With more Lupin the Third original video animations and television series releases than I can count, DiscoTek Deep Cuts is happily grinding out the hits for this IP in August, along with other series! While a lot more love is being offered for the complete magical girl series release of Symphogear (including G and GX; and available to stream on Crunchyroll), which is considered a musical wonder set in a futuristic world, I have to focus on my top picks from what’s been adapted from Go Nagai’s works. Yes, I’m a fan of his worlds than anything else, and that’s why the first item on this list is tops.
Go Nagai World Blu-ray
This one’s a fun oddity from Go Nagai’s massive catalogue: a three-episode OVA from 1991 that takes his famous creations and turns them super deformed. Akira Fudo wakes up with his body all wrong, and along with Miki and Ryo he’s got to figure out how to fix it while running into a bunch of familiar faces from other Nagai works.
God Mazinger Blu-ray (Amazon Link)
God Mazinger takes the classic giant robot formula and drops it into an ancient fantasy setting, with Queen Aira of the kingdom of Mu summoning a modern Tokyo teenager, Yamato Hino, to merge with a giant deity statue and fight off the Dragonian Empire. It’s got that fun mix of high school kid meets ancient prophecy that a lot of 80s mecha shows played with.
This release covers the full 23-episode series from 1984, in standard definition on one disc.
DiscoTek Deep Cut Into Mazinger Z Part 1
This is the big one for tokusatsu and mecha fans: the first half of the original Mazinger Z series that basically kicked off the whole super robot genre back in 1972. Koji Kabuto inherits his grandfather’s Mazinger Z after Dr. Hell’s forces kill him, and from there it’s non-stop rocket punches and mecha monster fights alongside Sayaka and her robot Aphrodite A.
This release includes episodes 1-46 across four discs, and it’s billed as the first high-def release of the uncut original in North America.
Mazinger Z Part 2
The second half of the series, picking up with episodes 47-92 and wrapping the story up for good. Dr. Hell teams up with the even more menacing Duke Gorgon, Sayaka gets a shiny new mech in Diana A, and there’s a new maid character named Misato stirring up some jealousy at the Institute. Same specs as Volume 1: four discs, Japanese audio with English subtitles,
