Mecha fans, hold onto your ejector seat. It has been parsecs since we heard anything from the mecha anime genre. Fortunately, two real robot news items dropped recently, so rev those thrusters. We won’t be left floating in space after all.
First, the original Robotech episodes are now on Crunchyroll. Meanwhile, the Gundam franchise announced a new tradeable card game (TCG) that’s as shiny as your four-door family car on wash day.
Reliving the Retro Mecha Anime Rage
Toys litter my desk. None of these plastic dust collectors are new or innovative. Most of them date back to my childhood. Kenner Star Wars action figures, some Applause Gummi Bears, and a shelf full of Monster in My Pocket. No, not Pokémon. It seems like I’ve spent the last twenty years collecting artifacts from my first twenty years. Or I’m simply a hopeless hoarder.
life, (noun): the eternal quest to relive our youth.
You’re born, watch some mind-altering mecha anime, and spend the rest of your life recapturing those animated moments. Let’s not criticize a healthy obsession with retro revival. Rewatching Robotech on Crunchyroll is a history lesson about a unique anime collaboration kid-me could never hope to comprehend. Did you know Robotech features mild fan service? Bums!
All I could remember were the transforming starfighters. How could I forget them!? The VF-1 Valkyrie was magical. It was worth an interabang. Watching a Valkyrie transform from an F-14-like fighter plane into a robot warrior ignited my boyhood imagination. Thank you, Crunchyroll, for bringing those moments back.
Retiring or Revitalizing the Mecha Anime Genre
But it’s hard to ignore the battle cruiser in the room. The real robot anime genre — which includes mecha and the Gundam franchise — isn’t as popular as it once was. This particular anime genre isn’t dead yet, but motivated production studios should do something new with the rusty battle bots. For all the great things the anime industry has on offer, it can be mind-numbingly uncreative. Do we need more isekai? No. The deluge of isekai shows will eventually leave the genre raped of potential, much like mecha.
Of course, there’s always hope. A new Gundam TCG proves there’s a market for products besides gunpla and weak computer-generated imagery (CGI) Netflix Gundam shows. Let’s take a peek. Put on those shades because this’ll be shiny:
Gundam Card Game: The Important Details
Everything you need to know about the new Gundam TCG includes:
- You can learn to play the game on the official website. Blast your opponent’s Shield Area defenses to get your damage through to your opponent.
- The beta is a limited release, restricted to the US and Japan. Lucky bastards.
- The first Gundam Card Game events begin on the 7th of December, and there’s an app to register.
- Bandai Namco produces the game in Japan.
Dear Anime, You’re Only as Old as Your Fanbase
The West has proven the ability of the mature market to fork out dollars for franchises like Stranger Things, Lego, Transformers, and He-Man. He-Man has a movie in the works (sorry if this information causes your Dolf Lundgren PTSD to flare up). My friends and I (all in our early forties) are dropping money on Dungeons & Dragons Lego minifigs as if we were school kids burning our parents’ money again. Forties! I expected to spend my money on old-man hobbies like fishing and midlife-crises cars.
The mecha anime genre hasn’t retired. Yet. It’ll live on as long as fans like us are still collecting Gundam kits, burning money on new real robot TCGs, or talking about fighting robots in anime.
As Rafiki famously said (not really) in The Lion King (1994): “You see? The mecha anime lives inside you.”
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I never gave Gurren Lagann enough time, but it’s on my list. What other mecha anime do you recommend to friends? Would you put your hard-earned dollars down for hard-hitting mecha anime with Dandadan and FLCL vibes? Tell us in the comments or on social media.
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