Mecha : A History of Robots

"Mecha" is a term designating a science fiction universe in which characters using or being robotic armor are staged. By abuse of language, Mecha will remain the term for designer said armor. For almost 70 years, these robots have popular popular culture and it is sometimes complicated to find your way among the multitude of movements and developments. Fortunately, the small guide below should allow you to see a little more clearly.

My mecha he tells me about adventures

We can date the first appearance of the Mécha genre in 1952 and the creation of Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. If the subject interests you, we have already devoted a long article to this little robot.

It was not until 1956 and Tetsujin 28-Gō to see a giant robot appear, a robot piloted by a young boy, Shotaro Kaneda, who will use it to fight crime.

The following revolution will arrive in 1972 with Mazinger Z who had the ingenious idea of ​​offering a giant robot piloted from the inside. Therefore, the personalization of the robot is obvious since it is in symbiosis with its pilot, a pilot who is directly in the action and taking the spectator with him.

During the 70’s several series will continue this idea whether it is Grat Mazinger or better known to us, Goldorak.

This “super robots” or “robotto anima” movement will be retrospectively calling and there will be several common features as an obsession for science and technology or heroes presenting the values ​​of the country.

Zola and robots

In 1979, thunderclap with the mobile outlet follows Gundam. Yoshiyuki Tumino stages a war between earthlings and space settlers.

If from this pitch, nothing seems new, it is in the representation of the robot that a small revolution takes place. In previous examples, the robot is a companion/a weapon that works magically without worrying too much about the various principles that govern our real world. In Mobile follows Gundam, robots are industrial products used for war. Tanks of modern times, they are treated with an incredible sense of detail for the time and above all, they were far from invulnerable.

Often broken or damaged, they are at the heart of a more realistic story, avoiding manichaeism as much as possible.

With around twenty series, the series will lead to its wake several works by Real Robots, Macross, Patlabor, but also the advent of the models to be built even like the Gunpla.

The Gospel according to Hideaki Anno

There was an old will with super robots, a new will with Real Robots, and a Super New Testament Ultimate Edition in 1995 with Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The series will mix these two sub-genres to make them coexist. Giving pride of place to the introspection of the characters, the series will instantly become a classic despite two final episodes a controversial bit. From this final, a conclusive film The End of Evangelion will be born in 1997 which will offer an alternative version of the original conclusion.

Mech is she or my cash register?

In the cinema, the mecha was entitled to a place of choice in several striking films, whether aliens or avatar exoskeletons, the apu of the last two matrix, mechgodzilla or more simply TB-TT and tr-tt de Star Wars.

In the vast universe of video games, the same goes with the old Mechwarrior, the most recent Hawken, Metal Gear Solid and these Dantesque robots, Zone of the Enders to stay with Kojima or the character of D.VA in the Overwatch from Blizzard.

Let’s not forget the Super Robot Wars game series that mixes several anime characters!