The best mech designs in anime history will do more than just look cool but will play significant roles in world-building, plot development, and more. The best designs are revolutionary, and reconstruct the meaning of the mecha genre in the modern medium, whether it is through lore, history, special devices, or something completely different.
Mecha is a genre that has often been considered niche, but with popular series like Gundam, Gurren Lagann, and even Code Geass setting the scene in the new millennium, the genre has brought the art of piloting giant robots to even greater audiences. Everything began in the 1960s with Gigantor and Tezuka Osamu’s Astroy Boy, which not only ignited the mecha concept, but revolutionized Japanese animation itself with a limited animation style. These series set a high bar for future innovations in the genre, though many popular mech designs do not disappoint with their creativity.
10 Best Mecha Anime to Watch Right Now
While many fans still point to series from decades ago as first-class mecha anime, some of the genre’s best have been produced in the last five years.
10 Variable Fighters Excel at Intergalactic Battle
Macross, produced by Tatsunoko Production
Macross is a science fiction anime that has built a long-running franchise around its universe’s complex displays of space exploration and battle. The original series follows Ichijou Hikaru and Lynn Minmay, a young pilot and up-and-coming singer, respectively. The two find themselves aboard the SDF-1 Macross, a repurposed alien spaceship that serves as humanity’s space fortress. Alien forces attack and the Macross is teleported to unknown reaches of the universe in the midst of its escape, sparking dramatic and action-packed adventures.
With Macross’s main mode of combat being space battles, the idea of the Variable Fighters was quickly born. These mechas double as both aircrafts and transforming giant soldiers, giving humans a non-zero chance when facing off against the alien races that are oftentimes much larger and better equipped than the human race. Variable Fighters served as an early framework for the modern mecha design and its flexible nature allows it to carry the Macross franchise through many sequels and film adaptations.
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9 Silhouette Knights Perfectly Contextualize an Isekai Mecha
Knight’s & Magic, produced by 8bit Studio
Knight’s & Magic is a unique isekai anime that doubles as a mecha series. The story follows Kurata Tsubasa through his second life, where he is reborn in a fantasy world after a tragic car accident. Having been a big mecha otaku in his previous life, Tsubasa is delighted to find that the fantasy world he has come to is filled with magical mechanical mechs called Silhouette Knights.
Although the Silhouette Knights were originally quite mainstream in design, the premise of the series pushes Tsubasa to innovate with his dream of creating his own original Silhouette Knight, a feat that hasn’t been achieved for over a hundred years. From here, an otherworldly adventure of piloting giant robots and fighting demons begins.
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8 Knightmare Frames Support a Chess-Like Narrative
Code Geass, produced by Sunrise Studio
Code Geass is a classic sci-fi and drama-based anime that follows Lelouch Lamperouge through an imperial world that portrays a futuristic rendition of the real world. With the world dominated by the Holy Empire of Britannia, Japan has fallen under its colonization, and an estranged prince, Lelouch, is sent there as a political prisoner. However, Lelouch quickly sparks his own supernatural journey with his discovery of the power of Geass, an ability that unilaterally allows him to command people to do anything.
Within this riveting narrative of politics, betrayal, and schemes, there are even mechas. At first, they seem as if they are out of place, but the idea of knightmare frames perfectly elevates the stakes of conflict without being overbearing in terms of world-building. Additionally, there are some amazing mech designs, such as Kururugi Suzaku’s Lancelot, or Kallen’s Guren Type-02 and its evolutions.
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7 Deus X Machina Highlights a Neon Finale
Promare, produced by Studio Trigger
Promare is a highbrow original anime film that features intriguing mysteries and an action-packed plot. It incorporates mecha ideas into the world that it has created, featuring mutant monsters called “Burnish,” as well as terrorists who try to capitalize on the pyrokinetic phenomena with evil intentions and the firefighters called the Burning Rescue who work to stop them.
With battles raging between various parties, the film introduces a unique type of mech into the fray. The most glaring example is Deus X Machina belonging to Lio Fotia, the leader of the Mad Burnish terrorist group. Deus X Machina introduces a unique co-piloting system that involves using the power of a Burnish in a designated cockpit, while the main pilot steers the machine. Furthermore, Deus X Machina even has different forms depending on who is piloting it.
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10 Best Anime Action Movies
Anime is a medium that thrives off of action, and there are plenty of anime movies that have done the best job of selling that idea to audiences.
6 Mashin Find Their Place in Shojo Mecha
Magic Knight Rayearth, produced by TMS Entertainment
Magic Knight Rayearth is a sci-fi anime way ahead of its time, and deserves much more recognition than it normally garners. In addition to being a mecha sci-fi series, Magic Knight Rayearth is also a shojo isekai anime, as the series follows the story of three young girls who are transported to a magic world where they are fated to become Magic Knights who pilot mechas called Mashin, or Rune-Gods, to save the fantasy world from the grasps of evil.
Although Magic Knight Rayearth is inherently a mecha anime, it takes huge strides away from the mainstream tropes of the genre. Firstly, it is a gender-norm challenging series as it slaps giant robots onto a shojo premise, which somehow blends perfectly to bring mecha to a new demographic. Secondly, the series takes a much less sci-fi approach than most mecha anime, which leads to more room for the fantastical elements of the world to grow, which is the defining use of the revolutionary Mashin in mecha.
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5 Titans are Mechas Made of Flesh
Attack on Titan, produced by Wit Studio & MAPPA
Attack on Titan is a shonen anime that has surprised fans at every turn, from its gorey depictions to its high-speed action and plot twists. The series follows Eren Yeager, an aspiring scout whose mother was eaten by a titan, a giant humanoid monster who terrorizes and consumes the human population in the show. Attack on Titan has everything from romantic undertones to complex political constructions, and even arguably mecha influences.
According to many fans, titans are just flesh mechas. Such an idea initially sounds far-fetched, but there is much to admire about the argument’s logic. In Attack on Titan, there are titan shifters, humans who can transform into a titan and pilot them from a space hidden in the titan’s nape. The titans’ structure has a lot in common with common mecha structures, and with some flexibility in the definition of mechanical, flesh can act as a substitute, cementing the titan’s place as the most unique mecha in anime.
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Attack On Titan
- Cast
- Matthew Mercer , Josh Grelle , Hiroshi Kamiya , Shiori Mikami , Jerry Jewell , Kishô Taniyama , Jessica Calvello , Masahiko Tanaka , Yui Ishikawa , Romi Park , Robert McCollum , Tomohisa Hashizume , Hiro Shimono , Trina Nishimura
- Release Date
- April 7, 2013
- Seasons
- 4
4 Franxx Utilize Fan Service Creatively
Darling in the Franxx, produced by A-1 Pictures & CloverWorks & Studio Trigger
Darling in the Franxx is a dystopian anime that took the anime world by storm at the time of its release. The series follows the main characters, Hiro and Zero Two, who are children tasked with piloting giant robots to protect the safety of humanity. However, the world they grew up in is reminiscent of dystopian settings similar to those of novels like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
With such a foundation, the introduction of mechs into Darling in the Franxx adds another layer of interest value, and creates numerous opportunities for expansion. For example, the manner in which the Franxx are piloted is a catalyst for the entire series’ fan service. Whether one approves of such fan service or not, it is undeniable that the manner of robot operations contributed to the anime’s dystopian undertones and world-building.
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3 Mobile Suits Have Lasted Through the Decades
Mobile Suit Gundam, produced by Sunrise Studio
Gundam is arguably the most well-known mecha anime franchise, with dozens of series, movies, and OVAs, and making up the majority of the Japanese plastic mecha model industry. The original series follows a young boy named Amuro Ray in a universe of planetary federations and space war. Amuro quickly finds himself tangled in the conflicts of war, as he pilots the iconic mobile suits to meet his enemies in battle.
Although not every Gundam series follows Amuro, his story is where everything started, leading to endless models of intricate mecha designs that have been flooding the anime market since the 1980s. The Gundam franchise continues to innovate and prove that almost all mecha designs stem from Gundam’s influence.
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Gundam’s First Anime Remains One of the Series’ Best, Decades Later
The original Mobile Suit Gundam still remains the franchise’s best installment, even after years of new seasons, stories, and characters.
2 Gunmen Revolutionized the Mecha Genre
Gurren Lagann, produced by Studio Gainax
Gurren Lagann is one of the greatest mecha anime of all time, as its story follows the exploits of Simon and Kamina, two boys who live among the underground colonies that all humans have been regulated to. However, Kamina’s daredevil spirit pushes the pair to break out and explore the world’s surface, encountering characters each more interesting than the next.
Furthermore, the main power system of the series relies on Gunmen, which are giant mechs that are piloted by humans and humanoid creatures alike. In particular, the titular Gunman of the series, Gurren Lagann, has the most intricate design. Thanks to its ability to fuse with other machines, It carries the entire series on its back with each of its endless transformations and abilities that work tirelessly to support both the Dai Gurren team and the anime’s plot movement.
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1 EVAs Are Much More than Giant Robots
Neon Genesis Evangelion, Studio Gainax & Tatsunoko Production
Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the greatest sci-fi anime of all time, as it balances the mecha genre with drama, action, and psychological reckonings. The series follows Ikari Shinji, a timid boy who is coerced into the role of humanity’s defender. Along with a select few children around his age, Shinji pilots giant robot-like entities called Evangelions, or EVAs for short. As mysterious creatures called Angels descend to devastate the world’s surface, Shinji is thrown into one traumatizing battle after another.
Aside from Evangelion’s delicate manipulation of the plot and its characters’ psychologies, the existence of mechas completely reconceptualizes the anime’s setting. EVAs are much more than just giant robots, as they subtly exhibit harrowing biological features, resembling the Angels that humans are combatting. Furthermore, Anno Hideaki does an amazing job of depicting gory details that seem so out of place in Mecha anime but fit perfectly into Evangelion’s universe, which is why EVAs are the best-designed mechs in anime history.
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