Koji Kabuto is a character from Mazinger Z (1973) and is a major reoccurring character in The Knights of the Multiverse. The pilot of the legendary Mazinger Z, he and his wife Sayaka Yumi act as two of the three head directors of the New Photon/Saotome Labs and often lend their services to the Crystal Knights, though mostly works to develop ways to defend their Earth from all sorts of threats. He's also the proud adoptive father of three Droids he oversaw the development of - Lilulu, Nyoka and Mohm.
Personality[]
While he's usually laid-back, kind and easygoing, at the same time, Koji is incredibly hot-blooded, hot-tempered, impulsive, reckless, and usually over-confident. He's a fierce combatant in Mazinger's cockpit, tearing through any opponent in his path. He's also rather bad at holding back during fights, though he will always try his damndest to prevent human casualties and can be pretty stubborn even after all the years, never backing down from a challenge even when Mazinger is badly beaten and can barely even stand up. He also has a very bad temper, as shown when he speaks out against, well, any given authority figure, and will often rush into battles without a sound strategy. But, underneath his rough exterior, Koji does have a good heart that cares greatly about his friends and family, as shown by how much he cares for his family. He also has great interest and the utmost faith in the new generation of heroes, especially his girls. His past experience with robots - both with full A.I. brains or simple drones - has made him open-minded that both good and bad robots of various types exist and is firmly set on helping any wayward robots he comes across. He's also taken to heart his grandfather's mindset towards Mazinger Z; anyone and anything has the capacity to be good or evil - a god or a devil.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
The Fight Against Dr. Hell[]
Koji began his adventures when he heard an explosion in his grandfather's laboratory. With his grandfather barely alive when he found him, he showed Koji his secret project, Mazinger Z. Juzo told him about Dr. Hell's mad ambitions and died leaving everything up to Koji. Koji, saddened by his grandfather's death, took command of the Super Robot to battle Hell's Kikaiju forces.
One after another, Dr. Hell sent Kikaiju to attack Japan with Mazinger fighting and defeating them all, with some assistance from Sayaka Yumi and her mechs. Eventually, all of the Mechanical Beasts had been destroyed and Koji and co. took the fight to Dr. Hell's Island fortress. It was here that Koji finally avenged his grandfather by having Z destroy the island and Hell's flying fortress. But although Dr. Hell was defeated, the Mycenae Empire started its attack. With Z still recovering from the last battle with Dr. Hell, it couldn't put up much of a fight against the gigantic Mycenae generals. With little repairs to effectively fight the invading empire, Koji decides to fight until the end while saying his goodbyes to his friends. In a fight with the Great General of Darkness, before he is dealt the finishing blow Koji was saved by the Great Mazinger and its pilot Tetsuya Tsurugi.
The Imperial Wars[]
Leaving Japan in Tetsuya and his partner Jun Hono's hands (and later, the rest of the Allied Robot Corps), Koji and Sayaka traveled to America to repair Mazinger Z and study space travel. By the time Dr. Hell returned as the new General of the Mycenae Empire with the Great General's defeat, Koji came back with a stronger Mazinger and reunited with his long-lost father Kenzo Kabuto and even formed good relationships with most of the other pilots. Effectively, Koji began to rebond with his father, with Tetsuya becoming jealous of the attention Koji was getting from him. Eventually, Kenzo was killed by Great General Hell and Koji and Tetsuya joined with their fellow Super Robot pilots in the final assault on the Mycenae Empire, with all of them finally defeating Hell for good.
Afterwards, Koji spent the next several years fighting against other giant robots and monsters that came out of the woodwork all across the Earth, even teaming up with the Getter Team every so often. He also went on to become one of the heads of the New Photon/Saotome Labs.
One of the new lab's first experiments was to create an android that could replicate Honey Kisaragi's Airborne Element Fixing Device (with Honey's permission, of course), with the armor being based off of her Armor Knight form. The project was a success, and Emily was brought online, able to summon her armor at will, having a sword that was as strong as either of Great Mazinger's Mazinger Blades (maybe even stronger) and, of course, developing a full consciousness like all other androids on Earth Prime. Koji and Sayaka would then turn her over to Tetsuya and Jun to train her and show her the world, where the trio would grow close, with Tetsuya and Jun going as far as to "adopt" the young android as their own daughter, which was quite the surprise to the members of the Lab.
Mini-Series[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Abilities & Equipment[]
- Piloting
While he could have been better when he began piloting Z, Koji soon developed enough skills that allow him to drive or pilot nearly any kind of machine.
- Photon Pistol
Like most of his fellow pilots, Koji carries with him a small photon laser pistol.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat
Relationships[]
Sayaka Yumi[]
Sayaka is Koji's fighting partner and main love interest. Though the two get into regular daily arguments (most of the time with Koji being the one who started them), and he still sometimes teases her and challenges her to dumb little contests, including competing for Nyoka's affection (not to mention when their relationship was strained for a while after losing Lilulu), they share an undying duty to protect the other from harm.
Lilulu[]
What started out as a pet project for Sayaka slowly turned into the first member of her and Koji's new family. He loved Lilulu very much, as if she were his own flesh and blood, and was admittedly pretty happy to have himself a little sidekick to help him on his missions.
So one can imagine how heartbroken he was when he thought she had been destroyed. While he did manage to recover rather quickly and went back to the strong-willed, bull-headed hero he's always been, but he felt something in his heart break when he lost his little girl, and the wound hasn't completely healed. He still keeps a watch out for any sign that she's still alive, just out of pure hope.
Nyoka[]
Koji was the most adamant about taking Nyoka under their wing when he and Sayaka found her in Rindolph's lab, both because she deserved to live even with all her power, and to make up for the failure he felt after losing Lilulu. As such, he loves his second adoptive daughter just as much as he did/does the first, helping her to control her powers and protecting her against any scumbag that would try to hurt her or use her powers for evil. But as much as he wants to keep her safe, he knows that she's got to make her own way in the world, and is very encouraging of her to try new things.
Dr. Rindolph[]
Mohm[]
Koji loves her youngest Droid daughter just as much as she loves the elder two. He's also really thankful on how well Mohm took care of their house whenever he or Sayaka weren't available. He was also extremely excited and proud when he learned that his little girl had become a pilot.
Shiro Kabuto[]
As his only remaining blood relative, Koji is very protective of his little brother. Sure, he is fully aware of how capable of a pilot Shiro's become overtime, it's just that his big brother instincts have a nasty habit of kicking in in the worst kind of situations, which often causes rifts between the two. But even still, like with Tetsuya, as much as they argue (especially with how often Shiro teases him on certain matters like his relationship with Sayaka) the two still care for each other and will always have each other's back in the tightest of situations.
Tetsuya Tsurugi[]
Koji's temper has a tendency to clash with Tetsuya's more often than not, but they both still look out for each other, both as Mazinger pilots on the battlefield and as brothers.
Honey Kisaragi[]
Honey is easily Koji's best and closest friend. Ever since the two met when they were kids (long before she became an android), the two would frequently pull silly pranks on their teachers & classmates and get each other out of fights (mostly involving bullies). This carried over when the two started their own heroic journeys, with the two frequently having each other's backs in their battles against the forces of evil. After the end of the Imperial Wars though, the two went their separate ways, only having brief meetups in the ensuing decade. However, thanks to the two forming the Crystal Knights, the two have rekindled their old bond, stronger than before thanks to their years of experience in battle.
Agnes & Honey Jr.[]
Emily[]
Koji loves his robotic niece a great deal.
Lorelai Heinrich[]
Ruri Saotome[]
Koji usually tries to act Ruri's cool, trouble-making uncle. Key word being "tries", as she'll either brush him off or will just call him out when he starts acting too stupid.
Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin & Michiru Saotome[]
As fellow super robot pilots, Koji respects Ryoma, Hayato and Michiru as brothers/sisters-in-arms. He does get annoyed by Hayato's cold demeanor, and he does feel that Ryo's lone-wolf shtick can get old at times, after the hell they all went through during the Imperial Wars, he gets why they act like they do.
Hiroshi Shiba[]
Kazuya Ryuzaki[]
Akira Hibiki[]
Banjo Haran[]
Koji and Banjo don't get along in the least. He can't stand his uptight attitude and how he prefers to pilot Daitarn on his own, thinking that he and the other pilots "slow him down".
Notes[]
Koji's portrayal in this series is based heavily off of his portrayal in Mazinger Z: Infinity, with him acting as one of the heads of a laboratory and even having a robot "daughter" (well, three of them). Like how the Getter Team uses their Super Robot Wars X Omega models for their younger appearances and their Armageddon models for their main appearances in KotM, Koji uses his character model from Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact for his flashback appearances and uses his Mazinkaiser OVA for the main duration of the series.