Mecha is a genre that has created many a Gundam fan, a NGE fan and Macross fan, with their extremely livid demonstrations in the love for this genre of anime. In games, MechWarrior, Front Mission and Gundam Musou are just some of the few game series that the fans enjoy and lap up so much. Without a shadow of a doubt, mecha definitely sucks rocks due to the rabid fans out there that can feel for this genre. They have merchandise of robots, often being extremely detailed in constructing great metallic figures that shine and sparkles in the night sky.
So why does mecha rock (and we all know it does, ha ha ha)? Let us look deeper into the subliminal messages of mecha and why it is good.
Of course, to be honest, there’s nothing good to say about mecha because it sucks.
1st reason: It’s manly
Most viewers find mecha rocking because it is the epitome of GAR (I presume GAR is the new cool). It’s like saying whether you have a huge phallic member or not. I mean, men at a young age often compare everything with others and the many editorials to the sex advice page on their member being not big enough is testimony to it. With mecha, which is considered to be the greatest thing that men has created, the ability to love such a powerful figure builds up their self esteem. Don’t you think it is so cool for an otaku to go right at a beautiful shoujo for a pick up, saying, “Hey, this is my Rx-93 ν Gundam, do you want to play it?” I assure you that mecha makes people hot.
Seriously, the ability to feel more manly might sound to be really primitive, but it increases the self esteem of a man. No other genre in the history of anime is able to make people feel so superior simply because they like a certain genre of anime. Just go look at all the Gundamtards highly excited Gundam fans when you talk about liking shoujo. They will generally call you “not man enough” to watch the manly mecha. Mecha instantly makes you a man. That can even be the slogan for mecha otakus around the world!
One of the clear examples of this manly behavior is definitely Gundam Seed Destiny. Just look at one of the magnificent Gundam Seed Destiny fan and you feel the aura of manliness around him and his great merchandise as illustrated in the above image (more like dumbness).
2nd reason: It drops crime rate
Results have shown that media viewing has a certain effect on people. Theories such as agenda setting, Hypodermic needle model, Media Effects Theory and media culture are all philosophies created by academics to explain this interesting phenomena on media effects. To put it simply, media does have an effect on people subconsciously when they start to view it more, be it television, film or even the Internet. One thing that is often investigated along with media effects is crime and this is apparently logical.
Using the very flawed and de-proved logic for simplification, someone who watches rape scenes of anime girls might be conditioned to consider such behavior to be more acceptable. Hence, the industry is ingenious. Instead of throwing something like that inside, they hold their social responsibility and threw it into the social circles of otakus. It has been empirically proven (by no one) that by releasing the horde of mecha into the system, the manhood of male otaku will rise and that is when the perverts of the state will be eventually converted into the great fans of mecha and stop groping cute little girls in the train.
Yes, it is a great social conditioning and it’s very amazing. Instead of spending taxpayers’ money on policing, just send all the men to watch mecha. Not only it boosts their self esteem, all their time and money will be spent on the cool merchandise and they will even help to generate revenue for the economy. Mecha, only mecha, has that influence on true otakus. Look at the crazy commotion and protest by otakus a few years ago for Neon Genesis Evangelion when they had attempted to can some ideas that broke the hearts of these mecha fans? Don’t ever make them do something wrong, leave them in their room to admire their robots.
3rd reason: Battle excitement
Have you ever played MechWarrior in your life? If you have not done so, you are missing out on one of the greatest games ever that has graced our shores in the mecha realm. This is perhaps one of the biggest lures of mecha and why it rocks. Mecha is often a pulsating experience for most people in the gaming realm, particularly when your robot starts to strife right and left with all the machinery sounds and explosion. Nothing beats riding in a mecha machine and firing stuff to cause total carnage like no other human weapon can.
If that does not turn you on, then nothing else can. It’s genuine excitement for any human who always thinks of owning a big thing, that goes back further to the esteem issue. The adrenalin of battle between the two huge machines in anime or games cannot be underestimated. Even a self-professed mecha hater like me (do take this as a joke because I have nothing against genres to prevent confusion) finds Front Mission to be an exciting mecha playstation franchise that I actually enjoyed. My favorite playstation role playing game is Xenogears, one of the most excellent and well constructed games ever.
Yes, battles with robots rock. I also remember the excellent scenes of FMP: Second Raid, as well as the very beautiful fights in Zegapain. These two series really represent the epitome of battle scenes: the built in excitement in battle.
4th reason: Sexy uniforms
Have you ever seen a mecha female uniform that is in fact not sexy? It is nosebleed galore for the mecha lovers and hell, they definitely have a reason to. Just look at the above image and you should get my point. Mecha rocks for the girls and definitely the uniform.
Note: Sky girls, if you are wondering what anime this is, you dirty pervert.
5th reason: The mecha fans
A genre is nothing without its fans. Mecha fans are just about the most annoyingly defensive extremely fervent fans in the anime community. You will never be wrong to join them because to be against them will be the worst ever thing you want to do. Have you ever heard of the phrase “An angry mecha man is a very dangerous man indeed”? You didn’t? It’s no surprise since I just constructed it. However, a group of mecha fans is not exactly the best group of people you want to offend since they can make sure that you will be fired off to the nearest pod shuttle. Don’t ask what a pod shuttle is.
Just take note of the old ode, if you cannot beat, join them. If you do not want to join them, run from them. If you cannot run from them, you are fricking screwed my friend.
Hence, mecha rocks.
Note: All images are grabbed from Mecha Image of The Day. Thanks!
44 Comments
Note that “mecha” is short for “mechanics”, and includes more than just giant, bipedal bots. Things like uniquely crafted starships, weaponry, outlandish equipment, vehicles and powered suits are also included in this category.
(I know some mecha fans will disagree with me here. I admit that the term has evolved but the point is, it originally didn’t point to just giant robots alone.)
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND TEH CONCEPT OF MECHA. HOW CAN YOU POST ABOUT IT?
+1 FLAME.
LOL, you totally called it Impzy, you said you’d get flamed ^-^
Its okay I find the post funny. I’ll watch the occasional mecha show, but I’m not hardcore into it.
Although I have built a couple of Gundam Model kits, but I think at heart I’m more of a Shounen or Shoujo fan.
I think a big reason why Mecha always factor into most geek’s fantasies is because for most (though not all)controllable Mecha, rigourous physical training is not a necessary requirement to pilot one, quite unlike most shounen action series. Even nerds who prefer to live sedantary lifestyles can just hop into one, and since most anime would have you believe that mecha controls are so easy, a noob can quickly master them, all that is needed is a little EFFORT and GUTS and there you have it,instant power trip. In quite alot of anime, the best mecha pilot need not be the fittest one, but quite often it is usually the biggest geek. Thus, Mecha are geek-empowering
Admittably, I’m a big Sucker for mecha as well.
This is fail for the absence of Super Robots. I call for a redo.
And from my side, watching Gundam Seed Destiny doesn’t make you gar. It shames the mecha genre.
It’s okay Impzie. I’m not much of a mecha person either. I’ll play “Super Robot Taisen” games and watch some series, but in the end, I’ll always be a comedy person.
I will watch that new “Jeeg” series, but I’ll end up liking a series like “Hayate” more. This however can change since mecha series in general have an ace up their sleeves. In the new “Jeeg’s” case, it’s Jam Project.
Similiar to what Primeparadigm said:
One of the reasons I think mecha is popular (especially controllable mecha) is the fact that it can turn average joe into a super hero. The mecha is a medium in which someone with nothing special in particular can perform unnatural, spectacular feats. I can’t help but to view mecha as revisiting childhood dreams of being some sort of super hero. However, in a way, mecha seems to be more practical (in my mind at least) than magic, super powers, or ninjas with special abilites. As long as the technology is there, mecha is possible while performing a Shadow Clone Ninjutsu spell might not be.
Man, we shoulda made impz watch Naruto.
Ima gonna shoot you for kvetching about Battletech.
lol, poor impz
I think we should give him credit. He did have to write about a topic he didn’t like and he was being mature about it (save the strike outs, but that’s his perogative as the writer). I think it was a fair look into the topic.
Personally, I just watch mecha shows, aside from *shock* plot and/or character because the mecha gets to blow stuff up.
Ah Mechwarrior, I remember that in the heyday you could easily drop 10k for one of those battle pods.
I think that Mecha is very much akin to the glorious image of the pilot and the knight of the air image of WWI. I don’t necessarily think that mecha makes someone manly since after all war from a pilot’s view point is much more sanitary than the lowly ground pounder. After all you have a base and don’t have to squat in a ditch when nature calls.
“I think we should give him credit. He did have to write about a topic he didn’t like and he was being mature about it.”
Sort of… ^^;
So much haet. Maybe it’s probably because I don’t know too many fans obsessed with mecha, but I can’t relate. Seems too harsh to me though.
OMG this is tragic. Arrest this man for libel!
I mean Tsubaki. Impz certainly understands the concept of mecha.. as well as he understands the pussy of young children. Down with Tsubaki, Impz rules!
LOL Mecha sucks LOL
I make sure to let JP know this and crush his little heart
Now that I think about, the only really good mecha show was Zegapain, I used to love Gundam Wing and that did have its cool robot moments but overall it was more an interesting political drama than mecha.
well, i’m actually stunned, it was pretty well written… considering how you don’t have mecha background os ro
anyone know if sky girls is getting a second ova?
… but… but… I like mecha~
T_T
Oh wow. Just “wow.” Here we go again; blaming the vehicles that had killed one of the sexy Kanon females and not the idiot(s) behind the wheel(s) of said vehicle(s).
Let me correct you by saying that it’s not really the fault of the mecha when something sucks. It’s the fault of the f***ing f****ts who watch anime for too long, get into the business of anime, create garbage, get a fanbase anyway, create more garbage, and are being called out by the people working with them.
Hideaki Anno (of Evangelion)? His movie included the spineless male lead who masturbated over a comatose rival, and he had the nerve to recently come back with more Eva. The guy’s messed up in the head back then, and still is.
Mitsuo Fukuda (of Seed and Destiny)? The guy had less spine than Shinji. Plus he took the credit of revising the Gundam franchise away from the creators of the high-grade models (the real reason why $unrise is making so much money). His wife, Chiaki Morosawa, had nerfed to characters in order to get her revenge; and the audience sucked it up. Now everything’s a parody of GSD. I instantly found out who had talent in the anime industry and who didn’t.
No. Really. Gundam SEED Destiny? Voted by us casual anime viewers as one of the worst Gundam anime created to date? Followed by SEED, G-Savior, Gundam X, ZZ Gundam, and Wing?
And let me get this out of the way: Some women fear big members. It’s too painful to get it inside them.
I’m not sure if it’s a mature dissertation or not… more like a tongue in cheek thing.
By your logic, Impz, phedophiles will then turn from groping little girls in trains to whipping out a laser or a plastic Gundam Mecha Suit (or whatever it’s called) Robot and bash the hell out of people instead. I’m not sure that’s an improvement… LOL
Does that mean that women who like to watch Mecha want to be manly too?
But ok, I’m not a mecha fan. I totally enjoyed reading this post, so… next time you do something like this again, go for something else! It’s interesting reading about mecha [or insert various genre Impz doesn't like] from a non-mecha lover’s POV.
@a chicken: Hmmm, I see. To be honest, I have always associated mecha for simply giant bipedal bots but that will also mean that series like Simoun can technically be classified under mecha, no. It’s very hard to set a definition without a true agreement on what things are.
@Tsubaki: OH NO, TROLLED!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~….desu.
@DJ: Hah, I am glad that you enjoyed it, since your second point is stolen from you. Heh, I am more of a shoujo/romance/historical fan rather than mecha (duh) but I can understand and like certain mecha. This post by the way is merely a satire and not dissing mecha. I always believe that no genre is better than another, simply better production values and things to look out.
@Aura: Nao, and i apologize for my lack of knowledge. It’s jin’s request
@Bata: Hmmm, it’s good to know someone is the same as me desu~
@Sho & Prime: Ya, I tried to say that in my entry but kinda failed since I don’t know how to put it out appropriately. Thanks for voicing your views on it, tee hee.
@Eika: Hmmm, ok, i was about to think that no one found it cool enough for me to try it out. It was a challenge for sure.
@Crusader: LOL! I have totally no comments toward the part about sanitary….ermm ya.
Really wanna say…I don’t like mecha…
Give me some battlewalker and I’ll reconsider…
Don’t like it becasue it’s unrealistic, looks impossible to use in near to moderate future…even hardly possible for far future…(strage or not?)
And if I remember correctly…western and eastern cockpit robot things are seperated, so shouldn’t MechWarrior considered on western? Mecha normally refer to eastern ones isn’t it?
Hmph, mecha is cool sometimes, but yeah, they sure don’t make it like they used to. Impzie needs an infusion of the courage of Gaogaigar. STAT. >_>
Lol. i pretty enjoyed the post.
@ddog: I wonder that too.
@chicken: agreed(1stline).
i think i’m more of a Shojo then a Mecha fan, although i do watch it occasionally for effects, story.. etc etc..
That being said, wonder whats the next post gonna b about.
While mecha played a large part of my past anime viewing, I really haven’t been impressed with mecha anime of recent years. I’ll try again with the new seasons but I’m not holding out any hopes. About the only mecha show I can watch over and over (and have done it) is Patlabor. And I don’t really consider it a mecha show.
I think it’s an interesting take on mecha, and anime in general.
I admit, I’m a Gundam fan – in the sense that I like watching big mechanical things go around and do major property damage. But at the end of the day, it’s just a cartoon to me, and the model kits are a great way to pass the time as a hobby and as a method of not spending money on vices.
Well, the only mecha anime that I have ever liked is Full Metal Panic! Yes, that’s it. Recently I follow Code Geass too but sometimes this show can get too cheesy to the point that Icant stand it XD. And Gundam fans pls forgive me but I think those Gundam Seed series really really really …
, it’s easy to tell that 
So I give Impz credits for his trying (so hard) to write about somthing he doesn’t even like. Although I think somewhere in the post you’re being sarcastic
P.S : I don’t mean to increase my “manliness” by watching mecha shows XD
ROFWLOL…I’m a Gundamtard myself but hell, this just goes to show that the whole anime blogging community is not here to please all the f^&*%$# mecha-loving fanboys out there.
I feel so sorry for the people who didn’t get the humor of this article.
Have you ever seen VOICES FROM A DISTANT STAR (sorry for the caps). It’s a short movie where the plot is forefront and the mecha is background. It’s really how mecha related anime could be improved upon.
This post is funny! LOL Some comments, like the chicken who passed by said, mecha can be anything from Sailor Moon’s wand to The-O…well I’ve read it somewhere before that mecha can by anything “mechanical”, just a minor correction nothing to be scared of.
Man if every man was a man’s man and so manly…they’d go watch mecha/robo shows…wait…so does Chuck Norris watch mecha anime?
@ Bethany: I totally agree with Voices of a Distant Star. It’s beautiful, and the whole mecha part is not the bash bash whack whack whole, but rather a side dish to garnish the real main course, which is the beautiful theme and characterization.
Great example, Bethany!
OMG, I totally forgot about Voice of a distant star, which I often refer as Hoshi no Koe ^^. To tell the truth I didn’t even consider it a mecha anime [well, mecha anime by my definition, not everyone's]. The mecha part plays little in the plots so I never pay much attention to it when watching HnK. A truly mecha show, in my opinion, will have to emphasize heavily on the mech (or at least it should play a more important role than in HnK), the plot should involved a lot with them ( by them I mean those giant robots, tanks, submarines XD, aircrafts or so); or the settings should be in the time when mankind can possibly travel at light speed and go from this base to that base within an hour in the universe XDDDD.
Certainly I’m being stereotyped here. I know that because I lack of knowledge about this genre. But I’m sure that my thoughts about mecha are like what 90% people would say (or would think first when they’re asked about mecha). Sometimes it’s hard for me to recognize such good show as PLANETES being a mecha show just because it’s involved with spacecrafts. I’d rather put it in category of sci-fi, and a very realistic sci-fi anime as that.
If Sailormoon could be mecha, I’d cry for the sake of the author XD. Takeuchi Naoko certainly didn’t want to create a shoujo-mecha manga!
Anyway, it’s just my 2cents, a girl who are very picky about choosing things to watch and understand little about mecha nor realize the strength of its fanbase.I mean no offense.
oh impz ehy do u hate mecha??
i enjoy watchin it, dn’t know why ^^
i enjoy it
*why?
IMPZ NEEDS AN INFUSION OF GAOGAIGAR. STAT. >_>
Hmm. Amusing despite the haet.
am another non-mecha fan here. no April Fool’s joke, folks.
Talking about voices of a distant star, it is one of the few animes that i do enjoy. i guess i am not the type of viewer that can tolerate watching mecha being the forefront of the story (action and all). Background is fine for me.
Just my preference!
Nice article impzy, well written. I personally love mecha anime. Something about giant robots battering the life out of each other relax’s me for some reason. I think most mecha anime focuses on the stories of the pilots, thats what can make it so interesting. Eva for instance, its main charachter shinji ikari is completley spineless and has more than a few mental problems. that in itself is quite refreshing.
Haha! Very amusing blog, there. Sorry to doisappoint big bot lovers. I’m neutral on every parameter that determines a mecha fan. But sometimes, I have a ranting against mecha, but I think that I’ll spare myself the trouble I’ll be getting later. I’ll put my two cents in – a non-fan like myself don’t think it realistic.
I can’t imagine the typical Tom, Dick and Harry having the “dormant talent” to pilot a gargantuan bot on his own, or that sword beats guns, or that mecha can move as fluid as Jackie Chan and jumpjet all the way to the next star system. Maybe that’s just me. The closest I get to mecha is if there is balance to everything, like MechWarrior (most mechs are slow and cumbersome). And that, to the most, I rate a 3.5 out of 5.
I used to like Gundam until I saw him dancing disco
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Primeparadigm: that’s actually the concept that sucked me into anime with magic users. There was nothing more appealing to me when I was twelve than being able to blow crap up with my ubar smartz.
Bethany: there are plenty of mecha series that put their mechs in the background, among them being most of the Macross series, Magic Knight Rayearth, Gundam 0080, and Turn-A Gundam. Personally I prefer series that do this, because then they feel like an actual story and not a 24 minute toy ad.
As for the article, it is somewhat good in that it does critique how most mecha communities generally act. On the other hand, he still only hits the tip of the iceberg on this. There are at least five different types of insanity that afflict Gundam fans (two for U.C. fans, two for Wing fans [one for each gender], and one for SEED fans). I will give the man extra points for pointing out how certain super robot fans react to Evangelion, as there is nothing more hilarious than reading one of their rants about a character being a pussy when that is THE ENTIRE POINT OF THAT CHARACTER.
I personally think that there are a good number of mecha shows out there with some interesting fantasy and sci-fi concepts, but most mecha shows just bury these ideas under a mountain of nothing but giant robots fighting.
WOW… someone has some Mecha issues, really man. There is nothing wrong with it Mecha, not to mention its one of most popular genres of anime.
BTW-That hole sexy uniforms while true, how dose it make US perverted? There are many nicer pics of Sky Girls that dont look so perverted. For using THAT particular one makes YOU more perverted then those who want to know waht anime its from…
Impz is a humongous faggot.
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