Forum - View topicDo you like mecha shows?
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Gon*Gon
 Posts: 679 |
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I liked....Infinite Stratos and G Gundam. And maybe a few others I'm forgetting.
Asides from that, not much else to watch. I don't dislike mecha, and don't mind watching them.............but there's just not that many good mecha shows out there. |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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In a word, no. I'm not that keen on fighting shows, whether or not they have mecha in. Gundam bored me to death. I've yet to see Code Geass, so I can't comment on that. Earlier people have mentioned Magic Knight Rayearth as a mecha show, but I see that more as a magical girl story which maybe has some elements of mecha. I enjoyed that, but I wouldn't say it's a "mecha" show per se.
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Most mecha shows these days aren't all about the mecha, they are tied in with other genres like action or even harem shows. Where they are kind of incidental to the story, rather than being major characters on their own.
That being said, I LOVE mecha shows, there's nothing quite like seeing a 40 foot robot punching things and making them explode. Its kind of sad that mecha used to be a hot draw on both sides of the ocean, and now mecha fandom has kind of fallen by the wayside. I love to see more shows get a US release, but current fans are looking for more slice of life and moe kind of shows. Too bad. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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Soundmonkey44
 Posts: 1243 |
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Yes, I do enjoy mecha anime, after all whats better then watching giant robots (OK a couple of things) But yeah Mecha anime are always fun to watch.
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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I dislike mecha, but I've never really stated why. Time to fix that.
Orson Scott Card once wrote that the difference between science fiction and fantasy is that fantasy has trees, sci-fi has rivets. They are very similar, for fantasy is fiction in an imagined past and sci-fi is fiction in an imagined future. When discussing a sci-fi or fantasy story, I view them on a scale of soft to hard. A soft sci-fi story (think Star Wars) is basically fantasy in space, and a hard fantasy story (think the Wheel of Time series) is basically sci-fi set in the past. I prefer hard stories in both sci-fi and fantasy, and this is why I generally dislike most sci-fi anime – they are all soft. Mecha is no exception. First, giant humanoid robots are completely stupid. The human body is designed for tool use and walking across the African savanna, not fighting in space. And don't get me started on mecha that hold weapons like swords. An exoskeleton would be acceptable, but not a piloted machine, there are far more efficient ways to build one. Apart from the mecha itself, the stories seem (and I haven't watched far many, so this is all appearance) to be very shallow. Space opera and such. Real soft sci-fi. Second reason: angst. Mecha shows seem to be filled with teenage angst. Again, this is mostly extrapolation from things like Nadesico and Full Metal Panic, but they seem really adolescent. It's not really my cup of tea. Third reason: lack of nostalgia. My first anime was Fullmetal Alchemist. I don't share than nostalgia of the good ol' days were giant robots was all that was on. I've never seen any Gundam or Voltron or Macross or any of those old shows that gets people to wax romantic about. And when people go off on mecha sidebar and start discussing which Gundam was the best, I get irritated from lack of comprehension and this is transferred whole scale to the mecha genre. Fourth reason: my inner hipster. I hate to admit it, but there is a hipster inside me. And one of the things it does is hate things that are popular. And mecha is really popular in America. Generally, when 'normal people' mention anime, it's always giant robots or sexual deviancy. I don't like mecha because mecha is given in anime fandom, and I want to separate myself from the crowd. But I have an open mind, and am willing to try stuff out. I "obtained" this old mecha show called Panzer World Galient awhile back, and I'm going to give it a spin sometime soon (Probably once I finish watching Cardcaptor Sakura). We'll see if my opinions are well founded. |
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Generic #757858
 Posts: 1354 |
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Well, TV Tropes has much better explanations, but think of it like this: In Super Robot shows the mecha are basically like superheroes with all kinds of crazy, completely unrealistic weapons and powers and often fight giant inhuman enemies. The pilots are mostly excessively hot blooded and undisciplined, though that's not always the case. TTGL, Gunbuster, Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dai-Guard, GaoGaiGar and the like all fall pretty squarely into this category. In Real Robot shows the mecha are more akin to soldiers, armed with 'realistic' weaponry and often mass produced. The enemies are human or at least humanlike and the emphasis is most often on military conflicts and politics (or at least that's how it should be...). Most Gundam series, Macross, Patlabor, Votoms and FLAG are pretty good examples. Of course, there are plenty of series that straddle the line (Eureka 7, Super Robot Wars) and many Real Robot series often stray into Super Robot territory (FMP, Code Geass, most Gundam series). There's also series like Escaflowne or Rayearth that mix mecha with other genres. |
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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FaytLein
Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Actually, Real and Super Robot aren't real genres on their own, its a holdover from Super Robot Wars play mechanics. I've always been more of a proponent of the "Giant Robot" and "Mecha" distinction. As in, one kind of show has big robots fighting in a one on one kind of environment, and the other has smaller robots fighting in a war like setting (wars and the like.) The failing of just going by the "Super" and "Real" division is because not all shows completely follow the script, sometimes mixing and matching aspects of the shows, i.e. Dai-Guard itself is a Super Robot in a Real Robot setting or Zeta Gundam running on the SOULS OF DEAD WOMEN kind of thing. |
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anime racket
Posts: 314 |
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Based on the descriptions given here I definitely prefer Super Robot shows. To me, they have a lot more heart and soul. btw, I was surprised when you listed gunbuster and nge as super robot shows. I always thought they were real robot series. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7988 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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I don't know, but for some reason that makes this hand of mine glow with an awesome power...it tells me to defeat you. 
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Rathchet
 Posts: 36 Location: Melbourne, Victoria |
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The only mecha show i'll watch is Full Metal Panic!. The Gundam series just doesnt interest me in the slighest.
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Generic #757858
Posts: 1354 |
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Uh, isn't that just basically the same as Supers and Reals?
Sure, that's been the case since the days of the first Gundam. Mostly the series do lean heavily in one direction or the other though, so the distinction still works well enough. The tropes that Dai-Guard follows still very much make it a Super Robot series, despite taking place in a more realistic setting, just like Zeta Gundam is still a Real Robot series despite the mecha having magic powers.
They mix things up, but IMHO fall closer to Super Robot territory. Angst alone doesn't make one a Real Robot pilot
Here's a short list of Super Robot shows that I've enjoyed, if anyone's interested. I've omitted RahXephon and NGE despite liking them, because unlike the ones on that list they aren't BURNING!
I prefer to SHINE IN THE NAME OF ZEUS AND... 
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The Third Doctor
 Posts: 70 |
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I like the classics mecha shows Gundam, Macross ect (not all of them) but I'm kind of burned out on the newer ones.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I used to be more "meh" about them, but then TTGL, like so many other people, made me take a second look at it. Because TTGL reminds me that dude, you're piloting a giant robot big enough smash buildings, produce drills out of thin air, grab other robots for its own personal use and automatically recolor them to match the existing scheme, and throw galaxies like frisbees, why should that be anything but awesome? Why should piloting a giant mech be a punishment instead of a joy? The thing runs based on how awesome you are as a person! That's just an awesome mech right there!
Now, I've always been into sci-fi, and luckily, most giant robot shows fall into the sci-fi category. There have certainly been mecha shows that I've disliked, but I feel like when they get it right, they're just so much fun to watch, so it makes me consider giving most any of them a chance. It's hard for me to dislike a show like TTGL because it has such an infectious spirit that it just sucks me in. But I'm just going on about one show honestly. There have been other shows with mechs that I've liked, Macross/Robotech, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, but I feel like the mechs there weren't front and center, it wasn't the dominant genre of those. Like Macross is a war drama and instead of using tanks and machine guns, they use mecha and are in outer space. But the focus is always on the pilot and the world he inhabits more than the mecha. I feel like it's similar for 0080, mecha are there, but the primary focus isn't on them (ok, maybe more so in 0080 considering that they're trying to stop the transport of a mecha, but it still focused on war and characters more then mech). For non old school I really liked RahXephon, but once again, the mecha seems to be a side thing, since yes, they are important to the story, but not to the same degree that they were in TTGL and most of the Dolems served as monster of the week combined with symbolism anyway. Giant Robo is also more recent, but honestly, most of the human characters do the fighting in the series, the Giant Robo itself seems to be in the background most of the time. But what they all have in common is that only in TTGL have I ever felt like the mecha itself was a main character of the show as well, rather then just something to name the show after. So a lot of the shows with mecha, I feel like they'd still work without them and with some other technological thing instead. So I guess I like them, I'm willing to give a shot to any genre and have something I like in every genre, but I feel like for a lot of shows with a mecha, it's not the first thing that comes to mind about the show for me. |
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