While more recent shows attempt to modernise the mecha genre with new types of storytelling and action, certain classic anime remains to serve as inspiration for the genre today. Despite the popularity or current existence of the genre, Mecha anime is here to stay owing to these amazing programmes. Here are some of the best mecha anime to start with for those looking to delve a little deeper into this world.
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
After the Holy Empire of Britannia attacks and conquers Japan, reducing the once proud nation to a state of occupation. Lelouch, an exiled Imperial Prince of the Britannia empire, vows to wrestle Japan to its freedom. He meets a mysterious girl named C.C., who bestows the mystical power of Geass upon him. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Darling in the franxx
After a century of fighting the klaxosaurs, a parasite named Hiro was initially regarded as a prodigy. It fails his capacity test and is deemed unfit to pilot, causing him to lose interest in life. Hiro comes across Zero Two. It is an infamous FRANXX pilot who is a human-klaxosaur hybrid with red horns and a dark past. A dark past in which her partners die after riding with her three times. After her partner is killed in a klaxosaur attack. Hiro tells Zero Two that he will assist her in piloting her robot to defeat the klaxosaur. After they succeed, Zero Two declares that she has found her ‘darling.’ It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Sidonia no Kishi (Knights of Sidonia)
The story takes place in the year 3394. It is a thousand years after humanity fled Earth after it was destroyed by a race of shapeshifting aliens known as the Gauna. They aboard hundreds of colossal spacecraft built from the planet’s remains. The Sidonia is one such ship, which has developed its own human culture based on that of Japan. There human cloning, asexual reproduction, and human genetic engineering, such as the ability to grant humans photosynthesis, are commonplace. It is also revealed that the upper echelons of this society have been granted immortality in secret. Sidonia, with a population of over 500,000 people, maybe the last human settlement standing. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
The main plot is set in UC 0096, sixteen years after the end of the One Year War. Char’s Counterattack, and 27 years before Mobile Suit Gundam F91. The plot revolves around Banagher Links, a seemingly normal boy who lives and attends school in space colonies. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Neon Genesis Evangelion + The End of Evangelion
Seele is the secretive committee that learns that Shinji’s father, Gendo Ikari, intends to exploit Nerv. It is a paramilitary group that deploys the Evangelion units, for his purposes. Seele sends the Japanese Strategic Self-Defense Force to seize Nerv, killing the majority of the employees. Misato Katsuragi, a Nerv major, orders Asuka to be transferred to Evangelion Unit 02 and placed at the bottom of a lake before rescuing Shinji. Misato was determined to have Shinji defend Nerv. He pulls him to the bay doors of Unit 01 but is shot in the process. He begs Shinji to pilot Unit 01 before she dies, kisses him, and forces him into the elevator. Shinji comes across Unit 01, which has been immobilized in bakelite. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Gurren Lagann is set in a fictional future in which the Earth is ruled by the Spiral King. Lordgenome forces humanity to live in isolated subterranean villages. The story revolves around two teenagers, Simon and Kamina. They live in a subterranean village and wish to travel to the surface. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Although mostly faithful to the original series plot, Yasuhiko has taken the liberty of changing certain elements. Giving the series and the struggle that unfolds a different character. The presence of mobile suits on both sides long before the conflict begins is the most notable of these. In the flashback sequences, both the Earth Federation Forces and Zeon use Guntanks in 0068. They, along with the Guncannon mobile suit, are described as “obsolete” and fit for target practice in the first volume. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Magic Knight Rayearth
The story revolves around three eighth-grade girls. The tomboyish, headstrong but short Hikaru Shidou (, Shid Hikaru). The quick-tempered and no-nonsense only child Umi Ryuuzaki (, Ryzaki Umi); and the intelligent and ladylike Fuu Hououji (, Hji F). The girls are drawn into another world, Cephiro, while on a field trip to the Tokyo Tower. They discover that Cephiro is influenced by one’s will and that the Pillar keeps Cephiro alive through prayer. The girls are then tasked with rescuing the current Pillar, Princess Emeraude, from her kidnapper, the high priest and antagonist Zagato, before being returned to Tokyo. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
An anime that takes place in the future, to be precise in 2030. Motoko Kusanagi who’s busy locating a ghost hacker happens to be taking over the valuable tech-infused minds aka Puppet Master. The movie is beyond amazing cinematography which appeals to the viewers and it extends to a sequel. It is one of the Top Mecha Anime.
Macross F (Macross Frontier)
As the series begins, a reconnaissance of New United Nations Spacy (N.U.N.S.) VF-171 Nightmare Plus is destroyed during a mission to an unexplored asteroid belt by an extremely powerful and fast insectoid biomechanical alien mecha known as the Vajra, who immediately launch an attack on the rest of the fleet. To combat the new enemy threat, the N.U.N.S. Colonial Defense Forces authorizes the deployment of Strategic Military Services (S.M.S. ), a private military provider organization that uses the new VF-25F Messiah, VF-25G Messiah, and VF-25S Messiah variable fighters. The story, like other Macross universe installments, revolves primarily around a trio of characters, including Alto Saotome, a young pilot, Sheryl Nome, a famous singer, and Ranka Lee, a teenager.
Full Metal Panic!
Sousuke is a highly regarded gun-for-hire who resents his latest job- protecting Kaname, a high school girl determined to escape his watchful eye. She is the target of a terrorist group, and much as she annoys him, he must do his best to protect her from the enemy and himself. The more she infuriates him, though, the more he begins to care for her. Soon he discovers there’s more to her than the facade of a carefree high school student that he first saw.
Promare
Thirty years have passed since the appearance of Burnish, a race of fire-wielding mutant beings who used fire to destroy half of the world. A battle begins when a new group of aggressive mutants appears.
Chou Denji Machine Voltes V (Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V)
An armada of horned humanoid aliens known as Boazanians invades Earth in 1997 and launches their “beast fighters” all over the world. The invaders’ first humiliating defeat by Super Electromagnetic Machine, Voltes V, prompts them to concentrate their attacks on Japan. Dr. Kentaro G, his wife Dr. Mitsuyo G, and their trusted colleague Dr. Hamaguchi designed Voltes V, which was built in a large-scale construction effort supported by the United Nations Earth Defense Force and General Oka. Ken’ichi G pilots Voltes V, and the five “Volt Machines” that comprise the robot are piloted by Ken’ichi, Daijiro, Hiyoshi, Megumi Oka, and Ippei Mine, in that order. Kentaro and Mitsuyo G’s three sons are Kenichi, Daijiro, and Hiyoshi. General Oka’s only daughter is Megumi Oka.
SSSS.Gridman
The plot revolves around Yta Hibiki, a first-year high school student with amnesia who lives in the fictional Japanese city of Tsutsujidai. In an old computer, he meets the Hyper Agent Gridman, who informs him that the boy has a mission to complete; Yta sets out to discover the meaning of those words and his memory loss. The unexpected appearance of a kaiju eventually alters the normal dynamics of Yta and his classmates. Yta can join forces with Gridman to fight kaiju, but after the kaiju attack, people’s memories are erased, and those who die are forgotten. With the help of Gridman’s mysterious friends, Yta and his friends have formed the “Gridman Alliance” to stop the kaiju and discover the truth behind the disappearances.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
Kudelia Aina Bernstein, a Martian noblewoman, hires the civilian security firm Chryse Guard Security (CGS) to transport her to Earth to negotiate Chryse’s independence from Earth. Gjallarhorn, an Earth military organization, attacks CGS in an attempt to halt the Martian independence movement. During the attack, Orga Itsuka, the leader of CGS’s Third Army Division, which is made up of children, decides to rebel against the adult higher-ups who have fled, leaving the child and teen foot soldiers to fight and die as disposable decoys. As all hope appears to be lost, a young orphan named Mikazuki Augus under Orga’s command enters the battle, piloting a hastily repaired mobile suit: the legendary Gundam Barbatos.
Aldnoah.Zero
An ancient alien hypergate was discovered on the moon’s surface in 1972. Humanity began migrating to Mars and settling there using this technology. Following the discovery of additional advanced technology, the Vers Empire was formed, claiming Mars and its secrets for themselves. Later, the Vers Empire declared war on Earth, and in 1999, a battle on the Moon’s surface caused the hypergate to explode, shattering the Moon and scattering remnants into the planet’s debris belt. When the Vers Empire was cut off from Mars, it established several massive orbital space stations within the debris belt and a ceasefire was established.
Appleseed
Deunan Knute, a young soldier and one of the last survivors of the Global War, is rescued by Hitomi, a Second Generation Bioroid. Briareos Hecatonchires, her former lover and now a cyborg, foils Knute’s escape attempt. She realizes the war has ended and she has arrived in the Utopian city of Olympus. Bioroids are a genetically engineered species that is half human and half clone. Olympus is governed by three factions: Prime Minister Athena Areios, the Olympus Army’s General Edward Uranus III, and a Council of Elders. From a building called Tartaros, an artificial intelligence named Gaia observes everything in the city. Deunan joins the counter-terrorism organization ESWAT while there.
Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor (Patlabor: The Mobile Police)
The story takes place in 1998-2002, which was the near future at the time of release. Heavy construction work is performed by “Labor” robots. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has its fleet of Patrol Labors (“Patlabors”; as opposed to patrol cars) to combat crime/terrorism and deal with Labor accidents. Typically, the story arcs revolve around Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2. The series’ main protagonist is Noa Izumi, but all of Division 2 play roles. Hata and Kusumi are the main characters in the third Patlabor film. Except for Shige and Buchiyama in maintenance, The Next Generation takes place in 2013, with an entirely new cast, but the new members of SV2 have similar names and personalities.
Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star)
Mikako Nagamine, a schoolgirl, is recruited into the United Nations Space Army to fight in a war against the Tarsians, a group of aliens named after the Tharsis region of Mars where they were first encountered. As a Special Agent, Mikako pilots a Tracer, a massive robotic mecha, as part of a fighting squadron attached to the spacecraft carrier Lysithea. Mikako’s friend Noboru Terao remains on Earth after the Lysithea departs to search for the Tarsians. They continue to communicate across space by using e-mail on their mobile phones. As the Lysithea travels deeper into space, messages take longer and longer to reach Noboru on Earth, and the time lag eventually reaches years.
Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven (Eureka Seven)
Renton Thurston, a 14-year-old boy, is fed up with his boring life. He is only happy when he “lifts,” which is an extreme type of aerial hoverboarding. His dissatisfaction stems from his childhood of toiling in his Grandfather’s garage and being the son of an enigmatic yet renowned “hero.” A huge LFO (Light Finding Operation) vessel named Nirvash crashes from the sky one day, and a lovely young girl named Eureka emerges and requests repairs. When a smitten Renton jumps over himself to assist her, the two embark on an adventure that will change their lives forever.
That’s all folks! These were the Top 20 Mecha Anime. If you know any more awesome mecha anime do mention them in the comment section below. We would love to hear from you!
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