Mazinger Z and the Power of Underestimation

Mazinger Z was eighteen meters tall, weighed twenty tons and could fire rockets from his fists.

Strangely enough, the robot may also have something to say about how industries gain power.

Mazinger Z and the Power of Underestimation begins inside the strange, brilliant machinery of Japanese animation and follows a much larger question hiding behind it: what happens when the people hired to make something spend decades getting very, very good at making it?

From Astro Boy and Mazinger Z to Jem and the Holograms, Dragon Ball, Pokémon and the global anime economy, this deeply researched Tantrum Media editorial moves through cartoons, factories, toys, outsourcing, intellectual property and the uncomfortable economics of knowing how things actually get made.

Because sometimes the most important thing being produced isn't listed on the invoice.

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Part of the original Tantrum Media Magazine Editorials and also featured in our Entertainment Collection.

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