Mazinkaiser SKL (Series)

Mazinkaiser SKL  (マジンカイザーSKL Majinkaizā Sukaru) is an OVA, novel and manga series spin-off of Mazinkaiser, which itself is a spin-off of Mazinger Z. Animation was handled by Studio Actus while licensing was done by Media Blasters.

Prior to the OVA, a manga titled Mazinkaiser SKL Versus was published in the mobile phone magazine Shu 2 Comic Gekkin. The novel adaptation was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Hobby Magazine. Like Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact!, this series is influenced by other works by Go Nagai including Devilman and Violence Jack.

Plot
Set on Machine Island, an island that during a great war was isolated from the rest of the world after an experiment by WSO went wrong creating the gravity curtain that encased the island in a massive storm. Three factions composed of survivors and descendants of victims of the war - the warriors of the Garan Army, the barbaric Kiba Army, and the all-female Hachiryokaku - have taken over the island and now fight for total dominance of Machine Island and its resources.

Each faction controls a part of the machine that powers the gravity curtain. The factions developed their own war machines from the remains of defeated WSO machines and the vast resources found on the island, like the GRK-7 and the DBM-2.

One day the WSO learns the gravity curtain has become unstable and will explode in 66 hours, destroying the planet and all life along with it. Quickly, the WSO sends the Skull Force in to combat the each faction, reclaim each of the gravity curtain machine's parts and end the crisis.

The Skull Force are made of two teams: the two-man Death Caprice Squad consisting of Ken Kaido and Ryo Magami, who together pilot the super robot Mazinkaiser SKL, and their backup the Gren Falcon Squad. When Skull Force enter Machine Island, the Gren Falcon Squad are decimated, leaving a single survivor, Tsubasa Yuki, as the only backup for the Death Caprice Squad.

From here on, the remaining Skull Force battle through three armies to power down the gravity curtain before it explodes and destroys the Earth.

Trivia

 * In the scanning of Iron Kaiser in the database, freeze framing reveals Mechanical Beasts.
 * The voice actors of the main characters later voiced Devilman characters in the crossover Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman.
 * Kaido is voiced by Shintarō Asanuma, who voiced Akira Fudo.
 * Magami is voiced by Satoshi Hino, who voiced Ryo Asuka.
 * Ironically, Kaido and Magami's code names match up with the above character's alter-egos.
 * Tsubasa is voiced by Saori Hayami, who voices Miki Makimura.
 * The characters similar to both Akira Fudo, Miki Makimura and Lori makes cameo appearances in the series' third and final episode.