What Am I Watching - Armor Hunter Mellowlink

Synopsis - Set in the same universe as Armored Troopers VOTOMS, Mellowlink was a soldier fighting in a unit that was sacrificed, for reasons he doesn't know. Though he wasn't supposed to survive, he obviously does, and he's framed for his friends' deaths. After escaping his captors, he is out for answers, and most importantly, revenge.

Review - One of the first fansubbed tapes I have picked out. I watched VOTOMs as a kid, and loved the real robot aspects of the series, how the characters are distinctly influenced by the event, and how the robots aren't super or anything, but conversely are tools of war, and can be destroyed by anything, if you pick the right parts.

This show proves that theory completely. Mellowlink throughout the entire twelve episode span, does not pilot a mech. He is treading on foot, with a gigantic sniper-esque gun with him, powerful enough to raise hell in the battlefield.

The plot is very well-written. Conspiracies surrounding deaths within the war were summed up nicely within the twelve episodes.

The characters within this show were as wholesome and real as they come by. Mellowlink was an obvious favorite. Until the flashback episode, I didn't quite "get" why he was going all Rambo on people. You knew the backstory but you didn't quite feel what Mellowlink went through. That episode alone marks this high in my book because of the fact that it got me to genuinely care for guys you never really see in this series. These soldiers were similar to the soldiers I know who are out there protecting our Country. How close these guys hit home is astounding, to say the least. So when they (no spoiler here, you know what happens) are killed mercilessly, you feel like it's Platoon, in that scene where William Dafoe's character is shot to death, or that tragic end in Glory, where you kinda know what's going to happen to these unfortunate souls.

Mellowlink: bent on revenge.

 Huge shout out for Keak Cardine. Mind you, I always forget his name, but I digress. Unike the other government cronies throughout the series, he just sits back and watches the action from afar. I actually had suspicions that he was really a good guy with the way he was acting. He showed hesitation when he killed the spared soldier from the previous episode. Great stuff, lad.

Moving on, it's not breaking news that I love the 80's. While Slam Dunk (okay, that was early nineties, whatever) had that synth-heavy music you heard in the days of Clarissa Explains It All, this show's opener pushed the envelope. Soldier Blue sounds like a Bryan Adams song to me! Obviously, to me, that's friggin' awesome, but for the viewer who hates listening to Air Supply and REO Speedwagon, I recommend you just skip it.

The art and animation is nothing to write home about. While better (in my humble opinion) than VOTOMS, it is still not very eye-catching. It's decent, but it shouldn't be the reason you'd want to watch this series.

The voice acting is great, and the sound isn't too bad. One gripe I have is how Mellowlink was never licensed. Sure, it was a spin-off of a show that I don't think did too well under Central Park Media, BUT this show should be able to stand on its own, and there have been far worse series than this. I would have liked to have seen it dubbed just once. That's right, I said it.

I want that gun.

In conclusion, it's a fun series. It's not the best mecha series of all time. It's not the worst either. It's doesn't have the greatest animation, but it doesn't have the most terrible either (Genma Wars wouldn't know frame-to-frame if someone fed it to them). It's not MD Geist, and it can hold its own despite being in the same universe as Armored Trooper VOTOMS (according to an article I've read, Chirico made a cameo, but I didn't catch it). This series dark story about people in government placing human bodies as meat shields makes for an awesome afternoon, especially considering what's to become of those tools.

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Story - 7.5
Characters - 8
Content - 8
Animation - 6.5
Music - 8
Overall - 7.75
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