A Brief History Of Mecha

[TezukaSensei 1]

  Mecha is a genre of anime that is as old as the art form itself. As Mechabay moves onward and outward beyond Gundam, it is important to have a clear picture of the history of the genre itself.  This can be difficult because so much of the library of mecha anime remains unlicensed in the western world.  Thanks to the diligent work of fansub groups and, much more recently,  western anime distributors digging deep into the genre's backlog, we are finally getting to enjoy the titles we have missed out on for so long. We've come a long way, but there is still a lot of work left to do.

  In an effort to help guide Mechabay towards adding more titles to its databases, as well as giving the mechabay community a guidline to work from, this thread will be a series of posts from myself chronicling the long history of mecha.  Because there is so much to cover, I will not be able to spend a lot of time on any specific title or cover each and every title in existence.  For reference, I already have a complete chronological list of every mecha anime title ever made, organized by year of release, which you can find here: https://mechaanime.fandom.com/wiki/The_Megalist  

Lastly, I can't promise how often I will be able to add posts to this thread, but hopefully I will get it finished sooner rather than later.

 

The 1960s_________________________________

  To discuss the origins of mecha, we first must discuss the origins of anime. All of this goes back to one artist: Osamu Tezuka.  Tezuka was known as "the god of manga", one of the most prolific manga artists of his time.  In the early days of Japanese animation, Japan primarily distributed existing animation from other countries.  This lead Tezuka to become a big fan of another legendary artist, this time from the west: Walt Disney.  When the powers that be in Japanese entertainment decided they wanted to start producing their own animation, it was Osamu Tezuka they turned to.  Even before he started working on anime, his influences were made clear in a manga he wrote in the 1940s called Metropolis.  The manga features a species of giant rats that Tezuka calls, "Mikimaus waltdisneus" which bear a striking resemblance to a certain famous cartoon mouse.

  Tezuka's love of Disney's work inspired him to start the common trait of large eyes associated with anime.  In 1963, Tezuka's first anime series,THE first anime series, Tetsuwan Atom, (known as Astro Boy in the west), begain airing on Japanese television.  This would also be the very first anime series to be brought to the west. In terms of mecha, that began with Astro Boy as well.  While Astro Boy was primarily about sentient robots and not so much the big piloted kind, there was one particular story of significance:  The Snow Leopard.  In this story Astro combines with a large group of other robots to form a giant robot to battle the story's antagonist.  Tezuka created this story in the original manga, and adapted it into the anime series in the 1960s.

      

  The one other noteworthy anime from the 1960s was Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin #28, known in the west as Gigantor.  This series also made its way to the west.  While Tezuka first pioneered these basic concepts, Tetsujin #28 would mark the first full fledged giant robot mecha series.  However, the title robot Tetsujin was not piloted from within like most of the mecha that would come after it.  Instead, the hero operated Tetsujin via remote control. 

There's not many titles to talk about since mecha, and the anime art form were in their infancy.  However, things would start to pickup in the 1970s....

 

1960s Reference Material:

(Note: official youtube channel of the American distributor for 1960s Astro Boy)

Mitsuteru Yokoyama

1934 - 2004

Osamu Tezuka

1928 - 1981

[TezukaSensei 1]

The 1970s                                                 

  The 1970s is the period when anime really exploded, mecha included.  At this point it's time to briefly mention an elephant in the room.  Throughout the 1970s Korean animation started becoming prevalent.  The problem is for a long time Korean animation mostly consisted of knockoffs of Japanese anime titles.  This happened because Japanese animation was banned in Korea, and Korea also didn't acknowledge Japanese copyright.  In light of this environment, Korean animators produced these knockoffs to meet their country's demand.  Korean animation would not start producing original content for well over 20 years, (towards the end of the 1990s.)  This thread will not be covering any of these knockoff titles.

  In the early days of the 1960s, anime on television was in black and white, but in 1972 the first mecha series produced in colour hit the Japanese airwaves: Astroganger.

 

Astroganger still didn't have the pilot in the robot, in fact this robot was sentient.  Unfortunately this series still remains largely untranslated and unlicensed in the west to this day.

  Also in 1972, legendary mecha artist Go Nagai debuted his first mecha anime: Mazinger Z.  Go Nagai would make many contributions to the mecha genre, starting with Mazinger Z, which debuted the concept of the pilot controlling the robot from within.  This was accomplished by the protagonist piloting an aircraft that could dock on top of Mazinger's head, resulting in the pilot being in the head.  Mazinger Z was first released in the west english dubbed as Tranzor Z.  Since then it has been fully licensed and released in the west under its original title in subtitled form as well. Mazinger Z was also the first real mecha franchise spawning many sequel series, remakes, and ovas over the years.

  

  In 1973, iconic mecha animation studio Sunrise would release its very first mecha series: Zero Tester  Behind the scenes Zero Tester featured many crew members that would go on to produce Gundam, but we'll talk more about that later.  Unfortunately, Zero Tester remains untranslated and unlicensed in the west.  Also in 1973, another big franchise debuted, from the creator of Tetsujin 28: Babel II   Like Tetsujin, Babel II kept the hero outside of the robot.  Unfortunately, the original 1973 Babel II series remains largely untranslated and unlicensed in the west.  However, of the subsequent titles in the Babel II franchise have been licensed and released in the west.

  In 1974, Go Nagai debuted another iconic franchise: Getter Robo.  While we can trace the concept of combining robots back to the Astro Boy story the Snow Leopard, it was Getter Robo that truly brought the concept into the main stream. This was the first time a series centred on this concept, with three transforming robots that could combine to form one larger one.  Although subsequent titles in the Getter Robo franchise have been licensed in the west, the original series has not.  Fortunately, it has been fully english fansubbed.

  In 1975, the mecha genre was brought a little more realism in design with the debut of future Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino's very first mecha series Brave Raideen, (still unlicensed in the west; fansubbing is now in progress), though the genre still hadn't fully shed it's 1960s scifi asthetic.  Raideen has never been licensed for a western release.  It is currently in the process of being fansubbed.  Also in 1975, legendary anime studio Tatsunoku debuted on of their earliest mecha franchises in Time Bokan.  Time Bokan was primarily a comedy series.  A handful of episodes were english dubbed for the west long ago, but the bulk of the series remains unlicensed and untranslated.

  In 1976, Daikuu Maryuu Gaiking debuted, introducing the concepts of having a mobile carrier for the piloted robots, as well as featuring real world locations outside Japan.  The same year Gowapper 5 Godam, the first mecha series with a female lead character was released, (unlicensed and untranslated), and another key mecha franchise, known as the Super Robot Romance Trilogy began with the first entry: Super Electromagnetic Robo Combattler V.  (The other two that would also air by the end of the 1970s were Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V and Fighting King Daimos. )  It was this trilogy that brought a significant paradigm shift to the mecha genre, bringing it from formulaic monster of the week/toy advertising shows to more genuine fleshed out narratives with much more realistic mecha designs.  This trilogy has been fully fansubbed, and very recently it has finally been licensed to be released in the west in the near future.

  In 1977, Yoshiyuki Tomino impacted the mecha genre once again with Invincible Super Man Zanbot 3.  This series sought to cover very heavy topics from within the mecha genre that few truly explored at this point such as the reason for child pilots, and the real effects of collateral damage from giant robot fights.  Tomino pulled no punches with Zambot 3.  Its protagonists were not admired, but hated from the very beginning of the series by those they would be sworn to protect. This was the darkest mecha title up to this point, with no happy fairy tale ending.  It was Zambot 3 that earned Tomino the nickname, "Kill 'Em All Tomino", which would be carried on and affirmed in his work with Gundam.  Zambot 3 has never been licensed for the west, but is fully fansubbed.

  That same year, an oddity in the mecha genre, Kyouryuu Daisensou Aizenborg, was released.  This series had the distinction of combining live action tokusatsu footage with anime.  Tokusatsu is a live action genre of Japanese TV aimed at children featuring giant robots and monsters very similar to Godzilla.  Aizenborg has never been licensed for release in the west, but is fully fansubbed.

  At this point, we need to briefly cover an odd occurrence in the world of Tokusatsu that, (believe it or not), sent ripples throughout the entire mecha genre--both anime and live action.  Super Sentai, known by its western adaptation Power Rangers began its life in 1975.  Unlike its more modern entries that became Power Rangers, there were no robots, (Zords), in the early seasons.  In 1978 Japan premiered their very own Spider-Man tokusatsu series--yes, that Spider-Man.  In this Japanese series, they decided to have Spider-Man pilot a giant robot--for the entire series.  This strange marriage of Marvel comics and mecha actually became a hit, and from that point forward piloting giant robots would become a staple of tokusatsu and super sentai.  Over the years properties would frequently cross over between these worlds, with tokusatsu shows being adapted into anime, and anime being adapted into tokusatsu,.  This phenomenon is almost exclusive to the mecha genre.

  In 1978, Uchuu Majin Daikengou introduced the mechanic of a (retractable) face plate on the giant robot. Daikengou could open it to reveal fangs and spit fire.  Future Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino released his next project: Muteki Koujin Daitarn 3, although it was not the success that Zanbot 3 was.  Daikengou and Daitarn 3 have never been licensed for release in the west, but are both fully fansubbed.

  In 1979, Yoshiyuki Tomino released the first series in the long franchise he is best known for: the original Mobile Suit Gundam.  There are already plenty of resources on this site to learn more about Gundam, so we won't go into a lot of detail here.  However, there is one important thing to note about its beginnings: the original series was not a success.  It was actually cancelled, and its producers were forced to conclude the series early.  It wasn't until a culmination of Bandai's Gundam model kits, reruns, and the 1980s movie trilogy adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam that the franchise gained it's popularity and embarked on becoming the juggernaut it is today.

  By the end of the 1970s production of anime was in full force and the ground work for the mecha genre was complete.  As we approached the 1980s, mecha was about to enter a golden age with new technologies leading to an explosion of content....

The other Mecha titles of the 1970s:

Blocker Gundan IV Machine Blaster

Groizer X

Magne Robo Ga-Keen

UFO Warrior Dai Apolon

Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo

Planetary Robo Danguard Ace

Superhuman Combat Team Baratack

Ultra-Transforming Magic Robot Ginguiser

Future Robo Daltanias

Toushi Gordian

 

1970s Resource Material:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TezukaSensei 1]

The 1980s (Part I)                                              

(Quick Note:  Sorry for my long absence.  I have had some medical issues over the past year, nothing super serious, but I'm finally close to being recovered.  This note will be deleted from this post on a later date.)

  Before we dive into 1980s mecha, at this point in our timeline we need briefly a few developments with anime that occurred in this decade:

  The first and most important is the beginning and, (almost immediate), explosion of the home video market.  This scene was and is a bit more complex in Japan where many more formats saw popularity than in the west.  This was really a two phase development, the 1980s brought the birth of home video with laserdisc and video casette formats.  While these technologies were invented in the late 1970s, it was in the 1980s that they entered the mainstream and created an entire new section of the market for anime.  There were also multiple different types of laserdiscs and video cassettes.  The second phase was the mainstream introduction of the Compact Disc, (an evolution of laserdisc technology), and in Japan this resulted in the use of the VCD, (Video CD), format which never saw much use in the western world outside of the obscure CDi system.  We'll come back to that phase when we finally get to the 1990s.
  The second development was a direct result of the aforementioned beginning of the home video market.  Because of this there was a literal explosion of anime content in the 1980s, in part because what may never have seen the light of day before now found new life in the home video market if the TV broadcast market first passed on it. This was the birth of a new type of content called OVA or OAV, (Original Video Animation.)  In addition to this, the rising popularity of robots in the toy market, (a phenomenon that began in the 1970s), reached critical mass and resulted in an explosion of mecha anime content.  This was also compounded by Nintendo bringing a rebirth of the video game industry and at the same time cementing Japan's gobal presence in that industry.   Because of this, to say there are way too many mecha titles to talk about in a single post would be an understatement.  This flood of mecha continued through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, so the next 30 years of mecha are going to take a little while to dive through!

!980 was the calm before the storm, but the high caliber titles that debuted that year set the stage for what was in store for 1980s mecha.  Iconic franchises Astro Boy, Tetsujin 28, and Time Bokan all had new series debut in 1980, as well as a new Cyborg 009 movie, and the first Doraemon movie. The 1980 Tetsujin and Astro Boy series, as well as the Cyborg 009 film, would all eventually be fully english dubbed for the west.  The Time Bokan series, Otasukeman, like most other Time Bokan titles, remains untranslated to this day.  The first Doraemon film, Nobita's Dinosaur was recently fansubbed.  Also in 1980 Takashi Ijima and Katsuhiko Taguchi, two important animators from the Super Robot Romance Trilogy, debuted another highly successful mecha title: Space Emperor God Sigma. This would be Ijima's final project with Toei.  Despite its success in Japan, God Sigma remains untranslated into english.  Also in 1980, two more iconic franchise made their debut: Space Runaway Ideon, from Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, and Space Warrior Baldios.  Ideon was actually Tomino's very next project immediately following the cancellation of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.  It featured a number of Gundam cameos & easter eggs, and played a significant role in inspiring a mecha classic from the 1990s: Evangelion. Like Gundam before it, Ideon was cancelled a few episodes short of its intended run, but it did spawn two movies to appease fans' disproval of its TV conclusion.  (These events would repeat themselves at the conclusion of Evangelion nearly 15 years later.)  30 years later, the Ideon collection finally got a western release, english subtitled only.

 

  In 1981, the first seeds of a phenomenon 1980s anime was kown for were planted.  It was a common practice in the 1980s for Western companies licensing anime to repurpose anime under a new english title, and for shorter anime titles, splice them together to create titles with a more syndication friendly episode count.  The first two titles to be repurposed in this fashion were Beast King GoLion, (which became Voltron), and Demon God of the War-Torn Land GoShogun, (which was spliced into the series Macron 1 in english.)  GoLion became Voltron accidentally: American licensor World Events actually wanted a different lion themed giant robot show, but in a cross-language mixup, they were sent GoLion instead.  The producers liked GoLion, so went ahead and used it.  Two other Voltron "seasons" were planned, but when "vehicle Voltron", (originally 1982's Armored Fleet Dairugger XV) did not fare well in the ratings, the 3rd season was scrapped in favour of commissioning Toei to produce more english exclusive GoLion content.
  Also in 1981 the J9 Series mecha trilogy began with Galaxy Cyclone Braiger.  Each series in the trilogy featured a team of pilots called J9, not unlike tokusetsu/sentai series. While Braiger has been fully english fansubbed, the other two titles in the J9 Trilogy are still in the process of being fansubbed.  The award winning Six God Combination Godmars also debuted in 1981, a franchise over which a lawsuit was filed against the short-lived 1980s title Mighty Orbots, (animated by a Japanese studio for western audiences), over the striking similarity between the Orbots combined form and the Godmars mecha.  As a result Orbots became lost to obscurity.

Other notable mecha titles in 1981 include Fang of the Sun Dougram (created by Ryōsuke Takahashi who would create another iconic mecha franchise just 2 years later), Robot King Daioja (a mecha remake of an older samurai series), and Tatsunoku's Gold Lightan which has only recent been fully subbed into english.

  In 1982, while the film trilogy adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam was beginning to increase popularity in that franchise, it's creator Tomino released another non-Gundam series: Combat Mecha Xabungle, a series that also served as insperation for modern mecha classic Gurren Lagann.  Xabungle has recently been released with english subtitles. 1982 also marked the beginning of two franchises, (technically three), in one show with Super Dimensional Fortress: Macross.  American distributor brought Macross to the west with limited modification as the first third of their series Robotech.  Macross actually has a bit of a complicated history.  In Japan, it was the first of a trilogy of "Super Dimensional Fortress" mecha titles.  At the same time, Macross became its own franchise as well, with several more Macross titles over the years.  In west, things are even more complicated.  Harmony Gold, (the company behind Robotech), locked up the western rights to all things Macross---a contract that is only set to expire within the next few years.  However, only one other Macross title, (outside a direct sequel movie), has ever been released in the west. The original Macross series itself has been english dubbed both as the first third of Robotech, and in its original unedited Macross form.  As for Robotech, while the second third borrows from the SDF trilogy once again, (SDF Southern Cross), the final third did NOT utilize the last trilogy title (SD Century Orguss), but instead used a completely unrelated title: Genesis Climber Mospeada. All of these Robotech/Macross/SDF titles have been released in english, (subbed at a minimun.)

  The same year saw the release of Rainbowman, an adaptation of a Tokusatsu series (as yet untranslated into english), the Indiana Jones inspired Achrobunch (recently fully english fansubbed), and Thunderbirds 2086, which was released in the UK as part of the classic marionette tv series. (2086 is not cannon in the official Thunderbirds franchise, and is only loosely inspired by it in Japan.)

  1983 was a big year for mecha, the genre brought forth the very first OVA (Original Video Animation, aka direct to video) anime title: Dallos. It consisted of 4 episodes released directly on home video over the course of 3 years, and was directed by first time director Mamoru Oshii, who would go on to create the iconic anime franchise Ghost In The Shell.  Another iconic mecha franchise debuted in 1983 with Armoured Trooper Votoms, (from Dougram creator Ryōsuke Takahashi.)  While Votoms would only have this one full series, it spawned numerous OVA sequels over the years.  Votoms is also one of the biggest franchises largely unknown to the western world until the fansubbing community eventually made it accessable to the english speaking masses.  Similar to its creator's previous work, Dougram, Votoms aimed for a more realistic and perhaps more scientifically sound approach to mecha; falling into a similar category to the more well known franchise, Gundam.  The same year mecha also spread into another subgenre with Aura Battler Dunbine, the first fantasy (magical) style mecha series, yet another key work by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino. This wasn't the only Tomino series in 1983, he also created Galactic Drifter Vifam, which featured one of the earliest examples of an anime series using an opening theme song sung in english.  Mecha anime legend Go Nagai returned with yet another classic mecha series in Psycho Armor Govarion.  Toy based series Special Armored Battalion Dorvack premiered, but the toyline failed and resulted in the company that produced them going out of business. However, two of the figures would later be repurposed as Transformers characters Roadbuster and Whirl.

As far as pre-existing franchises: Genesis Climber Mospeada, (used for part 3 of Robotech), debuted; Mission Outer Space Srungle, (spliced into Macron 1 in the west), debuted; the second SDF series Orguss, (unrelated to Robotech), premiered, the J9 trilogy concluded with Galactic Whirlwind Sasuraiger, (as yet untranslated into english), and Lightspeed ElectroGod Albegas was released, which was the planned-but-scrapped 3rd version of Voltron, consequently Albegas has not been translated into english to this day.

To Be Continued.....in 1980s Mecha Part 2!

Edited May 18, 2020 by TezukaSensei