Bandai, through its Bandai Fashion Net website, is selling three different models of t-shirts with Shin Mazinger-related motifs. Far from the flashy colors that most of us would associate with the series. Bandai opted for sober designs, putting the main design in the back in some cases.
The t-shirts are on sale for 2940 yen and they come in different sizes.
If you are into rainbow colors, you would probably prefer any of the two models of caps offered by the same company, this time at a 3150 price.
Years and years ago, Go Nagai, who was at the time dedicating himself completely to Devilman, was coming home from his studio and got himself caught in a traffic jam. At that moment he thought, "If my car had legs, I could avoid the others easily and get home pretty soon." From that idea came the early designs for what was to become Mazinger Z, but on those first designs, the name of the robot was Energer Z and even if its looks were quite similar, there still were some differences (as you can see on the first image) from what ended up being the final design. The most important one was the pilot -at the time called Susumu Kaze- who docked into Mazinger without a pilder. He did it using his own motorbike, running up a ramp located on the back of the robot. In the end, the ramp disappeared, the pilot name changed to Koji Kabuto and the motorbike gave way to the now famous pilder. Even so, the basic design for Energer Z was used on Sayaka's second robot, Diana A, obviously with a more feminine look.
Energer Z itself was never used in any of the Mazinger series ever shown on the small screen...until some weeks ago.
In Shin Mazinger, Energer Z is the prototype of Mazinger created by Kenzo Kabuto (Koji's father) and piloted by Tetsuya Tsurugi (Great Mazinger's pilot in the old series). Both of them seem to have died in an incident at Bardos island in the past, but Energer Z appears in the present piloted by Kenzo himself and fights Mazinger, matching his power level.It seems that all the Z robots can achieve their maximum power level (although it would seem, by also putting themselves in danger) by means of the Koshiryoku Meltdown (Nuclear melting of the Photonic Energy?) as the color of their bodies changes to metallic scarlet.
It is this last Energer Z model that will go on sale as part of Bandai's collection Soul of Chogokin, in this case the GX-47. The official blog uploaded some pictures.
The advertising machinery is working non-stop. The producers of series, understanding that they will get better profits from the sale of DVD and Blu-ray and its related products than from the broadcasting of the series on TV, have decided to advertise Shin Mazinger in the most used mean of transportation in Tokyo, the subway. To do it, a fantastic giant-sized poster (812 x 415") would be seen between August 21 and September 3 (of 2009, for those of you who read this in the future) at the main stations of the Ginza, Hanzamon, Yurakucho and Marunouchi lines amongst others, according to Shin Mazinger's official blog.
Where will those posters go after September 3? Let's hope we get lucky!
It's only five more days until Shin Mazinger's DVD and Blu-ray go on sale, and the merchandising machinery is now in full swing. The official site is being updated constantly with the advertisement of new products; be it figures, t-shirts or mangas and with the updating of the site contents (character profiles, episode guide, etc.). During the next few days I'll try to keep you up to date with all the new information through several entries in the blog dedicated to all those items. For now, and to celebrate the first DVD and Blu-ray of the series going on sale, the ORICON STYLE website is giving away (through a lottery) a copy of the commemorative promotional poster for the series signed by 4 members of SKE48, whose debut single is the new ending song 強き者よ (Tsuyokimonoyo) that substituted Natsuko Aso's one a few weeks ago.
This is the promotional single for the song, uploaded to Youtube by SuperAKB48withSKE48. If you like it, you can buy it on the links provided under the video.
It's Saturday again and while we wait for today's episode, let's take a peek inside the Blu-ray box containing the 3 discs with the first 9 episodes of Shin Mazinger. Thanks to the official blog, we can see that each one of the 3 discs will have its own sleeve, which I think is going to be the same as the DVD version and that are going to be designed by Shinji Takeuchi(竹内進二), series director and designer for the exterior artwork of the Blu-ray box, and Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋 秀之), who works as an animator for mechas and who is rumored to have had a big part in the new opening scene unveiled last week. On the back of the box there's going to be an illustration with Koji Kabuto wearing a flashy yellow shirt. Moreover, we can see on the picture a first image of what promises to be a meaty 32-page booklet of which they promise to give us more information soon. It's only 24 more days until it goes on sale!
The t-shirts are on sale for 2940 yen and they come in different sizes.
Years and years ago, Go Nagai, who was at the time dedicating himself completely to Devilman, was coming home from his studio and got himself caught in a traffic jam. At that moment he thought, "If my car had legs, I could avoid the others easily and get home pretty soon." From that idea came the early designs for what was to become Mazinger Z, but on those first designs, the name of the robot was Energer Z and even if its looks were quite similar, there still were some differences (as you can see on the first image) from what ended up being the final design. The most important one was the pilot -at the time called Susumu Kaze- who docked into Mazinger without a pilder. He did it using his own motorbike, running up a ramp located on the back of the robot. In the end, the ramp disappeared, the pilot name changed to Koji Kabuto and the motorbike gave way to the now famous pilder. Even so, the basic design for Energer Z was used on Sayaka's second robot, Diana A, obviously with a more feminine look. 
The advertising machinery is working non-stop. The producers of series, understanding that they will get better profits from the sale of DVD and Blu-ray and its related products than from the broadcasting of the series on TV, have decided to advertise Shin Mazinger in the most used mean of transportation in Tokyo, the subway. To do it, a fantastic giant-sized poster (812 x 415") would be seen between August 21 and September 3 (of 2009, for those of you who read this in the future) at the main stations of the Ginza, Hanzamon, Yurakucho and Marunouchi lines amongst others, according to Shin Mazinger's official blog.
It's only five more days until Shin Mazinger's DVD and Blu-ray go on sale, and the merchandising machinery is now in full swing.
It's Saturday again and while we wait for today's episode, let's take a peek inside the Blu-ray box containing the 3 discs with the first 9 episodes of Shin Mazinger.