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I always thought the mechs where meant to be modeled after starship troopers.

I was at an anime convention years ago, back before the Tau had been released (or publicly announced, even). At this particular convention, a friend of mine and I were set up in the Artist's Alley playing a game of 40K (at night, when the 'Alley slows down and empties up a bit, you can do crazy stuff). A bystander saw our game (Guard vs Orks) and asked us if we'd be interested in seeing some pre-production artwork of the new army GW was working on. We both said "sure" and the guy whipped out several photocopied pages of sketchwork with notes scrawled on them. My friend and I took one look at the pictures and said they were bullgak, because GW would never release an army that was so obviously inspired by anime. I think we may have laughed in the guy's face...

Fast forward about a year, and I'm in the FLGS looking at the latest White Dwarf and what do I see?

The very same anime army that I had scoffed at earlier, now in 28mm form.

So yeah, when a couple of anime fans at an anime convention call the Tau an anime army, without knowing anything at all apart from what they look like, then know for all time that they are an anime army.

QED.

And the Eldar are not anime. They are skinny, yes. They have big hair, yes. Those two things alone do not make an anime army. The Eldar are WHFB Elves in spaaaaaaace. They even have the big point helmets.

I think this one bears pointing out. John Blanche, as you may or may not know, is GW's art director since 1986.. the early sponsor of miniature designers like Jes Goodwyn and others.

John Blanche wrote:
This recent overhaul of the Terminator design brings it into line with progress made in appearance of the Space Marines in general. The suit is now bigger and takes on the “Anime” proportions bestowed on the rest of the range – longer legs, wider shoulders and a bigger chest. The larger bases and plastic component nature of the hard copies allows for more versatile poses especially in the legs giving the suits more dynamism. The hip shields are inherited from the new Grey Knight designs. Characters in Mark 3c suits are available but no traitor versions have yet appeared.

Source: http://www.tearsofenvy.com/termi-nation/armour_mk03c.htm

It's easily forgotten. The one army that, by his words, were knowling and explicitly (re-)designed with the use of Anime influences (among other things no doubt) are the more recent (as in, the last 5 to 10 years) aesthetic of the Space Marines; specifically Terminator Armour as shown in this quote, but also other aspects of the range (larger eyes on "marine-helmets" being an obvious one, etc..).

I think a "I know you are but what am I?" approach to this question isn't particularly effective. That is, saying "Tau aren't anime, ELDAR are!" or whatever race. The preception is there, it has been ingrained. When you treat the "anime" description as a negative, all you do is validate it. You aren't going to change most people's minds, certainly not the overall preception.

Tau are seen as the anime army because of loose similarities and timing of release. It doesn't take much to earn a preception, and it is even easier to smack such on something already struggling with a "too goody goody for 40k" reputation. There isn't a need to delve to deeply in to the why of the thing.

The best response to some hypothetical "oh, you're playing the anime army" situation? "So?" or "...and?" or "Perhaps. That's a rather over-simplification of things, but an acceptable and efficient use of limited thought capacity for a clearly over-taxed mind."

Or just yell "SPIRIT BALL!" and club them senseless with a fire extinguisher.

Yeah. Do that.

Battlesuits, and because Farsight is almost like an anime protagonist with his mecha suit and bigass sword and fighting the Orks and to free the Tau from the Ethereals and all that jazz.

Mostly because people don't think.

You think you know anime? Try looking around, you will find tau is least like anime and more like star wars, india and battletech combined.

In fact, mecha started with war of the worlds, or should I say in books as jules verne's "The Steam House"

Tau are called the anime army by people who don't watch a lot of anime.

Tau always reminded me of Heavy Gear with their boxy armor and mono-sensor helmets.

They have a subtle but heavy Japanese/giant robot anime influence to them that even the developers themselves admit to introducing.

Eldar are far more anime-themed than Tau. If I remember correctly (it was a while ago), the 'Anime" rumor came from how the Tau came out at the same time that GW had some sort of opening in Japan, and people cried that they must have made up the Tau to "cater to Asian anime-fans so they'd buy more stuff".

There is no way that a Battlesuit is more visually anime than a Wraithlord/Guard.

Yeah, they definitely have an influence from mecha anime, but I have a bit of a problem calling them the 'anime' army, like thats all there is to anime. Its sort of like taking Reality TV, and claiming thats the only western shows there are. But I digress, they certainly do have influences from Japan, but they aren't straight up 'anime'.

Eldar aren't anime themed. They borrow heavily from WHFB Elves. Tau lack any Fantasy counterpart so were taken from new influences.

Eldar do have some Anime characteristics, but I would say that this is not because they directly came from Anime but rather because Anime and the Eldar borrow heavily from Fantesy designs. Alot of Anime is Fantesy worlds and as such the confusion can be understood.


As for what is distinctly Anime and not just Fantesy, many Animes are sci-fi based with big robot suits and super advanced technology. The Tau fit this description on both a visual and background level. Their written language is space calligraphy too.

Prior to the Tau, all 40k races were based on classic Fantesy arch types and races. There are similarities between them and some facets of Anime due to a common origin. The artists have also doubtlessly been subtly influenced by some particular styles, however the Tau are a combination of things more commonly associated with Sci-fi anime to a far greater degree then the other races.


Space Marines and the Eldar may have Anime influences however they are less obvious then the gothic warrior monk and fantesy space elf designs.

One of the problems calling something anime. It's a little like calling something book. Anime is such a broad grouping. Most of the current animes I can think of have 0.0 similarities with the tau. Tau really only fit with one small sub genre inside of the much larger category of anime.

Yes, but its a very high profile portion of Anime and is well known. Everyone has at least heard of Gundam.


I mean, the first thing people look for when they think of anime is big eyed chicks in mini-skirts(guns/swords may or may not be present)

Failing that they look for some sort of advanced robot suit. Jackpot!!!

Grey Templar wrote:Yes, but its a very high profile portion of Anime and is well known. Everyone has at least heard of Gundam.


I mean, the first thing people look for when they think of anime is big eyed chicks in mini-skirts(guns/swords may or may not be present)

Failing that they look for some sort of advanced robot suit. Jackpot!!!

So you think tau are gundam?

In some ways yes.

100% mech suits ...

Grey Templar wrote:In some ways yes.

Do they have more in common with gundam or starship troopers (book)?

IDK, were there pictures in the book?

Should we not ask anime fans what they think?

Grey Templar wrote:IDK, were there pictures in the book?

Never mind.

Grey Templar wrote:Yes, but its a very high profile portion of Anime and is well known. Everyone has at least heard of Gundam.


I mean, the first thing people look for when they think of anime is big eyed chicks in mini-skirts(guns/swords may or may not be present)

Failing that they look for some sort of advanced robot suit. Jackpot!!!

I understand WHY people jump to that conclusion, but it still doesn't make it a right conclusion to jump to.

I know i prob should not get involved but i googled anime mech

https://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&sugexp=frgbld&gs_nf=1&cp=9&gs_id=w&xhr=t&q=evangelion&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=979&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=nQVyT7jKEeT24QTWwMmuDw#um=1&hl=sv&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=anime+mech&oq=anime+mech&aq=f&aqi=g-L7&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0i19l7.9504l11652l0l11988l10l10l0l1l1l0l86l357l9l9l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=667c28abcf0553f0&biw=1920&bih=979

Then i googled tau

https://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&sugexp=frgbld&gs_nf=1&cp=9&gs_id=w&xhr=t&q=evangelion&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=979&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=nQVyT7jKEeT24QTWwMmuDw#um=1&hl=sv&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=tau+suits&oq=tau+suits&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=img.3...20878l21631l8l21831l6l6l0l3l3l0l47l122l3l3l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=667c28abcf0553f0&biw=1920&bih=979

then googled eldar

https://www.google.se/search?hl=sv&sugexp=frgbld&gs_nf=1&cp=9&gs_id=w&xhr=t&q=evangelion&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=979&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=nQVyT7jKEeT24QTWwMmuDw#um=1&hl=sv&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=eldar+walkers+wraithlords&oq=eldar+walkers+wraithlords&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=img.3...6615l13465l12l13605l32l32l10l22l32l0l0l0ll0l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=667c28abcf0553f0&biw=1920&bih=979

the question was why does people say tau is the anime army..

just look at the links.

You may not agree with them being anime but that does not change the perception most people have when then look at them.
Tau have been "branded" the anime army by a big portion of the players.
This did not just happend for no reason..

Also have to agre with posters before me that Eldar have their own brand witch is elves in spaaaaace, they have alway had it and will always have it.

regards Ogard

To me the Eldar are ancient Chinese and the Tau futuristic Japanese. Just my 2 cents.

I think it's silly to assume Anime has a monoply on robots. Mecha/robots/drones and the like are a sci -fi tropes first before anime ones.

Also aesthetically speaking I do find the anthropomorphic Eldar titans to be more similar to the robots in Gundam Wing and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Of course I don't watch anime so maybe I'm completely wrong.

I see the Tau as the most stock, standrad sci-fi race not the anime race. I mean just about every other faction is pretty unconvential by sci-fi standards, we have swords, knights, elves, orks, and all sorts of other anachronisms in space. If 40k covers and parodies all tropes in fiction then Tau simply fill the standard sci-fi niche. I.E. the guys who use robots, shoot blue energy thingies, and realize gunz>swords, all of which is reasonably sci-fi but oddly missing from the rest of 40k's factions so bam we get tau to fill that void.

Considering that a massive amount of Sci-fi is also Anime leads to the understandable confusion.

It may not be technically correct but it is what happens.

My take on this topic:
The only army that I consider anime would have to be the Eldar.
the Tau battle suits look like they were inspired by anime like Ghost in the Shell, but the race themselves no that much

My take on this topic:

This is a stupid topic, and has been answered. People may or may not choose to agree with the reasons stated for the Tau to Anime connection, but in either case this thread has been beat to death and needs to end.

CountCross wrote:Last week at the GW in montreal my cousin played a game with his Tau and his opponent called him a anime fan. After looking up what that meant I have to ask the question in the title of this thread. The only animeish thing about the Tau are the mech suits. The Eldar on the other hand look like your run of the mill anime characters, too thin, pale, and they are so very androgynous, not to mention they look like power rangers. Can any one explain how the Tau is in any way anime other than the mech suits.


P.S. Nothing against the eldar. It`s just something I noticed.

IDK. Probably has something to do with all the flying robots.