Any show where the mech is central to the story instead of something the MC uses to punch things?
>>13720077
Dougram, sort of, in the later parts.
>>13720077
J-Decker, sort of. The human-machine relationship is always there but it isn't explored until the last third or so. In any case, the series is pretty damn good.
Shin Getter in the later bits of the Go manga, but that's not exactly a show.
Layzner has a human-AI conflict
>>13720077
Both Zone of the Enders anime and the games, too.
(watch the OVA, then the TV show)
>>13720077
The Big O
>>13720077
Gargantia for sure.
This is Chamber K6821. He is a robot, and he also happens to be the greatest character in the show.
Chambers commentary and interaction with the MC is absolutely essential to the plot and flow of the show, and I don't mean from an exposition point of view. Chamber is, basically, the MC's father figure by most any metric that matters.
"I am a pilot support and enlightenment system. By helping you achieve further and greater success, I accomplish my purpose of being."
>>13720077
Neo Ranga
RahXephon.
>>13720077
Evangelion
>>13720531
Not really. You could tell the same story in a non-scifi setting.
>>13720558
The same could be said of basically any scifi story, so that's not a meaningful critique.
It remains true that, in the story that was actually told, the Evangelions are central. The characters have their own individual plots, but the main plot has to do not just with the Evangelions themselves but why the children choose to pilot them and the ramifications of that. Remove the evangelions from the picture and you suddenly have a huge hole in the narrative, as they are a source of great pressure and stress that pushes the pilots to (and eventually past) the breaking point.
After the Leliel fight, a significant portion of the plot is simply devoted to uncovering the dark secrets of what the hell the Evangelions even are, underneath the cover story.
They are pretty central to the story.
>>13720558
BUT THE ROBOT IS HIS MOM!!!
>>13720571
The main plot is nothing but fluff, the actual focus are the characters.
Gundam Unicorn
>>13720578
>Third Impact is fluff
Yeah, no. Eva 01 was central to literally everyone's version of 3I. The EVAs were are plot device, yes. But they were what the entire plot circled around.
>>13720077
Eureka Seven. You won't learn it's importance until the halfway mark in the series though. I enjoy the slow burn, but maybe that's just me.
>>13720578
>It's a character study, you guys
Oh boy.
>>13720578
Even taking that approach, as I already explained the Evangelions have a constant and significant impact on the characters and their story. The stresses of Evangelion piloting contribute massively to the tumbling down of Shinji, Asukas entire arc hinges on her reasons for why she pilots the Eva and how that leads to her downfall, and Kaji gets killed (sending Misato into a downward spiral of depression) as a result of trying to discover the truth about them.
There is no definition where the Evangelions are not central to the story, even if the focus are the characters. Don't fall back on semantics or claims that if you are willing to change the fundamental nature of the story there is nothing you cannot remove.
