Gundam’s new trailer has me dreaming for an Armored Core anime

Yesterday, Bandai Namco unveiled the sparkly new trailer for its Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway sequel, The Sorcery of Nymph Circe. The short teaser might last less than two minutes, but the riveting action and gorgeous animation make it feel like an utter lifetime. The longer I watched, the more I became fixated on a question that has lingered in my mind for years: why is there no Armored Core anime series?

Of all the many incredible FromSoftware properties, it feels as though Armored Cored gets the short end of the stick time and time again. Adaptations of FromSoft games are happening left and right, from the Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice anime series to the live-action Elden Ring movie. All AC fans have received so far is a measly thirty-minute episode in Prime Video’s Secret Level series.

The scarcity of additional Armored Core content shouldn’t come as a surprise; the mecha genre hasn’t reached the same heights as FromSoft’s new bread-and-butter, the Souls series. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon serves as proof, selling over three million copies as of 2024. Elden Ring, on the other hand, has sold 10 times that amount, which is why it gets a live-action movie and Armored Core settles for animated Keanu Reeves.

For as long as Armored Core has been around, you’d think an anime would be a no-brainer. As it so happens, an OVA called Fort Tower Song was slated for release around 2006 but was shelved after the studio went bankrupt in 2011. The story was planned to fit within the same timeline as Armored Core: Last Raven, which is still considered one of the best games in the series.

Adapting Armored Core is tough. Some fans don’t want a series that directly portrays the pilots in the same vein as Gundam, as they’d prefer a show that focuses on the ACs themselves. Others want the character drama, except it’s less the ACs and more the ruling corporations that pull their strings. There are a lot of varying ideas about what makes Armored Core, Armored Core — making any type of adaptation feel just out of arm’s reach.

What makes it all the more heartbreaking is that Armored Core was born from anime. In a 1997 interview with the PlayStation Magazine, the developers of AC1 reference Armored Trooper VOTOMS (1983) and Fang of the Sun Dougram (1981) as early influences for the game. The creators wanted a more militarized mech style, distinguishing the series with modular components and darker themes of industrialization.

An official AC animated series is wishful thinking at best, but if Bandai Namco or FromSoft were to sign off on one, I hope it’s a retelling of Armored Core: For Answer. Until that day, we’ll have to live with the only stand-in currently available: each game’s intro video. They’re remarkable test cases for a series that could blend mecha and horror in truly fascinating ways.

I’ll just have to live with Gundam: Hathaway, I guess.