#Gō Hiyoshi

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VOLT FRIGATE-4 (ボルトフリゲート)

Category: Attack Fighter Submersible Primary: Atmos/Nautical

[nomadicism]

Hello! If I may, what is Voltes V? I'd thought it was a part of the Voltron franchise, but apparently it isn't?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

Voltes V is one of my favorite combining mecha anime series! I’ve posted about it a little bit before, and if you check my tags, you’ll find some posts that compare a bit with Voltron. I hope to be posting more about it as watch through the recent blu-ray release. I’ve never been able to watch it all the way through from the same source!

About Chōdenji Machine Voltes V

Voltes V (the ‘V’ is pronounced as ‘five’) is not part of the Voltron franchise. The series pre-dates Golion (and thus Voltron) by about a decade. It is a combining mecha series in the super sentai style and was the second part of Tadao Nagahama’s “Robot Romance” trilogy (technically not a trilogy, but that’s how fans refer to them collectively). Voltes V is the better known of the three. Voltes V was also very popular in the Philippines and Italy. The first series in the trilogy was Chōdenji Robo Com-battler V (‘V’ as in Victory), and the third was Tōshō Daimos.

Voltes V follows a team of five pilots, specially-trained and tasked with defending what remains of Earth after aliens lay waste to it. By today’s standards the story might not come across as deep, but for the time, it was a big deal. It has a lot of my favorite tropes, and I love the team and family dynamics, as well as the tragic rivalry between Ken’ichi Gō and Prince Heinel (top shelf angst right there).

Above: My scan from a Voltes V artbook. From left-to-right are Ippei Mine, Megumi Ota, Ken’ichi Gō, Daijirō Gō (in the background), and Hiyoshi Gō (in the foreground). Guess their archetypes based on uniform color and body shape!

Voltes V shows up frequently in the Super Robot Wars video game series and manga. I wish it could get a high quality remake like Space Battleship Yamato 2199/2202.

Above: screencap of game play video of Ken’ichi from Super Robot Wars.

Why Voltes V and Voltron Look Similar

A more thorough answer that explains why Voltes V looks like it would be part of the Voltron franchise would take more time than I have at the moment to get into. I touch on it a little bit in some of my other Golion and Voltes V posts.

Quick summary:

Nearly all of the combining mecha anime series from mid-70s until late 80s were mostly made by Toei, or by Toei in collaboration with other studios (the line between animation studio and production studio is fuzzy for me), which means that there is a very strong “look-and-feel” to all of these shows especially the ones that closely follow the super sentai formula.

Golion picks up some of Nagahama’s narrative tone/big ideas, and character archetypes, and tropes. His take on the combining mecha genre had a lot of impact, and Golion is just one of many series influenced by his Robot Romance trilogy. Some of the same people (not Nagahama) that worked for Toei during his time later worked on Golion. That’s why there is such a strong ‘family’ resemblance. Especially when you compare Nagahama villains like Prince Sharkin (from Brave Raideen, whom Yoshiyuki Tomino can also lay claim to) and General Garuda (from Combattler V) to Sincline/Lotor. Prince Heinel from Voltes V isn’t blue, but he’s also a tragic alien villain.

Above: Some tragic blue aliens. From left-to-right are Sharkin, Sincline/Lotor, and Garuda.

Speaking of ‘family resemblance.’ Below is an animated gif of Daltanius forming his Blazing Fire Sword from the lion head on his chest.

Aside: Mirai Robo Daltanius, was the 4th of Nagahama’s best-known series. Daltanius was originally going to be the source animation/story for Voltron. The only reason we got Golion was because Toei sent the wrong tapes when asked for “the one with the lion”.

So Anon, you’re close to the mark on Voltes V and Voltron being related enough to be part of the same franchise! Personally, I consider Golion/Voltron to be a 2nd cousin twice removed in the Robot Romance family.

I hope more people—especially Voltron fans—can watch it now that it’s finally got a proper English sub on blu-ray. Maybe a streaming service will pick it up soon.

[robotshowtunes]

Hiyoshi Go (剛日吉)

A.K.A. Little Jon Armstrong

Portrait from Super Robot Wars 30

[robotshowtunes]

VOLT FRIGATE-4 (ボルトフリゲート)

Code: Ph-Red balance D Model No.: F1-C Category: Attack Fighter Submersible Operants: AW/2M Primary: Atmos/Nautical Landing: SVTOL Height: 13.77 m Length: 24.85 m Width: 26.67 m Weight: 105 t Armaments: Frigate Missiles, Freezer Beam, Neptune Rockets, Magic Hands Target Definition: Radar-Sonar-Thermal Guidance Armor: Titanium-Platinum Alloy with Diamond Reinforcement Thermal Capacity: 1.41 millisol Shock Capacity: 15 Mt Control: Guardian Computer Assisted with Manual Override

Source: Voltes V Club