A wealth of anime streaming services have made new material more accessible than ever before. Certain trends have taken over the modern slate of anime series while there are also other staples and genres that remain perennially popular.
The epic action that’s possible with the giant robots and monsters that populate mecha anime has been a mainstay of the medium. Mecha anime are a great place to experience exaggerated battles between incredible technology, but they can also be conduits for provoking storytelling and tragic melodrama.
10 A Depressed Mecha Pilot Stands Between Ultimate Armageddon
Neon Genesis Evangelion
'Neon Genesis Evangelion has gained a totemic reputation as one of the greatest and most challenging anime series of all-time, mecha or otherwise. One of the reasons that Evangelion is such a successful, surprising mecha subversion is that it’s not until half-way through the series that its haunting, depressing true colors come forward.
The mecha anime continues to chronicle NERV’s efforts to use their Evangelion to defeat the kaiju-like Angels to prevent an apocalypse. However, standard action slowly takes a backseat to gripping existential questions of identity and depression. Shinji Ikari is Evangelion’s flawed, tortured protagonist, but every character in the series has a certain tragedy to them.
9 Child Soldiers Must Overcome Impossible Odds
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has been informing the mecha genre for more than four decades and it's established a diverse universe in this time. In Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Mikazuki Augus leads a team of abandoned child soldiers who are forced to fight for their futures and turn themselves into a scrappy military unit.
There's a true sense of camaraderie between these rejected child warriors and Iron-Blooded Orphans reaches devastating places once the casualties begin to mount. Most Gundam series feature a war that's cast against complex political turmoil and Iron-Blooded Orphans is no different as relations between Mars and Earth intensify.
8 Disposable Pilots Are Pushed Into An Emotional Situation
Darling In The FranXX
2018’s Darling in the FranXX begins in inherently dark territory since its ten mecha pilots are artificial creations who exist for the express purpose of wielding the Franxx to defend humanity. Darling in the FranXX looks at questions of codependency right from the start, especially between Hiro and Zero Two, who become increasingly close as this mecha experiment continues.
The mecha anime has many grand points to make, wherein humans are expendable tools and a means to an end. The conclusion to Darling in the FranXX is particularly bittersweet and controversial.
7 Man’s Use Of Machines Prompts Them To Explore The Origins Of Existence
Brain Powerd
Brain Powerd is a mecha anime that often goes overlooked and in many ways it feels like Yushiyuki Tomino's version of Neon Genesis Evangelion and other mecha series that are more character-driven and interested in questions surrounding creation as opposed to exaggerated action.
In Brain Powerd, a future version of Earth is ravaged by natural disasters that are the result of an alien spacecraft that will simultaneously destroy Earth if it were to leave. Survivors known as Reclaimers make use of organic mecha suits that bring them closer to salvation. However, this pursuit also enlightens them regarding their people's origins and the nature of all things.
6 A Coming Of Age Mecha Story That Doesn’t Hold Back
RahXephon
RahXephon is a 2000s mecha series that frequently flies under the radar despite the ambitious story that it presents to its audience. Ayato Kamina is a teenager who lacks direction and motivation in life, which suddenly changes after he discovers the RahXephon mecha.
Kamina's trajectory into a reluctant hero is par for the course as far as mecha series are concerned, but RahXephon doesn't hold back when it comes to its protagonist's empty existence. Kamina's internal conflicts are juxtaposed against brutal battles throughout Tokyo. It's chaos from top to bottom.
5 Fan Fiction Comes To Life As The Ultimate Otaku Weaves A Supreme Story
Re:Creators
Re:Creators presents an incredibly modern take on both mecha and isekai series when prominent fictional characters from anime, manga, video games, and action figures are suddenly willed into the real world to participate in a war against a sinister threat.
A high school student who's a massive fan of these characters and their respective series becomes the leader to these diverse warriors. Re:Creators delivers on city-wide battles and mecha destruction. However, it's also an insightful deconstruction of fandom, being a part of a community, and forging one's own identity.
4 A Nihilistic World Exacerbates The Bond Between Man And Machine
Ergo Proxy
Ergo Proxy is a bleak mecha series that's set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology's limitless comforts suddenly begin to become a liability instead of a luxury. A virus triggers society's trusted androids to gain sentience and rebel against humans.
A lot of science fiction and mecha series begin in a comparable place, but Re-I and her android partner begin to unravel a creepy conspiracy that highlights the true depravity of society. Not many anime are willing to go to the places that Ergo Proxy does.
3 Mecha Warriors Take On An Extraterrestrial Menace
Blue Gender
Blue Gender effortlessly blurs the lines between science fiction and horror in this dark mecha meditation. Humanity has been forced to flee Earth and take refuge in a space station after a deadly breed of aliens decide to make the planet their home.
Blue Gender properly paints a picture where humans feel like an endangered species and that they're outnumbered by the Blue. This ordeal is even more traumatic once it's contextualized through the eyes of Yuji Kaido, a displaced civilian who wakes up in this dystopia where nothing resembles the old world.
2 The Trials And Tribulations Of Mecha Training Are On Display
Gunbuster/Diebuster
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Gunbuster is a six-episode OVA series that's an early collaboration between Gainax and Hideaki Anno that in many ways feels like a dry run for what they'd later accomplish in Evangelion. A bitter war plays out between Earth and a vicious species of aliens where powerful mecha are the key to survival.
Gunbuster concludes in an epic war, but most of the series examines Noriko Takaya's grueling training process and the toll that this war has on her personal life. In the end she's left to look with what little she has and wonder if it's been worth it.
1 Mecha Technology Reaches Its Breaking Point For Society
Patlabor
Patlabor is a formative mecha series that begins to popularize the use of mechas in more industrial and practical settings beyond purely militaristic and police pursuits. Mamoru Oshii of Ghost in the Shell fame directs many of the Patlabor installments and the mecha franchise touches upon cautionary ideas that are present in most of Oshii's works, like an overreliance on technology and the dangers that accompany this attitude.
Patlabor asks questions over if and why society even needs mecha. This is not a discussion that most mecha series are willing to have.