Grendizer U Episode 1 Discussion

I can't find the first episode can someone help me

hm... that was... strange at least, not what i expected...

and why arabs? am i forgetting smth from original?

Ok I have very mixed feelings about it.

First of all, this looks like some sort of remake/reboot of "UFO Robo Grendizer", but in the Middle East (I watched the first ep of the old show to compare, but im not sure)? Im really not liking it, because the anime is funded in some % by Manga Productions (a Saudi Arabian company) at it looks to me like they payed to have the setting be in ME. While it might not turn out bad, im against this type of stuf, because to me it screems like the writers don't have the freedom in writing what they want. I know it's common to have higher ups make certain decisions about projects, but this is a bit too obvious that they paid for the setting and it does not look good in my opinion.

Secondly and more importantly, the episode was really weirdly paced. At the beginning, I felt like we missed at least 10 minutes of build up material (like how the characters got to know each other so "well") and that just made me not care about the rest of the episode. It was all over the place for me.

The animation was average

Overall 2.5/5 from me for this beginning

not really, I mean you should know just the basics about Mazinga Z and great Mazinga since they are part of the same universe, but after showing how weak he was against Vega troops I don't think he will appear anymore as Mazinga

guys can i watch the anime without watching the previous seasons?

@SuperUnoCards it's a remake so yeah you can, but if you want I suggest you go watch Mazinger Z (2009) or the original one to get familiar with the character since they share the same cast and I would count it as a prequel personally.

Mazinger Z's forearms are black like in Shin Mazinger. the white Pilder is unique.

the subs are weird, why is Pilder Fielder and Breast Fire Freed Fire?

Mazinger Z's forearms are black like in Shin Mazinger. the white Pilder is unique.

the subs are weird, why is Pilder Fielder and Breast Fire Freed Fire?

@Fortress_Maximus The Pilder in the Mazinger Manga was white. The only other notable Mazinger with a white pilder was Mazinkaiser's version. As for the subs, probably a nod to OG Mazinger's infamous Crabstick Subs as well as Mazinkaiser doing the same thing.

@Fortress_Maximus Considering it's Ichiro Okouchi, how much did they change the story? Are there any flags of his favorite tropes?

@RobertBobert No clue as Shin Mazinger is the only previous Mazinger work I have seen.

My first impression is they applied The Worf Effect to Kouji/Mazinger Z with him and his super robot being Earth's main heroes, able to hold his own against the weaker Vega UFOs only to be defeated to show how strong Vega is and that only Duke's Grendizer can take them on as an equal. He is Duke Fleed's foil.

This looks to be story about Duke atoning for what he did before crashing on Earth.

@LuRo middle east setting feels forced and its cringe af to be honest.. i feel the same you can totally fund a project and make it stay true to the original i mean what's wrong with making everything in Japan like the old one

i also heard that the events will take place in France and Italy too

@RobertBobert No clue as Shin Mazinger is the only previous Mazinger work I have seen.

My first impression is they applied The Worf Effect to Kouji/Mazinger Z with him and his super robot being Earth's main heroes, able to hold his own against the weaker Vega UFOs only to be defeated to show how strong Vega is and that only Duke's Grendizer can take them on as an equal. He is Duke Fleed's foil.

This looks to be story about Duke atoning for what he did before crashing on Earth.

guys can i watch the anime without watching the previous seasons?

Absolutely not. I only made it halfway through through the first episode. The character designs are nice but everything else is awful.

I haven't watched it yet, but I know Grendizer was HUGE in France, Italy and Middle East in the 70s/80s, even bigger than in Japan (where Mazinger was more popular), there is a cult following of Grendizer in Italy...
The fact that the remake takes place in those specific countries makes me think of an homage to the fans of those countries who kept the franchise alive back in the days, although I agree that I'd prefer it to take place in Japan like the original version, I can understand why they did it

In Europe, Grendizer was a major success in France and Italy, known in both countries as Goldorak and Goldrake respectively.[19] In Italy, the Italian dub theme songs were among the best-selling singles of 1978, with the first selling over 700,000 copies and the second selling over 1,000,000 copies [...] The French dub titled was the first anime series to be telecast in France and legend goes that the series was so popular among French viewers that several episodes scored a 100% TV rating [...]UFO Robot Grendizer Raid was released theatrically as Goldorak and became a hit at the French box office, selling 922,964 tickets upon release in 1979 [...] (source : wiki)

Absolutely not. I only made it halfway through through the first episode. The character designs are nice but everything else is awful.

animation is somewhat decent, but some scene feels kinda odd like when they went to ride a bike in a tournament or something.. I trust the director since I've watched his last work and liked it so maybe some odd scene might be from the *big middle east investor* who request em to put it in? idk mate just guessing but the later half it's pretty decent. maybe I'm too harsh on this since I went into this expect something on the same level as New Getter Robo or Mazinger Z (2009) since they got this much cash from saudi to make the show

Sayaka has purple hair in this? That's certainly a choice to make.

Probably for the best to consider this show entirely separate from any of the other Mazinger series stuff. Connecting this to something like Infinity would be dizzying.

gaina should rename themselves to not associate with gainax anymore

@Radical_Orion

yup exactly.. they're the target audience for this remake

also another fact for you, misk/manga production the Saudi foundation that funded this project bought a huge share in the French and the Italian networks that will air the anime in order to get as much profit as they can

so basically this whole thing is a nostalgia bait to profit off from the arabs, french and italians lol 🤣

@Fortress_Maximus That is, in general they remain within the boundaries of the original story?

@RobertBobert perhaps.

@deg they already did since they were Fukushima Gainax before becoming Gaina.