Anime / Voltes V

Voltes V (formally, 超電磁マシーン ボルテスV or Choudenji (Super Electromagnetic) Machine Voltes Five) is the second of Tadao Nagahama's Robot Romance Trilogy of Super Robot series, premiering in 1977. It was preceded by Combattler V and followed by Daimos. As with its predecessor Combattler V, the "V" is for the Combining Mecha's five constituents, their five pilots, and the traditional V for Victory.

Considerably Darker and Edgier than Combattler V, Voltes V chronicles the Voltes Team and Camp Big Falcon's defense of Earth from the invading Boazanian Empire, Beast Fighter by Beast Fighter, as well as a simmering civil war within planet Boazan itself, long under the brutal caste-system rule of Emperor Zu Zambajil, between the horned elite and the hornless commoners.

It may come as a surprise (or not) that this anime is a classic in the Philippines (as a national symbol of resistance against the isolationist Marcos regime, considering how it was Banned ), and Yoshiyuki Tomino was involved in its creation.

Has a character sheet that needs to be completed.

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Voltes V provides examples of:

• Acrofatic: General Oka. Justified, he's from a clan of ninjas after all.
• Affirmative Action Girl: Megumi
• Airborne Aircraft Carrier: Boazanian Flagships, Zeltan and Sugoshin Godor, all of them equiped with formidable weapons and even Deflector Shields.
• Anyone Can Die: Kill 'em All Tomino was involved, what do you expect?
• Arm Cannon: Voltes Bazooka, which flips a hand down to protrude a scaled-up revolver from the forearm.
• Attack of the Killer Whatever: The Beast Fighters are really earth animals that the Boazanians turned into giant robots.
• Award Bait Song: The end theme "Looking For Father". And we wonder who is the "father" they are searching for.
• Barehanded Blade Block: An entire episode was devoted to Kenichi learning this technique -called The Butterfly Returns- when the eponymous Super Robot was fighting against an enlarged swordsman. He doesn't take very well to the training for the technique, so he decides to modify the process by doing a bullet catch using a pair of rocks.
• Battle Tops: The Ultraelectromagnetic Top attack.
• BFG/Arm Cannon: Voltes Bazooka
• BFS: TEN KUU KEN! Plus points goes to this BFS for being able to hide its blade into Hammerspace. Its hilt, however, is collapsible.
• Bittersweet Ending: Earth is spared, Boazan is finally freed from Zambajil's iron grip, and the Gou brothers are finally reunited with their father LaGour/Kentaro, but their older half-brother Heinel is dead, and LaGour chose to stay behind in Boazan, instead of going to Earth with his sons, to help rebuild it from scratch.
• Calling Your Attacks: Half of Voltes's weaponry works like this.
• Catch Phrase: "LETS... VOLT... IN!!!"
• Character Development: The characters are somewhat more fleshed-out than in the standard Super Robot show.
• Chest Blaster: Voltes Laser and Choudenji Wave. Further down is the Grand Fire. (No, not THAT further down.)
• Color-Coded Characters: Kenichi wears red, Ippei wears blue, and Megumi wears yellow with pink accents. The other two members of the Voltes Team wear green.
• Combining Mecha
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Choudenji Ball would drain all of Voltes V's energy, making it unable to move after the attack. Later it receives an upgrade to avert this.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to Combattler V, but not to extremes otherwise prevalent during the Super Robot Boom of the 70s. Interestingly enough, Tomino himself was involved in making this anime. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
• Dirty Coward: Emperor Zambajil kicked his older brother and legitimate heir, LaGour, out of the throne for simply being a hornless nobleman, held Boazan in an iron grip with a Fantastic Caste System, and manipulated LaGour's first son Heinel into becoming his pawn, yet he's quick to bail out once the Voltes Team finally reach Boazan, the hornless Boazanians are turning the tide of the civil war in their favor, and Heinel discovers his true heritage. It's worth noting that the Big Bads of the other Romantics, for all their vileness, have at least some dignity.
• Disappeared Dad: Kentaro Gou left his sons when they were young in order to save the slaves in planet Boazan.
• Energy Ball: Choudenji Ball
• Everything's Better with Spinning: The "spin-fly" technique.
• Expository Theme Tune: Its song names several of the weapons it has while showing them on screen. And the closing theme tune talks about how the Go brothers are searching for their missing father.
• Fantastic Caste System: Born on Boazan and got horns sticking out? No? Then prepare for a life of pariah-esque slavery supporting the planet's thriving galactic tourism industry. Or exile beyond the ruling class's clutches, as in LaGour/Kentarou Gou's case.)
• Fantastic Racism: One of the few Super Robot shows of the 70s that deal with this.
• Finger Firearms: Voltes V's Finger Missiles
• Finishing Move: Regular and Choudenji Ball flavors of the V-no-Jigiri.
• Five-Man Band: The pilots, in order by Volt Machine altitude on combination. Two of them are Smart Guys.^note Genius Bruiser Daijiro and Child Prodigy Hiyoshi
  • Kenichi Gou : The Hero, marksman and Motocross champion.
  • Ippei Mine : The Lancer, orphaned rodeo champion.
  • Daijiro Gou : The Big Guy, defense tactician and hand-to-hand combat ace.
  • Hiyoshi Gou : Kid-Appeal Character, roboticist and swimming and diving ace.
  • Megumi Oka : The Chick, 18th-generation Ninja and expert diplomat.
• Five-Bad Band
  • Zambajil: The Big Bad
  • Heinel: The Dragon
  • Katherine: The Dark Chick
  • Jangal: The Brute
  • Zuhl: The Evil Genius
  • Bergan: The Sixth Ranger (after Zuhl was killed)/ The Starscream
• Flying Brick: Apparently trying to outdo Combattler: "You'll never beat this 600-ton Voltes!"
• Half-Human Hybrid: The Gou brothers. Their father is a Boazanian noble who defected.
• Hammerspace: Finger Missiles, Voltes Bazooka and Chain Knuckles are too big to have all been stored in Voltes V's arms.
• Home Base: Camp Big Falcon, which is basically Mission Control set up on a bird-shaped island. It turns out that the whole island is actually a gigantic, bird-shaped Cool Starship in disguise, capable of traveling space warps in order to bring the fight onto Boazan's doorsteps.
• Honor Before Reason: Heinel continues to fight the Voltes team in the last episode, even though it is obvious his side is about to lose. The only reason for doing so is that he is a noble.
• Horned Humanoid: The Boazan nobles.
• Human Aliens: The only real difference is that the privileged of the Boazanians have horns.
• Humiliation Conga: Let's see... Heinel was betrayed by the emperor he loyally served, his subordinates are killed, finds out he was pitted against his father and brothers, and finally dies. Yeah, serves him right.
• If It Swims, It Flies: Volt Frigate, the machine forms the legs of Voltes V, also is able to fly and swim.
• Improbable Weapon User: Only because the Choudenji Tops and the Choudenji Strings that launch them don't quite fit under Killer Yoyo.
• Karmic Death: Zambajil had been manipulating his nephew Heinel into committing atrocities on Earth. Guess who kills him in the end?
• Kill It with Fire: Grand Fire.
• Latex Space Suit: The pilot suits.
• Leader Forms the Head
• Lightning Can Do Anything: It charges up the Finishing Move, for one.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: LaGour/Kentarou is Prince Heinel's father from his deceased first (horned Boazanian) wife.
  • Which also makes Heinel the Cain to Kenichi's (also, to a lesser extent, Daijiro and Hiyoshi) Abel. Unlike most cases of said trope, they have much in common, personality-wise.
• Missing Mom: Mitsuyo died during a Boazanian strike at the beginning of the war.
• Monster of the Week: Duh.
• Mysterious Protector: They were being helped by someone flying in a jet shaped like a hawk in later episodes. It's a friend of Prof. Gou.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Emperor Zambajil just let his minions do all the fighting for him.
• Once per Episode: Every episode the team yelled "Let's Volt In!" to combine in Voltes-V. And every episode they killed the Monster of the Week with the V-Slash.
• Redshirt Army: Camp Big Falcon personnel.
• Retirony: General Oka dies in the same episode when he decides to retire.
• Robeast: The Beast Fighters.
• Robot Buddy: Hiyoshi's "Tako-Chan."
• Robot Romance Trilogy: It's the second series in the franchise.
• Schizo Tech: The Boazanians managed to develop sub-lightspeed spaceship drives but were unable to apply the technology elsewhere, hence the use of Battle Beasts and atomic/nuclear conventional weaponry. They also retain their medieval culture, pimped-out dresses, and a Fantastic Caste System that'd make slavery look humane.
• Simple Staff: Daijiro's weapon of choice is a bo.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Is the Emperor Zu's last name supposed to be Zambajil, Zambojil or Zambujil?
• The Starscream: Zuhl. He fails, though, and gets executed for it.
• Super Robot
• Takarazuka: Heinel's overall look is inspired by this.
• Telescoping Robot: Its belt was in reality two whips, its midsection stored a spinning top, the ornament on its chest hid its sword's blade...
• Training from Hell: The Spin Fly Formation.
• Transformation Name Announcement: VOOLTEEEESSSS FIIIVEEE!!!!!. Followed by extending arms to form a "V" and an Ass Kicking Pose.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Justified as one Monster of the Week was designed to neutralize Voltes V's super-electro-magnetic shielding during its transformation.
• Villainous B.S.O.D./Despair Event Horizon: Heinel went through these when he found out LaGour/Kentarou Gou was his real father, the Gou brothers were his younger half-brothers, Zambajil is just an usurping bastard, and one could only guess what happened next.
• We Have Reserves: Emperor Zambajil does not care if his own troops get within range of his Doomsday Device, as long as Voltes V is defeated.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: In one episode the Boazanians are gobsmacked to find out Earth people have the capacity to love; which was part of their Fantastic Racism.
• Whip It Good: Ippei, being an ex-cowboy, has a whip. Choudenji Strings are sometimes used to punish an enemy that manages to destroy the Choudenji Goma.
• Worthy Opponent: Prince Heinel; played for all its tragic worth. To a lesser extent, the Boazanian giant Gilligan.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Megumi has greenish-blue hair.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle: This happens a lot to Prof. Gou. It's one of the devices that keep the story running.
• Zettai Ryouiki: When suited-up, Megumi uses the miniskirt + boots version.

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