>>26108>I've heard about Gundam and Macross before. Where would you start with 80s mecha anime?With Gundam, start with the original TV series. People recommend the movies but I think they're worse because they cut a lot of stuff out. The original Gundam is my favourite anime ever made. Then watch Zeta and Char's Counter Attack. Zeta has a new main character and its sort of the best and most quintissential 80s mecha show. The writing is amazing and its a must watch, though it has some mixed female characters with some of them being great or even amazing and others (a single one really) being atrociously written. You can skip double Zeta, the issue isn't that its lighter in tone but that it is really mediocre in its writing and themes. Char's Counter Attack is the end of classic Gundam and is about the two most important characters. Also there's War in the Pocket, which is a short side story. Often its introduced as a good entry but idk. It's still great. I think Gundam is still really important. If you like Gundam try out Tomino's other stuff. From the 70s and 80s I most recommend Zambot 3 and Ideon. Dunbine and L-Gaim are also pretty good and worth watching, especially for the mechs and mech designers. L-Gaim is a bit like ZZ but kind of better if I'm going to be honest even if its not really my thing (also spawned a manga by mech designed Nagano and the film Five Star Stories of which there is a sequel released in like 2011 that is only shown at private screenings and not released properly to my frustration), and I actually really like Dunbine even though the ending is a mess. Ideon is the one you really need to watch out of all of them though, especially the movie. Zambot 3 I love. It is legitimately like top 5 most fucked up TV shows I've watched but manages to not be just shock horror. Oh also there's Xabungle, I actually haven't watched it yet but I hear its close to being peak fun Tomino.
As for Macross, I also suggest you watch the TV series but maybe with more caviats. I don't think Macross is as deep a show as Gundam, but it's still good and even exceptional in a lot of ways. The fights are a lot more dynamic than in the original Gundam and there's of course space idol Minmay. Still it's pretty 1970s Space Battleship Yamato core. A lot of interesting plot also goes on but I just don't think it touches on as deep themes, has as well written characters or as grounded a setting as Gundam. I'm not sure if the romance is that amazingly written either, even if I think the main character ends up with the best love interest. Then there's the Macross movie which isn't really a standin for the TV show. It has 80s movie quality art and animation and actually expands on the story in a lot of ways. It was the highlight of Macross for me.
The other show I highly recommend you watch is Armoured Trooper Votoms. It's kind of the 3rd most important 80s mecha show and the director is also pretty prolific. The mechs are outstandingly done, its like the most realism wank mecha. There's also the spinoff OVA Armoured Hunter Mellowlinks, which is really solid. It's about a guy killing mechs with strategy and an anti-AT gun. Really cool. If you like Votoms try out Takahashi's other stuff. Dougram is a must watch if you're into 80s mecha and a leftist, it's inspired by Fanon (sort of, I think someone said it in an interview). Not to say Takahashi was necessarily a leftist (he ended up doing pretty fascist stuff later) but I think its an example of how in that era this was the norm. The story is really outstanding, if you like a long political series it's probably better than Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Lastly there's Layzner, which I like and does some interesting stuff. The mechs are cool and the animation is good (after the first episode). It has an unexpected and really gripping twist, turning it into a completely different show in the second part. Unfortunately the show doesn't capitalize on it properly and it got canned, there's an ending OVA at least.
A show I hear is extremely underrated is Vifam, I haven't watched it but it sounds interesting and I 100% plan to.
As for shorter shows, the most important are Patlabor and Gunbuster. The Patlabor OVA is really good (though I don't think its a masterpiece) and is pretty much the most grounded mecha. It's good fun and I like the characters a lot. There's also a plot at the end. Gunbuster is probably the best intro to 80s mecha for a modern anime fan. It's short, feels modern and otaku-y (not necessarily a good thing but it works here), has amazing 10/10 art and direction and most importantly tells a complete story really effectively. Absolutely a must watch, and in fact I implore you to watch it now if you haven't. That being said it won't beat the real stories because it isn't really all that deep. It's a short, simple and effective show. I don't think this would inspire people like Gundam or Macross might. Apart from these there is M.D. Geist which is barely mecha but everyone always includes it. I think its really cool and its a bit of a meme. Absolutely a must watch in my opinion. It is actually just edgy and not really deep though. Like its basically what if the main character was a murder hobo. I love it. By the same guy there's Genocyber which is famous as the goriest anime ever. It's really edgy but beyond that actually dark. I love both of them, highly recommend.
Also, I understand your frustration with just edgy shows and such. Edgy does not mean depth or even a serious show. M.D. Geist just doesn't feel serious to me despite how edgy it is and how much I love it. All those edgy Isekai are not serious. I think thats why I love the original Gundam so much. It's not super dark or edgy or anything. I actually hate all the Gundam fans that just want the series to be only dark and gritty and to have no Newtypes when they're the whole point! The original series is a serious war story about characters that have fun times despite the situation and it ends hopefully even if it is really sad and characters die. It's about somthing, it's not just "mecha but dark", it has a reason to exist from the characters to the themes and the actually really grounded setting. Yeah newtypes and so on and the 70s animation has limitations, but the show was actually pretty cutting edge on its science in a lot of ways like the O'Neill cylinders. Space acts as space and not the air or sea.
I got this picture from here:
https://blog.alltheanime.com/the-day-anime-changed/ It's a good read. Ironically I only found it after watching a youtube video in the topic. Maybe the reason people aren't out at conventions so much is because of social media like youtube. But I think social media isn't such a bad thing. It really helps us connect together. Social media might be the most revolutionary thing that has come about thanks to modern technology and phones. It is literally built by users, by normal workers and young people. I don't use tictoc but it is objectively progressive. Perhaps anime has just been moving to this online social media landscape. I think its a hopeful future.