Mamoru Oshii’s Next Anime Is Armored Trooper Votoms

Thanks to works like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor 2, Mamoru Oshii is widely regarded as one of anime’s greatest filmmakers, fusing stunning animation with heavy philosophical themes. However, it’s been a few years since he’s done anything; Oshii’s last feature film was 2008’s The Sky Crawlers and his most recent directorial effort was 2021’s Vlad Love TV series. According to Wikipedia, Oshii’s next directorial effort is an adaptation of Baku Yumemakura’s Chimera novels, but Anime News Network just revealed that Oshii is directing the next installment in the vaunted Armored Trooper Votoms franchise.

Although it might not be as well known as Gundam, Armored Trooper Votoms is a prime example of a “real robot” mecha title. (Other such titles include Patlabor, Gasaraki, and the original Macross series.) In “real robot” series, which could be considered “hard” sci-fi, mechs and robots aren’t fanciful machines à la the Evas in Neon Genesis Evangelion, but rather, mass-produced machines. The series tend to be much more grounded in their depiction of mechs and their capabilities, as well as the reality of war.

The original Armored Trooper Votoms series was created by Ryōsuke Takahashi and aired in 1983. Since then, there have been numerous sequels and spin-offs, with the latest being 2011’s Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again. Nothing is known about Oshii’s entry into the series other than its title: Armored Trooper Votoms: The Grey Witch. Presumably, it’ll feature Oshii’s trademark attention to detail along with plenty of weighty, existential dialog. Hopefully, it’ll be more along the lines of Patlabor 2 than Sky Crawlers, though.