Armored Trooper Votoms

Armored Trooper VOTOMS

Cover for the Third DVD Box Set, with an illustration of the ATM-09-ST Scopedog done by Kunio Okawara.
装甲騎兵ボトムズ
(Sōkō Kihei Botomuzu)
Genre Military science fiction, Mecha,
Anime television series
Directed by Ryōsuke Takahashi
Written by Fuyunori Gobu
Jinzō Toriumi
Ryōsuke Takahashi
Sōji Yoshikawa
Studio Nippon Sunrise
Licensed by Central Park Media
Network TV Tokyo, Animax
Original run April 1, 1983 – March 23, 1984
Episodes 52
Manga
Written by Minoru Nonaka
Published by Kodansha
Demographic Kodomo
Magazine Comic BonBon
Original run May 1983 – April 1984
Volumes 4
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Last Red Shoulder
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Nippon Sunrise
Released August 21, 1985
Runtime 53 minutes
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Big Battle
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Nippon Sunrise
Released July 5, 1986
Runtime 56 minutes
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Sunrise
Released March 19, 1988
Runtime 56 minutes
Original video animation
Armor Hunter Mellowlink
Directed by Takeyuki Kanda
Music by Hiroki Inui
Studio Sunrise
Released November 21, 1988 – April 28, 1989
Runtime 24 minutes
Episodes 12
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Shining Heresy
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Sunrise
Released March 21, 1994 – December 21, 1994
Episodes 5
Original video animation
Armored Trooper Votoms: Pailsen Files
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Sunrise
Released October 26, 2007 – August 22, 2008
Episodes 12 + film
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Phantom Chapter
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Sunrise
Released March 26, 2010 – October 27, 2010
Episodes 6
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS Case;Irvine
Directed by Igarashi Tatsuya
Studio Sunrise
Released November 6, 2010
Runtime 50 minutes
Original video animation
Votoms Finder
Directed by Shigeta Atsushi
Studio Sunrise
Released December 4, 2010
Runtime 50 minutes
Original video animation
Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Alone Again
Directed by Ryosuke Takahashi
Studio Sunrise
Released January 8, 2011
April 22, 2011 (DVD and Blu-ray)
Runtime 50 minutes
Related works

Games

List of Armor Trooper Votom games

Armored Trooper VOTOMS (装甲騎兵ボトムズ Sōkō Kihei Botomuzu) is a military science fiction mecha anime series, having undergone several incarnations. The original 1983 television series was created by Ryosuke Takahashi and Sunrise, featuring mechanical designs by Kunio Okawara. Following directly in the footsteps of Takahashi's previous series, Fang of the Sun Dougram, VOTOMS continued the trend towards hard science in the mecha anime subgenre. The series was supplemented by numerous original video animation releases, and also inspired a number of spin-off works whose media ranges from serialized light novels to video games.

Plot

The Gilgamesh and Balarant nations had until recently been locked in a century-old galactic war whose cause was long ago forgotten. Now, the war is ending and an uneasy truce has settled. The main weapon of the conflict is the common Armored Trooper, a mass-produced humanoid combat vehicle piloted by a single soldier. They are known alternately as VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS).

The series follows a main character named Chirico Cuvie, a special forces Armored Trooper pilot and former member of the Red Shoulder Battalion, an elite force used by the Gilgamesh Confederation in its war against the Balarant Union. Chirico is suddenly transferred to a unit engaged in a suspicious mission, unaware that he is aiding to steal secrets from what appears to be his own side. Chirico is betrayed and left behind to die, but he survives, is arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, and tortured for information on their homeworld. He escapes, triggering a pursuit extending across the entire series, with Chirico hunted by the army and criminals alike as he seeks the truth behind the operation. He is especially driven to discover the truth of one of the objects he was assigned to retrieve in that operation: a mysterious and beautiful woman who would become his sole clue to unraveling the galactic conspiracy.

Anime

Armored Troopers VOTOMS (TV series)

A 1983 52 episode anime television series.

The Last Red Shoulder

Armored Trooper Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder (装甲騎兵ボトムズ ザ・ラストレッドショルダー) is a 60-minute OVA released on August 21, 1985.[1] The storyline takes place after the Woodoo storyline in the TV series. It details Chirico meeting with his old comrades in his old military unit, and their plan to get revenge on General Palisen.

Big Battle

A 1986 60-minute OVA. Takes place near the end of the series. The storyline features Chirico and his comrades participating in a mecha gladiatorial match.

The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition (装甲騎兵ボトムズ レッドショルダードキュメント 野望のルーツ Sōkō kihei botomuzu reddoshorudādokyumento yabō no rūtsu) is a 60-minute OVA released in 1988.[2] The storyline serves as a prequel to the main series and specifically The Last Red Shoulder. It details Chirico's time in the Red Shoulder elite military unit and his encounters with General Palisen.

Armor Hunter Mellowlink

Armor Hunter Mellowlink (機甲猟兵メロウリンク Kikō Ryōhei Merourinku) is a twelve episode anime science fiction action OVA series spinoff of Armored Trooper Votoms. It premiered on November 21, 1988.[3] It takes place in the same universe (and time, in some episodes, almost the same places) as Votoms, but the two stories are entirely independent of each other.

Mellowlink is the story of a soldier whose unit is sacrificed on the battlefield for reasons unknown. Although he was not meant to survive, the main character, Ality Mellowlink, manages to survive only to be framed for a crime he did not commit. Mellowlink escapes his captors and begins hunting down his former commanding officers, both to get revenge for his dead platoon members and to find out the nature of the conspiracy that led to their death.

The series is available for download on Bandai Visual's official website and the Japanese DVD boxset was released on December 6, 2006. The series was previously issued twice on laserdisc, once as six individual volumes, and once as a three disc box set along with the two soundtracks.

Shining Heresy

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Shining Heresy (装甲騎兵ボトムズ 赫奕たる異端 Sōkō kihei botomuzu kakuyakutaruitan) is a 5-episode OVA series released in 1994.[4]

Pailsen Files

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Pailsen Files (装甲騎兵ボトムズ ペールゼン・ファイルズ Sōkō kihei botomuzu pēruzen fairuzu) is a 12-episode OVA series that was released from October 26, 2007 to August 22, 2008.[5] It was also released as a feature film on January 17, 2009.[6]

Phantom Chapter

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Phantom Chapter (装甲騎兵ボトムズ 幻影篇 Sōkō kihei botomuzu gen'ei-hen) is a 5-part OVA series that was released from March 26, 2010 to October 27, 2010.

Case: Irvine

Armored Trooperoid Votoms Finder

Armored Trooperoid Votoms Finder (ボトムズファインダー), an "alternate universe" OAV that centers around Aki Tesuno, a Bottoms guard for scrap salvagers and a pilot of a robotic mecha called an At or Altro (as opposed to VOTOMS' trademark Armored Trooper mecha).

Alone Again

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Alone Again (装甲騎兵ボトムズ 孤影再び Sōkō kihei botomuzu koei futatabi) is a 2011 50-minute OVA.

Games

Video games

VOTOMS has appeared in numerous video games since the series' original airing. None of them have seen release outside Japan.

For a limited time the Armored Trooper Votoms - Uoodo and Kummen game included a Red Shoulder Custom model. Chirico also figures in the Sunrise Eiyuutan (Sunrise Heroes) game for the PlayStation 2

Role-playing

VOTOMS was a direct inspiration for the Heavy Gear role-playing game. VOTOMS also has its own official role-playing game, Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Roleplaying Game, developed by R. Talsorian Games and using the Fuzion system.

References

  1. ↑ http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/12543
  2. ↑ http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/2638
  3. ↑ 機甲猟兵メロウリンク (1988～1989). allcinema (in Japanese). Stingray. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  4. ↑ http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/4975
  5. ↑ http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/10332
  6. ↑ http://mediaarts-db.jp/an/anime_series/11039

External links

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