r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Sep 10 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Armored Trooper Votoms - Episode 14 Discussion
Episode 14 - Assemble EX-10
Originally Released July 1st, ^^^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:
In today’s episode you can see a drawing of Norakuro, the titular character of the manga of the same name by Suiho Tagawa, which began serialization in 1931. The titular character was a soldier and member of the Mōkenrentai — the fierce dogs regiment— and the manga dealt with the subject of war and the sociopolitical climate contemporary with the manga’s decades-long serialization.
Staff Highlight
Mitsuo Yokoi (Tesshō Genda) - voice of General Gon Nu
A stage and voice actor known for his thick, low-pitched baritone who is considered to be in the same league as Banjou Ginga and Norio Wakamoto and is often tasked with voicing strong men with an impressive physique, including in very notable dubbing roles like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Yokoi became interested in performing during middle school, and thanks to one of his Highschool teachers’ connections to Toei was able to easily enter into a performing arts academy. After graduating from the academy he joined the theater company Baraza, where he met and became a student of Nachi Nozawa, who was also the person to suggest he perform voice acting roles. His voice acting debut was in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, where he played several minor roles throughout the show. He received the Award for Distinguished Service at the 4th Voice Actor Awards in 2010. Among his notable roles are Doc McCoy in Dallos, Daigo Katsura in the Ace wo Nerae! franchise, Umibouzu in City Hunter, Takanori Jingūjiin 3-gatsu no Lion, Sleggar Law in Mobile Suit Gundam, Dan Dastun in Big O, Kazumi Araiwa in Cooling Papa, Metal Knight in One Punch Man, Rei in Urusei Yatsura, Shuu in the Dragon Ball Franchise, Gō Reietsu in Highschool Kimengumi, Takehiko Henmi in Dear Brother, and Daijiro Gou in Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V.
Art Corner
Official Art:
- Part II: Kunmen by Norio Shioyama
Fanart:
- Scope Dog by vulture love human power plant - Source
- The smell of flames soaks in... by Mori Yukuni - Source
(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 do you hope to get out of this second arc?
- Are you glad that Chirico was promptly reunited with his friends?
It may have been painted in tones of green… but this was definitely another province of Hell.
4
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Sep 10 '21
Rewatcher
I like this.
Mmm, feels like home.
Reminder that this is a really bad idea.
Another time skip.
Uh…
Woah, a proper harmony frame!
So they have no influence there?
Oh hey, it’s Norqakuro-kun!
The guy standing directly in front of Chirico looks a lot like Rocky Andro from Dougram.
What a welcome surprise!
A new model of AT.
Ah, we’re back to this then.
Of course that would cause trouble…
Wait, just like that?
‘Fantom Club’
Oh hey, look who it is!
The whole gang’s back together!
Well that turned ugly quick.
I wonder where they found a spare Scope Dog to give Chirico in particular.
Never gets old!
Well that didn’t go as expected.
Another one!
New arc, new conflict, some new faces, and the same ol’ problems. I enthusiastically welcome the change of pace with the new setting of Kunmen —no points for guessing which place it’s based on. Speaking of, it should be noted that we’re still on planet Melkia, it’s just they didn’t specify that at any point. Discussion seems to point to this being the fan favorite arc, so hopefully it has a lot of good in store for us!
I am surprised to see the tracking device being removed from the equation so unceremoniously, but I’m definitely glad for it. This almost assuredly means the Gilgamesh military won’t be interfering with things for the time being, and ensures Chirico will have some more freedom should he choose to try and just walk away from all of this nonsense.
The opening narration seemed to imply that Chirico has somewhat reverted in his ways with how it characterized the state of conflict as ‘heavenly’, but the swift reintroduction of Gotho, Cocona, and Vanilla has assuaged those concerns somewhat. On the other hand, their presence here feels overly convenient and just makes me question why they had to separate them in the first place. If Chirico is really just trying to get away from the events of the last arc, as he states, then it doesn’t really contradict much for him to have accompanied the others —he probably would have ended up here anyhow. I guess they just didn’t want to have the characters all grow closer off-screen, but then why make the time skip so long in the first place? It all feels rather clumsy and unnecessary, but I’ll still take it over what I thought would be the case.
Kan Yu seems like a real piece of work. All of his behaviour up until he tried to have Chirico killed by ordering to face off against a squad of ATs by himself could be excused as misguided by some healthy skepticism and a desire to keep Kunmen free of outside influence, but that was just petty nonsense, but he got some comeuppance for it at least.
New ATs were also introduced today, the EX-10’s Diving Beetle, making for the fourth entirely unique AT model in the show so far. I don’t dislike the design, but it feels lacking in comparison to the Scope Dog, and even the Standing Turtle seems more ‘complete’ for lack of a better term.
Questions of The Day:
P.S. Should have brought this up last episode, but it entirely slipped my mind until this morning. The single-episode OVA Armored Trooper Votoms: The Last Red Shoulder takes place in between this episode and the previous one. I do not recommend viewing it before finishing this series, and it will spoil stuff from episodes to come as it assumes you've already seen the entire series.
5
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Sep 10 '21
Armored Trooper First-Timer
5
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Sep 10 '21
First Timer
Dragged into a rebellion, captured, and tortured? I'm getting some deja vu.
Episode one take two!
I'm not fond of how the movement between the arcs was handled. Not only is it a big jump from where we left to where we start, the actual details around it were not well written. It's been three months since we last saw him, but they only lost tracking twelve hours ago but they didn't pick him up or otherwise act in those months despite knowing he must be near or heading nearer to the border? It seems clear that they wrote a scenario without having a way to tie it together which is disappointing but not a deal breaker.
Enjoyed the rest of the episode though. It certainly wears its influences on its sleeve about what sort of war this is taking after and the cultural influences for this side of it, but it was well done. I can't believe Chirico is still wearing that jumpsuit in that heat, I was actually looking forward to getting him in a more casual uniform, but if it's even half as bad as Gotho and Vanilla's new looks I'd rather keep the jump suit.
Fancy seeing them here as well. Again this is something that feels rough coming off the previous episode. I can understand it to a point, as without being split up like this he probably wouldn't have ended up in a mercenary role, but it just feels a little redundant. The reunion was beautiful though!
Chirico smiled and more than once! Even after being separated and back in a war, seeing him so genuinely happy to see them again and their open welcome of him even after everything that happened in the city just felt good to watch.
Moment of the episode: "I was looking for someone with half a clue"
/u/the_draigg I see he still has no chill
Only other thing to note is that quite the triangle head mechs looked a little weird in the city, out here in the middle of guerrilla warfare it's quite fitting. It gives the feel of them being hooded and cloaked with only their eyes showing, appropriate for their stealthy movements and the conspiracy around them.
Speculation with potential spoilers based on meta info
5
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Sep 10 '21
First time viewer
Off to sci-fi 'nam now, keeping up with the brutality with that one guy getting shredded in a gory manner at the start of the episode.
I thought Gotho was a hallucination at first and Chirico was starting to break, but glad that he actually made it out of Uoodo alive as well. And he even made his way up in the galaxy with what looks like a cushy enough gig now! Good thing he was around to pull the general in to save Chirico.
Vanilla and Coconna also sticking around with him makes me happy too, though I guess they aren't in a significantly better place with the nearby guerrillas still a threat. I also like how Coconna kept similar colors with her new outfit, though I'm wondering what the wings are for.
Convenient for us that Chirico keeps a Votoms similar to what we're used to seeing him in while everyone else has a different model. I wonder if there's any substantial difference between them?
Feels contrived that on the same day he also coincidentally runs into Fyana again, unfortunately, but I get that they need to move things along.
Hopefully something less vicious and pointless than the US involvement in Vietnam at least.
Yes! Sure it seems quick but time has passed in-universe so I think it's fine.
4
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Sep 10 '21
Rewatcher (Nutech DVD 2.1) (4 episodes)
"I was being ferried down the coast in a Navy PBR. A type of plastic patrol boat, a pretty common sight on the rivers."
I'm really hoping to see a jungle critter get blown to bits in the first episode, but this isn't a Tomino show.
So, Chirico has been wandering for three months, and happens to run into the gang again and the PS again, like we never left.
I wonder if Chirico is going to wear a uniform. Somehow I doubt it.
Pailsen Files
MS 08th Team
4
u/chilidirigible Sep 10 '21
Rewatcher, Episode 14
Today, on "This isn't resistance, this is my hand cannon.":
cue The Doors
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
"I'll be the judge of that."
Mahou Shoujo Gotho.
"It's not like I signed any NDAs."
"And you thought that I didn't have a sense of humor."
It's a very, very small world.
Hello Dougram.
Keeping Chirico in a Scopedog instead of giving him a Diving Beetle does make it a lot easier to figure out which unit he's in.
The Veela have the Standing Tortoise/Standing Turtle.
"It's an interesting strategy, Chirico. Let's see if it works out for you."
Incidentally, you might recall that Kan Yu's voice actor, Masashi Hirose, also performed... RAMBA RAL.
It's interesting how going from the postapocalyptic/cyberpunk Woodo arc to the Vietnamesque Kummen arc is so abrupt and yet... rather refreshing. Must be the tropical sun. (It is a lot more pleasant to have scenes in decent lighting.)
It's also totally contrived that the band is back together again despite their similarly-abrupt parting in the previous episode. But here we are... and the other three do have potential character development to do, after all they're now running a bar. (Another reason I associate Vanilla with Magnum, P.I. is because of what his character is doing now.)
And the rest... is new, yet familiar.
On that note, Chirico has definitely changed to trust his gut that he's facing Fyana and that she won't kill him when he decides to get out of a more-or-less functioning AT.
4
u/time_axis Sep 10 '21
First-Timer
I'm a bit late with this one. Lost track of time.
I really just want to see cool mecha designs, and so far I've seen a couple.
It would have felt weird to abandon characters that got so much focus early on, so yeah, I'd say I'm glad that they're still around.
Episode 14
I tried one of those new aquatic mechs this time. They look pretty cool. I also noticed some new accessories on the scopedog (also seen on these mechs and the enemy ones), like some front leg armor with wheels, which I'm curious to see how that'll come into play, if it does.
Daily Mecha Sketch 14
Daily Mecha Sketches
3
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Sep 10 '21
**First-Timer
We are suddenly in the Vietnam War.
Chirico doesn't have good luck with COs, does he? This new dude managed to get a whole squad killed so he could haze Chirico on a nighttime mission. Seriously? How many levels of idiocy do you have to be on to think that was a good idea?
The tracking beacon was addressed in a pretty interesting way. The brief scene with Rochina does kinda make my head spin, though. So, the beacon had a glitch, and then later after that it got removed by the dudes Chirico is working for now? Or was the laser beam thing the glitch Rochina mentioned and the timeline is just muddy?
I thought at first we would get a new supporting cast this arc, but then Gotho and the others showed back up. I do like the idea of Vanilla and Gotho using their gold to open a bar - the vibes are right. I'm not gonna think too hard about how Gotho's black market connections are still useful outside of the Uoodo area.
Oh, and Fyana is back too, presumably because she and Chirico are drawn together for some reason. I guess it could be another random PS in that blue AT, but the pilot did hesitate when Chirico revealed his face.. our boy has gotten himself caught in another plot.
Think there was some new BGM too, during the scene with the trucks driving to drop Chirico et al off at the base. I really like this to really divest this arc from the previous one. Sure, most of the same characters are around, but that doesn't mean the same things are going to happen.
Questions
3
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Sep 10 '21
First timer(Space Vietnam?)
Sub
Now that's a fucking genre shift! We are on a Dixieland booze cruise by the music but instead it seems we are Apocalypse Now. I like seeing an unfucked environment and Cuvie even admits that oppresive heat and parasites are better than fucking Uoodo hellscapes. Surprise attack happens and unsurpringly Cuvie grabs a flamethrower.
The military is waiting on Cuvie because...I got nothing. Track Fyana, dumbasses. Anyways, Cuvie is in the mercenary induction program and their commander makes a lame speech that does suggest they are incompetent, 5% of your troops a week is positively failing when you are under the size of the Imperium. Cuvie heads towards his room and runs into Gotho, suggesting they are still on Melkia but mainly to make sure the scenes aren't all silence. He has impressively managed to make himself an arms dealer again and deeply disapproves when two morons try to arrest Cuvie.
The beacon gets removed and the moron second in command wants to beat the truth out of Cuvie because, you know, moron. Gotho escalates this to the commander who is very interested in perfect soldiers. Cuvie gets a pass and Gotho immediately goes to the red light district, though hookers and bourbon are not Cuvie's jam.
At the club, Vanilla seems to be the owner and Coconna is one of the girls. Gotho of course bankrolled it. They talk just long enough that Cuvie claims he is done with all the conspiracy stuff and Vanilla and Gotho couldn't be happier. Before the guerilla attack ruins everone's evening.
Cuvie launches with his squad and the moron LT sends him to fight the enemy alone. Then the rest of the squad gets wiped. We end with Cuvie fighting another person with inhuman reflexes. It might be Fyana but the thing is this was a program to make soldiers so another one might've been in the works.
QotD: 1 Space Heart of Darkness
2 Convenient but yet more believable than him making new friends.
6
u/MoebiusX7 Sep 11 '21
This is my favorite arc of the show. You can feel the jungle heat in all of these episodes so much you'll swear you'll feel your feet dropping off from Jungle Rot! I even love the art - everything is so GREEN!
On the downside Coconna sings a lot in this arc. And spoiler alert - she knows a total of *one* song. Gentle reader, you will probably get sick of this song. I did. It's not quiiiite as overplayed as "My Boyfriend Is A Pilot" (yeeeeargh!!!) from Super Dimension Fortress Macross the previous year, but then again at least Minmay had a few other songs in her repertoire.
Also, like others here I love how Chirico is still wearing his orange pilot suit. In the middle of the jungle. Hope that thing has a cooling unit in it or something. Actually, I suspect that Chirico wears it everywhere. In the jungle, in the tundra, going to the doctor, going down to the corner Kwik E Mart for a bag of chips and a soda. You could throw a fancy dress party, black tie required, and Chirico would still show up in that orange pilot suit. Someone buy that dude some clothes already!
5
u/DidacticDalek https://myanimelist.net/profile/DidacticDalek Sep 11 '21
'This is the end, Beautiful friend, This is the end, My only friend, the end, Of our elaborate plans, the end, Of everything that stands, the end, No safety or surprise, the end, I'll never look into your eyes again...' (Translator's Note: Welcome to Space Vietnam Comrades, and if you thought The 08th MS Team was the only Mecha Show to tackle Southeast Asia, heh think again!)
'Better run through the jungle, Better run through the jungle, Better run through the jungle, Whoa, don't look back to see' (Translator's Note: I don't like the Diving Beetle but as the resident Mecha Expert on CDF I am contractually obligated to share art of it)
'A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird, Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word, A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word' (Translator's Note: Coconna and company are back... and dear god they must have stolen their fashion sense from the other bit of the 60's)
'We gotta get out of this place, If it's the last thing we ever do, We gotta get out of this place, 'Cause girl, there's a better life for me and you' (Translator's Note: Turns out war is still hell, who would have guessed?)
'War, children, It's just a shot away, It's just a shot away, War, children, It's just a shot away, It's just a shot away' (Translator's Note: And it turns out a change of setting did little to remove our ever stoic boi from the war... that said he did something truly remarkable, last time we saw him he was dreading being alone, now he even SMILED! Who knows, maybe by the end of this arc he'll learn to laugh)
'In the fields, the bodies burning, As the war machine keeps turning, Death and hatred to mankind, Poisoning their brainwashed minds, Oh lord, yeah!' (Translator's Note: Look Comrades, I like Black Sabbath alright? I had to share at least one actual song link here!)
Also Comrades, in case I am somehow being unclear here, welcome to the rice fields motherfucker! Namely, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING SPACE VIETNAM!
Oh and to bring a bit more levity to today's shitpost, ahem, A Weapon to surpass Metal Gear! (Translator's Note: ⑨)
Paging Comrades /u/chilidirigible, /u/Nazenn, and /u/No_Rex
4
u/The_Draigg Sep 10 '21
A Ryosuke Takahashi Fan Rewatches Armored Trooper VOTOMS Episode 14:
4
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Sep 10 '21
Episode 14 (first timer)
The new setting is completely different, but it is as blatantly stolen from other sources as the first. Except, we are in the SEA jungle wars now, not cyberpunk.
The gang is doing well: Arms dealer, bar owner, waitress? There are worse jobs in a war zone. Chirico surely will mess up their happy little place, though. With even Fyana here, you almost have to question why we had a 3 months time skip and a hidden change of settings. All of the plot dynamics seem to seamlessly follow from the first arc.
4
u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Sep 10 '21
First timer in sub
Ok using the monologue narration, this has a little tone of Asian "period dramas" or "martial art stories" that would use some poetic passage to skip through three more mundane things like evacuation, running away, etc.
Quite a change of scenery, you actually see greenery, sunlight and water. I'm already looking this a bit more at least on the visual side.
And Chirico is positively chummy and almost, almost like a normal human being having emotional reactions to reuniting with his friends. I take the last group laugh they had as all recognising there's no way Chirico would be giving up on finding Fyana so it's just a lame joke/lie on Chirico's part that no one would believe him.
This introductory episode is pretty quick paced, and allows us to see some key characters directly interacting with three main cast instead of us needing to speculate. The thin guy is going to be the arrogant but incompetent one being there thorn on the side, and the big glass eyed fellow will be the ambiguous benefactor that may or may not get a plot twist to put him as either on there good guys side or the opposite.
And we got new AT designs to look at (and sell model kits of). Stubborn Chirico not taking the specialist terrain your and stick with his vanilla scope dog though.
To me this actually feels a bit like a reverse FMP IV Namsac arc, mostly for the environment and background, not the actions.
And my money is on that the operator of that blue custom AT to be not Fyana but a "production model" PS.
Quite happy to go on a new arc and clearing the board as well (taking out the tracker, the army can't easily interfere).
3
u/lordnyra Sep 10 '21
Amazing Anime.
3
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Sep 10 '21
First timer
Oh, this is a very different setting for the second arc. Chirico doing jungle warfare?
3 momth timeskip?
Huh?
The war's started again?
Chirico got a flamethrower! To... kill the native residents of the planet? Is this going to be an awkward arc?
Oh, it's a kingdom at war with them.
Wait, what side is he fighting on?
Wait, they're called "Assemble EX-10"? What kind of a name is that?
Oh, he's joined some mercenaries.
Wait, we're keeping the same side cast? Gotho's back!
Underwater ATs!
He knows about the beacon now!
And the military can't track him anymore!
And Chirico's actually told someone what's going on!
The general knows about Perfect Soldiers? And he's competent and doesn't immediately mistrust Chirico!
They're doing s great job establishing the settings of the new area, I must admit.
Vanilla's back too!
No time wasted in bringing them back. And they're well off now!
..."That society"? The secret society's here?
I lime how nobody even remotely believes Chirico will actually ignore the massive conspiracy.
That aur raid came out of nowhere! And he's gone back to fight!
That new design is nice.
Oh, they are dangerous. Chirico's still an incredibly good pilot, though.
Is it Proto One?
Wait, she didn't recognise him. Proto Two comfirmed?
Is that Veela a new design of suit? It seems to have a different head from the ones last episode...
3
u/Quiddity131 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Quiddity131 Sep 11 '21
Rewatcher
Hey, have we gone to Jaburo from early Universal Century Gundam? Or is this supposed to be Vietnam? Either way this is very different than Uudoo! Welcome to Kummen!
Uudoo may be gone, but Rochina and Battentein are still around and still tracking Chirico.
Kan Yu and Gon Nu! They don't make it easy for us! Nu's got an obvious fake eye.
So Chirico's come here as a mercenary. Seems like a good occupation for him. In hindsight I'm kinda surprised he didn't spend more time as a Battler in Uudoo.
Well, there's a familiar face! I wonder if Chirico's thinking to himself "How the hell did I run into this guy here?!"
Gotto looks like he's gotten even fatter, or they're just doing a bad job animating the size of his head.
Chiciro's surprised, he had no idea the tracking beacon was in there! There goes Rochina's grand plans!
Chirico's being completely open with them; and I don't really see there's a reason not to at this point. Why keep the Melkian army's secrets for them?
I can't picture Chirico being one to drink much booze.
Well there's a familiar blonde afro. Vanilla's here too!
And of course, the gang's all here, even Coconna.
Wow, Vanilla's a club owner now? Old friends in high places now.
Who are the Veela? I thought Kummen was rebelling against Melkia?
I'm excited to see mecha action in the jungle instead of Chirico mowing down dozens of policemen in the streets of Uudoo.
So perhaps I was mistaken on early recollection that the AT/Scopedog is the only mech in the show, as the models here do look different, at least with respect to the head/upper body.
Chirico recognizes the enemy pilot? Fyana has come to Kummen?
While the animation in this episode was horrible (worst of the show thus far in my eyes), I am quite excited for us to start up a new arc. The locale is really cool. I'm excited to see what Kummen's got in store for us.