Review of “Metal Skin Panic MADOX- 01” (1987)

Moving picture, 48 minutes

Seen in 2022.

A regular guy in romantic trouble finds a misplaced new mecha in Tokyo. The mecha’s programmer and a tank-piloting tester both hunt the guy to regain control of the hardware, while he is only looking for his girlfriend, cannot get out of the mecha, and cannot understand why anybody would be looking for him.

An example of a production that is entirely about mechanical design. That design is good, but everything else is awful, including even the character design. Watch the first couple of minutes and skip the rest, before the ludicrously lazy storytelling kicks in.

References here: Genesis Survivor Gaiarth (1992), Mobile Police Patlabor: The Movie 2 (1993).

moving picture animation Japanese production mecha fiction