RE: So You Want to Watch Anime? Here are Ten Shows to Help You Get Started
Hadn't watched Cutie Honey so can't comment.
Deconstructing something is to take it apart and look at what makes up this genre, say. Subverting means taking your expectations and reversing them, or surprising you by banking on what you count on and doing something with this. Some shows that subvert tropes are deconstructions, and some aren't. I think Madoka is more of a deconstruction, and a "proper" Magical Girl show than it's a subversion.
I think Code Geass is the better show. It's as simple as that. As for mecha, I wrote a piece about this, but I actually don't think of TTGL and Code Geass as "mecha shows," but rather as "Shows with mecha in them." Neon Genesis Evangelion is an actual mecha show.
Here's a counter point, if you don't start with watching great anime, why would you assume someone would keep watching them at all?
I disagree that TTGL isn't a mecha show. I'm quite familiar with the mecha genre, and they're all very similar, especially with how the story is set up. I don't think I need to bring up Getter Robo as you're probably already aware that the writer of TTGL personally chief edited the Getter Robo Saga manga by Ken Ishikawa before he passed away in 2006.
As for Cutie Honey, there's a new series announced (Just made a post about it). Honey was different from the earlier 60s magical girl series like Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Sally the Witch. That said, Cutie Honey is also similar to Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight.
I recommend reading my piece on "Mecha anime versus anime with mecha" to see my distinction. What the person who worked on TTGL worked on besides itsn't really relevant to the issue at hand.
One way to think about it is whether the mecha could've been an airplane, or a tank, and if they could've been, then it's "A show with mecha," and also "How much of a character is the mecha in the show?"
I think that this can be said for a lot of "mecha" series actually.
For example in Getter Robo, Getter rays (similar to spiral energy) drives human evolution forward. It didn't have to be a robot, it could have been a tank or an airplane as you said, as long as it runs on Getter energy, the enemies of humanity would want to destroy it considering they see it as a threat to the universe.
But many see Getter as a mecha series, not as a series with mecha. What about mecha series like Votoms, Vifam or even Giant Robo (OVA)? I'm a fan of mecha, but it was never primarily because of the mecha itself. Of course a cool looking giant robot with an interesting backstory helps, but it's rarely ever enough.
I call this "the primacy of colour," where people like "Sci-fi series", even if they're actually "Fantasy in space."
Sometimes they share certain themes, which then make them "mecha show" in another way.
Regardless, such semantic discussion isn't actually very fruitful :) And I recommended the shows I did regardless of them being mecha shows, or shows with mecha, but based on their other salient characteristics of genres (actual genres, such as "Drama, thriller, mystery, etc."), plots, and quality.
Yes that's what I'm trying to say. Mecha is just one aspect of these many series. They usually have more going on than just mecha.