Forgotten mecha shows?

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
Post Reply
Mafty
Posts: 1131
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

Re: Forgotten mecha shows?

Zeorymer is a great series, it sorta seems like a Proto-EVA (yes I realize the concept existed long before that). They thankfully toned down (most) of the more extreme scenes from the manga. So we’re left with a very dark take on the Super Robot themes(Ie Teenage Heroes, Quirky band of villains with themed Mecha, Nebulous conspiracy, etc) it also has great animation and mech design, It’s too bad there wasn’t a Blu Ray release in North America.

As for Quo Vadis I’m glad finally other people have heard about that. I first read about it on Gears Online and the mech design look awesome, so how is the gameplay?
False Prophet
Posts: 955
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:40 am

Re: Forgotten mecha shows?

Mafty wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:07 pm Zeorymer is a great series, it sorta seems like a Proto-EVA (yes I realize the concept existed long before that). They thankfully toned down (most) of the more extreme scenes from the manga. So we’re left with a very dark take on the Super Robot themes(Ie Teenage Heroes, Quirky band of villains with themed Mecha, Nebulous conspiracy, etc) it also has great animation and mech design, It’s too bad there wasn’t a Blu Ray release in North America.

As for Quo Vadis I’m glad finally other people have heard about that. I first read about it on Gears Online and the mech design look awesome, so how is the gameplay?
I always find the Zeorymer OVA to be quite... uncharismatic. It just doesn't make me care enough about the characters, you know. Maybe the manga will be different.

And yeah, the mechs designs in Quo Vadis do look like they could had come out of Gundam or Macross. And the character designs give me Mikimoto's vibe, though it could be someone trying to emulate him. As for the gameplay, it's a turn-based strategy game, which means I definitely can't play it as I don't know Japanese, but the gameplay footage remind me of the game Infinite Space, which actually has some pretty good anime cutscenes (for the DS). I wonder if the two games have any connection?
Mafty
Posts: 1131
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

Re: Forgotten mecha shows?

Mikimoto was the character designer, while Kazumi Fujita (Zeta Gundam, ZZ) did the mechanical designs.

As for the Zeorymer manga it's fairly intense in content (it was originally a Hentai) that actually had some of its more graphic content toned down in the OVA.
Henyo
Posts: 690
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:24 am
Location: Hidden Tramo Village

Re: Forgotten mecha shows?

here's two titles that recently popped up in my head.

Kuromukuro and D.I.C.E(aka DINOBREAKER)

the former i remember a bit more because it has nice character designs for the females..and for the most part, was well animated. seems like this is one of PA works that peeps forget, along with Glassslip. but Glassslip was so ME i am amazed i still remember it.

D.I.C.E was aired locally. didnt managed to watch an episode or so just a few bits and pieces. anyone managed finish it/watch a lot of episodes? how does it fare?
MOOK: ITS A YURI FANBOY!
Mafty
Posts: 1131
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

Re: Forgotten mecha shows?

Kuromukuro is an interesting series. It has great animation and mech designs, the story on the other hand is kind of variable.
(SPOILERS). For a start there are actually not as many mech battles as other series, and the ones we get are well animated, but slightly less intense than other shows. The cast of characters (both human and alien) are quite interesting and well developed. But I thought the Sentai-esque team of Alien invaders ended up being somewhat underutilized in the end. The story also varied between action set pieces and an exciting story, and more comedic slice of life episodes.
This at times leads to a rather jarring dissonance in the episodes content. In one episode there will be a flashy battle that ends with no casualties on either side, the next several random people will be graphically stabbed with a sword. Also the slice of life content can make the show come of as rather slow at times, which may be a reason for why it ended on a cliffhanger. Which is a shame really because where the show was going seemed quite interesting, plus all in all it wound up a much better mech anniversary show than The Price of Smiles ever was.

For other examples…
Has anyone seen Gigantic Formula? It has a group a nation’s building their own personal Mecha with help from mystical Greek statues, wherein war is largely replaced by a battle between the countries Mecha.

Armor Hunter Mellowlink. One of the few spinoffs of the very expansive universe of Armored Trooper Votoms. It’s an individual story with no real tie to any part of the main series; Where Mellowlink Arity seeks revenge against the government who screwed over his unit, leaving him the only survivor. To this end he battles the corrupt governments personalized mechs, on foot armed only with a railgun. It has a cool story; nice mecha design, and very detailed 80’s animation. While Votoms is obviously quite well know(It’s one of the few 80s real robot shows to have several decades of sequels aside from Gundam and Macross) this story being only loosely connected seems to make it more obscure.

Heavy Object.Written by Kazuma Kamachi (of Index/Railgun/Accelerator fame), it's the only Mecha story he's ever written(and he's written a LOT). The story concerns a world heavily divided into four different warring factions(The traditionalist Legitimacy Kingdom, The uh capitalist themed Capitalist Enterprise, The Intelligence Alliance who operate primarily with technology, and the religious based Faith Organization). The factions are so divided that every country has multiple territories covered by all four groups. To prevent war from completely ravaging the world, the titular Objects are introduced. Basically each organization fights with these behemoth mechs in order to have a slightly less devastating outcome to the global war.

The story itself concerns three people; one is the female pilot of the Baby Magnum Heavy Object, the others are her two male subordinates whom end up fighting objects on foot. Like Railgun the story mixes serious plotlines with comedy and a crazy amount of fanservice. The story is interesting and entertaining as are the battle scenes (though this has a notably lower budget than Kamachi's other franchise work). But it never got any sequels and seems to be almost as obscure as Kamachi's other works after it ended.
Post Reply