Armored Trooper Votoms

Armored Trooper VOTOMS is a classic science fiction robot anime made by Sunrise. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 1983 to March 1984, for 52 episodes. The director was Ryosuke Takahashi, and the robot designs were by Kunio Okawara. Many people see it as one of the great "real robot" shows. In these shows, giant robots are not magic heroes. They are plain machines of war, built in factories and thrown away when broken.

The story is set in the Astragius Galaxy. Two large powers, Gilgamesh and Balarant, have been at war for about one hundred years. Hundreds of planets have been hurt by the fighting. When the show begins, the war is finally coming to an end, but peace feels weak and nobody trusts it.

The main weapon of this war is the Armored Trooper, or AT. It is a small walking robot for a single pilot, only a few meters tall. ATs are cheap and easy to make, but their armor is thin and their fuel catches fire easily. Many pilots die inside them. Soldiers call the pilots "Votoms", a name that sounds like "bottoms", because they are seen as the lowest of the low.

The hero is Chirico Cuvie, a quiet and very skilled AT pilot. He was once part of an elite unit known as the Red Shoulders. Near the end of the war, he is sent on a strange mission. He soon learns that his own side is stealing secrets from its own army. During the raid he sees a mysterious woman, Fyana. Then the men he was working with betray him and leave him for dead. Chirico lives through it, but now he is treated as a traitor. The army and a group of criminals both want him caught.

Chirico is not a cheerful hero. He speaks little, trusts almost no one, and keeps going mostly on stubborn will. His one clue to the plot against him is Fyana, and his search for her pulls him from city to city and into new dangers. Over time, small bits of the truth about himself and the people hunting him come out. The show mixes war story, spy thriller, and a slow, quiet love story.

The mood is dark and serious. The cities feel dirty and broken, the people are often cruel, and war leaves its mark on everyone. Fans praise the show for its believable machines, its gritty world, and its lonely hero.

VOTOMS became a large series. It led to many OVAs, a spin-off show called Armor Hunter Mellowlink, video games, and a tabletop role-playing game. A new film, Die Graue Hexe, directed by Mamoru Oshii, is planned for November 20, 2026.