Venus A (Manga)

Venus A (ビューナスA Byūnasu Ēsu) is a robot made by the three scientists to replace the Aphrodite A after it was destroyed. Compared to its counterpart from the anime and TV Magazine manga, it is piloted by Sayaka Yumi and is even modeled after her.

Appearance
Venus A is a slender woman-like robot with a dark red and black coloration. Its 'hair' has an unusual shape that shows the opening of its cockpit between two tufts that have antenna sticking out. The end of the hair features a thruster that allows Venus to fly. Its forearms feature blades that can be detached.

Abilities and Weapons
Venus A possesses greater strength and durability than its predecessor, partly due to the fact it is made of Super Alloy Z instead of regular Alloy Z. It is able to fly through the thruster on the end of its hair.


 * Koshiryoku Beam: A photon beam shot from the robot's antenna for ranged attacks.
 * Z Cutter: A pair of Super Alloy Z blades attached to the forearms that could be used for close combat and ranged combat when thrown in a boomerang fashion.
 * Oppai Missile: The two pair of breasts become weapons as they explode on impact against enemy bodies.

History
The three scientists had been working on a robot that would replace Aphrodite after it was destroyed in the Saluud battle. Koji gave the scientists a nude photo of Sayaka to serve as the model. With this they made a robot resembling Sayaka that was even stronger than Aphrodite. Sayaka was displeased on the fact that her picture was used to model the robot but used it in its incomplete state to offer support to Koji in battle against Baron Ashura's Mechanical Beast. Upon being completed, Venus and the rest of the Mazinger Army was sent out to attack Hell Castle. Among them, only Venus survived by the time Mazinger Z came to help. It later fought alongside Mazinger against the Hell King Gordon. When Dr. Hell stun the Mazinger Z along with Koji with his lighting sword Sayaka manage to free them both by destroying the sword with Oppai Missile. Sayaka then tried another attack, the Z Cutters, but they were bounce harmlessly off Gordon's armor. Enraged Dr. Hell destroyed the Venus A with Finger Barrior. Luckily Sayaka escape in her Pilder hidden at the top of the head.

Etymology
Like its anime counterpart, Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty, making her Aphrodite's Roman counterpart. Furthermore, in a similar way, Venus A was created to replaced Aphrodite A.

Trivia

 * Venus A was originally intended to be introduced in the Mazinger Z anime, fulfilling the role of it's manga counterpart as the replacement for Aphrodite A after its destruction and being directly modeled after Sayaka. For unknown reasons, Venus A was replaced with Diana A and its design was eventually recycled as Jun's mecha in Great Mazinger.


 * Curiously, the manga design of Venus A has a crown shaped cockpit in the shape of Jun's helmet rather than the model directly inspired by Sayaka like the anime Venus A, which could imply that the two designs were accidentally swapped at some point in Great Ma zinger 's planning phase and that her design in the manga was an art error on Go Nagai's part.