Category Archives: giant robots

Tomoyo…The Time Has Come to Demonstrate Our Power: Otakon 2023

Posted on by

At this point, Otakon is a given in my life. I have enough faith in the people who run the anime convention every summer that they will create a rewarding experience. But short of anything pertaining to Genshiken, Otakon 2023 ended up with a guest announcement straight out of my otaku wishlist: Iwao Junko, the voice of Daidouji Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura.

And yet, somehow, Iwao was only the tip of the iceberg. Between Asamiya Kia (manga artist of Silent Mobius, Nadesico), Aramaki Shinji (mecha designer on Bubblegum Crisis, Magazine 23), Terada Takanobu (producer on Super Robot Wars), and even the sleeper hit that was Ikezawa Haruna (science fiction writer and the voice of Yoshino in Maria Watches Over Us), I feel like I three conventions’ worth of experiences.

Line Con No More

Otakon 2023 took place from July 28 to July 30, once again at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. It was coming off a previous year with record-breaking attendance, and two big questions were whether 2022 was a fluke caused in part by the US opening up again after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Otakon would handle the flow of foot traffic if it wasn’t. Long story short: Otakon actually surpassed its record this year, and the lines got noticeably better. While there were still a few hiccups here and there (like an unusually long wait to get my panelist badge due to a change in how they handled that process), it’s no coincidence that multiple people in the post-con feedback session praised the staff for fixing most of the congestion issues in a single year.

Fixing the lines was of even more paramount importance due to the weather over that weekend. DC was blisteringly hot; including humidity, there were times the temperature was reported as feeling like 112 degrees. Otakon needed to make sure people could get into that convention center quickly and easily, and they succeeded. 

Lack of Masking Policy

I know it is incredibly difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, especially because “officially” COVID-19 is no longer a national emergency, but I really do wish Otakon would re-implement a mandatory masking policy. While I didn’t catch it at this convention, I was definitely in circles where the virus was present, and it would just allow more people to attend the con.

Industry

The guest list this year was truly packed, to the extent that I had to make some serious decisions as to what to spend time pursuing. Kawamori Shoji (creator of Macross) would have been near the top of the list any other year, but the fact that I had already gotten the chance to interview him in 2018 meant sacrifices had to be made. There were also a great number of manhwa artists at Otakon 2023, and as a general enjoyer of comics who is less familiar with Korean comics, this could have been a great opportunity to learn more. Alas, time was truly limited.

A good chunk of my time this year was thus spent on obtaining autographs because a lot of the guests are industry veterans, and some are getting up there in age. It may sound a bit morbid, but I’m worried that we’re going to lose more and more great figures in anime and manga, and I want the chance to see them and thank them before it’s too late. At the same time, I do worry that too much of my Otakon experience ends up being in autograph lines, and every year is a bit of a struggle in that for every wonderful thing you do, you know you’ll miss at least two other equally fantastic experiences.

Iwao Junko

One guest panel highlight for me was Iwao Junko’s, where she went over how she got into voice acting, her earliest days in the industry, and how she eventually made it into a full-time job. I have a detailed summary of the panel as its own post, and I also interviewed Iwao alongside her frequent music collaboration partner, Kawamura Ryu.

Mecha Guests

Another panel I was looking forward to featured multiple creators involved with mecha, including all the ones mentioned in the introduction. Just getting to hear them banter back and forth was entertaining, and you could tell that all of them would gladly talk your ear off if given the chance. One funny part of all this is the fact that Kawamori was clearly but somewhat surreptitiously drawing on his tablet in between answering questions—a fact that one panel attendee humorously called him out on (it turns out he was working on a project). 

I got to sit down with two of the guests and talk more in depth: mecha designer Aramaki Shinji and Super Robot Wars producer Terada Takanobu.

Ikezawa Haruna

But there was one guest who was possibly the sleeper hit of the entire con: Ikezawa Haruna.  While Ikezawa did her requisite panel about what it’s like to be a voice actor, she also did something incredibly rare for Japanese guests: run a panel entirely about one of her own personal interests. 

In this case, it was a panel all about Japanese SF as compared to Western SF. Not long after she started, it was crystal clear that her knowledge was encyclopedic, and that her passion for the subject was through the roof. She probably knew more about science fiction in that room than the entire audience combined, and she made some interesting points about the essence of regional science fiction. For example, in the context of Japanese SF, she mentioned how xenophobia has become a big topic because it’s a major subject right now in Japanese society. 

Ikezawa talked about how she actually prefers the term SF to “science fiction” because she thinks Japanese SF encompasses so much more—the abbreviation can stand for sukoshi fushigi (“a little mysterious”), speculative fiction, super fantasy, and so on. She also gave a variety of recommendations, including stories she’s written herself. These are Nova 2023 (an all-woman anthology), SF in 2084 (an anthology themed around stories that take place in 2084), the Naoki Prize–winning Maps and Fists by Ogawa Satoshi, Law Abiding Beast by Harukure Kouichi, and First, Let the Cow Be the Ball by Isukari Yuba. Unfortunately, all of them are in Japanese, but another story by Isukari, Yokohama Station SF is available in English.

Anime Screenings

While I was unable to attend the Discotek panel this year, I do think it’s worth mentioning the fact that they licensed all the Digimon Adventure movies, including both the original Japanese versions as well as the smashed-together film shown in US theaters. Not only is this the first time they’re all available in English, but Discotek did a special screening of them at Otakon. Sadly, I couldn’t attend that either, nor the showing of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress. That’s because I chose to watch the US premiere of The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, which I’ve reviewed here.

VTuber Presence

While there were cosplayers and artists who were repping the VTubers, there wasn’t much of an official presence (in contrast to Anime Expo, where it was a major force). That said, the group Phase Connect had a booth. I visited and bought an acrylic stand of Dizzy Dokuro.

Panels

Due to everything else going on, I shamefully ended up not attending very many fan panels this year despite that being one of Otakon’s best features. And for the ones I did, I could only see them in part.

I do want to give a shout-out to Anime in the Philippines, as it definitely taught me new things, and gave a window into a culture and fandom that I was largely unfamiliar with. For example, now I know that Mechander Robo aired there, and I learned about this:

I did present on two panels this year myself, though: “Giant Train Robots of Anime and More” and “Densha Otoko: Train Man, Modern Myth, Internet Legend.” The theme of Otakon 2023 was trains, so I decided to play along.

Giant Train Robots was a joint project between myself and Patz from The Cockpit. We both love mecha, and I also relied on his greater knowledge of the tokusatsu side in bringing this together, and I think the result was a fun and breezy panel whose goal was to entertain, inform, and leave the audience appreciating trains that turn into robots. We got a good-sized attendance despite being at 1030am on Friday, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

The Densha Otoko panel was all me, and I had actually started thinking about doing it since the end of Otakon 2022 when they had announced the train motif for the following year. Densha Otoko had been such a phenomenon in the mid-2000s, and I was curious to both look back on that era and to see what was its legacy today. I seemed to get mostly people who had already seen or knew about it, but that was just fine with me.

I think Giant Train Robots actually got more attendance than Densha Otoko, and I find that interesting because it used to be that the evening panels were better attended than the morning ones, and that mecha panels weren’t terribly popular, at least back in Baltimore. And this is on top of us actually being at the same time as a different giant robot panel! I wonder if there has been a generational shift or something that would explain this. 

Food

After many years, the convention center cafeteria was finally open, giving another option for those who want to get something to eat but don’t want to travel too far. I dropped in there once, and saw that there were three options: Japanese, pizza, and hot dogs/sausages. I went for the last option (which was pretty similar to what’s offered at Ben’s Chili Bowl) mainly because it had the shortest kind, and it was pretty decent. The Japanese food naturally had the longest line at an anime con, though I still remember Otakon staff claiming a long while back that the sushi was actually pretty decent.

But the best food in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was still the Caribbean food stand, which was located at the far end of the Exhibit Hall. While all con food is inevitably overpriced, this place always feels like the best deal, and the meals feel well balanced in terms of taste and nutrition. I’ve had something from them pretty much every year, and they never disappoint.

Cosplay

Closing Thoughts

2023 was definitely a strong Otakon in spite of circumstantial issues like the weather. Most importantly, I got to meet Tomoyo.

That said, the amazing thing is that next year promises to be even bigger and more powerful because it’ll be Otakon’s 30th anniversary. I’m already brainstorming ideas for panels, and wildly speculating on potential guests. I feel like it would be the perfect time to get people who were big back in 1994, and I trust the staff running the show to bring in some big guns.

Interview: Super Robot Wars’ Terada Takanobu (Otakon 2023)

Posted on by

Terada Takanobu is a veteran game producer, and has been involved with the Super Robot Wars franchise since the 1990s. This interview as conducted at Otakon 2023 in Washington, DC.

Hello, it’s great to meet you. I’ve been a long-time fan of the Super Robot Wars series, and I’m very glad that is finally easy for people to play around the world.

My first question: You recently announced that you were becoming a freelancer. How has that change been for you? Have there been any particular advantages or challenges that come with it?

There were lots of interests I wanted to pursue, so I decided to step down from the producer role to become a supervisor, and use that time to do the things I’d like to do.

I want to make toys and plastic models, and original robot animations—ones that are not Super Robot Wars OG.

Do you have any all-time favorite anime or even tokusatsu works?

My favorite super robot is Mazinger Z. As for tokusatsu, Ultraman and also Masked Rider. And more and more. 

Original Kamen Rider, or…?

It would have to be the first Masked Rider, fundamentally.

One signature element of SRW is the continued use of very creative 2D attack animations. What are the reasons you have stuck with this style even though so much has changed about video games over time?

In Super Robot Wars DD, we’re doing 2D animations and something between 2D and 3D too, so we’re diversifying. 

In SRW DD, the idea behind going for 3D animation is to better capture the original. But more than when I was a producer, I can now better create the content I make compared to before 

What has it been like developing mobile games, as well as having multiple games out there? Is it part of a broader strategy?

With regard to the overall strategy of creating mobile games, that lies with the publisher, Bandai Namco, so I can’t really speak to it. However, as for challenges in mobile games specifically, I’d say one that having a deadline every month is a bit challenging. For example, before, if it was for a console, you had three years to get the battle animations and the scenarios and put everything into one package. But now, with the mobile games, you have everything packaged every month.

You started at Banpresto in the 90s. Are there any staff from that era still at [its successor] BBSoft?

There are some.

Do you have any specific series or character units that you thought turned out especially well in terms of their presence in SRW? Or do you think there were any storylines that were executed very well?

It’s a bit difficult, because all of them are a lot of work, and I’m mainly putting effort into making what’s there. It’s a cyclic process of making and releasing and making. More than myself, it’s ultimately the users who decide what’s good.

Are there any titles you are especially proud of being able to obtain for SRW or thought you’d never get for the series?

Space Battle Yamato, aka Star Blazers. As for recently, too many. Hmm…recently, Gridman, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, and Gun x Sword. In SRW DD, Devilman and Koutetsu Jeeg. What’s it called in English?

Translator: [Steel] Jeeg. 

Oh, just that directly.

Ogiue Maniax: There isn’t much of a Jeeg presence in America.

Ah, I see. Oh, and there are two Jeegs now: [Steel] Jeeg and [Steel God] Jeeg. 

The impression I have about SRW is that there are the “main” games—Alpha, F, F Final, V, X, T, 30, etc.—and then there are smaller ones that tend to be a little more daring with game mechanics and what series they include. One title I think of is SRW Neo, with Jushin Liger. Is there any truth to the idea that you see the smaller games as more experimental?

Before, yes, there was a difference with the more experimental ones. But now, SRW DD is the only one out, and in there, we try all sorts of things like Jushin Liger and Granzort. SRW DD does embrace the style of SRW, such as the game stages and the scenarios and everything.

I know that you cannot reveal any unannounced information, but has there ever been any consideration to include giant robots from non-Japanese media?

I’m not allowed to say what it was, but there were past attempts. There’s lots I would like to license, but it didn’t work out.

Do you receive feedback from the directors and other staff involved with the titles included in SRW? For example, have you ever had to interact with directors Tomino or Anno?

Yes, there has been some feedback—and actually, there have been some ideas that came from Tomino-san and Anno-san. And actually, I came across some suggestions that Kawamori-san of Macross had earlier. But I had to tell him that’s not something I have control over.

One last question: Over the years, you’ve worked with many voice actors, and unfortunately, some have passed away. Sometimes, they are replaced by new actors, and other times, you re-use existing voice clips. Do you have any say in who gets recast in SRW, or is it outside your control?

If it’s stated by the original source material, I will do as the source material requests. Otherwise, I have the freedom to choose.

Thank you very much!

Interview: Aramaki Shinji (Otakon 2023)

Posted on by

Aramaki Shinji is a creator known for his mecha design work on Bubblegum Crisis, Genesis Climber Mospeada, Megazone 23, and more. He also designed many of the toys that became Transformers, including Soundwave. Aramaki is also an anime director who has focused on pushing 3DCG animation since the early 2000s.

You have a lot of experience as a mechanical designer, and I understand that different mechanical designers have different processes for designing. For example, Kawamori Shoji has talked about how he uses Legos. What are the key aspects of your approach?

Well, it depends a lot because I get different requests for each project I work on. For example, you mentioned that Kawamori Shoji-san uses Legos, but I think that’s mainly for designing transforming mecha. Should I answer just based on transforming ones? It’ll make it easier if we narrow it down to a certain genre.

Sure, let’s go with transforming.

So we initially choose two or three shapes/forms, and we ask, what are we going to transform and how. But we start out with the two coolest forms.

Would you say you sort of work backwards from the final designs/silhouettes perhaps?

Initially, we don’t really get into the details. We just think, oh this is what a cool bike looks like, and this is what a cool robot looks like. So we just start off with what looks cool and don’t get into the particulars of how it transforms yet.

It gets difficult from there. In the past, I used to study how things might transform using papercraft. Nowadays, though, we can use 3D programs. We start off with simple blocks, but using them, we can join them and see how these volumes move around.

If we use 3DCG, we can study how these forms look from varying perspectives, so it makes the process much easier.

The next work is one that you might not be as known for. I looked up your credits, and it said that you’re responsible for conceptual design on the anime Star Driver. The style of the mecha there are quite different from what I typically think of when it comes to your work. How far removed are the final designs compared to your originals?

Actually, for Star Driver, I didn’t do much mechanical design, and I didn’t really touch any robots. But I actually designed the landscapes and backgrounds—the stage design—for Star Driver. The series is set on an island, and I designed what the island is like, and what the school is like. I did it based on discussions I had with the director, Igarashi, to set the mood for the anime.

You directed works such as Appleseed, which was, at this point, decades ago. I remember seeing them first start to show up, and that was a time when directing in full 3DCG wasn’t nearly as convenient as it is today. What are some of the challenges you faced in the early 2000s?

Back then, we actually had a lot of problems. There was no standardized software for design, so the character design software was different from the landscape design software. That made it really difficult to organize everything and keep it together as one team. 

For one scene, when we decided on the camera angle and looked at the scene, the table and the character were sort of shifted because they were designed using different softwares.

These seem to be simple problems, but back then, Japan wasn’t as advanced in the field of CG. So we faced challenges every single day.

My final question: I actually have fond memories of the cartoon M.A.S.K. and its toys, and I was excited to learn that you worked on it. What designs were you responsible for, and what did it feel like to work on a foreign production?

This series involved a lot of transforming vehicles such as trucks and boats, but the original designs came from the toy company, Kenner. Back then, I was working in LA, but I went to Chicago where their company was based, and took a lot of pictures of the prototypes. We did drawings to help with animations.

Most of the mechas were designs provided from the toys, but some were not from the toys, so I got to design them.

I don’t remember all that well where they appeared in the show, but they let me design two transforming vehicles back then, where I got to pick the car types and how they transform. They were called the Manta and the Shark.

Thank you for this interview. It was great to have you at Otakon!

Thank you.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights July 2023

Posted on by

Kio watched a bunch of movies this month.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1675729678353698817

Kio attended a live screening of the newest How Do You Like Wednesday?, which included people from the cast. It was a fun and unusual experience. He did not attend in Ikebukuro.

https://twitter.com/hecky_mitsuo/status/1576190793223933952

The raunchy gag manga Enomoto had an anime announced last year, and Kio only found out about it this past month.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1676983471712112642

Kio made this Ohno samurai drawing as the basis for a paper relief sculpture. One fan of his showed off their version.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1677669769447903233
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1677673296173887488

Kio made these Madarame drawings as part of a special collaboration with the series Love-yan, which features a protagonist who resembles Madarame. Kio also vaguely denies knowing about the Rocking Spark attack from Ultraman and how similar it looks to Madarame’s pose.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1677962715552448513
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1660946124340092930
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1677965174068895745

16 more finished pages of Sister Wars, Kio’s Star Wars parody.

Kio recalls how tough it was to live on the top floor (6th) of a building because of how hot it got in the summer. He tells fellow manga creator Kusada to take care of himself amid some very high temperatures.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1678662967506923526
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1678684842538704897

Bikini drawings of Ohno and Saki for an old Afternoon calendar.

Kio remarks that the new Miyazaki film, The Boy and the Heron (aka How Do You Live?) Is a whopping 124 minutes long.

https://twitter.com/KEUMAYA/status/1679401237845012480

The first tweet states that really good artists can draw Image B, where the frame is mostly taken up by the left leg. Kio says that he tries to draw B but can only really do A.

Kio is going to see the Chinese animated film I Am What I Am, and then The Boy and the Heron. He’s also been exhausted by having so much.

Kio reacts to a Genshiken fan’s shrine, saying that the fan has posters even Kio doesn’t.

Kio missed his chance to see Akira in 4K.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1680094283934892032
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1683028503070113795

Kio advertising a 50% off sale on his erotic doujinshi, It’s All Your Fault, Sensei.

Kio watched The Pope’s Exorcist and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on the same day, and being in the theater for so long chilled his body.

Kio has played Elden Ring for over 50 hours and is over Level 50, but only just reached Limgrave.

He can’t get the timing for rolling and such down, and while he played King’s Field, he hasn’t played later FromSoftware games aside from Shadow Tower and Dark Souls.

Kio put his unused winter futon back into vacuum-sealed storage.

Ogiue Maniax Panels at Otakon 2023

Posted on by
A screenshot from Super Robot Wars featuring the robot Might Gaine. Its pilot, Maito, says "Justice, proceed! Evil, stop!"

Otakon 2023 kicks off this Friday, and I have two panels over the weekend!

Giant Train Robots of Anime and More

Friday July 28, 2023 10:15 am to 11:15 am

Trains and mecha are two tastes that go great together. Discover “rail robots” from all across Japanese media and learn for yourself how awesome they are!

Densha Otoko: Train Man, Otaku Myth, Internet Legend

Saturday July 29, 2023 8:45 pm to 9:45 pm

Once upon a time, the story of a nerd helping a girl on a train changed the otaku world forever. Come and (re)discover the true (?) story of Densha Otoko, its many adaptations, and its legacy 20 years later.

Otakon always has a million things to do, but if you just so happen to stop by, I hope you enjoy yourself.

Gattai Girls 13: “Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury” and Suletta Mercury

Posted on by

Introduction: “Gattai Girls” is a series of posts dedicated to looking at giant robot anime featuring prominent female characters due to their relative rarity within that genre.

Here, “prominent” is primarily defined by two traits. First, the female character has to be either a main character (as opposed to a sidekick or support character), or she has to be in a role which distinguishes her. Second, the female character has to actually pilot a giant robot, preferrably the main giant robot of the series she’s in.

For example, Aim for the Top! would qualify because of Noriko (main character, pilots the most important mecha of her show), while Vision of Escaflowne would not, because Hitomi does not engage in any combat despite being a main character, nor would Full Metal Panic! because the most prominent robot pilot, Melissa Mao, is not prominent enough.

— 

I truly believe that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury will go down as a pivotal work in anime history. There are the surface reasons, of course: It has the honor of being the first mainline Gundam anime to feature a female protagonist with a same-sex primary romantic interest. It’s also the first main Gundam to be only 24 episodes when even the next shortest series still got 39. But the core of why I think Witch from Mercury is a game changer is that it ncludes many elements unfamiliar or in defiance of Gundam that manage to tell a compelling and thought-provoking story that carries both idealism and realism in its narrative.

Witch from Mercury takes place in a world where Gundams are forbidden, even though they were originally based on research to help people with disabilities. Years after the banning of Gundams and the seeming purge of all involved, a shy and awkward girl named Suletta Mercury arrives at Asticassia Academy, a mobile suit school for the elite where student matters are officially resolved through giant-robot duels. Suletta wins a match in her Definitely-Not-a-Gundam, Aerial, ends up engaged to the daughter of the school’s owner, Miorine Rembran, and in doing so inadvertently steps into the complex corporate, social, and political forces at play.

The anime starts off reminiscent of both Revolutionary Girl Utena and G Gundam, but ends its first half throwing the relatively isolated nature of Asticassia into stark relief with the world at large, whether it’s the crushing disparity between Earthians and Spacians, the specter of war and how the parents of all the kids have a hand in perpetuating military conflict, or the realization that Suletta’s naivete isn’t merely an innocent quirk but points to an unusual and possibly even disturbing past.

The second half seems to calm down, only to ramp up even harder and throw the established order into further disarray. Things that other series might have left linger for 10 episodes are brought to bear in a fraction of the time. The anime can actually feel pretty rushed as a result, but in certain ways, I think this actually works out in its favor. Gundam series often meander and plod as they get into the latter 25-ish episodes as they try to incorporate extraneous characters and merch-friendly elements, whereas this one cuts out a lot of the fat, albeit with some of the flesh as well. The outcome of all this is a Gundam where I would get genuinely surprised and shocked, especially in terms of character deaths)—feelings that were often missing from my viewings of Gundam anime that have come out in the past 15 years.

The characters, especially the women, are memorable and one the best parts of Witch from Mercury. Suletta is a unique protagonist, both in comparison to her Gundam predecessors and in general due to the way she has to grapple with her own upbringing and the way she ends up establishing her own identity. She takes the viewers on a rollercoaster of a personal journey that makes her position as first heroine much more than a cynical decision for the sake of diversity. Similarly, Miorine’s aggressiveness makes for a great companion and foil, and the way she navigates her privilege and her desire to do more for humanity is wonderful. And Suletta’s mom Prospera is not only the best Char Aznable in ages, but shows the quiet fury of a woman who will do anything for her child.

As for minor characters, there are plenty of examples regardless of genders. Chuatury “Chuchu” Panlunch is refreshingly no-nonsense in a way rarely seen in anime. Guel Jeturk, a rival/potential love interest of Suletta, goes from annoying dude to endearing guy—something that actually happens more often than not with the cast. A number of characters are on the larger side but are not treated as jokes. And while Secelia Dote only has seven minutes of screen time across the entire series, her snarkiness manages to steal the show every time. I could keep going.

One of the more amazing things about Witch from Mercury is how well it strikes a balance between having ubiquitous mobile suits and incorporating them into the story and setting. They’re also very aesthetically pleasing, particularly the Aerial. It’s identifiably a Gundam, but its proportions and flourishes give a slight feminine feel without going straight into Nobel Gundam territory. I also enjoy the way it contrasts with other mecha, as it makes the Aerial come across more something that will disrupt the status quo. Moreover, Aerial is also a rare instance of a mobile suit basically being a character unto itself—something that has serious consequences as the series progresses.

A common criticism of Gundam as a whole is that while it generally contains anti-war messaging, the cool factor of the mobile suits can end up drowning it out. Although the designs in this particular series are indeed among the best ever, Witch from Mercury is also the first to establish that the technology did not begin as a military endeavor, and this helps throw the use of mobile suits as weapons into stark relief. It’s also part of a greater look at the inequalities and inequities suffered by those who lack the financial and familial might to make the world care—a world where even the children of those in power feel the burden of having to deal with their parents’ bullshit.

On that note, corporations play a major role in the series, and I’ve seen people get extremely confused with all the different alliances and factions. While I won’t say it’s simple to keep track of everything, one way to navigate that web is to understand that many adult decisions are the result of corporate greed, and trying to find positions to have the best profits with the least accountability. This is what makes Miorine’s ultimate decision all the more satisfying, as she throws that structure off kilter using the means available to her. Gundam series often feature politics because of how they take place on grander scales.

These two elements together help Witch from Mercury’s politics feel very contemporary and relevant to our times, instead of coming across as dated or tepid.

Witch from Mercury brings a new sense of what Gundam can be. It possesses many of the franchise’s well-worn tropes without being beholden to them. It breaks boundaries of all kinds, whether through its unique cast of characters, its central same-sex romance, or its perspectives on conflict and humanity. I truly feel that what we have is a turning point in Gundam and anime as a whole, and I’m hopeful it’ll be for the better. Suletta is the first main Gundam heroine, but she won’t be the last.

New Yuusha Robot Announced: Brave Universe Sworgrader

Posted on by

This past week, the Gaogaigar 25th Anniversary Exhibition in Japan featured a surprise announcement: A new entry in the Brave Series has been greenlit! Brave Universe Sworgrader is heading our way, albeit with a caveat. Unlike all its anime-based predecessors, it will debut as a web manga.

Sworgrader isn’t totally alone in regards to not coming out the gate as an anime. The sequel to Gaogaigar Final, King of Kings: Gaogaigar vs. Betterman, started off as a web novel series before being adapted into a manga. Other old anime have also received novel-only nostalgic sequels, such as Raijin-oh and even the magical girl title Ojamajo Doremi. One major difference is that Sworgrader is wholly original, though the teaser art and the whole “Brave Universe” thing seems to imply that the previous Brave Robots will somehow be involved—even the shelved sequel that only ever got a spotlight in video games, Baan Gaan.

I do feel a mix of joy and sorrow in all this: It’s great to see Brave franchise make something of a comeback, but also a shame to know how diminished it is compared to its heyday. I suspect that something like a 90s throwback robot toy franchise isn’t going to attract the massive kids market that was tuning into Exkaiser and such thirty years ago (otherwise this would at least be a mobile game). It’ll mostly be banking on the adults who had grown up with the old shows, and merch will probably be premium figures and model kits, as opposed to children’s toys. 

That all said, it’s worth pointing out that despite likely having more “Big Friend” appeal than anything else, the main characters are clearly cut from the traditional Brave cloth: They’re kid heroes through and through. So many retro-style series prefer to have characters who are at least in their late teens in order to be more relatable to that older audience, but I kind of admire the creators of Sworgrader for trying to be faithful to the Brave spirit. Gaogaigar really hit its stride once the shackles of toy advertisement were loosened, and Sworgrader is potentially going to be like that from Day One.

In addition to overseeing the entire project, Gaogaigar director Yonetani Yoshitomo is also the lyricist on the main theme for Sworgrader; something he’s had experience doing thanks to Gaogaigar and Betterman. In fact, similar to Sworgrader, Gaogaigar vs. Betterman has “opening” and “ending” themes despite there being no anime. The theme will be sung by Tamaki Nami, who got her debut in anime singing the fourth and final Gundam SEED opening, “Believe.” All this takes me back to my very first time in Japan in 2005: a year when Gaogaigar: Grand Glorious Gathering was on TV, and I could hear Tamaki’s SEED openings while in the supermarket.

And while I believe a Sworgrader anime will have some trouble coming to fruition, not all hope is lost: One of the credits on the project is Aono Yuka (Shinkalion Z, Brave Beats) as “Animation Character Designer” as distinct from “Character Designer” Tsunashima Shirou, the artist of the Jinki franchise (talk about another throwback). Similarly, there are separate credits for “Mechanical Design” (Ookawara Kunio, Miyauchi Toshinao) and “Animation Mechanical Design” (Mutaguchi Hiroki) Maybe we’ll see some cool shorts, at the very least?

Whatever form Sworgrader takes, I look forward to seeing its arrival. I will neither automatically love it or hate it, but I do hope it brings joy and excitement to all.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights June 2023

Posted on by

This month, Kio talks a lot about Elden Ring and drawing smut.

Gundam manga artist Tokita Kouichi shares a photo of a first-era Gundam model kit. Kio reacts by saying that the instructions are from before they changed how joints work on Gunpla models.

Kio’s tortoise has been walking quickly around in their home, being hyper. Kio comments that outdoor spaces would be good for it, but the actual outdoor space available right now isn’t all that big, so this is the best he can do right now.

The reason it’s so hyper is because the warm summery weather is affected it as a cold-blooded creature.

Kio has started doing the rough manuscript for his next horny doujinshi.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1665561156231086082

Lazy tortoise.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1666003790611505153

Watching more How Do You Like Wednesday?

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1666806370455408646

Kio visited actual sites from some How Do You Like Wednesday? Specials. The first tweet shows one of 12 bridges featured, and the second is Suigou Sawara Ayame Park.

Kio got to use a line from How Do You Like Wednesday? on someone who was unfamiliar with the show. 

Kio thanks a fan for sharing a Monthly Newtype video about manga in 2008, the height of one of the host’s teen years. Genshiken and Spotted Flower both get mentioned briefly. (See 23m45s in the video below.)

Kio later tweets about the video separately, commenting that he likes how writer and host Mafia Kajita says that Spotted Flower has had one hell of a development.

As Kio sees artists tweeting about whether they got into Comiket or not, he is working on his (unrelated) erotic doujinshi. He’s been drawing but also cutting content out, so even though he’s drawn 30 pages, it feels like only the beginning.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1667545250729201665

Art from the first anime’s DVD box set; this one is for Volume 2. Lots of comments about Kitagawa from fans.

Kio responds to a commenter pointing out Kitagawa approaching from the rear by saying that she would definitely not be walking lightly.

Kio also feels some sympathy for Kitagawa being called “Athlete’s Foot Senpai” by the fans.

“You! Genshiken!” is a common refrain in the Genshiken anime from Kitagawa.

Kio also comments to a person wishing for tons of Genshiken spin-offs that such a thing might’ve happened if Genshiken came out today.

A few comments about how good Ohno looks too.

Kio telling everyone who watched the Newtype special above that the newest Spotted Flower chapter is available in Rakuen magazine.

Kio says that the daughter in Spotted Flower being named Saki kind of solidifies it as being a different world from Genshiken.

Working on his new ero doujinshi seems to be an endless task. It includes things like fretting over which erotic sound effects to use, like “guchu” vs “gucho.”

The horny work has also gone from 50 pages to 100. (I sometimes think about how Ogiue’s workrate is probably a reference to Kio’s own.)

Kio also restored some pages that were previously cut, specifically about a mom getting embarrassed.

Kio’s tablet pen broke, and then when he got a new one, he realized it was the wrong kind.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1670420050644434944

While a new pen was in the mail, Kio broke out the PS5.

Kio has been playing Elden Ring and primarily sneaking around. He comments that despite appearances, he is in fact not playing the ninja game Tenchu.

Kio enjoyed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse despite having not seen Into the Spider-Verse. He thanks a fan for sending a link to the prequel.

The new tablet pen arrived, but Kio is still playing Elden Ring.

Kio got picked for a live viewing of the newest How Do You Like Wednesday? DVD.

Tenchu is one of his favorite games from the PlayStation era, and the movement in Elden Ring reminds him a lot of it.

Kio, after getting his ass kicked by the boss Margit in Elden Ring, goes back to drawing ero manga. He likes how he can just skip bosses and explore elsewhere in an open world game.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1672634537371926529

Komaki from Kujibiki Unbalance on the back cover of Genshiken Volume 5.

Kio comments that his characters tend to have some plumpness to them.

Kio defeated Flying Dragon Agheel in Elden Ring with the help of a strategy site. He didn’t realize you had to fight it on horseback.

Kio got through 63 pages of his ero manga manuscript, but is setting it aside to get some of his professional work done. Apparently, the next part is the climax.

He also keeps adding hearts to the end of dialogue in his regular work out of habit due to spending all that time creating smut.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights May 2023

Posted on by

Kio Shimoku goes back to fulfill one of his old unfinished projects in this month’s tweets.

Replying to manga creator Kusada (who just got done selling at the doujin event Comitia), Kio mentions that he’s also hesitant about posting URLs to his 18+ doujinshi on Twitter for fear of being shadowbanned.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1655221141332725760
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1659468154232528896

Kio has decided to undertake a rather massive personal project. Back in 2010, Kio sold at Comiket a very rough manuscript of a genderswapped Episode I parody called Sister Wars. Now, he’s turning the entire thing into a fully illustrated doujinshi. (Note that I will be making a separate post about this at some point.)

One person shows a Sister Wars drawing Kio did, to which he replies, “Oh…? Did I draw that…?”

Another person talks about wanting to own Sister Wars, but Kio says that if it’s something where money needs to get involved, then it’ll cause issues, so his intent is to keep it free and online-only.

Kio says the whole thing is 350 pages, but it’s someone he always wanted to do, and he feels that it’ll be a waste if he doesn’t use the free time he has now to work on it. He put a lot of thought into it beyond the genderswap aspect too.

When asked if there will be a female Jar Jar, Kio replies that the Gungans have been cut entirely.

Another commenter recalls there being no Jar Jar, to which Kio responds that other characters from Episode II were also cut, as they seemed to mainly be there originally to just make things more confusing.

Kio realizes a line during the theme song for the variety show/special series How Do You Like Wednesday? comes from a spoof drama they did called Shikoku R-14. Kio originally thought it may have been unused footage.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1655594134751567875

Finishing the drawings of the Kujibiki Unbalance dating visual novel, here are Koyuki and Chihiro routes as reviewed by Kohsaka and Ohno, respectively.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1657416457372958721

Some old Genshiken-related drawings. Kio couldn’t remember when it was or what it was used for other than being part of some multi-creator piece, but a fan points out that it was part of an Afternoon 20th Anniversary illustration, as seen on the above library card.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1657417352571678720

And a Genshiken drawing used for a calendar.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1657412915979517954

High-quality version of the cover illustration for Genshiken Volume 5.

A fan comments that they remember not being able to read the doujinshi the Genshiken club made, to which Kio responds that most people couldn’t [because it was heavily mosaic’d as part of the joke].

One commenter says that Genshiken is the reason they decided to first attend Comiket, with Kio going “Hoho!”

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1657415104189845506

A Genshiken drawing used for the cover of a 2004 issue of Monthly Afternoon with Saki helping to zip up Ohno’s Kuradoberi Jam cosplay, and Ogiue staring awkwardly in the background. Kio also responds positively to people talking about how great Ogiue is in this image, even saying that Ogiue looks like she’s seeing cosplay for the first time. He recalls wanting to draw a scene that doesn’t happen in the actual manga.

I actually found my old instructions for the Kotobukiya Ogiue figure, as well as the glasses for her, all of which I had thought I lost! Kio retweeted it.

“For those feeling that Sunday afternoon ennui.”

Kio saw the 2022 movie Bullet Train. Even though the depiction of Japan is not at all genuine, he was entertained nevertheless. In fact, he even liked the scene in the quiet car. He really wishes he saw the movie in the theater like he had originally planned.

Shocked to discover there’s gonna be a Bullet Train 2.

Kio bought Go Go! Ghostbusters Club by Kusada, and mentions wanting to see more of the assistant and wanting to find out why the club president would start a Ghostbusters Club when they’re afraid of ghosts. Kusada thanks Kio as well. (Note that Kio often retweets Kusada, which is not fully reflected in these tweet summary collections.)

“The train has air conditioning.”

Kio saw The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and thought it was great.

He also saw the movie Psycho-Pass: Providence. Though he didn’t remember a lot of what had happened prior, he felt this was a must-watch.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1659853712029020160

Kio watches and reacts to the DVD for the How Do You Like Wednesday? special, How Do You Like Japanese History If We Only Travel by Late-Night Bus for Three Nights Straight? 

(Without context, I can’t really properly summarize the reactions so I will leave it like this.)

Kio read Love Comedy Experiments Manga by Shima Toki and really liked the part where they have to stop right before climax (sundome). Shima thanks Kio as well. (Shima is another author who often gets retweeted by Kio; both them and Kusada all do manga for Rakuen, the magazine that runs Spotted Flower.)

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1660910466800177153
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1660912040041676800

Star Wars model kits.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1660946124340092930

Showing the Padawan hair braid.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1661367057374388231

While trying to figure out how to fix the warping in this kit part, Kio receives various pieces of advice ranging from pliers to dryers.

Kio answering a fan’s questions in English. No need for me to summarize!

I think this is Kio struggling with a model kit?

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1663187384392105985

The art for a Genshiken DVD box set.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1663473695556349953

Kio building a 1/144 Gundam Aerial model kit. He added a bit of weathering effects to the paint job. It also felt like a long while since Kio worked on a Gundam kit.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1663488943797710848

Starting up on two more The Five Star Stories kits.

The Roles of “Characters” in Mecha Anime

Posted on by

Sometimes, you’ll see a wild claim about mecha anime, like “Gurren-Lagann was the first giant robot series to be about characters instead of the robots,” and it inevitably results in a backlash—in this case, the counterargument that all giant robot shows are about characters. Whether the initial statement is made in jest or as a genuinely ignorant take by someone with only surface-level knowledge of mecha, it reflects certain assumptions about what the genre is like.

I got to thinking about the notion that giant robot anime are about characters because it’s both true and an oversimplification. Moreover, the extent to which the giant robots truly “matter,” as in they’re inexorable from the world being portrayed and can’t be substituted with some other form of weaponry, varies tremendously. But regardless of the true “necessity” of either characters or robots, I feel there is more to it than just one side mattering more than the other. Then a thought occurred to me, and I have a kind of nascent “universal theory of giant robot anime”:

Giant robot anime are about characters, but more specifically, the main character reflects some vital or fundamental aspect of the world and story around them. The giant robot, in turn, is reflective of the connection between the hero and that aspect.

If it seems nebulous, that’s because it is. I’m thinking less about trying to justify every mecha anime and more about how the giant robots end up being the avatar through which so many of these protagonists interact with their environment and their histories, and thus reveal more about the anime themselves. There’s also no denying the close ties between giant robots and merchandising, but this also ebbs and flows over the decades.

So let’s start with some of the big ones. 

Tetsujin 28 is about Shoutarou trying to make a difference in a post-WWII environment by being a boy detective who fights crime. Tetsujin 28 the robot was created to fight the Allies, but is now being used for an alternate purpose: as a guardian of peace instead of a weapon of war. 

Mazinger Z draws a direct lineage to this sort of thinking. While the power fantasy and toyetic appeal of the robot itself is undeniable, Kouji is presented with a question about human potential from the very beginning: If you had great power, would you be a god or a devil? The robot Mazinger Z is Kouji’s way of making a difference, and he chooses to use it as a protective guardian.

Mobile Suit Gundam, the first “real robot” anime that emphasized the robots as weapons of war over superhero-like entities, is about its hero Amuro’s repeated exposure to the trauma of war. It’s through the Gundam that he experiences physical and emotional scars alike, and the very fact that his piloting experience molds him into a capable soldier also contributes to the overall “horror of war” message that girders Gundam and its many sequels.

Superdimensional Fortress Macross has three main components: romance, music, and robot battles. Here, the titular robot is literally a flying city traveling through space, and it functions as both an urban cosmopolitan center and a massive superweapon. In other words, it is the very space in which all three pieces of Macross take place.

Neon Genesis Evangelion centers around Shinji and his fear of human connection, be it with his family, his peers, his friends, or anyone else. It is the anime of extreme introspection. Not only is the EVA-01 the means by which he tries (and fails) to find self-worth, but the EVA itself is revealed to house the soul of his dead mother. He is contained in a womb-like structure inside of his giant mom.

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann is about Simon and the limitless potential of humanity to overcome all obstacles slowly but surely—and ultimately whether there should be limits on that power. Gurren-Lagann manifests this through numerous transformations fueled by human spirit that bring on exponential power growth.

The above examples are all heavy hitters, but what I also want to emphasize is that this applies to “lesser” titles as well.

Brave Police J-Decker is maybe the most on-the-nose example of the relationship between a boy and his giant robot, as the story is about how Yuuta’s friendship with the giant police robot Deckard is what teaches the latter to develop true emotions and a proper sense of justice and humanity. 

Shinkon Gattai Godannar is about the relationship between Gou and Anna as husband and wife and how their love affects both their personal and professional lives as co-pilots. Godannar Twin Drive is literally a combination of both robots.

Robotics;Notes focuses on Kaito and his relationship with Akiho’s giant robot club, and the blurring of augmented reality with actual reality. The creation of the Guntsuku-1 is basically an untenable goal that, through the events of the series, becomes effectively “real” through how Kaito and Akiho view and utilize it.

Trider G7 is about Watta, who’s both a little kid and the CEO of his own company, utilizing both the image of Japanese corporate culture of the early 1980s and the classic child desire of wanting to do what the adults do. The Trider G7 robot literally flies out of a playground, and has tons of cool and wacky weapons, but the fact that it’s Watta’s robot and the main way he gets his job done means it’s the conduit through which that “grown-up” fantasy takes place. 

Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Animation is literally a commercial for bullet train toys that are, in turn, advertising for the Shinkansen trains in Japan. Its main character, Hayato, is basically a Shinkansen fanatic who sees them as not only the coolest things ever but as reflecting a philosophy of unwavering service to the people of Japan. The Shinkalion robots, by extension, portray a more action-packed version of this concept.

Giant robot anime embody many values, from crass commercialism to dreams of being brave and strong, from anti-war sentiments to deep looks inward at the psychological scars of society. The mecha themselves are often not “characters” in and of themselves (with a number of notable exceptions), but they are symbolic of how the protagonists of these stories relate to what they experience. The hurdle for those who think that these anime are “more about robots” is that this particular way of communicating the characters’ stories requires an acceptance of giant robots as a storytelling device.