Welcome to the Mecha Mecca!!

GEEKED OUT INTRODUCTION TO MECHA MECCA: WHY THIS EXISTS.

So, chances are, if you just so happen to stumble across this blog, you're already here for the right reasons. If, by some reason-defying chance, you landed here by dumb luck, well, here is the reason this site exists:

While this blog is about my love of Mechas, this SITES main purpose is to be your headquarters for Mecha, and will feature links to streams of English Subbed and Dubbed series including:

GUNDAM ORIGINS

GUNDAM UNICORN

IRON BLOODED ORPHANS

KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA

GUILTY CROWN

ALDOAH.ZERO

BUILD FIGHTERS and many more.

I'm going to be focusing mostly on newer Mechas, and ones that specifically deserve to have a wide audience here in America.

I will also be posting NEWS about release dates, especially from within the Gundam Franchise, as there is A LOT happening in the next few months from both Origins, IBO, and with the release of new Gunpla.

MY BACKSTORY AND LOVE AFFAIR WITH MECHA

I've loved Anime from the time I first set eyes on the classics here in America: Dragonball Z, Hikaru-no-go, Tenchi Muyo and basically all of the first-run Shonen Jump stuff like Shaman King, One Piece, ect.

However, it wasn't until I saw Gundam Wing that I realized just how different Anime really was from American cartoons. Wing was truly revolutionary for us kids growing up in America. It had political sophistication and complex story arc's that far surpassed most of what was being aired on Live-Action TV. As a kid, barely even a preteen, I probably didn't have a firm grasp on exactly what was going on during its first airing on Cartoon Network, but I knew for sure that I wanted more of that level of maturity.

So, with the relatively new advent of P2P software, I was able to explore this whole other world of Anime- I started with AKIRA, and then worked outwards to films like Ghost in The Shell, and then to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Basically, I followed the path of the darkest, most adult oriented Anime that I could find because I liked being treated as an adult. I admired the artwork and the worlds that these anime managed to paint, but more so, I respected the writers for believing in us enough to allow us to use our own burgeoning intellect to put the pieces together, and in some cases, analyze the philosophy behind the Anime itself.

Long story long, I quit watching anime all together around the time I was graduating High School. I felt that the format of a lot of anime had become trite and overly commercialized, I hated the intro songs to practically every series, and I felt that I had become to cynical to ever suspend my disbelief and enjoy worlds of fantasy anymore. In a way, I think my depression at the time just made watching such adventurous, vulnerable pieces of animation impossible.

Only recently have I gotten back into Anime, and somehow, its been centered around almost all Mecha. I wasn't sure exactly what it was about the Genre in general that attracted my attention over other genres, its definitely not the battles, though. I'm not the "Omg, did you see that Zaku just annihilate that Gun Cannon the other night?" kinda guy. But, the more I thought about it, the more I looked back to my fascination with Wing, and I realize- Mecha is a serious genre. It's about war, its about war's repercussions, its about the shifting nature of morality and what it really means to be "good" or "evil", which, in Mecha, sort of don't really exist. THATS what makes Mecha anime so interesting, it complicates things, it questions what a hero is, and it almost always has moral dilemmas at the core of its story.

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF MECHA

These past few years have been a treasure trove of great Mecha. We have what was heralded as the true return of Gundam, Gundam Unicorn, which ended up being so much more than just a simple rehash of old ideas. Unicorn is the embodyment of great anime, and it shines with pride in both its story and its beautiful execution. It is truly one of this decades greatest Anime's, and it closes the door, finally, to a story that has been hanging in mid air for decades.

Not only did we get Gundam Unicorn, with its final OVA being the most epic sendoffs that an Anime has ever received, but we also got the other end of the same Timeline, the ORIGIN of Gundam itself. Gundam Origin was first released over the course of a few years, and then it was released as a collection of 12 hardcover manga that span over 500 pages each. The Anime, so far, has been released in 3 films, which focus on the beginnings of the war of independence for the space colonies, and climaxes with the beginnings of the mass production of Mobile Armour- what would soon be combat driven Mobile Suits, or Gundams. This 3 film arc is really inspiring because it centers around Char Aznable, the infamous "villain" of the original Gundam series, but one with such a complicated backstory that it was never properly fleshed out in either Gundam or Zeta Gundam. In fact, they even released the film Chars Counterattack, but, within each of those three sagas featuring Char, there was always unanswered questions. Why did he decide, really, to ally with the Earth Forces during Zeta when he was a stanch opponent during Gundam? And then why did he revert, again, to fight for Zeon in Chars Counterattack? Well, Origin explains both the historical AND psychological background to most of the questions that plagued the original series, and sheds light on the most mysterious character of the franchise. It also finally truly explains the space colonies formation, and why Chars' revenge on the Zabi family was so worth everything Char went through. Its a breath taking arc that is about to culminate to its end in the 4th Gundam Origins film, which should be released November 2016.

Then, there is Iron Blooded Orphans, which for a standalone Gundam series, really deserves a lot of credit. Sure, its not nearly as nuanced and savvy as Unicorn or Origins, but its a pretty spectacular Mecha none the less. In fact, it needn't be called Gundam at all and it would still be a Mecha favorite for its battle sequences, its characters and their sense of camaraderie, and, most notoriously, for its reputation of killing off all of its characters without so much as batting an eye. The visuals are exceptional as well, and the Mechs themselves are interesting and a change of pace, as they clip in through a direct-to-body system that can really only be piloted by these "iron blooded orphans", kids with nothing to lose, kids who've witnessed nothing but pain and sorrow their entire lives.

Thanks to Netflix, we also received the AMAZING "KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA". A post-apocalyptic space-punk Mecha that takes place in a colony vessel that houses what may be the last remains of man-cough-kind. What I mean by that is, gender has begun to lose its meaning, and peoples gender is only determined once they find a suitable match, or in plain terms, when they fall in love. But, that is just one quirky detail in an Anime that is filled with originality. The plot is sort of reminiscent of Evangelion, as their enemies are these aliens that can take various forms, but, once they become offensive, they open up like squid, with tentacles that reach far into the depths of space, and often, crush the Mechs on this show like they were made of paper. As in all Mechs, our protagonist is the one hope for Sidonia, and without giving too much away, this hope derives from his lineage, and his past makes mores sense than is usually necessary in mecha when explaining his unmatched ability to pilot Sidonias defensive mobile suits. The graphics of this show are stellar, despite what many reviewers may tell you. The CGI integration in this show literally MAKES the show, without it the world wouldn't be as grand, the Mechs wouldn't be as large, and the battles would be as epic and easy to follow. Sometimes people in the Anime world are really close-minded when it comes to CGI, and this show is no exception. From the reviews, I thought it would take me a few episodes to become comfortable with the animations, but instead, I found myself fascinated with how they worked in such realistic physics, and how great of a job they did creating an immersive world that I wouldn't leave until the end of its 2 season run.

Thanks to Knights of Sidonia, I was able to go back and find even more related Mecha of the past decade, and thankfully I found GUILTY CROWN. This is my new favorite Mecha, and I'm so glad I gave it a chance, considering that some of its writers were also from my least favorite anime of all time- Code Geass. Where Code Geass came off as smug-for-no-reason, pretentious, convoluted, and asinine in both its overarching story as well as in the Mecha Battles (playing chess, and stating that you should always "move the king first so that the pawns have someone to follow", then using said strategy in battle, ugh.) Guilty Crown finds a happy medium, where a Mecha can be both highly politicized (terrorists band together to stop an evil government shadow company from killing civilians infected with a cancerous infection) and light-hearted (theres some love stories here that aren't as cheesy as most love stories in anime are; theres a lot of coming of age themes, including the will to take back ones self-confidence, and how truly hard it can be to love yourself). Although this one is a bit older than the other shows I'm speaking on, it has held up very well, and it really isn't too far off from the animations and graphics of IRON BLOODED ORPHANS. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that Guilty Crown actually has a classier illustrative style than IBO, which does that sort of super wide eyed anime character that was more relevant in the 90's than it is now. Guilty Crown doesn't get the recognition it really deserves, and I think that it will maintain and grow a cult status as the years go on, especially in the conspiracy theory world revolving around FEMA and global disease outbreak programs, lol.

I'm super stoked for IBO and Origins to continue their stories, and continue to bring in even more fans into this awesome genre, and hopefully that starts a spark for someone to make the next great series, because, lets face it, for every good Mecha there is at least 10 terrible ones being released around the same time. Trite, recycled, boring shells of the shows they imitate. Also, fuck Code Geass.

MAIN GOALS OF THIS BLOG

This blog is going to be mainly focusing on breaking news in the Mecha/Anime world, whether that be release dates of current seasons, premiers of future series, or news from within my favorite mecha series.

I do have the guilty pleasure of building gunpla, as well as other Mecha model kits, so occasionally there will be a build or two, or even news of Gunpla releases as we get word of their presumptive dates.

Stream links are provided from third party Dub and Sub websites, but they will all be a click away under the series section above the blog. Each series has a circular photo that you push and voila, you are ready to watch. No catches, just providing links in one place, which I hope to become your HD for mecha news and streaming links.

#Gundam #Mecha #IronBloodedOrphans #GundamOrigins #GuiltyCrown #KnightsofSidonia #Anime #Gunpla