Federico Makabenta (yenm@iconn.com.ph)
Mon, 17 Jan 2000 12:26:16 +0800
(First part doesn't fit into Gundam - but I'll be making the connection
soon)
Heya,
Is it just me or am I getting too old?
Recently, there was a showing of the first two episodes of Gasaraki here in
the Philippines. I had already seen it from a friend who recorded the first
thirteen episodes for me. Amazing series from Sunrise and Takahashi...
What stunned me was that people were calling it "too political" or "too
unclear" even though the beginning parts practically blew me away...
I do agree that it is political - but for an audience used to obtuse angled
storylines like Eva - "too unclear" was a bit pre-judgmental...
I responded to this recently at a Mailing List for Local fans populated by
teens and college folk - I was a bit surprised at the reactions there. They
didn't like the military angle or the way it developed early on. They
weren't impressed by the mecha action, even though it was some of the best
I'd seen in years.
Has there been a significant change in the attitudes of mecha fandom
recently that I'm not aware of?
I'm 25 and had been weaned on much of the anime's lore. As a kid I watched
giant robot shows and Yamato. As a teen, I was fascinated by Macross and its
Robotech offshoots. In college, I became a true Gundam fan - though not as
much as many people on this list apparently - since it has always been about
the fascination of the Gundams for me and not the actual sci-fi behind it.
Anyway, has something happened to the mecha fan? Are we a dying breed? Has
the genre reinvented itself so much that we - the Old Guys - are becoming as
obsolete as the Giant Robot lovers?
I just don't dig series like G Gundam or Gundam Wing anymore. EVA was
fascinating for me at the start, but my taste for it quickly soured while
the old series like 0079:OYW still has a place in my fondest memories of
being a mecha fan.
Even in the choices of Top Ten mecha lists among our local fans differ. My
generation looks up to Char's Counterattack mecha as the best. We usually
include UC Gundam, Macross, Dougram and other 80s series as our top tens.
The next generation place Rayearth, GWing, FSS in their top ten - usually
the ones with extremely elaborate designs. Among these series - I can
probably only appreciate mecha like the H-arms custom, Tallgeese and
Serpent.
Is it just me? Or do the rest of you feel the same way?
*sniff*
Fed
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