Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Grendizer re-imagined as girls defending Photon Power Town

Toei opened the website for its Robot Girls Z television anime series on Tuesday and began streaming the "episode 0" promotional video. The anime is the latest incarnation of Toei Robot Girls, the project that turns Dynamic Planning and Toei Animation's robots into beautiful girls.

The stars of the new Robot Girls Z series are Z-chan (a girl reimagining of Mazinger Z), Gre-chan (Great Mazinger), and Grenda-san (UFO Robo Grendizer). Together they (try to) defend Photon Power Town from the mechanical beast girls Doublas-chan and Garada-chan. The villains are led by Baron Ashura, the underground emperor bent on world domination — or at least, town domination.

The cast includes Mariko Honda as Z-chan, Inori Minase as Gre-chan, Kazusa Aranami as Grenda-san, Aya Hisakawa as Ashura, Yukiko Morishita as Garada-chan (Garada K7), Nao Tōyama as Doublas-chan (Doublas M2), and Sota Arai as a shopkeeper. Future episodes will have the return of Kaori Takaoka as Gai-chan (Gaiking), Satomi Satou as Gacky (Ga-Keen), Ayumi Tsuji as Bara-tan (Baratack), and Chiharu Kitaoka as Dandan (Danguard Ace). (Photon Power, Baron Ashura, Doublas M2, and Garada K7 are all references to Go Nagai's original Mazinger Z manga and anime.)

Hiroshi Ikehata (original Toei Robot Girls, Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai-hen) is directing the new anime, and Kazuho Hyodo (Tactical Roar) is in charge of the scripts. Tetsuya Kawakami (Shigofumi - Letters from the Departed, Toei Robot Girls) designed the characters.

The nine 10-minute shorts will have the dual themes of slice-of-life gag humor and violence. The Toei Channel will run the shorts this January.

The earlier Toei Robot Girls project eventually spawned a pilot film in 2011. The project had launched two years earlier to promote the various works in Toei's anime catalog.