Armor Hunter Mellowlink is a unique mech anime if only because the main character, instead of having a Mech, just has an anti-tank rifle and a dream.

This 1988 spinoff anime is something to behold.

While the part of the Armored trooper VOLTOMS series, which has re-releases. Armor Hunter Mellowlink on the other hand only received three releases.

Twice on Laser-Disc, and once on DvD in 2006.

It will also never get better, according to some sources the masters of the anime were destroyed.

So any re-release will be off a Laser-Disk, which is not what I would call blu-ray quality.

Needless to say Mellowlink has fallen by the wayside of its own mother series, and Mech anime in general.

Which is a shame because the anime is so good, even compared to modern one season animes.

Armor hunter Mellowlink hits that 80s action movie combination of realism and fantastical elements.

Mellowlink, the character, is likable and competent. Framed for a crime he did not commit he fights as the underdog against the vastly more powerful and evil opponents that framed him.

Each episode in the series is a new movie, a new set piece focused on the same old revenge that drives him.

In no particular order here are some set pieces

• An Enemy Military base
• Jungle
• Crashed spaceship, standing like a tower
• Prison where he purposefully got captured
• Mech battle arena
• Train heist

Mellowlink is not just an underdog, he is an underdog in different way each time.

He wins all his fights in a unique way and I do mean unique. Land mines, car jacks, barrels and even while not wearing clothes.

Mellowlink is just fun to watch! While the quality of the images themselves are low due to them being copies of copies, the animation is superb.

In the show, Mellowlink unloads his enemies’ guns to get ammo to continue his revenge and the animators seem to take pleasure in animating his actions in extreme detail.

It is simply brilliant.

The soundtrack is great as well!

The twelve part anime, while rare to find in the wild, can be found on media archive sights, and can even be streamed in certain regions from Namco’s site if you can read Japanese.

Every episode of Armor Hunter Mellowlink is a 25 minute action movie to enjoy.

It is a Mech Anime without a main character in a Mech. It is one of the only examples of the Mech Genre that the mechs are not the main focus.

I would suggest looking up and enjoying the spinoff VOLTOMS series “ARMOR HUNTER MELLOWLINK!”