#Getter Robo Arc

[sinita-incognita]

Stares.

[wanderersrest]

An Abbreviated History of Mecha Part 7: The Witching Hour Is Here!

Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for one Brave Bang Bravern. I'd recommend watching at least the first episode of Bravern before continuing.

Welcome to the final installment of An Abbreviated History of Mecha! Last time, we had some technical difficulties due to the Lich screwing things up with its time shenanigans covered what many would consider to be mecha's "Dark Age." Now, we will see how the genre has recovered. It remains to be seen how this decade will go down in history, but so far mecha shows have had a minor bit of a rebound. Though that insipid line of thinking (you've probably heard it at one point: "mecha shows are about the robots, not the characters") is still doing a bit of harm to the general reception of mecha shows, the canon is doing better than before. Not well, like it was in the 90's, but it's not in dire straits.

Victory is never decided by mobile suit performance alone.

Nor by the skill of the pilot, alone.

The result itself is the only proof!

Kyoukai Senki/AMAIM: Warrior At the Borderline (2021)

Kicking off the decade, 2021 would give us a new franchise in the form of the former Xebec, now Sunrise Beyond series AMAIM: Warrior At the Borderline. Sporting smaller robots in a setting similar to Code Geass but Japan was split into three by three world superpowers like it was Post-World War II Germany, AMAIM would be one of the few new mecha shows to come out that would be animated entirely in 2D.

Megaton Musashi (2021)

Developed by Level-5 Studios, Megaton Musashi is a game series that pays homage to the mecha stories of old, particularly that of Getter Robo. The game itself would suffer in terms of marketing, as Level-5 would end up shuttering their US studio in this decade. Which is wild, because this series would also get an anime adaptation that's only started airing this year.

Also, Megaton Musashi has a lot of crossovers with older mecha shows like Getter Robo and Combattler V.

SSSS.Dynazenon (2021) & Gridman Universe (2023)

Returning in 2021 would be Studio Trigger with the follow-up to SSSS.Gridman, SSSS.Dynazenon. Based off of the Dyna Dragon from the original Gridman the Hyper Agent, SSSS.Dynazenon would carry on the energy from its predecessor in terms of energy and heart.

2023 would also see the worlds of SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon collide with the movie finale Gridman Universe, bringing the casts of both shows together for one last hurrah for Trigger's Gridman trilogy.

Back Arrow (2021)

While 2021 was a good year for mecha in general, one show that doesn't get talked about more is Goro Taniguchi's Back Arrow. Set in the walled world of Lingalind, Back Arrow would give us a story where the mecha are powered by a character's convictions.

That's right! Back Arrow is quite possibly the single greatest series in terms of highlighting what piloted giant robots are all about. These stories were never about the giant robot itself; the giant robots were living extensions of the pilots who controlled them. Hence why the breiheights of Back Arrow are based purely on a character's core beliefs.

Getter Robo Arc (2021)

2020 would also see the surprise announcement of an adaptation of the unfortunately unfinished Getter Robo Arc. With the goal of wrapping up the story as best as possible without the guiding hand of series creator Ken Ishikawa, Getter Robo Arc's anime adaptation would finally release in 2021. With this, the Getter Robo saga can finally come to an end.

If you've already watched his video on Getter Robo, Cheese GX also has a follow-up covering Getter Robo Arc specifically.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash (2021) & Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022)

And in case you didn't believe me when I said 2021 was a good year for mecha, let me remind you of something: Gundam was featured as part of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Gundam would see the creation of the now-disassembled RX-78-2 Gundam in Yokohama as part of the celebration of the games. The RX-0 Gundam Unicorn would also make a cameo in the background during the Olympic Rock Climbing event, as Gundam Front Tokyo was the venue.

Most important of all for us, is that 2021 would see the release of part one of a trilogy of movies based on the Hathaway's Flash novel. And as if that wasn't enough, 2022 would also see the release of a movie based on the infamous episode of the original series known as Cucuruz Doan's Island. And as a reminder: Gundam's not done yet. I haven't even gotten to the other big Gundam series yet. These were just the two major series released for the Universal Century in this decade.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

Where Gundam made really big news in this decade was with the release of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Set in the Ad Stella timeline, G-Witch would bring awareness to the franchise that hadn't really been seen since it's heyday in the 90's. G-Witch would also differentiate itself from the rest of the Gundam series by presenting us with Gundam's first female main protagonist, the very tanuki-coded Suletta Mercury (and that depends, because if we're saying Gundam protagonist, then I'd argue technically War in the Pocket's Christina McKenzie has Suletta beat by a couple decades; this isn't even getting into Ecoile du Ciel). And not only is she the first female protagonist, Suletta is also Gundam's first queer protagonist!

Bullbuster (2023)

If there is any series that I wish I had caught while it was airing last year, it would definitely be Bullbuster. Cut from the same cloth as Patlabor and Dai-Guard, Bullbuster presents to us a construction robot is used to fight... aliens?

LEGO movie, is that you?

Okay, seriously though, I do think Bullbuster got drowned out due to being in a year that also included The Witch From Mercury.

Brave Bang Bravern (2024)

Man, if you thought The Witch From Mecury was gay...

2024 would open with Cygames Studio's Brave Bang Bravern. Directed by Masami Obari (a man who I have somehow failed to mention until now), Bravern would manage to capture the joy of the Brave franchise of old (and really mecha shows on the whole), all while making it very gay.

And I mean it. Bravern is quite possibly the single gayest show to come out in the 2020's. Maybe even of all time.

And that's really a wrap on pretty much everything that's come out, but there is one upcoming series set to come out next month...

Grendizer U (Airs July 2024)

Not seeming to want to be left out, the Mazinger saga would also get a surprise announcement in 2023 with a teaser for Grendizer U. Set to air in 2024, Grendizer U is going to be a reboot of the original UFO Robot Grendizer series, though some changes have been made (namely, Kouji has now brought along both Sayaka and Professor Yumi; more importantly, Kouji will now be piloting Mazinger Z instead of playing a support role like he did in the original Grendizer).

You can bet that I will be covering this series, especially if it's picked up by Crunchyroll this coming summer.

Looking Beyond Grendizer U & 2024: Live-action Gundam, Hathaway Parts 2 & 3, Gunbuster 3, and Patlabor EZY

Going beyond 2024, there are also other series that are set to be released some time in this decade. 2016 saw the release of the Patlabor Reboot promo, which is supposedly a test run for a new Patlabor series: Patlabor EZY. Supposedly set to air sometime in 2026 (at least last I saw), I'm as excited about this as Isao Ohta is about any type of gun that comes across his path.

Studio Gaina (again, not to be confused with the now-closed Gainax) also has plans to release Gunbuster 3, though that will probably be on the shelves for now until Grendizer U wraps up.

And of course, Gundam still has two more parts of the Hathaway movies to work on. There's also a live-action Gundam series that is also in the works at Legendary.

Conclusion

And that's a wrap, folks. Finally, after ten whole posts, I've covered an incomplete history of mecha! Yes that's right! Incomplete! Why did you think it was called abbreviated?

Jokes aside, I thought this would be a relatively simple project. Just cover a handful of mecha shows from the decades since their inception, say a thing or two about them, and move on. It turns out that, even when I cherry-picked the shows to talk about, there were still a lot of them.

Do I regret doing it, though? No. Well, maybe that bit about Valvrave specifically. Outside of that, I think it is important that this series of posts still exist. I tried my best to be as impartial as possible, and hopefully you, dear reader, have caught that. I really don't want this project to turn out to be identical in tone to Professor Otaku's Complete History of Mecha video series. Man literally cannot hide his disdain for shows he doesn't like very well, and I think it does a massive disservice to both his series and himself.

What I want you to take away from this series of posts is: every show I covered on here is someone's favorite. I've seen at least one person go to bat for every series I named here. I've done it for G Gundam and Patlabor, and I plan on doing it for a couple more series on here. The real important thing here is that this post helps in dismissing that wrong-headed claim of "mecha shows are just about the robots and not the characters." Which is a thing I will talk about soon.

But not right now. Now I want to rest. And by rest, I mean throwing my wrist out while playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

God Groose is such a great character.

[ktwgallery]

[a-toast-ghost]

Some reasons to get into Getter Robo

The robots themselves have the potential to become a cosmic horror that forms a terrifying symbiotic relationship with humanity, conquering and destroying countless planets and civilizations to help humans spread across the universe. It even goes so far as to replicate past pilots to lead the soldiers and their getter machines, creating a familiar yet twisted image of them.

Refusing to give into such horrors as being inevitable and taking the future into your own hands, using the getter robo to fight getter itself and forge a new path forward.

[scope-dogg]

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[transfem-monarchist-laura-rolla]

getter robo arc!

this is the end. spoilers below

look at takuma's stupid gun

given the number of times this has happened it's a wonder there's any standing armies left in the world, even with the time passed since go. frankly, even if only the og getter robo had happened i'd be kinda shocked about the existence of any real society in japan

this is just cool as hell. i love the weird coral things he draws to indicate prehistoric oceans

if i had read this when i first saw gurren lagann i woulda been so mad. the getter emperor is so cool! in comparison "oh actually we don't need to worry about tearing apart the universe in our eternal quest for power. that constant push for growth and power to defeat ever greater enemies is good actually, we just need to kill everything trying to stop us and never stop expanding" is just not a good way to take what's basically the exact same story

if i ever rewatch it i'm not going to be able to see team gurren as anything other than evil. seeing kittan's sacrifice and shaking my head like "he succumbed to the corruption of the getter. sad!"

the endless evil clones of musashi are so scary! this bit is so good!

the ending is so good. like, i'm sad it never got finished but where would it even go? the getter emperor wins. there's nothing to be done. it's the manifestation of mankind's endless evolution and fighting spirit, the things that make a shonen protagonist a shonen protagonist. both of them are neck deep in that. they aren't about to beat the getter!

i want that hg getter arc so bad. gotta see if there are any good shin getter kits, or an emperor

also shout out to the gettersaurus, it's real cool even if i didn't mention it or post a pic because it didn't get any really good spreads

[yagi1227]

[nustardust]

[kamille-is-real]

Getter Emperor son or Getter Saint Dragon daughter?

[antimnemonic]

kamui pics i had sitting in storage for a while

[nulljeager]

this man is a babygirl to me (drew it for this twitter meme)

Reblogs > Likes

[sinita-incognita]

Pain. Agony even.

[blossomdriver]

here’s some basic prompts, not sure if you wanted scenarios so I’m putting some words related to getter but I can change to scenarios later if you want. Anyways:

prompts:

-Sentience

-Distance

-Comrades

I hope these help and aren’t too vague!

Kamui was cold.

It crept into his bones and settled in the depth of his core. Making its home out of burden and guilt and every other emotion the man refused to name. A sense of foreboding filled him, and he shivered.

He had put up walls to block out this cold, unnerving feeling. The guilt that threatened to eat him alive if he wasn’t careful. Only for the sake of Takuma and Baku, He doesn’t want them to worry about him. 

But there are cracks in those walls. Its dodgy infrastructure can only hold back so much before they crumble to dust in the wind. And those raw, unfiltered emotions laid to bear witness to his comrades. 

In the end, when all of Kamui’s hope dashed to pieces, accepted his fate of rotting away for the rest of his life in that cell. Or execution. Whichever came first. They didn’t abandon him. Takuma and Baku broke him out, welcoming him with open arms as if nothing ever happened.

Even Kirik had welcomed him back. In a way only a Getter could. The gentle thrum against his fingertips. Like a familiar heartbeat. One that gave out silent praises, happy to see him again.

Kamui ignores the bitter taste it leaves in his mouth. Wishes he could believe and accept this warmth. But he can’t. Not yet.

The man knows better than to give up. No matter how far gone he thinks he is, he won’t allow himself to become that pitiful creature - curl up and die when he still has a fighting chance. A chance to redeem himself for past sins.

In time, maybe he could. Say the words with no hesitation and believe them.

[gaelic-diary-holder-returns]

Started Getter Robo Arc, so this franchise must be where all the weird negative stereotypes of the mecha genre come from, my experience of watching NGE and Big O did not prepare me for this mess, will probably finish the anime since Getter is so famous but I don’t like any of the pilots and only vaguely care about Hayato.

[no1ryomafan]

can i put something cursed into ur inbox. anyways listen. takuma/kamui is the gr equivalent of x/zero

please elaborate because I’d argue hayato/ryoma is more of the equivalent of x/zero even if the dynamic isn’t 1 to 1 it’s the gay pair you always see in the fandom while I’ve seen takuma/kamui maybe 3 times 💀 (also I don’t ship it 🤷‍♀️ but I’m not gonna be rude about it bc I’m past getting involved in ship discourse)

UPDATE: COSMIC IN DMS TOLD ME TJE PARALLELS IM GONNA SHIT MYSELF

[scope-dogg]

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