List of Mazinger characters

This is a list of characters from the anime and manga series Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Mazinkaiser as well as the Shin Mazinger reboot. It lists the main players of the plots as well as minor characters or others that did not appear in more than one chapter.

Kouji Kabuto
Kouji was the pilot of Mazinger Z and Mazinkaiser. He was appointed as a mecha pilot by his grandfather, Juzo Kabuto, who built both robots. After Juzo's death Kabuto is the only one to take care of his little brother Shiro Kabuto.

Sayaka Yumi
Sayaka was the pilot of female mechas Aphrodite A and Diana A, and also of Venus A in Mazinkaiser. She's the daughter of Dr. Genosuke Yumi.

In love with Koji, brave and bad tempered, she often provides help in battle.

Shiro Kabuto
Shiro is Kouji's younger brother. Most of the time, Shiro's role is to add some comic relief to the plot. He remains in Japan when Kouji departs at the beginning of Great Mazinger. His character acquires a bit more depth in Great Mazinger, as he becomes acquainted with his father Kenzo, who was previously thought to be dead. Toward the end of the series, Shiro finally bonds with Kenzo, who died shortly thereafter.

He even gets to pilot his own robot in Great Mazinger, Robot Junior.

In the American dub of Mazinger Z, TranZor Z, Shiro's name was changed to "Toad." Shiro is voiced by Kazuko Sawada in the original version and by Mona Marshall in English (he is one of the few Mazinger characters whose English voice actor in TranZor Z has been confirmed).

Boss
Boss was an overweight, comical fellow who resented Kouji and tried to outdo him, even forcing scientists at the photon lab to build him a giant robot so he could compete with Mazinger Z, Boss Borot. Despite being silly comic relief, Boss occasionally managed to provide help for Mazinger Z and was even included in their battleplans to assault Dr. Hell's island base at the end of the series. He continued to pilot Boss Borot and serve as the comic relief in Great Mazinger and a guest spot in Grendizer.

Mucha & Nuke
Mucha and Nuke are Boss's sidekicks who follow him around, help in his schemes and ride with him in Boss Borot.

In Shin Mazinger they are shown to be formidable fighters in their own right, Nuke showing surprising skill in drunken fist kung-fu (claiming to be the Japanese champion) and Mucha specializing in flicking spiked metal balls with great accuracy.

In Tranzor Z, the American adaptation of Mazinger Z, Mucha was renamed Jim and Nuke was renamed Chris.

Misato
Misato is Boss' cousin, who comes to the Photon Power Laboratory to work as a maid of sorts somewhat after halfway through the series. She is somewhat resented by Sayaka for the attention Kouji gives her. Misato proves herself in combat on multiple occasions, but most of the time she stays at the laboratory.

In Tranzor Z, the American adaptation of Mazinger Z, Misato was renamed Sally.

Dr. Yumi
Yumi was a colleague of Juzo Kabuto and ran the laboratory where Mazinger Z was headquartered. He is the father of Sayaka Yumi, Koji's best friend and love interest. Measured and wise, he is the stabilizing force behind Koji's foolhardiness in battle. Many times he anticipates to Hell's plans and under his guidance many battles are won.

Yumi is not particularly demonstrative nor with his daughter or his fellow scientists, but he seems to care a lot for them. In a couple of occasions, when defeat seems inevitable, he is ready to commit suicide before leaving his Institute, like a captain ready to sink with his ship.

Because of his years working with Dr. Kabuto, he is aware of many of his secrets, such as the plans for Minerva X and the existence of the Mikene Empire. He built Aphrodite A, based on Dr. Kabuto's work, and hence both she and Mazinger share a similar internal structure. His background before his work for Dr. Kabuto and the Institute and the identity of Sayaka's mother are unknown.

In Tranzor Z, the American adaptation of Mazinger Z, Dr. Yumi was renamed Dr. Davis.

Juzo Kabuto
Juzo Kabuto was a previous colleague of Dr. Hell and created Mazinger Z in order to oppose Hell's plans for world domination. Hell sent Baron Ashura to kill Juzo before he could present a threat, and he was fatally injured in the attack, but survived long enough to tell Kouji about Mazinger Z and how it must be used to defeat Dr. Hell.

In Mazinkaiser OVA, Juzo Kabuto was retconned into surviving without Kouji or anyone's knowledge, and worked in another secret underground laboratory where he finished the final and more powerful version of Great Mazinger and then his ultimate creation, Mazinkaiser. He later appeared to Kouji via hologram, telling him about Mazinkaiser. Whether he was still alive, and if so, where he currently was, is unknown.

Note that, in the original manga and the Mazinkaiser OVA, Juzo Kabuto presents several physical scars (more exactly, half his face is burned) and is more hot-tempered and even slightly megalomaniac. His TV series rendition is lots more calmer and stable, and also has a rather normal outlook. His Shin Mazinger incarnation however seems to be every bit as megalomaniacal as the manga version.

Professors Sewashi, Nossori & Mori Mori
Three scientists who work around the laboratory and help Professor Yumi, and sometimes provide comic relief. Within the storyline, Mori Mori seems doomed to die; in the Mazinger Z series he dies in an explosion caused by a landmine placed by Dr. Hell's minions that blows up his jeep while trying to rescue Koji; in Mazinkaiser he sacrifices himself manually launching nuclear missiles aimed at General Rigarn and his Warrior Beasts so that Koji and Sayaka can get to Japan in a jet.

In Tranzor Z, the American adaptation of Mazinger Z, Sewashi was renamed Professor Manning. Professors Mori Mori and Nossori went unnamed in Tranzor Z, though they were all collectively referred to as "The Three Professors" on several occasions.

In some incarnations of the show they are known as Iz, Biz and Diz.

Dr. Hell
Dr. Hell was the main villain of the fictional robot anime Mazinger Z. He was a brilliant, cunning and evil scientist, obsessed with world domination through his creations, the armies of Mechanical Beasts.

Baron Ashura
Baron Ashura was Dr. Hell's most loyal lieutenant, but always failed to fully accomplish his master's orders. He was a bizarre composite of two mummies, one male and one female. He is notable for being voiced by two simultaneous seiyuu, Hidekatsu Shibata (male) and Haruko Kitahama (female), who were also married. He faces fierce competition for Hell's favor with Count Blocken. He dies towards the end of the series, making a suicide attempt to destroy Mazinger using his fortress Bood.

Count Brocken
Count Brocken was a cyborg whose head was hewn from his body during a car accident. He normally carried it under his arm, but it had the ability to float around on its own. He had a fierce rivalry with Baron Ashura.

Viscount Pygman
Viscount Pygman was a physically bizarre creation with the body of a pygmy shaman atop the body of a large tribal warrior, holding a shield and spear. Unlike Dr. Hell's other lieutenants, Viscount Pygman had little loyalty to his creator, and stole one his robot warriors to destroy Mazinger Z on his own.

Iron Masks
Iron Masks were the foot soldiers in Dr. Hell's army, wearing bell-like helmets that covered the upper halves of their heads with holes for their eyes. They are apparently robotic, and can be self-destructed by remote control. For the most part they served as grunts for Baron Ashura on his operations.

Iron Crosses
Iron Crosses were new soldiers introduced into Dr. Hell's army when Count Blocken was recruited. They resembled Nazi stormtroopers and had large, goggly eyes. They tended to work as grunts exclusively in operations led by Count Blocken.

Dr. Heinrich
Another ex-collaborator of Dr. Hell. After a car accident, Hell turns him into a cyborg, but this time holds back his unfortunate tendency to turn those he brings back to life into total freaks and hence Heinrich only has blue skin and is full of stitches all over his body. His head sports a mechanical device, that extends to one of the sides of his face and covers his right eye, which can fire beams. Heinrich had worked for Hell developing a powerful monster, but for reasons unclear he deserts him and takes away the unfinished robot along with him.

After some time Ashura is commended to find him and the robot. Heinrich now lives with his daughter Lorelai, and refuses to collaborate with Hell again. Eventually his beast is released, Ryne X1, and moments before his death, he tells Lorelai how to control it to fight Mazinger, since he is sure his creation is superior than Dr. Kabuto's.

In Shin Mazinger, it is hinted at that he had feelings for Nishikiori Tsubasa.

Lorelai
A robot who looks like a normal little girl, she befriends Shiro at school. She believes herself to be the real daughter of Dr. Heinrich, until her father tells her the truth with his dying breath and calls her "his best creation ever." Distraught and heartbroken, Lorelai merges with her father's other robot, so Kouji is forced to face and destroy her.

Tetsuya Tsurugi
Tetsuya Tsurugi is an orphan young man raised by Dr. Kenzo Kabuto along with his friend Jun, and trained to be the pilot of Great Mazinger ever since he was young. At first shown only as a bad-tempered young man with a heart of gold under his hotheadness, he later develops a strong jealousy against his adoptive brother Kouji.

Jun Hono
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.

Kenzo Kabuto
Kenzo was the son of Juzo Kabuto, the inventor of Mazinger Z, but working in secret he improved upon the original designs to create the more formidable Great Mazinger. After a laboratory experiment that went wrong, he and his wife are thought to be dead. However, he was instead turned into a cyborg by his father in order to keep him alive. To shield them from danger and psychological shock, Kenzo's sons Koji and Shiro are unaware of this and grow believing both of their parents are dead, and were raised by Juzo.

Kenzo reveals the truth to both of them in the Great Mazinger series (first to Shiro, since Kouji was away for a big part of the series), and their relationship would cause conflict with his adopted son Tetsuya, who was raised by Kenzo together with his best friend Jun and comes to feel intensely jealous of Kenzo's actual children, especially so of Kouji. Dr. Kabuto would eventually die in battle at the end of the series and Tetsuya and Kouji fight together to avenge his death.

Bakarasu
Bakarasu is a crow (its name being taken from the Japanese words 'Baka' roughly meaning 'Stupid', and 'Karasu' meaning crow) was a character who appeared in one episode of Mazinger Z but returned and became a semi-regular character in Great Mazinger, appearing in a little over a third of the total series. Theoretically he works for Boss alongside Mucha and Nuke, but he has no real loyalty to the group. Generally Boss either uses him as a lookout (for either Warrior Beasts or Jun) or as a messenger (normally to Jun).

Bakarasu appeared in Tranzor Z, the American adaptation of Mazinger Z, and was renamed Aesop for his only appearance in that series.

The Emperor of Darkness
The Emperor of Darkness (Yami no Teiou 闇の帝王) was a fictional character, a supervillain and warlord from the manga and anime series Great Mazinger. Great Mazinger was the sequel to the wildly popular Mazinger Z. It was depicted as a large flaming entity. As the Emperor of the Mikene Empire, he was the true enemy behind the Great General of Darkness and the Great Marshall of Hell. His defeat marked the end of the Mikene Empire. He is the only survivor of the final battle in Great Mazinger because he never was with his troops. He survives the series too. The only story where he is finally killed (accidentally by Koji after his offer to help Duke Fleed against Vega) is the manga version of UFO robot Gendizer drawn by Gosaku Ota. In Shin Mazinger shogeki! Z-Hen, his true identity is the deity Hades who came from the original planet of the Mykene Empire and an enemy of Zeus. He took the identity of the Great Emperor of Darkness after Zeus thrown him a Rocket punch of his own ans sink along with Bardos Island.

Great General of Darkness
The supreme commander of the Mikene Empire, the Great General of Darkness leads the seven Mikene armies in their conquest of the surface world.

Great Marshall of Hell
The Great Marshall of Hell was one of the chief officers of the evil Mycene Empire. He was actually the villain of the previous series, Dr. Hell, who had been used as a pawn by the Mycene to weaken Earth's defenses before they made their bid for domination of the surface of the world. He replaces the General of Darkness after his demise.

Archduke Gorgon
Archduke Gorgon was a villain who was seen primarily in Great Mazinger, but appeared several times in Mazinger Z as well. He resembles a centaur somewhat, as from the waist up he is a green-skinned man, but below the waist has the body of a saber-toothed tiger. However, his human half is attached to the rear part of the tiger, so it still has its own head.

General Julius Caesar
Superhuman General Julius Caesar was commander of the Superhuman Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. He resembles a gigantic human warrior with purple skin and dressed in Roman-style armour, with a flaming circular crest on his head. His army is the largest of the Seven Armies and he is considered by many to be the Great General of Darkness' right-hand man.

General Ardias
Evil Spirit General Ardias was commander of the Spectral Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. He resembles a gigantic skeleton wearing a ragged cloak with a flaming skull for a head.

General Angoras
General Angoras was a fictional character, a supervillain and warrior from the anime and manga series Great Mazinger. He was commander of the Aquatic Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. He resembles a humanoid angler fish, with his true face mounted on the tip of his antennae.

General Rigarn
Wild Beast General Rigarn was commander of the Mammalian Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. Rigarn is the most vile of the Seven Generals and is unpopular even among his fellow Generals.

General Scarabeth
Giant Insect General Scarabeth was commander of the Insect Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. He resembles a gigantic rhinoceros beetle, with his true face mounted on his chest.

General Juuma
This character only appeared in the Mazinger Z Vs. The Great General of Darkness OVA. His body was composed from parts that identify him with each of the seven Mikene armies, reptilian, superhuman, aerial, insect, aquatic, mammalian and spectral. His position in the Mikene structure is unclear; whereas The Seven Generals, who are not included in the OVA, had each an army under their command, Juuma is apparently appointed ad hoc by The General of Darkness to take seven beasts of his choice and annihilate Mazinger Z after the destruction of many of his favorite monsters by Koji and his robot. Juuma almost succeeds, but Great Mazinger destroys his robots and finishes him off together with Mazinger Z.

The Catloo Corps
The Catloo Corps was Marquis Yanus' personal army of robotic cat ninja. They could give off electric shocks with their tails and had small missile launchers on their arms, as well as hand-to-hand skills, and were generally used for tasks a typical warrior beast would be too large/obtrusive. For example, in one episode the Catloo infiltrated the Fortress of Science in a cargo of crates. In other they commandeered Boss Borot and had it block off the launch tube for Great Mazinger. As with all the villains' foot soldiers, though, they were no match for the Great Mazinger and the other robots.

Lori & Loru
Two voluptuous twin sisters who begin working at the institute as lab assistants. Sayaka once jealously dumps Mazinkaiser headfirst in the ocean when she thinks Kouji is paying too much attention to them. They're sexy and fanservicey, yet in the time of need they're also smart and brave; they're vital in episode 5, where Lori helps an injured Dr. Yumi to reach the facility in time to fight Ashura, and Loru temporarily takes leadership over to help fend Ashura away until her sister and Dr. Yumi return.

The twin sisters pilot the robot Million Alpha in the Mazinkaiser manga and sequel movie, in which they die in battle. They're horribly crushed to death in Paris as they attempt to fight Mikeros and General Birdler; with her dying breath, Loru activates Million Alpha's self-destruction mode and causes an explosion that destroys their enemies.

Lori, the younger of the sisters, usually wore light blue clothes, and her older sister Loru usually dressed in pink; their hair color was slightly different, in two shades of blonde, with Lori having lighter hair.

Voice actresses: Akiko Hiramatsu (Loru), Shiho Kikuchi (Lori)

Gamia Q
The Gamia Sisters are three identical young women who are vicious and formidable martial artists who are sent by Ashura to assassinate Kouji so that his robot can't stop their next attack. Apart from their agility and strength in hand-to-hand combat, they can use their hair as a cutting weapon. They are commonly referred to as Ashura's daughters, but given their mechanical construction it is likely that they are either cyborgs or androids.

In the first episode of Shin Mazinger which occurs in medias res, one of the three (Gamia Q3) is shown working alongside Inspector Ankokuji. In the same series, at episode 10, a fourth 'sister', Gamia Q4, appears with the purpose of killing Nishikori Tsubasa. A fifth and final 'sister' appears in episode 11.

Voice actress (for the sisters): Ryoka Yuzuki

Inspector Ankokuji
Police inspector initially assigned to watch over Dr. Juzo Kabuto. After the latter dies, he then seems to assume the role of bodyguard for Kouji and Shiro Kabuto. While oftentimes he is portrayed a comic relief, he is in truth quite adept at both armed and unarmed combat, able to take out a whole group of Baron Ashura's men who had previously surrounded him while he was sleeping.

Voice actor: Atsushi Imaruoka

Tsubasa Nishikiori
Originally from Violence Jack, she appears in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen as the proprietor of the Kurogane house hot springs wherein she secretly employs a group of fighters called the Kurogane Five, all of which whom she saved and gave Super Alloy Z enhancements. A longtime friend of the elder Dr. Kabuto, she is in fact, the former apprentice of Dr. Hell and is the person responsible for the creation of Baron Ashura - adding special conditioning to it (and the other generals of Dr. Hell as well) making it unable to do any harm to her. When Dr. Hell first saw the mechanical beasts in Bardos Island, she rushed to stop him forcing him underground for a number of years. After Juuzo dies, she takes in the orphaned Kouji Kabuto, aiding in his development as a pilot, unbeknown to him however, she holds a secret concerning his past.

Voice Actress: Miyuki Ichijo

Master
One of the Kurogane House 5, he is first seen assigned as a bodyguard to Dr. Kabuto. Quiet and reserved (he has not once spoken ever since he was introduced), he is a master swordsman, able to cut enemies down so fast they do not even notice. His sword skill is rivaled only by his skill as a the chef of the Kurogane house. He wields a katana made from Super Alloy Z.

Cross
The muscle of the Kurogane house, Cross is easily identified by the cross shaped scar on his face. His strength is such that he is able to match up with Baron Ashura (who was previously shown to be able to take on Mazinger Z bare handed). His strength is revealed to be due to the fact that under his skin, he is actually a cyborg made from Super Alloy Z.

Voice actor: Tessho Genda

Yasu
An expert with explosives who works at the Kurogane house. He is the most talkative of the five and is often seen with the young Shiro and Inspector Ankokuji. He works as a bath attendant in the Kurogane house. His secret weapon is the fact that he has a Photon Power bomb inside him which, should the time come, he may detonate at the cost of his life.

Django
A gunman, easily identified by his Mexican sombrero and poncho, he carries multiple weapons with him at all times. He serves as the driver for the Kurogane house and regularly picks up guests from the airport. He drives a special VW van which can split into two parts at the press of a button which he usually uses to dump troublesome guests in the back of a cliff. He has been given special Super alloy Z bullets for his revolver by Nishikiori - while he only has a limited number of these, they are so strong that the bullets can be handloaded and reused again after having been fired.

Kikunosuke
Head waitress of the Kurogane house, while she appears as a frail old woman, her skill is such she is respected by the other members of the Kurogane House 5. In episode 9 of Shin Mazinger, Nishikiori tells Kouji that he may only go to Bardos Island if he is able to rub Kinnosuke's back, however her skill is such that Kouji is unable to do so. She wields a garrote wire made from Super Alloy Z.