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Mecha


 

:For the Chicano Student organization, see MEChA.

East vs. West

Mecha are quite popular in Japanese manga, and by extension anime. In Western entertainment, they are occasionally seen in games, especially the action, strategy and simulation genres, but the most well-known Western context for mecha is BattleTech. The original BattleTech - a tabletop strategy game - has been the basis of numerous MechWarrior computer games and a role-playing game and is the origin of the related term "mech". Other products bearing the BattleTech name include a collectible card game, books, comics and an animated TV series. Ironically, FASA, the company that produced BattleTech, was sued for copyright infringement for using several mecha designs from The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and other anime series allegedly without the proper copyright licenses1 (the first edition of BattleTech, then named 'BattleDroids, actually included two Japanese 1/144 model kits from the Fang of Sun Dougram anime series).

Related Topics:
Japan - Manga - Anime - Games - Genre - BattleTech - Tabletop strategy game - Role-playing game - Collectible card game - Book - Comic - Animated - TV series - FASA - Copyright - The Super Dimension Fortress Macross - 1 - Fang of Sun Dougram

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Though designs vary widely in both eastern and western mecha, there is a general difference in style. Japanese ones tend to be sleeker as opposed to the rougher and more rugged western ones, and it's not unusual for Japanese mecha to perform difficult acrobatic manoeuvers while some western machines would have trouble getting up. Hands are much more common on eastern mecha; western designs often just have upper limbs with permanent weapon emplacements.

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An interesting compromise of the two design philosophies can be found in the Armored Core series of videogames; while the mecha can frequently be humanoid and are capable of flight and hand-to-hand combat, in the Eastern tradition, a plethora of weight, power, heat and other semi-realistic limitations are placed on them during their design and customisation by the player, more reminiscent of Western mecha design.

Related Topics:
Armored Core - Videogames

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The word 'mech' is used to describe such vehicles considerably more often in western entertainment than in Asian entertainment. "Mech" as a term originated from BattleTech, and is not used in Japan in other contexts except as an unintentional misspelling of 'mecha.' In Japanese, 'mecha' is the more frequent term (see 'Other meanings' below), though in the series themselves they are seldom known as such.

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Specific mecha in media

(list is not comprehensive)

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◄ Mecha: Introduction
Mecha: The mecha genre of anime ►

~ Table of Content ~

►Introduction
►East vs. West
►The mecha genre of anime
►Games
►Grammar
►Other meanings
►Mecha as practical war machines
►Notes
►External links

 

 

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