Soukou Kihei Votoms: Genei-hen

Phantom Arc starts off as a trip down memory lane. It has been 24 years since any of Chirico's friends appeared, and seeing their banter and hijinks is an instant reminder why they were so important to Votoms despite their minor relevance to the plot. To drive the nostalgia home even harder, the first two episodes deal with revisiting the planets of Uoodo and Kummen in search of Chirico, who we are told has visited them since the events of Shining Heresy but left, as is later portrayed in Alone Again. Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna treat their return to the ground of Votoms' first arcs ... very much like the audience might, and the creators likely do, noting all the peculiarities of their old environments and the way things have changed or remained the same.

But from there the story picks up as the trio is driven into the background, and a curious mix of the old narrative with new elements forms the meat of the story in episodes three to six. While more votoms is never a bad thing, it's quite clear that the initial direction taken was judged to be a mistake, and that a more serious approach was necessary for what is currently the last chronological entry in the franchise. The fact that there's only about four episodes to execute this more complicated plot is simply a mistake. While the nostalgia factor continues throughout the show, the plot just doesn't really hold up even when it tries to do something interesting.

One net positive is that the creators have learned from Shining Heresy, by incorporating some elements from it without taking in any of the boring stuff. It doesn't make the plot better exactly, but by acknowledging that it happened Chirico's current status and journey feel a lot more valid. It's not inconceivable from a story perspective that Votoms could one day be continued, and Chirico's path has become one that is interesting just by it's sheer length both in and outside of it's universe.

The CGI has stepped up quite a bit from Pailsen Files. While it's far from flawless, it's never openly painful to look at, and there's occasional good use of what CGI has to offer in terms of quicker animation than hand-drawn frames ever could. That being said, Chirico himself doesn't get into all that much scopedog action for once, and with the limited amount of time the focus is much more on the plot.

When you get down to it Phantom Arc is a retread of old Votoms, and your enjoyment will greatly depend on how much you care about seeing Vanilla, Gotho, and Coconna again, as well as your interest in some of the ideas from Votoms' Quent arc. Anyone who is a fan of the franchise at least owes it to themselves to watch the first two episodes for nostalgic purposes, and perhaps the rest to see the current conclusion to Chirico's saga.

I feel more like this is a greatest hits album of votoms. The first arc is quite literally two characters going on an anniversary reunion tour of every major location from the first series. It can only really aspire to remind me of better TV. It kills off characters I liked and muddies the legacy of others. It was a series of events that managed to even undo the controversial, but in my opinion exciting ending of the original, but replacing it with one even weirder and likely offputting to anyone who didn't like the original.
The animation is serviceable but not energetic or particularly inspired. ... The characters were there on screen. I didn't clap when I saw them.
The conclusion feels baffling, like a story setup for the eventual reboot in another 20 or so years.
Watch this for completions sake, otherwise get your fix from the compilation movies or something.

The Phantom Arc feels less like a narrative driven sequel to Brilliantly Shining Heresy and more so a nostalgic victory lap that celebrates Armored Trooper VOTOMS as a franchise.

The Phantom Arc starts off with a return to the early VOTOMS feel, catching up with Coconna and Vanilla who got the "good ending" taking us to Woodo, where it all began to celebrate their 25th anniversary with them.

Woodo is familiar, warm and seemingly less seedy than it was in AT VOTOMS and this is the tone that follows throughout the show as we return to Kummen and Sunsa in later episodes to reunite with old ... friends as the hook to keep watching is the mystery of the gang to find out where Chirico has gone.

The Phantom Arc is a sentimental retreading/pilgrimage of the events of Armored Trooper VOTOMS (including the ending) where you can feel the staffs love for the franchise in the farmiliar events that unfold and in the characters we catch up with. The best example being in episode 2 where we spend one last night in the Fantom club with Coccona signing in her angelic outfit.

Fittingly the Phantom Arc uses the classic OP and ED unlike Brilliantly Shining Heresy which felt like a newer direction for the story which further cements my feeling that the Phantom Arc is more of a love letter to VOTOMS than a true sequel to BSH. Answers to VOTOMS mysteries lie in the other OVAs of the franchise.

Overall, I love the worldbuilding Ryousuke Takahashi et al have created and would love to see other VOTOMS stories/AUs considering it is 2024.