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Last edited by proelite on Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:27 pm; edited 1 time in total

I am a big fan of power suits, which I think will be the next evolution in military hardware as the United States army are exploring options to shrink the power source needed for the armor. Western games, comics, and shows have featured power suits plenty enough from the likes of Starship troopers, Halo, Iron man, etc.

However, as a fan of anime/games I am disappointed that I can count the number of anime featuring power suits on one/two hand. The examples include Ronin warriors, MD Geist, Guyver (crappy looking power armor), Karas???. They do appear sometimes in series where mechas are the main focus.

I think power suits make for better "mechas" than mechas themselves since you can potentially do w/e mechas can do in a power suit and yet still be able to enter/fight in a room or hallway.

This is especially puzzling since the samurai used to don battle armor.

I notice you didn't mention Bubblegum Tokyo or Bubblegum Tokyo: 2040. Both of them had the exact power armour you are looking for. There is also the rather bad OVA Zaion: I Wish You Were Here, which used a nano-based power armour. I cannot think of any more right at this moment.

But yeah, I too like the idea of power armour. Too bad it isn't used more, as it is far more plausible and useful than eighteen-metre-tall robots, a la Gundam.

Last edited by proelite on Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

dtm42 wrote:

I notice you didn't mention Bubblegum Tokyo or Bubblegum Tokyo: 2040. Both of them had the exact power armour you are looking for. There is also the rather bad OVA Zaion: I Wish You Were Here, which used a nano-based power armour. I cannot think of any more right at this moment.

But yeah, I too like the idea of power armour. Too bad it isn't used more, as it is far more plausible and useful than eighteen-metre-tall robots, a la Gundam.

Thanks, I was going to mention bubblegum crisis series.
The armor from FF: Spirits Within looked pretty cool, but sadly it's a cg film.
Jinro had awesome nazi body armor, but I don't remember if they were powered or not.

They're around, just not nearly as common as giant robots. Giant robot has a history dating back to at least Gigantor, and with a large population of impressive looking mecha giants, power suits just do not look as impressive. Realism be damned--it's mostly about the cool factor.

Some power suit anime:
Sky Girls - the power suits are noticeably larger than a human, but they are obviously extensions of the human body. They are, however, not very realistic, being an open frame designed to show the girls in body hugging suits as well as high speed air maneuvers.

Votoms - a long running, classic series in Japan that somehow never had much presence outside. It's rather difficult to find.

Tekkaman Blade - known as Teknoman in some countries, it's probably one of the most famous power suit based anime. Of course, the power suits are not at all realistic, being alien products packed into a crystal and capable of firing giant beams.

Mospeada - also known as Robotech: the New Generation features power suits (transformed from motorcycles) alongside giant robots (transformed from planes). The power suits actually see significantly more action than the giant robots.

Megazone 23 - like Mospeada, the power suits are transformed from bikes, but the bikes, as well as the suits, are noticeably larger, I believe around the same size as the exoskeletons in Sky Girls.

If you include the likes of Ronin Warrior, then completely fantastic armor that grants a power boost should be acceptable. We can enlarge the list with the likes of Saint Seiya and Shurato. Tekkaman Blade's power suits are actually closer to this category, but since it is a sci-fi series as a whole, I listed it above.

Interestingly enough, there is an anime adaptation of Starship Troopers, which is often credited with inventing power suits. However, I believe the anime changed the power suits into giant robots.

Mospeada suits look very uncomfortable. Shocked

It's as if the producers took some mecha designs and sold the animators to make the characters wear them.
On the other hand, Sky Girls exoskeletons look very well designed. As long as the limbs are not in a cock pit, I considered that a power armor.

We can also add Halo to the list when the ova comes out.

How dare you leave Jin-Roh aside!
Wouldn't exactly say they wear power armors, but while wearing that they withstand bombs being detonated in front of them.
Heroic Age could also be considered some kinda of giant living armor anime. And the strongest I've ever seen at that.
There's also S-CRY-ed. Not all of the alter users wear armors, yes. But by the end of the anime you'll get to see some power armor action. Really enjoyable anime, one of my favorite.

Well, some of them might be a little different of your idea of "power armor", but if you really enjoy power armor anime they are a must.

The armor guyver wasn't bad looking at all. You sure have some bad tastes for fashion!

Madox-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7T-6ThKoJ0

Mechanical engineers fap material ^^^^.

To Egoist: The people in Heroic Age actually wear space suits that looked like power armor.

BES Null Core wrote:

Votoms - a long running, classic series in Japan that somehow never had much presence outside. It's rather difficult to find.

Mospeada - also known as Robotech: the New Generation features power suits (transformed from motorcycles) alongside giant robots (transformed from planes). The power suits actually see significantly more action than the giant robots.

Ah, how could I forget about Genesis Climber MOSPEADA? Good catch. Additionally, the pilot suits from the Macross franchise also count (I'm especially thinking of the ones in Frontier).

However, while Armored Trooper VOTOMS is one of the most realisitic Real Robot franchises ever (along with another Takahashi show, Gasaraki), the ATs themselves are not powered armour but Mecha. A Mecha is something you pilot while powered armour is something you wear. With the ATs being four metres in height, they are undoubtedly Mecha rather than powered armour.

It's in a comedy series, so this is mostly used for parodies, but Natsumi's "Powered Natsumi" suit from Sgt. Frog is an example. The suit's primary significance probably comes from that when most alien races, particularly the Keronians, are about as serious as this show ever gets, they are much stronger than humans. It gives her the strength to continue fighting. So, while it may not play much of a role overall, it has been in some important scenes.

Cause power suits aren't huge and awesome enough for anime. j/k

Aside from the mentioned titles, a semblance of power suits appears in Innocent Venus and GiTS:SAC and SAC2.

Then again, in the end Gundams are also a form of powered armour, just not in the way you think about it.

dtm42 wrote:

A Mecha is something you pilot while powered armour is something you wear. With the ATs being four metres in height, they are undoubtedly Mecha rather than powered armour.

Four meters is closer to the 1.5 to 2 meters height of a human than to the 18 meters height of a gundam, whether by quotient or difference. Certainly it is much closer to the size of a human than the skyscraper sized super robots. The first part of the definition is correct; the second part is neither related to the first part or correct. Bubblegum Crisis provides the best illustration of the difference, with very similarly sized hardsuits (both the knight sabers' suits and the much larger K-11 and K-12), motorslaves, and battlemovers, with the first two considered power armors and the last considered a mecha.

However, you are right about the nature of the armored troopers--they have a discrete cockpit and joystick type control. I remembered incorrectly what I read about it. I made the same mistake about Megazone 23's small mecha.

The robes in My-Otome are power suits in a sense, but they are probably too far removed from the idea of mechanical augmentations to be what you seek.

Ausdoerrt wrote:

Then again, in the end Gundams are also a form of powered armour, just not in the way you think about it.

I cannot agree with you on that. Mobile Suits are powered armour in the same way that tanks or fighter planes are powered, i.e. not at all.

BES Null Core wrote:

Four meters is closer to the 1.5 to 2 meters height of a human than to the 18 meters height of a gundam, whether by quotient or difference. Certainly it is much closer to the size of a human than the skyscraper sized super robots. The first part of the definition is correct; the second part is neither related to the first part or correct. Bubblegum Crisis provides the best illustration of the difference, with very similarly sized hardsuits (both the knight sabers' suits and the much larger K-11 and K-12), motorslaves, and battlemovers, with the first two considered power armors and the last considered a mecha.

No, in Ryosuke Takahashi's opinion, anything four metres and over is definitely a Mecha, unless of course the operator isn't human but of a much larger species (Basquash! and the Macross franchise come to mind on that one). A human just cannot wear a four-metre tall machine, therefore something that large cannot be considered a powered armour. However, I'll admit that this isn't perfectly true, as the Landmates from the Appleseed franchise are conceivably both Mecha and powered armour, despite being much smaller than the "minimum" four metres. So the classification isn't as straightforward as I - for one - would prefer it to be. Still, four metres is a good rule of thumb.

dtm42 wrote:

Ausdoerrt wrote:

Then again, in the end Gundams are also a form of powered armour, just not in the way you think about it.

I cannot agree with you on that. Mobile Suits are powered armour in the same way that tanks or fighter planes are powered, i.e. not at all.

BES Null Core wrote:

Four meters is closer to the 1.5 to 2 meters height of a human than to the 18 meters height of a gundam, whether by quotient or difference. Certainly it is much closer to the size of a human than the skyscraper sized super robots. The first part of the definition is correct; the second part is neither related to the first part or correct. Bubblegum Crisis provides the best illustration of the difference, with very similarly sized hardsuits (both the knight sabers' suits and the much larger K-11 and K-12), motorslaves, and battlemovers, with the first two considered power armors and the last considered a mecha.

No, in Ryosuke Takahashi's opinion, anything four metres and over is definitely a Mecha, unless of course the operator isn't human but of a much larger species (Basquash! and the Macross franchise come to mind on that one). A human just cannot wear a four-metre tall machine, therefore something that large cannot be considered a powered armour. However, I'll admit that this isn't perfectly true, as the Landmates from the Appleseed franchise are conceivably both Mecha and powered armour, despite being much smaller than the "minimum" four metres. So the classification isn't as straightforward as I - for one - would prefer it to be. Still, four metres is a good rule of thumb.

Four metres rule would mean that the Gunmen from Gurren Laggan would be considered as power armor, even though it is piloted via joysticks.

I think the definition where all four limbs are are inserted into the appendages of the suit can suffice. It doesn't have to be completely inserted (marines in starcraft have their hands on a controller located in the forearms). The landmates from Appleseed might have counted if the legs of the pilot actually "wore" the legs of the mech. However, the landsuits are big too big.

Lastly, a person wearing power armor should be able to enter spaces that a normal person should, aka doors, hallways, etc.

So the size of a mecha armor becomes invalid whereas the operation system of human-machine integration takes precedent? Confused

If that's the case, wouldn't Mobile Fighters from G Gundam or even GunBuster from Aim For The Top! be some sort of power armors in their own rights? Rolling Eyes