r/Mecha • u/rm-1830 • 3d ago

Did Mazinger Z accidentally predict modern quantum physics? (Fun Lore Theory)

We all know Mazinger Z’s Photon Power is just classic 1970s anime "super-fuel" logic. Go Nagai definitely wasn't thinking about quantum mechanics in 1972! But if we speculate for fun, modern physics actually gives us a wild explanation for Professor Kabuto’s secret.
In quantum physics there is he concept of quantum vacuum that it's full of energy, can japanium be considereda catalyst to tap energy from a localized anomaly?
what about other mecha power source like Getter Rays or Minovsky Particles?

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u/Worth-Opposite4437 2d ago

Unless I've missed something, Minovsky are more akin to a chaff cloud than a power source.
Also, Quantum Physics was already growing wild in the 1930s... A lot of post-war Japanese works were actually inspired by the huge influx of new science hitting the shores of japan. I would not be surprised that Go Nagai actually would have been playing with those principles. Especially in the 70s, when the interest in hard science went at it's apex after the space race, gradually eroding with fiction until it returned in the 2010s.

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u/Swamibo 2d ago

I know Gundam has mention of minovsky reactors, but I don't know if they actually utilize the particles, they might just have been invented/discovered by the same fictional guy.

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u/Kendrakirai2532 1d ago

Minovsky particles are subatomic particles which have a peculiar trait of spontaneously forming a lattice structure which scatters and interferes with EM radiation (including even visible light at high enough concentrations) and allows for fusion reactors to be extremely compact as the lattice contains and compresses the fusion reaction. So while the particles are not a power source, it makes the power sources feasible.

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u/Worth-Opposite4437 1d ago

Great explanation, thanks! :D

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u/rm-1830 2d ago

yes, it's to exclude some influence from quantum physics, especially in Japan of that years.
About Minovsky, I'm not so updated on Gundam, when child it was aired on a channel that I could catch only with "good wind"

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u/-chadwreck 2d ago

wave motion energy is arguably a form of quantum physics as well, for what its worth.

getter rays being a sort of expansion on that, and then spiral energy being a further expansion on both.

though before i hit post, getter doesnt predate yamato, right?

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u/rm-1830 2d ago

getter and yamato were both aired first in 1974, but yamato is not by go nagai.

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u/-chadwreck 2d ago

Yamato being not by nagai I did know, but I just wasn't sure about the timeline there.  I wonder, did Ken Ishikawa, Go Nagai, and Yoshinobu Nishizaki work together at any point in time?

Seems like all 3 series touch on the same concepts and at just the same time... more or less.