Soukou Kihei Votoms

When it comes to mecha anime, finding a series that has had enough fortune to blossom into a franchise is incredibly rare. Gundam obviously takes first place and will likely never be dethroned with its massive amount of material. Yet, despite this gap the Macross franchise holds a relatively high second place. Lagging even further behind, although still a commendable achievement, is Armored Trooper Votoms.

ATV is hardly a hit series, but many of whom have seen it claim it as a classic and one of the best of the mecha genre. My curiosity piqued early on in my knowledge of it, and due to that ... and my interest in mecha anime history I had enough of a reason to give it a shake.

Chirico Cuvie is the main character of Votoms. Hell, Chirico IS Votoms. He's the only character at the center of the storyline, and everything revolves around him. This is his story. Rarely have I seen an anime so dominated by one character, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. Chirico isn't a very unique personality. He's the (now) typical silent badass type who goes from being a loner jerk to a swell guy, although he never gets any more talkative or expressive. The thing that makes Chirico, thus Votoms in general, distinctive from other mecha anime tropes is that he pilots a standard grunt mech for the vast majority of the series. He doesn't rely on any handicaps and instead wins his unfavorable match-ups through sheer skill and intuition. While he succeeds most of the time simply through greater reflexes, the times when he has to use his brain are a real joy to watch and what cement him as a popular character that stands out among the usual stereotype. Though simple, there's something admirable about his attitude. When something has to be done, he simply gets it done. Surprisingly endearing and likable even though he has less dialogue than some supporting characters in an episode.

This level of realism is only scratching the surface with Votoms, though. The greatest thing to this anime is how unusually down to earth it is. Getting back to the mechs themselves, they're really just bipedal tanks that use entirely ammo-based weaponry, skates to move faster, and explode with little damage (often unintentionally comic). There are no beam swords here, no barrier fields, no high-speed rocket boosters. Just hard science. Sure there are space battleships and genetic engineering, but that's as plausible as any sci-fi could possibly get while still being fictitious.

The characters themselves are almost all business too, between the stoic Chirico and the formal military factions he's on the run from. The only comic relief comes from three perpetual tag-alongs by the names of Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna. I don't dislike these characters, but I do dislike how much screen time they get considering their unimportance. These three are all civilians and are essentially involved with Chirico's life only by chance, especially considering they just run into him a lot over and over. They never pilot an AT, and they contribute very little to the story based on any unique talents, instead moving things along only as plot devices to be captured or save Chirico when he's captured through a generic rescue plan. Not to mention their light-hearted existence screws with the series's tone, so they can occasionally drag the whole experience somewhere it's better off not being.

Other constant characters include Chirico's love interest Fyana, a character that actually starts out as a good female representation by being one of the best pilots in the series and kicking copious amounts of ass, but ends up never piloting again halfway through the third arc for some reason and has 80% of her lines consist of yelling "Chirico!" Rochina is an army general after Chirico, and it seems like he has some ulterior motives, but this is never enough to render his character interesting until the final arc where said motivations are finally revealed (and are still underwhelming).

And that's really it for Votoms characters. The series mainly has a revolving cast of characters that range from barely being relevant to vanishing completely, and sometimes they show up again later to fulfill a new task but little else. This is unfortunate, because two of the greatest characters are Ypsilon and Kan Yu, and they're not around for the whole series.

Let me touch real quick on one of the better aspects of Votoms: the battles. You could easily call Votoms an action series first and foremost, so there are a ton of battles throughout the series. As if to fulfill some kind of quota, you're pretty much guaranteed at least one per episode. Since Chirico is almost always the only AT pilot on his side, these battles often consist of Chirico severally outnumbered against several grunts. Despite the low budget, the frames are well-drawn and it's pretty easy to tell what's going on throughout the fast-paced cutaways. Even though Chirico is outnumbered, the grunts aren't shown just standing around as cannon fodder and actually make an effort to attack him - but they're just never good enough. Chirico is such a godly pilot that a threat of him losing quickly stops existing, and since the Votoms mechs are so basic in design there's a low amount of variety possible in the fights. Like said before, the fights where Chirico wins by outsmarting his opponent(s) rather than outperforming them are something to be treasured, as the latter quickly become repetitive and predictable.

Returning to Ypsilon, this is what makes him such a necessary character for the series. Ypsilon is not only the first regular antagonist that can compete with Chirico; he's the first unique enemy AT pilot period. It takes 13 episodes for him to show up, but when he does we're finally given a reason to start paying attention to the fight scenes again. We now have a personal interest in the battles since Chirico's not just fighting faceless grunts anymore and he has a believable chance at losing to this new rival. Sadly, Ypsilon still isn't around for as long as such an important character should be, and his character arc never really goes much of anywhere, since Chirico is basically the only character that really noticeably changes.

The second best antagonist is Kan Yu, who isn't a skilled pilot by any means, but is entertaining in how he's one of the most genuinely pitiful antagonists ever. He's not an evil guy so much as a weak-willed douche with a major inferiority complex. I genuinely felt bad for him, and it's rare to get a villain that elicits that emotion in any capacity. Again, he should've been used more than he was.

Other common antagonists are Serge Borough, who is just a generically selfish evil guy, and his subordinates, the Schmittel twins. Borough is nothing special, but the Schmittel twins's cold coyness is delightfully eerie and makes them the most entertaining of Votom's behind-the-scenes desk villains that rarely interact with Chirico directly.

It's well-known that a lot of early mecha anime would often come close to the 50 episode mark, and it's well-agreed that a lot of these series consisted of a lot of filler due to their episodic nature. Does Votoms fall victim to the same? Well, yes and no. See, Votoms has an overarching plot that's constantly moving, but the pace of it is sometimes unbearable and you can sit through a whole 20 minute episode and only get 10 seconds of information that's seemingly relevant to the main storyline. In other words, the main storyline serves as a framework to individual storyline arcs. It's good to know this going in, because Votoms hits you with a lot of mysteries right off the bat, and due to how long the series is and how slowly these mysteries are explained you might expect the answers to have some shocking payoff. They don't. Despite building a lot of intrigue for it, Votoms shouldn't be watched expecting a great main storyline and instead viewers should just give their full interest to the four 13~ episode arcs that make up the series.

The absolute peak of Votoms is the second (Kunmen) arc for several reasons. One, it revolves around a Vietnam-like setting with guerilla warfare and some actual battle and touchy political strategies. Two, it introduces both Ypsilon and Kan Yu, two of the series's rare stand-out characters. Third and last, Chirico fights alongside some other regular AT pilots that help fill out the small cast while also feeling important for the arc they're around in, as well as adding more dialogue during the battles. The final (Quaint) arc represents the worst of Votom's plot. It focuses entirely on the main storyline but you're given answers barely any quicker, and like I said earlier, these answers are pretty underwhelming and don't change your existing perspective of the series, plot, and characters.

Before I close, I'd like to mention how ATV has one of the best opening themes ever, and the episode preview narrations are incredible and have some of the most quotable lines I've ever seen in an anime. Go figure.

That about summarizes how I feel about Armored Trooper Votoms. There are actually some really great concepts here, particularly in the series's loyalty to realism that I haven't seen matched by any other mecha, but the general execution, meaning the snail pacing, two-dimensional characters, and simple plot leave something to be desired when compared to the much more robust and emotionally affecting Mobile Suit Gundam and Super Dimension Fortress Macross contemporaries.

There are things in Votoms to love, however. Like I said, it's maintained a damn strong cult following, and possible viewers with an interest in retro western science fiction would probably have a much greater interest in it than I and I implore them to check the series out. The series also wasn't very dialogue-heavy, making it an easy and often relaxing watch. If Votoms had its episode count cut by 15 or so, I'd probably give it a higher rating. As it stands, this is a mecha series that I think would only greatly appeal today to a specific kind of sci-fi fan, although there is still enough fun left for any mecha/sci-fi fan.

Those looking for a real robot military mecha anime with an underlining plot devoted to the characters and not the war, look no further than Armored Trooper Votoms. It was created and directed by Sunrise’s most renowned director and helped pioneer the real robot genre, Ryosuke Takahashi. Mechanical designs were headed by none other than Kunio Okawara himself. This is the man to thank for many of the super- and real-robot mechs such as Gundams, Votoms, and even Yatterman.

Takahashi tends to focus further on developing inside of a soldiers head, and is seen more in his later works. In the case of the main protagonist ... pilot, Chirico Cuvie, he is a survivor soldier over the 100 year war between the two leading nations, the Gilgamesh and the Balarant. During a mission gone south, Chirico’s life is turned upside down and becomes a hunted man.

Over the course the four arcs of the show is split between, Chirico slowly develops his cold and reserved personality, and also begins to fight some post trauma over the war. He is constantly wondering why he seeks gunpowder and death, what his life would be without war, and thoughts a soldier would deal with if having to re-live events he/she wants to forget.

The pace of this 52 episode series starts fast, but unfortunately slows down from the original fast-paced action and development after the first arc. In the second arc, the show diverts to understanding the universe that Chirico lives in and wondering why he fights. Then, in the third arc, the story really slows down. However, the plot finally starts to come together in a way that makes sense. It starts to divert from the non-stop action, and focus primarily on the story. Finally, the fourth arc hits, and things take a very strange turn. A turn in a way where the viewer could be mad, confused, more questions than answers, and more. The action then just feels forced in a way just take up extended screen time. This was seen more and more starting at the second arc, but now it’s more redundant.

It’s an old mech series, and while the art is fairly gritty and the music is bland, AT Votoms has good action sequences, and a developing main character from the progression of the plot. Coming off of the heels of MSG and Macross, this is only a slight step down, but still a good overall anime.

Historically speaking, Votoms is one of the first serious military-action anime. Beyond that, it is not a show for viewers who don’t fancy realistic warfare and nihilistic or expandable characters. Although Tomino’s Gundam franchise bridged the mecha and space opera genres a few years prior to this show, Takahashi Ryosuke took all that to the next level with Votoms and the result was plain weird. It’s an excentric anime that on one hand becomes the most “real” among Real Robots (the mecha in it have a highly realistic way of moving and fighting) and on the other hand feels mechanical, cynical, dry, and with little ... reason for the average viewer to find the appeal in its militaristic and a nihilistic view on life.

One thing that needs to be made clear right from the start is that you are not going to watch Votoms for the mecha action. Although there is a lot of it, it’s not cool. The robots are just tanks with legs or an exo-skeleton, they have no appeal beyond that and they are never the main attraction. The soldier characters get more focus, since it’s about what they are going through in each mission. Basically the anime is a war drama about opportunistic mercenaries and mega-corporations after energy sources and political agendas. It is not some sci-fi power fantasy about robots firing lasers at each other. That can be a huge detriment to enjoyment since aesthetics aside, visually-wise the show looks very dated and it can be dull to look at even for those who are accustomed to old-school animation. The artwork if fine, but the animation is less than stellar, the soundtrack has no memorable tracks, and voice acting is as dry at the atmosphere the show goes for.

The story can also be a hard sell since it’s separated into mini arcs that don’t have continuity or even the same support cast. Each one is a mission that the protagonist takes part in and regardless of what he does in it, it will have no impact on the next. Props for being about a power struggle for natural resources, but if you see past the premise there is no overarching plot, not much of a world-building, or something to spice things up. The plot is straightforward and usually comes down to the protagonist doing some really improbable comebacks during the battles. He gets an epiphany to things he previously had no clue about, or just looks plain badass. He is also the only one worth giving a damn about since he’s the one the viewer is following. He is also a great Rambo-like figure; the one from the first movie, not the dumb action hero of the sequels.

The last episodes become weird since they go for a religious transhumanism message that wasn’t presented in a way that makes much sense. What is this nonsense about god’s journey? Plus, treating the entire human kind as expandable units you are not supposed to care about is not helping the viewer to be invested in what is going on. You are supposed to be a distant and passive viewer of things that eventually are there just to make humanity look insignificant and because everything feels dull and cynical it will leave almost everyone indifferent. That is why this show is not for everyone despite standing out from most other anime.

MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Before I get started with this review I have to distinguish that the first season (first 13 episodes) was amazing and all else that follows is of a much lower quality so I'll start with the beginning.

It opens up with what you think is going to be a war epic like Legend of the Galactic Heroes as we are introduced to two rival factions the Gilgamesh and the Balarant that have for the past 200 years been in an unending war for control of the Astragius Galaxy. Despite all this world building we are first given it comes into the background only ... because the story is not about the war or the factions involved but instead focuses mainly on Chirico Cuvie.

The story begins with a tale of betrayal as Chirico is sent on a mission he was never supposed to be on (he was re-assigned to this squad just as they were about to mutiny). As the only one left who hasn't deserted he is captured, interrogated for his role (despite not being involved at all) in the desertion, and eventually escapes.

From there he goes to the city of Uoodo. Uoodo is your typical Blade Runner cyberpunk city of ramen stands, lots of crowds, poverty, and the air of authoritarianism prevailing. It's the perfect cyberpunk city and everything there is so oppressive. The people are suffering and broken in this massive technological city in a polluted broken world. There's an air of hopeless throughout the whole series and sometimes it can be painful to watch (do not watch this if you're looking to feel good).

These first 13 episodes are about desperate survival as Chirico is pursued for literally no reason. In the city he's in he's caught between two factions his military that is now after him and the deserters (who have stationed themselves in this city) who wish to capture and kill him as they see him as an agent of the military.

Caught between two sides and nowhere to escape too Chirico is nearly killed every episode as he must survive against these overwhelming odds. Normally I don't summarize in my reviews but I thought this time it was important to distinguish from how it is later.

After these first 13 episodes it becomes like some sort of crappy anime Apocalypse Now. The series shifts to a Vietnam tier jungle where government hired mercenaries face off against religious motivated guerillas over modernization of their country. Chirico ends up there after escaping Uoodo in the first season.

These episodes kind of suck because all the cool cyberpunk is gone. The new mech designs of the mercenaries and rebels are inferior (it was better when it was the Melkian, Scopedog models) and yeah as I said it seems like some bad Vietnam analogy.

Then it switches to a ruined desert world. These episodes also kind of suck since it's about Chirico and some old fat woman stalking him (because she hates the military he was a part of and personally blames him for their destruction of her world and family in the war) that he refuses to kill (out of conscience). We don't know much about this desert world, there were locals but they're only there for two episodes and just disappear and it's mostly character development between Chirico and his love interest which is kind of boring.

Then it switches to another desert world (yay, as if the last one wasn't fun enough) that is even more foolish. Typical "noble savages" live here but the twist is there is secret technology buried under the sand. And this world got destroyed and primitive to try to curb some "overmen" race that nearly conquered the galaxy 3000 years ago until the people here (where they originated from) killed all of them except 1 that wishes to use Chirico and take his body to try to rule again with the buried technology.

I think Akira Toriyama might've watched this and got influenced for Namek. Because Quent (the other desert world in this anime) is a lot like Namek in that the people were at one time a mighty technological empire like the Nakemians that eventually destroyed their society after an evil group of "ascended" people (the Super Nameks) tried to take over everything so eventually they killed them all off then destroyed their civilization and led simple lives so it would never happen again.

But these primitive tribals are really boring, cliche, and stereotypical.

The music in this anime is really good (especially in the beginning when it's still fresh) but pretty repetitive. You'll keep hearing the same few tracks over and over again and then they lose meaning.

The love triangle is painful to watch and unnecessary (since it was never explained where the other guy came from he just appeared after the first season). The ending was also kind of depressing (I won't spoil it but don't even bother getting this far).

The best part of this show is the mech design. The Scopedogs are awesome! They're bulky, clunky, and have a lot of weight to their movements. They're supposed to be as realistic as a mecha could be (not insanely agile and seemingly effortless to pilot like the Gundams).

And the hero's mecha (AT, armored trooper) constantly gets destroyed over and over again. It's cool he uses regular models that all the other soldiers use and not special custom ones that are a million times better than everything else like in Gundam (which is really boring). It's a nice change of pace from someone who watches Gundam and notices nothing ever happens to the Gundam (pretty much most of the time).

But yeah going back to the love triangle it was better in the beginning when it was just the main character and the love interest (she was so mysterious and you had no clue what to think of her or what her motivations were). And she actually fought back then (and well too). After the first season she stops fighting and becomes a typical woman in anime (that only exists as the hero's obsessed lover with no personality of her own).

If I had to rate the entire series (without the first season) I'd give it 3/10.

If I had to rate the first 13 episodes I'll give it 9/10.

Averaging out, I guess that makes it 6/10 all together.

Watch this anime if you want a different kind of mecha one but stop watching after episode 13 (episode 13 has a decent ending as well that could be a good close to the entire series).

Maybe I should've dropped it haha but I was hoping it would get cyberpunk again (and didn't want to spoil myself to find out it didn't).

And the graphics are bad. The art style is nice and really weird (everyone has massive hips!) but the animation aside from the mechas themselves are awful.

The sound effects are good in this though. Hearing the ATs lock in and then go into their "driving mode" (they speed like cars instead of walk/run when they want to go fast/be more maneuverable) is such a cool sound as are some of the other sound effects (like the hatch opening and closing, their helmets going on and one of my favorite sound effects, when they change the sights on their ATs (like on the scopedog when they switch the primary scope to one of the other two, that's a cool sound effect).

It's also cool how they use their goggles (with integrated screens) to see outside from their mechas (instead of other mecha shows where they have monitors in the cockpit). It was very forward thinking since even today we are just now exploring the possibilities of AR.

In most mecha anime the controls are nonsensical and it makes no sense at all how the pilots are able to turn, look around, and keep balanced. In VOTOMS they use goggles (that they use to see what is going on around them with a heads up display) and the goggles also have head tracking which controls the optics of the AT itself (so when the pilot turns his head the AT also turns it's head).

The driving mode is controlled with pedals otherwise the walking, strafing and stuff is automated as part of a battle program (that the pilot can customize the variables of with a computer to make their AT move differently than it otherwise would).

In Gundam they just get in and that's it (you hardly see them operating anything in those cockpits). This is way cooler and more entertaining and believable.