Using a Real Camera to Express the Robot's "Eyes"--The Power of Strong Will Hidden in the First Episode of "Armored Trooper Votoms" (Nostalgic Anime Memoirs Vol. 79)

Director Ryosuke Takahashi's "Fang of the Sun Dougram" is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and a new project seems to be in the works. Since I have previously discussed the final episode of "Dougram" in this section, I would like to write about the first episode "The End of the War" of the follow-up program "Armored Trooper Votoms" (1983).
The main character, Chirico Cubby, is forced to participate in a mysterious mission at the end of the space war, without knowing the purpose of the mission. He witnesses a mysterious naked woman in an asteroid base, which leads him to be chased by the military and secret societies. Chirico witnesses the "body" - this "seeing" is thoroughly shown in the first episode, "The End of the War". Let's take a look at the specifics.

Conversation plays out using only the robot's face camera.

An enemy attack makes a hole in the wall of the asteroid base that Chirico's unit has infiltrated. The robot "Scopedog" on which Chirico rides goes through the hole and comes face to face with the capsule that contains his body.

Chiriko looking at the capsule in the cockpit of Scopedog (her eyes are hidden by the goggles on her helmet).
Subjective shot of Chirico. Gauges and other objects projected into the goggles are superimposed around the capsule.
The camera part of the scope dog on which Chirico rides. The turret rotates and the lens zooms in and out.
Chirico in the cockpit, looking left and right.

As shown in this series of shots, Chirico's view in front of the body is through the goggles on his helmet and the ScopeDog's camera. Chirico lands the Scope Dog and walks to the front of the capsule. At this point, he flips the goggles up and for the first time we see Chirico's eyes - he is the main character, but we have been unable to see his face for ten whole minutes.
Chirico inadvertently opens the capsule's cover, and is startled by the sight of his naked "body" and leaves the capsule. She then pulls out her gun and returns to the capsule.

A close-up of Chirico looking at the capsule. First, she runs her eyes to the right side of the screen.
Only the legs of the body are visible.
Chirico moves his gaze from the right side of the screen to the left.
The body lying in the capsule is captured by the PAN from left to right.

In the scene where we see the body up close, Chirico's astonished eyes are carefully drawn. In other words, the performance of "seeing with the naked eye" is emphasized. Conversely, the performance by the naked eye was scarce until then, and the "seeing" performance was repeated in every scene using the Scopedog's camera.

A "real camera lens" gazing into the cell-animated world from outside the story

This is the scene before Chirico witnesses the prime body. Chirico's unit infiltrates the asteroid base and repels the enemy. Chirico's Scopedog joins several Scopedogs in a circle.

The captain calls out, "Chirico, you did well. However, it is not the captain's face on the camera, but the Scopedog's face camera.
Chirico says, "Sir, please tell me the purpose of the mission," but the camera shows only Scopedog's entire body, not Chirico's.
The captain's Scopedog turns to him. The captain's Scopedog turns to him and says, "I'll tell you later.
Chirico's Scopedog's face. Why are you attacking your own teammates?
The captain's plane and several other scope dogs look at Chirico's plane at once without saying a word.
A close-up of Chirico's face, hidden by goggles, as he approaches the captain's scope dogs.
Close-up of the captain's scope dog, camera rolling. The camera rotates. "You don't understand what I'm saying, do you?
Again, a close-up of Chirico. Chirico says, "But, but, but! Chirico says.
Stay where you are, that's an order," says the captain. Scopedog's camera is on the screen.

The conversation is almost exclusively on the face of the Scopedog. Moreover, the last cut seems to be a composite of the actual lens zooming in and out and the cell.
This actual camera also appears at the end of the first episode, "The End of the War. Shortly after Chirico is captured by the military and escapes by plane, Captain Rochina, who is following him, orders, "Activate the surveillance station and satellite monitoring system for the whole of Mercia. Then, a surveillance satellite in orbit moves, and the camera part of the satellite's camera is brought into close-up. The camera of the satellite searching for Chirico is a composite of the lens of a live-action camera.

A real camera intrudes on cell animation. Since TV animation at that time was shot with a 16mm camera, the real camera can be said to be "a gaze from outside the story.
Armored Trooper Votoms" is a story in which Chirico is thoroughly monitored and relentlessly pursued. The "real camera" in the first episode, which stares coldly at Chirico, can be said to be looking over the entire story.


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)