Mecha anime & manga - Big robots. Other than Gundam.

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It's the birthday of this VA
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I finally finished Divergence Eve, a show I've had on my backlog for a while mainly because of the theoretical physics concepts and because of its relation to Webdiver (same studio and director). The theoretical physics concepts are interesting. Faster-than-light speed is achieved through traveling through alternate universes. These alternate universes are actually different moments in time each separated by one Planck second (as we progress through time we actually move through these universes), so warp speed is possible when two of these universes are connected (through wormholes, which are called Inflation Holes) and you can go to the moment in time when you're at the location you want to be. Violent creatures called Ghouls that attack everything in their path live in these alternate universes, and the main character of the anime had her genes rewritten by the Ghouls and is a medium for the Ghouls to manifest. This is where Webdiver comes in. The initial plan for the second half of Webdiver was to have Aoi be connected to Deletoss much like Misaki is connected to the Ghouls, which was foreshadowed in Webdiver's first OP:
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At the end of the first season of Divergence Eve, Misaki chooses to reset the timeline, which is parallel to Ditalion's defeat in the middle of Webdiver. If Misaki Chronicles is anything to go by, in the second half of Webdiver, the real villain would have been Aoi's grandfather, who would have sold himself out to Deletoss after being promised great power -- similar to LeBlanc in Divergence Eve (who has quickly become one of my favourite anime villains -- he's so cool, especially wearing a visor, and he's literally a SEED villain on steroids, complete with one of the good guys being genetically connected to him). Aoi's mother would have created Magical Gate as a containment area for Deletoss after she learned of what Prof. Arisugawa did, and then she would have been trapped in Magical Gate by Aoi's grandfather (sort of what actually happened in the anime), who would have used Magical Gate to turn the children of the world into his personal army, focusing on children with the highest potential in life (similar to why Gladion reached out to Kento). The corrupted Web Knights would have been tampered with by Aoi's grandfather to become mediums for Deletoss (which is why none of the adults know about Gladion fighting with Kento), and Ryuto would have been a new body for Aoi's grandfather after his defeat in the first half. Aoi's role would have been a Lacus-like "peace princess" who was told everything about her grandfather by Enge (the spirit of her mother trapped in Magical Gate) but was secretly given a connection to Deletoss by her grandfather, and this connection would have given her special talent allowing her to be the Web Knights' commander. I'd really like to see Divergence Eve cross over with Gundam SEED, Webdiver, GaoGaiGar vs Betterman, and D-1 Devastator (both have weird extradimensional creatures) in an SRW sometime; this show was a lot cooler than I expected it would be.
 
This week's Grendizer U leans hard into the fujobait. It's over. Koji gave Duke a ring. Hikaru lost before things even started. They're gonna declare a jihad on Fukuda. I hope Bandai's private army is trained and enhanced enough to handle the deadly Saudi assassins that will inevitably be sent his way.
 
FatMebius said:
This week's Grendizer U leans hard into the fujobait. It's over. Koji gave Duke a ring. Hikaru lost before things even started. They're gonna declare a jihad on Fukuda. I hope Bandai's private army is trained and enhanced enough to handle the deadly Saudi assassins that will inevitably be sent his way.
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How are the subs this week?
 
Registration said:
How are the subs this week?
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Better than before, but still not anything to write home about. Better than nothing though. A few people floated the idea to a reputable subber, but he seems to be busy with Shinkalion for now.
 
As far as action goes, Grendizer is keeping me satisfied. Let's hope we see more of the Paris battle in the next episode. Hopefully Koji will get his own robot rather than just be the main spazer driver. It's so satisfying seeing the characters yell the name of the robot when they enter, just like it's a Brave series. The ring reminds me of a Brave series bracelet too. The shrine scene was SUPER COOL; the Dendoh parallels are really ramping up. Who wants to see one of the enemy robots join forces with the Photon Lab now? By the way, how did not-Yzak (I find it funny he's ignored in the fujobait discussions despite wearing a crop top) know that Paris is called the City of Lights? I'm also kinda worried that it's beginning to show signs of being a harem (which is very haram), and since we've gone through all the pretty trailer scenes (and the ED has that really elaborate sequence -- why couldn't we have had a pity party slideshow, Fukuda?), I hope the action continues and it doesn't devolve into a romance/SOL drama.
 
Finished the second, some thoughts

>Fukuda
>Grendizer this time will not be too dark
>10 million people already dead by Second episode
>Destroy the capital city of the biggest fanbase outside japan already
>The iconic crying while running as he suffers
>Koji carrying a bomb and telling duke that he will kill him
>The lasers from gundam impulse are back, holy shit I loved those
>Tears of blood just like Destiny Gundam
>The ruins in japan has akkadian with cuneiform writing
>Makiba wants to marry duke already

Man, there are some scenes that are missing that Fukuda generally always skip like how the fuck they got food and healed Koji and how they didnt say goodbye to Hikaru

If it was Tomino he would put these little moments to ground the series.

Sailor Troon said:
As far as action goes, Grendizer is keeping me satisfied. Let's hope we see more of the Paris battle in the next episode. Hopefully Koji will get his own robot rather than just be the main spazer driver. It's so satisfying seeing the characters yell the name of the robot when they enter, just like it's a Brave series. The ring reminds me of a Brave series bracelet too. The shrine scene was SUPER COOL; the Dendoh parallels are really ramping up. Who wants to see one of the enemy robots join forces with the Photon Lab now? By the way, how did not-Yzak (I find it funny he's ignored in the fujobait discussions despite wearing a crop top) know that Paris is called the City of Lights? I'm also kinda worried that it's beginning to show signs of being a harem (which is very haram), and since we've gone through all the pretty trailer scenes (and the ED has that really elaborate sequence -- why couldn't we have had a pity party slideshow, Fukuda?), I hope the action continues and it doesn't devolve into a romance/SOL drama.
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Of course it will have love drama, they got Sayaka and Maria in the same series and they got two princesses and Hikaru on another. There are multiple romance routes to see.

I wonder if they will show Shiro or even mention him
 
Sailor Troon said:
As far as action goes, Grendizer is keeping me satisfied. Let's hope we see more of the Paris battle in the next episode. Hopefully Koji will get his own robot rather than just be the main spazer driver. It's so satisfying seeing the characters yell the name of the robot when they enter, just like it's a Brave series. The ring reminds me of a Brave series bracelet too. The shrine scene was SUPER COOL; the Dendoh parallels are really ramping up. Who wants to see one of the enemy robots join forces with the Photon Lab now? By the way, how did not-Yzak (I find it funny he's ignored in the fujobait discussions despite wearing a crop top) know that Paris is called the City of Lights? I'm also kinda worried that it's beginning to show signs of being a harem (which is very haram), and since we've gone through all the pretty trailer scenes (and the ED has that really elaborate sequence -- why couldn't we have had a pity party slideshow, Fukuda?), I hope the action continues and it doesn't devolve into a romance/SOL drama.
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You should be braced for it to turn into a total trainwreck. There's a not-insignificant chance that this show is gonna wind up incredibly retarded. In ways that will either surprise or disappoint you. But, I think things will entertaining either way. I'm still glad Nagai gambled on such a weird and interesting creative team instead of another Jun Kawagoe affair. Nothing wrong with Kawagoe; He's a guy that can really knock it out of the park sometimes. But after like 20 years of his Dynamic Pro stuff, it's nice to see something different.
 
What would you guys say is the lowest point the mecha genre has reached?
 
00R-Gundam said:
What would you guys say is the lowest point the mecha genre has reached?
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Darling in the Franxx and Godannar -- shows so bad not even the mecha attempt to be cool. Almost every other bad mecha show has something that puts it above Franxx -- Devadasy and Cross Ange have transforming robots, Aldnoah.Zero has a good premise, Valvrave inspired a good spinoff manga and fanfic (Founding of an Empire), and Demonbane has powerlevel bait. The lowest point of Gundam is either IBO (blandest Gundam show) or Unicorn for its poor writing. I'd also say Code Geass is a low point, just because it inspired a bunch of crappy copycats with little action, boring designs, and a school/harem setting (War on Coalinar, Kuromukuro, Asura Cryin', G-Witch, etc) despite not being that good itself.
 
Sailor Troon said:
Darling in the Franxx and Godannar -- shows so bad not even the mecha attempt to be cool. Almost every other bad mecha show has something that puts it above Franxx -- Devadasy and Cross Ange have transforming robots, Aldnoah.Zero has a good premise, Valvrave inspired a good spinoff manga and fanfic (Founding of an Empire), and Demonbane has powerlevel bait. The lowest point of Gundam is either IBO (blandest Gundam show) or Unicorn for its poor writing. I'd also say Code Geass is a low point, just because it inspired a bunch of crappy copycats with little action, boring designs, and a school/harem setting (War on Coalinar, Kuromukuro, Asura Cryin', G-Witch, etc) despite not being that good itself.
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I enjoyed Cross Ange and i liked the protag go from plastic to badass. Aldnoah Zero the main attraction for me is not the mechs itself but how the protag create this plans to outsmart and outmaneuver the clearly more powerful mechs. Code geass is in a weird spot because i like it but not for the mechs(even if lancelot albion is my favorite) more so for the political intrigue, recommend the manga for code geass were they cut off the focus into the mechs.
 
I’d say that, at the risk of being called an invalid, at least the main relationship in FranXX was compelling enough, at least for me.

But yeah, if you want mecha action and the like, or even just higher quality writing, there are much better shows.
 
00R-Gundam said:
What would you guys say is the lowest point the mecha genre has reached?
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Do any of you guys remember Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars?
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I'm going to assume no or you purposefully forgot. Can't blame you if you did, I couldn't tell you a single thing about it except that it had gotten delayed after episode four because of "quality issues with its story", which may have been code for "writer's block" or "We realized the show's irredeemable shit but can't abort mission midway." It lost all good graces (what little it had) over that and fumbled its way to the finish line.

This show and Comet Lucifer fucking up convinced me mecha just wasn't the same anymore, and I think that was partially because mecha imo cannot shine in 12/13 episodes and will never hit its full potential in such a crammed space. And I say this as someone who had been enjoying what little I've seen of Planet With, although I falter on keeping up with it for some odd reason I can't quite pinpoint. I like the idea and designs a lot, it's just something keeps me from actually finishing it, and it bugs me.
 
Kari Kamiya said:
This show and Comet Lucifer fucking up convinced me mecha just wasn't the same anymore, and I think that was partially because mecha imo cannot shine in 12/13 episodes and will never hit its full potential in such a crammed space.
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Either that or they stretch out something better suited for a 1-3 hour OVA into a 12-13 episode affair. The only mecha shows I've seen fit 12-13 episodes well are, surprisingly, G Dangaioh, Dancouga Nova (both had issues with their endings), Submarine Super 99, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Space Symphony Maetel, and Virus Buster Serge. Scared Rider Xechs, STRAIN, and most egregiously, Unit Pandora, had filler disguised as "character-driven moments", and when there are episodes with little/no mecha, things are especially dire. Most of the long, episodic super robot shows people scoff at for being repetitive and childish have better writing than this. Even Mechander Robo is better than this.
 
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