Armored Trooper VOTOMS | Retcon_404 (Anime Retrospective)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มี.ค. 2023
- Armored Trooper VOTOMS was released by Sunrise during the early 80's and features realistic Mecha and a grounded survival story. Join me as I explore Chirico's story for the first time.
-- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR VOTOMS --
Gaming Channel: / @retcon_404plays
#mecha #anime #review - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
Always remember that Chirico being a Red Shoulder was foreshadowed all the way since the Uoodo arc, when they paint an AT's right shoulder Red - trying to make the local police force think they have a Red Shoulder with them - but Chirico points out that "the shade of red used was darker, as well as being on the Left shoulder"
That was a great detail. The fact that they alluded to it without him ever admitting it makes sense too, since he was always running from his past.
@@jacksonholloman Since the Red Shoulders weren't a big thing for a while I dismissed it as just Chirico really knowing his military but I think that was the point. When the reveal happened in earnest you wouldn't be surprised, only nodding along and opening you up to what was a de facto exposition of Chirico's past. Unlike Gasaraki which really didn't want to be a supernatural or mystery show I think Takanashi hit all the right tones with VOTOMS.
If any VOTOMs fans are somehow unaware of this, the show's take on mecha is the primary inspiration for the TTRPG/miniatures game Heavy Gear franchise. If you want more of the relatively realistic take and smaller mechs with secondary movement systems (ie skates) HG is a good place to look, and the current generation of the miniatures are really nice models.
the games are great too
Heavy Gear had a CGI cartoon right?
@@Dracobyte Yes, but it was mostly about tournaments.
The producers intended the series to eventually handle the invasion by Earth armed forces but it was considered too dark by the higher ups as that would have been a war story which perhaps was considered 'inappropriate'.
I loved the first game. Preferred it over MW2 and GBL which we also had (and was roughly comparable) because of the fitting screen and how weapons were visible on the model.
Never got the chance to even try HG2 til sometime after having played MW4, and couldn't really get into it, but the first one will live forever in my heart... as will the automatic equipping of the engine-mounted ATGM pack on every gear I made the moment I unlocked it.
Cool!
For a 50+ episode anime from the early 80s, VOTOMS has aged very well. I watched it in 2021 for the first time and I was completely absorbed in the action. Its smooth and hardly ever reuses animation. I like to think that the AT skates were a deliberate choice by the studio to save on animation while also giving exciting fast paced scenes.
I've heard that one of the women working on the series was a skier and suggested it as a movement possibility. They watched some tapes of it and decided it was cool and distinctive so they used it. (I could be wrong)
@@animatrix1490 Nope, you are correct
I love that Chirico changed mechs like most people change shirts.
Part of that is because VOTOMS doesn't ignore a mecha's need for mainenance.
In the real world, an Abrams MBT only has a service life of just 6000 miles and still needs about 800 man-hours of maintenance to stay operational.
Even minor damage can take hours to repair. Jumping into a fresh machine takes seconds.
@@Grizabeebles Have to assume mecha would be down for maintenance an even larger part of the time. Far more moving parts involved, and your average tank is never going to get in hand to hand combat or dive for cover. :)
Well, he's not sentimental about his weapon. It's just a tool, if it breaks, and this is war, he'll just have to get another. Thankfully for him, they literally made millions of AT.
@@Grizabeeblesthat’s gotta be hours not miles right? I drive heavy construction vehicles they’re measured in operational hours for maintenance schedule
@@jackp492 -- Feel free to do a Google search yourself. According to the sources I've seen, the service life of the Abrams is 6,000 miles.
There probably are other parts that have to be replaced after so many hours of operation as well.
VOTOMS is one of the all time greats, and one of my absolute faves. Weirdly enough, I got to watch it for the first time twice, due to medicine induced memory loss.
I can’t tell if that makes you lucky or not
I always thought of the scopedog as a "real world Zaku". Green, mono-eye (though it's got the three cameras on the one "eye"), rocking pretty believable weaponry, big time "grunt" energy... Thanks for covering this!
All I knew about VOTOMS before this was scopedog being in SRW and being hilariously mundane compared to everyone else. It looks amazing though!
Give this man a Mazinger!
ATs are the prime example of doing a lot with a little. Yes they are basically walking tanks, but with good piloting that's enough (especially with super-science upgrade and generous damage calcs in modern games)
I've been a big fan of VOTOMS since it began. I was only 16 years old then but am 56 now, and still love it. I'm glad there are some fans also in the USA. This is an Anime for men and about a true man.
Armored Trooper Votoms, the most real of Real Robot Shows and I love it! Hell it's basically Warhammer 40k the anime. Chirico is the most savage Mecha protagonist I've encountered hell the Red shoulders have black airforces as standard issue but Chiricho, the dude's got Black Jesus Sandals goddamn! This series needs more love let me tell you.
I wish they didn't leave VOTOMs dead in the 2010s. They set Chrico up as a road warrior with no real ending for him.
I think the ending of the tv series was a more than good enough conclusion for Chirico and Fyana. Everything past that in the chronology was just unnecessary imo. That said there’s tons of potential in the setting even without Chirico - Armor Hunter Mellowlink was supreme proof of that.
Chirico has been consistently showing up in SRW starting in the 2010s so VOTOMS isn't completely dead by any means.
I remember seeing the models for some of these in my favorite hobby shop. The venerable "Paul Frylers Historical Models ". Learned how to paint miniatures from the outstanding staff. Learned about two of the three types of miniature painting. Several sci-fi conventions. Oh, what a happy time...
Thanks for the memories!
Super gritty real robots in realistic war conditions. Bullet counts matter, minor damage can cause catastrophic damage down the line, and fuel management was a serious concern. Even the dam roller skates make practical sense as an all terrain dash feature.
It is criminal we never got this in the west back in the day. Not that we could have gotten a show with a confirmed human on screen kill count in the high hundreds.
If not for the ending this would have been the most grounded real robot production of all time.
Area 88 is another great classic 👌
Dude, hearing the Comix Zone music come in out of nowhere damn near gave me a 'nam flashback
This seems like the most 80s thing ever, but in the best way possible
If gonna do Votoms, you gotta do Gasaraki and Blue Gender from Ryōsuke Takahashi.
Yup
I think Blue Gender and Dougram are on the list.
If you liked VOTOMS, give "Fang of the Sun Dougram" a look, it is from the same director.
Hidive also has several prequel and sequel OVAs/movies for more VOTOMS/Red Shoulder gritty goodness. I'd love to see you review other 80's mecha hidden gems Round Vernian Vifam and SPT Layzner. Also Legend of the Galactic Heroes if you have time to watch 160+ episodes (totally worth it IMO).
VOTOMS is so very much the greatest sci-fi epic in my humble ass opinion. It ain't enough that the storytelling and world-building very much heavily reeks of Xenogears, but the main protagonist is so very much one of the greatest leading men in all of anime, let alone mecha. Not to mention there is definitely quite a lot of Chirico and Fyana in Fei and Elly if you ask me.
Most mof the mecha genre is like cheap beer or whiskey; VOTOMS is a very fine craft beer or whisky you find yourself suddenly only savoring it over an evening versus being able down a lot of it quickly. For me the first three arcs especially. While I Gundam and some of the other mecha genre, this one definately unique. It struck a completely different chord, and it was easy to overlooks its faults; largely in part of being a combat veteran myself. I could only really watch one episode at a time, because I had to sit and think about them. Much like savoring the aforementioned fine whisky after each sip.
To date one of the best mecha series, period. Dark, gritty, realistic enough when it comes to mechs.
How could we forget life's real workhorse. the Power VOTOM.
Started from the votom now we here.
The puns write themselves.
My Homie From The Block vanilla !!! With the Afro ! Let’s Go !
I wasn't a fan of the twist at the end of the series but the actual ending I thought was bittersweet and I loved it. Good video man!
Oh damn, VOTOMS!!!!
Not gonna lie, I have never watched the show or the OVAs but thanks to your video most of the scenes in SRW Z2 make sense now!
Speaking of SRW... VOTOMS debuted in Z Hakai-hen!
Some notable scenes there... Chirico was an enemy along with his squadmates so Celestial Being and the Colony Gundams along with the Black Knights need to fight them off but despite the Red Shoulder being "Vicious" the Gundams can dispose of them no problem! ...did I mention Gurren Laggan can smack them around too? Hehe.
Ah yes the A.T tournaments, you'll get Kallen as an ally but shes in her Sutherland and Chircos AT doesnt have much gear, yet they end up kicking ass and are joined by Heero and Duo after being duped in the arena!
If memory serves, Ipsilon fights Chirico after the fall of the Spiral King from Gurren Laggan and he's quite a challenge! Hell he can kill you outright if Chirico cant dodge him!
And the ending where Chirico defeated Wiseman? He has some choice words for the Gundam pilots especially Setsuna since Ali Al Sachez is fighting for him!
But its weird in Z2 Saisei-hen after Wiseman is defeated Kan Yu shows up as an ally for a bit and Chirico is joined by C.C and Kallen who is in a bunny suit in her Guren by the way and fight off the ATs in the jungle! Cocona even tells Kallen to smile more since shes a bunny girl waitress!
When Chrico betrays everyone, everyone is extremely pissed especially Kallen since she wouldnt have thought Chirico would do that, heck even Ru Shakko and Fiana find it hard to come to terma with the betrayal! And if memory serves right this was after Lelouch becomes emperor! Sucks to be Kallen here!
So yeah its one helluva ride for the VOTOMS crew in SRW! Though most of the other scenarios were from the OVAS Last Red Shoulder and Pailsen Files thats why Chirico gets a black Custom Scopedog with one hell of an upgrade
I didnt really pay much attention to VOTOMS in Z3 but all you need to know is his Magnum kills everything! Ah yes theres also a scene in Z2 where the snipers of ZEUTH: Lock-on Stratos, Yoko, Michel Blanc, Gain Bijou and your MC snipe off some enemies, then when a jet comes flying in Chirico shoots them with his magnum and one of them says: "Whoa thats one helluva pistol!"
Then Chirico says: "Something something Magnum" I believe that was the make and model of his gun!
It's interesting that you used the Shin Megami Tensei OST as BGM, because when I watched VOTOMS for the first time it really made me think of early SMT - particularly SMT II - with the tense apocalyptic atmosphere, the crap-sack factions, and Chirico as a protagonist is very SMT-ish in general up to and including his hard pivot into the Neutral Ending for its conclusion. I don't know if Takahashi influenced Atlus, but his works have that kinda feel to them.
Omg yes finally this underrated series gets some spotlight. This in my opinion is the best "Real military robot series" the VOTOMS are just so cool and got a realistc vibe to them. I hope you cover its spinoff Armor Hunter Mellowlink its a really cool spin on a mech series where the main character dosent use a mech to fight mechs .
Palesin files was my fave. It reveals a bunch about rochina's motives and handles the aftermaths of the red shoulder brigade incident.
Seeing mechs "skate" around like that reminds me of an old PC game called Heavy Gear. All of the mechs were bipedal, but would hunch down and deploy wheels for a mobility boost.
You do know the Akklaim game you're talking about came from a TTRPG/miniatures game of the same name, right? Still being played today (think it's on about the fourth or fifth proper edition now) and the newest wave of miniatures for the game are truly impressive sculpts. The whole style of Heavy Gear was inspired by VOTOMs more than any other anime.
@@richmcgee434 I did not. I was pretty young when I first played it, that's awesome. I've never really gotten into tabletop because I never really had people to play with, but I love the lore behind games like Battletech and Warhammer.
@@Aegis4843 Yeah, the old PC game was quite a long while back, and didn't do as well as the guys at Dream Pod 9 would have liked so they've never revisited it. If you're a gaming lore buff there's a fairly good Heavy Gear fandom wiki that goes into the setting's history and all sorts of tech details. Not as deep and comprehensive as the Sarna site is for all things Battletech, but precious few things are. Worth a look if you're curious about the background, which is pretty interesting IMO.
I literally just finished watching the main series last night, so this was perfect timing
I really enjoyed the show, and I'm glad that more people are talking about it on TH-cam
New Retcon? I've got my evening set.
You looked real ready and prepared for this one. Kinda had that Glow about you, ya know? Great review of one of the Essential Much Watch Anime (immo) of all time.
Great episode, this shows looks fantastic. Also I see you, digital devil soundtrack.
When you ask someone about what their first ever anime was, they typically reply with “Naruto”, or “Dragon Ball” or “Pokemon”
Mine was the Votoms Pailsen Files OVA my grandpa bought me on a dvd disc
I wonder if it affected me somehow😅
It is seriously weird to hear this described as little-known anime. This was at least as influential as the Gundam franchise when I was young and VOTOMs was relatively new.
Damn, now that I think about it, Chirico was the original Samus, the badass character dressed in orange with a mech suit that beats everybody and always ends up blowing up a planet while escaping
Great video as usual Retcon! I love these retrospectives because I do not have the time to watch all of these shows!
I feel like Chirico and Fist of the North Star's Kenshiro might as well be brothers with how much they had in common and how close in time the two's stories were, but guess it was just the 80's lol.
I remember when I first heard of votoms from looking into the history of heavy gear
Used to think Votoms was some hardcore spinoff of gundam, since the scopedog looks like a zaku on crack
Damn, how have I never heard of this? Good stuff, Thank you.
As much as I love this show, I was kinda disappointed by the revelation that Chirico wasn't a badass normal as advertised, but rather yet another perfect soldier, only even MORE perfect than those he'd been fighting against. I realize that back in the 80s the idea of a superhuman pilot like Newtypes was still probably considered a relatively new trend despite Gundam having done it first, I still think Chirico was more interesting when his victories were implied to be the result of years of combat experience & hard earned skill combined with solid tactics and a little help from customized computer hardware to compensate for his lack of superhuman reflexes, kinda like if the hapless normal veteran soldiers from gundam found a way to turn the tables on the impossible skills of the growing number of superhuman teenagers they kept bumping into lol. Chirico is still a great character and Votoms itself is an all time must see classic for all mecha anime fans, I just think Chirico was more unique back when he was an "underdog" beating the odds against seemingly superior opponents that on paper he shouldn't have stood a chance against, & perhaps showcasing why the bad guys working so hard to create such "perfect" soldiers in the first place were wasting their time causing so much pain and suffering across the galaxy for no good reason at all when someone with no special enhancements was able to overcome their ultimate creations (plus I think it fit better with the idea of Votoms being a more grounded series where even the most advanced of the show's mecha were just slightly better versions of the average Votom with a few extra weapons here and there in contrast to other shows where the main characters mech was usually above and beyond better than everyone else's machine).
The one thing that disappointed me. But the rest is good enough I forgive that.,
Great video as usual! Now I'd give this series a watch! 1st time I heard of this was this year when I saw a modelkit for this
Will you do a vid on eco squad and 1980s battletech mecha series someday?
Loving that sonic spinball bgm
Hmm...Tomino starts the Real Robot sub-genre with Gundam, Votoms rides the wave and has Overmen. Years later, Tomino comes out with Overman King Gainer. All of these are Sunrise shows. Man, the SRW crossovers kind of write themselves don't they?
Mobile suits are naturally tall because the mechs they were built from were originally used for colony construction in space (and that's the reason Tomino originally wanted everything in space; he knew the whole square-cube law thing or at least had enough sense to know). Naturally, every non-gundam show afterwards would try to figure out what the right size real mechs ought to be from 4 meters (Votoms, Layzner, etc.) to 7 meters (Patlabor) to roughly 9 meters (Full Metal Panic). I've always wondered why no one in the UC's history decided to make smaller mechs any earlier than Unicorn since we got the Petite-Mobile Junior Mobile Suits (they're as tall as two grown men) existing since Zeta Gundam and the Draken-E before those in 0080. I'd guess it'd be chalked up to technological limitations since MS themselves had to get larger before they started getting smaller just like most other kinds of irl tech like cellphones.
Well lore wise the Ms became smaller because Pscomu tech was forbbiden after the events of Unicorn with the Xi and Penelope the last once who had Psycommu tech with them but after the Destruction of bitte Maschines.and Annaheim Electronics going bancurpt no one had the knowledge of.Psycomu .Because of this the F90 Projeckt was.formed to replace psycomu
@@kevinbaumhoer7359 Hmm...that doesn't sound right. The Federation was tired of Anaheim's double dealing and there was a need for downsizing because of the large amount of capital they were spending on MS so they made SNRI which was the Federation's in-house developer. They held a contest for which developer to use and while Anaheim came out with the ATMOS, SNRI came out with the smaller F90 (or was it the F89?) which won the live trial. Losing to SNRI led to Anaheim's slow, eventual slide into bankruptcy (their MS development side at least). It was only after the whole Cosmo Babylonia thing that the Federation was able to field their new mainstay MS the Jamesgun (its production was delayed).
It really had nothing to do with psycommu tech.
@@nicodalusong149 oh than i made a mistake its been awihle since a Saw an UC Gundam Series so i thought the Psycommu was the reason
I personally like the design of Red Shoulder Custom and Turbo Custom variant of the Scopedog. RSC may not be too different than the usual SC but that red coloured shoulder armour made the unit stand out.
And also Chirico was one of the main unit that I use as a vanguard unit in Super Robot Wars series cause the unit was small and his ace skill made him almost unstoppable.
I almost commented at the start on the music. That was Sonic as the name pronunciation was discussed, yeah? Good stuff
Votoms is really really amazing! Highly recommend to give it a try!
I've spent more than a year trying to get through VOTOMS. It's 4 arcs would definitely have been structured as 4 13-episode seasons today.
I think that's what makes the show so "unbingable". VOTOMS was created to be viewed as 52 weekly episodes, 26 weekly "double" episodes, or a 2 episodes per day, six days per week "heavy rotation" with the recap episodes pulled out.
I reccomend watching VOTOMS with that in mind. My reccomended dose is 2 episodes, twice per week, as needed.
Such an underrated show, makes me glad most of the music is on Spotify. Helps me get through those morning shifts with some nice nostalgia
Not gonna lie. I'm with you on VOTOMS not being a bingeable series. It took me under 6 weeks to finish it. I forget which episode it was but I fell asleep on it 3 times.
Now for more somewhat obscure anime referrals:
The Super Dimension Century Orguss, '83 30+ episode series
Giant Robo, the '92 OVA
I really REALLY like Giant Robo as it feels like a homage series of early 70's Super Robot series with a pinch of Astro Boy & Gatchaman in it's art style & deco atmosphere
The final part does give some major dune vibes
Man, I've gotta say, your choice in background music for your videos never fails to hit that sweet, nostalgic spot. The ristar track you used took me all the way back to trying to stretch arm kill everything within a two foot radius. How do you go about choosing the tracks you're gonna use for a video? Have you played the respective games that those soundtracks come from? Oh and one more question, would you be willing to look into covering "take the x train"? I'm telling you, it's nuts. Also, armor hunter mellolink is pretty solid follow up series...
Usually when picking the tracks I try to match the feel of a show at least a little bit, though a lot of the time I end up doing the music last after everything else is done. I've played most of the games that I pick music from, though some are just great tracks that I find while searching around.
And Ill put Take the X Train on the list for sure!
@@Retcon404 woohoo!
Hey thanks for making this video. I am watching this because currently playing Super Robot Wars T so I can understand more of the votoms route
ooh this show fucking slaps
The fact that this one really powerful entity was manipulating everything explains a lot, actually. Like how this one arms dealer just happens to show up on a completely different planet the same time as our hero.
Well damn didn’t expect to see this covered. Now it’s time to go watch the nearly lost media version of the series with armored hunter mellowlink
Always been aware of it never been able to see it
So this video got delayed by a month, and managed to come out the same month that VOTOMS premiered in, 40 years ago! This calls for some celebratory coffee.
As for mellow link, buckle up. The story is Dam near as crazy as the main series. It’s place on the timeline makes it even better.
I have to give you some advices about the OVAs, not all of those are good, Mellowink Armor Hunter IS AWESOME, but the continuation of the main series isn't, one of the prequels, which is the one about Chirico becoming the Red Shoulder is good, there is another about Epsilon creation, which is quite good, the others are passable or not good, I don't remember the names, but someone will definitely answer here lol
Loved the sound tracks yo my nostalgia is pleased.
I purchased a group of DVDs of this anime a while back. Such a good anime
Great anime... it took me years to find it, and tho it was hard for me also to watch I managed to finish it and love this review you did. Thank you...
Same here I never heard of them. Tell this video!!!
One of the few series that I rented, then went out and got the entire series of. The box set was pricey, and worth ever cent.
For me VOTOMS has always been very a philosophical anime. VOTOMS is based on the idea of fate and denial thereof as something crucial to a human being. For example, Chirico goes from a disillusioned veteran to a power-hungry monomaniac (thus becoming "less human" and accepting the fate the Wiseman intended for him) only to reject it all in the end and make his own final decision, while Fiona goes from an artificial weapon made only for war to a more or less proper person.
That is an interesting look at it.
I do wish the Wiseman arc plot wise was better developed and I am still not a fan of the whole "Ultimate Survivor" and "Perfect Soldier" plot devices but the plot being about there being a destiny for people, either by the hands of other people or a higher being, and the human ability to reject it simply because one does not agree with is a compelling idea.
I personally never saw it that way, it was kind of obvious that Chirico was doing this to dupe Wiseman, but he was also extremely shrewd and incredibly pissed off at the Society for hounding him and using Fyana for their ends, so he didn't pass up the opportunity to get them all killed. If he really had accepted the fate Wiseman had prepared for him but only changed his mind in the end, it would have made sense to illustrate him having second thoughts or doubts along the way, whereas in the show he moves towards that goal with steely determination, with absolutely no hesitation and guns down the transfer unit Wiseman extends towards him without any hesitation either, even going as far as to fake being incredibly weak to get him to expose himself for a shot. Your observation about this story being a tale of a man's struggle against his fate is very on point however, Votoms is pretty much a Greek tragedy when it comes to its storytelling vehicles.
Please try Combat Mecha Xabungle by Yoshiyuki Tomino
The AT's movements reminds me of Knightmare Frames from Code Geass (another Sunrise anime). Both are even nearly similar in size.
Tried to watch the series before watching this, but you're not kidding about every episode feeling like it took an hour and not being able to binge. Just had to give up and watch this.
All of Takahashi's mecha anime are more real robot than anything in Gundam. Even Galient that's in a medieval setting is still grounded in it giant knight mechs.
I never learned the name or what it was actually all about until recently but I do remember seeing models of the ATs in Japanese hobby magazines back in the 90's and thought they were the coolest with just how 'real' they looked and stuck around in the back of my mind all that time
Glad I saw this. 3/4 of it sound great…but that ending would’ve just pissed me off. I hate those kind of “oooh you’re super spooky special” and then “nyah no one can use me anymore” only for the story to basically be reset to status quo. Almost like 52 episodes were moot and didn’t happen at all.
I always wholeheartedly recommend it!
Still need to watch votoms
I love this show.
Chirico is bad ass and so is Mellowlink
29:55 They're some real Ride or Die people.
i saw the cool mech design in a website about atomic rockets and then put it in my watch this list
I'm surprised that people here haven't heard about VOTOMS. Since its such a long runner in the SRW universe.
The OVAs The Last Red Shoulder and Big Battle were also excellent. I did not care for Root to Ambition though as it seemed more of a retcon than a proper prequel.
Mellowlink is actually a prequel, not sequel.
So this is what inspired the Demi-Trainers.
What is the music at 2:05. It sounds so familiar and it's driving me insane trying to work it out
Armored Troopers Bottoms 🙌
Very underrated
I really like your Ant-Man inspirational poster behind you haha
You should do Blue Gender.
Kinda insane how u post this and I started watching yesterday…
Yea I noticed he sega ost
Wait you're telling me Akagi's white comet made an 80's anime
Fuck yeah I gotta watch this. SCOPEDOG was such a weird unique unit in SRW
Now you need to check out Armor Hunter Mellowlink, a direct spin-off show with connections to Chirico's story. It's a good tale of revenge.
armored core silent line really. and to that i sub.
Voddems? Never heard of em’!
I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Vo-Toms. Not votom's. Always loved me some Votoms. Always felt it was the most realistic depiction of what a mecha might be in the real world. More versatile and agile than a tank, but also way less armored. In one you are a killing machine, but you are also walking around in a death trap made of far to thin of metal to actually protect from much damage.
Chirico's special power isn't having a gun, it's being unable to stay dead and reality bending around him to make that happen. In what is otherwise one of the most grounded mech anime of the 80s. This works better than it should, even if the show really starts to drag after the Kummen arc. The OVAs tend to be more enjoyable to me personally, except Phantom Arc.
I love Votoms. ❤️
For what I seen they look closer to a wanzer than other mech
Shining Heresy next?