Armored Trooper Votoms, Stage 1: Uoodo City
Although it was the first anime series to be released as a download for the video iPod,Armored Trooper Votoms(1983) dates back to the early days of sci-fi anime, the era that producedSuper Dimension Fortress: Macrossand the other component series ofRobotech. The Xerox lines, the drawn and airbrushed rendering of the explosions, and the designs of the characters and settings will look familiar toRobotechfans. The Votomsmecha, with their revolving three-lens eye turret, were clearly influenced by the earlyGundamseries. Chirico Cuvie, the alienated hero of the sprawling, repetitive plot, is betrayed by his superiors and fellow troopers when they raid an allied base in the closing days of the Hundred Years' War between the star systems of Gilgamesh and Balaran. During that raid, he sees a mysterious woman in a coffin-like container who resembles Persis Khambatta inStar Trek: The Motion Picture. Their eyes meet, and their destinies are irrevocably linked. Chirico has inadvertently stumbled onto a top-secret research project. Everyone tries to capture him--the military; the police in the corrupt city of Uoodo on his ruined home world; Borough, a corrupt political leader who dresses like a bishop. Escaping from inescapable prisons becomes a habit for Chirico, especially after he falls in with petty crooks Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna. Fortunately, none of the bad guys can hit the broadside of a spaceship and Chirico is both a crack shot and an acemechapilot. The series is being released in America with only Japanese dialogue and English subtitles. (Rated 13 and older: violence, including torture, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use)--Charles Solomon