Phase two: Deep dive

After finding what we wanted to do with the topics at hand, we had to choose one of the four to then look into more thoroughly to help us understand the ins and outs of our subject easier for later within the project. This in turn led me to focus on a topic that i enjoy quite a lot and have had a rather long time love for and mild fixation over which is mecha and military.

This was mainly for diversity within the confines of what everyone else was doing, as a few other people had ideas of going further with japanese based projects and adding into that pool would dilute it further, not leaving any room and or space for creative freedom if a team was to be formed, more specifically around japanese culture, which sounds interesting, but not motivating enough for me to stick with, especially for a lengthy timeframe.

Approaching the topic was rather interesting, with mecha being a very new-ish subject, the history of mecha and how it had evolved was short, yet brimming with such an intense plethora of work, ideas, inspiration, designs and innovations within itself that it was a little hard to believe how much of a gold mine the topic was and more importantly how its roots connected quite deeply to a lot of other subjects i love wholeheartedly, like manga and anime. As well as having a major influence on japan and how they themselves practically shifted the entire perspective of what it could be and gave birth to a multitude of creations that have become rather iconic throughout history.

The history of mecha only spanning roughly one hundred years or so really sort of gave me a mass of inspiration to work with, explore and help me further understand how it has gone from its own niche little subject to spanning multiple genres with many different forms, iterations and even designs based on region.

Japan had dipped its fingers into the pie that was mecha, yes, but as did many other regions such as the west and north, more specifically England, Russia, america and spain to name a few, each creating and modifying the idea and aesthetics of their behemoths, giving them many a different forms that would not only just exist for the sake of looking pretty but to also serve as ways to work and behave in certain enviroments, landscapes and terrain, allowing them to be effective in as many different fields as possible, which also lead to the many iterations of mecha:

such as lightweight, big and bulky, tank-like, quadrapedal, bipedal, reversed legged etc, etc… which made them interchangable and combat fit for any type of theoretical battlefield and fight.

Tying the knots to connect the two however, though they seemed to corrolate very little was simply how mecha had in truth influenced machine innovation over the past century and how machines had become more of an asset to humans, rather then a hinderence, despite not being able to instantly learn or be as capable, they were still a viable way of lightening the load for their human counterparts no matter the situation, as with the constant development of AI and how it has become an evergrowing part of machine learning.

Though this has only been a snippet of my thoughts and feelings on something as impressive as the subject is, the rabbit hole goes deeper and as i continue to uncover more, the more fascinated with the subject i become, a cycle of knowledge i am willing to make for the sake of a something that makes me extremely passionate.