For most anime fans, “fan service” doesn’t often refer to nudity and other same-sex scenarios featuring anime’s most popular characters. While this is true to an extent, it is not enough to serve the fans. After all, “fan service” is defined by online dictionaries as a story element that was added “only to excite the audience”.
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When it comes to mecha anime, “fan service” can mean the aforementioned sexuality or anything in anime that only exists to reinforce how cool giant robots are. This type of fan service can be distracting at times, but when used properly, they do exactly what they were designed to do and give the audience exactly what they are for. They had come.
full Metal Panic! It’s arguably more of a school life anime with some giant robots than a straight mecha anime. full Metal Panic! There was a well-thought-out world and actual robots, but the ackee scenarios that came out of a raunchy high school anime took precedence — even in episodes that focused on combat.
Almost all the women on the show (especially Kaname) were subjected to fan service, and Sosuke was always too dense to record what was going on. It was pushed to the extreme in a self-parody spin-off, full Metal Panic? Fumofu, Which ditched the wartime aspects of the mainline series in order to double down on serving shameless fans.
9 Wonder Was A Harem And Mecha Anime Together
wondered Set in a future where the battle of the sexes was taken to a literal extreme. Men and women live exclusively on their planets, but the worlds collide when aspiring mecha pilot Hibiki becomes a prisoner of an all-female pirate crew. Naturally, this led to fan service-heavy harem shenanigans compared to actual space combat.
While the first high concept is not a harem, wondered It was their first taste of both Ecchi and Mecha in particular for many older fans. In addition to the obligatory fan service expected from harem stories, wondered The space opera also gave fans a thoroughly detailed world with unexpected twists about the origins of the pilots, their planetary warfare, and even the Dreads and Vanguards.
8 Darlings In FranXX Pushed Evangelion’s Fan Service To Breaking Point
for better and worse, Darling in FranXX is basically the extreme version of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nowhere was it made more clear how Dear pushed Evangelion Internal developmental topics at the forefront. Notably, FRANXX were openly sexually mechas that operated in a similarly suggestive fashion.
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sex was also an integral part of Darling Complicated history, as physical and emotional love was the only way for FRANXX to operate and, ultimately, save all lives. However, contrary to its most obvious motivation, Dear Didn’t do anything clever or new with its fan-heavy visuals and themes. At least, they reminded viewers of a better anime.
7 The King Of Braves GaoGaigar Updated The Old School Super Robot Formula
one of neon genesis evangelion The biggest influence on mecha anime was how it basically forced the genre to “grow up”. Now, operating a giant robot was more painful than fun, and the characters living in such a world would be annoying, to say the least. sing gaigri It was well known, but chose to stick to its classic fanservice roots nonetheless.
sing gaigri I was deeper than my predecessors brave series, But it still kept alive the wonder and heroism of his childhood. Character despite death and sacrifice, sing gaigri Delivered everything Super Robot fans could ever want from a show a combination mecha, namely terrifying robot action and unwavering heroism saving the day.
6 Marcos Frontier Was The Peak Of The Macross Franchise
With your epic battles, transforming mecha and idol singers, Macross Was always a popular mecha mainstay, but it only reached the height of its powers with its third full series. Macross Frontier was the ultimate sum of everything that defines Macross And although it didn’t change anything, it gave fans everything they wanted Macross anime.
Macross Frontier It’s the best example of how bad it is not to follow a formula because this legacy sequel was at its best. Macross after the original. Macross Frontier It was so successful that not only did it sell tons of merchandise (especially Idols’ albums), but it also ended the series’ long-standing ban with the West. Robotech defeat,
5 Getter Robo Armageddon Was The Classic Super Robot Show At Its Best
Even with its history and its legacy as one of the founding pillars of the super robot genre, getter robo Struggled to get a certain anime. 1998 13-episode OVA . That all changed with the release of getter robo armageddon, praised by fans as the best getter robo The adaptation to date is because of how over-the-top it is.
Despite some major setbacks, such as losing director Yasuhiro Imawaga after three episodes due to creative differences, armageddon still ended up delivering everything getter robo Fans wanted, like an edgy reimagining of Vidya and the biggest fights of the franchise. getter robo was always a fan service-heavy anime, but armageddon It was the culmination.
4 Mazinger Z debuts fan service-heavy super robot genre
Go Nagai is considered by many to be one of the best founding fathers of manga and anime, and this legacy was reinforced by Mazinger Z. Nagai had always dreamed of creating his own robot story, but instead of sticking to what was possible, despite researching what he thought would be the most terrifying.
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mezinger zoo It might not be the first Super Robot story, but it codified everything that still defines the genre today. Whether it’s a warm-blooded pilot controlling an amazing war machine or saving the world from evil through epic robot battles, mezinger zoo They completely fulfilled the wildest dreams of mecha fans before they even realized what they were.
3 Tengen Toppa Guren Lagan Revives the Super Robot Anime in All Its Glorious Glory
Short, Gurren Lagann There was a classic Super Robot show made for the New Millennium. Despite some dark elements like Kamina’s death and the harsh realities of war, Team Dai-Guren’s fight for the future of humanity was as inspirational as the super robot anime that inspired it. Unsurprisingly, Fans Really Loved Gurren Lagann And proclaimed it as the “savior of anime”.
Gurren Lagann There was a never ending barrage of fan service which grew on an episodic basis. From giant robot fights that were bigger than the entire universe and the power of friendship to save reality, every episode Gurren Lagann It was designed to exceed the most unique expectations of mecha fans. Needless to say, it worked perfectly.
2 Gundam Build Fighters Celebrate Everything About Gundam’s Legacy
build fighters one of them gundam Canon’s most unique entries for a variety of reasons, but the most obvious is that it’s a gundam Anime in particular. about gundam anime. unlike the previous gundam entries that were all war stories that varied in tone, build fighters was a meta anime where the characters had fans gundam Voting.
Instead of deep world building or realistic skirmishes, build fighters’ The fan service was taken from characters who literally missed gundam History of suffrage. build fighters Mobile reaffirms the loyalty of its fanbase by pitting the suits and pilots from different series against each other, name-dropping the most obscure references, and more.
1 Neon Genesis Evangelion was a mecha anime made for and by Otaku
Evangelion was Revolutionary because of the fans’ use of the service, but not in the way most people think. Evangelion Conservative (and at times controversial) fans have their fair share of service, but as a whole, Evangelion There is fan service itself. In short, anime was made by and for the biggest otaku out there.
Showrunner Hideki Eno never hid his love of entertainment, and this passion inspired him to fill Evangelion With intricate mysterious mythos, real robot details, world building, and much more that will impress otaku. However, it backfired somewhat Evangelion Fans preferred this fan service and ignored its life-affirming themes.
Up next: Every movie in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise (in chronological order)
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