I think its already common knowledge that in almost every Mecha anime, The Main Chara who pilots the Main mecha is always between 13-17 years old.. And some anime goes to the extend where the entire crew,squad,platoon and hell even the whole ships are young teens.

Long already UN has gotten near every country in the world to agree that No one below 18 is allowed to join the armed forces.

I know that some anime excuse themself by eitier desperate for manpower, or need some special ability. Those are fine.. but How about those Anime where its already plan to run by kid.

Seriously as a Military Organization, Would you seriously entrust your 1.5 Mil$$ hardware on Young puberty hitting kids. Especially in a crucial war where life at stake.

Hell some are even schooling... f*** man.. SPM vs Killing 1 nasty boss.

I know Kids enlisting in armed force were common in the past but most of the time their assignment are usually the lowest. While in anime they have close to officer rankings.

So please tell me what was the manga/anime artist was thinking putting young kids into Kick ass mecha?? Or Teen Harem Squadron.

Honestly the mecha anime closest to not having a kid with guns is Armored Trooper Vottoms

This post has been edited by redeye84: Oct 5 2007, 12:25 AM

Writers want a character that the audience can relate to. Simple as that.

> Mecha Theme Anime question..
> Mecha Theme Anime
> Anime

Old guys are not suitable to pilot Gundams due to their heart attack problems.

In anime, old guys always got heart attack problems.

Yes.

moe characters wins

/period...maybe

/perhaps...maybe

/fan service...maybe

This post has been edited by GameSky: Oct 5 2007, 12:46 AM

What darquama said. Target audience = teens....thus protagonist is usually a teen.

But I realise that Gundam was the one that pioneered this theme with Amuro but not many followed it. If you see the mecha shows of that era like Votoms , Macross, Mospeada, Dougram, SPT Layzner etc, all the protagonists were grown men. Needless to say that Super Robot shows from the era also all are GAR men, not some emo kid.

I think the one that really started the angsty teenage mecha pilot trend was Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995. After that show, seems every other cookie cutter mecha show has some angsty teen pilot. I remembered reading somewhere that the chara designer for Eva, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto was told by Hideaki Anno to design high school kids that will eventually pilot giant robots. Sadamoto had a "WTF?" face then. Look at where we are today.

> Mecha Theme Anime question..
> Mecha Theme Anime
> Anime
> Realism

> Robot Maid Theme Anime question..
> Robot Maid Theme Anime
> Anime

> Realism

Hey... Japanese design mecha to be easily operable without RTFM and only a kids could manuever them like a Go-Kart compare to a car.

Another issue might be the weight, less weight more aerodynamic and less drag

Melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya... Need a kid to drive em young...

OFFTOPIC

I have seen old guys learning new advance hi-tech machinery and they are sux at it just like the proverbs that says can't teach new tricks to old dogs...

Gundam anime sucks!!!! Always show underage male piloting! Why no underage female as main character! I want more gundam like Ecole Du Ciel!

its simple, not many adult survives the war, only left are kids..
So to maintain manpower they take in kids as military personnel ..

During WW2, a group of German kids manage to halt soviet advances into Berlin for weeks until they run out of supply...

I fcking love Macross and it has GAR men in it, no emo kiddie fags like Shin Asuka.



Macross is a MANLY anime.

Hikaru was kinda emo fag.....but not too bad because Roy Focker always Fock him up if he gets too depressed.



Watch Sky Girls and Jinki Extend.

This post has been edited by wolfx: Oct 5 2007, 08:06 AM

Jinki extend not bad just that the mecha not nice enough! Sky girls nvr watch before!
Hope later sunrise combine their hime series with gundam, and give us Gundam Hime!

1 thing u should know, target audience. if its for Kid's type genre, u will see the pilot are small kid/consist small kid. if its teenage mecha anime, then u will see 13yo to 17yo piloting it. n why most of them are teenager piloting mecha, coz it sell the most if its done that way.

Macross, Hikaru was 15 in 1st macross

Dougram, We have a rash Amuro style pilot who around 16-17...



Things like driving is aint like war... Driving is all about repitition which is u train until your muscle can do it without thinking.

War is u need wits and physcial. Which kids arent mature enuf to be rational.. Would you trust a 14 year old son with a gun?? Bright is lucky that his slap didnt turn Amuro to blast him.



Well The Hitlers Youth roles were rather simple, They just go around with Panzerfraust and hunt down tanks. They rarely handle the complicated strikes. Atmost they are usually acompany with an adult to make sure they wont go astray.

Yeah but i don't regard Hikaru in the template of an underaged emo teen. Roy Focker will fock him up nicely if he emo-ed. XD

depends on the series really. Old gundam (first generation) were more older as they want to have teh main characthers have the wisdom and skills of war faction already.
It evolves to teen pilots who were forced/trained specifically for this. Shinji for example, never wanted to be the Eva pilot but he was forced because only HE CAN pilot it. Meanwhile charachters like Asuka and Heero was taught from little on how to be a pilot. remember that while Heero is young, he's considered a veteran in combat as he's involved from a young age. Not to mention Sousuke (honestly, you'd think UN will check for every freaking ID for all soldiers on the battlefield?) who was trained with the arabic guerilla. (real life, many of teh Iraqi forces are teenage dudes who want to fight of the USian invaders).
Now, the theme is emo fag teenage with too much hormone and without proper training can easily pilot a mecha because it has a proper kick ass OS inside. Sex is just around the corner.

There are real-life sousuke in Iraq, afganistan, burma, south america and africa right now

Lol we should employ sexy ladies to confuse them.. Or clone Kaname to Harisen them..

US army GG no re..

I do understand some anime excuse themself with things like desperate for manpower, or talent , or special abilities.

I am addressing more toward to some anime even despite they can make do without teens for they still do for the lulz..

Like Seed Destiny, Shinn Asuka is merely 16 and he not only in the army but part of the Zaft elite. He has serious social issues, also he can be very irrational at times.

So what happend The Army gave him the latest what Zaft can offer and he failed badly! He couldnt even take down formidable foe because he was to drunk with rage.

Also anime like Gunparade March.. A Mechanize company is run by school girls who are more concern with their fingernails and wieght over mission and objective..

Anyway.. sigh I just somehow Do Not Want this kind of theme.. Makes Mecha anime so generic.. What happend to the days where we have professionals turning tide of war. Not some kid with imbalance talent and everyone has to put up his brattyness cos he is l337..

This post has been edited by redeye84: Oct 5 2007, 02:12 PM

Teen soldier or mercenaries! Just like the show Blood Diamond!

SEED is totally for the lulz. All the red coats (ZAFT elite) are kids below 18. I don't think they ever explained why.

Gunparade March, well cause the world has no much more adults as most were killed in the Shadow Beast wars so they have no choice but to use kids as their resource. Based on the strategy game with the same name I kinda like the theme to GPM, since they have to balance school life (pilots were regarded as social outcasts due to their time spent on missions rather than in the classroom with their peers) with their other duties. The same reason they used for Sky Girls. 99% of qualified able bodied combatants were killed in the WORM war.....of course needless to say they were mostly men. So now its time to use lolis. XD

Generic? Well yeah. Blame EVA for it. Its a theme that was unique at the time and it does provokes feelings for its target audience since they can relate between saving the world and their everyday school life.

I think Gunparade March's pilots are all above 17.....

And this issue applies to anime in general, not just mecha...

But then again we are talking about Mecha animu here. Animu in general is usually based on Shounen Manga series thus you don't have many choice. But usually not Mechas.

Dont forget about Farner!!!! Onli those kid that are 16 can pilot those machine due to some genetic problem! and pilot will get crystalize!

Man that was one heavy topic story, Farner is damn sad story!

Man fafner....i forgot most of the story liow. I think humans have become sterile (cannot reproduce) and only the kids born on that island through artificial means can pilot the fafners?

And the naked loli girl is needed to control the island's systems. XD

"Is anyone there?"

Oh don't forget Infinite Ryvius. I think the theme was perfect for that show. Its basically Lord of The Flies in space. The space academy students who were studying on a space station were seperated from the main station when it was attacked by terrorists, leaving the students to fend for themselves. The story then begins to revolve around the students and how they try to survive being attacked by people who want the ship the ship they are on and the mecha that it carries. Very hard sci-fi here.

This post has been edited by wolfx: Oct 5 2007, 05:24 PM

I have learn to see anime creates alot of plot convenience to get kids into the screen..

I'm curious as well... why use kids to pilot mecha when there's able-bodied adults available unlike Sky Girls. For the lulz? Then there's the issue of to whom and which audience it will appeal to.

I ma gonna assume those sexy suited female pilots are For Horny Men.

Those feature young school teens is to add the element of Harem or Love comedy.

Yaoi looking guys are for to attract fangurl.

And the rest is for the lulz.

Not many women get to pilot the gundam heh?

In EVA only those born after the 2nd impact 14 years before that can pilot it, thus it's a no brainer. In Gundam LolSeed, it's just way to show that a 15 year old can shag

Eva...eva...eva...eva....

But one thing for sure, animes f***ed up space scene. I remembered Sunrise released an very good but underrated anime, Planetes which based on a manga with the same name. Nothing can compare to it. Astronauts wear diapers like in real life. There is NO sound in space. You are basically in danger of radiation all teh time and can go nuts at anytime and anywhere. Person born on the moon will grow larger as less gravity = less restriction to the body, but the bones are very brittle and teh organs cannot sustain such a large body. Not to mention the person will die the moment he arrive at earth as he is not used to the gravity. And lack of oxigen can cause serious brain damage. GO.WATCH.IT

I gave up on anime ability to deliver realistic mecha show. Kids, teens bleh. Gundam now becoming Backstreet Boys with mech accompanied by pink haired Britney Spears.

I want shows like Votoms or Gasaraki.

War is space can be pretty ugly, just imagine a crack in your mobile suit cockpit and you're suck out into space...

Doesnt Gundam Wing sound like this??


Gasaraki.. Googling it up now cos iam not sure what it is.


cooollll I will seriously consider watching this.

This post has been edited by redeye84: Oct 6 2007, 09:03 PM

Yea downloaded Planetes, will be watching it maybe today or soon.

Remind me of Zone of the Enders!!! ppl born on Mars are weaker than earth born and end up being colonized by them!

Talking about ZOE aint the main character an "Ah Pek"!!! with a mecha that has female voice Dolores!!!! It was a great anime with robots that have their "thing" pointing out! But for real it was really an awesome game for the PS2! Kojima always deliver great stuff!

ZOE.. movie great anime so so and game is awesome.

Hey wait.... FMP didn't have kids piloting mecha. Don't count Sousuke as he was involved as a child soldier since the fictional story in FMP involves uhh...what's the fictional name of Afghanisu-tan again for the anime?

Well Tessa she a ship captain and she is only 16.

Those 2 chinese girls look underage also..

Also Sagara who is assign to guard Chidori seems to do alot more harm than good and he oftenly absent for assignment.

I cant see why dont they assign someone else for the job. Even Kurz Weber does the job better.

Coz Sagara is younger, plus appearance-wise he is more suitable for the guarding mission, which requires him to be one of the students (Kurz is a gaijin, which make him not very suitable for that guarding mission)

Planet ES is hard sci-fi. Really awesome show. Other hard sci-fi includes Starship Operators and Infinite Ryvius. In Starship Operators they explain that the sounds u heard in space are actually sound effects added by the tv station broadcasting their space battles.

Gasaraki.....is very political and will be boring to most ppl. The mumbo jumbo using demons as robot parts is also abit wtf. But I liked it. Just don't expect some mecha action like FMP from it.



I think Sagara himself is a gaijin since he never lived in Japan until he was to protect Chidori.

Don't forget he's a womanizer as well.

I remember kurz lost interest in chidori when he saw her true colours...

does moonlight mile considered mecha anime?

It's not Planet ES. The katakana is PU RA NA TE ZU (プラナテズ), not PU RA NE T TO E SU (プラネットエース) thus it's really IS Planetes.
One thing tho, I prefer Planetes manga. Both Ai and Hachirota (Hachimaki) was not that romantically involved that much in the manga, just that they were together long enough to care for each other. And as Hachimaki said, he married Ai just because he was selfish and wanted someone to wait for him during his Jupiter mission. As Ai herself put it, she married him just because he was the first person to ask her that, but she does love him deeply. That I felt had a much deeper perspective on how human rely on each other to live, wether on earth or in space.

This post has been edited by linkinstreet: Oct 7 2007, 01:25 AM

oh...does FLAG considered as a mecha anime too??
it have several mecha war machine in there but....aint something like the usual mecha series....

oh and it have no loli/shota syndrom in it...

Flag.. is very bland.. Even i had hard time shallowing it.. Well tired of generic mecha anime go watch FLAG.

Keroro also got mecha!!!! But those are frog powering them!

Keroro Gunso fall more into Comedy since mecha doesnt revolve around the anime.

FLAG was very realistic, but very bland cause the story didn't evoke ANY of my sense.

Kannazuki No Miko was utter crap... cept for the Lesbianism.

Kannaduki No Miko is awesome mmmkayyy??? Yuri + Super Robots = WIN!

Kannaduki No Miko really sucks! Looks disgusting to me!

You must lack testosterone.

Edited for the truth
Vertical Docking FTW!!

Oh yeah, another Mecha anime that doesn't really suck, and isn't piloted by pubescent kids, Gun X Sword.

one of the mecha pilot in gunXsword was too erotic...

That's cause she's a prostitute....and....she sexed up the loli's brother.

fasalina got squashed by a rock!!! i was shocked when watching that scene...

This post has been edited by kyon22: Oct 9 2007, 12:24 AM

Along with the Loli's brother!

they even got power ranger lol!!!

THE AMIGOS!

ROFLMAO!

The wat Elrado Amigo!!! Old folk super robot!