Quote:
Originally Posted by Guybrush
Let's take Code Geass, a show that seems to execute most things right, but I thought the use of mecha within that show was pretty horrible. I never understood why there was even mecha in that show. Nothing the characters did within the show needed to have mecha in it, the plot itself didn't need to have mecha in it, and in the end of the day it just seemed that mecha was put there just for the sake of having mecha there, and for me, that is a bad was of using mecha. On the other end of the spectrum, there's Full Metal Panic, another show that used a lot of different themes, but here the use of mecha seems to actually drive the story forward, mecha actually had a purpose within the story, and I felt it was a good use of mecha.
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I don't really see how Full Metal Panic needs mecha in it's story any more than Code Geass did. To me a better example of a series where it really feels like it wouldn't work without the mecha is Mobile Police Patlabor. There mecha are such an intricate part of everyday society in helping shape the future not only of every day labor, but of Japan itself since without them the Tokyo Bay Project that forms a major part of the backdrop of the shows political dynamic wouldn't be feasible at all. It just wouldn't be the same show at all without the mecha period.
With both Code Geass and FMP there's a lot more focus on small scale human drama, people with special powers, school based espionage, and romance and it feels like it could just as easily be done with tanks and planes since neither series ever travels into space like Gundam where you really get to see why it is that Mobile Suits are deemed the most effective design for combat and construction. For all I know the new Code Geass OVA might change that though as the director said it's going to focus more on the mecha combat and tactics involved than the TV series.