OVA
Description
Professor Amagi, whose full name is Hiroshi Amagi, is a significant figure in the 1993 anime Moldiver, where he leads a double life. In the public sphere he is a brilliant scientist, the developer of the compound structure theory that underpins the vast urban complexes of the story's future Tokyo, a science adviser to the ZIC corporation, and a former university professor. In secret he operates as the villainous Dr. Machinegal, also called Professor Machinegal, a theatrical scientist-criminal who terrorizes the city with his machines.
Amagi was once the mentor of the inventor Hiroshi Ozora. During their university years, Amagi guided Hiroshi's research into super-dimensional armor, a technology that could grant its wearer superhuman abilities by binding pseudo-molecular particles to the body. Amagi himself placed the project under seal, because he believed no catalyst material capable of realizing the theory existed on Earth. His former student later proved him wrong by discovering a suitable space-derived mineral that he named Mol ore, and by secretly completing his own version of the armor without telling his old teacher. By that time Amagi had already begun a criminal career as Dr. Machinegal, a turn presented as the result of the loneliness and boredom that came with being a genius. His schemes center on collecting obsolete high-technology items from the twentieth century, which have become prized antiques by the 2040s, and he is not above stealing Mol ore, research data, or equipment from others when it serves his purposes.
Personally, Amagi is eccentric and theatrical, with a fondness for presenting himself as a classic supervillain; his Machinegal costume consists of a black jumpsuit, red tie, and glasses, and his manner is knowingly over the top. Beneath the comedy, he is arrogant and detached, confident in the superiority of his own mind and indifferent to the harm his activities cause. He regards himself as a genius with little need for moral restraint, and he treats his crimes more as a form of amusement than as a serious crusade.
In the story, he is the primary antagonist. As Dr. Machinegal, he appears abruptly using an Intrude Dimension Area transfer system, stages attacks with a private army of destructive robots, and steals his retro-technological prizes before vanishing. He is accompanied by the Machinegal Dolls, a group of android fighters he created, all named after famous models and actresses, and led by his android secretary Isabelle and her sisters. Over the course of the series he repeatedly clashes with the Ozora family, battling Hiroshi, who fights as the hero Captain Tokyo, and Hiroshi's sister Mirai, who becomes the second Moldiver. The revelation that the mysterious Machinegal is actually Professor Amagi recasts these conflicts as a personal matter between a teacher and his former student, adding a note of tragedy to their rivalry. Amagi does not undergo a true redemption; he remains a comic yet dangerous figure throughout, and his development lies mainly in the gradual exposure of his background, his link to Hiroshi, and the motives behind his villainy.
His notable abilities rest on his outstanding scientific knowledge. He is a master of robotics and android engineering, the creator of the theoretical framework behind super-dimensional armor, and the inventor of the transfer technology he uses to appear on the scene and withdraw from battle. He combines this expertise with strategic cunning and a willingness to exploit stolen research, which makes him a genuine threat even when his schemes are presented for comedy.
Amagi was once the mentor of the inventor Hiroshi Ozora. During their university years, Amagi guided Hiroshi's research into super-dimensional armor, a technology that could grant its wearer superhuman abilities by binding pseudo-molecular particles to the body. Amagi himself placed the project under seal, because he believed no catalyst material capable of realizing the theory existed on Earth. His former student later proved him wrong by discovering a suitable space-derived mineral that he named Mol ore, and by secretly completing his own version of the armor without telling his old teacher. By that time Amagi had already begun a criminal career as Dr. Machinegal, a turn presented as the result of the loneliness and boredom that came with being a genius. His schemes center on collecting obsolete high-technology items from the twentieth century, which have become prized antiques by the 2040s, and he is not above stealing Mol ore, research data, or equipment from others when it serves his purposes.
Personally, Amagi is eccentric and theatrical, with a fondness for presenting himself as a classic supervillain; his Machinegal costume consists of a black jumpsuit, red tie, and glasses, and his manner is knowingly over the top. Beneath the comedy, he is arrogant and detached, confident in the superiority of his own mind and indifferent to the harm his activities cause. He regards himself as a genius with little need for moral restraint, and he treats his crimes more as a form of amusement than as a serious crusade.
In the story, he is the primary antagonist. As Dr. Machinegal, he appears abruptly using an Intrude Dimension Area transfer system, stages attacks with a private army of destructive robots, and steals his retro-technological prizes before vanishing. He is accompanied by the Machinegal Dolls, a group of android fighters he created, all named after famous models and actresses, and led by his android secretary Isabelle and her sisters. Over the course of the series he repeatedly clashes with the Ozora family, battling Hiroshi, who fights as the hero Captain Tokyo, and Hiroshi's sister Mirai, who becomes the second Moldiver. The revelation that the mysterious Machinegal is actually Professor Amagi recasts these conflicts as a personal matter between a teacher and his former student, adding a note of tragedy to their rivalry. Amagi does not undergo a true redemption; he remains a comic yet dangerous figure throughout, and his development lies mainly in the gradual exposure of his background, his link to Hiroshi, and the motives behind his villainy.
His notable abilities rest on his outstanding scientific knowledge. He is a master of robotics and android engineering, the creator of the theoretical framework behind super-dimensional armor, and the inventor of the transfer technology he uses to appear on the scene and withdraw from battle. He combines this expertise with strategic cunning and a willingness to exploit stolen research, which makes him a genuine threat even when his schemes are presented for comedy.