[PREV - NEWTYPE]    [TOP]

MECHA

                                             April 10, 2018

Mecha is the in-group term for the
large-scale powered-armor that
dominated anime of the 80s and 90s.           GIANT_ROBOT
They're not really "giant robots",
(though they do *look* like them),
because they have human beings              In most anime, even in Gundamn,
inside. You might call them "cyborgs".      the mecha technology makes about
                                            as much sense as "Trust the
                                            force, Luke".
  Previously, I wrote:
                                            Actual space war in these
          SEVEN_SHELLS                      future scenatios would be
                                            spasms of computerized
  This is a genre reeking                   attack and defense, where
  of inferority complexes,                  if you survived you'd have
  even more so than it's                    to check the recordings to
  American counter-parts.                   find out what happened.
                              SUPERHERO
  They think of themselves                       Though if the outcomes
  as a "small race", and                         were predictable enough,
  hence fantasize about                          actual attacks would be
  exo-skeletal armor that                        very rare-- you wouldn't
  transforms them into                           fight when the computers
  powerful, dancing giants.                      knew you would lose.

  They hold their own
  racial background in
  contempt, and tell               WHITEGHOST
  endless tales of big-eyed,
  blond-haired heroes...



      1956        "Tetsujin 28-go" manga (later: "Gigantor")

      1959        Starship Troopers, Heinlein novel: influence on Gundam

      1963        Iron-Man, US comic character
                                                                    IRON-MAN
      1972        "Mazinger Z" manga

      1979-1980   Gundam, original series
      1981        Gundam, recut as trilogy of movies

      1982-1983   "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" (later: "Robotech")

      1985-1986   Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (first sequel)           MACROSS

      1985        Newtype magazine begins publication

      1990        Patlabor (movie)

      1994-1995   "Macross 7"

      1995        Neon Genesis Evangelion

      1995-2011   Giant Robot magazine in the US           GIANT_ROBOT

      2002-2008   "Newtype USA" magazine
                                               ("Otaku USA" started in 2007)

      2002-2003   Mobile Suit Gundam SEED 

      2009        Gundam statue erected in Japan,
                  over 50 ft tall.                        GUNDAM_SEED


      2011-2012   Sket Dance anime       SKET_DANCE

                                                                     NEWTYPE


      2015-2016   "Gundam, Iron-Blooded Orphans"


--------
[NEXT - GUNDAM_NARRATIVE]