ACAD 309 -- Real robots

Proto mechas

Early autonomous robots in prewar sci-fi manga.

Giant robots

Robots featured in cartoons, often metaphorical.

Electric Octopus

1940 manga marking mecha genre's emergence.

Tetsujin 28-go

First major postwar robot story by Yokoyama.

Shotaro Kaneda

Genius detective controlling Tetsujin 28-go.

Robot vs. robot action

Early comic battles between robots depicted.

Mazinger Z

Starting point for the super robot genre.

Kyodai hero genre

Influenced super robots, popularized by Ultraman.

Mobile Suit Gundam

1979 series introducing realistic mecha themes.

Gunpla

Gundam plastic models, popularized scale modeling.

Real robot genre

Mature storytelling with military sci-fi themes.

Mamoru Oshii

Director known for sci-fi and animation.

Patlabor

Cyberpunk military sci-fi directed by Oshii.

Cold War jingoism

Political allegory in Starship Troopers narrative.

Heinlein's Starship Troopers

First depiction of mobile infantry fighting aliens.

Tezuka's influence

Osamu Tezuka inspired many postwar comics.

Banda Namco Filmworks

Founded by alumni of Sunrise Studios.

Realism in Gundam

Anti-war message addressing Japan's historical context.

Mushi Productions

Studio where Tomino began his career.

Hard science fiction

Focus on realistic scientific principles in stories.

Political expression

Real robot genre as a platform for critique.

Cyberpunk themes

Exploration of technology's impact on society.

Multiverse in Patlabor

Interconnected stories across various media formats.

Tatsunoko Productions

Studio where Oshii started as storyboard artist.

Beautiful Dreamer

Oshii's sequel with darker sci-fi tone.

Kerberos Saga

Oshii's series expanding his cinematic universe.