Votoms Finder

It's a fun little Armored Trooper VOTOMS spin-off of a guy named Aki. He lives in a giant gap called Bottom, in a small village where he navigates through tunnels with his AT to find broken ATs from the Hundred Year War and junk them for a living. Sometimes he encounters creatures that burrow through these tunnels and tries to kill them. Normally he sits around and daydreams about going to the city above called Top. This OVA is just a fun little thing the creators decided to do and pretty much nothing more. If you watch this hoping that characters from the original series show up, best not watch this with those hopes. This OVA has no relation with the original series and from what I read, it takes place centuries after Phantom Arc. If you are a VOTOMS fan and feel like watching this for fun, then go ahead. Knock yourself out. You'll enjoy Aki's antics and his small adventure to save a kidnapped girl.

(Check out my profile for a link to my site containing more up-to-date reviews and bonus media!) Votoms Finder is an alternate universe one-off in the Votoms franchise that stars the titular mechs and a new cast of characters. Aki Renso is a Bottomer, a mercenary and parts scavenger who survives in the slums contrasting the Toppers, who live in a luxurious modern city. Aki is bored of his environment and dreams of some day climbing the wall that separates him from the Toppers and achieving greatness. When Toppers hire Aki to rescue their chairman's daughter, he likens himself to a prince rescuing a princess and lives out his fantasy. Not exactly breaking new ground here. Hell, everything's cliche, but the original Votoms series wasn't very clever to begin with, so that's not why we're here. So we must be here for the defining super-realistic technology, right? That's where Votoms Finder will particularly disappoint. Though mostly reasonable, the OVA takes liberties when it comes to the laws of physics, specifically when these heavy machines do all sorts of acrobatics. Other than that though, there are no special powers, and weapons are still physical or ammo based. Votoms Finder makes up for its flaws by having the greatest production values yet. The animation is fantastic. The mechs are CG, but unlike the usual they don't at all clash with the 2-D animation. The focus of this OVA is on the stunning fight sequences which trump anything before in Votoms tenfold. And Votoms has always been primarily an action franchise, so this means a lot. Though simple, the OVA is short enough that the story doesn't overstay its welcome and combined with its action scenes it thoroughly entertains for a good 40 minutes, and there were many parts in the original Votoms series where I couldn't say the same. Just a good spectacle, and it could've made a series that surpassed the original.

This just isn't very good. Firstly, this has the VOTOMs name slapped on it, but its got nothing to do with VOTOMs. Its in a totally different continuity from VOTOMs; unlike Gundam AUs, theres not really any thematic or design heritage either. The problem this show faces is introducing an entire world, setting, quite a large cast of characters and then telling the story around them in an incredibly short amount of time. They don't execute on this too badly given the constraints, but the end result is its underdeveloped on every level; the world is flat and thin, the characters are uninteresting, and the plot is thrown together. Can the action save it? No. The design and concepts is clearly going for something different from VOTOMs, and while its not all awful I don't think the visual styles of mechs and monsters is very attractive while the action is merely passable. Its not awful, but its not really worth watching either.

A short and fun spin-off of the VOTOMS brand. VOTOMS Finder is a rarity in the franchise because it not only doesn’t focus on the exploits of Chirico Cuvie, but it’s not even set in the same universe (maybe). Finder is a completely unique story with zero ties to everything before or after. Aki Tesuno (Akira Ishida) is a Bottomer, a junk dealer who lives at the foot of a colossal gorge with his friend A.B. Moss (Ryou Hirohashi). Bottomers make their living by digging up and selling old scrap mecha known as Artros - Armored Trooperoids, as well as fighting the occasional giant mutant bug that wanders into their territory. At the summit of the cliff walls that surround the Bottom is an expansive and technically advanced society known as the Top. Despite the huge difference in class, tech and way of life, Aki dreams to one day meet a Topper and establish a connection with them. His dream comes true when he is hired by Joze Lessing (Hideyuki Tanaka), a Topper who is looking to rescue one Cendrillon Sweeney (Fumiko Orikasa), the kidnapped daughter of the Top’s Chairman. More than happy to help, Aki and A.B. advance into the maze like ruins of the Bottom, unaware that their mission isn’t as black and white as it may seem. And that’s it. VOTOMS Finder is pretty basic in both setting, story and character. The plot doesn’t aim too high at all, the world building is kept to a minimum, characters are simple and there’s very little in the way of politics or grand concepts. These are all things the VOTOMS franchise is known for, which makes Finder stick out even more than it already does for bucking this trend. But, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and Finder does what it sets out to do admirably - tell a simple and fun story. Aki is your basic shonen protag, dreaming big but stuck at the (literal and metaphorical) bottom, with a strong sense of justice and a heaping of energy keeping him going. A.B. plays the straight (wo)man role, even if she is responsible for most of the comedy in the OVA. Secondary character Diehardt Grunlich (Toshiyuki Morikawa), the “kidnapper”, is moody and pompous but gradually warms up to Aki despite their differences. These are stock archetypes, you know what you’re getting here, but the spirited voice performances by the cast and charming nature of the characters themselves make them endearing despite their simple nature. The plot also gets the job done well enough, emphasizing frantic action set-pieces over a bigger story. And what action it is. Despite being quite firmly stuck in the early 2010s era of CGI robot anime, Finder has some excellent direction and fight choreography. It’s a total far cry from the stiff combat of the other VOTOMS entries. While the ATs of the TV anime and its OVA sequels could dash around with their built in rollers, they were still limited by the clunky designs of their machines and the utilitarian tech of the world. In Finder, the Artros are more like mechanical gymnasts, jumping around, flipping over obstacles and moving at incredibly high speeds like it’s nothing. For some this probably takes away a lot of the charm of VOTOMS’ mechanics and action scenes. People love how gritty and basic the Scopedog is. It’s a hunk of shit that in-universe is notorious for being a veritable iron coffin. Finders’ Mation and Birrak suits couldn’t be further from them. While they share the same stubby and simple design language, they’re also colorful and even a little cute, especially the base Mation design. VOTOMS Finders’ simplicity is both its biggest strength but it does also serve as its main flaw. While the main plot works well, it also feels like a missed opportunity in some ways given some of the concepts that are teased, but never given much depth or exploration. Part of this is because they’re not important to the story being told but that story is so basic and simple anyway. It’s not like adding a little more flavor would’ve been a bad thing in the end. At a quick 40 minutes, Finder ends satisfyingly but left me wanting more. Half of that was because it’s fun but the other half was because it felt like they could’ve done a lot more with what they had. By my estimate, Finder succeeds in its core goal of being a prototype VOTOMS AU, though judging by the lack of any further attempts at something like this (not counting the upcoming Die Graue Hexe, which as of this writing is unknown where it will sit with the rest of the franchise), other fans probably disagreed. Shame. This is well worth a look regardless of its quirks. VOTOMS Finder is owned by Sunrise. It is licensed to Maiden Japan but is currently out of print.

I can tell you right now that this thing is in the critical gutter (by MAL standards) for two big reasons: no Chirico and no scopedogs. Is it fair? Maybe not, but it's understandable. What's here is adequate, serviceable, and watchable. It's a very modest standalone OVA with almost no ties to the series it's named after. The plot concerns scavengers and greedy politicians, elements that aren't out of place from the show, but the whole affair isn't suspenseful or thrilling either. The hero Aki Tesuno is the brash, starry-eyed youth one can expect from shōnen anime, and most of the characters follow archetypes that don't step outside their typical boundaries. The primary saving grace of Votoms Finder is the visuals, which amaze with fluidity and stylish grace. The Altros are a fine design, and the CG meshes well with the 2D animation. It certainly doesn't look like something that was released 14 years ago, and kept me engaged through most of it. So that's Votoms Finder. A 39 minute OVA with top shelf visuals and no staying power. Is that such a terrible thing? I'd argue not, but it'll be different for everybody.