Not into Mecha? Why not?

With new members like Rekka and The Green Gentlemen stating that they're not into mecha, I would just like to give my say on these things. And I would like mecha enthusiasts such as Saber, Mikhail, Canadaman, or whoever to reply.

Before, I am skeptical when it comes to mecha. When I started out anime, I usually like to watch shows like Naruto, Bleach, all your typical shounen type anime until.... my cousin came over in China and really started to open my eyes in the realm of well... Gundam. Gundam Seed Destiny at the time, was well ...not a good introductory towards Gundam. Second it's certainly the worse of the Gundams out there. But what hooked me in Seed Destiny was because of the mechs in general. A gradual step when it comes to mecha and blowing two hundred Djinns up. I then research more of Gundam and then became in love with it's lore and history. Coursing throughout my anime watching this is known as my "mecha arc" where I watch nothing but only mecha such as Fafner, Gao Gai Gar, Aquarion, Rahxephon, Nadesico, the list goes on and on. 2 years later Gundam 00 came out and wow did it wowed me. What a great way in telling a story with Gundam in relativity to our timeline. A year later in 2008 Code Geass R2 which serves as one of the best entertainment when it comes to Anime as a whole who happens to have mechas. One more year later I was introduced to Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann which is pure nostalgia to the 90's super robot shows but with it's modern flare and storytelling (and eventually led the members of AAA forums in doing Row Row Fight Da Powah Podcast).

What I want to say here guys is why are you skeptical when it comes to mecha, and with shows like Code Geass and TTGL, the mecha franchise has really expanded it's own audience with these type of anime ( ask Hatake! when it comes to TTGL!). I can relate because Mecha is nonetheless Giant Mecha Robots battling out.

SoulBro, Neo and I touched upon this when we all first met.

It's a two-way street, but we figured that people who enjoyed a lot of sci-fi stuff like Star Wars, Star Trek, BSG, Babylon 5 etc. also enjoyed mecha anime because of the sci-fi-esque nature of having giant humanoid robots.

I know for myself I started at the Sci-Fi side of things, watching the original Star Wars trilogy as a kid (and the Special Editions before I hit Junior High), ST:TNG and Stargate:SG1. Eventually I found my way into anime, and mecha anime in particular and things just meshed really well. Super Robot, Real Robot, a combo of the two, I'll watch it.

Or it could be because I'm a guy who enjoys action, adventure and futuristic stuff, and mecha fills in most (if not all) of the requirements.

It's not that I dislike mecha, merely that it is at the bottom of my 'like' list. I never was a sci-fi-guy, and it never really caught my interest. Also, I'm a pacifist so the whole "lolIkillyouinmygiantrobotandvictoryismine" thing goes against morals that I sometimes use to conveniently get out of doing things. Nonetheless, as I never gave it a chance, I will add Geass and Toppen Tekken Gurren Lagan to my everlasting list of anime to watch. Always seeking a new horizon (or something like that). Do you have uncapped internet over there, Baku or Canadaman?

The Green Gentleman wrote:It's not that I dislike mecha, merely that it is at the bottom of my 'like' list. I never was a sci-fi-guy, and it never really caught my interest. Also, I'm a pacifist so the whole "lolIkillyouinmygiantrobotandvictoryismine" thing goes against morals that I sometimes use to conveniently get out of doing things. Nonetheless, as I never gave it a chance, I will add Geass and Toppen Tekken Gurren Lagan to my everlasting list of anime to watch. Always seeking a new horizon (or something like that). Do you have uncapped internet over there, Baku or Canadaman?

Exactly the response that I would like to hear from you. I mean the whole sci-fi element of the Mecha genre can be overwhelming but again I think mecha can do extraordinary well when it comes to character stories and stories and universes that are made. Again it's not like I prefer mecha it's just now I prefer any anime that is good. My favorite animes of all time have mecha in them and Mechs are a standard in japanese entertainment. O and Code Geass is a must watch if you're considering yourself to be a anime fan in general, and for Gurren Lagann let's just put it as "YOU'RE NOT A MAN UNTIL YOU HAVE WATCHED THIS!"

As for your second question I don't think here in America we have a internet capacity if that's what you're asking.

Uncapped internet?

Theoretically I used to with the old dial-up modems. Used to work with a 28.8k and then moved up to a 56.6k shortly before getting cable internet via Shaw. Currently I don't have any internet restrictions set by either the company or anyone else.

Mechas are ok but they're not what I watch the anime for, like if I'm discussing anime I talk about the story, characters, music, I mean even if I was talking about Gurren or even Gundam I can talk about them for a very long time and not even think of mech's because that's not what I'm paying attention to

I think one thing I have with Mecha animes, and this is very many of them, and one of the things I openly praise Eva for, is the Mechs have NO limitations.

If you look at something like, battery technology over the past 20 years it's hardly improved. Now I know Mecha technology is thousands of years in the future. But they just seem to take too much for granted. Mechs have unlimited power supply, they only seem to run out when it's conveniant for the show to have a dramatic scene about it. It's like a mech can fight for three hours in space shooting energy cannons and whatnot but then run out of power heating itself in the cold or something silly. Not to mention mechs seem to be "anywhere anytime" type things. Under the ocean? Why not? Survive through the earths atmosphere? Sure! They never explain HOW the mechs do any of it.

Now I'm not saying that the show needs to spend every minute trying to explain how the mech does what it does... but come on, in some shows (Gundam Wing) the mechs have like, energy swords... At no point do they make any effort to explain any kind of workings to the mechs, even the really outlandish things. It doesn't have to be a "real" explination, but some kind of one would be nice.

Also there's the cost of repairing them. There's no way that they're cheap, even if they're mass produced in the future. How do rebel factions in animes happen to come across millions of dollars with no explination to repare these things no problem but then are in other ways strugging?

I know this all seems hypocritical in that I like fantasy anime. But Sci-Fi (which I'd put mechs into) is SCIENCE-fiction... even if the science is bullcrap give me something, or some realistic scientific portail. The working of mechs internally and their place in society is always foggy at best I feel like. At least with magical girls you can just say "oh they're magic" and not expect any scientific explination.

I know this sounds like a rant, sorry! I do like Mech animes, but it's in a way because I like the concept of mechs that when they just feel kind of thrust into a series with little explination, almost like a copy/paste in some ways I just have a hard time getting into it and seeing the world as realistic.

Ok bread and butter time. Like Canadaman i fall into the Sci-fi fandom (more like Sci-Fi junkie but whos paying attention right?) I grew up watching the Star wars movies and allways when i was sick and home from school i would find episode IV on as the WB's afternoon movie. My first Star Trek episode was a rerun of the original pilot episode featuring Captain Pike. And I have continued watching Sci-fi such as Firefly, Serenity, Every Stargate episode to date and the movies, Starship Troopers again all three movies and the book as well as the CG cartoon Roughnecks the starship trooper chronicles, Etc. (the List is Huge)

But i digress. While i do enjoy Comedy, Dramas and Anime as a whole Mecha has a special place for me. Not even because it was my gateway into anime that was Dragonball, DBZ, Pokemon, Yu Yu Hakusho and lets not forget Sailor Moon. "Moon Prism Power!"

cough cough!..... erm... as i was saying Mecha Has given me some of the best hours of realistic entertainment (as realistic as Giant Robots Battleing it out can be) In Gundam we get bits and peices of explanations over the series. As for surviving re-entry the gundam has a system that can navigate and cool itself for re-enty (Think Space shuttle) While other suits do not. Remember that poor red shirt that screams for Char to save him? Yes Power consumtion is a very big question mark and the only Anime that i have seen that has it worked into its universe is Zegapain. They have an Operation time and energy limit and once thats done they need to return to base.

You know what though you may find a smattering of explanations throughout a series of why Giant Mecha work even if there total BS. But does it really matter? While i get enjoyment out of watching Giant Cool looking Mech's battle it out i allways find myself drawn to the pilot and what he's feeling and going through even if he's just a crazy war junkie like Ali-Al-Saachez. I see the Mechs as a means to an end.

Because in the end i see Hikaru and his Valkyrie, Camille and his Zeta, Kyo and his Zegapain. Because without them it really doesnt matter what powers the mech.

I just want to point out first of all that I am not a mecha hater. While only about 10% of the anime I watch is mecha, that still adds up pretty good.

What I want to say is that mecha is cycling out in anime. It'll be back but think about how many of the anime released in the last year are mecha, especially in the last 2 seasons(including winter). I'll give you a hint. There's about 5 of em. I honestly don't know if there is even 1 mecha in the next season and this current season only has 1(to my knowledge), Asura Cryin' 2 which isn't much of an achievement considering how bad Asura Cryin' 1 was. Putting it like that, Mecha anime makes up only a small fraction of anime being made right now. Why? Well it must not be what the overall population of anime viewers wants. Somebody needs to make a series of pie graphs that illustrate the breakdown of animes in the last year by genre. I'd do it but I just wrote a 70 page paper for my graduate school work and it had about 40 pie graphs in it rofl.

Just to clarify, I don't like this. I hate Moe anime and I don't really like Shonen stuff too much either, but that's just how it is.

Never mind. Might as well make an excel spreadsheet for this too. *sigh* I'll have it done in a few hours. Lemme know if you want it emailed to you...

Mitsugi wrote:Never mind. Might as well make an excel spreadsheet for this too. *sigh* I'll have it done in a few hours. Lemme know if you want it emailed to you...

I'll take it, thanks! er, not sure if you can see my email so the.green.gentleman@live dot com anyway.

I actually like Moe anime, but I like to think that my anime genre varies a lot. Favorite is Psychological like Elfen Lied, Chaos;Head and Higurashi

Turns out there are 123 of them from 2009. This'll take awhile.

Hey there. I can't talk to much cause im on PSP right now but one reason I don't really prefer Mech anime is because (and I cant even really explain it myself) I just like seeing the people. Plus the STYLE of the anime is also a huge factor, i like the cuteness/cleaness of anime like bleach/TMOHS/Kampfer, I dont like the really serious looking anime like Cowboy bebop, Mitsugi's avitar is the perfect example of this style. The style will bore me, like I really like code geass compared to gundam (cap)

I'm sorry. Did you just refer to Kampfer as clean?

XD I don't mean sexually, I mean the art style, the color and the way its drawn

Mitsugi wrote:I'm sorry. Did you just refer to Kampfer as clean?

Is the animation dodgy? It was going to be my anime for the weekend, but if the animation is no good... it'll probably still be my anime for the weekend. Lol.one must judge for themselves I suppose. But I get what was inferred, I prefer the newer anime style to the older one. Nothing wrong with the old style though.

The Green Gentleman wrote:

Mitsugi wrote:I'm sorry. Did you just refer to Kampfer as clean?

Is the animation dodgy? It was going to be my anime for the weekend, but if the animation is no good... it'll probably still be my anime for the weekend. Lol.one must judge for themselves I suppose. But I get what was inferred, I prefer the newer anime style to the older one. Nothing wrong with the old style though.

Here goes my opinion with Kampfer's animation. Though up to date, the characters, backgrounds don't really make me go wow and did not surprise me.

Well, my view on the whole "Do you like Mecha" thing is as follows:

There is a distinction to be made first and foremost about Mecha anime. You have Mecha anime that is a show based around mecha, and there's mecha shows that are just anime that happens to have mecha in it.

Usually, I go for anime that has a good story, and I couldn't care less about style or animation. If the story is good, that's what will stick for me. So when it comes to Mecha I believe the same disctinction applies. If you take a show like Gundam for instance (maybe not so much the original) it is a show about people that endure war. The mecha are a big part of the shows, but they are tools, like tanks. It was probably just more visually appealing to use a mech instead of a tank...

If you take a super robot show, like Voltron, the whole show is moot, it just revolves around that one sequence where Voltron combines and kills the bad guy with an awesome Lightning Punch or whatever other crappy attack they come up with...

So my opinion is that it is not so much a question of liking or disliking mecha anime, but more of how you label an anime. Do you call an anime mecha because there is a robotic, bipedal, humanoid weapon in it, or is mecha a show that really revolves around that machine? '

I bet that most people don't label Laputa as Mecha, but stricto sensus, that would be a mecha show...

I know people who would refuse to watch a show, based on the label that people stick to it, which in my opinion is just plain stupid. Why would you dismiss something based solely on the fact that it features mechs? You might miss out on a great show...

Just my 2 cents...

@Rekka and The Green Gentlemen: If you we're to pick any mecha as an introductory, what would you pick?

@Rekka (because I like to pick on ya): It seems you have this "narrow" view on anime. Have you seen any of the classic anime? I also want to comment in what you prefer as in well the animation. It seems that you have a huge fetish with how Kyoto animation does The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (in my opinion that anime is overrated. Yeah you heard me) don't get me wrong good premise in story structure or what not. It is also considered the all time greats for some people. It seems that you really like this whole Moe/Fanservice phase that anime is going through today. Not that it's wrong but it is depressing in how such a great art like anime has really come to nowadays in to exploiting Japanese men's sexual desires. What I'm getting here is just I think you Rekka are a person that has been exposed to too much Moe/Fanservice and spoiled through the animation of the now (case and point Kampfer). Also want to add on to your Code Geass pick. Great anime it's in my top 5 anime of all time! But then again Code Geass does alot in terms of fanservice, a solid story, characters you actually care about, Mecha just looks o so f***kin awesome, and animation done really well. The whole thing with Geass is that it has an appeal to everybody. I really hope that you can broaden your whole "view" of anime by watching and grinding through various genres. I'm not saying what you're watching is bad it's just that it makes you have a narrow view on a sense of things ( much like the trolls on /a/). Alright that's probably enough and START ON MECHA!!!!

What I also want to put in is that 2008 was a great year of anime in general. In that you have pretty much the highest rating in terms of the quality released during that time period ( Clannad After Story, Gundam 00, Macross Frontier, Code Geass R2). Mecha in general it was like heaven seeing when 00 ended for a quarter year hiatus, we had a masterpiece known as Code Geass R2. Then..... where are we now? I think as anime viewers who catch up with anime, get bukkaked in the face with a tremendous amounts of moe anime. What does this year have for mecha fans.... nothing much. What I'm getting here is that I just want more of the momentum that mecha has done for the anime as a whole. It's just really depressing seeing anime fall into this category of Moe blobs everywhere crying out their favorite characters.

2008 brought Mecha (and mostly the Real Robot style) genre back into play, as it's unofficially labeled "Year of the Mecha/Dead Sniper".

Code Geass can be argued to be more story driven with mechs along for the ride, the same with Macross Frontier. Both have gone episodes without featuring mecha (except maybe in flashbacks).
Gundam is harder to define as purely story driven since the mecha play such a huge role within the story. Something like that ties mecha and story tightly together (or at least it should.)

And while waiting for more mecha series, the fans will get compilation movies for Macross Frontier, NGE, as well as an after-series movie for 00.

Green Gentleman. Kampfer is god awful. For the sake of your sanity, please do not watch it. <<

Mitsugi wrote:Green Gentleman. Kampfer is god awful. For the sake of your sanity, please do not watch it. <<

Fair enough, my internet just went over its speed cap anyways, I got bumped down to dial-up speed. I'll probably still watch it, but I'll bump it down the rungs in light of your opinion. Geass first. Also, I would like to point out that I actually have seen Fullmetal Panic, and it's one of the few series I've bought.

The Green Gentleman wrote:

Mitsugi wrote:Green Gentleman. Kampfer is god awful. For the sake of your sanity, please do not watch it. <<

Fair enough, my internet just went over its speed cap anyways, I got bumped down to dial-up speed. I'll probably still watch it, but I'll bump it down the rungs in light of your opinion. Geass first. Also, I would like to point out that I actually have seen Fullmetal Panic, and it's one of the few series I've bought.

Glad you made that choice. Geass... you will not forget. Full metal Panic! is a great introductory towards mecha. I think it is one of the real robot shows in actually putting emphasis on the weapons of the AS and causing controversy if fallen in the wrong hands. Fummoffu great spinoff and TSR is just a nice and serious look at where the series has come through.

@Bakuhasu: Sorry, I tried to post last night but my psps internet browser was going crazy, anyway, I actually have watched lots of classical anime, my first anime was Sailor Moon, and then as I grew up I was watching anime like Card Captor Sakura, Hamtaro, DBZ, and, at one point around the age of 10-11 I think I actually liked Cowboy-bebop. I still have watched some of that styled anime recently (last couple of years) I remember watching Love Hina about one and a half to two years ago, I really liked it back then, not so much now -_-.

Also, If I was to choose introductory mecha anime, I would most likely pick Code Geass, its just epic, but I can't say much because it sounds like you havn't watched it yet ^^