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So, the next time you find yourself asking "is this mecha?" consider this instead: Do YOU think it's mecha? Thanks for reading.

Now of course, both of these are going to have significant overlap and like most attempts to classify mecha, exist more on a gradient than a hard separating line. But if you need a quick and easy way to explain the difference, Types 1 and 2!

Type-2 Mecha would be the more hotly debated one, a "sentient robot." Typically meaning a giant robot with autonomy like a Transformer, Brave robot, etc. "Type-2A" Would be where I would sort in the smaller, android guys like Astro Boy, Mega Man, Star Wars Droids, etc.

Type-1 Mecha is the common idea of "piloted robot." A mech, in other words. A variation of this could be called "Type-1A" if referring to robotic armor, like an Iron Man suit. For the purposes of simplicity, we'll say that Type-1 includes remote controlled. Come on in, Tetsujin!

You'll often see mecha fans fail to articulate this well, since a lot of us are socially awkward dorks and nerds who lack the ability to crystallize this down to a few words. So, in that, I've created a fairly simply and sweeping classification system. It's real easy, ready?

The truth that most fans come to realize with time and experience is that the deeper you look, you realize that Mecha IS what it says on the tin: a genre. A categorization of forms, styles or ideas of similar execution or subject matter. Obvious? Perhaps, but yet we debate.

Are we simply sentient brains piloting a fleshy mecha? This may sound like it's getting a bit too into philosophical reeds, but this is why the mecha debate tends to rage on. Fans tend to reach a point where it's inherently understand that this is a mostly vibes based system.

But technically so is Evangelion, one of the most popular and famous mecha anime. So does it count? At what point does it stop being about literal robots and becomes something more openly defined? Is power armor mecha? Is IRON MAN mecha? Does that mean a Knight is mecha?

Here's some other common jokes and examples: Is Cars mecha? It's about sentient machines, much like Transformers or Brave, it could be argued "yes." What about Ratatouille or Attack on Titan, they're people controlling "flesh" beings, not robots, right?

It's worth noting that even so far back as my favourite mecha franchise, the 2nd true and traditional mecha series, Getter Robo, introduced the idea of vehicles that form into the robot itself, jets in this case. The "pilot" in mecha pilot is LITERAL in this case!

However, this is not unfounded. Are Jewish Golems mecha? What about Planes, or cars? or trucks? They're piloted machines, and we can see from plenty of examples that mecha do not need to be explicitly humanoid to classify. Is a tank a mecha, if a mecha can look like a tank?

One predates the other, but the right answer is Superman, who set the common template. The point is here, what can be mecha can often be VERY vibes based, leading to the common mecha fandom joke of pulling in media of similar structure and tone into the wider umbrella.

Look at any mecha franchise from Gundam to Evangelion to Raideen to Ideon, and you will find the trace DNA of Nagai's work. To take the pin out of the Tetsujin vs Mazinger debate, think of it this way: who would you say is the first superhero? Superman, or Hercules?

Mazinger releasing changed the game, creating the crystallized image of what we now broadly call "the mecha genre." Most mecha anime, in some way, shape or form, are pulling from the groundwork Mazinger and Go Nagai popularized. If you like robots, dude is like your Godfather.

Astro Boy being a humanoid android and Tetsujin being a remote controlled war machine. Of the two, Tetsujin is the closest to what we understand as a mecha story.

Tetsujin and Astro Boy are widely considered as sort of "proto-mecha" (Tetsujin vs Mazinger is sometimes debated but the consensus says otherwise, I'll get to that later) and they do not feature piloted robots in the sense you may understand. Still robots!

A helpful tip is to think of "mecha" as a substitute word for "robot", which is why some will simply say "robot show" to avoid confusion. In this sense, the japanese terms of "robot anime" or "robot manga" are a lot more open then what you'd find in any given english dictionary.