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View Poll Results: What is your view on mecha in anime? | |||
I love giant robots! | 28 | 44.44% | |
I am okay with mecha in anime | 16 | 25.40% | |
I am indifferent and mecha has no impact on how I view a show | 17 | 26.98% | |
I hate mecha and refuse to watch a show if it has giant robots in it | 2 | 3.17% | |
Voters: 63. You may not vote on this poll |
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2011-10-30, 06:05 | Link #41 |
<em style="color:#808080;">Disabled By Request</em>
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Same with me. Except I watched the English dubbed Robotech version and I was 12 years or so at the time and didn't know it was "anime". Came back 4-5 years later and appreciated it even more. I am also too more on the Real Robot side. It was also the anime where I appreciate the first of the character archetype known as "tsundere" through Misa Hayase (or Lisa Hayes I think it was in English).
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2011-10-30, 11:33 | Link #42 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
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I do agree there has been a decline in the numbers but that it's hard to pinpoint a single cause. For example the consolidations in the toymarket in Japan have limited the number of possible sponsors for a few dozen to two (Bandai and Takara Tomy). Greater influence of Japanese PTA organisations made networks more hesitant to broadcast anime wth more mature themes. Maybe the single largest influence has been the economic crisis. The decline in the popularity of mecha, and sci-fi in general, has coincided with the changed fortunes of Japan. People are afraid of their personal future, not abstract threats like the cold war or the the environment and there is less interest in what the far future will look like, the the areas where mecha traditionally shines. People are concerned about the short term: jobs, partners, a place to live. It's not surprising that anime went with the times and now mainly focuses on bringing escape and diversion to safe places (high school) and perfect friendships that never were. It's not to surprising that only anime targeted at the shonen demographic are more adventurist, as kids of that age are still to young to worry about the daily grind. You can see the same effect in the west in recent years. Quote:
It would be hard for any new (mecha) anime character to reach the same level of recognition as Char due to media fragmentation. Char is a cultural icon in Japan on par with Darth Vader. Most people in Japan will have heard of him and Gundam in general even if they never watched anime, so it's not surprising that he is well known. Shows like Gundam and Kamen Rider are famous toy empires much like Transformers and Star Wars and like the latter have been around for decades. As Gundam never really reached Western mainstream audiences (except Wing for a very short time) it's not surprising he is only known in anime circles in the West. The real vs super debate has become pretty trivial these days. Sure, there are some distinguishing tropes left but both overlap to a large extent. "Real" hasn't been about serious storytelling with realistic physics anymore, and "Super" has become a lot more complex with both mixing elements. I haven't seen any serious debate on it for years except in SRW circles where it matters for stats. |
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2011-10-31, 12:42 | Link #43 | |
Deadpan Snarker
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Neverlands
Age: 46
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At least the technobabble can be defined Yes, most Mechafans -and the military- already found out that humanoid giant robots are not world's best weapon but the background for its technology -if well thought out- makes for interesting theories whereas in psychological stories you can glue lala- and cuckooland together and still it makes sense because you can infinitely pull traumas and psychosises psychological rejection/acceptance out of your butt to discuss a character's motivation for his/her actions So those Mecha anime that aren't easily poked full of holes are a lot harder to make then the 'wet finger in the air' 'discuss till you turn blue' 'undefined' stories
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2011-10-31, 16:24 | Link #44 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Brighton, UK.
Age: 60
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Nothing wrong with a bit of technobabble here and there if you like it. My problem was that before I'd seen any mecha anime I gained the impression that the main focus of, and interest in these shows was the mecha's awesomeness and fine technical specifications. Which put me off for a long time. Someone starting out today probably wouldn't form such a mistaken idea. Last edited by ujiuji; 2011-10-31 at 16:32. Reason: Attribution. |
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2011-11-01, 04:59 | Link #45 |
Sekiroad-Idols Sing Twice
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Maybe it's just me, but options 2 and 3 are very close to each other.
Anyway, as a general rule of thumb I tend to like the series that treat their mecha as simply another vehicle rather than it becoming a representation of the pilot, and by extension a series focusing on the robot itself. Then again, I rather enjoyed the Zoids series (except Fuzors) and that's pretty much toy advertising 101, so I dunno (maybe robotic dinosaurs are just really awesome).
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2011-11-01, 08:06 | Link #46 |
Hige
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: God only knows
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I usualy dont watch it. But Neon Genesis Evangelion is the only one, very big exception. NGE makes it(from my point of view) the most logical and most realistic way, i have ever seen. Watching it, makes it feel like, that these things could be realy possible.
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2011-11-01, 15:17 | Link #47 | |||
Deadpan Snarker
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Neverlands
Age: 46
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trying to 'read' certain characters 1-dimensional 'flaw' as if it were a world to explore and map Oh, in practice, I never pull things out of my butt, but in theory I'm World's best magician Quote:
When you're 10 years old, a giant robot kicking the crap out of planets really has no equal and when technology still looks like modern day magic, it gathers a very 'analysing' fanbase but these days, mecha shows play second fiddle to "thinking" or "reality" type of shows the robots are old and outdated (or soon will be), so makers of these shows try to only use them as icing on a cake, or if not, certainly not for an older audience Me, I still enjoy Robots applying 50,000kN to dislodge a titanium mangan fortified, 45 inch caliber, 3 axis-targeting, pulse width modulated, Ion plasma, repetitive, smoothbore cannon and then by a 53.7 angle, hurdle it exactly into the location of the 7000.07 tonne flying battlefortress bridge, where 59 crewmembers (including 3 navigators, 5 communication officers, 2 operations officers and their assistant ensign, 1 helmsman, 2 security agents, head physician and wanted collaborator, oh, the second in command died 3 episodes ago and apparently hasn't been replaced) and the main antagonist, die in a 567 megaton explosion which has a radius blast of 367050 miles the protagonist only barely escapes by applying 20% more power taken from the lifesupportsystem taking him to mach 29.34 AKA:: throw the gun into the bad guy's face, then get the hell out of there instead of todays 'mecha shows' where the tormented girl, who 7 years ago lost her chilhood friend in a horrible accident (spontatious selfcombustion), but now has a crush on a boy, -who walks around disguised as a girl who acts like a tomboy- can only come to terms with her feelings driving to the mountain lookout point which holds so many favourable memories of her haunted past on her Vespa
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2011-11-02, 05:08 | Link #48 |
Bearly Legal
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Like most guys, I like mecha genre unless it's over loli moe-ified. It's the knight in shiny armor of our time.
I grew up with stuff like macross, voltron, transformer, patlabor and battletech. So far the only gripe I have these days with them is that most of the offerings are very shounen oriented. Wish There are more series that doesn't have the hero mowing fodder mecha with godlike power. So far my favourite mecha design are those in battletech universe and front mission. Too bad neither have much chance of being animated
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2011-11-07, 04:54 | Link #49 |
ゴリゴリ!
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Age: 32
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I quite dislike the mecha genre- the idea of pilots fighting each other in giant robots had exhausted itself quickly in my case, and I questioned how such a singular concept could give birth to so many episodes and seasons.
Then, I realized that just like anything else in the world, there are exceptions. Fantastic exceptions, I might add. Macross Frontier had such likable characters and great music that it was easy to get into, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had a unique visual style and raw action alongside a new type of plot, and Code Geass didn't even focus on the robots but instead used them in the main idea of the cat and mouse idea. It all depends on how it's done, and I know I'll keep finding exceptions to what I consider to be a somewhat tired genre.
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