>>9249500,61
>Gundam and Macross have mech names in the title.
...So? I didn't realise the requirement to being a mech anime was to have your series named after a mech. You realise the vast majority of mechs, and the mechs characters pilot in Macross are not called 'Macross' right?
>You can replace the robots with planes or tanks and these series will still be "mecha anime"
Actually, no, they wouldn't be. Unless you don't understand what a mecha anime is.
>But if you remove the mech element completely, the series are dead.
Why, exactly? In Macross Frontier for example, they aren't even fighting other mechs, they are fighting aliens. They don't need to have mechs to do that. In Macross 7, Basara doesn't even really fight, he just sings to enemies.
>In Code Geass you can do all the fighting off screen or remove the mechs completely and nothing will change
A ton of the important scenes and plot takes place during mech battles. The fact Lelouch can sit in his special mech that makes him somewhat impervious is rather necessary, and allows him to be on the front lines. There are numerous things you couldn't do if it was just infantry, and the series would be abysmal if all the battles took place off screen.
>In CG it focuses on plenty of things that aren't mechas, like mindgames, character development, supernatural stuff, etc...
So do many mech shows.
>CG isn't a pure mecha anime like Gundam, that's the only thing I say
Gundam isn't a pure mecha either. There are plenty of episodes of Gundam series that don't feature mechs at all.