Metal Monsters: Mechs From Gundam to Pacific Rim

[Steven Bogos]

Metal Monsters: Mechs From Gundam to Pacific Rim

Mechs have a longer history than you might think.

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[Zero=Interrupt]

'Mech is a contraction of Battlemech. Mecha is the generic term for piloted robots. Jeez, you even mention Mechwarrior in the article...

 

[Omnicrom]

So not only does this Article misspell Mazinger Z but it dismisses Mazinger Z as not influential to the Mecha anime genre? I'm going to have to dispute that. Gundam started the Real Robot genre which has its own tropes and ideas, but to dismiss Mazinger Z and the 7 years worth of Super Robot mecha between it and Gundam is cockeyed and wrong.

Mazinger Z did not receive only "moderate popularity" in Japan. If it had it wouldn't have made Go Nagai the godfather of all Mecha anime. It wouldn't have catapulted Ichiro Mizuki's career to becoming the Big Brother of all mecha anime openings. It wouldn't have single-handedly created the character archetypes and story tropes in use to this day. If it wasn't popular it wouldn't have gotten 2 sequels, a manga re-imagining, and two different anime remakes? Mazinger Z's manga and anime coined everything from the hotblooded teenage mecha pilot to monster of the week episodes to mid-season upgrades to changing openings. Mazinger Z's most iconic weapon, the Rocket Punch, is still arguably the most famous Japanese mecha weapon of all. Starting the history of mecha from Gundam is just wrong. By casually mentioning in passing how it split the Real Robot genre from the Super Robot genre is to ignore that the Super Robot Genre was started by Mazinger Z.

Tetsujin 28 surely deserves credit for the first Giant Robot and kudos to the article's kudos, but it completely ignores Go Nagai. That's like talking about Pixar without ever mentioning Disney, or doing a history of Video games while completely ignoring Nintendo. If you're going to talk about the origins of mecha anime, even in passing, credit should be given where it is due.

 

[JPArbiter]

The Battletech Universe alone could take up this entire article...

 

[Steven Bogos]

The Battletech Universe alone could take up this entire article...

I know right! I had a hard time squeezing what I thought were the most important franchises into it. I'm sorry if you're favourite game didn't make it in, I had to cut entire sections on Armored core and Total Annihilation!

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I completely agree with this.

And "moderate popularity" is simply wrong. I would call it more of a smash hit. Oh the copycats it spawned. Including another one of my favorite mecha of all time, Getter Robo. Which is the great granddaddy of combining mecha.

Heh my first thought was "What about Getter Robo?!" Didn't that make Super Robots popular? Setting the stage for The Brave Series, Super Sentai and Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino's own Zambot 3?

I mean seriously, I love Gundam... but there is WAY more to Mecha than just Gundam... hell the amount to which this article under-represented Macross is practically criminal! Most of Battletechs original Mech Designs were flat out stolen from Macross and Fang of the Sun Dougram, without those two series's would Battletech and hence Mechwarrior ever have become a thing? Geez man...

 

[JPArbiter]

The Battletech Universe alone could take up this entire article...

I know right! I had a hard time squeezing what I thought were the most important franchises into it. I'm sorry if you're favourite game didn't make it in, I had to cut entire sections on Armored core and Total Annihilation!

but you DID get my favorite. hell it is why I do ourbattletech.coms podcast on the game

 

[Steven Bogos]

snip

Hi! Thanks for your feedback. I'm sorry you feel this way. I didn't mean to dismiss Mazinger Z entirely - I only claimed it had moderate popularity when you compare it to such an insanely popular franchise as Gundam. The anime origins were meant to only serve as an intro to the meat and potatoes of this feature - which is mechs in videogames. I understand how influential Mazinger Z has been, I could have written a whole article on it, but in the end, the word count is my taskmaster. I do see your point and have slightly altered this paragraph as to not seem so dismissive.

Thanks again for reading!

 

[Steven Bogos]

snip

Thanks for your feedback! It's great to see you guys so passionate about mecha anime, and I really appreciate feedback like this to help me in the future. As I told the poster above, the anime origins were only meant to serve as an intro. I understand the popularity and influence of anime like Getter Robo and Macross, but in the end I ultimately decided to dedicate the short section I had allocated to anime influences to Gundam, as I feel that Gundam is such a huge, gigantic franchise that pretty much everyone immediately associates with mechs. It's also the father of the "real robot" subgere of mechs, which is what most mech videogames use. It's hard to cram the entire history of mech video games, movies, and anime into 1,500 words while still having an interesting narrative!

Again, i'm sorry I couldn't go more in depth on mecha anime! I hope you enjoyed the rest of the feature, and Thanks again for reading.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Good read, thanks. I've never really been into the western mechs (never played Steel Batallion, hardly touched Mechwarrior. Hell, I never really liked Transformers (for shame, I know)), but it's nice to read how they came about. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go watch Gundam Unicorn and play Armored Core.

 

[twm1709]

I don't know how popular Mazinger Z was in the US but I can assure you it's still fondly remembered by even non-geeks as one of the most classic cartoons of our youth in south america, right there with he-man, robotech, and the ninja turtles

 

[[email protected]]

"Right now, all eyes are on Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall, a multiplayer-only title revolving around combat between free-running pilots, and agile mech suits called Titans."

But will the free-running pilots have access to 3D Maneuver Gear to take down a Titan? *Cue Attack on Titan Them song*

 

[WindKnight]

I don't know how popular Mazinger Z was in the US but I can assure you it's still fondly remembered by even non-geeks as one of the most classic cartoons of our youth in south america, right there with he-man, robotech, and the ninja turtles

It did get a us release as Tranzor Z, though I don't really have any details about how much was adapted or if there were any cuts.

 

[IshimaruHayato]

I'd be surprised if they threw in Megas for the game as DLC or something

 

[Sacman]

Now with all this talk of Mecha lets not forget truly the greatest mecha ever created... Tequila Gundam... and Zebra Gundam...

[img height= 500]http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/a/image/1356/16/1356160509895.jpg[/img]

Because that's totally not racist...<.<

 

[GundamSentinel]

Now with all this talk of Mecha lets not forget truly the greatest mecha ever created... Tequila Gundam... and Zebra Gundam...

-snippage-

Because that's totally not racist...<.<

Shit no, Nether Gundam is where it's at.

It's still amazing to me that G Gundam was actually quite good.

 

[Omnicrom]

I don't know how popular Mazinger Z was in the US but I can assure you it's still fondly remembered by even non-geeks as one of the most classic cartoons of our youth in south america, right there with he-man, robotech, and the ninja turtles

Yeah, Mazinger Z was a huge hit in Europe and South America, and Grendizer was similarly big in the Arab speaking world.