That said, it's an excellent, short way to dip into the Mazinger franchise and still manages to give a good grasp of the main cast and main villains, some of the highlights of their adventures, and the beginning-to-ending trajectory of the central Kabuto Kouji-vs-Dr. Hell story. It also has the excellent advantage of not needing to be a companion work to the original Mazinger Z anime— if you're watching the Mazinkaiser OVA or the Shin Mazinger anime, it still performs its function of enhancing your enjoyment of the characters and world a lot.
Go Nagai is still a witty, appealing manga author, even if he's not exactly presenting us with the most well-rounded, standalone product here. The violence may strike some people as gratuitous— but it actually gives some weight to the whole "god or devil" premise. Admittedly, that premise is capable of more interesting exploration than it's given here. But this manga (with its violence) is primarily interested in just getting that premise off the ground, rather than giving it as thorough an exploration as it might be given.
While I can't in good conscience recommend this manga to anyone who wants something that can be enjoyed independently from any interest in any other works, which means I've knocked my score down to 7/10 (rather than an 8 or 9), it still does the job it sets out to do well. I'd still tell anyone to read it if they're interested in the history of mecha. I'd just also warn such a person: do not restrict yourself to encountering Mazinger Z ONLY through this manga.
