Trailer: Mamoru Oshii is Back for New Animated Feature ‘Armored Trooper Votoms: Die Graue Hexe’

Mamoru Oshii, a prominent figure in Japan’s storytelling landscape, is set to return to directing theatrical animated features with Armored Trooper Votoms: Die Graue Hexe (The Gray Witch). This project represents a two-part movie event rooted in the 1983-84 mech anime Armored Troopers Votoms from Sunrise, created as part of the studio’s 50th anniversary celebrations. The first installment is scheduled to hit Japanese cinemas on November 20.

A versatile director, writer, and story artist, Oshii has an extensive portfolio that includes well-known franchises like Urusei Yatsura, Patlabor, and Ghost in the Shell, along with critically lauded films such as Angel’s Egg, The Sky Crawlers, and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, which draws from his Kerberos alternate history manga series.

Armored Trooper Votoms: Die Graue Hexe will be Oshii’s first animated theatrical feature since The Sky Crawlers (2008). He is also involved in adapting Baku Yumemakura’s Chimera Ko novel series into an anime film. Additionally, he has worked in live-action, with his latest film Blood Friends (2019) seeing a limited U.S. release in 2022.

Set during the final stages of a century-long war between the planets Bavalant and Melkia in the Astragius Galaxy, the Armored Trooper Votoms TV series focuses on the Armored Troopers — soldiers operating humanoid machines called “Scope Dogs,” whose lives are seen as disposable even as the war concludes. The new film will introduce fresh characters: Ash, a soldier thought to possess supernatural skills due to her improbable survival (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro); and Maki, an officer from a private propaganda agency tasked with investigating Ash (Asami Ando). The voice cast will also feature Shinichiro Miki and Yuki Kaji as Maki’s team members; and Yuichi Nakamura, Satoshi Tsuruoka, Tomokazu Sugita, along with Kenta Miyake as individuals from the paratrooper unit to which Ash is assigned.

Collaborating with Oshii, the film’s creative team comprises original character designer Kazuchika Kise (Ghost in the Shell Arise, Made in Abyss); character designers Tetsuya Nishio, Takashi Kojima, and Shingo Ogiso; mech designers Shinobu Tsuneki, Yudai Sono, Toru Ishiguchi, and Wataru Inada; composer Kenji Kawai; and sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi. The Armored Trooper Votoms creator/director Ryosuke Takahashi serves as a supervisor on the project, while Sunrise manages planning and production in collaboration with Production I.G.

Synopsis: The Astragius Galaxy is split in two between Gilgamesh and Balalant. These factions have been in conflict for almost a century, with the reasons for the war remaining unclear. As the Hundred Years’ War nears its conclusion, a female officer, Maki Stauffenberg, is ordered to a frontline base on Valkyria II, the second planet in the Asgardian star system. She is covertly assigned to investigate Ash Vamps, a soldier within a scrappy penal unit nicknamed the “Witch” for being the sole survivor of several cruel operations.

The realities of the battlefield can only be grasped among the chaos of combat. Maki decides to engage as a pilot of an armored trooper in a forced landing mission into enemy territory, initiated by Ash’s unit. As the odds of survival dwindle with each moment, the situation grows increasingly dire. In her pursuit of Ash amid the chaos of war, Maki gradually uncovers the concealed truth within her.