[Bri]

I understand the value of dividing shows up in Super and Real robot to make games like SRW or RPGs playable, but trying to squeeze mecha anime in these two positions is too constraining. This is not aimed at you, but just my annoyance with the need of people to file things away neatly. With a lot of mecha themed anime having elements of both. While the terms have become commonplace, they are also carry a stigma, not to mention having to hear to constant debate over which is better.

Also how far would one need to go in terms of suspension of disbelief? Taking SDF Macross as an example: The SDF-1 taking on 5 million Zentradi ships is still Real Robot? But Gunbuster nuking the aliens is Super Robot? Aren't these both stories of the human spirit and coming of age?

What about shows that don't have mecha but qualify on everything else? For example Haruhi Suzumiya can easily be seen as a mecha show disguised as a high school comedy (like an inverted Evangelion). Space Battleship Yamato, Dominion Tank Police?

Mazinger-Z is even more troublesome as it pretty much defined Super Robot while also laying the ground works for Super Sentai, anime Cyber Punk and Real Robot. These days hybrids are fairly common, Eureka 7 is one indeed, but also Rahxephon and Macross Frontier would qualify.

Ironic is that Gurren Lagann, as close to the pure Super Robot ideal as possible, has shown that Space Opera is still viable, the genre which in turned created the first Real Robots anime. Fortunatly in the end its the show that has to prove itself not what type of mecha it contains.