My sister is home for the holidays so I forced her to watch a few episodes of Gurren Lagann with me. I think she sort of enjoyed it although her first impressions were pretty funny, like calling Kamina an idiot and his dad an ass for abandoning him at an early age.
Then she turned to me and said, “so the robots are powered by testosterone… can girls pilot them too?”
“Of course they can! It’s not testosterone, it’s fighting spirit” I said, desperate to keep her from forming a bad opinion of her first mecha show. But let’s be honest here, in Gurren Lagann piloting giant robots is a man’s job. Sure, Yoko and Kittan’s sisters pilot a couple of times but it still comes down to the girls providing backup for the guys. This is an important job – just look at how Nia was the catalyst for everything that happened after episode 8 – but it’s just not as cool as ripping a giant pair of sunglasses off your robot and cutting down the opponent with them.
Mind you, this doesn’t bother me. I love Gurren Lagann and frankly my tastes are so “manly” that I’m told people think I’m a guy (that’s probably what you get for thinking that the chauvinism in Golgo 13 is funny). Even so, there’s times when I really do wish there were more anime with girls in the cockpit. In fact I can only think of two with female pilots as main characters: Gunbuster and Gunbuster 2. I do love both of these but there’s only so many times I can re-watch them before hungering for more.
What I really want is a full length TV show revolving around a female mecha pilot, and she can’t just be a moeblob or fanservice character. Unless she’s cute and has a badass-goggle-wearing-planet-sized version like Nono. Have you seen through to what this post really is yet? Yes, it’s a shameless request for recommendations. So if you know, please tell me. Are there any anime that fit the bill?
Oh and I am somewhat optimistic about the upcoming Ride Back which has a girl riding a motorcycle mecha… or is it a mecha motorcycle?
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You gotta put a cock in the cockpit, hurr hurr
No but seriously, Kamina is really, really dumb.
>and she can’t just be a moeblob
Lost all interest there.
Nono is awesome. But Noriko is my hero. She has the BEST called out attacks screaming power. Not expected of a female character.
I dare you, listen to Kamina and the rest. Then listen to BUSTAAAAAAA BEEEEEEEEEAAAAMMMMMMU!!!
And called-out attacks are as important to super-robot shows as the size of the mecha themselves, an integral part of the identity of the shows.
What about Stellvia?
Oh hey Gurren Lagann. OH WOW.
great~ now whos gonna make babies if the gurlz r piloting d robot??
hmm.. xD
@lolikitsune
Oh man, I set myself up for that joke so badly it’s not even funny.
There’s almost certainly an inverse relationship between bravado and intelligence. No matter, Kamina doesn’t need brains because he has an enormous… sword.
@ghostlightning
Did Noriko do the buster beam attack first? I just remember when Nono used it because her speech before that was awesome. Easily one of my favorite moments in anime.
@ Matte
I’ll admit that I’m not overly fond of the character designs based on what Google is giving me but I’ll check it out anyway. Thanks!
@Kairu Ishimaru
Yes…
@Alan
A very good question. Who IS gonna make babies if the gurlz r piloting d robot??? I do not know.
What of Code Geass? Does Kallen get no love?
Depending on your definition of “giant robot” you might want to check out Bubblegum Crisis, which features four women in power suits who sometimes pilot large-ish transformable motorcycles.
Working on a post about BGC for CD, but I haven’t gotten off my ass to finish it.
Macross 7 also has at least a couple of women piloting giant robots; Millia from the original Macross and her daughter Mylene, although it isn’t a regular thing.
Gundam 0080 has a Gundam piloted by a woman, but she isn’t exactly the main character.
Jinki:Extend, Patlabor, Simoun (I suppose), Soukou no Strain, Stellvia, Sky Girls, Divergence Eve (lol!) and Idolmaster all focus on female mecha pilots, though they’re hardly free of fanservice (but then neither is Gunbuster). Stratos 4 and Rocket Girls are about more traditional spaceships rather than mecha, but might be of interest.
There’s the Ecole du Ciel Gundam manga, too.
IKnight beat me to the pinch with Idolmaster Xenoglossia but yeah, there aren’t many female mecha pilots around…maybe Miharu from Gasaraki? Then of course there’s Asakua’s last battle in Enbd of Evangelion, which is possibly the most full-on and insane mecha battle I’ve ever seen.
You would’ve thought that since piloting a mecha is dependent on the skill of the pilot and strength of the vehicle rather than brute force on the pilot’s part that it would be more of an ‘equal opportunities’ occupation…
I guess there must be some difference between stories with female mecha pilots as main characters (Asuka in NGE), with female mecha pilots as protagonists (Izumi in Patlabor) and with most/all of the main characters being female mecha pilots (Simoun, Divergence Eve).
Since it’s traditionally always been a genre for young boys, the main characters usually reflected that so in a way it’s a bit like asking why you don’t get many male magical girls. However idiotic it is, clearly somewhere along the line it’s become accepted wisdom that mainstream anime audiences can’t handle strong female mecha pilots as central characters.
>Animanachronism
Isn’t the difference that the first character type you mention exists as a mirror to reflect the main (male) character’s masculinity (or lack of, in Shinji’s case); the Izumi type has to act as the audience’s point of identification all by herself; in the last type of story the girls are basically designed as cut-outs of various archetypes, designed for the viewing pleasure of a male audience and where there is no primary point of identification.
The first type is standard, male-orientated mainstream, the second is fringe anime by people consciously trying to think outside the box, and the third is otaku fan service.
@omisyth
I used to like Kallen a lot but she spent so much time being useless in R2 that I sort of forgot about her. She had some good fights, though, and I liked that she was an ace pilot.
@Sean
Thanks, I had all of those on my “to watch” list but now I have a bigger reason to hurry up and do so. I’ll definitely check out your post when it goes up at Colony Drop.
@The Animanachronism
Awesome list. I’m going to look into all of those.
@concretebadger
I love Asuka’s fight, in fact I just wrote about it over at Oi Hayaku.
I think that’s probably more true for real robot shows than (and I’m going out on a limb here because I haven’t really seen enough mecha yet) super robot shows which are about a more masculine form of strength… fighting spirit and guts and all that. Basically, what powers your typical shounen hero.
@dotdash
Yeah, that’s very true. After all it’s not primarily girls who are buying robot toys or watching mecha anime. What you and The Animanachronism are saying has given me a lot to think about as I start watching these anime I’ve been suggested.
Have you ever heard of a mech with a “swordpit?” Your euphemisms are deconstructing metaphor.
It’s more like Kallen was practically written out for about 8 episodes or so…but other than that I wouldn’t call her “useless” since she did fufill the role of showing girls can pilot a Giant Robo well enough.
Seems your mileage varies but I suppose that’s okay.
Anyhow, yay for the Gunbuster love at least.
- Eureka from Eureka Seven fits the bill quite nicely.
- Again, Noa from Patlabor. Though she’s more like a mech pilot who happens to be a girl.
- Aoi from Dancouga Nova. Show is average, but Aoi’s hotblood is comparable to a good number of male suparobo leads.
- Sara from Dancougar. Probably the first angry woman pilot I’ve heard of.
- I haven’t seen Godannar, but I’ve heard good things about it if you go beyond the fanservice.
- Ditto Gravion. Decent Gonzo show.
- Aquarion is also not bad.
anyone watched Vandread before? it’s girls and mecha too. pretty good stuff.
I have a question. I don’t have the title or even the story. But there is an Anime I rented from Blockbuster about 9 years ago when I was 10, it was a matured rated one. The main character is a female with 70’s style blonde hair and just straps on her chest, which was a surprise when they actually stay on. Also, she rides a big robot. I hope somebody can help me. It has been killing me trying to remember the title since almost 7 years ago.
Sorry Dave, can’t help you there. You’d probably have better luck asking on an anime forum or 4chan’s /a/ or /m/. Anonymous may spend a lot of time being an asshole but I’ve seen some obscure questions like yours answered surprisingly quickly.
I’ll try again before I go to dreaded 4chan. She is a blonde lady with 70’s style poofy hair. She is from space, rides a giant robot, and whenever her robot takes damage, she does too. She has a big chest with red ribbons JUST covering them.
@ LBrevis
But of course Noriko belted out BUSTAAA BEAAAAAMU first. Nono is nostalgia fanservice for Noriko and the orgiginal Gunbuster GATTAI. Awesome voice is awesome.
She also had a great coach ^_~
THE FIRST FEMALE SUPER ROBOT PILOT: came from the first series with THE FIRST SUPER ROPBOT EVER, Sayaka piloting APHRODITE A, from MAZINGER Z.
So, the precedent came from the first super robot show ever.
However, Mazinger Z is galactically stupid (if awesomely so) so expect Sayaka and Aphrodite A to be not exactly shining examples of female awesomeness. I don’t think she’s work as a good role model. She get’s better in the Mazinkaiser OVAs, and her Venus Ace robot is real sweet too.
I don’t think she gets much better in Mazinkaiser, but I’m by no means an expert.
@ The Animanachronism
LOL. I must be blinded by the …uh, fanservice
Either way it all goes back to being for male audience.
awesome male pilots —good for the guys ego
awesome female pilots — hot.
Don’t forget Sargent Major Melissa Mao from Full Metal Panic! Unarguably the greatest female robot pilot ever.