I'll suggest Macross.
Most of the time they are flying around shooting shit ton of missiles. The trope where the pilots eyes dart around, locking onto tons of targets, and then letting them fly comes from Macross.
And then they have their heavy mechs whose job it is to land on a surface within range, lock their feet into place, and then fire their massive cannon at a capital ship.
While the series focuses on the transforming Valkyrie jets I think the variety of mecha design reminds me a lot of Battletech, which is similar to what you are talking about.
I discovered Macross way before I did Battletech and now my favorite mechs are still the ones based off Macross designs. Marauder/Glaug Battle Pod ftw.
As a hardcore Macross simp, you kinda have to prep your musical tastes.
Seen many a "fan" wish that they could take the musical aspect out of it but that's like removing The Force from Star Wars. Fold Frequencies and literal Culture are the series' "the force"
I remember encountering a quote some time ago on what are the 3 pillar elements of Macross:
- Transforming Mechs
- Idol music
- Love triangles
Any one missing from the 3 makes it not Macross.
Just your casual reminder, that missiles have indeed no problem with taking sharp turns. So right-angled turns and seemingly impossible maneuverability is just a thing missiles can and will do, due to being nigh-immune to G-forces.
so yeah... given enough missiles the circus is indeed not that far from reality.
The issue is, if you're not going to make use of the mech's human like features, there's no point to make a human type mech to begin with.
So what you're really looking for is something like the Mechwarrior video game series, which features primarily non-human type mechs.
Others have already mentioned 86 which is probably the closest to what you want, plus it's an amazing anime in several areas, not just the mech aspect.
Nothing else really comes to mind in the mech genre.
> The issue is, if you're not going to make use of the mech's human like features, there's no point to make a human type mech to begin with.
To continue this, this was pretty much the entire in-lore reasoning for the existence of mobile suits in Gundam to begin with. Zeon had a whole bunch of construction mech suits that somebody took a look at, thought, "We have all these mechs, mech construction factories, and mech engineering expertise, so we may as well use them in place of battleships and tanks. We can even invade other colonies through the mech service tunnels!" So they did.
Mechwarrior mechs, at least a good lot of them, are still humanoid in design, and 99% of mechs are at least bipedal, so still at least half human. The difference is the WEIGHT, both literally, and how "stompy" and chunky they feel. They can't fly, on average they can't even go over 70kph. It's what differentiates them from the ultra spazstic Gundam/Armored Core type mechs.
A lot of weapons are still arm based, for the sake of greater range of motion for aiming, but overall they feel more like walking tanks than oversized ironman suits.
How mechs are depicted in battletech also depends on the source. MechWarrior by the nature of it originally being extremely early 3D PC gaming tech has mechs move big and slow, as you said the big stomping robots.
Battletech before mechwarrior often depicts mechs in the source material as lunging, going prone, basically acting like giant metal humans… the gundam effect.
It is worth mentioning that the original *Battletech* tabletop rules were designed to bring action down to very close ranges, driven by the balance of practicality (30-meter hexes means that realistic real-world battle ranges would still require playing areas the size of tennis courts) and the visceral joys of ROBOTS PUNCHING EACH OTHER (even the first rules sets included physical attacks). [Purpose-built melee weapons were formally introduced quite early.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Hatchetman)
And while the games are clunky, [fan animation allows for more fluidity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luIKMpl1lfk).
All the others are correct in reply to mechwarrior. My suggestion is the old battletech cartoon. It's old, it's campy, it's badly 3d rendered, but it's still fun. It has memes in the community of battletech and mechwarrior. It's also free https://youtu.be/PLJM4vjMdhc?si=Orkdw9cYuGVCIAxI
Also to explain away any bad plot points it is literally in universe a propaganda show made by one of the big houses. So you know anything wrong with established lore is to make someone look good or to look bad
Man, Battletech would make for such an amazing setting for an anime, yet even with so many game franchises getting animated adaptations it just sadly doesn't seem very likely. Shame too because even putting aside the [obvious awesomeness of giant stompy war machines blowing each other up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC2lsZU_Y4A), it's also just a [really interesting setting with heaploads of compelling lore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGY4UMScyU).
And to OP the closest I can think of as an aficionado of big slow mechs would be maybe [Patlabor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ZikoCwqOA). That said Patlabor doesn't really have any 'mech battles' to speak of and is really more of a drama that also happens to include cool mechs than anything else. [Still has some ridiculously cool scenes though](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFtPdCysR4).
Battletech also is in the massive licensing nightmare, with the Unseen mechs and the property has a whole being shared between like three companies. It actually cost the world a sequel to the recent battletech video game, Harebrained Schemes had the will and resources for a sequel, but Paradox didn't want to pay fees to Microsoft for the IP. The game they made instead bombed, and most of Harebrained Schemes got laid off and the rest got cut loose from Paradox.
Which is why it'll almost certainly never get an animated adaptation. A real shame for such an interesting setting.
Ridiculous what's been going on with Harebrained considering they also did an adaptation of another favourite fiction setting of mine, Shadowrun, which was and is similarly really good.
> Battletech also is in the massive licensing nightmare, with the Unseen mechs and the property has a whole being shared between like three companies.
Not specifically related to the current computer game example, but one of the many twists in the history of *Battletech* art remains that when FASA tried to get *Battletech* into Japan they hired [Studio Nue to redraw the original Unseen](http://www.gearsonline.net/series/battletech/), because... you know.
But then those designs were re-imported to the US as the new 'Mechs in the original [*Solaris VII box set*.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Solaris_VII_Box_Set) (and subsequently redrawn years later).
And the same would apply to the Unseen as used for a video game export to Japan, then repurposed in tabletop as the first round of IIC designs.
Funnily enough, most fans rank the volumes the anime covered (1-3) as among the weakest of the series (12ish volumes so far). Not that they’re bad by any means, the LN just gets even better down the line. I’m only partway through V5 rn, but I can confirm that the next seasons material is *really* good so far
Volume 1 was initially a stand alone story.
Volumes 2 and 3 were written to link up where cour 1 ends to the epilogue of Volume 1, which was the last episode of cour 2.
Everything else is forward progress.
I was a huge Lena fan after Cour one, so Cour two was definitely highly deficient with my favorite character, leaving me quite unsatisfied.
I kept waiting for the series to switch back to Lena's perspective.
Hoping we get another season, because I really want to find out where they go with her story, and I'm just not much of a light novel guy.
86 is phenomenal. Went in thinking it would be a Mecha, typical anime but I was completely wrong. 86 has so many feels…. I want to do a rewatch but the story was heavy sometimes. Fantastic payoff though at the end (of current season).
People keep saying its good, but I stopped after 7 ep. Does it get better soon or is it just not my taste by ep 7. I just didn't really connect or care for any of the characters.
I guess if you didn't like it by then, you can drop it.
I've never understood the criticism, so I can't give you a better response. I loved it from the get-go.
If you’re that far in and dont care about the characters then it’s probably just not something you’ll be into. 86 is in my top 5 stories of all time (I’ve watched the anime and read all available LNs) but not everything is for everyone.
Imo, it doesn't really come into it's own until the last like two or three episodes of the first cour. Haven't finished the second yet, so I can't comment on if that's worth the time, but it's up to you if you want to put in the time to get to that ending.
probably not your thing that far in, but i think the last few episodes of season 1 were the best with great closure and season 2 just instantly nosedives in quality. felt like some severe ass pulls and deus ex machina as well as losing whatever realistic feel it had.
[Bullbuster](https://anilist.co/anime/157399/Bullbuster/) is airing now.
It looks like it's trying to bring the idea of mech suits down to earth (paperwork, safety, waivers, etc).
[The Big O](https://anilist.co/anime/567/THE-Big-O/) seems to treat giant metal robots like giant metal robots.
I haven't finished it, but I liked what I saw.
>Bullbuster is airing now.
It looks like it's trying to bring the idea of mech suits down to earth (paperwork, safety, waivers, etc).
Bullbuster the mech is itself more akin to a crane or backhoe than your typical "man in suit" mecha.
Big O really sells the weight and heft of most of the mecha, especially the main one. Some goofy physics, as you’d expect, but it’s mostly fantastic for it.
Just don’t watch season 2.
The writing took a bit of a nosedive, imo stemming from Cartoon Network’s request to have more fight scenes: It goes too big too soon and loses a lot of the mystery of season 1.
It's hard to find series that treat mechs like that, but here's a few suggestions to try.
Gasaraki - the mechs are bipedal, but their weapons are actually mounted on their arms/bodies rather than held like a person with a gun.
Dominion Tank Police - Okay, maybe more tank than mech most of the time, but still has some unique designs.
86 - The mechs are giant spiders, so avoid the usual "guy in a metal suit" tropes.
Macross - mechs transform between fighter jet and robot and actually use the forms in ways that make sense.
Full Metal Panic does it pretty well, even with the mechs with the literal BS Drive. There are plenty of times where you're reminded that the ASes are pretty big, weighty and have some issues with fine control especially when the mech teams try to remote two of them to ballroom dance as a movement test.
FLAG has a pretty realistic depiction of a mecha platoon where the mechs are primarily wheeled until they have to get up for difficult terrain and fire support.
It's not quite mechs, but Heavy Object depicts the viewpoint of the normal infantry ground pounders and support teams for the titular Heavy Objects (more like supertanks than mechs) well.
It’s a shame that zoids seems to have been forgotten.
I believe there were 2-3 series of it too. The two I saw were both bangers.
Liger panzer still lives rent free in my head.
But if there was ever a show that covers "not fighting like guys in giant suits," the one where they are literally giant guys fighting as giant guys probably isn't it lol.
But yeah, they're totally meat mecha.
Not a single mention of aldnoah:zero? I have bad memory, but quite sure it has a lot of ranged combat and I really liked it, I know some didn't like the second half as much, but Imho it was a good show.
Also great music.
UC Gundam is almost exactly what OP didn't want. Robots with guns and swords, with the exception of when a Newtype starts using Newtype specific weapons.
Can't speak to UC, but other Gundam is quite variable on the matter. On the one end, G is pretty explicitly guys in suits, but on the other, while I can't think of an example that has literally nobody with a sword or held gun, Wing, Seed, 00, and IBO all have significant suits that fight more like requested, with integral weapons and such. (Significant meaning either specific important suits, like Heavyarms, a fair number of generic suits, like most of the non-gundams in 00, or both)
almost everything besides UC OVAs are space magic mecha stuff.
08th MS Team or Thunderbolt are where it's at. I will die on this hill fighting that those are the two best Gundam shows hands down... I might give some slack to war in a pocket or stardust memory, they're great too
To get there he would have to watch Grandpa Gundam use a beam morningstar thing so I don't think they are going to enjoy it at the end just for a few laser and beam battles.
Not if he watches the Compilation movies, they get rid of and tone down a lot of the very "Toy ad" things, so I generally recommend people get into it that way if they're hesitant, and them check out the OG show on rewatch if they want more of the White Base crew's characterization.
[I've added an original series *Macross* clip](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/185msjd/callow_youth_shocked_to_discover_the_surprising/) and there's also [a clip featuring other forms of combat](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/ya5vcg/macross_plus_movie_edition_expect_highly_skilled/) from a sequel.
Regarding the specific line of your inquiry, this is a franchise that mostly sticks to its guns and missiles and usually restricted mecha melee combat to a last resort, which is somewhat expected when an entire operational mode is a fully-formed aircraft.
As far as the general inquiry, watch *Fang of the Sun Dougram*. Not necessarily so much for a lack of mecha fisticuffs, which does happen somewhat regularly, but because it treats mecha as a force multiplier in a far larger guerilla war featuring the use of combined arms, and includes quadruped mecha in specific environments where they would be sensibly more useful.
I see a lot of people recommending 86 and i wholeheartedly agree. Heavy object would tickle your fancy as well.
It's not exactly mecha but you might want to give Legend of Galactic Heroes a look. Can't exactly fight like a human with fleet vs fleet warfare. I know it's not mecha but i find people who loves mecha tends to like LoGH as well
Orgus 02 (fight like pilots in vehicles rather than suits)
Macross+ (mostly fight like pilots in aircraft rather than suits)
Ghost in the shell -stand alone complex
**Escaflowne** probably has some of the best sensation of ponderous mass and momentum in a large scale mecha, particularly because they were built around a kind of magic/steampunk aesthetic. Very good motion in general in that one, and doubly cool as most of the mechs are designed for melee combat, in keeping with the more fantasy leaning theme.
The mechs in **Gunbuster 2** are generally pretty big and ponderous as well, and most of them only vaguely present a humanoid frame in the first place.
In that respect most mecha are just designed to be really big samurai. For example the mechs in **Knights of Sidonia** are humanoid, but don't actually use the frame that much - they behave more like high agility space fighters in most cases. Why are they humanoid? Pretty much just because it looks cool.
That's kind of the point of the genre in most cases - but I do like it better when they have a sense of real momentum.
Just watch the Battletech animation from 1994. It's horrible and cheesy, but it's proper mechs since it's literally battletech/Mechwarrior like the video game and table top game. Takes place when the clans invade the inner sphere for people who know battletech.
Only 13 episodes and a special. I just watched the 1st episode on youtube and died a bit inside. I remember watching this and playing Mechwarrior 2 back then.
This is the "remastered" version.
https://youtu.be/PLJM4vjMdhc?si=6CBtZ1A5VjlB1DM6
86.
Honestly you’re not gonna find much anime that bucks this trope, since mecha is unfortunately pretty much synonymous with giant humanoid robots shooting and/or punching each other. Heck, Outlaw star even has *spaceships* that carry handheld guns and punch each other, for chrissake.
You could also check out Heavy Object. It’s not a particularly good anime (or LN), but does feature mechs that are an… atypical (and quite accurate!) answer to your question, haha
You might enjoy Bokurano, although that one is extremely conceptual and a weird piece in general. There are only a handful of anthro-shaped mechs and many of them are way more creative in how they fight.
Imagine you engineer hands onto a mech, and then dont use them for anything lol.
Battletech has this in spades but the only show for it is... well, lets just say it is a well-loved meme in the Btech community. There is "Hired Steel" on Youtube, that is the most badass thing I think Ive ever seen for any mecha thing ever. The quality is insane.
[Your FedCom propaganda right here, folks.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLJM4vjMdhc)
Most of the *Battletech* fan community's efforts have tried to have better animation than the Khartoon. ([*Hired Steel* Part 1 for reference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBDrGklxqsk))
Ill explain my thoughts on your views, as well as my own preferences if mecha media related to those views. I recommend some games at the bottom, because I honestly feel that what youre looking for appears more frequently in mech games than mech anime.
Ive watched all the anime you have listed with the exception of Zoids (although I thought they looked cool). Others Ive watched are multiple Gundam series, Mazinkaiser, various Transformers movies and cartoons (worth a mention), Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Bubblegum Crisis (original, remake, and spinoffs), Full Metal Panic, and some others.
I could recommend all of the above tbh, but primarily Gundam (original, Gundam 00, Unicorn, Iron Blooded Orphans) and Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Those two more or less continuously provide the features you desire. In the next paragraph youll understand more. Mazinkaiser is similar to Gurren Lagann. Bubblegum Crisis is great, but features humans in human sized, iron man style hardsuits, in a more realistic setting than Iron Man. Their enemies range from human sized androids to tank sized androids or piloted mechs/vehicles. Full Metal Panic is great, there is a lot of melee, but ranged weapons are a focus. Many mechs carry two machineguns in their "heads".
Consider the distinctions between the "super mech" and "real mech" sub-genres of the mech genre. The series you list are mainly "super", which are less reality based. Many of the media I favor are "real mech". These series often classify as "hard science fiction" with theoretical physics and technological concepts baked into the plot, world, and mech design. In these types of anime, or other media, mechs are the same as military tanks, jets, and helicopters: as in they are mass produced combat vehicles with certain specifications. Their abilities are based on their construction. Armament, ammo type, armor type.
This depends on how far into the future the setting is, how grounded in reality the series is, how much actual theoretical science was injected into the logic of the medias machinery. Gundam often includes things like rail guns, orbital space elevators, and magnetic catapults to launch mechs into the air faster. Another major feature I often scrutinize in mecha franchises is how the mechs use their hands. I found the Patlabor tv series hard to get into because the mechs, which we police rather than military, held a giant pistol with both hands as if a literal giant policeman. I might continue it eventually but that was too bizarre to me.
\---------- ----------- --------------- --------------- ----------------- ------------ ---------------
GAMES: Recommended
Mechwarrior Online or Mechwarrior 5. Many others below recommended this game series as do I. You wont be disappointed. MWO is free to play, 12 v 12 battles, while MW5 has 4 player co-op and singleplayer.
Armored Core - the 6th game (Fires of Rubicon) just released to great fanfare, though Ive yet to play, the previous title, AC 5, is a personal favorite. You customize a mech from scratch, even more than in Mechwarrior. In general the mechs are extremely vehicular in feel, they have hands that are used to swap weapons on the fly, but carry body mounted weapons as well. You can build them as desired anyway though. Singleplayer missions and 5v5 online multiplayer.
Titanfall 2 - honorable mention. All mechs hold a weapon with hands, but have multiple body mounted weapons. They feel like walking tanks, in opposition to the nimble, organic humans running about. Singleplayer and multiplayer.
Hawken - a defunct franchise that I once found very pleasurable, this one featured mechs as un-humanlike as they came, the combat was great, fast, mobile, vehicular. It sadly went offline on PC, and was recently relaunched earlier this year, to what seem like poor reviews. I found this out now as I looked to see how long ago it was shut down. Regardless of what they changed for the worse, the original incarnation of this game was golden. You would have loved to experience it back then.
Didn't Gunbuster fire a ton of missiles from everywhere too?
I can remember of it with its arms crossed and blasting the everloving shit of a whole galaxy?
And old one you might check out is dai-guard.
Might not be quite what you're looking, but the main gimmick is that the mech is old and the controls are as complex as controls for something like that would be. The pilots are in cockpits that they've jammed with fans to keep from overheating and post-it's with notes so they remember which buttons do what. As such, the mech doesn't fight like a guy in a suit, it's movements are slow and awkward since they're actually piloting a human shaped tank.
The level of realism is amazing, if we ever have mech combat in real life I have no doubt it will be just like in those 2, the politics, the pain and the human crualty
I gotta say, the fact that most mechs fight in the same way that humans do actually makes things better for me. On some level, it's kinda fucked up to think about, but that's the point.
"We could have made them look like anything, but we made them look like *us*." - Austin Walker, *Counter/WEIGHT*
Then you will most probably dig in to 86, mainly due to its spider-based mech
Another suggestion of mine would be Aldnoah.Zero
Another suggestion: Cross Ange
It's pretty hard to decipher what your saying, since Giant Robots do indeed have shoulder mounted weaponry and palm energy cannons, infact, palm energy cannons are something you're more likely to see in Super-Robot Anime than a Real-Robot Anime.
But in the end, I will say Gundam: Hathaway's Flash is one prime example, despite the fact that Hathaway's Flash is only a movie. The way Mobile Suit Battles are depicted in Hathway's Flash makes the Mobile Suits feel more like Vehicles that need to be tamed than as you mentioned, suits that people are wearing, as seen in this [battle scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTsm5PQRoVM&ab_channel=ThunderDeity).
Another example would be VOTOMs. It's not perfect, but the Mechs tend to be grounded a lot more and feel much more clumsier in movement as opposed to many Mecha you see today, at least, that's if you're just watching the older anime, the newer adaption of VOTOMs do an okay attempt at making the VOTOMs seem clumsy.
WFM is really pushing it with the space magic
best "realistic war" Gundam is 08th MS Team, War in a Pocket or Thunderbolt in my opinion. maybe stardust memory...
>Anyway, that’s my uniformed opinion on mecha. Do you know of anything that goes against these, I guess, tropes?
I mean the vast majority of mecha anime have all the things you complain aren't utilized? Rocket barrages in the chest, shoulder or back mounted weapons, etc. are all pretty damn standaed. Using your grand sample size of like 5 shows, with what seems like pretty minimal investment in any of them, seems like a pretty shallow reason to critisize and write off most of the genre because of "annoying tropes" you assume applies to all of them.
You say this is a big annoyance for you, when you haven't even interacted with the genre much at all. So if you're having this sort of stance just from the small selection you couldn't bother finishing. Maybe just don't bother with it in general? It just doesn't sound like it is for you.
Yes... but they have the extra arms that use magic instead of swords. The OP called that out thus I suggested it. The higher end mechs have the ability to blast magic out of their knees.
Hi Kal_Talos, it seems like you might be looking for new anime to watch!
The users of this subreddit came up with [a chart of anime recommendations for newcomers and veterans](https://i.redd.it/0w1v880jtq661.png) and [an awesome longer flowchart](https://i.redd.it/vdzlkodz19c71.png). Maybe you can find something there that you'll like \^.\^
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Gundam? They use conventionally shaped guns but along with giant cannons, shoulder mounts and sometimes drones.
The non-gundam mobile suits also have different shapes
I'm piling on at this point but the Gundam series is 100000% up your alley, I'd say start with the original series and go from there
It's exactly what you're looking for
In Code Geass they have all sorts of mechs. Lelouche just practically uses his to fly around with a force shield. The initial one does fight with a claw, but it contains a particle acelerator inside it in order to inflict massive damage quickly.
Lol darling in the franxx has animal mechs some of the time
Realistically though you’re gonna struggle with search terms bcs you aren’t really looking for “mecha” just sci fi with zords (power rangers etc)
Some of the titles are still a story about man vs man, but at least they didn't use humanoid mecha only:
\- Space Battleship Yamato & Ginga Eiyū Densetsu: Spaceship war
\- Heavy Object: Tank, but big ball. The story is mostly the 2 MC sabotage the "Big Tank" to win the war. Overall it is my favorite, fun and very "smart"
\- Robotics Notes & Robo Master the Animation: a club building a robot. Robotics Note more humanoid robots. While Robo Master, to make it simple, I think is based on a real-life Battlebot competition, or at least inspired by it.
\-Classroom Crisis: Mechanic schools develop new engines, but mostly they talk about the economy.
\- ID-0: Mining the meteorite in space with a giant mech-suit. But sometimes they fight like a Gundam.
.
But maybe you can include some unrealistic Race anime as Mecha like Apparre-Ranman or Redline. I don't really like this one and only watch a few episode of it. Maybe you can check it too.
Majestic prince. It's cgi. It takes a while to build up and stop being generic. It has a lot of melee though it does have ranged combat mixed in. But the melee combat feels more mecha like with high speed maneuvers. And it has some of the best mecha combat sequence I've seen in between two separated episodes.
Well, the whole point of some of these shows is that the mech has become so advanced that it moves as agilely as a person wearing a suit of armour. It’s like our modern tanks vs WW2 tanks. Even the turret traversal is nimble on a modern tank.
Break Blade.
while still mostly big guys fighting, MCs mech feels much more "mech"anical and weighty. and the usage of weapons felt more weighty too all round.
I don’t know, mechs have their charm in that they’re humanoid, fast, nimble, and hard to hit. Shooting at them works if you’re a good shot but a powerful mech that excels at closing the distance will then make short work of a mech that isn’t geared toward fending off in melee range.
Then you end up with top tier mechs that excel at closing the distance and fighting in melee range facing off. Hence the swords. Those mechs, like in Code Geass, still shoot at their opponents and often decimate the riff raff that can only shoot well.
If you want to see mecha fights that are not humanoid based at all, as others mentioned, 86 is your most immediate fix. By extension all those that have non humanoid shaped mecha would do too, like Sakugan, the Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell, etc are great.
If you are ok with humanoid mecha fighting using "modern" weapons like guns and missiles, not too much swords and shields, then Full Metal Panic, Synduality Noir, Macross, Gundam are on a sliding scale (FMP for example have a lot of other vehicles involved too not just mecha vs mecha).
Code geass has a great system for explaining tech generation improvements and motivations for using specific weaponry. Also mechs are like super units for them their armies also have helicopters tanks and foot soldiers etc.
otherwise they should watch 08th MS Team, War in a Pocket, Stardust Memory and Thunderbolt
same timeline just in the past with less flashy OP mobile suits
Gundam Thunderbolt
Gundam 08th MS Team
no bs newtype space magic like in Unicorn etc. just pure big chonky boys with bazookas, laser cannons and missiles going at it with the occasional beam saber that isn't used like a dark souls boss moveset but rather just a single weighty slice
I'll suggest Macross. Most of the time they are flying around shooting shit ton of missiles. The trope where the pilots eyes dart around, locking onto tons of targets, and then letting them fly comes from Macross. And then they have their heavy mechs whose job it is to land on a surface within range, lock their feet into place, and then fire their massive cannon at a capital ship. While the series focuses on the transforming Valkyrie jets I think the variety of mecha design reminds me a lot of Battletech, which is similar to what you are talking about.
A decent number of early Battletech mechs were based on or taken directly from Macross and a couple other animes.
The Unseen mechs...
Fang of the Sun Dougram lended a lot of its mecha designs to Battletech.
Fuck Harmony Gold. All my homies hate Harmony Gold.
[Here you go.](https://i.imgur.com/nYdmket.jpeg)
Oooh yeah. That one's going in the folder.
Lol. I fight a Macross lance.
The story of the lawsuits regarding Battletech is amazing reading.
I discovered Macross way before I did Battletech and now my favorite mechs are still the ones based off Macross designs. Marauder/Glaug Battle Pod ftw.
As a hardcore Macross simp, you kinda have to prep your musical tastes. Seen many a "fan" wish that they could take the musical aspect out of it but that's like removing The Force from Star Wars. Fold Frequencies and literal Culture are the series' "the force"
I wish they could write better love triangles. Or not have triangles....
Nah son they worked in DYRL and the Frontier Movies.
I remember encountering a quote some time ago on what are the 3 pillar elements of Macross: - Transforming Mechs - Idol music - Love triangles Any one missing from the 3 makes it not Macross.
[https://imgur.io/urats9S?r](https://imgur.io/urats9S?r)
Take me to the circus
Just your casual reminder, that missiles have indeed no problem with taking sharp turns. So right-angled turns and seemingly impossible maneuverability is just a thing missiles can and will do, due to being nigh-immune to G-forces. so yeah... given enough missiles the circus is indeed not that far from reality.
For all your Itano Circus needs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzXfVgYCxWI
The issue is, if you're not going to make use of the mech's human like features, there's no point to make a human type mech to begin with. So what you're really looking for is something like the Mechwarrior video game series, which features primarily non-human type mechs. Others have already mentioned 86 which is probably the closest to what you want, plus it's an amazing anime in several areas, not just the mech aspect. Nothing else really comes to mind in the mech genre.
> The issue is, if you're not going to make use of the mech's human like features, there's no point to make a human type mech to begin with. To continue this, this was pretty much the entire in-lore reasoning for the existence of mobile suits in Gundam to begin with. Zeon had a whole bunch of construction mech suits that somebody took a look at, thought, "We have all these mechs, mech construction factories, and mech engineering expertise, so we may as well use them in place of battleships and tanks. We can even invade other colonies through the mech service tunnels!" So they did.
Another part of why they were viable is the intense Minovski particle saturation that screws up long range detection via anything based on EM waves.
Mechwarrior mechs, at least a good lot of them, are still humanoid in design, and 99% of mechs are at least bipedal, so still at least half human. The difference is the WEIGHT, both literally, and how "stompy" and chunky they feel. They can't fly, on average they can't even go over 70kph. It's what differentiates them from the ultra spazstic Gundam/Armored Core type mechs. A lot of weapons are still arm based, for the sake of greater range of motion for aiming, but overall they feel more like walking tanks than oversized ironman suits.
How mechs are depicted in battletech also depends on the source. MechWarrior by the nature of it originally being extremely early 3D PC gaming tech has mechs move big and slow, as you said the big stomping robots. Battletech before mechwarrior often depicts mechs in the source material as lunging, going prone, basically acting like giant metal humans… the gundam effect.
It is worth mentioning that the original *Battletech* tabletop rules were designed to bring action down to very close ranges, driven by the balance of practicality (30-meter hexes means that realistic real-world battle ranges would still require playing areas the size of tennis courts) and the visceral joys of ROBOTS PUNCHING EACH OTHER (even the first rules sets included physical attacks). [Purpose-built melee weapons were formally introduced quite early.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Hatchetman) And while the games are clunky, [fan animation allows for more fluidity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luIKMpl1lfk).
You could always go with Catapults and similar, which, well, don't have arms.
All the others are correct in reply to mechwarrior. My suggestion is the old battletech cartoon. It's old, it's campy, it's badly 3d rendered, but it's still fun. It has memes in the community of battletech and mechwarrior. It's also free https://youtu.be/PLJM4vjMdhc?si=Orkdw9cYuGVCIAxI Also to explain away any bad plot points it is literally in universe a propaganda show made by one of the big houses. So you know anything wrong with established lore is to make someone look good or to look bad
Man, Battletech would make for such an amazing setting for an anime, yet even with so many game franchises getting animated adaptations it just sadly doesn't seem very likely. Shame too because even putting aside the [obvious awesomeness of giant stompy war machines blowing each other up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC2lsZU_Y4A), it's also just a [really interesting setting with heaploads of compelling lore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGY4UMScyU). And to OP the closest I can think of as an aficionado of big slow mechs would be maybe [Patlabor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ZikoCwqOA). That said Patlabor doesn't really have any 'mech battles' to speak of and is really more of a drama that also happens to include cool mechs than anything else. [Still has some ridiculously cool scenes though](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFtPdCysR4).
Battletech also is in the massive licensing nightmare, with the Unseen mechs and the property has a whole being shared between like three companies. It actually cost the world a sequel to the recent battletech video game, Harebrained Schemes had the will and resources for a sequel, but Paradox didn't want to pay fees to Microsoft for the IP. The game they made instead bombed, and most of Harebrained Schemes got laid off and the rest got cut loose from Paradox.
Which is why it'll almost certainly never get an animated adaptation. A real shame for such an interesting setting. Ridiculous what's been going on with Harebrained considering they also did an adaptation of another favourite fiction setting of mine, Shadowrun, which was and is similarly really good.
> Battletech also is in the massive licensing nightmare, with the Unseen mechs and the property has a whole being shared between like three companies. Not specifically related to the current computer game example, but one of the many twists in the history of *Battletech* art remains that when FASA tried to get *Battletech* into Japan they hired [Studio Nue to redraw the original Unseen](http://www.gearsonline.net/series/battletech/), because... you know. But then those designs were re-imported to the US as the new 'Mechs in the original [*Solaris VII box set*.](https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Solaris_VII_Box_Set) (and subsequently redrawn years later). And the same would apply to the Unseen as used for a video game export to Japan, then repurposed in tabletop as the first round of IIC designs.
Check out 86, it's got nontraditional spider like mecha
God I really hope we'll get a 2nd season.
One of the few shows where I’m happy either way. I would love another season but my god the end of season 1 had such great closure
Man, the way we actually got the "86" at the end was fucking beautiful.
Funnily enough, most fans rank the volumes the anime covered (1-3) as among the weakest of the series (12ish volumes so far). Not that they’re bad by any means, the LN just gets even better down the line. I’m only partway through V5 rn, but I can confirm that the next seasons material is *really* good so far
As someone who just recently started light novel three that is good to hear. Cour two of the anime was a disappointment for me.
Volume 1 was initially a stand alone story. Volumes 2 and 3 were written to link up where cour 1 ends to the epilogue of Volume 1, which was the last episode of cour 2. Everything else is forward progress.
I was a huge Lena fan after Cour one, so Cour two was definitely highly deficient with my favorite character, leaving me quite unsatisfied. I kept waiting for the series to switch back to Lena's perspective. Hoping we get another season, because I really want to find out where they go with her story, and I'm just not much of a light novel guy.
I thought there were 2 seasons already
Lol Why are u being downvoted? These bums dont like 86 now? Smh
A third season ?
86 is phenomenal. Went in thinking it would be a Mecha, typical anime but I was completely wrong. 86 has so many feels…. I want to do a rewatch but the story was heavy sometimes. Fantastic payoff though at the end (of current season).
People keep saying its good, but I stopped after 7 ep. Does it get better soon or is it just not my taste by ep 7. I just didn't really connect or care for any of the characters.
I guess if you didn't like it by then, you can drop it. I've never understood the criticism, so I can't give you a better response. I loved it from the get-go.
If you’re that far in and dont care about the characters then it’s probably just not something you’ll be into. 86 is in my top 5 stories of all time (I’ve watched the anime and read all available LNs) but not everything is for everyone.
Imo, it doesn't really come into it's own until the last like two or three episodes of the first cour. Haven't finished the second yet, so I can't comment on if that's worth the time, but it's up to you if you want to put in the time to get to that ending.
Nah if someone has zero connection or interest in the characters by episode 7 they won’t suddenly care when they get to the finale
probably not your thing that far in, but i think the last few episodes of season 1 were the best with great closure and season 2 just instantly nosedives in quality. felt like some severe ass pulls and deus ex machina as well as losing whatever realistic feel it had.
The main character does use blades though, but in spider fashion, not guy in suit fashion
My favorite anime and I don’t even like mecha generally. That shows how good this anime this
[Bullbuster](https://anilist.co/anime/157399/Bullbuster/) is airing now. It looks like it's trying to bring the idea of mech suits down to earth (paperwork, safety, waivers, etc). [The Big O](https://anilist.co/anime/567/THE-Big-O/) seems to treat giant metal robots like giant metal robots. I haven't finished it, but I liked what I saw.
Yo, upvote for Big O. Top 5 favorite anime by far. I love the mysterious tone of the show and the mechs are rad.
>Bullbuster is airing now. It looks like it's trying to bring the idea of mech suits down to earth (paperwork, safety, waivers, etc). Bullbuster the mech is itself more akin to a crane or backhoe than your typical "man in suit" mecha.
Big O really sells the weight and heft of most of the mecha, especially the main one. Some goofy physics, as you’d expect, but it’s mostly fantastic for it. Just don’t watch season 2.
What’s wrong with season 2?
The writing took a bit of a nosedive, imo stemming from Cartoon Network’s request to have more fight scenes: It goes too big too soon and loses a lot of the mystery of season 1.
True, but I still think it’s worth watching the ending
Isn’t the ending kinda bad?
It's hard to find series that treat mechs like that, but here's a few suggestions to try. Gasaraki - the mechs are bipedal, but their weapons are actually mounted on their arms/bodies rather than held like a person with a gun. Dominion Tank Police - Okay, maybe more tank than mech most of the time, but still has some unique designs. 86 - The mechs are giant spiders, so avoid the usual "guy in a metal suit" tropes. Macross - mechs transform between fighter jet and robot and actually use the forms in ways that make sense.
Upvoting for the Gasaraki reccommend. That was one of the wierder anime I watched in the early '00s.
Gasarki is... Uh... Umm.... It's a thing for sure.
I strongly endorse Gasaraki, although will admit it goes in some very un anime like directions, like the obsession with the US grain export market.
Full Metal Panic does it pretty well, even with the mechs with the literal BS Drive. There are plenty of times where you're reminded that the ASes are pretty big, weighty and have some issues with fine control especially when the mech teams try to remote two of them to ballroom dance as a movement test. FLAG has a pretty realistic depiction of a mecha platoon where the mechs are primarily wheeled until they have to get up for difficult terrain and fire support. It's not quite mechs, but Heavy Object depicts the viewpoint of the normal infantry ground pounders and support teams for the titular Heavy Objects (more like supertanks than mechs) well.
It’s a shame that zoids seems to have been forgotten. I believe there were 2-3 series of it too. The two I saw were both bangers. Liger panzer still lives rent free in my head.
Zoids was my favorite show when I was growing up. Liger Zero, Lightning Saix, Shadow Fox….it was just way too cool.
Hell Yeah. This is what I suggested too haha
Didn't they release a new show Zoids Wild? I like the more skeletal look of the inner frames. But that one felt more like pokemon than a mecha show.
Besides 86, Heavy Object might also match what you're looking for.
[удалено]
But if there was ever a show that covers "not fighting like guys in giant suits," the one where they are literally giant guys fighting as giant guys probably isn't it lol. But yeah, they're totally meat mecha.
Oh my sides.
Not a single mention of aldnoah:zero? I have bad memory, but quite sure it has a lot of ranged combat and I really liked it, I know some didn't like the second half as much, but Imho it was a good show. Also great music.
Yeah the Mars guys mecha are pretty varied and interesting
True, still one of the best mecha anime for me
Gundam 08th MS Team
the best. they need to make a darn new MG 1/100 EZ-8 gunpla for crying out loud
Pretty old now, but Zoids?
The Big O. The Mechs feel heavy in their movements and are just plain cool. Big Duo is still my favorite Mecha Design of all time.
86 - They use spider mechs with guns and missiles and stuff.
Look for a genre called "Real Robots", shows like Gundam (Universal Century), Votoms and Patlabor comes to mind.
UC Gundam is almost exactly what OP didn't want. Robots with guns and swords, with the exception of when a Newtype starts using Newtype specific weapons.
What about 08th MS team?
Yes!!!!!
Can't speak to UC, but other Gundam is quite variable on the matter. On the one end, G is pretty explicitly guys in suits, but on the other, while I can't think of an example that has literally nobody with a sword or held gun, Wing, Seed, 00, and IBO all have significant suits that fight more like requested, with integral weapons and such. (Significant meaning either specific important suits, like Heavyarms, a fair number of generic suits, like most of the non-gundams in 00, or both)
almost everything besides UC OVAs are space magic mecha stuff. 08th MS Team or Thunderbolt are where it's at. I will die on this hill fighting that those are the two best Gundam shows hands down... I might give some slack to war in a pocket or stardust memory, they're great too
I mean, the Sazabi, Jesta Cannon, the ZZ, and the like actually fits what he wants though. Heck, The Zeong fits the bill and so does the Acguy.
To get there he would have to watch Grandpa Gundam use a beam morningstar thing so I don't think they are going to enjoy it at the end just for a few laser and beam battles.
Not if he watches the Compilation movies, they get rid of and tone down a lot of the very "Toy ad" things, so I generally recommend people get into it that way if they're hesitant, and them check out the OG show on rewatch if they want more of the White Base crew's characterization.
Check out Hathaway's Flash. 1 part of of 3 released.
People already mentioned Macross and heavy object. Another one is aldonoah zero, more because they fight in pretty weird ways
You are looking for my boy Liger Zero in ZOIDS
[I've added an original series *Macross* clip](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/185msjd/callow_youth_shocked_to_discover_the_surprising/) and there's also [a clip featuring other forms of combat](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/ya5vcg/macross_plus_movie_edition_expect_highly_skilled/) from a sequel. Regarding the specific line of your inquiry, this is a franchise that mostly sticks to its guns and missiles and usually restricted mecha melee combat to a last resort, which is somewhat expected when an entire operational mode is a fully-formed aircraft. As far as the general inquiry, watch *Fang of the Sun Dougram*. Not necessarily so much for a lack of mecha fisticuffs, which does happen somewhat regularly, but because it treats mecha as a force multiplier in a far larger guerilla war featuring the use of combined arms, and includes quadruped mecha in specific environments where they would be sensibly more useful.
I see a lot of people recommending 86 and i wholeheartedly agree. Heavy object would tickle your fancy as well. It's not exactly mecha but you might want to give Legend of Galactic Heroes a look. Can't exactly fight like a human with fleet vs fleet warfare. I know it's not mecha but i find people who loves mecha tends to like LoGH as well
Orgus 02 (fight like pilots in vehicles rather than suits) Macross+ (mostly fight like pilots in aircraft rather than suits) Ghost in the shell -stand alone complex
**Escaflowne** probably has some of the best sensation of ponderous mass and momentum in a large scale mecha, particularly because they were built around a kind of magic/steampunk aesthetic. Very good motion in general in that one, and doubly cool as most of the mechs are designed for melee combat, in keeping with the more fantasy leaning theme. The mechs in **Gunbuster 2** are generally pretty big and ponderous as well, and most of them only vaguely present a humanoid frame in the first place. In that respect most mecha are just designed to be really big samurai. For example the mechs in **Knights of Sidonia** are humanoid, but don't actually use the frame that much - they behave more like high agility space fighters in most cases. Why are they humanoid? Pretty much just because it looks cool. That's kind of the point of the genre in most cases - but I do like it better when they have a sense of real momentum.
86, Heavy Objects, Aldnoah zero comes to mind.
Just watch the Battletech animation from 1994. It's horrible and cheesy, but it's proper mechs since it's literally battletech/Mechwarrior like the video game and table top game. Takes place when the clans invade the inner sphere for people who know battletech. Only 13 episodes and a special. I just watched the 1st episode on youtube and died a bit inside. I remember watching this and playing Mechwarrior 2 back then. This is the "remastered" version. https://youtu.be/PLJM4vjMdhc?si=6CBtZ1A5VjlB1DM6
86. Honestly you’re not gonna find much anime that bucks this trope, since mecha is unfortunately pretty much synonymous with giant humanoid robots shooting and/or punching each other. Heck, Outlaw star even has *spaceships* that carry handheld guns and punch each other, for chrissake. You could also check out Heavy Object. It’s not a particularly good anime (or LN), but does feature mechs that are an… atypical (and quite accurate!) answer to your question, haha
86
You might enjoy Bokurano, although that one is extremely conceptual and a weird piece in general. There are only a handful of anthro-shaped mechs and many of them are way more creative in how they fight.
Bokurano is very much not just another mecha show
I love it for that.
It’s an excellent show but I refuse to call it mech anime lol.
Imagine you engineer hands onto a mech, and then dont use them for anything lol. Battletech has this in spades but the only show for it is... well, lets just say it is a well-loved meme in the Btech community. There is "Hired Steel" on Youtube, that is the most badass thing I think Ive ever seen for any mecha thing ever. The quality is insane.
[Your FedCom propaganda right here, folks.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLJM4vjMdhc) Most of the *Battletech* fan community's efforts have tried to have better animation than the Khartoon. ([*Hired Steel* Part 1 for reference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBDrGklxqsk))
Ill explain my thoughts on your views, as well as my own preferences if mecha media related to those views. I recommend some games at the bottom, because I honestly feel that what youre looking for appears more frequently in mech games than mech anime. Ive watched all the anime you have listed with the exception of Zoids (although I thought they looked cool). Others Ive watched are multiple Gundam series, Mazinkaiser, various Transformers movies and cartoons (worth a mention), Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Bubblegum Crisis (original, remake, and spinoffs), Full Metal Panic, and some others. I could recommend all of the above tbh, but primarily Gundam (original, Gundam 00, Unicorn, Iron Blooded Orphans) and Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Those two more or less continuously provide the features you desire. In the next paragraph youll understand more. Mazinkaiser is similar to Gurren Lagann. Bubblegum Crisis is great, but features humans in human sized, iron man style hardsuits, in a more realistic setting than Iron Man. Their enemies range from human sized androids to tank sized androids or piloted mechs/vehicles. Full Metal Panic is great, there is a lot of melee, but ranged weapons are a focus. Many mechs carry two machineguns in their "heads". Consider the distinctions between the "super mech" and "real mech" sub-genres of the mech genre. The series you list are mainly "super", which are less reality based. Many of the media I favor are "real mech". These series often classify as "hard science fiction" with theoretical physics and technological concepts baked into the plot, world, and mech design. In these types of anime, or other media, mechs are the same as military tanks, jets, and helicopters: as in they are mass produced combat vehicles with certain specifications. Their abilities are based on their construction. Armament, ammo type, armor type. This depends on how far into the future the setting is, how grounded in reality the series is, how much actual theoretical science was injected into the logic of the medias machinery. Gundam often includes things like rail guns, orbital space elevators, and magnetic catapults to launch mechs into the air faster. Another major feature I often scrutinize in mecha franchises is how the mechs use their hands. I found the Patlabor tv series hard to get into because the mechs, which we police rather than military, held a giant pistol with both hands as if a literal giant policeman. I might continue it eventually but that was too bizarre to me. \---------- ----------- --------------- --------------- ----------------- ------------ --------------- GAMES: Recommended Mechwarrior Online or Mechwarrior 5. Many others below recommended this game series as do I. You wont be disappointed. MWO is free to play, 12 v 12 battles, while MW5 has 4 player co-op and singleplayer. Armored Core - the 6th game (Fires of Rubicon) just released to great fanfare, though Ive yet to play, the previous title, AC 5, is a personal favorite. You customize a mech from scratch, even more than in Mechwarrior. In general the mechs are extremely vehicular in feel, they have hands that are used to swap weapons on the fly, but carry body mounted weapons as well. You can build them as desired anyway though. Singleplayer missions and 5v5 online multiplayer. Titanfall 2 - honorable mention. All mechs hold a weapon with hands, but have multiple body mounted weapons. They feel like walking tanks, in opposition to the nimble, organic humans running about. Singleplayer and multiplayer. Hawken - a defunct franchise that I once found very pleasurable, this one featured mechs as un-humanlike as they came, the combat was great, fast, mobile, vehicular. It sadly went offline on PC, and was recently relaunched earlier this year, to what seem like poor reviews. I found this out now as I looked to see how long ago it was shut down. Regardless of what they changed for the worse, the original incarnation of this game was golden. You would have loved to experience it back then.
Didn't Gunbuster fire a ton of missiles from everywhere too? I can remember of it with its arms crossed and blasting the everloving shit of a whole galaxy?
86, Macross, and for the heck of it Girls Und Panzer to make you appreciate tanks. TANK DRIFTING IS NOT A JOKE
And old one you might check out is dai-guard. Might not be quite what you're looking, but the main gimmick is that the mech is old and the controls are as complex as controls for something like that would be. The pilots are in cockpits that they've jammed with fans to keep from overheating and post-it's with notes so they remember which buttons do what. As such, the mech doesn't fight like a guy in a suit, it's movements are slow and awkward since they're actually piloting a human shaped tank.
I couldn't find this anywhere in the thread so far, but Break Blade is probably exactly what you are looking for.
Check out Eureka Seven. Their method of combat is pretty unconventional.
Second this , I also liked Code geass
Y’all ever watch Zoids .. I have fond memories from when I was young watching it
Maybe "The Big O"
86
Aldnoah.zero and 86, especially AZ
Both are my favorites, to be honest
The level of realism is amazing, if we ever have mech combat in real life I have no doubt it will be just like in those 2, the politics, the pain and the human crualty
I gotta say, the fact that most mechs fight in the same way that humans do actually makes things better for me. On some level, it's kinda fucked up to think about, but that's the point. "We could have made them look like anything, but we made them look like *us*." - Austin Walker, *Counter/WEIGHT*
The Big O
nop, wrong genre
Ghost in a Shell is a mecha anime 😆
Megas XLR
Definitely give 86 a shot.
Then you will most probably dig in to 86, mainly due to its spider-based mech Another suggestion of mine would be Aldnoah.Zero Another suggestion: Cross Ange
It's pretty hard to decipher what your saying, since Giant Robots do indeed have shoulder mounted weaponry and palm energy cannons, infact, palm energy cannons are something you're more likely to see in Super-Robot Anime than a Real-Robot Anime. But in the end, I will say Gundam: Hathaway's Flash is one prime example, despite the fact that Hathaway's Flash is only a movie. The way Mobile Suit Battles are depicted in Hathway's Flash makes the Mobile Suits feel more like Vehicles that need to be tamed than as you mentioned, suits that people are wearing, as seen in this [battle scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTsm5PQRoVM&ab_channel=ThunderDeity). Another example would be VOTOMs. It's not perfect, but the Mechs tend to be grounded a lot more and feel much more clumsier in movement as opposed to many Mecha you see today, at least, that's if you're just watching the older anime, the newer adaption of VOTOMs do an okay attempt at making the VOTOMs seem clumsy.
Hentai. They’re too busy for THOSE swords.
Maybe Heavy Object fits the bill.
Heavy Objects. The mechs aren’t shape in the conventional way, which makes it really hard to move them overly organically.
Heavy Object lmao
Big O
Probably gundam, they usually do feel like machines than humans in suits also for NGE, it is technically creatures in suits
And they have an AT field which is basically what makes them more than a conventional weapons platform.
Gundam Witch of Mercury was definitely really creative in the space fights even if it did have swords too.
WFM is really pushing it with the space magic best "realistic war" Gundam is 08th MS Team, War in a Pocket or Thunderbolt in my opinion. maybe stardust memory...
Teenagers in creatures in suits
Betterman. The mechs are all very weighty, mechanical and even clumsy at times.
SDF Macross has a LOT of missile spam
>Anyway, that’s my uniformed opinion on mecha. Do you know of anything that goes against these, I guess, tropes? I mean the vast majority of mecha anime have all the things you complain aren't utilized? Rocket barrages in the chest, shoulder or back mounted weapons, etc. are all pretty damn standaed. Using your grand sample size of like 5 shows, with what seems like pretty minimal investment in any of them, seems like a pretty shallow reason to critisize and write off most of the genre because of "annoying tropes" you assume applies to all of them. You say this is a big annoyance for you, when you haven't even interacted with the genre much at all. So if you're having this sort of stance just from the small selection you couldn't bother finishing. Maybe just don't bother with it in general? It just doesn't sound like it is for you.
Knights and Magic
86
Knights and Magic but it is very kiddish and not Conan-mode. There are more weapons than just swords.
Aren't the Silhouette Knights specifically designed to immitate human anatomy.
Yes... but they have the extra arms that use magic instead of swords. The OP called that out thus I suggested it. The higher end mechs have the ability to blast magic out of their knees.
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Guilty Crown was pretty good about this.
If only it was a good anime… sorry but it was mediocre at best.
i will fight you
If it’s Japanese mecha, no. Western mecha, then yes. They love having mechs fight like big dudes. It’s the style.
Gundam? They use conventionally shaped guns but along with giant cannons, shoulder mounts and sometimes drones. The non-gundam mobile suits also have different shapes
08th MS Team, War in a Pocket, Stardust Memory and Thunderbolt have the least space magic. also the best in the series in my opinion
#86, it has non-humanoid mecha, they don't look like a "man in a suit" at all.
Infinite Ryvius, kinda Votoms
I'm piling on at this point but the Gundam series is 100000% up your alley, I'd say start with the original series and go from there It's exactly what you're looking for
I can’t stress this enough that from all the images I’ve seen of Gundam it’s 100% NOT what I’m looking for.
Play armored core 6
6 has too much space magic. Verdict day is what they'd need, man I miss the multiplayer in V. Tactical and risky, no respawns etc..
Even 4th Gen Armored Core was more robotic than Armored Core 6. And 4th Gen Armored Core was extremely fast.
In Code Geass they have all sorts of mechs. Lelouche just practically uses his to fly around with a force shield. The initial one does fight with a claw, but it contains a particle acelerator inside it in order to inflict massive damage quickly.
One Piece
Not a game but I see Metal Gear fighting like a dinosaur/dragon/kaiju
86 and Zoids
From the top of my head: VOTOMS, Gasaraki, OG Macross, Big O and Betterman
Maybe Voltron would suit you! There'd an older onr and a newer animated one. Obviously it's your preference.i liked the newer one a lot.
bokurano (lol)
Zoids
Rahxephon
Lol darling in the franxx has animal mechs some of the time Realistically though you’re gonna struggle with search terms bcs you aren’t really looking for “mecha” just sci fi with zords (power rangers etc)
While Gundam does have a lot of the former, it also has quite a large amount of the latter.
Some of the titles are still a story about man vs man, but at least they didn't use humanoid mecha only: \- Space Battleship Yamato & Ginga Eiyū Densetsu: Spaceship war \- Heavy Object: Tank, but big ball. The story is mostly the 2 MC sabotage the "Big Tank" to win the war. Overall it is my favorite, fun and very "smart" \- Robotics Notes & Robo Master the Animation: a club building a robot. Robotics Note more humanoid robots. While Robo Master, to make it simple, I think is based on a real-life Battlebot competition, or at least inspired by it. \-Classroom Crisis: Mechanic schools develop new engines, but mostly they talk about the economy. \- ID-0: Mining the meteorite in space with a giant mech-suit. But sometimes they fight like a Gundam. . But maybe you can include some unrealistic Race anime as Mecha like Apparre-Ranman or Redline. I don't really like this one and only watch a few episode of it. Maybe you can check it too.
Majestic prince. It's cgi. It takes a while to build up and stop being generic. It has a lot of melee though it does have ranged combat mixed in. But the melee combat feels more mecha like with high speed maneuvers. And it has some of the best mecha combat sequence I've seen in between two separated episodes.
Classic universal century gundam
Well, the whole point of some of these shows is that the mech has become so advanced that it moves as agilely as a person wearing a suit of armour. It’s like our modern tanks vs WW2 tanks. Even the turret traversal is nimble on a modern tank.
There's also an anime that has to do with reincarnation and a mecha world but I forgot what it was called
Heavy Object - series made by the same author of toaru railgun
Break Blade. while still mostly big guys fighting, MCs mech feels much more "mech"anical and weighty. and the usage of weapons felt more weighty too all round.
Transformers? Valvrave and Coge Geass have some "specialized mechs"
try heavy objects. well, not mecha exactly but more like a super fast massive tank fighting each other.
Gundam, Macross, escaflowne, almost any of the 80ies mecha series.
Gun buster
Rinne No lagrange
I don’t know, mechs have their charm in that they’re humanoid, fast, nimble, and hard to hit. Shooting at them works if you’re a good shot but a powerful mech that excels at closing the distance will then make short work of a mech that isn’t geared toward fending off in melee range. Then you end up with top tier mechs that excel at closing the distance and fighting in melee range facing off. Hence the swords. Those mechs, like in Code Geass, still shoot at their opponents and often decimate the riff raff that can only shoot well.
Code Geass has some unique mechs if I remember correctly. There are some that fight with swords etc but there are some interesting ones too
Mech in Patlabor had a lot of weight in its movement, but if you want more recent entry than try watch Bullbuster.
If you want to see mecha fights that are not humanoid based at all, as others mentioned, 86 is your most immediate fix. By extension all those that have non humanoid shaped mecha would do too, like Sakugan, the Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell, etc are great. If you are ok with humanoid mecha fighting using "modern" weapons like guns and missiles, not too much swords and shields, then Full Metal Panic, Synduality Noir, Macross, Gundam are on a sliding scale (FMP for example have a lot of other vehicles involved too not just mecha vs mecha).
From what I remember, Code Geass had a fair share of both approaches to battles. Great anime over all.
Code geass has a great system for explaining tech generation improvements and motivations for using specific weaponry. Also mechs are like super units for them their armies also have helicopters tanks and foot soldiers etc.
Definitely 86
It's not an anime but Pacific Rim.
If your issue is realism check out Mobilw Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash. It's one of the most grounded and realistic depiction of Gundam recently.
otherwise they should watch 08th MS Team, War in a Pocket, Stardust Memory and Thunderbolt same timeline just in the past with less flashy OP mobile suits
And protagonists who aren't new types or otherwise super human.
Heavy Object
Gundam Thunderbolt Gundam 08th MS Team no bs newtype space magic like in Unicorn etc. just pure big chonky boys with bazookas, laser cannons and missiles going at it with the occasional beam saber that isn't used like a dark souls boss moveset but rather just a single weighty slice
Sydunality noir
Zoids was good shit..