The mixed bag of  Votoms OVAs

Disclaimer-There will be spoilers for the entire Votoms anime. Proceed if you have seen everything.

Armored Trooper VOTOMS  is one of my favorite mech tv series anime. Discarding common tropes like a main character MECHA with a teenager or child protagonist who has no prior experience of piloting a mecha at the beginning, Votoms features a veteran who pilots the mass produced grunt suits (which gets destroyed most of his endeavors). VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS) are just glorified tanks and few meter all in height, giving us a "tank " approach to mecha compared to Gundam's "fighter jets operating on a plane carrier" approach in real robot sub-genre. Along with a gritty,dirty and industrial universe which features a war torn galaxy, it was quite unique in it's days. However here I am going to talk about the OVAs that were produced after the end of tv series.

Votoms OVAs can be classified into 3 categories - Prequel, Sequels and Side stories.

1)Prequel OVAs(Last Red Shoulder,Roots of Ambition, Pailsen Files)

These OVAs are pretty stellar in mecha action department. If you want more skating-vertical-tanks-on-skating-vertical-tanks action,these OVAs will satisfy your hunger for that.It also applies to the sequel OVAs(which ruined everything that made tv series ending great and conclusive). Problem is in terms of plot these tend to conflict with the 1st two arc of the tv series. We get the impression that Chirico, the main protagonist was a normal guy who after going to hell i.e. during last years a war going on for 100 years suffers from PTSD and very stoic in nature. Later we come to know that he was a part of an elite squad named "red shoulders" and reason he wants to forget it for terrible things he had done during his missions as a squad member.

During the end of 3rd and the entire 4th arc we witness lots of twists , great secrets and conspiracy which involves Chirico himself.nBut Prequel OVA introduce them at the very beginning. We are introduced to Pailsen - the man behind the Red Shoulders. Later we know his true plan which involves finding someone with rare genes which makes one an "abnormal survivor", to be able to survive no matter how fatal the situation is. We see that Chirico was a stoic even then too, and we see the conflicting story of his childhood. Root of ambition show that as a child his town/village was attacked by a regiment of Scope Dog which has red paint on of it's shoulder. Later in Pailsen files/phantom arc we are shown Pailsen himself in person burning down a lab facility of which Chirico was test subject. In tv-series it was actually a big twist regarding his hidden power but Pailsen files tell us he was aware of the "abnormal survival " thing.

Still, these are not that much problematic. Prequel OVAs don't affect the plot of the tv series.

2)Sequel OVAs(Shinning heresy,Phantom arc,Alone again)

The ending to tv-series was perfect that needed no further addition unless there is a 26 episode anime  at the least, in my opinion.

Why 26 episodes? Well, just see how arcs in the original TV series were are set. Uoodo-Kummen, Sunsa-Quient. Approximately 26 episode with 13 eps for each arc. It works as a pair without which story feels very empty. Or we can simply say we need 26 episodes at max to span out the story and the setting in case of Votoms. Lets add the amounts of episodes of sequel OVAs combined-

• 1.Shinning Heresy - 5 eps
• 2.Phantom Arc-6 episodes
• 3.Alone again - 2 episodes (breaking down 43 minutes into 2 episodes for 21-22 minute each for calculation purpose) 

Total - 13 episode. Just one arc. Now see the breakdown  of each of  these "episodes".

Shinning heresy is essentially "defrosting" of the climax of tv series. We are introduced to situation 30 years later the ending of tv series.  A new foil to Chirico , who happens to be a android-female-super pilot,  another  super soldier prototype. In span of 5 episodes, Chirico gets separated from Fyana and the plot around him are slowly and slowly uncovered. We feast upon some really cool 90's OVA animation involving Scopedogs. Everything goes fine until the last 10 minutes of the last episodes which ultimately ruins the tv series. Well, they might fix it up given ample episodes, right? 

 Phantom Arc - Out of nowhere Chirico's friends i.e. Cocona ,Vanilla and Grandpa Gotho  now aged are discussing something regarding why Chirico left without telling no one. Wait,what happened earlier? Anyway our loveable bunch of misfits decide to celebrate  30th anniversary of their marriage by re-visiting those places where they went on adventures with Chirico. Eventually they end up finding him and we once again go to another "Quient", to finish business once and for all. Seriously give Chirico a break, man. He has suffered already.

But where is that android lady from the shinning heresy? Didn't she start to have "feelings" for Chirico?

Alone Again- In case you are wondering, here is your answer. The title itself gives away the plot, if one guesses a little bit. Also serves as prequel to the beginning of phantom arc.

Things would had been a lot better if had at-least 13 more episodes in order to really flesh out things and to give a better , conclusive ending instead of rushing through these separately produced 3 OVA series

Now,this also brings a minor modification in usual "Watch it in production order" advice given in regards to the animated works in Votoms franchise. Since production-wise Alone Again (2011) comes after Phantom-Arc (2010), I advice you to do the contrary - watch Alone again then Phantom-Arc. This not only gives a straight line of progression but actually saves you from being depressed and feeling an air of inconclusiveness.

3)Side stories(Armored Hunter Mellowlink,Case;Irvine,Votoms Finders)

Side stories are the OVAs which are set in the same universe but dose not involve any character or plot from the tv series. I will touch about them individually.

Armored Hunter Mellowlink- 12 episode long revenge plot involving Mellowlink who is on a mission to take revenge on corrupt officers who framed him after sending him and his comrades on a suicide mission. Most badass thing about this OVA is Mellwlink never rides any mecha but hunts them down by using his wits, an outdated anti-AT rifle and a bit of luck (His balls must be massive). While watching tv series beforehand is not necessary, it amusing to recognize places which were present in the tv series. Plus there is blink-and-miss cameo of Chirico! Worth watching.

Case;Irvine- A 48 minute long OVA tells story of Irvine who in post-war era fights in illegal gladiatorial battles with ATs (called "battling " in the Votoms universe) in the night and runs a mechanic shop during the day. Pretty average OVA, but quite a good entry point for those who are skeptical to invest their time in an old series and want to get the gist of things about VOTOMS. On the other hand, ok for one time watch for the fans.

Votoms Finders(not related to the votoms universe)- Your typical "shonen" story. Main Characters is a "bottomers " (Expect the metaphors  because you are going to see a lot in this one) who scavenge in the bottom (see?) of a valley and dreams of going to the surface. It's relation to Votoms universe is in name only.There is no similarity aesthetic wise either as Mecha looks very differently and quite, "shiny". I would like to see something more of it on it's own, rather than labelled under "Votoms" title. 

In conclusion-

Votoms OVA has been a mixed bag, atleast for me. I really wish that we could had seen more regarding the universe itself  other than Chirico. Video Games, with exception of the Votoms PS2 video game, and light novels like Blue Knight Berserga  seems to deal with a new cast and stories set in that universe(which I am  basing it  on the screenshots I have seen) much of it still in Japanese and without any knowledge of it, I will never know what they are all about. 

Who knows what is being held in future. I do hope we might see new good Votoms materials in coming years.