Mazinger
And staying with cartoons, I had also posted the opening sequence of Mazinger Z, also known in the US as Tranzor Z. Turns out there is an excellent and detailed article on Wikipedia about it.
"The series lasted for 92 episodes, making it the longest running anime mecha series in the genre. It remains the touchstone of the Super Robot anime genre and its influence is still felt today.
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This is often interpreted as the root of later series like Go-Lion (Voltron – Defender of the Universe), the Transformers, and the giant robots in the Super Sentai Series (the basis for Power Rangers).
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Aside from Japan and most countries in the Far East, Mazinger found an audience in many parts of the world, as it was translated to many languages. In Europe, Mazinger Z was televised in Spain and Italy, with astounding success...In 1984, the show was syndicated in the United States under the title Tranzor Z from 3-B Productions. Unlike the generally faithful treatment other countries gave their versions of Mazinger Z, 3-B's version of Tranzor Z was heavily edited and shortened to 65 episodes, with a modified storyline that was altered from the original. The "Americanization" of Mazinger Z for US consumption was done because of the strict standards in regards to content for children's programming at the time -- a large percentage of the action scenes were deemed unacceptable by Standards and Practices. In other words, Mazinger Z was too violent for US television -- the original version contained numerous scenes of mass hysteria, urban destruction, gratuitous violence, cold-blooded homicide, sadistic torture, gruesome dismemberments, violent death, and other acts of wanton chaos. " ![]()


