Venus A

Venus A (ビューナスA) is a female mecha from the Great Mazinger anime and manga series, created by Go Nagai. She plays the traditional role of the lady robot that helps the mazinger robot fight the enemy. She was named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

History
The robot was created by Dr. Kenzo Kabuto (son of Juzo Kabuto and father of Koji and Shiro Kabuto). When the Mikenese Armies prove too strong for Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger enters the scene and Venus is his companion in battle, together with Boss Borot. Despite the improvement Venus represents compared to Aphrodite A and Diana A, and being quite capable in combat, she usually suffers more damage than Great Mazinger, as was the case with Aphrodite and Diana compared to Mazinger. She appears from the first to the last chapter of the Great Mazinger TV series, when Mazinger and Diana return to help them defeat the enemy. She is also featured in some of the OVAs, including the Mazinkaiser ones. In this case, there are two versions of her, one of them is more stylized (piloted by Sayaka Yumi after Aphrodite A is destroyed) and the other one (piloted by Jun) is more similar to the classic one.

The first Mazinkaiser Venus is infected with a virus by Drago Ω1, a mechanical beast, in one of the OVAs and mutates into a Medusa version, becoming evil and attacking Mazinkaiser and the institute. In this state, Venus operates without pilot and has several snakes coming out of her head, but instead of heads they only have a big eye that fires beams. Eventually, she has to be destroyed since she can't be turned back to her former self.

The second Venus, more similar to the classical one, appears briefly in the Mazinkaiser vs. The Great General of Darkness OVA, defending the city of Sidney from the Warrior Beasts and General Ardias, but is defeated and torn to pieces by him.

Venus A also appears in Shin Mazinger, this version of her looks to be a cross between her Mazinkaiser and Mazinger Angels versions.

Pilot
The pilot of Venus is Jun Hono, an orphan girl raised by Kenzo Kabuto. Because of her origins (half Japanese, half black) she feels rejected as a child and carries these issues as an adult. Just like Tetsuya, with whom she has a love-hate relationship mostly because of his bad temper, she is educated to be a mecha pilot. She controls the robot thanks to the Queen Star, a flying vehicle that connects to Venus through the back of her head.

Weapons
Venus is substantially more powerful than either Aphrodite or Diana, though her power could be compared to Minerva X's (if she had been built of Alloy Z as originally intended). Aside from being made of a special alloy, Venus has the following characteristics:
 * Breast missiles
 * Photon beams, like Mazinger's ones
 * Venus Scrander (similar to Mazinger's, it was a separate machine that could be attached to Venus' body and allowed her to fly)
 * Finger missiles
 * ability to use Thunder Break with her own fingers once Great Mazinger has collect the necessary electric charge

Machine Specifications

 * Height: 20 meters
 * Weight: 23 tons
 * Running Speed: 300 kilometers/hour