>>23433945 (OP)
The only way we can get consistent hand drawn animated mecha shows is if we return to Showa-era design principles with more streamlined, anamorphic robots.
Even during the genre’s peak, you had animators criticizing how designs were getting more and more complicated and the difficulty in consistently drawing them. There’s also how most anime these days don’t even crack thirty episode for a single cour unless you’re a series that actively rakes in money through toy sales, which is another issue- model kits and expensive figures have fully taken over merchandise for mecha. This isn’t me saying they’re bad, but there’s a severe lack of variety. Back then shows had toylines that, while shittier than the model kits at least served as an alternative for younger audiences. That’s how SD Gundam became such a huge hit and turned into its own sub-brand of the franchise.
It’s why shows like Precure and Shinkalion can reach fifty episodes easily meanwhile Grendizer U and Gundam GQuuuuuX are struggling with their episode count. 2D Mecha won’t make a comeback unless the industry wakes up and identifies all these issues.
