WaysToTellYouAreWatchingShounenAnime/MechaDiscussion

Point 6 on WaysToTellYouAreWatchingShounenAnime originally read:

: Most anime/manga featuring lots of combat between giant "mecha" (robots) are shounen. Not all, though: see VisionOfEscaflowne - AlexChurchill.

Responses came as follows:

GundamWing, MagicKnightsRayearth?, NeonGenesisEvangelion, FullMetalPanic, HoshiNoKoe?, Nadesico and VisionOfEscaflowne (as you said) are all shoujo. I'd class them as shoujo, anyway. What about Macross, or GunBuster? Of the three shounen series I have read/watched, none involved giant robots. I think I disagree. Giant robots are just a way of making fights fun (shounen style) but the presence of giant robots does not indicate shounen-ness. If every episode involved huge battles with giant robots then I'd agree, but way (1) deals with that. - SunKitten

I knew there were a few shoujo series featuring mecha combat. Esca was the one that sprung to mind most readily. Rayearth certainly features mecha, but very very little mecha combat. I don't know Nadesico or Voice of the Star, but I'm willing to believe there are other shoujo series with some mecha combat.
However, I would definitely classify GunBuster, NeonGenesisEvangelion and FullMetalPanic as shounen. For GunBuster, see points 3 and 5. For Eva, see points 2, 3 and 4. FMP is possibly more debatable, but it's so clearly in Eva's genre that I'd say it's clearly shounen. Feel free to disagree, of course, but those are my reasons. --AlexChurchill