The New General Mecha thread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > VEGETA > The New General Mecha thread

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

I'd suggest adding Mazinkaiser to the OP as it's fantastic and pretty short(the OVA that is, the movie is pretty abysmal), same with Mazinkaiser SKL

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 06:31

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:59

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

boom boom boom posted:

From what I remember of Mazinkaiser SKL, it's only a really good introductory mecha anime if the person being introduced is a 14 year old boy. Wan't it just a lot of robot fight scenes with guns that are axes and then a volcano explodes?

That's exactly why I'm suggesting adding it to the OP, a lot of the choices up there currently while good are also very light on the actual robot action

# ¿ Sep 21, 2015 20:30

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Is it kinda weird that of the stuff by Ishikawa, Nagai, and Ishinomori that I've read, most of it I've found incredibly mediocre, except for Shin Getter Robo, might just be me having incredibly low tolerances for human violence(especially when it involves civilians), and bleakness though, which is just crawling all over the Manga works from all three authors, it's kinda not all that surprising that most of that tended to get ditched from adaptations of their work for a long time, and when adaptations try to include those themes they often fall apart on at least some level(Devil Lady's anime is pretty much the only example I can think of that pulls it off without coming off as stupid or up it's own rear end on at least some level)

# ¿ Sep 25, 2015 10:11

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

TNG posted:

I always found it interesting that Takahashi has said that he's always hated robots and includes them primarily because "they sell". Tomino says similar things, but I think Tomino operates on a level of materialism that that never appealed to Takahashi aesthetically. There's always a massive amount of commodity fetishism, specifically robots and technology and the neat things they can do, in mecha anime, not to mention sci-fi, and I think Takahashi rejects it on some level while Tomino is disgusted by it but at the same time is fascinated. It's sort of like this, how can something be specifically anti-war if the action and drama of the fights have all this wiz bang techno wonderment? I think Tomino gets around it by being so pessimistic and bitter politically, while Takahashi has his robots being really unglamorous and frail.

Gasaraki is a really interesting show in that the TAs exist in this sort of Gulf War mentality where Stealth and "Smart" Bombs actually work the way the US Military says they do as amazing wonder weapons. Something you should feel pride in as well as...pleasure, but the show also has it all based around meddling with magic and combat drugs to even make it work on some level, which undermines it quite nicely.

I dunno, as I've grown older, I've just found that robots aren't a romance anymore, but a veneer for something I find very troubling about western society. Especially with what I know about systems like the LCS and F-35...

man Takahashi has made some nice shows, but he sounds like a major douche at the same time, also I'm not the only person who's completely sick and tired of "Anti-War" messages being included in Mecha series right?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2015 10:31

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

I dunno at this point while I acknowledge putting war in a positive spin is near impossible these days, I wouldn't mind some Mecha stuff that treated it in a purely neutral manner, like it's not a good thing(although good things can come of it), but not treating it as an absolute evil either cause that is ridiculously oversimplifying things

# ¿ Sep 28, 2015 18:26

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

StrixNebulosa posted:

I didn't know which show those robots were from, so I googled the 24th Battalion and found a show called "Special Armored Battalion Dorvack." While I now realize that of course, duh, they're from the Dougram show - now I'm curious. Has anyone heard about this Dorvack show? Google isn't turning up much outside of a short wikipedia article and the requisite ANN article.

If you're familiar with Transformers, the Autobots Whirl and Roadbuster take their designs from two of the three main robots(which is why they never appeared in the cartoon)

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 02:37

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

StrixNebulosa posted:

"Sorry, we couldn't show up in the G1 cartoon because we're too busy starring in a super-obscure real robot anime."

That is delightful. How/why the makers of Transformers got the idea to take other designs and tweak them into their own I will never know, but will always appreciate for the clusterfuck that is Skyfire/Jetfire's legal rights.

I'm afraid I have to ask: what's X-Omega?

X-Omega is the most recent Super Robot Wars game, a Mobile Game to be specific

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 03:31

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Shin vs. Neo starts out good, but I feel it kinda falls apart once they switch to the Shin Getter, too little time for that to have meaningful impact(same for bringing in Ryoma), not to mention it leads to SvN to being incredibly gimped in pretty much every SRW appearance it's had due to Shin Getter having a crappy move list, they would have been better off not having the Shin Getter show up at all(similarly they shouldn't have bothered having Ryoma show up outside of the prologue)

# ¿ Oct 24, 2015 20:44

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

TNG posted:

Go-Lion sure has an upbeat opening for how grim the show is.

Yeah it's amazing how violent Go-Lion is, which makes one realize that the team that handled Lion Voltron were really good at their jobs since it manages to be mostly coherent despite how much editing was needed for it to be appropriate for American television

# ¿ Oct 25, 2015 13:07

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Parallax posted:

I watched Macross Plus and it was super cool. Are there any other super short OVAs with mechs? (Aside from Giant Robo and Gundams)

They aren't exactly what I'd call good, but I'd recommend taking a look at Cybernetics Guardian, and Demon of Steel for two short but interesting OVA's, also go watch MD Geist, it's an experience everyone needs to have(no matter what else we can all agree that it has amazing music)

# ¿ Oct 26, 2015 12:57

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Just rewatched Cybernetics Guardian, and while it's nothing amazing in terms of writing, it's a fun way to kill 42 minutes, helps that it's a really good looking OVA(would love for Discotek to pick it up and release it on Blu-Ray), and has a surprisingly kickass soundtrack(something it has in common with it's cousin MD Geist)

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 12:50

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Man the SRW game where Delta premieres in is going to be an odd one

# ¿ Jan 2, 2016 21:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Zeorymer's main reason to exist is that it makes good SRW series fodder

# ¿ Feb 9, 2016 02:37

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Zereth posted:

How would you handle the robot's opponents being "8 dudes on foot" all the time, though

there's almost no mech units on the hero side

Could just have it be an antagonist only entry, sure that's something SRW has never done before, but it still wouldn't be the weirdest thing the franchise has done

# ¿ May 26, 2020 02:41

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

All I know is they keep using Hirai for shows that are a terrible fit for his style

# ¿ Jun 22, 2020 06:08

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Schwarzwald posted:

It's pretty drat obscure, being one of the two shows he produced after the kerfuffle with Toei over Gaiking. The other one was Govarian, and no one's heard of that one, either.

Both are still probably more well known than Groizer X though

Also while neither is supposed to be all that great, both do have excellent theme songs

# ¿ Jun 30, 2020 02:34

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

chiasaur11 posted:

Ehhh...

The thing that stood out to me about God Mazinger's OP is it sounds more like an ED. Normally, the OP's fast paced and revs you up, while the ED calms things down. God Maziner, meanwhile, goes low key for the opening. You aren't energized for high stakes dinosaur combat. You're primed for sleep. It's even less energizing than something like Anohana's opening, and that's supposed to be melancholy.

It's the opposite of Patlabor's "Midnight Blue", where you're closing with something that could be an opening to another anime.

Oh I agree it's a poor choice for an OP, just that it's an excellent song otherwise;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uKvIUdtDhU

And Govarion's since I mentioned it's as well;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvCvQo2fSV0

# ¿ Jun 30, 2020 04:33

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

And it's honestly kind of a weird fit for SRW as well cause it's basic premise and setting do not lend themselves very well to a crossover setting and if you change those around to make it fit then all you're left with are some cool robots and in that situation there's a lot more series that would much better deserve the slot that Layzner would be occupying(I'm of the opinion that SRW works best if you keep the amount of Real Robot series to a minimum anyways, like if you had 12 series in a game you should probably only have 3 to 4 of the series be Real Robot series, SRW J follows that ratio* for example)

*well assuming you count Full Metal Panic and Fumoffu as one entry and what category you feel Brain Powerd falls under as well

# ¿ Jul 3, 2020 11:08

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Promotional art for the premiere episode of the second season of Disney's Amphibia;

# ¿ Jul 12, 2020 06:37

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

BizarroAzrael posted:

Just butting in to ask: Is there any kind of continuity across the Brave series or are they all self-contained? I've seen a few eps of Exkaiser and a couple of GaoGairGar, so it's not apparent they have anything to do with each other. Is the association just combiner robots in some fashion?

They're unrelated, though Gaogaigar does have connections to at least two other Mecha anime; Betterman, and Brigadoon(both of which are much darker series than GGG)

# ¿ Jul 19, 2020 21:57

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Zeether posted:

Wait, Brigadoon is connected? I know of Betterman since that recent crossover novel/manga happened

It's less obvious because Brigadoon happens decades before the other two(it's set in 1969), also compare Mike White from Brigadoon and the White siblings from GGG

# ¿ Jul 20, 2020 00:16

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

You forgot Zeta's first opening

# ¿ Jul 31, 2020 04:12

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Honestly I still love the AGE-1 and all it's Wears(the fact that only like four or five of them got animated is a crime), the AGE-FX is one of the better final upgrade suits in the franchise, and I love pretty much all of the Vagan suits, even the Doom Lemon

# ¿ Jul 31, 2020 06:49

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Ranzear posted:

It is definitely the weakest IBO opening though, so it fits the tier title. Some of the visuals are good but it's mostly flashes of each and every goddamn side character doing nothing of interest. Only the Kudelia and Barbatos launching scenes have engaging imagery.

The open snare in the song is fantastic ... and the rest of it is just kinda meh. Meandering lyrical melody that feels off pace from the instrumentation. Frenetic guitar wank way too low in the mix to be more than just noise. High hat and kick drum sound like they were added in post. The song just kinda sucks except the drums, or at least the ones that sound like they were actually played on a kit.

I don't wanna influence a tier list for Endings just yet, but Orphans no Namida is gonna be a big contender. It'd be hard to factor in the 'play us out' dynamic though, let alone the comes back for one episode to twist the loving knife factor.

Yeah I'd have to say Raise Your Flag and Orphans no Namida might be one of the best OP/ED combinations the franchise has had

# ¿ Jul 31, 2020 21:12

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

on the topic of possible masterpieces in the mecha genre, I'd say Dragon's Heaven has to be near the top;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqRjVQhjBw

# ¿ Aug 15, 2020 00:46

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

MarsDragon posted:

I'll happily say that Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still is a masterpiece and my favorite anime of all time. I'm sure there are lots of flaws someone could find in it, but I don't care, I love it to pieces. I have two cels from it framed on my bedroom wall and I'm so thrilled to have them.

After that...I don't know. I'm with everyone else in that "good" and "bad" are incredibly subjective, and to push that further, not the same as "entertaining" and "boring" and honestly, I care more about the latter two than the first. I have stuff I like/love, but I'm not going to say that anyone else will like them. Maybe if they have the same taste as me, but my taste is weird. Everyone's is. What's a strength for one person is a flaw for another, so the critical thing is trying to figure out what someone would like based on their own personal taste, not on what the general consensus agrees is "good".

But thinking about it, Goshogun: The Time Etranger should be on the general consensus list because it's good, entertaining and nails what it is intending to do. It doesn't have the robot and I'm sure it has flaws, but it's a very solid movie.

Do you have any more information on Voltes having its broadcast shortened? I know it's the shortest of the Robot Romances, but I don't know the circumstances behind it.

The complete lack of anything mecha related is exactly why Time Etranger should be disqualified from this discussion, seriously I have no idea how they got away with that in a movie that's supposed to tie in with a mecha series

# ¿ Aug 15, 2020 02:08

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

MarsDragon posted:

Because it's really good.

Fair point. I did take pictures of my copy of Roman Robo Anime Climax Selection a few months ago, which has a bunch of essays and commentary from staff about Combattler/Voltes/Daimos. I'm not good enough to read any of them, but there might be some hints in there.

(and yeah, they are cell phone pictures. Sorry, but I don't own a scanner and I wouldn't take apart my rare and expensive book to do scans anyway)

Not denying it's quality, more that I'm amazed it was allowed to be funded in the first place

# ¿ Aug 15, 2020 07:03

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Agreed on Gaiking being great;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnS6DuLix9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_p536Qb8l8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biynCbJ2Cw8

Mild spoilers for a 13 year old series

# ¿ Aug 16, 2020 00:59

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Pretty much the only thing I've heard people say was good about Macross II is 1) some of the mecha designs are neat, and 2) that it had a neat little arcade game

# ¿ Sep 14, 2020 09:04

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Overall the movies are great but in retrospect they really should have been done in three parts rather than two, would have had to skip over less stuff that way

# ¿ Sep 15, 2020 22:25

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

the probably final Rebuild of Evangelion film now titled Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time has a release date and new trailer that just came out;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CEjqATcPAg

# ¿ Oct 16, 2020 04:22

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

my favorite thing about getter is during crossovers and such when there are alternatives to the apocalypse machine that eats its pilots available, but they still use getter robo.

To be fair that mostly doesn't happen outside of the Mangas besides that brief "Getter Humanity" future seen during New Getter Robo, Arc will basically be the first time that will actually be a prominent plot element in a Getter Robo anime

# ¿ Nov 8, 2020 08:35

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

I'm probably the one person in these parts who personally thinks that Getter Robo Go is honestly kinda garbage

# ¿ Nov 8, 2020 21:56

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Schneider Heim posted:

Is Neo Getter Robo different from Getter Robo Go (the mechs I mean)? Or is it like the Shin Getter Robo to OG Getter Robo

Neo Getter Robo is pretty similar to Go in design but there are differences between the two of them

# ¿ Nov 9, 2020 02:31

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

dis astranagant posted:

The mech in New Getter Robo is something of a mix of OG Getter, Getter G and Shin Getter, designwise. The whole thing's kinda like Shin Mazinger vs 70s Mazinger Z.

He means the one from Shin vs Neo

# ¿ Nov 9, 2020 07:57

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Go Nagai is honestly not a very good writer, he's an excellent character/monster/mecha designer but his writing never really gets past average at best(which can be said about a lot of early manga creators)

# ¿ Nov 10, 2020 11:28

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

See I'm of the opinion that Devilman is edgy garbage that has had it's core idea done better by other authors later on

# ¿ Nov 11, 2020 00:24

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

Motto posted:

remember the part in Go where hayato is having people defuse bombs by trial and error and Go gets smacked for calling it hosed up because it's his friends and family doing it

That's one of the parts that led me to hate Getter Robo Go honestly, felt pointlessly edgy even by the franchise's standards

# ¿ Nov 16, 2020 23:37

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

really though, go was such a odd manga. it was almost a real robot version of getter robo for most of the story, and then it went balls deep into getter ray weirdness at the end.

That's yet another reason I don't like it

# ¿ Nov 16, 2020 23:45

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 01:59

drrockso20: May 6, 2013; Has Not Actually Done Cocaine

A lot of people over on 4chan are making the assumption that this was originally meant to tie in with a toyline or game that got canned and they had put too much work into the comic just to toss it out

Reminds me a little of that pointless and bad Attack On Titan crossover from a couple years ago in that whole "clearly meant to lead into something bigger that ended up just being a one off curiousity" vibe

# ¿ Nov 18, 2020 21:45

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