Hello, welcome to Meka Town. I'll be your host for this site--Giga-V, but you can call me V-kun.

So, what's Meka Town all about you ask? It's all about Mechanics. Each week I'll have a new page of items all about the great world of Mecha. I'll have some links to interesting stories, or maybe some reviews of items and shows. There will be some commentary and some guest stars from time to time. Just a bunch of Mecha. I hope you enjoy it!

Now let's clear something up first. Mecha is not just Giant Robots. It's a Japanese term to describe all mechanical objects, be they cars, boats, airplanes, space-ships and yes giant robots as well.

Mecha Town will be covering the vast canvas that is Mecha. Tanks, planes, robots, cars, trains, guns, ships, both real and imaginary. That is what mecha is.

Cool news from "Anime News Service" about a new Patlabor movie.

It's scheduled for spring 2002 and will be directed by Fumihiko Takayama. Takayama's previous credits include Gundam 0080, Macross Plus and Bubblegum Crisis. The story is said to be based on the Patlabor manga story "Haikibutsu 13-go jiken" (The waste no. 13 incident) which features genetically engineered monsters.

New Aibo robot dogs from Sony The new models have been given a cuter look and a cheaper pricetag at 98,000 yen. Additionally, the new Aibos will interact with a new anime, "Piroppo" to debut this fall.

Fujitsu releases 2-legged walking robot for sale. Called the HOAP-1, Fujitsu is aiming the humanoid robot toward research groups and universities. The 48cm, 6kg robot will sell for just over $41,000.

Skyworker. CMU and NASA are working on a new robot designed to build and maintain structures in space. Instead of free-flying, the machine will climb, monkey-like over the structure it is building.

TRAGEDY: Mobile Suit Gundam has been cancelled from Cartoon Network. What's worse is that the series never even had a complete showing of all episodes. But I suppose if AOL/Time Warner wants to chase every last rating point then there is no point in arguing. The greatnesss of MSG is not open for just anyone to see. It requires a bit of patience, something sadly lacking in television program directors. At least we have the DVDs, which were better anyways because they were uncut. I'm only sad for those kids who would have fallen under Gundam's spell and joined our cadre of mecha fans.

Jin-Roh

There are still some theatrical dates for Jin-Roh available and you owe it to yourself to get at look at this great film. Perhaps this film is even more relevent in these terror-stricken times. Suddenly the police state and suicide bombers depicted in Jin-Roh strike closer to home. Produced by Mamoru Oshii and directed by Hiroyuki Okiura with a beautiful soundtrack by Hajime Mizoguchi. Mecha-Design-Lord, Yutaka Izubuchi designed the protect suits. JIn-Roh has the sophistication and visual style of an Oshii work with director Okiura providing an emotional depth often lacking in Oshii's other films. Try not to miss it.