Minerva X
Encyclopedia
Minerva X is a fictional mecha
from the anime
and manga
series Mazinger Z
, created by Go Nagai
. Within the story, Minerva X was designed by Professor Juzou Kabuto, but its plans were stolen and it was built by Doctor Hell
. Minerva X only appeared in the thirty-eighth episode of that series.
She was named after Minerva
, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom.
. As such, Minerva X has a highly similar body design to Mazinger, as well as having many common weapons. However, the plans for this machine were stolen by Doctor Hell, who later built it in an attempt to destroy Mazinger Z.
Unfortunately for Hell, Minerva X's artificial intelligence
made it totally loyal to Mazinger, and it quickly defected to the Photonic Labs' team. However, the AI in Minerva made it view Mazinger in a romantic light, causing it to become very jealous and resentful of Sayaka Yumi's Aphrodite A
, another "lady robot". Sayaka herself was quite scared and even disturbed by this fact.
In the meantime, Doctor Hell sent Archerian J5, a Mechanical Beast
, to eliminate Minerva, as it was no longer any use to him. During the ensuing battle, Minerva took damage that caused it to lose its "conscience", making it go berserk. Professor Yumi hurriedly worked on a way to bring Minerva back under control, but Kouji had to stop her from destroying the city. He first attempts to restrain Minerva, but when it attempts to destroy a nuclear plant, Sayaka is forced to attack, mortally damaging it.
Mazinger installs Professor Yumi's control system, restoring Minerva's consciousness just before it dies in Mazinger's arms. Afterwards, Kouji and Sayaka give Minerva a burial at sea, hoping that it will rest in peace.
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
from the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
, created by Go Nagai
Go Nagai
, better known by the penname , is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a...
. Within the story, Minerva X was designed by Professor Juzou Kabuto, but its plans were stolen and it was built by Doctor Hell
Dr. Hell
Dr. Hell is the main villain of the fictional robot anime Mazinger Z. He is a brilliant, cunning and evil scientist, obsessed with world domination through his creations, the armies of Mechanical Beasts.- History :He was a colleague of Dr...
. Minerva X only appeared in the thirty-eighth episode of that series.
She was named after Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom.
History
Designed many years ago by Professor Juzou Kabuto, Minerva X was intended to be a partner to his greatest creation Mazinger ZMazinger Z (robot)
Mazinger Z is a fictional mecha from the anime and manga series of the same name, created by Go Nagai. Within the story, Mazinger Z was created by Professor Juzou Kabuto and piloted by his grandson Kouji...
. As such, Minerva X has a highly similar body design to Mazinger, as well as having many common weapons. However, the plans for this machine were stolen by Doctor Hell, who later built it in an attempt to destroy Mazinger Z.
Unfortunately for Hell, Minerva X's artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
made it totally loyal to Mazinger, and it quickly defected to the Photonic Labs' team. However, the AI in Minerva made it view Mazinger in a romantic light, causing it to become very jealous and resentful of Sayaka Yumi's Aphrodite A
Aphrodite A
is a female mecha from the Mazinger Z anime and manga series, created by Go Nagai. It was the first giant robot in the genre to resemble the female anatomy.She was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty....
, another "lady robot". Sayaka herself was quite scared and even disturbed by this fact.
In the meantime, Doctor Hell sent Archerian J5, a Mechanical Beast
Mechanical Beasts
The Mechanical Beasts , also known as mechanical monsters or mechanical brutes, were the antagonist mecha from the Mazinger Z anime and manga series, created by Go Nagai. Almost all of them were created by Koji Kabuto's nemesis, Dr. Hell...
, to eliminate Minerva, as it was no longer any use to him. During the ensuing battle, Minerva took damage that caused it to lose its "conscience", making it go berserk. Professor Yumi hurriedly worked on a way to bring Minerva back under control, but Kouji had to stop her from destroying the city. He first attempts to restrain Minerva, but when it attempts to destroy a nuclear plant, Sayaka is forced to attack, mortally damaging it.
Mazinger installs Professor Yumi's control system, restoring Minerva's consciousness just before it dies in Mazinger's arms. Afterwards, Kouji and Sayaka give Minerva a burial at sea, hoping that it will rest in peace.
Statistics
In Professor Kabuto's original designs, Minerva X was planned to use the same Photonic Energy reactor and Super-Alloy Z as Mazinger Z. However, since Doctor Hell lacked these technologies, the version of Minerva X that was actually built used inferior materials. Had it been built to specifications, Minerva might have been an equal for Mazinger in terms of combat performance.- Power Source: Atomic Energy (Planned to be Photonic Energy)
- Armor Materials: Super Steel (Planned to be Super-Alloy Z)
- Dimensions:
- Height: 18 meters
- Weight: 18 tons
- Chest Circumference: 10 meters
- Performance
- Walking Speed: 50 km/h
- Running Speed: 360 km/h
- Swimming Speed: 20 knots
- Length of Step: 6.8 meters
- Maximum Jump (Distance): 20 meters
Weapons and Attacks
- Koushiryoku Beam (Photonic Beam)/Eye Beam: Like Mazinger Z, Minerva X can fire beams of energy from its eyes. However, since the version of Minerva X that was actually built lacked a Photonic reactor, the actual composition of its eye beams is unknown.
- Breast Fire: Again like Mazinger, Minerva's red chest fins acted as giant heat sinks, which could also release the stored thermal energy in a powerful blast. Interestingly, Minerva X was unable to stand the heat generated by Mazinger Z; if the two came too close, Minerva would emit coolant from its eyes, giving it the appearance of crying.
- Rocket Punch: Identical to Mazinger's attack.
- Rust Hurricane: During Dr. Hell's tests, Minerva is shown from the back using her rust hurricane on dummy mechanical beasts. However, she does not make use of this attack during the rest of the chapter.
Other media
- Minerva X also appears in Akihiko Shinmei's mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Mazinger AngelsMazinger Angels-Releases outside of Japan:The manga was also released in Hong Kong and Taiwan by d/visual taipei and in Italy by d/visual.-Toys:Besides the manga, a series of toys from the Soul of Chogokin line from Bandai have been released. The main robots from Mazinger Angels are available as part of the GX...
, a sort of parody/homage to Charlie's AngelsCharlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...
starring the women of the Mazinger series as secret agents. Minerva X is a powerful, mentally-controlled machine that is deemed a "wild horse". However, when the young psychic Maria Grace Freed believes that the Mazinger Angels accidentally killed her dog Duke, her anguish causes her powers to connect with Minerva X and leads to a battle between the four mecha. Eventually, it is revealed that the Angels' organization saved Duke, and Maria joins the team as the fourth member. It is noteworthy that while the original Minerva X could not fly, the Mazinger Angel version can, by transforming into "Sirene Mode", a reference to the avian demon from Nagai's DevilmanDevilmanis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai which originally started as an anime adaptation of the concept of Nagai's previous manga series, Demon Lord Dante. A 39 episode anime series was developed by Toei in 1972 and Nagai began Devilman as a manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen...
series.
- In Yoshiaki Tabata's ongoing manga Shin Mazinger Zero, Minerva X returns in a personified android form. So far, she follows a similar role to her classic predecessor: designed by Juzou Kabuto and finished by Doctor Hell, she was intended to command a division over Baron Ashura. However, she quickly changed sides to that of Kouji and Mazinger Z soon after meeting, revealing to Ashura that it nor Doctor Hell had control to begin with, as designed by Juzo. Furthermore, her narrative has implied that she has existed through a continuous time loop, having experienced nearly 2800 timelines where the world has ended. She is equipped with a portable photon engine and seems to be capable of similar super robot abilities to the original Minerva X, shown using Rust Hurricane in her introduction.
- Minerva X has appeared in several games in the Super Robot WarsSuper Robot Warsis a series of tactical role-playing video games produced by Banpresto, which is now a Japanese division of Namco Bandai. The main feature of the franchise is having a story that crosses over several popular mecha anime, manga and video games, allowing characters and mecha from different titles to...
series of video games, notably Super Robot Wars Advance for the Game Boy AdvanceGame Boy AdvanceThe is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
and Super Robot Wars 64 for the Nintendo 64Nintendo 64The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. In several of these games, Minerva X can be spared its fate, becoming a regular member of the player's roster. When this happens, Minerva is apparently fitted with a cockpit which allows it to be piloted like the other members of the Mazinger mechaMechaA mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
family.
- In the novel Ready Player OneReady Player OneReady Player One is a science fiction novel by Ernest Cline. The book was published by Random House on August 16, 2011. The audiobook is narrated by Wil Wheaton.Warner Bros. bought the rights to the film in June 2010....
by Ernest ClineErnest Cline-Spoken word:From 1997-2001, Cline performed his original work at the Austin Poetry Slam venues. He was the Austin Poetry Slam Champ in 1998 and 2001, and competed on the Austin Poetry Slam Teams at the 1998 Austin National Poetry Slam and the 2001 Seattle National Poetry Slam...
, Minerva X is an available robot avatar form for one of the players to employ in the book's climactic battle.