I’ve heard that phrase before often, and I’ve seen gundam fans constantly say this to folks like myself who often say we don’t like mecha anime, and it sat with me for years; I like code geass, I also like gurren lagan, also evangelion, neoranga (never finished it though), and bokurano, so what the heck am I talking about?
Well actually I don’t like war anime; I’ve no interest in hearing about how empire fitzlik has loyalist factions and friendly rebel alliances, or how princess dokemon is trying to end the conflict between the union of dinguses and the gearshmear confederation, or how colonel flatulence is moving his troops to some rear flank somewhere, or how the struggling economy of the gadunkadunk dictatorship has them occupying the mines formerly controlled by naboo free army, etc; and all the characters are military personnel or politicians.
I have zero interest in this stuff even when mechs are NOT involved; I tried watching gundam something something orphan and yeah, this is not for me; ironically the mecha battles are the highlight. I stopped early in the show when one of the main characters, a prodigy at mech battles, is supposed to duel some colonel who wants to avoid killing the forces on the main character’s base because they’re mostly kids, and this duel is the only thing I’d go back for.
I used to think I hated mech battles because it’s not the physical capabilities of the MC that matters, but how powerful the mech was, but no, a well done fight (choreography and animation) is still a well done fight; nah, it’s the politics, logistics, economy and doing away with as much of the fantastic that I find dull.
Gonna go back and look over anime series I’d passed up because I’d originally seen they featured mechas, and there’s a lot of them.
We are exact opposites. Everything that you said you dislike sounds exciting to me. I do enjoy mecha/scifi. Military stuff in general though.
Like give me the exact amount of rubber shipments of the duchy of whatsitsname. I wanna know of the royal marriage. I want to hear about the border dispute. I like politics. I enjoy economics. I love geopolitics.
EDIT . Also while Code Geass is technically Mecha an other poster is right its closer to something like Death Note than a classic Mecha Anime.
Unsurprisingly I am not a fan of the Victoria games, which are huge on logistics, economics, the specifics of government and governmental reform, and tons of teensy little details here and there (like choosing what specific thing to export where, and what to import from where)
For me, give me a screaming protagonist and winning because they’re really passionate right now; yes, I like my death note and monster too, but I am also a huge shounen and seinen fan
There’s economic animes I tried watching that at first seemed like it was going to be some typical fantasy anime slop, but then went into the working of economy and dealing with merchants and investments, and I was like nope
EDIT: It’s also the reason I stopped reading/listening to the traitor Baru Cormorant; like no, I’ve no interest in the accounting stuff I’m being inundated with
I mean its cool. As I said it seems we are just on two complete ends of the interest/taste spectrum.
Tbh my biggest issue with politics in anime is that they’re usually half-assed garbage. Legend of the Galactic Heroes is the only thing that has come remotely close to satisfying for me.
Like take Code Geass where the idea of reserves for indigenous japanese is seriously taken as a win and only fails because of a random magic oopsie that never happens again.
I get what you are saying about anime but I was talking more in general. (not just reserving my interest to anime)
do mecha anime fans actually think code geass is a good mecha anime? because I’ve seen both code geass and gundam wing and I would firmly classify code geass as more like death note than gundam wing. code geass is firmly watchable for anyone who likes death note but thinks gundam wing is boring. I just don’t know if mecha fans would put code geass in the top 10 or top 100 mechas.
If I had to guess I’d say potentially mecha fans are trying to reach non-mecha fans with this argument, even if they don’t consider code geass a mecha anime
You might enjoy Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury if you want to try a less-war Gundam series. It focuses on an academy intended to train (rich) kids to pilot giant robots.
Thanks, I’ll give this one a shot; the gundam mechs are very interesting, but it was the war aspect that I wasn’t big into; a gundam show that doesn’t focus on that may scratch that itch for me
I mean, there is war and politics stuff in there as well, but it mostly focusses on (really good) giant robot battles and yuri
witch from mercury is my personal favorite
I used to think I hated mech battles because it’s not the physical capabilities of the MC that matters, but how powerful the mech was
I think it’s really cool how this fact theoretically means that it should be more important how good the main character is at strategy, and how well they choose their support team of mechanics and comms officers and such. That said I haven’t seen many mech stories where any of that actually comes into play sooo
Yeah unfortunately I think Gundam in particular suffers from having overpowered mechs; that said, until the actual gundam shows up, the (Zeke?) bots are usually very fascinating because they’re kind of like giant infantry; the gundam itself though tends to eclipse them
Patlabor the TV show sorta’ does this. It’s not so much about how they make the meca more powerful or anything, but a lot of the runtime is spent focusing on training, procedure, the maintenance crew, transportation of the mech, etc.
mecha anime? i thought it was about colors of handkerchiefs
Code Gaess is goofy in ways Gundam can be very boring, and that’s before you get into the funny fan translations. I shall now proceed to pleasure myself with this fish! I think Sunrise as a studio needs a break between it’s heavier series. I sometimes forget how old that studio is :sweat:
Gonna go back and look over anime series I’d passed up because I’d originally seen they featured mechas, and there’s a lot of them.
Have you seen Full Metal Panic!? It’s a comedy mecha. Gist is srs business mecha pilot kid goes undercover in high school as bodyguard and fish-out-of-water hijinx ensues. It has mecha but it’s used more as plot fodder to drive the official couple’s relationship. For some inexplicable reason KyoAni (mostly) separated the srs-business plot from the funny school hijinx into seasons 1 and 2, respectively. I highly recommend mixing the two seasons together like its presented in the manga.
Before Code Gaess, Sunrise made Escaflowne[1], which is basically two bishi mecha pilots are in a love triangle with the heroine who sees the future with Tarot, with mecha driving the drama forward.
that I continuously
flogchampion ↩︎
Have you seen Full Metal Panic!?
I have actually! I remember I liked it too; interestingly did you know the protagonist was raised in a place most likely meant to be Afghanistan? Reading up on it, apparently they renamed it to Helmajistan for the anime to avoid ‘sensitivities during the war on terror’
Escaflowne was actually another anime I’d been considering watching; the mecha in that is apparently more akin to a living creature, similar to evangelion
In the original manga/LN it was Afghanistan, specifically the Helmand Province[1], and its political situation from the 80s plays a part in both the protagonist and antagonist. “Helmajistan” appears a combination of Helmand and Afghanistan. It’s very MGS2 Raiden coded, despite the original LN coming out weeks after MGS1 released in Japan. That part is muted in the anime because :second-plane: and it’s consequences. The anime also renames North Korea[2] during the plane hostage plot at the beginning for the same reason.
the mecha in that is apparently more akin to a living creature, similar to evangelion
It’s true for the protagonist mecha, but it’s not overpowered like Gurren Lagann. The mecha act more clockwork, like an exoskeleton, with the pilots implied to be performing the actual motions. Fighting experience is a big differentiator that can overcome technological superiority for both heroes and villains alike. The villains’ mecha are initially laughably overpowered sci-fi, easily destroying dozens of other mecha in the beginning, but they are grounded in a logic that the protagonists learn and then overcome.
It also has a great soundtrack, and one of my favorite villains (Dilandau) as well imho.
