From: James Boren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: (spoiler) VOTOMS Re: [gundam] (OT) Letters from Iwo Jima
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 04:17:43 -0700
From: James Boren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: (spoiler) VOTOMS Re: [gundam] (OT) Letters from Iwo Jima
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 15:14:19 -0700
Here's a character I'd like to see evaluated by the list, at least as
far as talent goes: Chirico Cuvie from VOTOMS. Seems like VOTOMS
sticks very closely to real-world talent levels (or at least as close
as you get in anime), and even at the end of the series with Chirico
at the height of his Perfect Soldier talent, plenty of Chirico's foes
manage to score hits on him. Same goes for shows like Gasaraki and
Blue Gender.
Haven't seen VOTOMS, but I thought Blue Gender handled this pretty
well. Same with Macross, like I said; even Max wasn't superhuman by any
stretch of the imagination.
Ah VOTOMS...It's not made that clear in the anime but there is one super
big spoiler that changes your view of Chirico. Takahashi seems to be
fond of these last minute revelations as he did the same thing in
Gasaraki. And ruined both series in my opinion.
-James
Anyway, ready for the supreme Votoms spoiler?
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grrr...it cut off my spoiler. I guess I gave it too much space. Here it
is again.
Chirico is an Overman, the only one of his kind and a being far beyond a
mere perfect soldier, far beyond a newtype, coordinator or whatever those
W gundam pretty boys were. You see, millions of years ago a super
computer called Wiseman was made. Over time it became so powerful that it
could manipulate the universe itself. Chirico is its sole heir. Wiseman
watches over Chirico and will not let him die. Oh it'll let him be
severely injured, but never die. Wiseman will change reality to protect
Chirico. If you put a gun to Chirico's temple and pulled the trigger, it
would jam, or some other incredibly rare event would happen that would
let Chirico live. He can not die. Of course finding out about this at the
end kind of kills the realistic mecha show you had been watching
previously. At least it did for me.
I was aware of Chirico being an Overman (finished the subtitled VOTOMS a
few months ago), but that particular bit about Chirico being truly
unkillable only seemed to come out in the Supreme Survivor graphic novel
that came along in PDF format on Central Park Media's mail-away extras
disc. Is that truly canon? And is it a direct result of Wiseman's
intervention, or is it more like Kyouske's supposedly outrageous luck in
Super Robot Wars: Original Generation?
Likewise, even an Overman isn't entirely invincible -- those who built
Wiseman were Overmen, who had returned to Quent after being defeated and
exiled across the Galaxy.
From the series itself, I was under the impression that Wiseman's ability
to
manipulate the universe was more a matter of political and social control
through the Secret Society rather than direct, God-like ability to affect
such minute events. Without his Secret Society flunkies and whatever
instrumentality on Quent and Wiseman Station he controls directly, Wiseman
struck me as otherwise just a big electronic blowhard. Some "God" who
can't even figure out his chosen heir is royally pissed off at being
manipulated.
Ironically, I wonder if Chirico would have had a better shot of getting to
live out his life after the series in peace if he'd actually taken Wiseman
up on his offer, albeit on his own terms, and then used that position to
dismantle the Society and remove the artificial agitant for the Galaxy's
wars...
FWIW, most English translations seem to put Wiseman as around 1,000 years
old, with the revolt of the Overmen and the abandonment of advanced
technology on Quent happening 3,000 years prior to VOTOMS. Is this
accurate?
(James runs to check his sources)
Dear lord! I really got that screwed up. Sorry, it's been at least 10 years
since I'd seen VOTOMS and I inflated the years a little bit. 1 million? 1
thousand? Okay, a lot. Actually you are the first person I've met that has
actually seen VOTOMS. Oh every mecha fan knows about VOTOMS, apparently few
bother to see it. Mark Simmons hasn't even seen it, for god's sake! So I've
never been able to discuss Votoms with anyone else. Anyway regarding
Chirico's indestructibility, I read the graphic novel right before watching
the series so it likely colored my interpretation of the series. I mean
that's a pretty brazen thing to stick in the G novel if it wasn't true. And
if Chirico wasn't immortal, then why seal himself up in the capsule at the
end?
The capsule, IIRC, was supposed to be a cryogenic sleep capsule; I think
Chirico and Fyana hoped they'd either drift and land somewhere where there
was no war, or at least sit out the current one without both sides trying to
find and exploit them (or kill them for their association with Wiseman).
IIRC there's at least one VOTOMS manga or such that deals with Chirico after
the series. I suppose the deciding factor of whether his knack for survival
is inherent to himself or just a product of Wiseman watching over him is how
he fares now that Wiseman's dead. My understanding was that Chirico's
"gift" was an evolutionary result stemming from 3,000 years of non-stop war
in the Galaxy, but I could be wrong.
Given how much Votoms is referenced, I figured I'd pick up this latest
release of it -- one two-disc set for each 13-episode stage for $30-40.
Also got in on the mailaway "ammo can" series box with the guidebook and
extras DVD if you send in the proof of purchase cards from the four releases
in the series. I think now you can purchase the whole series, with the case
and extras, in some video stores for around $100-$150.
On another note, doing some searching, and found news on a possible new
VOTOMS series in 2007:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2006-08-19/new-votoms-series
Found this especially relevant given our recent discussion of sequels.
Given how big the VOTOMS universe is, and how even Chirico and Fyana strike
me as a small part of it despite their central role in the first series, do
you all think VOTOMS will run into the same problems First Gundam has
regarding too many sequels and side stories cluttering things up?
On another note, which revelation ruined Gasaraki for you?
The alien or aliens. I forget which. Didn't that just happen out of the
blue in the last episode? I guess my complaint from both VOTOMS and
Gasaraki is that they are perhaps the most realistic portrayal of mecha in
anime, only to have some last minute revelation overthrough that sense of
realism. I guess a similar feeling would be in Star Wars where the Force is
considered mystical, then Lucas throws the Midiclorians in and all of a
sudden your sense of how that universe works is undermined.
***GASARAKI SPOILERS***
Well, we knew (or at least very strongly suspected) in Gasaraki from the
beginning that the artificial muscle tissue in Tactical Armors was derived
from something that could be "summoned" with Yushiro's Noh dance if
performed in the right location, which puts something of a paranormal spin
on the series from the start. I guess finding out that "the Gasaraki," the
entity sending the Kugai to Earth (and the real object of both Gowa and
Symbol's manipulations), was of alien origin rather than supernatural/divine
origin didn't really have that much more effect on me.
Actually, come to think of it, another parallel with the ending of VOTOMS is
that both Chirico and Yushiro end up telling the intelligence that's been
manipulating them to take its offer of great power and shove it, and that
they'd rather live their own life in their own way than be someone else's
all-powerful puppet...
-James
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