Fridge / Voltes V

Spoilers are off. You have been warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• Heinel's mooks being graduates of Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. At first it seems like standard anime plot armour to keep the heroes safe, but then you remember Zambajil wants Heinel to fail.
  • Then again, assuming Zambajil is smart enough to send Heinel crappy troops is giving him too much credit...
  • Or that the Voltes Team are too skilled as they all underwent respective Training from Hell routines that made their reflexes razor sharp when dealing with mooks.
• One of the customs of Boazania is Boazanian women (such as Gohl's mother, Lozaria, and Katherine) wearing veils attached to their horns. At first it seems to be an aesthetic thing, but it could also be for protecting their heads in case their horns knock over things.
• All There in the Manual material stating that Belgan is a relative of Zuhl's makes his behaviour towards Heinel more understandable - it's not just about following the Emperor's orders, it's about getting revenge.
• Why is Hiyoshi's Robot Buddy an octopus? Because he lives on an island!
• Why is Daijirou fat despite being a martial artist? In Real Life, martial artists have to consume a lot of food for their bodies to develop properly.
• Ippei forms the arms of the Voltes V robot, which can be seen as an allegory for how he tends to take matters in his own hands in times of danger.
• It may seem odd that Zambajil allowed Katherine to go with Heinel's team despite her being protective of him, unlike Zuhl. However, it's likely that Zambajil also wanted her killed off as well, since the Rii family took in Heinel and were essentially a second family to him. Additionally, if she died, it could be used to further drag Heinel's reputation through the mud - the Rii family are nobles and if one of them died due to the Earthlings, it would be a matter of massive shame.
• Elements of Mitsuyo can be seen in her sons:
  • Her drive for justice, desire to save the world and selfless sacrifice is mirrored in Kenichi.
  • Her love for science and technology is mirrored in Hiyoshi.
  • Her physical strength and desperation to see Kentaro Goh again is mirrored in Daijirou.
• There could actually be a very good reason that Megumi's mother is only mentioned and never seen. Given how the Boazanians target those close to the Voltes Team (for example, Belgan killing Nakamura's parents in episode 34 to break the heroes' morale), she may be trying to keep herself safe.
• Most of the Boazanian nobles are highly educated and have graduated from prestigous institutes - restricting education to those at the top may be another way to keep the slaves down, as in Real Life slave rebellions became more commonplace once slaves were taught how to read and write.
• Why is Hiyoshi viewed as an Annoying Younger Sibling by Kenichi but adored by Megumi? Because Megumi is an only child, so having a potential new sibling is exciting for her, while Kenichi is used to Hiyoshi's behaviour. No wonder she welcomes Hiyoshi calling her "Megumi-neesan".
• It might seem like an Ass Pull that Kenichi ties against Heinel during their second swordfighting duel in the Grand Finale, but it makes sense when you remember that Heinel had just lost Katherine. His mental state was heavily fractured at the time.
• Why is Ippei overconfident and brash about hitting on Megumi? Because back in America, he was a celebrity! He was probably used to the idea of girls swooning over him and being showered with fame and attention.
• Why is Zambajil scared of Heinel taking the throne from him, when the latter has nothing but respect and admiration for him? Because if Heinel found out that Zambajil usurped the throne by hurting his father, he would have a motive to dispose of him.
• Zuhl being The Mole between Heinel's aides makes sense when you consider that Katherine and Jangal have external motives for helping Heinel - Katherine is in love with him and Jangal wants the glory of being a honourable warrior (and there's nothing honourable in cheating and lying). Zuhl, on the other hand, has no external motive, hence it being easy for Zambajil to convince him to murder Heinel.
• Megumi being the mediator between Kenichi and Ippei makes sense because the other members of the team are Kenichi's brothers - meaning there's a bias in the former's favour. Megumi is a neutral party between the Go brothers and Ippei, so of course she'd be the one to settle their quarrels.
• Is it possible Prince Heinel holds family in high regard because he was raised by his maternal grandparents?
• Big Falcon and the Solar Bird have a bird theme because Gohl's emblem is two doves.
• Kenichi's main method of transportation is a motorcycle (something of modern technology) while Ippei's is a horse (something that's rather out of date), which further cements the divide between the two.
• The importance of Lozaria's dagger. Heinel grew up believing his father abandoned him and never loved him. The fact that he gave Lozaria a dagger as a Tragic Keepsake was a sign that he cared for her. Gohl noting he gave it to her meant that all of Heinel's misconceptions about him were wrong. Throw in the fact that it's the only thing he has left of her, and his sudden Heel–Face Turn makes sense.

Fridge Logic

• If Ippei is Japanese-American, why doesn't he speak English with an American accent? Every time he says "Let's Volt In", it's in a Japanese accent.
• Ippei's hatred for Kenichi could be because of jealousy, since he has a loving family and two brothers, while he has nothing and was separated from his only friend, his horse.
  • Ippei and Kenichi are also around the same age as Megumi. Is there a chance that he's insecure that Kenichi may catch her affections first, since he's the son of the Big Falcon founders and The Ace at several different skills?
• Zambajil not having any children despite his old age and his position as the Emperor (where having kids is necessary if he wants a successor) could be because as a child, he faced endless abuse and humiliation for being born out of wedlock. It's likely that Zambajil doesn't want kids in case they face similar abuse/humiliation too (of course, he doesn't mind Heinel being humiliated, but in his fucked-up mind, Heinel is a threat to the throne).

Fridge Horror

• In Episode 3, Heinel praises Katherine for her extensive knowledge of Earthern creatures. But Katherine is a Mad Scientist who mutates animals, and once mutated a wild dog into killing a puppy's mother right in front of his eyes to prepare it as a Beast Knight - so what lengths did Katherine go to acquire this "extensive knowledge" of animals?
• At first it seems odd that Hamaguchi kidnapped Ippei to become the pilot of the Volt Bomber and faced no legal consequences - but then you remember that Hamaguchi is friends with General Oka, who obviously has ties to the Japanese government. It's highly likely that Oka used his connections to clear Hamaguchi's record, which gives way to further disturbing implications - if Ippei refused and got shot, would Oka also help cover up a literal murder? If Ippei somehow escaped, would they kidnap the next up-and-coming rodeo star they could get their hands on? What if their kidnapping of Ippei motivated him to join the Boazanians as revenge?
  • Not to mention, Ippei is an orphan, so Hamaguchi choosing to kidnap him is even more sinister since he has no family, therefore no one to come for him. It's likely he was deliberately chosen because of that.
  • Ippei is also an American citizen, so Hamaguchi forcibly kidnapping him would involve Interpol.
  • It gets worse when Roman Robo Anime Climax Selection revealed that Hamaguchi is Ippei's paternal grandfather. Which means he had kidnapped his own grandson.
• In Episode 28, it's revealed that Oral attempted to murder Gohl when he was a baby because he didn't want his son to be a hornless Boazanian before his wife and their gynecologist stopped him. That begs the question, is practicing fillicide to preserve honour a common practice amongst Boazanian nobility?
  • If true, that could be why Heinel is the only youngster in the Boazanian royal family...his hornless brothers and sisters were systematically killed off.
  • Two youngsters in the said royal family if you count Marine, his twin sister and manga exclusive character from Victory Five sequel manga.
• In Episode 14, Heinel holds Mr. Sakame's daughter, Rumi, hostage. Given how Rumi is a child, does this mean the Boazanians also practice child slavery?
  • The hornless Boazanians have been slaves of their horned nobility for generations after all.
• The Boazanian Empire is based on 1800s France, and the series finale is clearly based on The French Revolution. But the French Revolution was followed by several massacres and the rise of Napoleon - if Boazania follows this path, it might mean that someone worse than Heinel may rise.
• Even if Heinel lived to the end, if Gohl holds a Nuremberg trials-esque fate for the nobles that were complicit in atrocities against the hornless, it's likely Heinel would have been punished due to the mass destruction he's caused both on Earth and Boazan. Gohl could pardon him, being the new king, at the cost of his own public support.
  • There's actually a fic that goes into detail about this^WarningDark. Read the tags.
  • Sequel manga Victory Five averts this with Heinel redeeming himself as Knight Monohorn and Voltes Team welcoming him as an ally and family.
• As stated on the Tearjerker page, Zambajil himself had an awful childhood. When he was a boy, his fellow nobles ostracized him for being the son of concubine. Given how brutal the nobles were to Heinel based on his parentage, one can only imagine what Zambajil was subjected to.
  • In a way, it makes Zambajil's cruelty to Heinel even worse; he knew how painful being a societal outcast was and still inflicted it on someone else.
• The scene where Sakaonji throws out the Voltes team's belongings is hard enough to watch, but consider that the Go brothers believed themselves to be orphans, which means that some of the things thrown out could have been sentimental items from Kentaro and Mitsuyo....
  • It might be mitigated with the Voltes Team getting their stuff back at some point after they made amends with Professor Sakaonji who explains why he has to be very harsh as their mentor and wanted them to reach their full potential.
• If Victory Five is to be believed, the Boazanians executed their own for having Interspecies Romances with people from other planets. That explains why Heinel flew into a rage after learning that Kenichi is half-Boazanian...
  • During the development of Voltes V, one scrapped idea was that Kenichi was to fall in love with Katherine's younger sister, Marlene Rii. If a child was born out of that romance, would Katherine have executed her own nephew/niece?
    • It wouldn't be the first time a Boazanian noble tried to commit nepoticide.
    • Considering that in the draft for the episode, Marlene says that Katherine was a loving older sister and helped hide her from the Boazanians, probably not. 
• Something that's both Fridge Brilliance and Fridge Horror - when Zambajil orders Gohl to come back to Boazania, he somehow knows that he's on Earth, in spite of his secret identity. Considering that Gohl was there for quite some time, Zambajil must have figured that he had a child or two, which would mean that now he has more people to worry about in competition to the throne. This could be the reason why he ordered the invasion of Earth. Not to mention, in Mitsuyo's flashback, one of the reasons Kentaro cites for departing to Boazania is because Zambajil was conquering other planets left and right. Zambajil was likely deliberately holding back on Earth to get the message across to Gohl - this is what's going to happen to Earth if you don't comply.
• Belgan created a diamond that can Mind Control women. Now, keep in mind that Belgan is an unrepetant Straw Misogynist...
  • This is Ascended Fridge Horror in Voltes V: Legacy, where Belgan (Oslak) actually attempts to rape Katherine (Zandra) before Heinel (Zardoz) discovers his treachery in time.
• Before Heinel was born, the Boazanian Crown Prince was a mentally-challenged man. Given how the Boazanians have a culture of honour, what happened to him after Zambajil became Emperor?
• If Lozaria and Heinel were exiled from the Palace because of Gohl's betrayal, what happened to Oral and his wife?
• When Gohl fled Boazania, there was no guarantee he was going to land on Earth. He had no plan and only ended up on Earth thanks to his ship crashing. What would have happened if Gohl landed on a less tolerant planet than Earth? Hell, what if Gohl ended up on a planet like Mars or Saturn or Jupiter or Venus, where it's impossible to breathe?
• Say Heinel didn't execute Zuhl and he made it to the Grand Finale. Given his genius, is there a possibility that he could have eliminated Big Falcon's forces if he was on that ship with Gurul?
• If Zuhl was smarter, he could have hidden the voice changer machine from Heinel and used it against him, such as having it imitate Zambajil's voice to put him in danger. Thankfully, this doesn't happen.
• Godol was created to protect Boazania, much like Voltes V was created to protect Earth. This raises two disturbing possibilties.
  • A: What event happened in the past that resulted in the Boazanians creating the nigh-invulnerable violent robot? Was it to fight oppression? Was it to subjugate and oppress others?
  • B: With the robot in plain sight, all it takes is one insane man with a dream to wreak havoc on a mass scale. Imagine if Voltes V was used in a similar oppressive manner as Godol?
    • Heinel's wording implies Godol was not a robot, but a Boazanian just like him. Also, for what it's worth, Godol has somewhat a resemblance to Jesus with his beard, and we know Heinel is obsessively religious. Make of that what you will.
• As stated in the Nightmare Fuel page, it's a good thing Kenichi had the foresight to send Hiyoshi to free the Boazanian slaves while the Voltes team occupied Heinel's castle, because a ten-year-old seeing Jangal commit Seppuku would have everlasting scars well into adulthood.