#mecha anime reccommendations

[rin-yellow]

OHOHOHOHOHO DID SOMEONE ASK FOR NOT OBVIOUS MECHA RECS?

Assuming “the obvious ones” includes stuff like Gundam, Transformers, PatLabor, Evangelion, Ratatouille, and Gridman/Dynazenon, etc, I am taking this as an excuse to Rinfodump (patent pending) about the peaks of semi-obscure mecha media and some that’s actually pretty well known but like wouldn’t be recc’d by idk an Evangelion fan or whatever.

MIND YOU, this post randomly showed up on my dash so yeah. I usually tailor my show recs to the ppl asking but I got no clue this time around sorry.

ANYWAYS

Let’s start with some of the probably least obscure: you ever heard of OBSOLETE?

It’s 3D animated YT original series by the guy who made MADOKA FUCKING MAGICA. YES, THAT MADOKA MAGICA. It’s sometimes touted as one of the most “realistic” mecha shows ever made and I’m really tempted to agree.

It follows the trajectory of the human race after a bunch of aliens randomly showed up and went “sup yo! Want some FUCKIN’ ROBOTS?” and the humans said “FUCK YEAH BABY WE DO!” and ruined their economy yet a-fucking-gain in the process. It’s great.

Fair warning, first episode might be a bit hard to get into if you’re not a fan of jumping right into the action, but it’s its own thing, y’know? As a major fucking nerd and not in the fun way, I kind of enjoyed the crunchier parts of the show where they go into how they have no fucking clue how the robots work (this is a plot point and I love it) and like it’s wonderful.

It’s got fun robot designs and most episodes are their own little self-contained story and it’s a real hoot ngl. I could go for hours but yea,,

Next is a LITTLE more obscure but not by much, I only say Obsolete is less because Obsolete has no paywall, it’s up for free on YT (as is one of my other faves, the Duncan Bros’ “GigaBots”, but that’s notably a vulgar parody of mecha tokusatsu and when folks ask for mecha reccs, they usually mean anime and so I’m holding back here) but anyways my next recc is MAJESTIC PRINCE which is like really fun imo.

It’s basically this mid-2010s 3d/2d hybrid anime following a fun little ensemble cast of genetically engineered kids who get to pilot this really fun looking group of robots. I actually drew fanart of the sniper-looking one a bit back because I’m a SUCKER for robots that do funky things like the thing it does with its head (if you watch the show you’ll know what I mean) because ROBOTS! THey don’t have to be 1:1 with humans all the time! It’s great!

(above: my fanart lol)

ALSO BONUS, IT HAS A NONBINARY CHARACTER THEY INTRODUCE MIDWAY THROUGH AND I LOVE THEM. Or well they don’t disclose the gender of the character but I’m pretty sure the intent was nonbinary but regardless I love them, they’re so cool and unhinged and cool.

^Ange Kuroki, one of the least hinged mecha pilots since fuckin’ idk Kenji from Jeeg? They’re great and also it’s always fun to have queer mecha pilots except in Gen;Lock where they die after coming out anyways don’t watch Gen;Lock season 2 but you should totally check out the first season because up until S2 ruined it, it was kinda fun but not fun enough for me to actually give it a 100% hearfelt recc. But also I feel like alot of mecha is kind of inherently queer in some way but maybe that’s just me having a trans moment lol ‘coz the “robots” in mecha shows are essentially just bodies that the pilots inhabit sometimes and I could drop a WHOLE ESSAY but you asked for reccs so I’m giving reccs anyways here’s another:

M3: THE DARK METAL is,,, kind of a funky sort of show in that it’s not particularly good but it’s one of my guilty pleasures.

It’s about these depressed kids or something or other piloting robots in order to beat the shit out of these “admonitions”, essentially creatures borne from the “Lightless Realm” full of the titular “Dark metal” or something or other. I can’t say much without spoiling it and some of my other posts here spoil it somewhat which is sad because the show is WACK.

Also they have mecha designs by I think one of the guys behind Macross (citation needed) and they’re a spoonful generic (at least, by Macross fan standards lol) starting out but honestly once you watch them long enough they have their fun moments.

There are some triggering topics in the show, one character is kind of y’know,,, it was another Mid-2010s “dark” anime so yeah. But for what it’s worth, if you ignore the more problematic aspects, it’s a fun ride.

Also I’m pretty sure the goth girl was a lesbian but that’s probably just a headcanon lol.

Next Recc is MAZINKAISER SKL BECAUSE YES. SKL IS THE BEST OVA IT’S FREE ON TUBI GO WATCH IT YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. UNLIKE OTHER ANIME THAT FOCUS ON BOOORING SHIT LIKE “CHARACTERS” THIS ONE IS ONLY ABOUT ROBOT VIOLENCE.

GO WATCH IT.

EVERY FRAME LOOKS LIKE THE COVER OF A METAL ALBUM AND THE ROBOTS ARE SO COOL.

Also Kaidou and Magami are so gay for eachother and it’s practically canon. Also for a spinoff of the notoriously somewhat-sexist Mazinger Z, the show actually has a really fun cast from what little we see of them including the absolute PEAK mecha pilot, Tsubasa Yuuki, who is just amazing and is probably the BEST handled woman (Low bar but still) in the entire fucking Mazinger Z franchise (aside from maybe Jun? And a LOT of characters from the multitudes and multitudes of manga spinoffs there are. Also I never finished watching some of the original Mazinger shows so I might be missing something, sorry. This totally ruins my street cred lmao) lol.

Final recc for tonight unless you want more,

SUPER MOBILE LEGEND DINA-GIGA. Another short one, but this one’s fun because it’s got that grounded feel of “robot drivers ed” that quickly goes off the rails within its two episode runtime lol. Also I’m pretty damn sure there’s like a tragic lesbian love story (the lyrics of the opening themesong are partially in english, and one of the first lines in the song is literally “I KNOW YOU’RE KIND OF SPECIAL GIRL; YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE I LOOOOVE” if that isn’t yuri idk what is)

Yeah. Saying anything else would spoil it but it IS FUN, in spite of the fact that it doesn’t get to do that much in its two episode runtime.

Also shamelessly because I had originally INTENDED to use this blog for book reviews, this is the part where I scream: READ GEARBREAKERS (by Zoe Hana Mikuta). Oh and Steel Frame (by Andrew Skinner) and Hard Reboot (by Django Wexler). They’re really fun if you’re a fan of that kind of thing and the giant robot action is amazing, even if Gearbreakers holds back a bit until you get to book 2 imo.

ANYWAYS that’s it for mecha recc’s so far. I didn’t even get to the REALLY obscure shit like Sentinel 2099 or whatever but yeah.

The entirety of the mecha fandom is going to literally kill me for my reccs but those were the ones I found fun lol.

(Maybe I shoulda regained street cred by suggesting smth like Gasaraki? Idfk. Or Voltes V because my ass is pinoy as fuck and by as fuck I mean half because mixed race moment, but that woulda been too obvious.)

But yeah.

I have more. I have WAAAY more, but I’ve probably bored you by now, and I apologize.

do yall have any recs for mecha movies/shows besides yknow, the obvious ones

[awkwardplant]

2023 Reads

This year I've read 24 books - I had only planned to read one book per month, given that I've barely read since leaving highschool. But my old bookworm self is re-emerging! As I write this, I'm on my 25th lol.

I decided at the start of the year that I wanted to try an read a wide variety of genres, which I did. Didn't love everything I read, but such is life. Below are all the titles and my terrible attempts to summarise the plots. The ones with a heart were my favourites and ones I highly reccommend.

My full list in order:

No Destination by Satish Kumar

Autobiography of the life of a pilgrim who left his family at 9 years old to become a Jain monk, then left that to become an activist and walk across continents.

Not the kind of life story you hear everyday, that's for sure.

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

(Nonfiction) An in depth guide for the stranded time traveller that needs to recreate modern technology from scratch.

Funny, easy to understand, and bitesized sections that can be read when you've got a spare 5 mins.

Moral Compass by Danielle Steel

A girl who experiences sexual assault while at a private school that newly became co-ed, and the resulting court case/investigation into what happened.

Personally I felt this read like a case-study more than a story, and the message was very heavyhanded.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero ❤

A horror comedy about a group of adults that used to be sleuths in their teens reunite to solve a case that everyone thinks has been wrapped up.

This was recommended to me by a librarian that said it was like "if the scooby doo gang all had trauma and fought eldritch beings" which perfectly summed it up. Also, if you shipped Velma and Daphne... you'll enjoy this book 👀 The writer randomly switches to a script-like format at times, some people hate that but I personally like when an author does whatever the fuck, just because he can. Delicious dark humour.

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott ❤

About a woman who lives alone in the mountains in a country devastated by a coup, and is sought out by a soldier in order to find the mythical Rain Heron.

Nice prose and descriptions, and the other character's pov chapters have some great suspense.

The Mark and The Void by Paul Murray

An office worker meets a novellist who wants to write about his life.

I was really into the first half of the story, but the second half became boring as the plot stagnated

Resistance by Samit Basu

People have superpowers corresponding to their innermost desires, and we follow the life of a billionaire who is the leader of a mecha group and the lives of their enemies.

I accidentally picked this up at the library, not realizing it was a sequal to Turbulence, but it read okay on it's own. You'd like this if you're into My Hero Academia or other shounen anime.

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North ❤

Set in the distant future after an apocalypse, an archivist is forced to translate documents from the "burning age" for the Brotherhood

I still think about this story daily. The writing has an interesting style and rhythm and the plot is packed with intriguing developments

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins ❤

There's a library with the secrets to the universe, and several people, called Pelapi, grew up learning a unique catalogue of skills using its books, taught by Father, who might be God? But he's gone missing lately.

If you like The Umbrella Academy you'd like this. Like Meddling Kids, it's also dark and funny.

The People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

A journalist and her old friend go on holiday in a last attempt to rekindle their friendship.

I found this book on a train, then left it on another. Hopefully it got a new home! The story was sweet, especially the ending where the journalist spent some time on herself.

It's Kind of a Funny story by Ned Vizzini

A teenage boy suffers a mental breakdown and spends a week in a psychiatric ward.

Given to me by a family member, I am now a bit concerned for her. It has a happy ending, at least. There was a transphobic depiction of a character that was mentioned in the blurb, but she doesn't even stay for the whole story.

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

A body is found on a mountain in Iceland, reopening a cold case from 30 years ago, bringing the detective in charge of it out of retirement.

The prose isn't great in this due to a poor translation. The plot/characters are a bit cliche but not too bad overall. The ending was unexpected yet also expected in the best way?

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree ❤

Cosy fantasy about an orc who retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop/cafe.

Bought this after seeing it recommended for people that like Stardew Valley. I liked the amount of detail that went into just building the shop. The prose is simple, but I find that fits the main character, Viv, well, and there were some really good lines/messages in the story. I have adopted Thimble.

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

Two unremarkable irish men consider their lives and place in the universe.

This would've been one of my favourites had it not focused so much on Paul's sister's wedding. The book should've been called Leonard, Hungry Paul, and Grace. I did enjoy the conversations in this book, and the attention to the mundane.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Southern Gothic queer supernatural story about a college student trying to solve the case of his best friend's death, while being haunted by Revenants.

This took me ages to read because it was so emotionally heavy and the plot moved slowly. Like it had some incredibly good prose and relationship dynamics, but I couldn't force myself to read it again.

Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Solar punk story about a (nonbinary!) person who suddenly switches jobs to become a tea monk, then leaves that to visit a hermitage and meets a robot along the way.

This is a short book because the sequel is the second half of the story. £13-17.99 seems too expensive for half a book. It was recommended as a cosy fantasy but the MC is existentially unhappy with their life for most of it, so the story doesn't quite fit in that category.

A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill ❤

Noah, the youngest child of his family, narrates the life of his parents: a bookish mother and a Lovecraft-horror lover father, and the monsters they all encounter

Phenomenal prose, characters, themes, and plot. Lots of psychological trauma and inner demons.

Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah ❤

A family moves into a suburb and a war begins between them and the neighbours after he knocks down their "black lives matter" banner.

Oh boy, it sure escalates to become way out of hand. It has a mystery element to it which I enjoyed trying to figure out. Lots of tension between plot points. The last line! Agh!!

The Fall by Louise Jensen

A girl falls off a bridge and the family/police try to uncover who pushed her, but instead uncover secrets about the family.

There were some parts that didn't make sense to me, and there was a lot of characters to keep track of. Not a bad book but it just didn't have that extra spark.

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Prequel to Legends and Lattes (but can be read on its own) where Viv has recently started adventuring but has to recover from an injury before she can return to her group. She helps out at a bookshop and gets caught up with a necromancer.

Preferred the first book as it felt cosier, but the action in this book is fun too.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

A woman leaves her office job after a breakup to live above her uncle's bookshop and helps out, but she hates books.

Too short for my liking, and the main character was difficult to connect to and the relationships/conversations seemed shallow. the second half of the story centres on the uncle's wife and while it had a valuable lesson it just wasn't as good to read.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Childhood friends meet again in college and design a game together, which changes their lives/careers.

This was not a terrible book, but it did have some strange descriptions, and the author doesn't understand how the game industry works.

The Hike by Lucy Clarke

4 women who have been friends since highschool go to Norway to climb Mount Blajfell, but they are not prepared for the trek

I felt this had some cliches, but a pretty decent suspense novel

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

10 people are invited to Soldier Island for various reasons, only to find they all have one thing in common... murder.

I was theorizing like crazy during this, trying to guess whodunnit. I felt like the reveal was a bit disappointing because how on earth was anyone meant to guess that??

Library books: 9

Given to me: 5

Favourites: 7

If you have any recs for me I'd love to know, just message me!

[tumblunni]

Man, I should get ARMS. I should get a Switch. I knooooow I won’t really play it or even enjoy it but DAMN those characters! It’s just like Overwatch all over again!! Why such good charries and aesthetic and design in genres I don’t enjoy? Hell, this is like a fusion of genres I don’t enjoy, cos it’s like a first person esque fighting game with aiming mechanics, even if you’re shooting your own limbs instead of bullets. Its like OVERSTREETWATCHFIGHTER

But AAAA the great character designs and the great cartoony aesthetic and the great lore from what I’ve seen of it so far?? I LOVE DR COYLE SHE’S SO SCARY BADASS AND ALSO TECHNICALLY A SCIENCE MOM KINDA. I already loved Helix but I like him even more with the unique interactions he gets with her. I’m glad there’s already a slew of fanart of Good Mom Coyle and helix hanging out with the other experiments in a goofy sibling sort of way.

ALSO RANDOMLY: did you know that Helix is the only character that got a change in name between japanese and english? he was just ‘DNA Man’. And I’ve gotta say Helix is a badass name, but I wonder why they bothered changing it when so many other characters are still Something Man and Something Girl?

ANYWAY I just got the soundtrack and I started off with dr coyle’s theme and holy fuck this is some one winged angel shit I LOVE ITTTTTT

Also randomly can I say that I appreciate that Dr Coyle is buff and scary and butch and cool? Kinda a lot of the playable female characters were all about sexyness, and/or girlyness, or have sexy girlyness thrust upon them even if its irrelevant to their character concept. I mean even the relatively neutral concept of a noodle chef woman got “weight: on a diet” as part of her profile, and when the girl with the robot suit got out of her robot suit I was surprised she’s like 18 looking and has a generic body build when I was expecting.. like.. a kid... from how they call her a kid. She’s like an adult that was squished down?? Her head looks so mismatched cos it actually looks young! Everyone has the same body build except when they have more or less boob, and it’s a shame. It just seems weird when the male characters vary so wildly from stick thin to giant hulk things to elastic helix monsters! The hulk equivelant for the girls had to be wearing a mecha suit and then be generic anime body inside! Not that any of those characetrs are bad for being feminine, or that I think the game was problematic about it or anything. It just left me hoping for a charrie like this for the next one that got revealed! And she far exceeded my expectations and really stood out from the entire art style for the ladies so far! (oh and yeah i know the clown lady also breaks the trend, and I was really excited about her at first and thought she looked cool but then everyone made inf/lation fe/tish jokes and it tainted my view of the character. Putting dashes there so tumblr reccommendation doesnt throw pron blogs at me again...)

MAN IM ALREADY GETTING SALTY ABOUT THE FANDOM OF A GAME I DONT PLAY. WTF. but mostly im just HYPE FOR THAT DAMN SONG YOOOO