jump.

Behold, the Emissary

I recently lent my vocal talents to Jabronie Pictures‘ entry to the IFC Assassin’s Creed II fanfilm contest. Though it turned out great, it unfortunately didn’t place, but at least something awesome came out of it. Check out the winners here. In the meantime, what do you think?

PIILDER! OOOOOOOOOOOOON!

The first proper promo for Shin Mazinger! Shougeki Z-Hen is now online! Seeing as how Bandai Channel is still banning international IPs, here it is on Youtube!

God, I’m so excited! I will most assuredly be staying up to watch this when it airs. *flails and goes Kaiser Nova*

Z MAZINGER IS REVEALED! (Kinda)

Japanese blog, Bonaparte’s Rocket Punch, recently uploaded the following scan:

Nope, this isn’t fake. This isn’t one elaborate 2ch hoax. THIS IS IT! THE FIRST GLIMPSE AT Z MAZINGER! More info after the jump!

EDIT – Another leaked scan added. Official site for Shin Mazinger is now open! http://www.shin-mazinger.com

Koji Just Died A Little In Magma! It’s Still Good! It’s Still Good!

EDIT 4/27/2010: THESE ARE NOT RUMORS PERTAINING TO MAZINGER SKL. Dunno why many people are linking here thinking otherwise, given that one could tell by actually reading and looking at the timestamp. Regardless, if you want a lowdown on what we DO know about SKL, check out this entry here.

I know, ANOTHER week without Friday ACE. In its place, I’ve got something just as interesting:

(No this image isn’t from what I’m about to talk about.)

A batch of spoiler rumors have cropped up on 2ch regarding the long-awaited Z Mazinger anime. Now while this should be all be taken with a grain of salt, some things do add up. For your amusement, here they are:

Z Mazinger series is still alive. Go Nagai has recently made comments on the new Mazinger series.

-It will take place 2 years after the Mazinkaiser OVA/Movie

-Mazinkaiser has been sealed up due to its immense power.

-New Z Mazinger pilot Myochin Ken who arrives to Earth from the Planet Fleed.

-Koji battles Ken with the rebuilt original Mazinger, thinking he’s one of Dr. Hell’s latest minions.

-Ken serves his Prince, Duke Fleed

-New enemy from inside the earth, Not Mikene Empire, it will [feature] Hades and other mythological creatures.

-The series was delayed due to problems with the director, a new one has been hired, the new director Yasuchika Nagaoka (Godannar) will co-work with Masahiko Murata (Mazinkaiser director) and Go nagai to bring a new and exciting visuals and battles never before seen in Super Robot anime.

-Expect action from Duke Fleed this time.

-This could be Go Nagai’s final work as he desires to retire from the business.

As I said, there are a few things about these rumors that do sort of add up when you look at the facts. When the news was first announced about the new series, Yasuhiro Imagawa was tapped to direct it. Best known as the director of G-Gundam and the epic Giant Robo OVA, he’s also notorious for having ditched the OVA Change!! Shin Getter Robo after two episodes due to creative differences. Though it’s a slim chance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Imagawa did pull the same stunt twice.

Also, with the original word on this being a sort of cross-over of the Mazinger series, further Grendizer action also seems likely to happen. Then again, there were rumors of a scrapped sequel to Grendizer back in the day, whose to say that the concept couldn’t be resurrected here?

For the time being, all we can do is wait. For all we know 2ch could be pulling our legs. Then again, they were dead on with a lot of things regarding the Super 8 Ultra Brothers rumors so I don’t think they’d mess around too much. Until then, it’s time for another Dynamic Robot marathon….