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Author: marcoasalazarm

Jan 27th 2013 at 8:13:33 AM

OK.... expanding on the examples of the series I know. I am pretty sure that I am not using the best examples and the like-sorry about that:

-Cthulhutech: It's 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' meets Lovecraft with some 'Macross'. The First Archanotech War was pretty much 'Macross' played (cynically) straight, but It Got Worse when the Nazzadi turned to the Human side, with the Migou coming to Earth to finish the job (when nothing of the sort obviously happened in Macross).

Then the cults and the Megacorporations led by the Elder Gods come out of the woodwork and wage war or corrupt society from within, and even with the clearly-Super Robot Engels on humanity's side, what was a pretty grim-looking war already is just appearing like the typical Lovecraft tale-that is, Humanity being pretty much screwed.

-Code Geass: It starts as a Real Robot setting proper, but really quickly a Lensman Arms Race is triggered as the top scientists of both POV factions just try to out-do each other's achievements (the fact that the both of them are borderline sociopaths DOES NOT helps in any way). The immense amounts of political and familial intrigue and the fact that a good deal of the cast is a Byronic Hero in some level just makes things outrageously cynical.

The final battle of the series has each named character using a Super Robot to beat the hell out of each other, while inside of the floating fortress-ship that the 'heroes' would normally be raiding a la Death Star, the Byronic (arguably Nominal) Anti-Hero and the flat-out villain are fighting to see who rules the world.

-Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Like 'Gundam Wing', it starts as a 'normal' Real Robot setting-up until the Gundams show up, packing technology leaps and bounds ahead of anything that any of the other factions can bring to bear and curb-stomping anything that they fight (although, as is demonstrated later on, better tactics can make the Gundams be in trouble).

Lots of political intrigue and cynicism (not to mention the question that, when you're the series' hero, your actions should or should not be interpreted as 'terrorism') abound, with many members of the secondary cast torn apart by the collateral damage (and some getting somewhat pointless deaths that the main characters) and halfway through the first season and the second season, a Lensman Arms Race ensuing.

-Rahxephon: Super Robot series, but it throws a whole lot of Super Robot concepts on its ear (one good example would be when Ayato finds the typical 'I will defend my friend-slash-possible Love Interest' resolve. He fights a Dolem with said resolve... and unknowing to him, the Dolem is linked to said friend-slash-possible Love Interest. He beats her to death through the sympathetic damage. Ouch).

-Neon Genesis Evangelion: This is the series that started (or at least made popular) the whole concept of deconstructing typical Mecha series tropes that lasted well into the 2000's (with 'Teppen Tonga Gurren Lagann' being arguably the moment when Reconstruction was well and truly popular-and that series you could argue *still* deconstructs some stuff).

The Evangelions are Super Robots (the Real Robot things they have being there to *restrain* the Super Robot-ness), but the whole cast is deep in Dysfunction Junction (and getting out a bit during the 'Action' Arc, only to go *even deeper* by the end of the series) and being just pawns, neither faction really being out to save the world (except possibly for the JSSDF, but they are a Redshirt Army and Hufflepuff House-and during EOE, Just Following Orders of the Bigger Bad), the 'invading aliens' remain pretty damn mysterious in the series proper (with any (arguably canon) answers provided by either print material or Japan-only game releases)....