Monday, May 10, 2010

Shining moments:The Intergalactic Holy Trinity of Real Robot Mecha Anime


Before we get to Mecha Madness part two I present to you the holy real robot trilogy. Daryl Surat's mecha rant on Gundam sparked the flame of what would become the holy trinity fire!

-Dane of Anime Pacific on Macross
-Daryl of the Anime World Order on Gundam
-Regan (that’s me) on Votoms

Return next week for the concluding chapter of my mecha review project with mehca madness part 2 the final chapter.


download the mp3 HERE

17 comments:

Guyvn said...

Just a note about the writer for the Unicorn OVA. Everything Yasuyuki Muto has done is an adaption. Harutoshi Fukui is the author of the novels.

Root Beer King said...

"You know what I said?! I slapped them in the face and said: YOU'RE A MAN NOW! Here's your balls! I drop them; clink clink, YOUR MECHA BALLS!"

I laughed so hard at that quote. Great!

As for Macross, my list from best, to not so best, is a little different than your's Dane. Personally I didn't enjoy Plus as much as you. For me it's:
1. The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
2. Macross 7
3. Macross Frontier
3. Macross Plus
4. Macross 7 OVAs
5. Macross Zero(fucking horrible piece of shitty shit shit... Not even Roy Focker saved this one.)

and I haven't seen Macross II...

I agree though that "Do You Remember Love" isn't as good as the tv series, and is really only worth watching for the visuals.

Root Beer King said...

Also, Regan put up links to all those fansubers you talked about.

Anonymous said...

I, too laughed my buttocks off at the Mecha Balls moment. Fantastic!

Regan Strongblood said...

Root beer king I gotta tell you man, looking over your Macross list....
That is the exact order I would have chosen. I guess great minds think alike!! RPG LAMER CAN WE EVER GET SOME HARD CORE ZELDA ACTION UP IN HERE PODCAST STYLE!!! I posted the RPG Lamer link, is the return of the podcast upon us?? Dane thanks for the great Macross review!

Unknown said...

Great episode Regan! Finally the ABCs of the real robot genre! I liked you Dane's segments of the episode more than Darly's, simply because of his G.I.Joe rant. Has he not read the G.I.Joe comics? Those are more realistic even though there were high tech gadgets but no doomsday device of the week and the weapons did not fire lasers. That's just a small complaint but a great show indeed.

Unknown said...

Also, kudos to you for sticking up for Yoshiyuki Tomino! He's one of my fave anime creators!

Regan Strongblood said...

Anthony my friend thanks for the kind words! I never watched Gi Joe, so I am clueless on this debate. But in regards to Tomino.. Yoshiyuki Tomino accomplishments in anime are staggering to say the least! It seems to be the trend as of late to bash him as a director, but for some people to say he’s hit and miss is laughable. Who else has contributed as much to the real robot genre of anime? From working on Astro boy with god himself Osamu Tezuka to the fact that he created Gundam! What about the original Gundam? what about Zeta Gundam ? One of the best real robot shows of all times hands down. Before people want to cut down his work they should watch the following:
-Triton of the Sea
-Zambot 3
-Mobile Suit Gundam
-Space Runaway Ideon
-Combat Mecha Xabungle
-Heavy Metal L-Gaim
-Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
-Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
-Char's Counterattack
-Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
-Overman King Gainer
After they have a round and clear view of his work they can then call me!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

You also forgot Brained Powered Riggs! That series had an interesting idea: An alien inside the earth's core that produces mecha from its skin, and two organizations fighting over it. This led to the creation of Eureka Seven as it borrowed the elements as mentioned above. What I'm getting at here is Tomino sold ideas and redefined anime as a medium.

Also I noticed at the end of Ideon and Gundam, there is an alignment of the sun, Venus, Terra, and Luna; those are references to 2001: A space odyssey, which Tomino was perhaps a fan of, and he did draw a lot of influence from the novel Starship Troopers. Now I'm pretty sure he was huge sci-fi fan. As you always say Regan ideas come from somewhere.

Unknown said...

One last thing to say about Tomino; he's the King of Mecha!

Daryl Surat said...

Anyone who misspells my name as "Darly" automatically goes ON MY LIST.

Listen. I read the GI Joe comics. And you know what? I don't care what Larry Hama did. GI Joe as an American pop culture institution is NOT defined by people's memories of the comics because few people read the comics compared to watching the cartoon. In the mindset of the general public, GI Joe is first and foremost "A Real American Hero," and is defined by people shooting red/blue laser beams at each other, nobody getting shot, people parachuting from planes every time, and Cobra Commander hatching the pettiest of petty schemes week after week. That is first and foremost what GI Joe means to people regardless of the various "serious" stories told (all of which are about Snake Eyes, who in the comics is responsible for everything), and it is awesome for that. But it's also tremendously unrealistic, so I say again: most children of the 80s were fans of BOTH GI Joe AND Transformers because of the cartoons.

As for Macross 7, I watch Macross to see jet planes transform into robots and fire a ton of missiles in painstaking detail. I do not watch to see a bunch of guys in a band have rock band drama issues amidst animated battle sequences that are only so-so because they doubled the episode count and spent all the money on the music instead.

As such, of all the Macross there is, I am inclined to think about and rewatch 7 the least. Even Macross II and Macross Zero can be somewhat entertaining if you just fast forward/skip past the entire story to just watch the fights. I call it "the 0083 approach."

Unknown said...

"As for Macross 7, I watch Macross to see jet planes transform into robots and fire a ton of missiles in painstaking detail."

That happens in Macross 7. Maybe the ratio of it happening is lower than the original or Frontier, but you still have to cherry pick the other series just as much to get your mecha porn.

Unknown said...

Hey Daryl sorry bout the name misspelling even though apology is irreverent, I'm understanding what your saying about the G.I.Joe franchise and admitingly I'm just discovering the comics and I overreacted. Also I agree with you that Robotech should vanish.

As for Macross 7, only thing I can say is... Tetsuro Amino. He ruined Starship Troopers with the portrayal of the Bugs...

Unknown said...

To honestly talk about Tomino, I'd say he really is what Daryl has mentioned time and time again: a good idea man, a mediocre executor. Although First Gundam and Zeta are great in some way, there are flaws in it. Also, did Regan just say First and Zeta had no monster of the week syndrome? Please, there was plenty of that. Don't even get me started on Double Zeta. Moon-Moon and Captain Bright getting punched by an idiotic dude, along with a chicken on his head? Just. No.

Finally, I can use the term 'the 0083 way' to describe not only shows with shitty story but great action, but also most kung-fu shows

Regan Strongblood said...

Hey Claire try not to put words into my mouth! I never said either way if I thought first and Zeta had monster of the week syndrome. In regards to Tominos work, I stand by my original opinion. Who else has contributed as much to the real robot genre of anime? I dont think he is a bad director at all. Its amazing how people will praise a new director with only 1 or 2 shows under his belt but when it comes to a legend, a monster of influence like Tomino they seem to focus only on the negative and miss the massive amount of positive about the legend. Just look over this list of his work, you may reconsider your judgement.


Triton of the Sea
-Zambot 3
-Mobile Suit Gundam
-Space Runaway Ideon
-Combat Mecha Xabungle
-Heavy Metal L-Gaim
-Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
-Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
-Char's Counterattack
-Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
-Overman King Gainer

KINGRPG said...

I like all Gundam series, it is the imagination of the future of the world. I am a true fan of this anime.