Visual Inspiration for GH

[Joseph Hewitt]

I've been thinking about making changes to the GH2 graphics engine, so it seemed like a good idea to review the basics. Listed below are YouTube clips from a number of cartoons which have been influential to GearHead. I've arranged them in somewhat chronological order.

Gundam
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NH70fnVZpb8
and the opening, which looks very dated these days, just because:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zj3dGKqPfO8

Macross
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=otv28eZYmb8

The Transformers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLS2N9mHWaw

Dunbine
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u8LKnWaRKpE

Dougram
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkoLAh2h04

Bubblegum Crisis
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2GItE9nXY2Q
Plus another one, because BGC is so important:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rxDGUf1SbR4
Interestingly, over this way BGC doesn't seem to be very well known. In North America it was one of the most popular anime series of the 90s.

Gundam 0083
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VvDs3fQIzgE

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ms-ilMug8A

Irresponsible Captain Tyler
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8vTjNEZ3kcE

Escaflowne
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SfVu42oYqjU

Gundam Wing
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v45fNxh_RVM

Gundam 08th MS Team
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rpWkTfS-cK4
plus one of the best real robot fight scenes ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COSevUR7AG8

Cowboy Bebop
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LCnQonRpfbA

Kenran Butoh: Mars Daybreak
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UXrznEByxSQ

For GearHead, I want to achieve the same colorful, clean look as found in the Sunrise mecha anime.

[Erathoniel]

None from Appleseed?

[kcwong]

How about Eureka Seven? 交響詩篇エウレカセブン (with the song Shinku by Hitomi Shimatani, unrelated to the anime)

Also, Another Century Episode is a PS2 game by Banpresto. The opening and ending song are also sang by Hitomi. Here's a clip of A.C.E.

[Erathoniel]

Is A.C.E. released in the US? I want it.

[Joseph Hewitt]

I never really liked Appleseed very much. I've only seen the 1988 OVA, and while it's beautiful to look at I couldn't get interested in the story. The same goes for Ghost in the Shell, really. I should have mentioned Dominion Tank Police, though- here's the opening sequence, with an English theme song. I was trying to find one with the original Japanese theme song which I remember to be horrible; maybe even worse than this English one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvPHIkqJD9o

I never got to see much of Eureka Seven. It seems to always come on at the worst possible time. It does look very nice, though.

Speaking of looking nice, there's apparently a new Macross series coming out this year. Hopefully we'll get that on TV in Korea.

[Erathoniel]

Terms of use violation.

The video wasn't there when I went to watch it.

[kcwong]

Quoting: Erathoniel

Is A.C.E. released in the US? I want it.

Wiki said no. If you import it, you'll have to import a Japanese version PS2 as well...

[kcwong]

Patlabor is also very good.

Wiki
TV series
Movie


About Bubblegum Crisis: There's a new version called Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. The story is pretty average, but the animation and the suit designs are quite pretty.

[Burzmali]

It's interesting that both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Martian Successor Nadesico are missing from your list.  The angels from Eva are what i think of for biotechnological mecha and the corporations building flamboyant mecha seems a lot like Nergal from Nadesico.

[Phil Munoz]

What about Front Mission?  Armored Core?  Probably not colourful enough, but I thought I'd still mention them.

And because this is one of my favourites: Sakura Taisen.  Steam punk mecha, but this show has what I think is SF:1 sized mecha...

I hope SF:1 would make it into GH2

[Erathoniel]

So do I. I think almost everyone does. It would be a shame to lose SF:1 now. Plus, newbies would get confused about the lack of SF:1 and the jump from SF:0 to SF:2 if they start GH2 before GH1.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: Erathoniel

Terms of use violation.

The video wasn't there when I went to watch it.

Not surprising; I think all of the videos are probably terms of use violations. Which one did you try to watch? For most of these, searching on YouTube for the series name will bring up loads of clips.

Quoting: Burzmali

It's interesting that both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Martian Successor Nadesico are missing from your list.

I liked Evangelion but I didn't really like it as a robot show, if that makes any sense. Nadesico is another series that I haven't seen much of. I've watched some episodes through internet, and I've always planned to see more, but never got around to it.

Quoting: Phil Munoz

What about Front Mission? Armored Core?

I haven't played them yet. I do like Sakura Taisen a lot, though.

[Erathoniel]

Armored Core 4 is an awesome game, but has moved into pseudo-photo realism, and is no longer terribly anime feeling.

Is hulu.com available to non-US people? If so, it has some shows, I thought it had some anime, but I'd need to double check.

[Joseph Hewitt]

I just found the fight scene from the pilot episode of Macross Frontier. Get it before it's gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRLs-5MdK_A

[Erathoniel]

Awesome. Just awesome.