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.

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.

Teenager Tommy pilots the amazing super-robot Tranzor Z to avenge its inventor (his grandfather) against the evil mad scientist Doctor Demon.