#madox

Are these shows for children? The merchandising says yes (and if you’re familiar with Transformers, you’re familiar with several of these properties). On the other hand, unlike Transformers, whose appeal seems to lie in what people wish the story was like, Japanese TV producers don’t seem to mind getting a little grown-up about their stories. Mobile Suit Gundam is literally World War 2 in space, with an invading space nation attacking Earth and driving a surviving crew of pseudo-Allied soldiers (and civilians) around the world. It’s a war story, with the expected level of angst and an interesting focus on environmental destruction. All the same, it’s full of giant robots, too. Sometimes they’re a bit goofy, but in some of the shows in the series, they feel about as real and well-used as tanks or fighter jets. Giant Gorg is another such show: made by many of the same artists, it takes a very different approach. It’s a show-in-a-bottle, with a child protagonist, and a much more cartoony conflict between a corporate military and the titular Gorg. Still, the TV networks here would have a hard time understanding its draw. The plot has almost the feel of a seventies sci-fi novel, except the lead is far more innocent. There’s no major focus on “saving the girl”, and no need to utterly destroy the alien antagonist. The alien’s motives are reasonable, and the only real enemy is the greedy corporation. You can't sell toys when you're the bad guy. Macross is another war show, but with a fun twist: the invading aliens are so regimented that they have forgotten cultural elements like music. Like Gundam, this show has a strong focus on its mechanical illustration (although perhaps a lower art budget). Transformers fans will find some familiar jets here, as well, since the toy lines are related. The connoisseur of Japanese giant robots will find many, many other shows or films of varying levels of realism: Vifam, Madox, Ideon. Not a lot of these shows have releases in the US, but you can read about them in magazines or sometimes online. You can also acquire tapes from the right sources, although they might be unsubtitled. Shows like this prove the argument that animation isn’t just an adult medium, but one that can provide grounds for artistic and creative expression that just don’t seem to happen in life-action movies (no offense to Robot Jox, which is fun if you like stop-motion). We’d like to see a live-action Macross or Gundam, but we’re not sure anyone would be up to that!