Armored Trooper Votoms 3: Deadworld Sunsa
Man, this really does feel like a novel that has been converted into anime! 52 episodes written together, rather than a patchwork of sequels. I doubt if a any single episode could be described as pure "filler". Each one has something to do with the overall plot, though I did read one critic who suggested the story would have gone better had it been limited to half it's actual length. He may have been right--I've noticed that in this stage and the previous one, a lot of time seems to go to waste on trivial matters before some really startling revelations take place near the end. Well, maybe "startling" isn't the right word--more a case of suspicions you've developed being confirmed. However, I was surprised to see a certain charachter apparently switch sides--this was the last person you would have expected to do that!
For some reason this third stage of Votoms began with a refresher episode dealing with the first stage. There was plenty of combat, but no mention at all of the three friends Chirico had made back in Uoodo City--were they going to be discarded? No need to worry--they are back after a few episodes out of sight. In fact, Gotho and Vanilla wind up fighting alongside Chirico--a sort of fighting which I found amusing, compared to the grim, realistic combat portrayed earlier. Yes, the AT fighting goes on... and on. Personally, I think the action could have been choreographed better to emphasise the difference between ordinary AT pilots and "Perfect Soldiers"--something more than "I-always-hit-you-always-miss" stuff. Show the way they can virtually read their opponent's minds! You'd have to be pretty addicted to Mecha anime to have watched this far just to see more ATs blow up. I would have given up long ago if it were not for the various mysteries within the plot, whose solutions I must know! How is Chirico able to hold his own against Ypsilon, a PS? Is Fyana doomed to be a soldier forever? How far does this "Secret Society" extend? With the end of Deadworld Sunsa, the story is three-fourths complete, yet it seems that the surface has barely been scratched of this conspiracy which Chirico stumbled upon long ago. Can anyone be trusted? Can anything we take for granted be relied upon to be true?
My favorite line: "You're acting even weirder than you used to! Like an animal! No, like a machine, a war machine! A murder machine that was only born to fight!" --Gotho
Last updated Monday, February 04 2008. Created Saturday, March 20 2004.
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