Mazinkaizer SKL: Sect-1 Death Caprice Review

Mazin... what?


Mazinkaizer SKL (known as Mazinkaizer Skull) is a spinoff for Go Nagai's Mazinkaiser (which is yet another spinoff for the Mazinger series). It is a 3-episode OVA which follows the story of the Skull Force's mission to the Machine Island.

The first Episode: Sect-1 Death Caprice... Let's Rock!

*Warning: This Section May Contain Spoilers, But I'll try to give less spoilers as possible :D*

"Insane Grim Reapers"... yeah, it is the best way to describe them.

The episode starts off with one half of the Skull Force, the Gren Falcon Squad, en route to a remote location named Machine Island. An Island which is isolated from the rest of the world where three factions: The Galan Army, Kiba Army and the Aira Army (The Octagon) battle for total dominance of the island. The island also contains large amount of resources, allowing the three factions to create a supply of giant robots for their armies.

Upon landing on what happened to be a war zone, unknown shots hit the Skull Force's aircraft killing everyone except one soldier, Yuuki Tsubasa. She escapes using a Hover Pilder-like aircraft, gets off in the clearing only to be confronted by one of Kiba's soldiers, who eventually got slashed and crushed by none other than Mazinkaizer SKL. We then get to have a good look at the other half of the Skull Force, Ryo Magami and Ken Kaido, called the Death Caprice...

Friend or foe, get out of the way.

Personally, I liked how the characters of Ken and Ryo were depicted. Ken is basically a vulgar, hot-blooded S.O.B. who specializes in knives, swords or anything that has a blade on it. Ryo, on the other hand, has a more calm, nihilistic, mysterious persona who is skilled in using handguns. When piloting Kaizer, they take turns, depending on the weapon that is needed on the situation. They're too badass they'd kill an ally if he or she gets in their way.

Yuuki Tsubasa

Yuuki's character design seems like a reference to Kouji Kabuto of Mazinger Z.She served as the superior of the Skull Force when everyone else was wiped out. She appears to be timid and innocent, but is very skilled in combat, engineering and very strict in performing missions.

Not Sayaka Yumi! Not Sayaka Yumi!

For the battle scenes, Everything's awesome. Everything's presented well starting from Kaizer SKL's first battle within the first five minutes of the episode up to the Aira army battling against Kiba's army and then to Kaizer SKL's (literally!) groundbreaking re-appearance. Ken and Ryo demonstrated Kaizer SKL's weaponry and owned every one of Kiba's soldiers and each of their hits was like overkill.

Kaizer SKL, Storming through the burning fields

The one on one showdown between Kaizer SKL and Kiba went on just like any typical boss fight. The opponent gets one or two hits and the main character gives more hits... and the killing blow.

I think words won't be enough to describe some cool battle scenes so I'll show some screenies instead:

The traditional Mazinger Z comes out of a giant pool. Mazinkaizer SKL comes out of hell!

It's incomplete without the mecha perv scenes.

"These are cool but I hate waiting for them to come back" -Ken referring to Kaizer SKL's Turbo Smasher Punch

"I'm giving you five seconds to choose which way would you want to get shot... time's up!" - Ryo shows his handgun skills.

Breast Triggers...

...it resembles Devilman's face when holstered to Kaizer SKL's chest.

TURBO SMASHER PUNCH!

I've seen a sword that looks like this before... Keywords: Capcom, PSP...

Overall:

Despite the plot being similar to a typical post-apocalyptic mecha anime, Mazinkaizer SKL is an extremely awesome OVA, It is a must-see for any Super Robot fans. The first episode alone is enough evidence for that. I mean, it's just the first episode but it's already full of action, had some cool moments and the back story of the Machine Island was well explained. It proves that Go Nagai hasn't run out of ideas yet for his Mazinger series. The only thing that disappoints me is that it's TOO SHORT! Seriously, I've seen a Mazinger in action and at the end of the episode I wanted to see more.