Anime: Choujikuu Yousai Macross

As I said in my previous entry, the early 80’s was the time the second generation of anime fans came by and they weren’t that fond of drama and high ideals. I can almost hear them saying:
“Hey anime industry! We really like space adventures and huge robots and action and relations between humans and aliens. But can we please have a series without the overblown drama which is pissing us off? And while you’re at it, can you please throw in some singing and pop idols? We like pop idols and pop is very in.”
And as if their wishes were heard, Macross came to be…

The thing I must begin with is that I and most others of my generation grew up thinking it was an American production named Robotech and that it was three seasons long. Well, no, that was actually a weird mix and blend and mutate thingy Harmony Gold did with three different and completely unrelated anime series.

But who cares? Back then Robotech or whatever it was called was the top action/space adventure ever made! I mean, seriously, who can point out another anime with more action and more interesting scenario that was broadcasting on television at that time? Hell, who can point out an anime with A BIGGER FORTRESS? I mean, the damn thing was big enough to fit in a huge city, plus double the space for military equipment and cannons powerful enough to blow alien armadas twice its size. Plus, it could transform into a robot that could ram its fists into enemy ships and fire a million missiles inside it! Plus, it could teleport in seconds to the other side of the solar system and taking along with it a whole island. So as you can tell it wasn’t just a big fortress. It was a COLOSSAL SUPER GODDAMN COOL DIMENSIONAL BLOWS EVERYTHING APART FORTRESS THAT HOLDS A WHOLE FREAKING CITY INSIDE AND CAN STILL TURN TO A MOUNTAIN TALL ROBOOOOT !!! And I loved it.

Many people say that it is not the size that matters but the way you use it. You know what I am talking about…
Many earlier anime also had big robots and big spaceships but the size there played little to no role in the story. I mean, sure, a huge robot is a lot cooler than a human-sized one and so are the explosions it creates but as far as the plot is involved, it didn’t matter one bit. But in this show, the proportions were really excused to be so… big. So big that even all the classical mecha grouped together look like ants before it. You see, the fortress houses an entire city full of several thousands of refugees, a thing that would be impossible to do without being THIS big. Maybe it would if it was a space armada moving separately from the main robot but under the circumstances the refugees came to be (their whole island teleporting to goddamn Pluto) this was plain impossible.

Another thing that excuses it is the size of the enemy armada, which more or less is several tens of thousands of ships, each bigger than a skyscraper, housing hundreds of enemy mecha, each piloted by a 30 meter tall green skinned alien. And unlike most mecha shows, where the aliens have huge armadas yet only attack with one robot at the time (man, for an advanced race they are complete idiots), here they pretty much attack in huge numbers. How could you fend off such an attack with just a big robot? Everything in this show is big; and I don’t mean just the size. The story is again big in scale of the things it involves, the character interaction is big with the things they do, the space in the galaxy all that affect is big.

A thing which I finally got to see for the first time in anime is the main ship getting damaged. The need for repeated footage was a lot smaller from here on, thus the animators could freely dent and pierce and blow up lots of parts of the Macross ship/robot, which in the long run was still so big it didn’t matter much.

Yet another thing I liked is how the mecha themselves are not indestructible. The Valkyries and the alien jumping pods were mass produced and could be destroyed or damaged easily, thus making the need for survival and maintenance all the more important. They were not like the lead mecha in earlier series which could never be damaged.

And the characters were not immortal either; several of them died throughout the course of the story and none in an overblown dramatic / patriotic way, like going kamikaze in order to save the rest. Hell, Earth itself is not indestructible! The alien armada actually manages to destroy most of it and kill most of mankind! All of which did not happen in the first or in the last episodes but MID-WAY! When was that ever shown before? Even some of the aliens themselves eventually seek truce because they find out about common heritage and take up arms against their kind. And even some of the aliens who do get accepted in Earth as renegades later on change their minds and again turn against humanity. THIS IS JUST UNTHINKABLE IN PREVIOUS ANIME!

Character interactions are also a very powerful part of the show. I mean aside from the typical cases of friendship and obedience to authority and the struggle for survival (themes quite powerful on their own) we have spicy romantic triangles between military people and pop idols, couples between white and black people (unthinkable and even insulting for some in the west), even couples between humans and aliens. Heck, the power of love, the sight of a kiss, the different way each kind would reproduce and the completely different interaction between the sexes is all a huge part of the core story and the origin of both cultures, creating a setting which is plain incredible to keep looking at. I mean a few years back Space Runaway Ideon did something similar with alien interactions but it was hardly THIS good.

Artwork and animation may seem bad today, as you occasionally see jerky animation and cross-eyed characters, while the colouring feels simplistic and with lack of much shading. But again, for its time it was the best thing ever. So do not be too critical of it and in case you want to see how it would look with modern animation there are always the various sequels and prequels.

Music is … erm … good I guess. The American intro and BGM simply kicks ass while the Japanese is rather meh… But the ending song is definitely more poetic and nostalgic in its original version. The voice acting is great in both languages, although as far as context goes the American version made them sound a bit more stupid, because the very story was mutated to be simpler and that affected all the rest.

The story from what I described above is the best you could find back then in the genre and still is today up to an extend. Everything is plain epic in size, has lots of progress and unexpected developments, the action is good and so are most of the moments the characters are having a normal life in the ship. It does have its share of silliness of course as it is still very hard to accept how a city would be having beauty contests and music festivals when they are hunted by aliens and every day hundreds of them get killed and their houses are constantly demolished. Also, the last third of the show had lots of budget issues and the plot there feels more simplistic and slow, while the ending will feel rushed and possibly bad for some. But in overall it is very good. The Japanese version is of course more mature and in-depth, plus it doesn’t really continue with Robotech Masters and Mospeada as it did in the American version. Both those shows were not as fun anyway.

It must be noted that the director of the series is Ishiguro Noboru, who also happens to have directed the older and most amazing space opera of all times, Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He is someone who knows how to deal with complicating and epic storilines. Of course, he also did Tytania but it was a completely meh show and I blame mostly his co-director for making a comedy out of it.

The cast is a wonderful blend of various personalities, each one being very distinctive and memorable even after all these years. Hell, there are even fun clubs about them. They too of course feel too naive with what is going on with the grave story and it is questionable if bridge bunnies and pop idols even fit in all that for any other reason than fan service. But hey, the girls at the bridge did all the communication fuss because they couldn’t board a mecha and the pop idol gave courage and morale to the troops. As for the pop idol, her singing blows up entire fleets later on and it is still somewhat excused with the genetic encoding the aliens received from their creators. Again, all that make a lot more sense in the Japanese version, which treats protoculture as a shared lineage and not some super awesome magic power. Damn you American version!

Its historical importance is huge since it was the show which hooked thousands of my generation to cartoons and anime, while over at Japan the theatrical release of the Macross movie became as big as a national celebration and is considered today as an all time favourite cult title.

One of anime's classic series and basis for most mecha can stem back to this series. With the 25th anniversary of Macross being celebrated by the release of Macross Frontier, there is no reason why anyone should miss watching this show. It is a must see for any anime fans despite its age. [br][br]Summary: After an alien ship crashes to earth at the turn of the 21st century mankind rebuilds it and designates it "Macross". Hikaru, a young pilot, and Minmay, an up and coming singer, are forced onto the Macross after an attack by the Zentraedi alien force. After teleporting to deep space, the Macross must return to earth. Hikaru fights the aliens as a pilot and finds love in Minmay and his superior, Misa..[br][br]Animation: I know this was made in 1982 but the animation is just awful. The backgrounds are unimpressive and look like they were not putting much effort into the coloring. The characters are horribly drawn with character's eyes sometimes not facing in the same direction. There are other times where a character will "twitch" from poor frame taking. A scene comes to mind when Captain Global is talking and his uniform changes colors three times. This is the only bad part of Macross and hopefully the viewer can see past it.[br][br]Sound: Sound is about average. The 80's pop music compliments of the character Minmay feel right at home with the rest of the story. BGM is ok but is unnoticeable . The opening is very good and kept me watching through all 36 episodes.[br][br]Story: Superb. The story has two plot lines. One with the Humans versus the Zentraedi forces and the other with Hikaru's love triangle with Minmay and Misa. There were parts near the end where I thought the writers did a very good job. A nice ending to a classic anime as well.[br][br]Character: This is what kept me watching every episode and sticking with it past the poor drawings. There is a vast number of characters in this series spanning from Zentraedi soldiers and commanders to the military leaders of the Macross. The best part is the romance side plot involving Hikaru. The creators did a fantastic job here. I dont like Minmay at all. Never have. Never will. She gets kind of annoying but that is her role I guess. There are times when I get mad at the characters but they end up redeeming themselves in my eyes later on in the show. Top marks for character.[br][br]Value: A true classic series that must be seen for everyone. Those who have seen the old Robotech series really need to watch what they were missing. [br][br]Enjoyment: I loved this series from its story to Hikaru and his love relations. To make sense of all the other spin offs or sequels to this I highly suggest watching this first.[br]

Macross, for me, is the series that started it all. As the best part of Robotech, it was my entrance into anime. This was back in the day, on TV. Finally seeing the *real* Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross, with the proper storyline and no cuts was quite a revelation. Perhaps I see this series with sense of nostalgia, but for me, this is the best anime I have ever seen.

SDF Macross is all about the story and the characters. It is a tale of growing up in war and trying to survive the devastation that comes afterwards. You’ll follow Hikaru Ichijo as he goes from cocky young teen to wise and sensitive man; through the kaleidoscope of a war to save all of mankind, and the attempt to put the world back together afterward. To a new viewer, this may appear cliched, standard anime fare. The typical war against the aliens. But Macross manages to go far beyond the run of the mill. So many series just show you a war, or even hop from one war to the next. Characters live and love and fight and die in a 36 episode span. Every human emotion is touched on.

A huge alien force arrives at earth, the Zentraedi. Beings that have destroyed countless worlds. Mankind has but one hope, the SDF-1 Macross, as it flies and fights its way through the solar system, trying to fend off the aliens. But what if the aliens can be shown a new way? This is a story where the end of the war isn’t the end of our time in the characters lives; and that is what pushes Macross above and beyond other series. The war doesn't merely end. The war has palpable consequences and leaves many challenges for all the participants. Can the Earth rebuild after a massive space-launched bombardment? Can the Zentraedi, who have only ever known war, exist in a world of peace? What do they do, if they can't fight anymore?

The one element required to drive a great story is great characters, and Macross has them too. Hikaru is a brash kid who learns to be a man. Minmay grows from girl to idol to mature heroine. Misa goes from by the book military commander to caring friend. You’ll watch even the second tier characters grow and mature, exploring all the human emotions; some of them for the first time.

And this is part of why Macross shines. Somewhere in the series is someone who could be you. The characters live real lives in the middle of a war to save humanity. They grow, they learn, they mature. They fight to help each other, to save each other. Sometimes they fail, making them all the more human. People you know and come to love won’t survive all 36 episodes, and you’ll really feel it when they die.

As a series done in 1982, one might expect Macross' animation to be some ways below today's standards. I'll make no bones about it: It is. Macross has very low production quality in places, and doesn't compare all that favourably even to other vintage shows. Techniques to keep budgets low abound in early episodes, and the animation is none too spectacular. Later on, as budgets were raised quality improves quite a bit. The "cheapy" techniques disappear almost totally. The backgrounds are also nice, considering the era and budget (and that a good part of the series takes place in space).

The saving grace, and visual highlight, of Macross' animation is the pairing of the mecha designs of Shoji Kawamori and the characters of Haruhiko Mikimoto. This is truly some of their best work. The Macross, the VF-1 Valkyrie, Hikaru and Minmay are all classic images from the show that are still widely recognizable today.

By comparison, as poorly as the animation holds up today, the sound is still incredibly good. The music of the series is one of the things that drew people in originally, and it continues to impress me. I'm generally not one for pop music, Japanese or otherwise, but the music in Macross is genuinely appealing. Over 20 years on, it's as catchy as ever. The opening and ending tracks are both wonderful to listen to. Sound effects are somewhat less impressive, but nothing to really complain about. The voice acting is quite good as well, though nothing will necessarily jump out at you.

While the animation has certainly not held on with age; even compared to its contemporaries, and yet Macross remains a classic anime. The designs are wonderful and have been an influence right up to the present day. The plot travels so many paths with such skill; sci-fi, romance, drama, even humour are all present and done so close to perfection that you keeps coming back for more. No anime fan should miss watching this show.

My overall ranking for Macross is a 10. On gut rating, it is a must watch. However, the mathematical average score here would be dishonest if it were a 10. The visuals alone simply can't justify a mathematically perfect score. That said, if I could give the story and character bonus marks, I would in a heartbeat.

Animation

Fairly appealing character designs (despite the fact that some characters seem to have problems with getting both eyes pointed in the same direction), but everything else has definitely seen better days. With unimpressive action scenes, lackluster backgrounds, weird errors (objects will randomly disappear and reappear, and at one point one of the main characters changes to a different one when the anime switches to a faraway shot) and jerky movement, I don’t think anyone could possibly call this show’s animation good or even passable if compared to modern shows.

Sound

The 80’s JPop found in the show is actually very much above average for its genre, but that’s kind of like saying that someone is a pretty good dancer for a person with no legs or arms. Background music is very repetitive and became actively annoying on occasion. Voice acting is passable, but not praiseworthy.

Story

Macross’ story is essentially separated into two parts: war and love. For the war part, we are treated with a time honored archetype that has been copied to the point of cliché. I actually enjoyed this part, but really only up to a point; during many parts of the basic storyline, the show becomes absolutely boring. Annoyingly enough, this section of the story resolves its main conflict at episode 27, but then continues on with 9 more episodes of very anticlimactic and tedious epilogue.

The romance section has aged much better. While most mecha animes use romance as a sort of side-order (you want a romantic interest with that?), Macross devotes just as much time to the love story as to what many would consider the “main” plotline. To reveal anything specific would be to spoil the story, but by the end I was left very satisfied.

Character

First off, Max is an absolutely terrible character. From the moment he was introduced to the very last scene that he was in, Max is annoying, underdeveloped, and thoroughly lame in just about every aspect that I can think of. His romantic interest (introduced later in the series) is equally irritating, and the believability of their “love” is dubious at best. In fact, pretty much their only saving grace is that they only manage to utterly ruin the small part of the anime that they happen to be in.

Aside from them, however, I thought all the characters (major and minor) were very likeable. Now that I've seen this, I can actually relate to why Minmay has been pretty much a poster girl for the otaku community. Hayase and Hikaru are also immensely loveable.

Overall

Let’s face it: for most highly rated “classic” animes from the 80s, much of the praise is largely induced by nostalgia. While during their time these shows were most likely excellent, nowadays many have since become obsolete in the face of newer and shinier animes that not only sport improved animation, but are just better as a whole. Despite this, dreamy eyed otaku who actually remember when the shows came out laud them ad infinitum.

Unfortunately, for newer members like myself who only entered the anime scene four or five years ago, these 80s shows carry no such sentimental value. Oftentimes when I find myself watching a so-called “classic,” I usually find myself thinking of the countless newer and better shows that have since superceded it.

Knowing my relatively biased opinion, I’m pretty sure you can see why my score actually praises Macross a lot more than it would initially seem. For someone who believes that Gundam Seed is pretty much the pinnacle of mecha anime, the fact that I enjoyed this at all says a lot about how good this show is even today. I can only imagine how great the series was in its time.

Has Macross been imitated, parodied, and reproduced into the ground? Yes. Have its animation and music aged horribly? Yes. Have the once no doubt exhilarating action scenes become tepid and dull? Yes. Do any of these elements prevent the show from being enjoyable? Oddly enough, no.