>Is practically the second main character of the 70s anime which is why Mazinger became such a massive franchise, having plenty of episodes that focus on her as much as Koji and there being barely any episodes where she doesn't appear at all>Be nearly as scrappy as Koji in a fight despite being stuck with robots that aren't designed to be anything more than pincushions for mechabeasts so Mazinger doesn't take the brunt of their attacks, often dealing noticeable damage despite having barely any weapons and even managed to take out 4 mechabeasts>Is one of the more well known and beloved love interests in mecha anime due to being the first of her kind along with having a fun personality to help her stand out compared to other mecha heroines>Despite this she almost always gets reduced to just being Koji's not-girlfriend in most series that came after the 70s anime>Her relevance in a battle is even worse in said sequels and remakes and might as well show up with a cheerleader uniform and pom poms instead>Always gets sidelined hard in SRW with mediocre at best stats and a spirit set that tries to force her to be a supporter, trying to rectify this in a game that doesn't have Mazinkaiser or any duplicates of Z or Great means you have to shaft Koji or Tetsuya instead, and she isn't even allowed to be deployed in T or 30 because of Infinity, will also get shafted again as usual when Grendizer U inevitably appears in another mainline game as the Mazinger rep>Often gets labeled as being useless by fans, non fans are even worse and will spread their headcanon that she's both useless and a battered housewife who never did anything wrong to warrant getting slapped by Koji even on this very boardI know the name of this franchise isn't Aphrodite A, but this doesn't seem very fair.
>>22938426Don't worry about what secondaries think. People who know know. Best girl for all time.
>>22938426Despite some of the short comings you listed, I still like Sayaka for who she is and how much she does even if her combat role could be improved massively in some area.>will also get shafted again as usual when Grendizer U inevitably appears in another mainline game as the Mazinger repI feel like Grendizer U will actually be one of her better showings given it will basically improve the support role the games keep giving her since she will always be with Kouji in Mazinger X as one of his backpacks.
>>22938621I'd still rather Artemis show up. And not just for the kinky pilot suit. Though I'm certainly not complaining about that.
>>22938426Sayaka is a character from a cartoonGetting this invested in her standing is silly
>>22938621Yeah true, at least she's still appearing in the newer entries, maybe I should just count myself lucky she isn't getting left out with how many characters they're struggling to represent in these shorter anime series or movies given how often Great and Grendizer's cast end up tagging along.
>>22938426The Aphrodite A design is slept upon. It looks like an art deco statue
>>22938426>>Always gets sidelined hard in SRW with mediocre at best stats and a spirit set that tries to force her to be a supporterHer units are just not very interesting in the first place, budget spent on making her animations look cool is budget that can be spent on making other cool animations look even coolerPlus the balance flow is always that 99.9% would prioritize deploying some Getter or Gundam or a protag unit over her, given the chance Hell, even Borot is a more functional choice because it's way-way more often introduced as a repair and/or resupply unit that doesn't have to get into fights other than to defend
>>22939110You're not very interesting.
>freaking huge wall of text about why my waifu is greatUsually a bad sign.
>>22939110I like Aphrodite A, it’s design is great, biggest thing holding it back is it’s lack of weapons due to being designed as a peace symbol, and considering that the devs included her in a new attack combo with Mazin Emperor G and Mazinkaiser in DD it’s not like they couldn’t just make up some new weapons or tools to make her better in a fight.
I like Venus Ace
>>22939140I wish she got in the anime instead of Diana A.
>>22939141There's no reason for Sayaka to steal Jun's robot.
>>22939876I always like her versions better myself, but yeah I think you should probably let Jun have something. She's been getting the stick worse than Sayaka has.
>>22938426>will also get shafted again as usual>>22939884>getting the stickThat's what girls are for in the first place!
>>22939900>That's what girls are for in the first place!Eyooooooooooooooooo
>>22938426>Often gets labeled as being useless by fans,Have you actually WATCHED Mazinger-Z? She kinda is.
>>22939923ah yes, the modern anime logic of>Any character who can't solo the universe is uselessYou're an idiot.
>>22938426Yeah I love Sayaka
>>22939923No she isn’t, even with Aphrodite being bad in a fight she still manages to contribute something most of the time, even when she doesn’t do any real damage she ends up soaking up the attacks first so Koji has a better idea on how to avoid them.
>>22939900Kek
>>22938426my nigga, mazinger isn't that fucking deep.
>>22938426The thing with Mazinger is that every pilot is awesome.Even Boss, who is clearly for comic relief a lot of times, when shit gets real is great. That episode when he goes with the Boss Borot, knowing that he stands no chance and he'll be most likely killed, because he won't let them attack an orphanage is great.And Sayaka is great for all the reasons you listed. She didn't become as useful in the latter episodes, though, but that's because her robot was shit, whereas Hell kept sending more dangerous threats; not because of her skills or determination.And in fact that's the reason why Kouji doesn't want Sayaka and Boss to sort out many times. He disguises it as bravado, but the real reason is that he knows that the only robot worth shit is Mazinger.
>>22938426Yeah, I didn't expect her to be as helpful or tenacious as she was. The send-off for Aphrodite was actually quite emotionally impactful considering we were with it for most of the show. Even the show sometimes acknowledges that she (and Boss) are helpful and valued team members.I'll never not deploy Sayaka with Mazinger, that goes for any helper characters in general with their main bots.
>>22938426>>22939104>>22940036Bring back the himecut
>>22942266People always point to the episode of them not wanting to upgrade Aphrodite but nobody ever wants to talk about them purposely designing Diana for battle.
>assume "Boss kidnaps the scientists to force them to make him a robot" I've heard before watching any Mazingers is just something done mean-spiritedly because he's a bully and rival>turns out it's a very low-level threat, and Sayaka encourages them to continue>likewise it was rarely from Sayaka's woman "I can do it too" mentality>rather, repeatedly they express or even tell Koji that they're insistent on Aphrodite or Borot for the sole and simple reason that they JUST want to help>>22942721I was a bit annoyed by that episode, but was really glad to see Koji among those in support for Diana A, he eventually came around. Diana A was still often outclassed by the late or Mycenaean kikaiju as another anon stated, but I think she does get a kill or two not long after her introduction.
Haven't seen the Toei anime or Nagai's manga, only Ota's, but from what's been translated of that so far I really love how they do Koji & Sayaka, though I'm sure the other versions do it too.They're flawed, quite entertainingly so, & it gives them an interesting bit of depth, Koji is undoubtedly a very brave & heroic guy, he can also just as well be an obnoxious, hotheaded jackass, but it still feels like the same guy. Same deal with Sayaka, she's no less brave, heroic, & kind, but she can be pretty stuck-up sometimes, has a nasty habit of nagging people's ears off, can let her frustrations with Koji get the better of her.It all makes their dynamic & their bickering really entertaining, & weird as it is to say, it makes Koji's sexism WAY less uncomfortable than it could've been, since he's not doing it for no reason, you really can't blame him for finding Sayaka annoying sometimes, nor can you blame her for getting fed up with him!
>>22944285Urine for a treat for Toeizinger, they're more or less the same as you've described, and although you didn't explicitly mention it, they really do care for and appreciate each other
>>22938426It's not fair to shoehorn worthless femoids in my comfy mech shit. Same way Grendizer goes to shit when they introduce Maria.I'm so tired of this.
>>22945057Maria can't be that bad of a character.
>>22945057gayby
>>22938636>>22939130>>22939923Why are you even here if not to discuss characters from cartoons?
>>22945057That sounds pretty gay.
>>22944285You should watch the Toei anime, the Ota manga borrows a lot from it so the relationship between Koji and Sayaka is more or less the same.
>>22942721>them purposely designing Diana for battle.because the implementation of that in practice is a jokeit's functionally the exact same robot as Aphrodite A combat wise except it can also fire a beam that's no more effective than its missiles
>>22945057Maria was only made because Toei got cold feet about making Banta a Spazer pilot and didn't want it to look too similar to Getter Robo, even though some Euro fans spread the rumor she was supposed to be Sayaka.
