Hi all, I came back to anime after a long hiatus thanks to Witch from Mercury.
Since then, I've watched a bunch of anime - including many masterpieces - but nothing could scratch that itch like a Gundam series could.
So now I'm look for more Gundam shows to watch.
It doesn't have to be Gundam exactly (or even anime!). As long as it shares the main features, I would consider it to be Gundam.
From what I observed, the following themes are essential to Gundam series:
War - To be specific, it shows how war is bad, and that nobody truly wins in a war.
Child soldiers - Usually forced to fight, or manipulated into fighting (by people who would usually get revealed to be the real villains later).
Politics - What started the war, or kept the war going. The politicians tend to be the ones manipulating others.
Tragedy - In war, people are obviously going to die. Personally I would prefer if the main cast gets a happy ending though.
Discrimination - It can be discrimination over race, class, etc.
"Mecha" - I am using the term mecha loosely here, because it doesn't really have to be a robot that's piloted. It can simply be some kind of enhancement or weapon of war, or something symbolic.
Other themes that I have noticed are common but not really essential include:
romance subplot - Looks like in war, love gives people hope, as well as the drive to keep on living.
dystopian setting - It could be the lasting effect of previous wars, or the consequences of politics.
Finally, these are not really themes, but I've noticed these trends:
- the protagonist tends to not fit in with their society
- there's usually an ensemble cast; would likely be the protagonist's found family
- the protagonist's team tend to switch sides in the later stage of the show to fight against the true villains
- the mechas would progressively get upgraded over the course of the show
- usage of WMD (e.g. a giant laser beam)
- there's someone - usually a villain - whose face is hidden, usually with a mask (i.e. Char clone)
- there's a princess character whose hair color stands out from the rest of the cast; usually serves as the love interest of the protagonist
To avoid overlaps, here are the Gundam-like series that I have watched / plan to watch.
Watched:
Planning to watch (based on hearsay about their similarity to Gundam):
These are the Gundam series that I have watched:
- Witch from Mercury
- Gundam SEED
- Gundam 00
- Iron Blooded Orphans (season 1 only)
- After War Gundam X
- 08th MS Team
And these are the ones I'm planning to watch at the moment:
Thanks in advance for the recommendations.
Probably unexpected suggestions, but these anime totally fit your criteria:
Guilty Crown is hitting a lot of the themes you've spoken of, but perhaps not in the ways you'd expect. It's not particularly a "mecha" anime but as you say, there's a macguffin that serves as a similar driving force of much of the spectacle and combat sequences.
Kill La Kill comes from the same studio as Gurren Lagann so it's no surprise that it kinda strikes a lot of the same chords, but here the mechas are replaced with.... getting naked? no wait come back i swear-
And, I'd be lacking if I didn't recommend this even though it's not anime:
RWBY is an excellent show - give the animation time, it gets better very fast. Season 1 flies by with short episodes so you don't really have to deal with the lower animation quality for very long. The writing is splendind, the music is outstanding, and it strikes every note you've mentioned. I feel deep, deep feelings for the cast of characters, and I have no doubt you will too.
Man I tried Guilty Crown after completing the legendary Code Geass series. And.....it didn't grab me...in fact I felt...bored. Does it get better?
It has been 9 years since I watched it, but eh... IMO it became a complete trainwreck halfway through. A key character unexpectedly does a full 180° personality switch. Plot elements do not get explained properly. But at least audiovisually the show is a treat.
Oh boy. Does it at least have an ending?
I think it has a definitive ending. Not going to watch it again to confirm though.
Oof. That bad huh. Hopefully not as bad as what happened with Aldnoah.Zero
Sounds like they will be lower in my MAL page
Honestly I can understand why you were underwhelmed coming off the back of code geass. (Funnily enough, I did the opposite - guilty crown into code geass and I found myself bored in code geass. They might just be too close thematically and our brains get fatigued)
I'd say that it definitely gets better, there's a good bit of ground work that needs to be done in the first few episodes to establish characters and motivations and such.
Thanks for that..I may give it a try again
Thanks for the non-anime
You're welcome! There is an anime spinoff but I can't vouch for it as I haven't watched it yet