#its specifically about the child pilots from neon genesis evangelion though

[reverentwormpriest]

army dreamers by kate bush can be about any of my blorbos if I try hard enough

[sugarsourgoat]

All of the 90s (& 80s) Anime You Need To Fill Your Nostalgic Heart

There’s is no greater feeling than running into something that makes you remember a fun time in your life. For me, that is the 90s. Even though I didn’t experience a lot of the 90s, I still have those times where I feel like getting out some popcorn and indulging in the things that make me feel as though I am back in that time. One specific way for me to do that is through watching anime that came out in the 90s. 

The typical art styles of 90s anime are something I sometimes wish was still a feature in today’s animation. The haziness of the animations (mostly because of the lower quality resolution of televisions during that era) takes me back to a time when I was a child. 

In this post, I hope that you will find an anime with a story that will pique your interest, as well as help you feel as though you are back in the 90s (or the 80s because I couldn’t help myself). If you were born in the 2000s, then hopefully this list will help you understand why some of us began to love anime in the first place or will open you to anime you never heard of.

If you have any 90s (or older) anime recommendations, let me know! I’m always happy to watch some old anime. 

xx, Sai

1. Oniisama e

When 16-year-old Nanako Misonoo enters the prestigious all-girls Seiran Academy, she believes a bright future awaits her. Instead, the unlucky girl finds herself dragged into a web of deceit, misery, and jealousy. On top of that, she is chosen as the newest inductee of the Sorority, an elite group whose members are the envy of the entire school. Having none of the grace, wealth, or talent of the other members, Nanako quickly draws the ire of her jealous classmates—especially the fierce Aya Misaki. To cope with her increasingly difficult school life, Nanako recalls her days through letters to her former teacher, Takehiko Henmi, whom she affectionately calls "onii-sama" (big brother). She also finds comfort with her four closest friends: her childhood friend Tomoko Arikura, the sociable but erratic Mariko Shinobu, the troubled musician Rei Asaka, and the athletic tomboy Kaoru Orihara. An impassioned drama about the hardships of bullying, Oniisama e... chronicles a young girl's harsh life at her new school, as she endures cruel rumours, heartless classmates, and countless social trials.

Aired: Summer 1991

2. Angel’s Egg

In a desolate and dark world full of shadows, lives one little girl who seems to do nothing but collect water in jars and protect a large egg she carries everywhere. A mysterious man enters her life... and they discuss the world around them. 

Aired: Fall 1985

3. Laputa: Castle in the Sky

In a world filled with planes and airships, Sheeta is a young girl who has been kidnapped by government agents who seek her mysterious crystal amulet. While trapped aboard an airship, she finds herself without hope—that is, until the ship is raided by pirates. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, Sheeta manages to flee from her captors. Upon her escape, she meets Pazu, a boy who dreams of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two decide to embark on a journey together to discover this castle in the sky. However, they soon find the government agents back on their trail, as they too are trying to reach Laputa for their own greedy purposes. Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa follows the soaring adventures of Sheeta and Pazu, all while they learn how dreams and dire circumstances can bring two people closer together.

Aired: Summer 1986

4. Sailor Moon

Usagi Tsukino is an average student and crybaby klutz who constantly scores low on her tests. Unexpectedly, her humdrum life is turned upside down when she saves a cat with a crescent moon on its head from danger. The cat, named Luna, later reveals that their meeting was not an accident: Usagi is destined to become Sailor Moon, a planetary guardian with the power to protect the Earth. Given a special brooch that allows her to transform, she must use her new powers to save the city from evil energy-stealing monsters sent by the malevolent Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom. But getting accustomed to her powers and fighting villains are not the only things she has to worry about. She must find the lost princess of the Moon Kingdom, the other Sailor Guardians, and the Legendary Silver Crystal in order to save the planet from destruction.

Aired: Spring 1992

5. Akira

In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after the nuking of the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists, and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo's supernatural powers suddenly manifest. A final battle is fought in Tokyo Olympiad exposing the experiment's secrets.

Aired: Summer 1988

6. Burn up! 

To the unsuspecting eye Maki, Reimi and Yuka may not look like ace crime fighters, which might explain why they're stuck on traffic patrol instead of more "exciting" police duties. All that changes when Yuka gets herself kidnapped by a white slave organization run by a politically connected businessman who's got the rest of the police cowed. Now it's up to Maki and Reimi to don skin-tight battle armor, liberate a tank, and make sure that a certain slaver learns that when you play with fire, you're going to get your ass burned!

Aired: Winter 1991

7. Neon Genesis Evangelion

In the year 2015, the world stands on the brink of destruction. Humanity's last hope lies in the hands of Nerv, a special agency under the United Nations, and their Evangelions, giant machines capable of defeating the Angels who herald Earth's ruin. Gendou Ikari, head of the organization, seeks compatible pilots who can synchronize with the Evangelions and realize their true potential. Aiding in this defensive endeavor are talented personnel Misato Katsuragi, Head of Tactical Operations, and Ritsuko Akagi, Chief Scientist. Face to face with his father for the first time in years, 14-year-old Shinji Ikari's average life is irreversibly changed when he is whisked away into the depths of Nerv, and into a harrowing new destiny—he must become the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01 with the fate of mankind on his shoulders. 

Aired: Fall 1995

8. Battle Angel Alita

Doc Ido, a doctor, and mechanic who lives and works in the hellish, post-apocalyptic "Scrapyard", finds the—miraculously preserved—remains of a female cyborg in a junk heap. After he revives and rebuilds her, the preternaturally strong, amnesiac "Gally" begins to forge a life for herself in a world where every day can bring a fight for life.

Aired: Spring 1993

That’s all for my nostalgia-giving anime list for now! If you have any suggestions for me on what anime I should watch send me a message! Let me know if you will/have seen any of these anime and what you think about them! Also, feel free to suggest topics you’d like to see from Sailure Artemis in the future (you can also submit posts).

See you next time!

[bizarre-dollhouse]

My Top 10 Favourite Anime (And Why You Should Watch Them)

This is normally something I would put on my main blog, but I wanted to celebrate a follower milestone and also I know this will reach a significantly wider audience on this blog.

Consider this both a list of recommendations and a *get to know me* thing, I guess.

Honourable Mentions:

Bakemonogatari: A really stylized show about a semi vampire helping people with their supernatural afflictions born from emotional issues. The subsequent seasons get a little questionable, but this is definitely a standalone story with great dialogue and visuals. (15 eps)

Shiki: Creepy story about a small town infested with vampires. Really brutal and sick, but it has fascinating themes. The pacing is a bit slow and it has a kind of bad scene towards the end, but the show is 100% worth it. (24 eps)

Cardcaptor Sakura: Because this is mostly aimed at younger viewers, I would only really recommend this show for either magical girl fans, or people who watched the extremely altered dub as a kid. That being said, its a cute, fun show about magic with a likeable cast and surprisingly creative and original ideas, especially towards the latter half. (70 eps)

Jojos Bizarre Adventure 4: Diamond is Unbreakable: Full disclosure, I have not seen the first 3 jojo series, but its not necessary to enjoy this show. This is a super creative and really fun series about superpowered badasses in a strange city fighting each other and trying to solve a murder mystery in the background. Weird, but in the best way. (39 eps)

Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus: This should be higher on the list, but in truth I would recommend the manga way over the show. But, if you want to watch a supernatural horror/comedy without reading a 138+ chapter manga, OR you were a fan of the original Black Butler seasons and want to see something way better, give this a watch. (10 eps)

*drumroll*

10. Trigun

So Trigun takes place is this old west, yet mysterious science fiction-y world where, through a bunch of complicated scenarios, a pacifist is the most wanted criminal known to man. Due to his status as a “natural disaster,” two insurance workers are tasked with reining him in to save their business. It’s an incredibly charming series, and the protagonist is really likeable. It’s extremely creative, funny, and emotional near the end. I do have some problems with the ending because it almost seems like the final conflict just...solves itself, but that’s a nitpick. The first episode is basically a short film, so give that a watch and see how you feel. (26 eps)

9. Paranoia Agent

This was directed by the late and great Satoshi Kon and has his usual themes about the blurring between fiction, dreams, and reality. It’s about a string of mysterious assaults committed by a kid with a baseball bat, and how these assaults seem to solve the problems of the victims. It’s very arthouse and has a twist that makes me ball my eyes out even though it’s not sad it’s just...odd and overwhelming. It drags a bit near the middle, but if you like kind of surreal stuff that’s also just really good, you have to watch this show. (13 eps)

8. Baby Steps

The amazing thing about this show is that its premise is specifically designed to make me hate it. It’s about a nerdy teenager who starts to play a sport for the sole sake of getting fit and having a more well rounded life style, and also he has a crush on this really popular girl. That sounds fucking awful, but the main character is actually really likeable (he reminds me a lot of Deku from BNHA) and I swear to fucking god every time I thought this show was going to do something awful and cliched with its romantic comedy plot, it doesn’t. The beauty and the geek trope is still there, but all of the bullshit that comes with it is omitted in a way I feel was kind of self-aware. The sports aspect is really good too: it’s well paced and there’s lots of tension even though the show as a whole is really upbeat and pleasant. I had a blast watching it, and if you can make it past the fact that is has god awful animation, give it a watch.

7. Higurashi: When They Cry

Yet another great show with absolute garbage animation. Anyways, this show is about a group of teenagers in a small town who are unknowingly trapped in a time loop. In each loop there’s a bunch of new mysteries, as well as some extremely brutal murders and tortures experienced my the main cast. I’ve seen a number of Western shows (Orphan Black, BBC Sherlock, Lost, Supernatural, etc.) fall apart because the writers want a really clever and intricate mystery to play out, but they don’t want to actually put the time into crafting one, so it’s just a bunch of cliffhangers with no answers or pay off. THIS SHOW SUCCEEDS AT WHAT ALL OF THOSE OTHER SHOWS FAIL AT. While not all of the answers are great (the second season isn’t as good) the original author somehow made the world’s most ludicrously complicated mystery story work, with a lot of it relying on the audience to put all of the pieces together even when the characters can’t. Its very clever in doing that: it makes its audience feel smart. It also has themes that don’t really show up in other horror stories, even though they’re incredibly relevant to fear and violence. Great show, go watch it. (50 eps)

6. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Everyone knows about this show, everyone says it’s great, and everyone’s right. If you’ve been living under a rock for ten years: the show is about two brothers who break an alchemy taboo, which destroys their bodies, They’re on the hunt for something to restore them to normal and along the way they meet like 8990354578579 characters with interesting stories. It’s tightly written and really gripping. It’s fun, but also really dramatic and emotional when it needs to be. My only problems with it are that the ending is reaaaallllly convoluted, and there’s a minor plot point earlier on that gets weirdly dropped, but everyone kinda forgets about those things because the show’s so good. Also the brotherly bond makes me cry. (64 eps)

5. FLCL

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this show because it has the unique property of being the only show I have ever seen that I have literally no problems with. Not even nitpicks. There is nothing wrong with this show; it’s perfect. The only reason it’s not number 1 is because some other shows have more ideas or more fleshed out characters. So this arthouse spastic comedy is about a boy who is disappointed with all of the adults in his life, then some chick hits him in the face with a guitar and giant robots from a secret facility start coming out of his head. It’s fucking wild and has like 30 different aesthetics and I love all of them. It’s the best looking show I’ve ever seen and one of the best directed. It feels like someone read a really weird poem and turned it into a 6 episode show. It’s funny, it’s emotional, it’s cartoony, it’s beautiful, it’s raunchy, it’s poetic, it’s silly, it’s creative, and it’s got strong themes. The wtf visuals, the nonsensical plot, and the amazing soundtrack make an aesthetic experience more than anything. (6 eps)

4. Princess Tutu

I already made a post about this show and why it’s good, which you can check out here, but the gist is it’s a meta fairytale about a duck that turns into a girl to help a storybook prince find his emotions. I used to love stories that were “twists on fairytales” or whatever, but after watching this show I realized that the genre is pretty derivative. This show is so amazing it honestly made me reevaluate an entire genre and come to the conclusion that this is the only member of that genre worth watching. It’s truly creative and well crafted with fantastic characters. (26 eps)

3. Hunter x Hunter (2011)

This show is basically a bunch of creative ideas, unique set pieces, and interesting characters stacked on top of each other in a trench coat disguised as a narrative. It’s about a perky shonen protagonist and a child assassin becoming friends while also trying to become hunters (a position involving vast wealth and adventure). It’s in a modern fantasy setting so literally anything can happen. In one arc they have to play life-or-death dodgeball against robots, and another is an insanely epic tale about the intense evil that people are capable of (feat. a 25 episode climax). I can’t even talk about all of the themes or ideas because there are just too many. Because of it’s wild, sprawling story, it has a lot of ass pulls and retcons, but in the grand scheme of things they don’t really matter. It’s long, but super easy to watch in huge chunks. (148 eps)

2. Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion

The most efficient way to describe this show is to say that it’s the most interesting show ever made. It’s about an apocalyptic future in which emotionally disturbed teenagers must pilot giant bio-machines to fight monsters which are referred to as angels. It’s got deep characters, a creative story, and is probably the most well directed show I’ve ever seen. The ending infamously fell apart due to production problems, so there’s a movie called The End of Evangelion to conclude the story. It’s a very disturbing arthouse movie, so watch out for that, but the show as a whole is moooosssstly more straightforward and fascinating, This is an absolute must watch. (26 eps and 1 movie)

1. Baccano!

Baccano! takes place in 1930s New York, and is about thieves, gangsters, criminals, terrorists, alchemists, and immortals interacting in this nonlinear comedy/action thrill ride. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster while watching this show. It’s the perfect blend of action, comedy, romance, drama, horror, and creative storytelling. It’s fantastic to rewatch since the first episodes barely make any sense without context (but are still an absolute joy to watch). It’s got great characters and it’s a great story. Go watch it. And then watch it again. (13 eps and 3 OVAs)

That’s it for this list! Check out my MAL page for more recommendations if you’re interested and have a great night! 

[nomadicism]

Top 10 mecha anime?

Thank you for the ask!I’ve included links to series openings or good scenes when possible.

10. Chōdenji Machine Voltes V [超電磁マシーン ボルテスＶ] Voltes V is the stronger of the “Robot Romance” trilogy and several concepts and themes later made their way into Golion (and thus Voltron). It’s a straight-forward super robot/combining mecha show with sentai theming and obligatory 80s ruined earth setting that later punches you in the face with a tragic antagonist/protagonist backstory reveal. VLD Keith owes a lot to his Voltes V counterpart, Ken'ichi Gō, and I don’t even think it was intentional, it just spilled out by virtue of genre tropes.

9. Space Runaway Ideon [伝説巨神イデオン] (TV/Movies)Japanese OP here. Don’t let the upbeat opening song fool you. This is Yoshiyuki “Death Count” Tomino at his best. More mind fuckery than Evangelion (which was influenced by Ideon). I love the character designs, the Ideon combiner, the concept, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.

8.Adventure! Iczer 3 [冒険!イクサー3] from the Iczer OVA seriesJapanese OP here.Not the best mecha anime, the Iczer-verse OVAs are more of a cross-genre of body horror, mecha, magical girl (arguably), and yuri. The series (beginning with Fight! Iczer One) introduced tentacle horror ahead of Urotsukidōji and—even though I’m an Ace—I will never turn down mecha-piloting lesbian space elves. What can I say, the 80s were weird. The mecha designs were really cool and influenced later series like Evangelion and Dangaioh.

7. Aim for the Top! / Gunbuster [トップをねらえ!] OVAsJapanese OP here.Incredible character and mecha design. Ambitious mecha concepts. Soviets. OMG moments. Jupiter!? Break out the tissues because [spoiler spoiler] space physics [spoiler spoiler].

6. Aoki Ryūsei SPT Layzner  [蒼き流星SPTレイズナー]Japanese OP 1 here.I have a soft-spot for hybrid alien protagonists, Cold War settings, AI ethics, and Painfully Obvious Anti-War Themes. Layzner is a great “real robot” action series with touches of survival thriller pacing, that left its mark on later mecha shows like Evangelion and MS Gundam 00. See also obligatory 80s ruined Earth scenario + late series weirdness. Alas, Layzner is very much dated in the gender role department and it runs afoul of one of the worst (IMO) tropes in storytelling in the very first episode. Breaks my heart b/c so much of the series is fantastic. The Skull-Gunners are Aliens-level creepy.

5. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross [超時空要塞マクロス] / Robotech: Macross SagaJapanese OP here.I’ll use the Robotech names here, b/c that’s a little easier for me.

Macross is the one mecha anime that—while I think that the SDF-1 and the 3-way transforming Valkyries/Veritechs are hella cool—I love it for the ambitious inclusion of relationship storylines rather than the mecha. Which says a lot b/c I’m ship agnostic and usually prefer not to see romantic storylines outside of rom-coms or romance-specific genres. Macross gives storylines for 3 couples: one is the quintessential love triangle, the second is the first time I ever saw a biracial couple in animation (OTP: Claudia and Roy), and the third is the absurdly-rushed-yet-compelling battle couple Miriya and Max. Claudia is one of my favorite anime characters b/c Reasons.

What does this have to do with mecha? Absolutely nothing but somehow Macross made it work while launching a franchise known just as much for its moe idol singers as its mecha.

Additionally, Macross (and Robotech) influences can be seen in many series (Japanese or Western), and the Roy Fokker easter egg in the first episode of Voltron Legendary Defender was my clue that I was going to love VLD (I also suspect that Rick, Miriya, and Max were snuck in as well). LM name-dropping Robotech as having influenced the way they wrote the conflict in VLD continuing beyond Zarkon’s death confirmed my hunch that there are other Robotech influences in VLD as well.

4. Beast King Golion [百獣王ゴライオン] / Voltron: Defender of the Universe (franchise as a whole)Probably not fair to combine Golion with Voltron, but I will anyway. I love Golion and the Voltron franchise for different reasons, but overall the super sentai team concept is stronger in Golion/Voltron than in other super robot/combining mecha shows, which when combined with the lion design and space-fantasy theming makes them stand out.

3. Armored Fleet Dairugger XV [機甲艦隊ダイラガーXV]  / Vehicle VoltronCombining mecha meets Star Trek. Ambitious with its 15 member team—“I’m a foot!”—and political themes. The original has quite the body count, so the Voltron DotU version is hella sanitized with dialogue like: “Set your stun guns to maximum stun!” or “We’ll come back for him later!” LOL okay Dorma (Sirik).

It’s hard to get characterization with so many characters, but, unlike a lot of other shows, there are 4 regularly occurring female characters with speaking lines and I never felt like they were terribly slighted in the gender role department. No damsels in distress here.

2. Genesis Climber MOSPEADA [機甲創世記モスピーダ ] / Robotech: The New GenerationWhile definitely a feather-weight of the real robot mecha genre, the Cyclones are a fun take on transforming mecha/real robot battle armor. Once again, obligatory 80s ruined earth setting. Also, I’ll take all the androgynous gender bending that I can get b/c—this one’s personal—as a tomboy child in the 80s (we didn’t have access to words/concepts like gender fluid back then), Yellow Dancer was a huge deal for me and still is.Clip of Yellow Dancer spoiler scene but I don’t care.Bonus: “Look Up The Sky Is Falling” holds up surprisingly well for an 80s cartoon song about environmental destruction.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam [機動戦士ガンダム] franchise (Universal Century preferred).This is a cop-out, but I love all Gundam UC timeline series for different reasons and it’s impossible for me to pick which one is “the best”. There’s a reason the franchise is still going strong after all these years, and his name is Char Aznable, the Red Comet, Yoshiyuki Tomino (even when he’s not involved, his initial concept was so strong that it lives on without him).Clip of Char in Zaku II from MS Gundam Origins here.

Runners-up: Six God Combination Godmars, Shin Getter Robo, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, Super Dimension Century Orguss, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Vision of Escaflowne, Aura Battler Dunbine, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, and Knights of Sidonia.

[d-dumais-blog]

Mecha Anime is Nationalist and Japanese Propaganda

Today we’ll be diving into the writing of the Japanese constitution, the state of the Japanese military, and sweet sweet giant robots! That’s right, your favorite Gundam series is really all about the comparative strength of Japan as a global super power in a post World War II political climate.  I’m looking at you Mobile Fighter G Gundam!   The basis here starts with understanding that art rarely if ever exists in a vacuum.  There would be no punk rock movement without something to rebel against, and there is no mecha anime without Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution.

We’ll begin with an extremely simple look back on Japanese history, which I highly advise you supplement with additional reading.  During World War II Japan aimed to expand beyond its island borders in order to conquer more of the world.  Throughout this time they invaded into parts of Korea, South East Asia, and China.  Japan also attempted expansion eastward through the Pacific Ocean which ultimately lead to United States involvement in the conflict after an attack on Pearl Harbor.  This short lived conquest is an extremely fascinating point in Japan’s history that shaped a number of subcultures ; I’d like to circle back later to discuss some roots of Japanese racism here in regards to the Korean Hate Wave, but that’ll have to wait for another day because it’s fully deserving of its own post later.  The important thing here is that Japan lost the war, the previous government needed to be replaced, and the winning Western governments, in particular the United States, were going to help shape and create this new government.  In 1946 while under U.S. occupation the Japanese Constitution was written and ratified.  

Specifically we are discussing Article 9, more often referred to as the peace clause, so let’s read its text directly.  

(1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

The attempt here was to completely neuter Japan’s ability to go to war; instead if Japan was ever under threat allied military forces such as the UN would step in and protect Japan. Under these laws the Japanese people would never from an armed forces, but that clearly didn’t last because the SDF is currently among the largest standing armies in the world.  In the 1950s the U.S. occupying forces were Japan’s only defense against foreign threat and they were largely being relocated to the Korean War.  The U.S. chose to trust the leaders of Japan (largely because the U.S. put those people in power) and the SDF was formed.  The biggest problem wasn’t the approval of western powers, but rather the Japanese people.  It’s important to remember here that Japan lost the war and lost hard.  Over two million soldiers died not including those that died due to atomic bombs, and Japan was accused of several war crimes. So now we have the perfect setting, Japan is technically barred from building traditional military forces, and the people lack a military force they can rally behind; enter giant robots.

Giant robot anime, more commonly referred to as mecha anime is awesome and I love it dearly! Great mecha designs, deep political intrigue, expansive universes, mecha has it all; especially Sunrise Studios responsible for the Gundam franchise and their masterpiece work Neon Genesis Evangelion.  I grew up on these shows, starting with a deep appreciation of giant robots fighting each other in gorgeous 2D animation till later initially sparking my interest in global politics leading to my studies in school.  There’s a long history of mecha anime with largely varying degrees of success.  There’s a mecha show for every situation and every fan, well every fan that can get down with giant robots and I sincerely hope you do.  Like high school anime? Check out Gundam Wing! Need Shakespeare in space? How about Gundam Seed? Really into pop idol music? How about Macross.  Need a totally generic harem with a  bland protagonist, you’d probably like IS Infinite Stratos (please don’t actually go watch this show it’s the only bad one I’m listing and I’m only listing it to show there’s a mecha show for everyone and everything).  Really into model kits, and if you’re really into mecha I KNOW you are, give Gundam Build Fighters Try a chance.  Even recently we’ve had some modern classics in the genre.  Curious what happens when sweet jazz meets amazing mecha design and control, Gundam Thudnerbolt was the best anime of 2016 and I highly recommend! The most recent main entry in the Gundam Franchise, Iron Blooded Orphans, is a great lengthy watch full of compelling characters and a plot that dives in on the effects war has on a child soldier.  My point in all this is one to recommend some great shows for you to potentially go watch, and tow to clarify that not all mecha anime is propaganda, though I’d argue that even if the focus of the show is on something completely unrelated like wish fulfillment fantasy, mecha anime at its core is about depicting a powerful and just Japan.

Mecha anime wears its political influences on its sleeves and it only takes the smallest amount of attention to realize some of the most obvious parallels. Let’s start with a very specific, very obvious example: Mobile Fighter G Gundam.  Mobile Fighter G Gundam is one of my favorites despite being campy, and let’s be clear it is EXTREMELY campy.  The show focuses on a tournament (TOURNAMENT ARC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) where all the new countries founded in Space such as Neo America and Neo China send giant robots down to earth to fight amongst each other for political dominance in the next election.  Yes the premise makes no sense, why would government elections be determined by fighting robots? I don’t know.  Is it cool? Fuck yeah it is! It’s freakin’ sweet!  Our protagonist in this show is clearly the hero of Japan, a cool katana wielding badass that saves kids and gets the girl.  The stereotypes in this show are comical, the American robot is a boxer from Brooklyn whose robot shoulder pads turn into giant robot boxing gloves, oh and his mech rides a flying jet skateboard from a football stadium to his fight that takes place in the streets of Manhattan, at which point our hero’s mech literally erupts from within the statue of liberty before defeating American hero Jiminy Crocket and teaching the pilot some important lessons about the importance of a fair fight.  Yeah, it’s honestly this obvious sometimes, like with Code Geass where Japan is the only nation capable of standing up against the Holy Britannia Empire after more than half the world has already fallen under their control.  Code Geass has the added benefit of inevitably being about mechs vs nukes where the bad guys, of course, use nukes (which are called fleija warheads and act slightly differently but for all intents and purposes they are just anime nukes that don’t leave radiation around.

A more subtle detail, well more subtle than Jiminy Crocket, is the fact that the good guys in mecha anime never use nuclear weapons.  It’s reasonable to assume they exist in most of these fictional futures because their technology is clearly far beyond our own and we developed nuclear weapons back in the 1940s.  This is because even the hawks of Japan, those in government hoping for stronger military, are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons because of the devastation caused to the country.  If even the most hardcore of military supporters are against nukes, it’s pretty apparent that the public that is generally against all war would also be strongly opposed to nuclear weapons.  The good guys are often drawn with shades of grey, and they are shown to be powerful and destructive, but the good guys (Japan) would absolutely never resort to something as inhuman as nuclear weapons.  

 I hope this helps you have a bit better understanding of the climate within which mecha anime was born, and I hope you have a deeper appreciation for the genre because of it! Just because something is nationalist in it snature doesn’t make it bad, it’s just an important thing to know about. Also next tiem someone tells you that GATE was propaganda remind them that show is garbage and anime has been Japanese propaganda for years, GATE just rips off other works as it does with its entirely generic characters and cliché fantasy world! Suck it GATE fans