Ask John: What Was the Past Decade’s Landmark Mecha Anime?

Question:
I am a big fan of mecha anime and have a huge respect for shows that pioneer and evolve the genre. Mazinger Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, and the Evangelion TV series defined the mecha animes of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, respectively. However, I couldn’t think of a mecha anime that was anything revolutionary in the past decade. In fact, most of the mecha anime I’ve seen from 2000 to 2009 were either remakes of past mecha anime like Gaiking or homage of the same like Gurren Lagann. Was there a mecha anime I did not notice that redefined the genre in the last decade or there really wasn’t one?

Answer:
I don’t want to predict that the evolution of mecha anime has reached its pinnacle. I’m certain that Japan still has countless tremendously imaginative and capableartists eager to inject revolutionary new ideas into the mecha anime genre. However, reflection reveals that the first decade of the 2000s really didn’t provide a singularly influential conventional giant robot anime. Shows including Godannar, Ordian, Tri-Zenon, Gigantic Formula, and Dendoh drew heavy inspiration from vintage robot anime. Argent Soma, Soukou no Fafner, and Rahxephon drew a lot of inspiration from Evangelion. Series including Shin Mazinger, GR -Giant Robo-, Reideen, G-Dangaioh, Kotetsushin Jeeg, and Dancougar Nova were literal remakes of earlier shows. 2001’s Mazinkaiser may be somewhat credited with the bombastic excess that would later characterize Shin Mazinger and Gurren Lagann, but Mazinkaiser could hardly be called revolutionary. Macross F and Code Geass certainly proved among the decade’s most popular mecha anime, but again, neither was especially groundbreaking. 2003’s The Big O and Gadguard featured strikingly unconventional styles, but neither show proved influential. 2009’s Basquash! wasn’t the first sports mecha anime, but is was dynamic and usual. Yet it also didn’t prove very influential. The singular mecha anime of the decade that did usher in a new trend is one widely overlooked because the trend itself hasn’t been widely recognized.

The past decade has been dominantly a decade of otaku and bishoujo anime. Attractive female characters have dominated recent anime, which has led observers to overlook hybrids of the bishoujo and mecha genres. Girls have been featured in mecha anime since the 1970s and shows like Cutie Honey and Gowapper 5 Godam. However, 2000’s Vandread must be acknowledged as possibly the most influential mecha anime of the 2000’s first decade because it’s Vandread that opened the door to the past decade’s abundance of bishoujo mecha anime. Certainly earlier anime, noteably Gall Force, depicted an all-female crew on a space battle adventure, but note that during the 1980s and 90s, female characters in mecha anime were typically supporting characters. While Vandread wasn’t the first anime to star girls in a mecha show, it opened the door to a decade unusually packed with mecha and robot anime starring girls. Following Vandread came Galaxy Angel & Gene Shaft in 2001, Hoshi no Koe and Saishu Heiki Kanojo in 2002, Uchu no Stellvia and Divergence Eve in 2003, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha in 2004, Starship Operators, Jinki: Extend, and Sentou Yousei Shoujo Tasukete! Mave-chan in 2005, Souko no Strain and Toki wo Kakeru Shojo in 2006, Idol Master Xenoglossia, Skygirls, and Getsumen Toheiki Mina in 2007, and Kemeko Deluxe and Strike Witches in 2008. No other decade has ever had so many anime starring female mecha pilots or girls that prominently use technology and weapons usually associated with the mecha genre.

In a more minor yet still intriguing development, the decade also gave mecha a female personification like never before. Female cyborgs like Cutie Honey and Miracle Shojo Limit-chan date back to 1973. Giant robots including Diana A, Aphrodite A, and Noble Gundam have had a female appearance. The Evangelion Unit-01 can be called female. But Zone of the Enders gave viewers a female giant robot with a female personality. Sentou Yousei Shoujo Tasukete! Mave-chan personified mecha as humanoid girls. 1999’s D4 Princess, along with the more recent Getsumen Toheiki Mina and Strike Witches, created hybrids of human girls and mecha unlike earlier anime such as Appleseed and Bubblegum Crisis in which girls sat inside battle armor suits.

Evidently, during the first decade of the 2000s, much of mecha anime adopted a feminine component that’s been prominent yet widely gone unrecognized. While this new trend, like the mecha trends before it, owes some debt to what’s come before, it’s also a new, contemporary trend that hasn’t existed with such defined characteristics in the past. The revolutionary and groundbreaking mecha anime of past decades have been immediately evident because the trends they’ve launched have been immediately recognized. In the just ended decade, Vandread seems to be the first, if not the progenitor, of the mecha trend that’s largely dominated the decade’s mecha anime. But because the trend itself hasn’t been widely recognized and discussed, its progenitor hasn’t been widely acknowledged.