Soukou Kihei Votoms: Red Shoulder Document - Yabou no Roots

A pretty welcome bonus prequel chapter in the Votoms saga. Seeing the same style designs as the series with much higher quality animation was a big treat. However, I felt that this didn't give me as much new information as I wanted.

At first I thought that since this came out years later that this would be even darker and more violent than the original, but if it was, it was a negligible amount. The gritty realism has always been the highlight of Votoms, and I hoped it would be realized and taken even more seriously here. I'm satisfied that they've kept this value, at the ... very least.

I'm also disappointed that I didn't get any more insight into Chirico's character. He seems the same as he was at the start of the series. I assumed the harsh Red Shoulder training (of which we didn't get much of because of the length) would be what turned him into a stoic soldier, but I didn't get to see any kind of transition. Instead the whole thing mainly felt like a tribute to the Chirico we already know and a highlight of his special traits that make him up in a different context. I'm a little upset, because the potential for this part of Chirico's history was very high. Still, I was entertained.

This OVA was much better to me than the preceding, The Last Red Shoulder. It was incredible and there was so much tension the whole time. It's actually kind of funny how when everyone learns Chirico is an abnormal survivor they all try to kill him (it's comedic how extreme the military goes to test if he really is an abnormal survivor).

This was strong from beginning to end. I can't really say I had a favorite part it was all good and the tension never ends from beginning to end.

This story takes place before The Last Red Shoulder (and is the earliest story so far ... in the VOTOMS franchise). This would be a good standalone OVA for someone who never saw VOTOMS before but wants to experience it without starting with the show.

I don't really have much to say about the story because there's nothing I have to critique about it. It was presented well from start to finish.

I don't like though they changed Chirico to being from planet Sunsa even though they established he is from Melkia in the original series. They also changed it to him having participated in the massacre of Sunsa with the Red Shoulders despite in the series he claims his squad didn't partake in the conquest of Sunsa.

The retcons kind of mess things up.

Imo I want to give it a 9 but I can't with the retcons.

I'll give it 8/10 (also the music fit perfectly the emotion in some of the scenes, I tried looking for one track I really liked but it wasn't on YouTube or I would've linked it).