While the original Dragonball was aired in North America, it didn't gain popularity until Dragonball Z was released and was wildly popular. But there is no denying that they are among the most popular and memorable series of all time. Yes, the image is fake, but I needed to include both series in the picture.įirstly, I want to state that I'm not a fan of either of these series.

Even if the genre survived in Japan, there's almost no way Escaflowne would have been adapted for an American audience without the Gundam experiment being a success. It wasn't until over 15 years after the series debuted in Japan that it was adapted for American audiences as an experiment, airing at almost midnight in some time zones. Mobile Suit Gundam also gave way to pushing more of these shows in the west. Grendizer and Brave Raideen debuted four years earlier, but Mobile Suit Gundam defined a genre and the tropes associated with it. Mobile Suit Gundam certainly wasn't the first Mecha Anime. I never understood it - I was just a kid - and episodes never aired here chronologically, so I could never follow the plot, but there's one thing I do know: Without Mobile Suit Gundam, there would be no Vandread, Crosse Ange, Evangelion, or Escaflowne. I remember watching it late at night because their was nothing else on TV. The previously mentioned Vandread and Crosse Ange are all great shows in their own rights. There are some series out there that do Mecha very well. It is hard for me to be objective though as I stated earlier, I'm not a fan of mecha.

Mobile Suit Gundam is, without a doubt, a classic. This is probably the first entry where I'm trying to ignore my personal feelings. And so begins the downward spiral known as Izumak- er.

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