r/AnimeDiscussion

Whenever I talk about Mecha I don't like, most people usually defend it with “I love it because it has awesome action and the music is great”. While I don't have an issue with this kind of way of thinking, I just think it's a “cookie cutter” way to wave away any kind of criticism towards it. Some may think that me saying this makes me the kind of man who thinks “the Mecha are the ones that aren't about Mecha”, but it's actually the opposite, as I want good mechanical designs & well animated fight scenes. But not only do I view that as the bare minimum, but I also want it to balance well with good storytelling & characters. These 2 are often the make it or break it for many shows/movies I've seen. This is the key idea of what opinions I form on certain Mecha media. And I think the best way to explain is to briefly explain why I like or dislike a certain show or movie. Keep in mind, I don't have a vendetta against the people who like stuff I don't like or vice versa, so don't feel called out. I just want to share why I may have different opinions on certain Mecha.

• (Loved) Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: I'm going to start this spiel with some examples from Gundam, since it'll give people a better understanding. I've mentioned multiple times that it is one of my favorite anime of all time, second only to 00. And many will agree with gorgeously animated mobile suits & the excellent Hiroyuki Sawano score. However, what I found shocking is how many people dislike it. I often viewed it as people disliking the Dark Knight, since both are often critically acclaimed for their retrospective genre. In Unicorn’s case, many people dislike the Newtype stuff, didn't like how it pervades “hope”, thought it added nothing to the Universal Century, or just disliked the characters. While I can understand those criticisms, I don't really agree with all of them. For starters, I often viewed Unicorn to pay off everything that came before it, as the amount of references made towards the UC felt earned. I thought the theme of understanding each other was handled way better than most other Gundam projects since the dialogue was well-written (unlike Tomino’s gibberish). And I just love how hopefully this show feels, as it preaches the possibility of human compassion, which was always the case for Gundam. That's just me though, maybe someone has a deeper reasoning for disliking it

• (Dislike) Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: Now onto a series that I have dunked on, like ZZ (if you say it's not an anime, I'll personally target your house with Gryps II). A lot of people like this show because of the characters, which makes me wonder if we saw the same show, since I found them insufferable. Judau’s jokes never landed for me, Beecha is arguably responsible for a good portion of what the Arguma crew has to deal with, Leena & eventually Ple really got on my nerves. I thought Roux was fine at first, but when she told Judau to get over Lena’s death literally minutes into him grieving, my opinion of her went down really fast. I get it's unskippable for the Universal Century, but I always found that statement kind of an exaggeration for the simple fact that it only becomes relevant in Char’s Counterattack on Char’s speech that quickly mentions Haman and basically explaining a lot of aspects in Unicorn. Everything else between those 2 takes place decades after ZZ, CCA, or even UC96 & rarely reference the former 2 (F91/Victory) or takes place before Zeta (WitP, Stardust Memory, 08th MS team or Igloo). Basically everything before Unicorn. But I’ll ZZ this, the design for the ZZ itself and the GM IIIs are really good. Plus the villains were pretty good (minus Chara Soon, she sucked). If you like this show, that’s fine. I personally don’t think it’s worth watching about 20 episodes in order for it to “get better” (the show is 47 episodes BTW)

• (Dislike) Gundam Build Fighters: The last Gundam show I want to talk about is Build Fighters (I know, just bare with me). A lot, and I mean ALOT of people love this show because it’s “a love letter to Gundam”, “a fun take on a sports anime”, “got them into Gundam”, or the usual dumb fun angle I’m talking about. I’m just not one of those people, as I really can’t stand this show. I talk about why I hate this show so many times that I’ll give you the cliff notes: the story is predictable, the character depth is ankle deep, everything about the theme of this show is “do whatever you want and don’t think about it”, some of the gunpla designs are lazy redesigns, and the world building of the show is just non-existent. However, whenever I bring up these problems, I get a bunch of “it’s just a toy commercial”, “it was made for fan service”, or “you’re not supposed to watch it like other Gundam shows”. The fan service part is fair enough, but other 2 doesn’t really hold up well when you consider the fact that I am watching this show like other kids shows (like Gravity Falls, Batman the Brave & the Bold, or even Regular Show). Shows that may be wacky at face value, but are still really good shows. I’ve also seen Power Rangers, so I’m mute to the whole toy commercial angle. I just don’t like Build Fighters for the multitude of reasons I laid out throughout the years. If you love it, go nuts. It’s just not my thing. But those 3 cover my Gundam takes pretty well

• (Dislike) Macross Delta: While I haven’t watched it in 5 years, I still vividly remember disliking Macross Delta. I didn’t like how they killed of Messer without him getting redeemed, how Mirage went from Hayate’s rival to part of his love triangle, the contrivances felt unconvincing (like Freyja becoming an idol after a “fake out test” or the crew solving their colony issues with a pay-to-win app) and the Aerial Knights having some very inconsistent goals, and you have one of my most hated shows of all time. However, some people get really upset at me for disliking this show or defend it by saying “The action is peak” or “the music is top tier”. And I agree, the action was pretty cool and I have both “Ikenai Border Line” & “Hametsu no Junjou” on my playlist. I just don’t think this show is good for the reasons I just listed. But if you like it, LIVE IT UP. If it’s up your ally, it’s up your ally

• (Dislike) Aldnoah.Zero: I think we’re all of the opinion that Aldnoah.Zero has bad writing, especially season 2. But I do agree with the fact the concept itself could’ve work, grunt mecha going up against super robot level machines with super natural abilities. But the reason why this failed in execution is because the main character is the only one with the plans, none of the characters have enough personality to have us invested in them, and there are 2 moments in the show that retroactively made to story worse (Inaho shooting Slanie’s aircraft down or Asseylum’s speech that reveal the heroes location to the Martian). While I’m at it, I might as well talk about how people justify Inaho’s “blandness” by suggesting he’s on the spectrum. As some who IS on the spectrum myself, I still think that it doesn’t justify his writing since there are better ways to make a character that don’t often emote interesting (take a like at Mikazuki or Reed Richards). But the usual defense for this show is cool looking action and good music. Again, I agree, but it’s not enough. I may have like the fights using real tactics and I have a handful of the show’s OST on my play list, but it doesn’t make the story it tell any better

• (Like) Captain Earth: I have a soft spot for Captain Earth, as it’s the 1st show I actually finished. But I do agree that the storytelling isn’t interesting with some confusing lore and some unremarkable villains. But ignoring how good the mecha designs and the music (seriously, Believer’s High is such a hidden gem of an opening), I just love the report with the 4 leads (Daichi, Teppei, Akari, & Hana). All four of these characters have great chemistry with one another, and individually they have some traits that make them fun to watch.

 

But I hope you get my point, I can list things I like or dislike without being blinded by the pretty looking giant robots or catchy music. However, something I notice when I rake a show over the coals, some people may say “you’re not supposed to think about it too much”. If you disagree with my take or think I’m missing something. That’s fine, I just don’t understand that particular statement. Like sure, it can be more enjoyable if I suspend my level of disbelief and not poke holes into the plot. But the fact that I’m enjoying a giant robot show is an implication that I’m already suspending my level of belief. I can also turn this logic on its head and go “well you should turn your brain on to see how bad this show is”, and I don't think that's fair either.

So wrap up this post with a TL;DR Good Mecha designs and music are like burgers in a burger shop (a metaphor for any mecha show). Every burger shop is offering burgers, that’s obvious. But the real question is “what’s in this burger from Burger Shop (A) that Burger Shop (B) doesn’t". Like, yes Aldnoah.Zero has good mecha fights, great music by Hiroyuki Sawano, and even amazing english voice acting. But so does Gundam Unicorn, along with more consistent storytelling and better characters, so guess which one I’m picking. Again, I’m not trying to undermine mechanical designs, as I always expect a mecha series to at least to have some decent mecha design & action. But that should also be balanced with good writing in the storytelling department. But how you enjoy your media is really up to you. I’m just giving my 2 cents. If you disagree, that’s fine, just give me an really reason outside of the “Not reading that” or “good for you or sorry that happened” comments. Otherwise, that’s all I’m here to say.