This is less of a structured review and more so my thoughts on Brilliantly Shining Heresy as a sequel to Armored Trooper VOTOMS, discussing vaguely the direction and themes of the show without spoilers. Despite how wacky Brilliantly Shining Heresy may seem at first as a sequel to VOTOMS, I do feel like it is a good continuaton of the elements explored in the final arc of the show. Brilliantly Shining Heresy explored more of the religious and secret society beliefs in the setting which was interesting following the end of VOTOMS where Chirico is revelaed as an overman who is now a known entityto both the Gilgamesh and Balarant armies which he is pursued by. Considering this, the story is set within a schism between the religious factions and how to deal with the knowledge and reality of such a person existing.

Because of this the plot feels less grounded compared to early VOTOMS. My favourite arcs of VOTOMS were Woodo and Kummen so I do miss the action adventure side of VOTOMS with the merry gang of Gotho, Coconna, Vanilla and even Shako who are sorely missed from Brilliantly Shining Heresy. The story more so follows a new character, Teitania who is an answer to Chirico and in light of Chirico waking up the story explores the mystery of her backstory and destiny.

With this being the focus of the story Fyana is sidelined to being more of a princess in a castle. Lastly, the explaination for the ending seemed to me to lack pretext and felt shoehorned. If this was to be the finale to the franchise it is the inverse to the original series but writing this in 2024 i'm looking forward to seeing the other OVAs and sequel to Brilliantly Shining Heresy.

The standout aspect of BSH for me was seeing the worldbulding expand with more revealed about the church and the evolution of AT and PS technologies. Especially with the contrasting grungy 90s sci fi and baroque aesthetics.