I grew up with Tetsujin 28 and found great inspiration in the mecha genre all the way to Mamoru Oshii's Patlabor. But we wanted to work on the Jaegers basing them on World War 2 technology and reference. (Tanks, submarines, nuclear reactors etc.) In fact, a lot of the wardrobe and set design on PR is WW2 inspired. As to the Kaijus, we wanted to honour the "man in suit" basic proportions and the general species breakdown of the average Daikaiju, so we used a lot of natural references - what I call the National Geographic approach to monster design. I think in designing a robot the last thing you want to quote is another robot. The same for monsters.
Certos aspectos do filme podem ser influenciados por outros clássicos espetáculos de mechas - por exemplo, o conceito dos pilotos na cabeça do robô pode ser uma alusão a Mazinger Z - mas é difícil dizer se a referência é intencional.