Armored Trooper Votoms

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.

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. 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. The storyline serves as a prequel to the main series and especially 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. 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. and sequel to TV series.

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. It was also released as a feature film on January 17, 2009. It is a prequel to the main series and The Red Shoulder Document: Roots of Ambition.

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 6-part OVA series that was released from March 26, 2010 to October 27, 2010. It is a sequel to the main series.

Case: Irvine

Armored Trooper VOTOMS Case;Irvine (ケース;アービン), an OVA that follows the story of Irvine Lester, a repairer of the tank-like robotic Armored Trooper (AT) mecha in the VOTOMS story world.

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 that serves as sequel to the Shining Heresy and prequel to the Phantom Chapter. .

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.