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The size of the Japanese animation market was 2,426 billion yen by 2020. More than half of that amount came from overseas sales. The manga market is also expanding, reaching 675.9 billion yen in 2021. Those unique visuals and stories from Japan have struck a chord with fans around the world and are growing into a huge industry. ANIME MANGA EXPLOSION will actively feature major works that are highly recognized by overseas fans and reveal the secrets of Japanese anime and manga creation through the series.
Mazinger Z, known briefly as Tranzor Z in the United States, is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. It was adapted into an anime television series which aired on Fuji TV from December 1972 to September 1974. A second manga series was released alongside the TV show, this one drawn by Gosaku Ota, which started and ended almost at the same time of the TV show. Mazinger Z has spawned several sequels and spinoff series, among them UFO Robot Grendizer and Mazinkaiser. It was a very popular cartoon in Mexico during the 1980s, where it was dubbed into Spanish directly from the Japanese version, keeping the Japanese character names and broadcasting all 92 episodes, unlike the version aired in the U.S.
The story revolves around Duke Fleed who is a survivor of the Vega Star, raised by Dr. Umon as his adoptive son, and known as Daisuke Umon on Earth. Years after his arrival, he's faced with the threat of King Vega and his army, who want to conquer the Earth. With his friends Koji and Hikaru (and later his kid sister Maria Grace), Duke decides to fight back using his best weapon, the almighty Grendizer.
With demons reawakened and humanity in turmoil, a sensitive demon-boy is led into a brutal, degenerate war against evil by his mysterious friend, Ryo.
The Panther Claw organization is driven by a relentless pursuit of wealth, using any means necessary to achieve their goals. However, their plans start to unravel thanks to the unexpected interference of a seemingly ordinary girl. This girl, who initially encounters Panther Claw by chance, turns out to be Kisaragi Honey, the ‘daughter’ of the brilliant cyberneticist Dr. Kisaragi Koshirou. Recognizing her value, Panther Claw’s four members race to capture Cutie Honey. Kisaragi Honey, also known as Cutie Honey, is not alone in her fight. She is joined by two allies, Saotome Miki (Sister Miki) and Kenmochi Yuki (Sister Yuki). Together, they work to thwart Panther Claw’s schemes and protect Honey from being exploited.
From deep within the Earth's surface, the Dinosaur Kingdom make their move to wipe out mankind and conquer the planet with their mechanical dinosaurs. After a prototype Getter Robo is shot down by a mechanical dinosaur, the Saotome Research Institute decides to use the real Getter Robo, which is combat-capable. Due to a lack of pilots in the institute, Ryo Nagare goes to his college to persuade martial artist Musashi Tomoe and outcast Hayato Jin to join him and pilot the Getter Machines to combat the new threat and protect mankind.
Honey Kisaragi is a high school student at Sainte Chapelle Girls' School. On her 16th birthday, when she returns home, she discovers that her father Takeshi Kisaragi has been kidnapped by the Panther Claw gang because he had discovered a device that could allow the transformation of the human body. That same evening, Honey Kisaragi meets a man with long white hair who gives her the said device. She thus becomes Cutie Honey and fights Panther Claw to save her father. But a new transfer student, Seira Hazuki, will not make her task easy...
Devilman features Akira Fudo, a shy and timid teenager who has gone mountain climbing in the Himalayas with his father. While in the middle of the expedition, both father and son are killed in a tragic accident. Akira's body is found and possessed by the demon soldier Devilman, who uses his new human form as a disguise in order to fulfill his mission of causing chaos on Earth in order to pave the way for a demonic invasion of the planet. Before his mission can begin in earnest, Devilman meets Akira's childhood friend Miki Makimura and quickly falls in love with her. Devilman resolves to protect Miki and humanity as a whole by battling against his fellow demons. Demon Tribe leader Zennon becomes greatly angered at Devilman's betrayal and is quick to send Devilman's former comrades to destroy him. The other demons soon learn that Miki is precious to Devilman and he must now work to protect her, as well as protect himself. Will the power of love be able to overcome that of true evil?
After Koji Kabuto and Sayaka Yumi leave to the USA, it's up to the rash orphan Tetsuya Tsurugi to pilot the next Mazinger robot: the Great Mazinger. Under the direction of Dr. Kenzo Kabuto and helped by his adoptive sister Jun Honou, Tetsuya battles the Miccene Empire.
Getter Robo G is a super robot anime series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa and produced by Toei Animation. This direct sequel to Getter Robo was broadcast on Fuji TV from May 15, 1975 to March 25, 1976, with a total of 39 episodes. People familiar with Mattel's popular Shogun Warriors toy collection will remember all three of Getter Robo G's robot formations in that toy line: Getter Dragon, Getter Liger and Getter Poseidon. As a result of the popularity of these toys in the US, Jim Terry included this series in his Force Five anime lineup under the title of Starvengers. Some Starvengers episodes were redubbed and released by FB Productions under the Robo Formers title. The original Getter Robo series, however, has yet to appear in the US. In the UK, Starvengers episodes were released on video by Krypton Force under the name Formators.
In the midst of societal conflict in the futuristic city of Metropolis, Kenichi and his uncle Shunsaku Ban set out to uncover the mystery behind the first human-like robot, Tima.
Developed from Japanium ore is the super energy, Photon Power. Seeking this energy is Dr. Hell, a madman craving world domination who along with his subordinates Baron Ashura and Count Brocken, commands the Machine Beasts excavated from Bardos Island (believed to be Rhodes) to attack the Photon Power Lab and take it for himself. Meeting the attack head on is our hero, the hot-blooded teenager Kouji Kabuto who pilots the super robot Mazinger Z, constructed by his grandfather Juzo and made from the strongest metal Chogokin Z. But in this battle between Dr. Hell and the Kabuto family, many legends surrounding the Mycenaean Civilization and Bardos Island, as well as the secrets of Mazinger Z remain shrouded in mystery.
Majokko Tickle is a 1970s magical girl manga and anime by Go Nagai. Unlike Nagai's earlier Cutie Honey, Majokko Tickle is closer to the more traditional mold of magical girl anime such as Mahoutsukai Sally, and is probably more suitable for young children than most of Nagai's other works.
The beautiful and successful supermodel Jun Fudou meets a woman named Lan Asuka, who confronts her with a werewolf monster, which she calls a devil beast. As a result, unimagined powers awaken in Jun, and she manages to defeat the monster. She, just like this werewolf, is part of the next step in human evolution: humans who can mutate into beast-like monsters and then mercilessly terrorise civilisation. Unlike the other devil beasts, however, she can retain her humanity, which is her undoing because Lan Asuka is a high-ranking employee of the government and of the “Anti-Beast Special Squad”, which wants to abuse her powers and train her to mercilessly hunt down her own species. Caught between these extremes and her weak self, the question arises: what fate will Jun meet? Will she ever be able to decide it for herself?
Hiroshi Shiba is a car racer who is mortally wounded in a laboratory accident, but restored to life by his father, Professor Shiba.
The forces of evil were looking for trouble; they found Cutey! In a futuristic world were evil comes in all shapes and sizes, she is the ultimate weapon. She's Cutey Honey, a one woman S.W.A.T. team whose android chassis is capable of changing at will into a dazzling array of hard-hitting, curvaceous bodies each with it's own set of special skills, weapons and other impressive physical attributes. Go Nagai's legendary android super-hero is back and hitting the bad guys where it hurts most.
One day, Honey Kisaragi's a trendy, class-cutting Catholic schoolgirl. The next, her father's been murdered by demonic divas from a dastardly organization called Panther Claw. When his dying message reveals that she's an android, Honey uses the transformative power of the Atmospheric Element Solidifier - the very thing Panther Claw wanted to steal - to seek revenge against the shadowy clan.
No, that's not a skin-tight pink costume - it's her skin! She's Kekko Kamen, the dynamic denuded damsel who fights injustice in the altogether. Her mission? To expose rampant classroom corruption at the Big Toenail of Satan's Spartan Institute of Higher Education - all while repeatedly rescuing everyone's favorite victim, the beautiful (and often naked) Mayumi Takahashi, from the Institute's terrifying torture chamber!
Following a devastating attack by Vega's forces on planet Fleed, Duke Fleed, and Grendizer escaped to Earth. When he got there, Dr. Amon, the head of the Space Research Center, adopted him and gave him the name Daisuke. While they were working side by side in the center on a quest to find out what strange objects appeared in the city's sky! They were surprised by an attack that jolted Daisuke's memory.
Ryo Utsugi has been disturbed by nightmares of being attacked by a gigantic, demonic creature with blood dribbling from its teeth. One day, he develops a mysterious power to hear voices and foresee horrifying images of females being killed. At a cottage in the wintry mountains, he hears the same voice... Ryo runs out of the cottage, jumps off a cliff following the voice, and gets transported to the Himalayas in a blink. There, he encounters the monster from his nightmare: Demon Lord Dante, who has been sealed in ice by God for 2000 years.
