Japan And The U.S. Are Going To Have An Actual Giant Robot Battle

Your glorious anime fantasies are coming true.

Japanese robot-maker Suidobashi Heavy Industry released a video on YouTube Sunday formally accepting a duel from U.S.-based MegaBots. The two companies have both created "giant fighting robots" that will apparently clash in combat at some undetermined point in the future.

The robots are some 15 feet tall, piloted by actual human beings and capable of launching massive paintballs. MegaBots is hoping its "Mark II," a 12,000-pound behemoth, could beat Suidobashi's "Kuratas" robot, which weighs in at 9,000 pounds.

The American-made "Mark II." (Source)

Suidobashi won't go down easy.

"We can't let another country win this. Giant robots are Japanese culture," Kogoro Kurata, Suidobashi CEO, said in the video.

MegaBots issued the challenge via a YouTube video of its own on June 30. It's unclear when the fight -- which Kurata said should include melee combat -- will occur, though the initial video from MegaBots said it should happen "in one year."

Gui Cavalcanti, co-founder of MegaBots, told The Huffington Post that the two companies are working on logistics now. He also said that Suidobashi upped the ante with the challenge of melee combat -- so his robot will need some work before it enters the arena.

"If you're going to be in a giant robot, why would you use knives?" Cavalcanti said.

Some say events like these could represent the future of spectator sports.

"This is what we want. We want people to see this fight, get excited and require this to be a sport," Cavalcanti told HuffPost.

We'll certainly be watching.

This article has been updated to include comment from MegaBots.

Source : Huffingtonpost