Koji Kabuto isn't a pussy.
I cannot recommend taking a young person to see Mazinger Z: Infinty enough. If nothing else for the fact that Koji Kabuto is a hero of another era, a hero of an age when a rebellious cocksure pilot could stand as the paragon of masculinity and action, without being decried at every step. When the anime since the mid 90s has held an increasing number of beta male leads who serve to be upstaged by the gravure figure merchan-er, female characters surrounding them, and the craptacular new Star Wars films seem to think that the natural place for the hot shot pilot in the midst of a star war is to be told to sit down, shut up and not question the purple haired incompetent woman, Koji Kabuto swaggers forth from the past to show young watchers what a man with a future looks like.
10 years after the events of the original, Koji Kabuto has left his mecha piloting years behind him to pursue "teh science", and has seemingly thrown himself into it wholeheartedly. This changes when the old threat, Dr Hell and his army of Kikaiju mecha monsters re-emerges, first attacking a "Photon Power" facility in Texas, then going for the good old standby of trashing everything at the foot of mount Fuji.
And isnt't that just the damnedest reversal of every 'Big Applesauce' trope invocation? A single super-science-y power plant in Texas is powering all of North America, and taking it out causes the entire continent to go dark! This isn't the good ol' flag wavin' US of A's rodeo, though. The move almost seems to be a soft-hearted jab to US moviemakers who seem to think every alien invasion naturally wants to center itself on NYC.
But Koji has found himself with a pickle of epic proportions under the fabled volcano- a massive Majin, one so huge it clearly requires a vehicle the size of the classic Mazinger Z to fit in its head! It gets named "Infinity", as Koji (never "Dr Kabuto", he seems to keep it informal around people) hypothesizes that the giant mech wasn't buried under Japan's signature mountain at some point in Earth's ancient aliens past, but instead came to Earth from one of an Infinite number of alternate parallel dimensions. (Me? I would have called it Mazinger Yuge. Or Bigly Mazinger. Everybody would have liked it. It would have been the best.) That and a Rei-clone found inside the head of the mech who warns of something called "Goragon".
From there it's to battle, as the moment the old cast (minues one, Great mazinger pilot Tetsuya) is reunited, Dr. Hell's forces attack with giant robo-monsters and ordinary dudes in masked helmets with old school "Grease Gun" sub machineguns (they also wear Jodhpurs. You have to love the character designs for the sheer fact that they were often all over the place.).
Mazinger Z was long ago mothballed, but Koji isn't above hopping back into a mech for morale, and as the 3rd of a series of epic battles takes place, the now ubiquitous good guy mechs slowly prove themselves to be cannon-fodder.
Dr Hell captures the Majin Infinity & delivers his nefarious ultimatum. But truue to evil science, even this is just a delaying tactic. "Breather" scenes allow us to show a world in turmoil, questioning whether or not to accede to Dr Hell's offer of "co-existence and Co-Prosperity (can't stress that second one enough, "Co-Prosperity" has a unique spot in panAsian history), even going so far to consult public opinion polls.
And here is one of several unconcealed jabs towards modern society. Hell, Dr Hell even calls out "diversity" as being a weakness! And as Koji revives the classic, "I need a separate booster pack to do anything other than walk" Mazinger of decades past, he reveals something about honest to god Alph Male Heroic Masculinity.
While a person like Koji is on the side of justice, men like him and Tetsuya are autocrats. The reason why men chose to follow kings & chieftans. Koji, since his youth, was a hot-blooded, devil-may-care vengeance machine, and wasn't about to wait for someone to hand him a stifling ROE that would have him worrying about environmetal impact or winning hearts & minds. And that's part of what makes him a hero. And a style of hero that baizuo universally despise, as they lack the moral center that would allow them to make such decisive stands.
In an extended final battle royale, Koji breaks out every move in the book, every tool in his arsenal. It's here that we recognize the advantages of having a hero with a past. Koji might seem overpowered, but he's never a wretched MaRey Sue. He's an experienced veteran pilot and the fact that he has a past, as opposed to a "mysterious" blank slate origin or convenient amnesia, means you don't have to spend that time explaining how he earned it.
Quite frankly, this will be a must-own for any parent looking to grow their sons into Men. When every other cartoon is going to tell him to makeway and obey the girls, to accept whatever bull$#!+ is being handed to you, Koji can teach you the value of going rogue for the righteous cause, and how to pull off the big win with a few friends.
