Armor Hunter Mellowlink (1988)
Armor Hunter Mellowlink was a twelve episode anime OVA spinoff of Armored Trooper VOTOMS. It takes place in the same universe as VOTOMS, but the two stories are entirely independent of each other. Mellowlink is the story of a soldier whose unit is sacrificed on the battlefield for reasons unknown. Although he was not meant to survive, the main character, Mellowlink Ality, manages to survive only to be framed for a crime he did not commit. Mellowlink escapes his captors and begins hunting down his former commanding officers, both to get revenge for his dead platoon members and to find out the nature of the conspiracy that led to their death. The series is available for download on Bandai Visual's official website and the Japanese DVD boxset was released on December 6, 2006. The series was previously issued twice on laserdisc, once as six individual volumes, and once as a three disc box set along with the two soundtracks.
Seasons & Episode
Astragius, September 7213: a strange man ambushes a military transport, knocks it out, and tells a helpless survivor "Tell Captain Dogman... I've come to see him from hell". He leaves a set of dogtags and disappears.
In spite of a civil war raging nearby in Kummen, the port city of Tabbing is a lively, boisterous place where merciless gladiator fights between ATs is a popular form of entertainment. Carradyne has come to the city after hearing rumors that Galvin Fox, one of the conspirators in the Planpandoll scandal, has been seen there.
Through threats, coercion and bribery, a man named Stablos has become extremely wealthy and powerful in Kummen. The only challenge to his authority comes from the Vera Guerillas, but Stablos sees them as little more than prey to hunt down and kill, as if they were animals.
While riding his vehicle across a wasteland, Mellowlink comes under fire and is obliged to take cover within the only prominent landmark nearby--a crashed spaceship, the nose of which has buried itself into the earth, leaving the remainder towering above the desert.
While travelling across an old, wreckage-strewn battlefield, Mellowlink's vehicle breaks down. As he builds a campfire he is pricked by a thorn from the Tree of Chekoku, which is supposed to cause "bad illusions".
The Doppa Military Prison is where convicts perform backbreaking labor in a near-depleted Jijirium mine. It lies on an island, and is virtually escape proof since only once a year do the tides drop low enough to expose the "Flower Road" which connects it to the mainland.
Mellowlink stows away on a heavily guarded train travelling the Barashutora Railway.
After the fight with the bandits, General Helumesion calls a trusted subordinate, Sergeant Boil. He tells Boil that Mellowlink has kidnapped his neice--Luicy Ramone.
General Helumesion calls Jujokakka and assures him that the stolen Jijirium of the "PS Plan" has been hidden away as planned.
Mellowlink is certain that Major Boil will return to Helumesion estate, looking for a duel with him.
Acting on Major Boil's comment that he will "find the real evil" in Coza City, Mellowlink is flying the Major's helicopter there.
In the exciting mini-series finale, all bets are off.
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