Real Robot vs. Super Robot

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Drew K

New member
In this world of anime that we so dearly hold on to, there's always going to be mecha. But what's the best type of mecha show to you?

Is the Real Robot stories? The epic space tales of war and battle. Withe mecha that actually look like something that could one day really exist in the far future. Stories that are usually deep and meaningful with questions that may even challenge the viewer and sometimes don't even show a good or a bad side. Just people in a battle. Also, usually these robots get damaged a lot and sadness with death is always apparent in them. Basically, if they explain where a robot came from with science and they're not screaming out it's attack names, it's Real Robot. Examples are the Gundam franchise (minus 1 series in particular), Soukou no Strain, Nadesico, the Landmates from Appleseed, and Macross (again, minus 1 series in particular)

OR

Is it the Super Robots? The stories of HOT-BLOODED MANLINESS (with respect to Gunbuster ) as they fight the evil aliens that have come and screwed up their life on earth. The epic battles of robot crunching alien (or other robots') face with high tension and over-the-top attacks abundant. And of course, there's gotta be "Screaming the Attacks." That's a given. It must be in every Super Robot show somewhere. And if you hear the word "Gattai" anywhere in it, you just know something awesome is about to happen. (Also, most of these have "G" as a head letter. Not exactly sure why) Examples are the Mazinger series, G Gundam, GaoGaiGar, Gravion, Gunbuster, Space Runway Ideon and of course Super Sentai.

So what's your favorite?

(Out of curiosity, what do you guys classify Eureka Seven and Code Geass under? Both of those got very Super Robot as their series' went on)
 
I must have misunderstood the thread, i thought this was a "who would win in a real fight, a real robot or a super robot".

I went with real, due to the fact that one day, cars and public transportation will cease to exist due to the fact that everyone has 100 million dollars and can make use of the government "Cash for Zaku's" to trade in for a Gundam or Motoslave or any of the sort.

Models such as the GMC RGM-79 or Ford Zaku 2, and Toyota Motoslave or the Porsche MSZ-006 and much more will all be for everyones expense.

That, is a perfect world to me...
 
Wouldn't a Gundam actually be a Mazda, seeing how it was named for their RX-7?

Anyway, I love both, but in particular, I tend to like Real Robot settings with the presence of a machine that almost qualifies as a Super Robot, like the various Gundam series or Zone of the Enders.
 
I would prefer to call them hybriRAB, if you insist, but then again it's a fact that the entire mecha genre has rarely hesitated to blur the line between the two labels. To a large extent the difference lies mostly in the realm of later perceptions, which is fairly amusing.

That's why I have no real preference at this point in time, particularly because the distinction has always been a little bit arbitrary and wouldn't even exist without the artificial need to separate the two, in no small part due to the popular Super Robot Wars franchise.

In a gaming context the distinction between Real and Super is extremely convenient, but the actual history of mecha is rather telling.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam has always been presented as the first Real Robot show, but in reality it also had quite a few remaining Super Robot elements and it would be irrational to retroactively deny that structural heritage. It represented an important change, but not a complete separation from the past. Space Runaway Ideon could be a Super Robot show because the titular machine is incredibly powerful, but it still had quite a few Real Robot elements and a lot more in common with Tomino's own Gundam than with Mazinger Z. Where do you really draw the line when there are more hybriRAB than pureblooRAB in the genre to begin with? It's still a funny thought.

There weren't any Real Robot shows as we know them before 1979, but attempts to make Super Robot series darker, with compelling and (comparatively) more realistic stories, were definitely in place. I wouldn't claim to be an expert, but a few "missing links" such as Tomino's Zarabot 3 (see a very informative article here) and Tadao Nagahama's trilogy definitely existed.

After Gundam the 1980s saw a whole bunch of shows that were trying to be closer to the Real Robot ideal than anything Tomino ever directed, particularly Armored Trooper Votoms, but even then I don't think Super Robot elements ever fully disappeared.

Then came Neon Genesis Evangelion in the 1990s and it wasn't just a hybrid but also something that subverted the genre itself.

Today you can easily have Super Robot machines in a Real Robot setting and Real Robot machines in a Super Robot setting.

What can you really say about either situation, I wonder, when some aspects of a mecha series are "realistic" and others aren't?

In the end, the ideal Super Robot and the ideal Real Robot remain forever connected by a potentially infinite series of dots.
 
Just a quick question on this. What would you consider the fight ships from the Outlaw Star universe? Of course they are ships but when fighting, there were some mecha elements in the robot arms, weapons, and how the fights were that closer to mecha battles than those of ship to ship.
 
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