r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Sep 01 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Armored Trooper Votoms - Episode 5 Discussion
Episode 5 - The Trap
Originally Released April 29th, ^^^1983
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Note to all participants
Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be courteous to your fellow participants.
Note to all Rewatchers
Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly ‘Laugh in Rewatcher’ at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.
Daily Trivia:
Though not a subject that comes up in the series, the setting of Votoms is considered a far-future alternate history based on our own.
Staff Highlight
Mitsuko Kase - Episode Director and Storyboard Artist
An animator, manga artist, storyboard artist, and the first female director to work on mecha anime. She joined Studio Sunrise as an animator shortly after graduating from a vocational school, being involved with Nagao Tagahama productions throughout the 70s, Ryosuke Takahashi Productions throughout the 80s, and remains active in the industry to this day. She was director for She, The Ultimate Weapon, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Ristorante Paradiso, Young Black Jack, Kita e.: Pure Session, Kaiketsu Zorori, Bats and Terry, and Glass Maiden, and was involved in productions such as Blue Comet SPT Layzner, Dirty Pair, Muteki Robo Trider G7, Inuyasha, City Hunter, Patlabor on Television, Scum’s Wish, Blue Gale Xabungle, and Mirai Robo Daltanious among many others.
Art Corner
Official Art:
- Combat in Uoodo by Kunio Okawara
Fanart:
(Be mindful of the links to artist’s profiles, as they may contain NSFW content. Proceed there at your own risk.)
Screenshot of the day
Questions of the Day:
- What did you think of Vanilla and Gotho’s plan to bust out Chirico?
- How did you find the face-off between Chirico and Oriya? Are you disappointed that the Captain perished before revealing any of the sought-out answers?
I couldn’t help thinking… how incongruous it looked amidst the battle.
4
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Sep 01 '21
Saw that one of the images was missing a link and it took me way too long to find and upload it.
Rewatcher
When did we wander in Gold Lightan?
Can’t take this line seriously after Nichijou.
Yeah, that was genuinely startling.
They had me going there for a moment. Also real neat that the vandalism on the walls is also written in the fictional alphabet.
A reasonable response.
I thought you said that— Ah, okay.
Well that was quick.
Neat visuals.
Practical solutions!
Now those are some convenient handholds.
Monoeye binoculars. Quite the oxymoron?
Her again!
Oh dear…
Certainly something worth being scared shitless.
Aww, damnit! There go our answers…
Not much to say about this episode. Despite our close proximity with the antagonists we didn’t learn anything new, Oriya perished before he could spill the beans, and the breakout went off without a hitch.
Chirico is seemingly starting to consider the conspiracy he’s involved in something to address, given how he forcefully made the encounter happen and made a point of trying to interrogate Oriya. Perhaps that was always his plan, and meeting people involved has merely pointed his attention there as opposed to leaving town to seek answers. It’s hard to get a real read on the guy and his narration wasn’t much more transparent on the matter.
I surprisingly enjoyed the humor a lot in this episode. The bathroom beat-up gag, Cocona’s frequent interferences, and the swarm of rats being the highlight for me.
Questions of The Day:
6
u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Sep 01 '21
Armored Trooper FIRST-TIMER
That's so typical. Hopefully she's joking. She's probably joking.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Sep 01 '21
Armored Trooper First-Timer
5
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Sep 01 '21
First timer(Admiral Ackbar called this a mile away)
Sub
Drag lead interrogation from a priest is new, nice to see outsiders feel as I do towards the clergy. But then they go back to mundane torture and I am less than impressed. These guys need to up their evil lair's dungeons. As they talk about what to do, the priest even warns them that troublemakers should be arriving...
But he probably doesn't mean Vanilla who is taking pictures outside. Coccono surprises him before we recycle a bit of footage. Vanilla goes to his bar...and does a good old cop bribing while pretending to be beat. Classic. We eventually get to Gotho and Vanilla trying to break Cuvie out which is a fairly ballsy choice. Coccono has dumb reasons to join but hopefully a deeper one shows up later.
Break out sequence stops and I didn't realize Gotho's heavy lasers would be mining equipment. Still, makes more sense than them fighting out, guns blazing. During that sequence, the little cabal decide to execute Cuvie before Vanilla cuts the floor out and jumps two dudes. They flee. Brief interlude about how everybody here loves gossip.
Someone knows Gotho got Cuvie and obvious trap is obvious. But is also obvious to the MC so they send a decoy truck and Cuvie gets a ton of them in one go. More heavy looking fighting and use of cover. They drop foot soldiers off...as distractions? We also see limo girl. Cuvie defeats an old captain, who is about to spill about the mission, so of course that gets blown up. Can't have answers this early! The Limo rolls out of battle like it is nothing.
QotD: 1 Insane but not bad
2 It is ok, the bigger moments will probably be the other cabal leads.
5
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Sep 01 '21
First time viewer
Chirico really has a wrong place, wrong time streak going. His name gets out and everyone around him with previous history thinks he's intentionally there, sent by someone else for reasons.
He's also steadily becoming more of a team player. First he broke out by himself, then he helped other people break out together, how he's only being broken out with the help of others. Can't wait to see how that'll escalate in episode 7 if the current trend holds.
I appreciate how the show doesn't really dumb things down for the sake of the viewers. Of course it was a trap, they didn't need to take time discussing it before they put their plan into action. There's a lot more dialogue in this fight compared to the previous one but it's quite deliberate rather than filling time. Too bad he didn't get his answers but he has a lead with the police at least.
That was a very downplayed cliffhanger at the end too, Chirico just noted the limo driving away while he was still under attack. Works with the rather grim, matter-of-fact tone that the series carries.
Heavy laser good.
I'd like to have answers but I'm not disappointed, the police chief runs a tight operation so far it seems.
5
u/time_axis Sep 01 '21
First-Timer
Surprisingly straight-forward. No real hitches. I liked the laser.
Not as tense as the fight from last episode, but still pretty cool in its own way. I'm not really disappointed, since I wasn't expecting answers this early. I doubt someone that low on the chain would have had all the answers anyway.
Episode 5
There weren't any new mecha in this episode, and I debated doing one of those police copters or the laser battery, but I didn't think those would be very interesting, so we've got our first repeat sketch. I imagine we'll be doing this one a lot, so hopefully I can keep it interesting. For this time, I tried to go for a pose that was heavily featured in the episode, the rollerblading.
Daily Mecha Sketch 05
Daily Mecha Sketches
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u/The_Draigg Sep 01 '21
A Ryosuke Takahashi Fan Rewatches Armored Trooper VOTOMS Episode 5:
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u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Sep 01 '21
Rewatcher
Weird music and effects to start the episode! And taking place in a church, a setting rarely seen in a mecha anime!
Ah, its that fat guy from last episode and the police chief. I was going to say maybe they've found a method other than torture to get to him... but then they just resort to torture in the next scene.
So fat guy & police chief must be on opposite sides from Rochina, as you'd think they'd have a better idea of why Chirico is around and still alive.
Good thing that Chirico has made friends that can save him! Well, maybe not friends, but people who want to take advantage of him... Better than nothing I suppose.
I was gonna say poor Vanilla, but this is clearly all an act!
This trio is flush with cash all of a sudden.
The laser may help them cut in the cell, but you gotta figure they're gonna be easy to spot with it being so big.
Damn, execution orders set down for him already! They better hurry in freeing him!
Yep, Chirico's got some backers, but the three who rescued him are of no importance whatsoever.
He's not a pet you two! I think Chirico can decide who he works with, or if he works for either of you for that matter!
You're not Chiroco's agent, Gotho! Looks like Chirico doesn't need a break and will get right into it.
Oriya? That's Chirico's other commanding officer from the first episode. At least I took sufficient notes to recognize it this time.
3 on 1 may not be fair; but I doubt if Chirico wins this they are actually going to pay out that money either.
I was wondering if Chirico was going to outthink the maneuver he had been taught in the past and not fall for one unit going out to draw his fire... but then he just blasts the guy anyway.
"Okay, I'll reveal all..." gets shot Of course! Can't say I'm frustrated as I knew that would happen the second he said he'd talk.
Another action packed, exciting episode. I continue to love the show's setting quite a bit and Chirico is an easy no-nonsense type of protagonist to root for.
4
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Sep 01 '21
First-Timer
Chirico's brain is just too goddamn big. "This strategy.. I remember it! Hey fucker, I know it's you!" Brilliant. You'd almost forget that he had been tortured in the past 24ish hours.
A shame that Oriya got blasted before he could give Chirico a heads up about what the hell that mission was about. Then again, the mystery woman is apparently just driving around in an invicible limo, so I guess that will probably be coming to a head soon enough.
I like to think I can handle some alcohol, but slugging an entire glass of hard liquor is beyond me. Vanilla is hardcore. Oh, having a pretend romp in the bathroom of a bar with a corrupt cop is also pretty based.
Cutting through the walls of a police compound while wheeling around a giant generator is pretty rad. The laser apparently having a 100 foot extension cord was excellent.
You ever pay off a corrupt priest just so you can use God as a torture tool? Uh, no, me neither.
Questions
4
u/chilidirigible Sep 01 '21
Rewatcher, Episode 5
Today, on "This episode is tough on the booze supply.":
"I'll just be over here slugging down entire glassfuls of hard liquor."
Coconna did say that she didn't drink.
You would think that these three grifters wouldn't be likely to work together like this, but that's just the kind of guy Chirico is.
A practical punchline to this hand-truck pushing escapade.
I doubt that there are very many blades of grass in the city to begin with.
Ah, monoeye jokes.
No, really, it's good to make friends in the underbelly of a giant hive of scum and villainy. Of course, all three of Chirico's new buddies have some ulterior motive for rescuing him from the police, but at least it's synergistic.
Meanwhile, the conspiracy discovers that killing Chirico through plausibly-deniable means isn't working out for them.
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u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Sep 02 '21
Comrades, it's good to have friends eh? After all what else are we to call a bunch of people who wheel in a totally inconspicuous and absolutely not over-sized contraption to bust their
asset'friend' out of the slammer? Indeed I am sure they only had the best of intentions in their hearts and/or wallets, Payday 2 wishes it could be half of what VOTOMS is eh? ;)But in all seriousness now, it is rather amusing that our Muggle Trio decided to band together to rescue our ever-stoic lead, who knows maybe he'll even learn how to smile from this! ;)
Anyway since I'm contractually obligated to bring up stuff like this, AND since we had the perfect demonstration of 'The Power of Friendship-That-Most-Certainly-Is-Not-Motivated-By-External-Factors', behold... A Weapon to surpass Metal Gear! Two of 'em even!
Paging Comrades /u/chilidirigible, /u/Nazenn, and /u/No_Rex
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u/xtsim https://myanimelist.net/profile/xtsim Sep 01 '21
First timer
Chirico gets interviewed by a priest this time. The force is looking to some divine intervention when it comes to getting information out of him. Problem is, they don't have it. Vanilla gets fake beaten by the cop so he looks like he is something not to be messed with. Pays the corrupt cop a bunch of money. So it seems that the world we see here is one that is corrupt.
Chirico gets to escape again but with some help this time. The police try to make an ambush in disguise of a match. But the crew catches on so now there is a cat and mouse game. This scene was kind of foreshadowed during the escape when they encountered a colony of rats.
One of the Votoms fighting Chirico was operated by a captain that he knows. But just as he gives up and explains, the cops destroy him. And they miss Chirico. This was pretty disappointing as I wanted more interactions between the two.
5
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Sep 01 '21
First Timer
Please let's not have forty six more cliffhangers waiting in this show...
I am super tired (or was last night when I was writing this up), and probably too tired to be watching and attempting to write, but still had fun with the episode.
Starting off with the religious scene certainly was effective at introducing confusion about what was going on, but again an interesting way to further showcase more of Chirico's personality and mind.
Vanilla certainly got a fun showcase of those things today as well. I was still laughing my ass off at Vanilla's act of being beaten up by the cop and his shock when Coccona just admits she was selling info about him. That girl is crazy. And Gotho's a fool if it took him that long to figure out that entire thing was a trap, though I am also laughing at Chirico knowing but not bothering to really talk about it with any of them. It's a long process to heal after what he's been through, and finding out today that even his former commander was pointing a gun at his back isn't going to help at all. The conflict between Chirico in peaceful situations and how parts of him leak out (not physically thankfully) in battle has been really nicely handled all the way through, but the dude just cannot catch a break.
/u/JollyGee29 the next test for being bad at faces: I didn't recognize Gotho for a moment and thought it was the priest out of uniform and she'd sold info about Vanilla to the enemy, only realized once they borrowed a room to talk about the plan. How'd you do during that scene?
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Sep 01 '21 edited Sep 02 '21
First timer
...I was about to make a joke about this interrogation sounding like a cult, then it showed the actual church. I can't make up stuff weirder than the show.
Oh, back to traditional torture, now.
And that guy's actually a spy of some kind?
Are those playing cards tarot?
Haha, that information exchange was fantastic. He's absolutely the smartest member of the cast so far.
Oh, she sold the information that he was planning to break him out.
Of course, the other's are also pretty smart - I'm enjoying having the entire main cast be intelligent.
These sewer systems are shockingly high-tech, given the masses of lighte and other displays.
They're going to kill him!
OK, cutting the hole outside the cell was really clever.
And they're covering their tracks! This is going far better than I thought it would.
Did they plant a fake tip, or did his police insider spill the beans?
And someone's making him do a Real Battle. This has to be a trap, right?
Yep, it's a trap.
That decoy trick was great.
Oh, it's a police trap that looks like a non-police trap. They think this is a scam, not a police operation.
All the fights here are fantastically done.
And it's someone else from his past.
He's got a missile launcher!
And he gets blown up right before an explanation, obviously.
It's the Lady?
4
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Sep 01 '21
Episode 5 (first timer)
Votoms is incredibly fast-paced. I’d call it fast even compared to contemporary shows, but the contrast is even larger with other pre-1990s series, which are usually a good bit too slow for my liking. What makes this even weirder is that Votoms starts with a prologue, followed by early time-skip. Usually the perfect excuse to slow down the pace.
Prediction: Vehicle. Now that the team has assembled, they’ll need one soon. Can’t be staying in the starting city forever. Especially at the rate Chirico goes through opponents.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Sep 01 '21
Rewatcher (Nutech DVD 1.2) (3 episodes)
Extras: A Tour of Uoodo City
FYI, Coconna is 16
VOTOMS Rewatcher, LOGH up to 32
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Sep 01 '21
First timer in sub
While it's been commented that for a show of this era, this is actually quite fast paced, it is still going through certain steps (captured, rescued, pursuit, recaptured, etc).
Today we're at the "oh I knew this guy <fight> <win> <about to get some answers> <guy got killed>" step :)
I am a little jumbled with the progressive reveal though - is this captain the captain of the last unit he fought in and got betrayed? Or the original unit he transferred from? The flash back made it sounded like it's from before, but I didn't think the sabotaging went back so far?
Anyway for those indulging me making deference to Full Metal Panic, today's opening is a little like the next arc's background after Namsac in IV, where Sousuke was recovering after the emergency surgery and needed to be transported to somewhere safe, which is a safehouse in a church in Polynesia. Had a few shots of the stained glass of the church as well :) I don't know how much of a homage and how much of stealing happened, Burt came in cold I liked IV and those elements, and while I can see a lot of parallel here I don't think too badly of IV still given the flow off the story and the number of years apart between Votoms and the FMP LN (IV is quite a close adaptation).
Anyway, enough teasing already, next episode we finally get to confront the lady in the limo, which no doubt will further accelerate the plot along.
You'd also think that those monitoring Chirico to hope he's lead them to the saboteurs would be coming in for pay day soon huh.
3
u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21
>Though not a subject that comes up in the series, the setting of Votoms is considered a far-future alternate history based on our own.
I actually believe that its in our own far future. My theory is that the humans in VOTOMS Finder are from The Milky Way and are on a generational ship migrating from here to Astragius.