Giant Robot Anime'

[Sephiroth]

Toonami's website had the whole patlabor series on it's website years ago (it had all of TONS of anime, from Lodoss Wars to Captain Harlock)

 

[Leroy]

Toonami reactor also had Star Blazers if I recall. One anime I can't recommend enough is Armored Trooper VOTOMS while not being what the op is looking for exactly, it's perhaps one of, if not the grittiest mech anime ever produced.

 

[zakkrusz]

I love Patlabor TV.

Yeah, pretty much anything Patlabor is great. It's good if you're looking for the more realistic kind of mechs. The kind that are actually treated as machines that aren't invincible and need to reload, and have scheduled maintainance like any vehicle. Blue Gender, Gasaraki, and Geneshaft are also good for that too.

 

[Leroy]

^ Speaking of Blue Gender, and Gasaraki, they have the same director as VOTOMS, Ryosuke Takahasi he also has a new one out called called FLAG although I haven't seen it.

 

[clint g]

I'm assuming you watched Evangelion? You might want to give the new Eva movie a shot. Maybe rahxephon as well. Full Metal Panic and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid are also awesome and sounds just like what you are looking for.

 

[zakkrusz]

The Full Metal Panic franchise is indeed great I agree. It's like Patlabor though in that it's pretty heavily infused with comedy, which I think is what he was looking to avoid, although is what I think makes the series extra good. The other half of it is some superb mecha action, however. I really hope we see another FMP series from Kyoto Animation in the future.

 

[clint g]

The Full Metal Panic franchise is indeed great I agree. It's like Patlabor though in that it's pretty heavily infused with comedy, which I think is what he was looking to avoid, although is what I think makes the series extra good. The other half of it is some superb mecha action, however. I really hope we see another FMP series from Kyoto Animation in the future.

While true, I think the action aspect outweighs the comedy enough to justify a viewing. Plus, if he just wants straight up drama then The Second Raid will be like the amazing icing on the cake for watching FMP lol

^ Speaking of Blue Gender, and Gasaraki, they have the same director as VOTOMS, Ryosuke Takahasi he also has a new one out called called FLAG although I haven't seen it.

FLAG is pretty good, but Ive only seen like the first 4 episodes. Its a pain in the neck tracking down the last 3 discs in stores :-(

 

[Chris227]

The Gundam series is pretty much a huge franchise. The Universal Century is probably the most pure in Gundam's original concept, but the animation of most of the shows is dated with a few exceptions. The basic setup is about mankind's movement into space colonization (Not of planets necesarilly but of orbiting O'neill style colonies) and their potential evolution into something more. It also started the move toward more realism in mecha shows, as the Gundam was more a tool than a superhero, although it still retains some elements of the super robot genre, most notably the color scheme.


The "Alternate Universe" Gundams take a different approach and are mostly recent. The basic story of earth vs. rebel space colonies is there, but gone through different genres-fighting/tournaments(G)Bishonen(Wing,00)post-apocalyptic(X) and steampunk (Turn A). The closest to the original concept is probably the Gundam Seed series, but even that takes some liberties.

 

[Roshi]

UFO Robo Grendizer!

 

[Meredith]

Gundam 00 is pretty cool though it should be re-named "Gundam: Let's torture Saji Crossroads some more just for the hell of it!"

 

[CorporalClegg]

Does Bokurano count? It's pretty huge. Though, I can't speak for the quality.

It's does have a great soundtrack, however.

Cuz, you know, Chiaki-san rocks the Casbah!

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

If you can dig a relentless riffing on the Giant Robot genre, check out Megas XLR. That show could not get any crazy awesome-er.

 

[FordSVT]

^ They are considered "real robots" since they operate more realistically since they require maintenance, can be damaged, and can run out of ammo. GaoGaiGar King fo Braves is an excellent example of the super robot genre very worth checking out.

The Big O required replacement parts and maintenance. There were a couple episodes where they showed the butler working on it.

For that matter, so did both Voltrons. Half the episodes featured characters tinkering with the lions and vehicles, and there were episodes that showed them terribly damaged in battle and having to be repaired. They also ran out of ammo or power all the bloody time.

 

[God Magnus]

I'll throw Gunbuster in as a fun anime that involved giant mecha.