News
Taiwanese Politician Campaigns on Mazinger Z Float
posted on by Egan Loo
A candidate for the Taiwanese legislature is campaigning from a custom-built float shaped as a giant Mazinger Z robot. Liu Chun-Yi is an independent candidate who is canvassing his potential constituents for the next Legislative Yuan elections, which will be held on January 12. His truck-converted Mazinger Z float carries Taiwanese flags in its "fists" and also plays theme songs from the Mazinger Z anime series. Just as in the anime, Liu's float is "piloted" from the robot's head, which doubles as the cockpit.
Liu also rides around with campaigners dressed as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh), the American cartoon cat Garfield, and the Japanese robot cat Doraemon. Coincidentally, Yahoo! Taiwan News has posted a series of Chinese-language comics to teach young adults the complicated voting system, which was changed for next week's elections.
Famed artist Gō Nagai (Cutey Honey, Devilman) created Mazinger Z as arguably the first piloted robot in anime and manga. (Previously, there were the first popular robot, Mighty Atom/Astro Boy, and the first popular remote-controlled robot, Iron Man #28/Gigantor.) He launched the manga in Shueisha's Monthly Shonen Jump in 1972. The anime version of the original manga was adapted into English as Tranzor Z, but it did not enjoy widespread success in North America as it did in most other regions, such as Asia and Europe.
Thank you to dormcat for the news tip.
Source: EWIN
Update: Added Yahoo! Taiwan News comics.
