Armored Trooper Votoms -
Japanese military science fiction mecha
anime series produced by Nippon Sunrise, created & directed by Ryosuke Takahashi & 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.
Armored Trooper Votoms ,
main weapon of the conflict is the common Armored Trooper, a mass-produced humanoid combat vehicle piloted by a
single soldier. Both the Armored Troopers & their pilots are also known as VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS). However, since Armored Troopers have extremely thin armor, & use a highly combustible
liquid in their artificial muscle, their pilots have a very low chance of survival .
The series follows a main character named Chirico Cuvie , a special forces Armored Trooper pilot & 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 in the theft of secrets from what appears to be his side. Chirico is betrayed & left behind to
die, but he survives, is arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, tortured for information on their homeworld. He escapes, triggering a pursuit extending across the entire series, with Chirico hunted by the
army & 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 & beautiful woman who would become his sole clue to unraveling the galactic conspiracy.
