Mazinger Z Interval Peace

Mazinger Z Interval Peace is a manga spin-off of the 2017 anime movie, Mazinger Z: Infinity. It debuted in the June 2017 issue of Monthly Young Magazine. The manga's scenario is drawn by Takahiro Ozawa while artwork is drawn by Kaoru Osada. Compared to some of its contemporaries, the series is a 'youthful group drama', following the pilots conflicts rather than the robots. The series ended on the October 20, 2017.

Summary
The manga takes place in a world where the use of Super Robots is questioned. Koji is a former pilot with his companions faced with both personal and outer conflicts. They were once heroes but peace was achieved, bringing their robot's use into question. Can this peace even last and can it even lead to true peace...?

Chapters

 * Chapter 1 "There is nothing more painful than remembering happy days in times of sorrow"
 * Chapter 2 "How from sweet seed may come forth bitter"
 * Chapter 3 "Derivable by no created good"
 * Chapter 4 "O thou benign and gracious living creature"
 * Chapter 5 "That kindly grief which re-espouses us to God" (part 1)
 * Chapter 6 "That kindly grief which re-espouses us to God" (part 2)

Chapter 1
An expedition convoy, the "Mycenae Investigation Team", enters a cave in rural China, accompanied by Koji Kabuto and a sealed Mazinger Z fixed on a mobile platform. The team discover the destroyed husks of many Mechanical Beasts in the cave, and realize that they have found the as of yet undiscovered Fifth Legion of Dr. Hell. However, one of the destroyed Mechanical Beasts suddenly reactivate, seemingly in response to the presence of Mazinger Z. Koji realizes that the Mechanical Beast wants to fight the Mazinger, but apologizes to it as it is destroyed by a rocket barrage from several MLRS vehicles, saying that everything will deteriorate and decay without maintenance and resupply, and even Mechanical Beasts are no exception.

The narration explains that years after the war with the Mycenae Empire, humanity is now on a path to rebuild, and the scene changes to a Japanese city: on one side of a river is a sprawling, futuristic metropolis, while on the other side, there is the old city, which is rundown and has yet to rebuild, with several slogans protesting discrimination and demanding the old city to be rebuild as fast as possible.

In the 8th cafeteria of the New Photon Power Lab, Koji and fellow Mazinger pilot, Tetsuya Tsurugi, are having lunch. While the two are eating, the television broadcast a news report about the Photon Power Lab agreeing to transfer the Mazinger series and their data to the New United Nations Unified Military. It is rumored that Japan agreed to this as part of a bargain to finally become a permanent member of the Security Council, however, many protests opposing the New United Nations gaining access to powerful military weapons have occurred, some of which have devolved into violence.

The report then mentions that the pilots of the Mazingers would most likely join the Unified Military as well, since the Mazingers would be useless without them, and having the two heroes joining the military would be a blow against the opposition. Professor Gennosuke Yumi, who has been rumored to be joining politics, appears as a special guest on the news and comments that the two pilots are extremely talented, and that their strength will be needed to maintain the order of the new world. Koji finishes eating and leaves.

Koji and Tetsuya  go to the smoking area of the lab, which is on a balcony that overlooks the reconstructing city. Tetsuya mentions that he's already handed in the transfer request to the Unified Military, and asks why Koji hasn't yet. Koji simply says that he's not good at filing paperwork, and asks Tetsuya who is he going to fight now that the Fifth Legion, the last of Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts, were accounted for. Tetsuya answers that not joining the Unified Military would mean leaving Mazinger forever, since the international community would never allow a single country to possess something as powerful as the Mazinger series, and asks if that is fine with Koji. Koji has a flashback to their battles with Dr. Hell, and asks Tetsuya if he thinks those days were happy or painful. Tetsuya simply replies that emphasizing one's self like that is the privilege of teenage boys, and they are both already adults.

The two are interrupted by alarms going off, a code 669 incident - Mechanical Beast reactivation- has taken place in the Yokosuka Mechanical Beast storage facility, and the Japanese government has ordered the Mycenae Investigation Team to deploy immediately. The two pilots dock with Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger respectively and prepare to take off.

A naval ship attacks the Mechanical Beasts with its guns, to no effect. As one of them closes in on the ship, Mazinger Z flies in and destroys it with a kick. As the Mechanical Beasts are heading for the city center, Great Mazinger destroys another with Thunder Break. Koji prepares to fight the third one, a Toros D7, but it does not react to Mazinger Z at all and simply walks past him. Realizing something's wrong, Koji ignores the Mechanical Beast and flies off.

In an abandoned building, a revolutionary wearing construction worker uniform is asking a computer hacker if he could make the Mechanical Beasts attack, the hacker replies that the plan was to simply march the Mechanical Beasts as a peaceful demonstration, and explains that he infected the Mechanical Beasts with a computer worm based on the behaviour of hairworms, which cause infected victims to approach bodies of water. It was a miracle that the Mechanical Beasts managed to move at all, and making them attack is simply impossible. The two are interrupted when Mazinger Z flew up to the side of the building and caught them red-handed. Koji asks himself his earlier question again: "Who are you going to fight in a world with no enemies?"

The scene then cuts to a ceremony that celebrates Tetsuya and the Great Mazinger joining the military. Koji is not present, having decided that he will become a researcher instead. Despite this, Tetsuya is sure that he will return to the pilot seat of Mazinger Z once again, since that is the fate of all Mazinger pilots. Koji leaves the new city and drives into the old city on his motorcycle, while the narration states that humanity is about to enter its most peaceful age, a short period that will be known as "Interval Peace" in the future.

Chapter 2
In the UN Security Council chamber, Professor Yumi is presenting a proposal for the new Photonic Network, a new power and communications network which promises to completely change people's way of life, to the assembled leaders of the world. One of the world leaders questions this, saying that Japan currently has a monopoly on Photonic Energy research, and that it is unsettling to entrust the fate of the entire world to it. Professor Yumi replies that he is willing to release Photon Power Lab's one hundred and twenty thousand patents on Photonic Energy and Alloy Z to the nations of the world as long as they are used for peace, shocking everyone present.

The scene cuts to a gourmet restaurant in the new city, which has been reserved. Only two patrons are present: Professor Yumi and Sayaka.