Film

Six God Combination GodMars: The Movie

Name: Six God Combination GodMars: The Movie
Genre: Science Fiction, Animation, Action
Released: 1982
Cast: Yu Mizushima, Yuji Mitsuya, Gorō Naya, Hirotaka Suzuoki, Hiroya Ishimaru

A 1982 anime film where a young man discovers his true cosmic significance just as an intergalactic tyrant threatens Earth's extinction. It's earnest, explosive mecha action rooted in the golden age of Japanese science fiction, before irony infected the genre. For anyone who loves big ideas and bigger robots, who doesn't need a joke every thirty seconds to stay engaged.

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Mobile Suit Gundam1979

The spiritual ancestor of all serious mecha storytelling. Real stakes, real sacrifice, and a hero who can't simply punch his way to victory. It invented the template that GodMars follows.

But It's a 43-episode commitment from an era when animation budgets meant occasional still frames. Pacing can feel glacial by modern standards.

Warriors of the Wind1984

Miyazaki crafting apocalyptic sci-fi with the same earnestness and visual ambition. A lone figure standing against impossible odds while the world crumbles. Pure cinema, not a wasted frame.

But The post-apocalyptic setting is genuinely bleak, and there's no comfort in the ending. It's beautiful but suffocating.

Space Battleship Yamato 21992012

Another early 80s spiritual sibling: humanity's last warship racing across the cosmos against an existential threat. The same operatic sweep, the same commitment to scale and consequence.

But The restoration work looks patchy in places, and the mythology can feel tangled if you haven't seen the series.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Six God Combination GodMars: The Movie

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Akira1988

Both pit a barely-adult male protagonist against cosmic-scale forces while his own body becomes the battleground. Both privilege ambition and scale over comfort.

Animation used as cinema, not illustration. Otomo's manga adaptation cost a fortune and looks it—hand-drawn backgrounds that dwarf the mecha sequences in GodMars. Both films are about isolated young men learning their true power in a doomed world; Akira just has a bigger budget and a bleaker worldview.

But It's a 124-minute puzzle that assumes you're following carefully. The exposition is minimal and the ending is apocalyptic in a way that leaves questions unanswered.

Macross: Do You Remember Love?1984

Epic mecha spectacle married to genuine emotional weight. A film that trusts you to care about its characters while the cosmos burns around them. Stunning animation for its era.

But The love triangle subplot is earnest to the point of melodrama, and the ending splits the difference between multiple endings in ways that frustrate some viewers.

Mirai Shounen Konan1978

Miyazaki's TV series, less polished than his films but rawer and more adventurous. That same sense of a vast, ruined world and a boy discovering he's more important than he knew.

But 26 episodes is a bigger ask than a film, and the animation budget shows—it's workmanlike more than beautiful.

Ghost in the Shell1995

A leap forward in anime ambition and execution, but spiritually descended from GodMars's commitment to taking big ideas seriously. Philosophical sci-fi that never stops moving.

But It's deliberately cryptic and doesn't spell out its themes. Some find it pretentious; others find it thematically muddled.

Patlabor 2: The Movie1993

Oshii's masterpiece: a mecha film that's really about politics, paranoia, and a nation at a crossroads. Slower-burn than GodMars but with equal conviction.

But It's meditative where GodMars is explosive. Dialogue-heavy, plotwise intricate, and the climax is a conversation, not a battle.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion1997

The ultimate deconstruction of earnest mecha storytelling. If you want to understand why the genre matters and what it costs, this is the reckoning.

But It's violently nihilistic, graphically disturbing, and designed to leave you wrung out. Not escapism; an interrogation of escapism itself.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion poster

Urusei Yatsura: Only You1983

Both are 1980s anime about Earth under existential threat from space, but GodMars meets the moment with solemnity while this one meets it with a pie in the face. Genre DNA, opposite registers.

Absurdist space opera in the body of a romantic comedy. Same cosmic stakes as GodMars—an alien invasion, the fate of Earth—but told through slapstick, sight gags, and terrible aliens who are kind of endearing. It's thrilling and hilarious in ways that feel like a palate cleanser.

But The humor is anarchic and fast. If you watch dub versions, the jokes don't land. It's also utterly frivolous—earnestness is the enemy here.