Mobile Suit Gundam borrows heavily from the concepts of the 1970's super robot animes. It features a primary-colored robot piloted by a single main character. But the Gundam isn't a super robot. It is a real robot, the first real robot anime ever introduced. The Gundam is a piece of military hardware, and it isn't indestructible. The enemy isn't a hideous alien force, but other human beings fighting for their independence against Earth's rule. The Gundam is stationed aboard a space battleship and is ordered out onto the field of battle by superior officers. Tanks and aircraft operate in conjunction with the Gundam, along with support and artillery mecha. Gundam sports a bonafide war, complete with political intrigue and an entire backstory of events that lead up to the opening frame series. Much of the mechanics of Gundam are explained, either by official sources or filled in by fans.

But Gundam's first run on television flopped. It was going to be cut at 39 episodes instead of the intended 52, but, with some pleading, the creators managed to get a one-month extension to wrap up the story, a move that brought the series to 43 episodes. Mobile Suit Gundam might have shriveled in the shadow of its initial failure, but reruns saw the show grow large in popularity, which lead to a movie trilogy based on the TV series. A sequel to the TV show didn't arrive until 1985 when Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam crashed the scene. It featured a new cast with a few old faces and many cameo appearances from characters from the first series.

Where Mobile Suit Gundam started the real robot revolution, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, which premiered in 1982, expanded on it. Tomino himself followed Gundam with Xabungle the same year and then went on to do L-Gaim and Armored Trooper VOTOMS in 1983. From there the palate grew. Patlabor features real robots as police units, and Aura Battler Dunbine has real robots looking like insects and wielding swords. And Kishin Corps is a "what-if" scenario in World War II that features mecha powered by steam and vacuum tubes. The tradition continues with recent shows like The Vision of Escaflowne, Evangelion and Gasaraki, all of which continue to evolve mecha themes. Meanwhile Gundam has spawned eight television series, four OAVs and nine movies with two more movies planned for next year. But don't think that super robots died with the 70's. Super robots are still wildly popular. Giant Robo is an example of this, not to mention Brave King GaoGaiGar. The Getter Robo franchise had a new OAV released in 1999, Shin Getter Robo: The Last Day, and even Mazinger birthed a new OAV in 2001 called Mazinkaiser.