Contemporary Anime/Manga in the vein of Gundam/Macross?

[Daedalus12]

I also don't mind the 80s stuff, it's just that I've done that already. I don't remember any of it, but I'd like to check out the stuff I missed over the last 15 years.

I might start with Gundam 00 since it seems to be the thing right now and then sample from the suggestions. Thanks!

If that is the case then you should check out the Gundam Seed shows as they are remake (in the sense of BSG 2003) of UC (the old stuff) for the 21th century crowd. Tomino's last series Turn A Gundam is also a good bet.

00 is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the technical design of the show and maybe the combat choreograph are great but on the other hand the characterization on the show is flat and unimaginative. At certain points I think it's borderline schizophrenic or just bizarre. The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

 

[clint g]

I also don't mind the 80s stuff, it's just that I've done that already. I don't remember any of it, but I'd like to check out the stuff I missed over the last 15 years.

I might start with Gundam 00 since it seems to be the thing right now and then sample from the suggestions. Thanks!

If that is the case then you should check out the Gundam Seed shows as they are remake (in the sense of BSG 2003) of UC (the old stuff) for the 21th century crowd. Tomino's last series Turn A Gundam is also a good bet.

00 is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the technical design of the show and maybe the combat choreograph are great but on the other hand the characterization on the show is flat and unimaginative. At certain points I think it's borderline schizophrenic or just bizarre. The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

Yeah I sort of noticed that as well. It seemed as if with the first season they were trying to get away from alot of the Gundam cliche's and for the most part it worked. But then in the second season it seems as if they regressed.

 

[Leroy]

zakkrusz wrote:
Another good one looks to be Flag. I've been waiting for Bandai to release the collection for that and I was happy to discover a few days ago that it comes out in a few months.

Flag is also from Takahashi I've been meaning to check that one out at some point.

zakkrusz wrote:
Central Park Media snagged it back in 2000 or so I think and it's an older series from the '80s. The ones listed there are two more modern sequels to it I think.

CPM got it back in 2006 they released the whole series in 4 volumes plus collectors tin to hold them in. They did a great job with the picture and audio quality considering this is such a niche show, it's worth every penny. Right Stuf has them all in stock plus the tin. I'd say buy it while you can because CPM isn't doing so well.

Here are the links:
Stage 1 Uoodo City
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/sxphC-d3OGwTCGMN4d/browse/item/68690/4/0/0
Stage 2 Kummen Jungle Wars
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/sxphC-d3OGwTCGMN4d/browse/item/68888/4/0/0
Stage 3 Deadworld Sunsa
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/sxphC-d3OGwTCGMN4d/browse/item/69648/4/0/0
Stage 4 God PLanet Quent
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/sxphC-d3OGwTCGMN4d/browse/item/70165/4/0/0
the tin
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/sxphC-d3OGwTCGMN4d/browse/item/75730/4/0/0

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Well since nobody mentioned this one yet but you coul try Martian Successor Nadesico, though it's more of a comedy.

 

[Admiral2]

Oh, I saw someone mention Starship Operators and I got to say: so bad. 13 episodes of melodrama and boring hard science fiction. I don't know why I made it through that whole series, but damn do I regret wasting my time.

Something about it sucks you in like a black hole. I felt the same way you did after watching the first volume, But i actually like hard sci-fi, so I let myself get the next volume and got hooked.

 

[miraclefan]

00 is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the technical design of the show and maybe the combat choreograph are great but on the other hand the characterization on the show is flat and unimaginative. At certain points I think it's borderline schizophrenic or just bizarre. The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

^Thank you!! don't get me wrong, the show is beautiful ( and I'm not talking about the ''METROsexual'' pilots) but the show is just WEIRD and BIZARE at times! And the fact that they ''did'' fall back on Gundam cliches didn't help matters either I mean it was like I've already seen this show before, it was called GUNDAM WING!

 

[zakkrusz]

Something about it sucks you in like a black hole. I felt the same way you did after watching the first volume, But i actually like hard sci-fi, so I let myself get the next volume and got hooked.

The "underdog" aspect of the series really hooked me. Their ship is not always the powerhouse and they're often outnumbered but find ways to get around it with some brilliant tactical strategies. It also probabally helped that I bought all the discs at once and watched the whole thing in one sitting, marathon style. This is the best way to watch anything especially things like this that only ammount to about 3 and half hours of running time. I found it to be quite the edge-of-your-seat epic tale. I wouldn't say it's without flaws though.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, bit of an update, but I checked out the first few episodes of Code Geass and Macross Frontier. I like both, but I'm sort of reminded about the odd feeling I got when I played Valkyria Chronicles (which is also being adapted into an anime... small world ). Something about teenagers in war seems really strange. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm sure it's a cultural thing that I don't get.

I think clintg said that Macross Frontier had a lot of money put into it and it definitely shows. It's just beautiful to watch. Of course, the flip side is that it sort of makes Code Geass seem a little low budget.
Also, I may be pulling this out of my ass, but the character designs in Code Geass seem a little different to me, whereas the Macross characters look more "traditional".

As for the content itself... well, yay space/mech battles! You really can't mess those up!
Just two points... the main character in Code Geass seems like a big dick. Hopefully he doesn't act like some crazy mini-dictator over the whole series.
Second, there seems to be a lot of weird perverted stuff in Macross Frontier. I suppose it's just a form of comedy I'm just not familiar with - especially in cartoon form. But vibrating cellphone in the crotch? Seems a bit much.

I'll check out a couple episodes of Gundam 00 soon, but I really want to burn through Macross Frontier. It's just what I needed to get me out of my "everything on TV sucks" mood.

 

[Sephiroth]

^supposedly LeLouch does do that, but redeems himself in the finale

 

[Leroy]

Daedalus12 wrote:
The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

What do you mean by contemporary setting? The show takes place in the 24th century afterall, even with some cliches being used the show is still different.

miraclefan wrote:
And the fact that they ''did'' fall back on Gundam cliches didn't help matters either I mean it was like I've already seen this show before, it was called GUNDAM WING!

Similarities with Wing are superficial at best, sure you have the pretty boy pilots thing, but the Wing pilots wren't part of an organization like they are with 00, and you don't have new factions popping out of nowhere every arc.

firehawk12 wrote:
I'll check out a couple episodes of Gundam 00 soon, but I really want to burn through Macross Frontier. It's just what I needed to get me out of my "everything on TV sucks" mood.

I think the first arc of the show is kinda slow but it pays off at the end of season 1.

 

[clint g]

Well, bit of an update, but I checked out the first few episodes of Code Geass and Macross Frontier. I like both, but I'm sort of reminded about the odd feeling I got when I played Valkyria Chronicles (which is also being adapted into an anime... small world ). Something about teenagers in war seems really strange. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm sure it's a cultural thing that I don't get.

I think clintg said that Macross Frontier had a lot of money put into it and it definitely shows. It's just beautiful to watch. Of course, the flip side is that it sort of makes Code Geass seem a little low budget.
Also, I may be pulling this out of my ass, but the character designs in Code Geass seem a little different to me, whereas the Macross characters look more "traditional".

As for the content itself... well, yay space/mech battles! You really can't mess those up!
Just two points... the main character in Code Geass seems like a big dick. Hopefully he doesn't act like some crazy mini-dictator over the whole series.
Second, there seems to be a lot of weird perverted stuff in Macross Frontier. I suppose it's just a form of comedy I'm just not familiar with - especially in cartoon form. But vibrating cellphone in the crotch? Seems a bit much.

I'll check out a couple episodes of Gundam 00 soon, but I really want to burn through Macross Frontier. It's just what I needed to get me out of my "everything on TV sucks" mood.

Yeah, the Japanese seem to enjoy the perverted style comedy. The interesting thing is that compared to most shows Macross is pretty tame lol. But yeah, the reason why Code Geass's characters seem so weird is because theyre done by CLAMP, a group known for their bizarly designed characters. After a while though you wont even notice it

 

[Daedalus12]

What do you mean by contemporary setting?
The show takes place in the 24th century afterall,

I said "more contemporary setting". I meant in the sense that you can make clearer/stronger connections between the state of the current world and the world in 00. It matters not the exact date when the show takes place.

even with some cliches being used the show is still different.

Of course the show is different. It was fresh for a period in the latter half of the 1st season but now it feels like someone tossed all the gundam cliches into a randomizer and output of that randomizer is what we got. I feel there is a regression in the freshness from the 1st to the 2nd that is all.

 

[zakkrusz]

00 is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the technical design of the show and maybe the combat choreograph are great but on the other hand the characterization on the show is flat and unimaginative. At certain points I think it's borderline schizophrenic or just bizarre. The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

^Thank you!! don't get me wrong, the show is beautiful ( and I'm not talking about the ''METROsexual'' pilots) but the show is just WEIRD and BIZARE at times! And the fact that they ''did'' fall back on Gundam cliches didn't help matters either I mean it was like I've already seen this show before, it was called GUNDAM WING!

It wouldn't be Gundam without the themes, it'd be like taking space travel away from Star Trek.

...and Gundam 00 is nothing like Wing at all, it's better.

 

[miraclefan]

00 is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the technical design of the show and maybe the combat choreograph are great but on the other hand the characterization on the show is flat and unimaginative. At certain points I think it's borderline schizophrenic or just bizarre. The writers also brought back a lot of the old gundam cliches that I wish they hadn't. You know stuff like people undergoing rapid evolution, a blonde masked man, a giant energy beam of doom, etc. Those elements feel out of place in 00 because of its more contemporary setting.

^Thank you!! don't get me wrong, the show is beautiful ( and I'm not talking about the ''METROsexual'' pilots) but the show is just WEIRD and BIZARE at times! And the fact that they ''did'' fall back on Gundam cliches didn't help matters either I mean it was like I've already seen this show before, it was called GUNDAM WING!

It wouldn't be Gundam without the themes, it'd be like taking space travel away from Star Trek.

...and Gundam 00 is nothing like Wing at all, it's better.

^Good point.. but I still think G-WING was the BETTER show! but then again I haven't seen it since 05! So I may be wrong.

 

[clint g]

Having just re-watched Gundam Wing last month, I can safely say that Gundam 00 has alot less cheese than wing did. Some people like cheese though, so whatever floats your boat right? lol. I do see some places where there are similarities between Gundam Wing and 00 but for the most part I think it is a distinct enough show. The big problem with Gundam 00 though is that it sort of came out the gates running, did all sorts of awesome things in the first season and the just wasted it all towards the middle of the second season by falling in on some of the same old tricks. I mean did we really need another giant fricken outer space death star laser beam???

 

[miraclefan]

Having just re-watched Gundam Wing last month, I can safely say that Gundam 00 has alot less cheese than wing did. Some people like cheese though, so whatever floats your boat right? lol. I do see some places where there are similarities between Gundam Wing and 00 but for the most part I think it is a distinct enough show. The big problem with Gundam 00 though is that it sort of came out the gates running, did all sorts of awesome things in the first season and the just wasted it all towards the middle of the second season by falling in on some of the same old tricks. I mean did we really need another giant fricken outer space death star laser beam???

Oh lord see what I mean? Why can't they come up with some ''new'' weapon? you know, BESIDES the ( LAZZY BEAM ) Oh and I shuld say I am only at Ep 24 on G-00!

 

[Leroy]

Daedalus12 wrote:
I said "more contemporary setting". I meant in the sense that you can make clearer/stronger connections between the state of the current world and the world in 00. It matters not the exact date when the show takes place.

thanks for the clarification I suppose I could agree with that.

Daedalus12 wrote:
Of course the show is different. It was fresh for a period in the latter half of the 1st season but now it feels like someone tossed all the gundam cliches into a randomizer and output of that randomizer is what we got. I feel there is a regression in the freshness from the 1st to the 2nd that is all.

What I heard is that Japanese fans were complaining 00 didn't feel Gundam enough, so maybe the producers tossed in a lot of stuff to get them to be quiet?

miraclefan wrote:
Oh lord see what I mean? Why can't they come up with some ''new'' weapon? you know, BESIDES the ( LAZZY BEAM ) Oh and I shuld say I am only at Ep 24 on G-00!

Large energy weapons have been a staple from Yamato, to Gundam to Macross, I'm not sure what other super weapons they could do that would fit, if you wanna see different check out those man eating bug things from F-91.

 

[clint g]

Daedalus12 wrote:

miraclefan wrote:
Oh lord see what I mean? Why can't they come up with some ''new'' weapon? you know, BESIDES the ( LAZZY BEAM ) Oh and I shuld say I am only at Ep 24 on G-00!

Large energy weapons have been a staple from Yamato, to Gundam to Macross, I'm not sure what other super weapons they could do that would fit, if you wanna see different check out those man eating bug things from F-91.

Who says they need a giant super weapon though? War can be made dramatic without such devises and I thought Gundam 00 would have been better without it. After all its first season didn't need it and it would be nice to see Gundam work without that plot crutch.

 

[miraclefan]

Daedalus12 wrote:
Large energy weapons have been a staple from Yamato, to Gundam to Macross, I'm not sure what other super weapons they could do that would fit, if you wanna see different check out those man eating bug things from F-91.

Who says they need a giant super weapon though? War can be made dramatic without such devises and I thought Gundam 00 would have been better without it. After all its first season didn't need it and it would be nice to see Gundam work without that plot crutch.

^ I agree with that! we don't have giant lazzer ''MEGA-DETH CANNON'S'' and war is ''pretty'' dramatic & horrific without one! Oh! and what's this I hear about ''man eating bugs from (gundam) f-91''? that's the first time I'm hearing that!?

 

[zakkrusz]

F91 is a movie, part of the Universal Century Gundam verse. I thought it was pretty good. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be a much longer series but something happened with the budget. It's a shame, since it could have been better had it been expanded. As it stands the movie was enjoyable but feels a little compressed.

Best Gundam Super Weapon: Colony Drop