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New anime mecha figure’s pilot is…you!?!【Photos】

Casey Baseel Dec 7, 2025
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Tokyo gift shop offers to put you in the cockpit of the very first anime mecha that had one.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of anime characters who pilot giant robots, and fans can spend endless hours debating which one of them is the most skilled. Gundam’s Amuro Ray? Macross’ Maximillian Jenius? Escaflowne’s Allen Schezar? You could make a solid case for any of them, plus a dozen others.

Ah, but while “Who’s the best anime mecha pilot?” has no definitive answer. “Who was the first anime mecha pilot?” does: Koji Kabuto of 1972’s Mazinger Z. Why? Because Mazinger Z is the very first manga/anime to feature a giant robot that wasn’t sentient or remote-controlled but instead had a human controlling it from the inside.

It’s quite an honor for Koji, but it’s also now one you can indirectly claim for yourself thanks to a new Mazinger Z figurine that kicks him out of the cockpit and puts you in there instead.

That’s the previously unimaginable offer from Meta Mate Eslite Spectrum Nihonbashi, a unique gift shop in downtown Tokyo. Inside the shop is a full-body 3-D scanning apparatus. Aspiring Mazinger Z pilots step inside the array of precision cameras, which record the contours and coloring of your features and clothing.

▼ The cheerful-looking silver-haired gentleman in this preview photo is none other than Mazinger Z creator and legendary manga artist Go Nagai himself.

Once the scan is complete, the data is used to 3-D print a figure of you, scaled to match the size of the robot’s cockpit.

The cockpit is then mounted within the crown-like protrusions on Mazinger Z’s head, just like it is in the anime and manga.

Four different sizes of figurine are available, ranging from six to 15 centimeters (2.4 5.9 inches) and between 33,000 and 198,000 yen (approximately US$215 to US$1,295) in price. Once your scan is done, production of the figurine takes around six to eight weeks.

Though reservations for the service can be made by contacting Meta Mate Eslite Spectrum Nihonbashi ahead of time via phone or the store website here, walk-ins are welcome too. While the scanner has no problems with eyeglasses, participants are recommended to avoid wearing lacy, shiny, or transparent fabrics, as well as dangly earrings or other accessories, as those can result in glitches in the scanning/printing process. Also, while Nagai is seen standing up in the above promotional photo, for the best results you’ll want to sit on the provided chair, to mimic the posture you, or Koji, would have inside the mecha’s cockpit.

Shop information
Meta Mate Eslite Spectrum Nihonbashi / meta Mate 誠品生活日本橋店
Address: tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Muromachi Sanchome 2-1, Coredo Muromachi Terrace 2nd floor
東京都中央区日本橋室町三丁目2番1号コレド室町テラス2階
Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (weekdays), 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (weekends)
Website
Telephone 03-6910-3530

Source: PR Times, Meta Mate
Images: PR Times
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