Anime Mecha Anime - Which Do You Prefer Out Of...?

[ElrickOtaku]

Mecha anime is an increasingly popular genre of anime, especially with the variation of the different styles of it.

So which do fans like best and which style do they favour?

Martian Successor Nadesico - Comedy/sci-fi
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Religious/psychological
Gasaraki - Dramatic/near-future
Gundam Wing - Political/philosophical

Justify why you enjoy it, along with identifying your favourite episode and why its your favourite episode. (No "I love [] 'cause it's great" style messages please).

Some may complain about their favourite like Dai-Guard or whatever being left off, but I wanted a good contrast of four different mecha animes with four differing styles.

With me, it's got to be Martian Successor Nadesico. It's just got the perfect balance of comedy, action, sci-fi as well as a fair amount of tragedy. Plus, of course it makes fun of the rather more basic mecha anime with it's exaggerated anime-within-an-anime Gekigengar III, which just adds to its charm and comedy, rather than staying grim by default as Evangelion and Gasaraki seem to do. Gundam Wing is good, but it seems to be disjointed in some areas by switching from person-to-person too much in a single episode.

My favourite episode has got to be 'Ubiquitous Rightousness', the final (26th) episode. This is as this series appears to have a superb finale, combining all of the best elements of the series, the capital ship fighting, the character-based comedy, the insane relationships, the mysteries being slowly revealed, etc. This is while the series does not have too much of a definate ending, leaving some questions unanswered to leave room for a sequel, while staying an 'ending' rather than just seeming cut off like some other anime series.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by ElrickOtaku [/i]
[B]Some may complain about their favourite like Dai-Guard or whatever being left off, but I wanted a good contrast of four different mecha animes with four differing styles.[/B][/QUOTE]

Eheh.... Sorry.

Gasaraki was directed by Yukata Izubuchi, the same man who later went on to direct RahXephon. While I haven't seen Gasaraki, I'm curious as to why you chose it over RahXephon--which, by all accounts, is a vastly superior show. RahXephon and Neon Genesis Evangelion are usually cited as being the best mecha series in existence, and it seems that numerous anime fans are always attempting to contend that one is better than the other. Amusingly enough, few people have seen both shows in their entirety (I fall into this camp, since I've only watched RahXephon).

I'm not a big mecha fan, to tell you the truth. Gundam Wing is alright, but it never exactly captivated me, and I was turned off by reports of Evangelion's less than satisfactory ending. While I've heard good things about Martian Successor Nadesico, I tend to be wary of comedic anime.

In my opinion, RahXephon comes very close to being the perfect anime series--not because of its genre (after all, it defies categorization), but because it does everything [i]so[/i] well. Its animation and artwork are groundbreaking for TV show. Its subject material, while serious, is never overly heavy or depressing. Just as hope lies at the bottom of Pandora's box, the love, faith and friendship in RahXephon keep it from becoming "grim by default." The character development in this series is just astounding, and its complex plot comes full circle in a surprising but fitting ending.

So, there's my two cents.

~Dagger~

[Flashlight]

Of those 4, I chosee Gundam Wing, simply because it was one of the first anime that got me into, well, anime. :)
I saw an episode of Gasaraki a while back, but I can't really remember it. Evangelion is technically a mech anime, but by the end I didn't really feel that that was the best genre to put it in.
I haven't seen Martian Successor Nadesico, but I have heard from numurous resources that it's supposed to be an parody of many mech anime (Including Evangelion).
RahXephon, while I've only seen a few episodes of it, is quite good so far. :)

One thing about your choices, why specify only Gundam Wing rather than the whole Gundam Universe in general. I think Gundam as a whole would represent somethings that helps define Mech anime. :)

[Semjaza]

I'm mostly upset of the fact that Robotech and Macross were left out of these entirely. In my opinion, that's where it's at. I love the Valkyries.

[Japan]

Out of the choices that you listed above, I chose Martian Successor Nadesico. Nadesico is pretty cool. I prefer it over Evangelion and Gundam Wing. I don't know about the other choice. In fact, I never really heard of it before. Though I chose, Nadesico, that doesn't mean that it is the best mecha series out there. There are plenty of other better ones out there.

[RogueA007]

I chose Gundam Wing, because that was also one of the first animes I got into *Aside from DBZ and Samurai Pizza Cats. XD* but I am also upset on how you left out Robotech/Macross. Classic robo anime there.

And also I like the original Gundams better than anything after Wing. The original storyline was a lot better than Gundam Wing's.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Flashlight [/i]
[B]RahXephon, while I've only seen a few episodes of it, is quite good so far. :)

One thing about your choices, why specify only Gundam Wing rather than the whole Gundam Universe in general. I think Gundam as a whole would represent somethings that helps define Mech anime. :) [/B][/QUOTE]

I can guarantee that RahXephon will continue to be awesome.

Anyway, I have a question for all of you mecha buffs out there. I've only seen a few episodes of the older Gundam series, and I don't really understand their appeal. I don't even like GW all that much--certain aspects of the show bored me half to death.

So, tell me what's so amazing about the other Gundams, because I refuse to believe that people watch would watch a series solely for the sake of seeing giant robots duke it out.

~Dagger~

[pbfrontmanvdp]

The only 2 Gundam series i ever liked was Wing and 08th MS team. The other ones just never seemed to catch my attention. If the 08th MS Team series was just a little bit longer and more in depth on the last episode than i would have probably picked that series over Wing.

As of right now i pick RahXephon over any other mech type series. I cant explain everything about it until the movie comes out, but once that does it probably will be the best mech anime in existence as of now. Ive seen only Eva and the Gundam series so far, but i hear Full Metal Panic was a good series as well so i might get that one. Just wanna read a little more about that series just to make sure i want to buy it.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by pbfrontmanvdp [/i]
[B]Ive seen only Eva and the Gundam series so far, but i hear Full Metal Panic was a good series as well so i might get that one. Just wanna read a little more about that series just to make sure i want to buy it. [/B][/QUOTE]

I've seen about eight episodes of Full Metal Panic. I'd been expecting it to be really good, but after hearing so much hype, I was a little disappointed. However, you definitely won't be let down by its animation. FMP's artwork is beautiful, brightly colored, and amazingly consistent. Because its action sequences are usually pretty short, I wanted to watch them over and over.

However, FMP contains quite a bit of poorly integrated fanservice. In my mind, there's nothing wrong with fanservice unless it sticks out like a sore thumb (so to speak >_>), as FMP's sometimes does.

I liked its characters, but hated the English dub--which is strange, considering that I'm something of an ADV fan. The well-plotted episodes are spectacular, but there's also some filler, and it's almost painful to watch.

So. my advice is to rent/borrow the first DVD of Full Metal Panic before you decide to start collecting it.

~Dagger~

[ElrickOtaku]

There is a simple reason why I put Gasaraki in as opposed to RahXephon, which is that I have seen the former but not the latter, but heard that they are similar.

In the UK, RahXephon has never been on TV but Gasaraki has been on Sci-Fi Channel (and is meant to be again in February). Therefore, if you want to vote for RahXephon and that style of anime, just put a vote down for Gasaraki and justify it in your thread prose.

I implore the rest of you to concentrate on the given choices and discuss them, rather than obsessing over what is ommitted from this poll.

[Qukey]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1 [/i]
[B]Anyway, I have a question for all of you mecha buffs out there. I've only seen a few episodes of the older Gundam series, and I don't really understand their appeal. I don't even like GW all that much--certain aspects of the show bored me half to death.

So, tell me what's so amazing about the other Gundams, because I refuse to believe that people watch would watch a series solely for the sake of seeing giant robots duke it out.~Dagger~ [/B][/QUOTE]

The most appealing element in Gundam is its realistic look into our world. There is no aliens in any Gundam story, just wars between human. There is no super weapons send from God, but just weapons created by human to destroy human. It is the underlying stories about people fighting people which attract the fans. The outcome of the war is not always "good guy win and bad guys lose". There is indeed no "good" or "bad" in battlefields, but just suviving.

Take 0080:War in the Pocket as an example. It is at the end of the One Year War and Zeon is losing. Throughout Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeon is the antagonist but in 0080, we see a very positive side of the enemy. A fair look into Zeon is there for the watchers to judge who is right and who is wrong. At the end, there is no right or wrong, only sadness and death. That is the truth of our life.

In most Gundams, especially the Tomino Gundams, the characters are very colorful. They may not have the coolest looks or the prettiest faces, but they can display real emotion, like us. Take Amuro Ray, the main character of Mobile Suit Gundam as an example: Amuro may be whinning, but he has the reasons to. He is sent to the battlefield, facing death without any training to protect some strangers. He feels fear, angry and sad about his situation but he cannot do anything about it because he has nowhere else to go. All he can do is stay and fight, not for himself, but others. With the death of Lalah, Amuro loses hope within him as he can no longer see the light of the future. He cannot have a normal relationship or just friendship with anyone because he chooses to hide himself. His pain finally explose in the last convensation he shares with Char in Char's Counterattack. It takes Amuro 14 years to face himself.

It is so true that the mechas attract peple to the franchise, it is the characters and stories to make the fans stay. Without the excellent characters and interesting stories, Gundam cannot last long in history. The characters in Gundams are not super heroes handing out justice to the bad guys (I think GW and Seed break the rule).

Back to the topic: I prefer some of the older mecha then those, works like Aura Battler Dubine and Macross over these newer shows. I do agree that Raxaphon is very interesting. It feels like Brain Powerd, not EVA, but with a very different story.

[Dj Professor DM]

Gundam Wing cause Heavyarms, Wing Zero, and ShenLong could shoot up the other Mecha's while Deathscythe and Sandrock could slash and gash the other Mecha's.

[Hittokiri Zero]

Gundam and Macross are the way to go if you want to go old school =O. Macross really can't live up though in terms of todays standards because of the dated animation. The new OVA Macross Zero is pretty impresive and although I like the CG and all sometimes it seems a tad overused. As for Gundam the truth is i'm awaiting the next UC/UC-like series whichI doubt we'll ever get ='|. Not to say the new series are bad ^_^. Another mecha anime I liked that I wish actually had more mecha fights would be Full Metal Alchemist, if you consider Tekkaman Blade Mecha which I guess it is =O then i'd definatly rank that up there with one of my first & favorite mecha anime series of all time =)!

[Arkadyz]

[color=silver][font=times new roman][b]Well I would say eva except I dont really consider it a "mecha" anime...Im not entirely sure what category I would put it in...If there is one that would fit it. :cross:

I guess as far as traditional mecha fare goes I would go with any Gundam series in the UC timeline. Great mecha designs and a very interesting and realistic view of mecha warfare in the far future.[/color][/font][/b]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]I like all of the series there, but I doubt I'd call any apart from Gundam true Mecha animes. Well, I know they all have Mechs in them, but Gundam's the only one that seems to be solely focussed around them. Evangelion for me wasn't about the robots, neither were RahXephon or Nadesico. But I'm probably just being really picky- sci-fi/mech is where they fall into really.

Most of the series I have seen or own involve mechs or ships fairly heavily. Outlaw Star to a degree, Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040... Miyazaki's me only real source of non-sci-fi anime, heh.

But anyway, although out of the four listed Nadesico's my favourite (although I didn't like the last episode as much as others; it was a bit of a let-down for me), they are all really decent shows. Evangelion was just mind-bogglingly complex in plot and character relations: worthy of its acclaim although not always pleasant to watch.

RahXephon's new to me- I've not seen the entire series but the characters in it are great so far, and I love the design of the RahXephon machine itself. I'm still waiting on more UK DVD releases to get a better idea of it.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1[/i]
[b]Anyway, I have a question for all of you mecha buffs out there. I've only seen a few episodes of the older Gundam series, and I don't really understand their appeal. I don't even like GW all that much--certain aspects of the show bored me half to death.[/b][/QUOTE]
GW took me ages to get into, mostly because I never managed to see any two consecutive episodes for ages, and it takes a very long time for anything background-wise to become clear. I'm still not entirely sure of the alignments of OZ, Treize and whatever and I used to see it every day. If you miss one it can be incredibly hard to understand what's going on in the next. Some aspects I still find rather boring, and the slow dub dialogue doesn't help much (although it's not nearly as bad as Cardcaptors). I really liked Endless Waltz, though. The designs of the Gundams were revamped to look more stylish; it's a pity those models couldn't have been in the series more.

The ideology and theories behind all of the series I really like- fighting, life, war and the debate behind it all I find really interesting to listen to and in all of these programs the characters convey the emotions in it all well.

But anyway, back to Nadesico. I just like the comedy, I guess. When I first saw it I didn't realise it was supposed to be a comedy and I hated it, especially as Evangelion had just been broadcast half an hour beforehand. My favourite episode would have to be 'The Meadows We Once Ran Across', because the character's repressed personality traits take over and the scenes are all in the wrong order. Piecing it together was interesting, heh.[/COLOR]

EDIT: Whoops, I thought one of the choices was RahXephon instead of Gasaraki ^_^; I've never seen Gasaraki, so I've no idea what it's like. I didn't like the trailers, though. Animes that are too realistic don't appeal to me that much.

[Panda]

I would have to go with Nadesico out of the choices...of course it could just be in the mood I am in right now but the comedy in Nadesico I really enjoyed. But I do agree with many of the other posters here that Macross and Robotech should have been included for all of us old school anime fans. Robotech for me was the very first anime I saw in english. Other than that all the anime I had seen was in Japanese...so it kinda has a special place in my heart.

[ElrickOtaku]

Great! It looks as if I'm not as alone as I thought when it gomes to the pro-Nadesico/comedy faction!

There still seem to be many complaints about series l left off of this topic/poll; but as I said before it was merely to work with the better series from what I'd seen myself, rather than bluffing knowledge I don't have about series.

Therefore, just put a vote on the poll, say why you voted that way, AND THEN talk about all the other great mecha series you've seen which are not on the poll.

Incidently, in reply to complaints about my codification of series like Nadesico and Evangelion as mecha anime, it is just as it is an easy way to codify them. Plus, of course, they have the only requirement as a mecha anime necessary; i.e. they have giant clomping robots in them.

[eleanor]

[i]While I haven't seen Gasaraki, I'm curious as to why you chose it over RahXephon--which, by all accounts, is a vastly superior show. [/i]

O_o How can you feel that RahXephon is superior to Gasaraki when you've never seen it? Heck, I thought Gasaraki was just about a psychic warrior...I had no idea it had mecha in it. *shrugs*

By far, Gundam Wing beats out most of the names in this list, not by my own opinion [I love Evangelion to death, you hear?], but by anime audiences. I also have no idea why people love the Gundam Wing series, and I've tried numerous time to try and 'get into' the series. I'm not saying the anime is bad, it's one of the most recognized and favorite animes.

In point, I don't think any of any mecha shows are realistic at all. They all basically follow the same guidelines, too. Evil people, get into giant machine that has cool weapons, destroy evil people. Most of the time, the evil thing is some kind of alien or whatnot, excluding the Gundam Series. I don't know any Gundam show that has something to with aliens at all.

But I guess mecha shows are just restricted by that, so it really depends on what the creator does with the plot and depth of the series. Which is why I really enjoy Evangelion. The Evangelion units are very unique in just their design and the cockpit and etc. The idea of using God's 'angels' as the enemies was amazingly well plot out by Hideaki, and the Angels themselves actually fit descriptions of angels descriped in religious manuscripts. I mean, holy schmoly, if you want to guess the amount of time Hideaki actually researched religious documents and other things to create Evangelion...well, I'm just saying I really love the show. The animation is wonderful for its time period, the plot is wonderful, the characters are wonderful, everything in the show is wonderful to me.

Ok, so there's also the hype of Evangelion vs. RahXephon. I've only seen so much of RahXephon, and I really didn't think much of it. It never got me interested at all in the first episode. I even got wary of it when I saw the 'waterdrop' scene that Evangelion used so much. Needless to say, I'm a stubborn Eva fan, and I always will be. But I'm not going to flame RahXephon to death, the animation and art was awesome, and I respect pretty much every anime [unless it's REALLY bad.]. Maybe it's just not my kind of show. I have yet to see a comparison by someone who has actually seen and evaluated both series, so I'm just waiting around for it to come. Maybe I'll somehow get my hands on RahXephon, sit down, and actually watch the series, but my mind is full of Evangelion right now with the re-makes and director's cut and everything.

So, by now I think most people have stopped reading or they get the point that I love Evangelion. There's not a bit of the series I don't like...I even like the ending. I get ticked off by people who decide to hate the ending because they were expecting some grand fight finale and Shinji was the winner and blah-de-blah. I think they're forgetting the point of the whole series. *sighs*

I saw Nadesico's movie yesterday, and I liked the beginning of it, but I disliked the ending. I haven't seen the series, but judging frm the movie, I don't think there was that much humor. I have not way to justify it though...like I said, I haven't seen the series. The ending of the movie just left me sitting there like an idiot wondering why the heck they decided to wrap it up so...not good. O_o. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven't seen the series...

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by maladjusted [/i]
[B]O_o How can you feel that RahXephon is superior to Gasaraki when you've never seen it? Heck, I thought Gasaraki was just about a psychic warrior...I had no idea it had mecha in it. *shrugs*[/b][/quote]

The phrase "by all accounts" implies that I've read articles which contrasted the two series and stated that RahXephon is better.

[quote][b]By far, Gundam Wing beats out most of the names in this list, not by my own opinion [I love Evangelion to death, you hear?], but by anime audiences. I also have no idea why people love the Gundam Wing series, and I've tried numerous time to try and 'get into' the series. I'm not saying the anime is bad, it's one of the most recognized and favorite animes.[/b][/quote]

The way I see it, Evangelion's popularity--at least within the serious anime community--far exceeds that of Gundam Wing. While more non-fans may have heard of GW, Eva has a much better reputation. It's famous for its quality and complexity, not its absurdly boring politics and cute male characters.

[quote][b]Ok, so there's also the hype of Evangelion vs. RahXephon. I've only seen so much of RahXephon, and I really didn't think much of it. It never got me interested at all in the first episode. I even got wary of it when I saw the 'waterdrop' scene that Evangelion used so much. Needless to say, I'm a stubborn Eva fan, and I always will be. But I'm not going to flame RahXephon to death, the animation and art was awesome, and I respect pretty much every anime [unless it's REALLY bad.]. Maybe it's just not my kind of show. I have yet to see a comparison by someone who has actually seen and evaluated both series, so I'm just waiting around for it to come. Maybe I'll somehow get my hands on RahXephon, sit down, and actually watch the series, but my mind is full of Evangelion right now with the re-makes and director's cut and everything.[/b][/quote]

In all seriousness, you should watch RahXephon. I'm going to see Evangelion as soon as I earn enough money to purchase its boxed set. I wouldn't worry about the waterdrop scene if I were you--that same motif is used throughout Revolutionary Girl Utena and numerous other shows, including Boogiepop Phantom.

Search Google for "THEM Anime Reviews," and have a look at the group's review of RahXephon; it briefly compares the series to Evangelion. While the writer is obviously an Eva fan, he also seems to be somewhat biased towards Rah, and I'm sure you'd prefer to form your own opinions. Nevertheless, it's a pretty interesting read.

~Dagger~

[Hittokiri Zero]

[quote]The way I see it, Evangelion's popularity--at least within the serious anime community--far exceeds that of Gundam Wing. While more non-fans may have heard of GW, Eva has a much better reputation. It's famous for its quality and complexity, not its absurdly boring politics and cute male characters.[/quote]

Yes but within the deep reaches of the anime community Gundam in general is more popular than EVA because it is famous for it's realistic mecha designs, complex political and idealogical themes as well as it's (for the most part) accurate depiction of war in which neither side is portrayed as good or bad,
not for it's cute female characters big monsters of the week. Really the entire EVA thing is more popular in the U.S. and places out of Japan not to say it's not popular in Japan as well but in comparison to Gundam it just pales in world popularity or so I believe =O... That could also be because Gundam has been broadcasted to more people but bleh just my 2 cents. And to be honest I actually enjoyed the politics in Gundam while they can be boring at time it helps add a hint of realism to the story, it's not the simple "they're different" let us blow them up there's always other underlying factors at work. Now getting back to your original statement I guess it's correct to say that EVA is held in higher regard to most "serious" anime fans than Gundam Wing is but that's also because the target audience was different and the fact taht Gundam Wing wasn't meant to be a extremely complex anime.

Anyway speaking of Mecha Anime Gad Guard was supposed to be decent and I believe it's coming stateside this summer =O. I was planning on downloading it but too late now looks like i'll have to wait until then x___X. I'm also not liking how the entire Macross Zero thing has been spread out so much -_-. I honestly hate the fact that the release dates for each part have been spread out so much >_<~!

[pbfrontmanvdp]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by maladjusted [/i]
[B][i] Ok, so there's also the hype of Evangelion vs. RahXephon. I've only seen so much of RahXephon, and I really didn't think much of it. It never got me interested at all in the first episode. I even got wary of it when I saw the 'waterdrop' scene that Evangelion used so much. Needless to say, I'm a stubborn Eva fan, and I always will be. But I'm not going to flame RahXephon to death, the animation and art was awesome, and I respect pretty much every anime [unless it's REALLY bad.]. Maybe it's just not my kind of show. I have yet to see a comparison by someone who has actually seen and evaluated both series, so I'm just waiting around for it to come. Maybe I'll somehow get my hands on RahXephon, sit down, and actually watch the series, but my mind is full of Evangelion right now with the re-makes and director's cut and everything.
[/B][/QUOTE]

Eva and RahXephon are almost exactly the same. I just liked RahXephon more since it made a hell of a lot more sense than Evangelion. Im not bashing Eva. since until I saw RahXephon it was the best mech type anime I watched. Plus Eva. left me with a couple more question left unanswered even with the additional movies added on to it....which then left me with ever more questions. I only have one question left unanswered so far in RahXephon (since the movie wasnt brought to America yet). Also Rah. has more character/character relationships in it which made it more interesting than Eva.

Anyway though back to the comparisions of Eva. and Rah.

- Eva. had angels in it that were the "opposing forces" while Rah. had D's (exp. D1 D2) which were considered the opposing forces.

Rest are spoilers if you havent seen both animes

[spoiler]- The main character Shinji (probably spelt it wrong but im not gonna look it up) was a shy character who had to overcome his "fears" of being left alone as a child and not being accepted into the world. The main character Ayato in Rah. also had to confront his "fears" of not knowing what the point of his life was and why he is what he is.....an instrumentalist.

- Eva. at the end showed the world being destroyed (basically man itself not the world all together) and the creation of a new world for mankind to start over again. Rah. had the world destroyed as well (same as Eva., basically man itself not the world all together) and you get the idea that mankind was able to start over again. [/spoiler]

I know theres other similarities besides the ones ive listed so far, but i just can't think of them now.

[ElrickOtaku]

Note to malajusted: the Nadesico movie is NOT a reflection of the series. The series is hilarious, while remaining deep (and is not about fighting 'evil aliens in giant robots').

There have been many complaints about the movie by fans of the series. This is generally unfair, as in the series much of the comedy was character-based and all of the major characters from the series only appear towards the end of the movie.

As it was voted the most popular anime series in Japan, I'd advise all anime-fans, whether they be romance fans, drama fans, action fans or comedy fans to try the SERIES. The movie is for after you've seen the series, and even then it is difficult to like.

So, malajusted, I'd suggest you fully research things before you comment on them. And that goes double for mecha anime.

[Dagger]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by ElrickOtaku [/i]
[B]As it was voted the most popular anime series in Japan, I'd advise all anime-fans, whether they be romance fans, drama fans, action fans or comedy fans to try the SERIES. The movie is for after you've seen the series, and even then it is difficult to like.

So, malajusted, I'd suggest you fully research things before you comment on them. And that goes double for mecha anime. [/B][/QUOTE]

mal specifically stated that she couldn't justify any of her assumptions about the series, especially considering that she'd only seen the movie. Since you seem to be a big Nadesico fan, it's understandable that you'd wish to defend it. However, I don't think that mal meant to disparage the show, and no amount of research can ever substitute for seeing an anime with one's own two eyes. Lighten up a bit, dear.

I hate to go off on a tangent, but those kinds of polls signify very little. I'm sure that Nadesico is a great series; I do plan on watching it eventually. Several of my closest friends have virtually lavished it with praise, and their recommendations mean a lot to me.

Yet at one point, Inuyasha was voted the best action anime of all time, which is totally ridiculous. This might be just me, but as I can tell that you're an intelligent and well-read person, your endorsement of Nadesico is a lot more compelling than that of innumerable anonymous Japanese citizens.

Back on topic. In your first post, you asked us to mention our favorite episodes. Would it be alright for me to talk about RahXephon, since we all seem to agree that it falls into the same general sub-category as Neon Genesis Evangelion?

~Dagger~

[eleanor]

[i]Note to malajusted: the Nadesico movie is NOT a reflection of the series. The series is hilarious, while remaining deep (and is not about fighting 'evil aliens in giant robots').

There have been many complaints about the movie by fans of the series. This is generally unfair, as in the series much of the comedy was character-based and all of the major characters from the series only appear towards the end of the movie.

As it was voted the most popular anime series in Japan, I'd advise all anime-fans, whether they be romance fans, drama fans, action fans or comedy fans to try the SERIES. The movie is for after you've seen the series, and even then it is difficult to like.

So, malajusted, I'd suggest you fully research things before you comment on them. And that goes double for mecha anime.[/i]

You're completely right, but when you get a brief description of Nadesico, what do you get? "Unknown forces have attacked, and the only thing that can stop it is Martian Sucessor Nadesico, a ship." What's the brief description of Evangelion? "Angels have attacked Earth and the only thing that can stop it are giant robots called Evangelions." RahXephon? "Angels are attacking and the only thing that can stop it is the RahXephon!" Yeah...so basically, I wasn't trying to dump on Nadesico or anything. Evangelion is not really about the Angels and killing them, it's much deeper, and I'm sure RahXephon and Nadesico are much deeper as well.

Dagger: I watched episodes 15 and 16 of RahXephon on the Anime Network [bad idea, I know], it I actually found it quite good. ...Even though I sort of had no idea of who everyone was, I could get a good enough grasp of things. Maybe there's something with me about first episodes. *shrugs* Happens a lot to me. Heh, you see, I never started off watching any anime series in the right order. The first Evangelion I watched was episode four, and I sort of drifted in between the whole series until I watched them all. I'm a bit odd at those kind of things.

[ElrickOtaku]

The poll was just meant to be a guideline, to keep it on mecha, rather than going off at tangents. So, Dagger IX1, it is fine to talk on RahXephon.