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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:759#1552] |
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Arc Review God Planet Sunsa ties up all the loose ends of Votoms' plot throughout its run such as Chirico's origins and the purpose of the Secret Society. The revelations are quite surprising, yet actually make sense when one considers events from earlier arcs and the behavior of certain characters as this arc builds up to its climax. I'd be willing to say this rivals Kuumen Jungle Wars in being one of Votoms' best arcs. It's definitely a solid climax to the Votoms anime. Overall Review It's a first for me to be doing something like this considering Mikomi has entries of the series divided into its individual arcs instead of an entire series. But regardless, I guess it's a good idea to sum up my overall thoughts of Votoms since I bought the series for my collection well over a year ago. As I discussed in my review of the Uoodo City arc, the major hook of the series comes from the mystery surrounding Chirico's search for answers in a conspiracy he becomes entangled with from the Secret Society and later his origins when he comes to learn of some connections he may have with the Secret Society. For the most part, the series does a good job slowly building things up and dropping subtle hints over events to come and the connections certain characters and factions have with one another. This is especially notable as Chirico becomes entangled with several factions throughout his journey that include the Secret Society and the military forces of Gilgamesh and Balarant. Each arc takes place on a different planet that have differing degrees of conflict or corruption, that the series takes the time to explore. For the most part, the world of Votoms is portrayed to be a hostile environment where many folks are out for themselves and willing to either manipulate or kill those who are either in their territory, in the way of allowing them to make money or are a threat to their way of life like the gang of thugs that influence events in Uoodo City or the vigilantes hired to fight in the civil war in Kuumen Jungle Wars. There are a few occasions where some characters seem a bit too hospitable to Chirico considering their questionable professions. But the series is mostly good in showing Chirico being in truly hostile territories. Speaking of Chirico, his character gets quite a bit of development throughout the series as he seeks out the Secret Society. While seeming like a quiet loner of a mecha pilot, the series does provide occasional narration from his perspective as he expresses his thoughts on any situation he faces throughout his journey. Plus while still retaining aspects of his aloof character, he does show gradual changes in personality as he gains a love interest and gains some allies in his struggles on the differing worlds that his journey takes him on. In terms of other characters though, most are fairly underdeveloped and mostly serve to either change Chirico's character and aid or deter him in his adventures. The mecha element to the series is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the plus side, Votoms is a "real robot" series that is quite grounded in showing off its mecha as there are differing purposes for each of the AT units and the DVD extras that came with each disc in my set do a great job at giving you specs and details on each of the differing AT units seen throughout the series. In addition, the battles take place in various different areas like jungles, the city, the desert and space; which would make a hardcore mecha anime fan giddy for joy. On the low end though, Votoms gets a bit excessive with showing off mecha battles as they tend to drag out the plot and can seem like padding at points. My outlook on the visuals and music to Votoms hasn't changed much since I posted my review of the Uoodo City arc. To summarize my thoughts, the visuals are outdated and rough in their elements, while the music is repetitive and feels out of place at many points throughout the series. While Votoms has its sloppy elements, I can't deny that the series was an engaging one for me thanks to Chirico's journey in tracking down the Secret Society and learning of his origins. If you're a fan of older mecha anime titles, this is a solid title to check out. Last updated Monday, March 04 2013. Created Monday, March 04 2013. | ||||||||
| Avoid | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
 Anonymous #1298
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[series:759#1298] |
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it is Boring i just watched 3 Epsodes and i never wanna see aby more
Last updated Saturday, March 27 2004. Created Saturday, March 27 2004. | ||||||||
| Rent |
 Stretch
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[series:759#628] | ||||||
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How many anime series do you know which feature such extended storylines that they need "refresher" episodes now and then to bring everybody up to date? God Planet Quent opens with an appropriate review of stage three, and the fact that it's narrated by Chirico himself is helpful as he makes clear his thoughts. Still, too much time seemed to be wasted replaying action scenes from early in the previous stage, rather than producing a good summary of Deadworld Sunsa as a whole. Perhaps the original TV viewers would not have tolerated having an entire episode go by without at least some exciting action being replayed. I got the feeling that God Planet Quent was reminding me of a movie I'd seen somewhere, and I finally figured out it was the 1956 US release "Forbidden Planet". In both cases, the remains of a fantastic ancient civilization, which abruptly perished for mysterious reasons, is discovered and the mystery of it's fate is unravelled. As the story progressed, it was suggested that Chirico is not just a Perfect Soldier, but may have been selected by some godlike entity as it's successor. This was getting weird--I bet you don't see stuff like this in Gundam or Macross! Chirico, who never had much of a personality to begin with, appeared to have gone insane as he spoke of taking revenge upon the entire Astragius galaxy. Everything seemed to be falling apart--how could he have become a so-called "Overman"? Why had the Gilgamesh and Balarant empires, which had just been at war for a century, suddenly made friends with each other? A series as long as this one really needed a good ending to justify all the time and money I'd dedicated to it, and the plot didn't seem to be making a whole lot of sense. Had the intiguing first stage of the Votoms saga been a fluke, and would I never get a satisfying set of answers to the questions it had raised? Would I ever commit myself to rewatching it all again? I was starting to think I'd have to demote my reviews of all the previous stages to the "watch" category. Feeling quite nervous, I went into the final episode with my fingers crossed. And, when it was all over, I said to myself "that was good!". Seldom has one episode--really the final half episode--of a series swung me from feeling so frustrated and pessimistic to just plain feeling good. I'm glad I stayed with Votoms to the end. I guess if I had recalled the way the other stages had ended, I might have realised there was nothing to worry about. They always waste a lot of time early on, then accelerate to an exciting climax at the end. In this case, a surprise ending did the trick--Ryosuke Takahashi knew what he was doing after all. Not every question was answered, but this time the right answers were provided to finally make sense of Votoms as a whole. Also pleasing was the post-climactic scene which explained what became of certain favorite charachters in the end. An unexpected bonus was a series of original trailers for the 1983 run of Votoms (it's airtime was 5:55PM!). I can't emphasise enough that Votoms is an acquired taste. Watching it demands a lot of time and money, and after a mere three episodes it would be easy to assume that it is just a "boring" series that is not worth the effort. But for those of you who liked the way it tasted, and stayed with it to the end, congratulations! I think you know just what you have accomplished. Though far from perfect, (and far too expensive to purchase the entire series) Armored Trooper Votoms really does deserve it's description as one of the most "ambitious" anime series ever. My favorite line: "In absolute power you will find absolution!" --Wiseman 4/04 Last updated Monday, February 04 2008. Created Monday, March 22 2004. | ||||||||
