GROWING UP WITH ANIME

Super Robots Assemble!!! A tribute to the glorious days of anime mecha and new breed of robotic warriors

Now anyone who was born during the nineteen seventies ( yes I was born during the nineteen seventies ) would strongly remember the rage of super robots that flooded the air waves, mostly channel 7. It was during this glorious era that mechas such as Voltes V and Mazinger Z came to our shores, and thus introducing us to what we now know as anime. So popular was this genre of anime that Philippine television at some point became saturated with programs that featured nothing but super robots.

Then all of a sudden everything just disappeared, like a bubble in warm air the super robots were nowhere to be found. What eventually replaced them were the “Real Robots”. Series such as Macross and Gundam, where the setting was more realistic. People died on a frequent basis, the mechs were not as strong and durable as the Super robots, and the story lines were more dynamic. It’s not the typical bad guy sends a robot to destroy the city and good guy beats his ass with his super robot.

The Real Robot era showed us characters who were not only struggling to fight for their cause, we also see them fighting conflicts within themselves, whether it be emotional, spiritual or whatever, the real robot era gave us more human characters, people who we can relate to in one way or another.

So popular are these giant hunks of steel that anime purists still scour around to look for copies or remastered versions of old series, and are always on the lookout for new ones. Bandai even compiled a number of RPG like game that featured robots from the Super and Real robots era. Called “SUPER ROBOT WARS or SUPER ROBOT TAISEN, the game was a runaway hit, I mean it’s not everyday that you can see Daimos fighting along side Shining Gundam, or the EVA units running amok with Combattler V.

It was a very good tribute to this popular genre of anime. Now if only they’d make a Super Robot Wars mini series. Now wouldn’t that be something.

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