lauretta.keebler - 2017-01-18 13:42:38

I’ve been a fan of Gundam for at least two years now. While I really enjoy Gundam shows in general I always felt that it needed less action and more character development. This is where Macross come in : that show is exactly what I always wanted Gundam to be: a sci-fi war drama centered around the characters.

Premise: To begin my review let me introduce the premise of the show: in the near future humanity find a space ship that crashed on earth without survivors in it. After a few decades the ship is repaired. On the day of the celebration of the now functional ship, aliens start attacking the ship and capture the ship so they can invade earth. That premise is simple in itself but the series is way more complex than a good human versus evil aliens anime.

Story: As you have already read, Macross is mainly fights against aliens but it’s mostly a set up so people can their own nature. One of the main theme of the show is the search of what motive the characters whether it be being a soldier or a pop idol. Halfway through the show, they introduce a new dilemma: isn’t there a better way to truly win a war than shedding blood? I can’t also not mention the romance (a love triangle to be specific),while I think I felt it was too much one sided and one of the two girl doesn’t get as much screen time as the other I thought it thought it did a fine for what it was.

Characters: I believe that this show doesn’t get as much credit as it should have: this show actually has many complex characters that interact with each other’s in a natural way. At first you may think that the show is going to have Ichijyo as the protagonist ,but you will quickly realise that the show try to focus more on the entire crew of the Macross and its civilian. Now days ,you would have the girls that are part of the love triangle have shallow personality and barely have any reason to live except to suck the mc dick. In Macross they have their own lives, dreams, friends ,goals, etc…The aliens aren’t all portrayed as evil tyrant and in some way are the reflection of the bloodthirsty side of humans.

Art: While the animation is generally good trough all the show ,some episodes have abysmal animation. Near the end of the animation get better hopefully. I dig the character design, but I’m sure some of you might not like their old school design. Furthermore, the character design get better as the show is progressing: character like Hayase at the start of the show look like a blob and at the end with a really nice looking design.

Music: Music! Macross is often associated with their pop idols music: while it is true that the songs that Minmay sing are pretty good ,some of them are so overused that you’re going to have the urge to pierce your eardrums (especially “My boyfriend is a pilot “for fuck’s sake they probably use that song more than 15 times).Idols songs apart, the soundtrack is really good and greatly add to the general dramatic and nostalgic tone that the series give.

Conclusion: I consider this show one of the best mecha anime/space opera that I have watched. If you want more similar shows I recommend watching either Gundam or Evangelion.

sim.cassin - 2015-10-02 22:21:59

SDF Macross is anime of epic proportions. It’s a story of war, of love, of adventure, and a dozen different concepts. But the biggest feat is that all these concepts actually blend these concepts in a way that actually work. While this sound fairly simple to do, it is not as easy as it sounds. Many anime try do this, but fail because of lackluster execution or lack of time. A good example of this would be Charlotte, where it tried to bite off more than can chew and put no effort in trying to blend its concept together in a natural way.

One element that makes SDFM work is it great story and strong characters. It is an anime about mankind finding an abandon giant alien spaceship and rebuilding the ship that they rename the SDF-1 Macross. But things go arise and aliens hunting the ship, a war monging civilization of green giants called the Zentradi, choose this moment to investigate, and war breaks out between the two sides. And to make matters worse, the Macross, its crew, and 70,000 civilians get teleported to the outer rims of the solar system. So under Zentradi pursuit, the Macross and the people aboard it have to fight their way home.

A big part of the series is how different groups of people clashing and coming to understand with each other whether is alien vs human, soldier vs civilian, or even man vs woman. But the thing to tie all these groups of people together is culture. For example, the humans on earth and in the Macross are in fear of the Zentradi, believing is some desperate fight against an all powerful force. However, the Zentradi are deliberately holding back because they want to recover the Macross intact to recover the lost technology that its hold and are curious of the actions of the Macross human crew. Later in the series, the humans learn that the Zentradi clear they have no concept of a life beyond warfare, and the contact with the Macross has a powerful and divisive effect on them. Seeing the Zentradi trying to understand or adapt to human life is some of the most interesting and endearing parts of the show. It’s something Macross keeps coming back to, the idea that is there is more to life than fighting.

The cast is comprised of strong but understandable characters. We have Hikaru Ichijo, how is a brash kid who learns to be a man, Minmay, who grows from a girl, to an idol, to a heroine, and Misa Hayase, who is a hard ass commander who learns becomes a caring friend. All the characters have strong character interactions with each other. You’ll watch even the second tier characters grow, mature, and die throughout of the series.

Is Macross a perfect show, not by a long shot. On technical level, it haven’t age very well. There is a lot of still frames and awkward scenes. And the series kinda lossses its energy after the humans defeat the Zendari and the series of event that happened afterwards is rather unnecessary.

dooley.laurence - 2013-07-16 09:56:55

Because Tomino made 1st Gundam a slow, stressless (and yet stressful), one-sided, carriage trip through spam lasers/X-'plosions, I don't consider Gundam to be the biggest carrier of modern mecha. (besides, if you think about it, the show was revived because the TOYS sold well; not the actual show!)The honor of solidifying the mecha genre of being a humane storytelling plot device is The Super Dimensional Macross.And really, when you consider its helms being the director of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, you have no more questions...(As with most of my reviews, heavy implications of layout details)But even so, to its credit, Macross' only weakness would be its datedness. Gundam may be a lot of things but it's consistently predictable enough to warrant rewatches a BIT more vs. a, however well paced, rough, twisty, rollercoaster.Gundam also benefits from having a more "grounded" premise; Macross' premise is as dried up and basic as DBZ's beginning: Humans discover hidden alien technology! Humans retrofit light years ahead of today's technology in less years than we are now! And now we see the alien wreckage repaired into the titular shop "Macross"!Oh no! The aliens have finally returned but they can be fought against with the transformable mecha (probably the first micro-mecha in history, (this mecha's design [amongst others] was used for Transformerss) the Valkyrie.The greatness of the anime is how tense it still feels today with its classic love-triangle of refined and unrefined characters.I'll compare Macross to 1st Gundam one more time in terms of overall accomplishment differences:- Macross' leads makes contact with their enemy personally by its first quarters' end; Gundam's lead doesn't know his enemy personally by the last quarter!- Macross has a romance that develops with changing personalities; Gundam... I guess has romance with several characters... but I don't think they had much dynamism when it came to notable progress. My opinion.- Macross has sideplots: Musical thematics, some characters' path affected others. Nothing feels linear since everyone's character is taken into account; Gundam is COMPLETELY linear and only has mecha battles as the real appeal.- Macross gets to its first destination by its first third; Gundam gets there a little over a half!Because it may seem like I'm ganging up on Gundam... I'll be nice and say that Macross has two recap episodes (that are stylish) while Gundam has none. To top it all off, the alien armada's enormous sense of overwhelmingness stands unrivaled only to Gurren Lagann's (perhaps Gurren Lagann drew inspiration here?).And what did Gurren Lagann have that made its sheer cartoony premise turn into classic mecha wonder? Spirit.Macross may be a Real Robot, but it proves that realistically or superficially, genuine spirit, no matter how clumsily made animation, can still strike us visually.Oh... there's more stuff to mention about Macross' range but everyone can look that up; I'm just telling you that it wouldn't have gotten there if it didn't know how to use characterization correctly.Which takes us to main male character, Hikaru, who is your classic "hot shot"; very well skilled motorcyclist (and also a pilot in this show too), with decent but still rugged good looks, but he's ultimately a pretty pathetic guy who's kinda self-serving and a basket case on top of it all = typical of the 80's style of a classic romantic lad. His problem is something that not many males in anime CARE AT ALL ABOUT THESE DAYS; his incompetence to decide what he should do with his life (and which girl symbolizes that very direction.... with the intent priorities in proper place, of course. XD)His "supposed" main chick, Minmay, is a Chinese petite brat who does have a very big heart but she can't think bigger than herself no matter how aware of it she is. She eventually learns to change it (which is also something that most series don't care about it anymore; complete and thorough characterization!), but by then it's too little, too late.And then there's the classic heroine, Misa Hayase, who is the non-romantic, pro-protocol (but not a cold-hearted ice queen as you might think) lassie who objects free-spirited behavior and uncouth means of military action; truly Hikaru's type, eh?Side characters include Hikaru's trusted wingmen, mentor/godfather?, Minmay's cousin who is the REAL ice queen of the series, Misa's chick buddies who are silly with their prissiness and curt humor.Still, all of this, no matter how detailed or diverse I make out the steps, remember that this grandeur is typical sophisticated stuff; the point is that it's working with so many things that can upset it. The prospect of aliens alone can ruin an entire plot's plausibility (*cough* Gundam 00 Movie... *cough* *cough* STUPID! *COUGH*!)'Scuse me. *sniff*Macross' art is old but the amount of details that emphasizes both its extreme fragility, size, and power are as followed:- When the Macross, which has a LARGE civilization, transforms, oxygen leaks run rampant, crowds evacuate everytime, and cars and buildings get warped/destroyed by the vacuum of space.- When the Macross decides to "punch out" a baddie, the "fist"s damage to enemy battleships the metal ruptures, room wreckage, and electronic detailing (pipes, cords, computers, etc), all of it is wrecked... and then missiles do more!For spoiler reasons, I won't list more but... I trust this'll be enough.The animation might show the most when it comes to distant shots or anything that has to do with space-battleship-maneuverability, but nothing's dragged out long enough to wear watching.Another thing that makes the animation feel less grating is songs like the OP theme:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39NJPbtPgkThis has so much 80's spirit and raw fun power that you don't care that the art is a tad blurry, that passion is carried out into every situational skirmish they cross. The songs are still so timely and filled with spirited personality like Minmei's corny but hip song, and the END's simple but somber gentleness reflects how bittersweet goodbyes are...If you've never seen a mecha from the 80's yet and don't want stand-alone battles, then that'd be enough to recommend Macross alone, but you'll be walking away with the knowledge that there was epic plotting before FMA: Brotherhood, Death Note, Escaflowne, or even Legend of the Galactic Heroes itself.The Super Dimensional Fortress Macross has countlessly influenced many facets of anime convention and trope today and expresses them with a fresh modern magnetism that's 10x more appealing than half of the entertainment of the joke titles released in 2011.LGTStory: A- (who are the aliens? = Resolution. What is to be of the characters? = Answered)Art: A- (Soak it up! Those dreamy character designs... Those nifty resourceful Valkyrie bots, that Macross transformation detail. AHHHH! So much love!)Sound: B (BOOOOOM!'s + Macross theme = Satisfaction. ) Animation: D+ (*cranks up volume slightly..... when there's music*)Characters: B- (predictable but plucky and stylish; kinda like Cowboy Bebop's cast)Enjoyment: B+ (Oh man... don't kill yourself! Oh... man... maybe I should leave the military??? = XD *eyes glued to screen")Overall: A (I'd love to call it many things but... this IS Macross!)

bkozey - 2013-06-16 08:40:59

It's amazing that after this anime is over 30 years old but still excels in the quality of the animation even up to today. Macross Plus was my first exposure to mecha anime and I definitely enjoyed the tie-in between the two shows. Macross has some excellent animated sequences during fights in space and in their mechs as well. You can tell the animators really took great detail to making the action polished, the explosions delightful, and the destruction detailed. There was so much detail put into the fights you get sucked up into the epicness of fighting in space with all the war debris around and missles and lasers going back and forth between enemies. One of the more interesting things they animated were the perspective changes around characters and places during the fight. Macross doesn't succeed by animation alone though. The music is really what sets Macross apart from other anime, and from the beginning to the end, the theme takes a central role in the story and character development. The classic feel of the songs make me nostalgic just listening to them. Similarly, the reverb effect by the alien forces was a very interesting touch that reminded you of the foreign origins and giant size of the aliens in general. The war theme in this anime is taken seriously and dwelves into fighting, pacifism, killing, and losing family and friends. I thought it was well done and paced. People do die, some violently, and they use it sparing and to good effect for the story.Overall, I loved the animation, the sounds, the music, and the story and character development. The climax of the whole series was totally worth it, and you see hard work of the animators really shine then. This is definitely a classic mecha anime worth watching if you enjoy fighting, music, and a serious story.

johnnie.torp - 2013-05-18 10:39:35

I'm from the generation who grew up watching "Robotech" on TV. For those of you young 'uns who don't know (I say this as I stroke my long white beard and rock back and forth in my rocking chair), "Robotech" is an American adaptation of three different anime. The three series were virtually unrelated in terms of story, and were forcibly mashed together into "Robotech". By far the most famous one of the three adapted series is "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross", or "Macross" for short, which became known as the "The Macross Saga" arc in "Robotech"Around a decade after I originally watched "Robotech", nostalgia led me to hunt down and watch all three original series, and while the other two weren't as good as I remember (or in the case of the "Robotech: The Masters" arc, not even good to begin with), "Macross" actually exceeded my expectations, turning out to be the best one of the three. After all, there's a reason why this series is the only one of the three to not be forgotten after all these years; a reason why it was so popular that it got extended beyond its original intended run and kick started a new franchise that's still going strong today; a reason why I was so caught up in the show that it brought tears to my eyes on occasions, even as I laughed at its oudated clumsiness. The reason, is because "Macross" is a classic in the true sense of the word.Unlike the "Gundam" franchise, which tends to be heavy on politics and warfare, the "Macross" franchise is more about the characters, love triangles, music, and detailed dogfights; virtually all these can be traced back to the original. The premises is that a deserted alien space fortress crash landed on Earth, and the human race spent a decade investigating the technology on board and made drastic technological advances as a result. Then an alien race called the Zentradi shows up, having been looking for the alien fortress all this time, and the fortress - patched up by humans and named "SDF-1 Macross" - had to defend itself as well as Earth from the aliens. As the story continues, the Zentradi, who knew only of war, experiences culture shock as they began to see more of the human society, and this introduces complications into the war.When it comes to believability in the story, "Macross" is a little weak. One thing in particular is that hack of an idea of the Zentradi turning up after a decade in pursuit of their enemies (seriously, were they just sitting around on their arses and twiddling their thumbs in the intervening years?), with the human race already technologically advanced enough by then to make a decent battle of it.I assumed, after watching the first few episodes, that this is another one of those oldies that are only good when you watch it through nostalgia goggles (brought to you from the makers of beer goggles) - the aged production is embarassingly bad in places, the jokes are lame, the love story mediocre, and the writing unpolished. However, as the story's worked its way through most of the solar system in the space of about 10 episodes (these old shows don't drag their feet do they), it gradually won me over. Even though it's often ridiculous and more than a little rough around the edges, there's a raw but straight-forwardly engaging quality about the story and the characters.The music in "Macross" revolves around Lynn Minmay, an apsiring pop idol who is also the love interest of the main protagonist Hikaru. Her music plays a crucial part in course of the war against the Zentradi, and the series is full of her songs. There's an impressive number of them written for the series, most of them catchy and often silly, sporting cheesey titles such as "My Boyfriend's a Pilot" and bad Engrish lyrics such as "Xiao Bai Long [Chinese for little white dragon] is a very messiah" (WTF?). Having said that, there are some songs that are more than just cheap jpop, like the classy "Farewell to Kindness" and the short but poignant "My Beautiful Place" that was used to great effect in a memorable scene. The better songs seem to appear later on in the series - perhaps this is intentially done to reflect Minmei maturing as an artist. Unlike the main vocalist in "BECK", who was made out to be amazing but sounded amateurish, Lynn Minmei's vocals are convincing enough for a pop star's - probably because her voice actress Mari Iijima is one, and in fact Mari's role as Minmei gave her the breakthrough in her own career as a musician.There are some pretty iconic features to the combat in "Macross" that are prevalent in the franchise even till this day. One of which is the design of the "Macross" valkyries, which are able to not only transform between plane and robot modes, but also into a versatile hybrid between the two. After all these years, the designs from the original series still looks pretty good to me. Another iconic feature is the Macross Missile Massacre, where a ship/mecha spams an improbable number of missiles out in a seemingly random pattern at its target, and it looks pretty damn awesome. Apparently the animation director came up with it when he strapped a bunch of toy rockets to his motorbike and fired them off. The dogfights and mecha battles may not as spectacular as those from later "Macross" anime, but some are still decent. While the "Gundam" line of series often have overpowered Gundams capable of destroying whole fleets of ships and less mecha, the battles in "Macross" are a lot more toned down: each pilot can only make so much difference, however talented they are, and they feel far less invincible than someone sitting in a Gundam.For some reason, the deaths in "Macross", it always manages to shock me, perhaps because it's such a feel good show most of the time. It does have a ruthless streak though, which makes the story quite unpredictable at times. In particular, one of the events during the war is so devastating that I can't think of many other things that can match it.What makes "Macross" different, and perhaps even unique, is that it's not all about the war, and I don't just mean in the sense that there's a bunch of other things going on in addition to the war; "Macross" goes on to show the aftermaths, something that very few other shows have done. This is essentially an extension of the story after the series got approved for additional episodes, and it feels a bit like a very long epilogue. However, I think these episodes that deal with the love triangles and the rebuilding of people's lives are some of the strongest episodes in the series. There's a particularly memorable one involving a rainy night and a box of rare tea, which stuck with me from when I first watched the show as part of "Robotech". It surprised me that the episode was at least as good as I remembered... but perhaps what's more remarkable is how well I remember it from all those years ago - for this quiet, melancholy episode to make such a strong impression on a boy who was only watching the show for the cool mecha, is no mean feat.There are some things that bothers me about the last arc though. One of these is the character inconsistency with Minmei and her cousin Kaifun. With Minmei, it's as though she became more immature compared to the earlier, and it feels like the change has come about from the show's attempt to squeeze out some extra drama to fill up its extended run. Kaifun, who seemed destined to play the role of love rival originally, ended up undergoing personality changes in order to support Minmei's new tantrum-prone role.A worse problem though, is the ending - for an arc that eschews the high octane matters of war in favour of subdued, mini personal dramas, it's almost bizarre how rushed the ending was. I remember rewatching "Robotech" (or at least parts of it) prior to it, and assumed its abrupt ending was one of the artifacts of being mashed together with the other series, but no, the original ending is almost as bad.Speaking of "Robotech", I feel it's appropriate to make some comparisons between its first arc and "Macross". As you would expect, the attempt to roll three unrelated series into one had adverse effects on the story, but for the most part, it wasn't too different, (mostly because this was the adapted as the first arc... it was the later arcs that had to be heavily edited to work with the first). With the exception of Lynn Minmei's songs (which were even sillier), I love the music in "Robotech"; it has a slick, glamourous 80's quality to it that made the Americanised series feel like the "Top Gun" of anime, especially during the opening sequences and when the vakyries are in action. In comparison, the music of "Macross" tends to have grander, darker tones with more compositions in the minor key, reflecting its intentions to be a serious, sweeping epic rather than something cool and stylish - the opening theme being a prime example. I like the music in both series, but like that aspect of "Robotech" just a little more. The voice acting in "Robotech" wasn't great, but then again, neither was the original Japanese. Overall, "Robotech: The Macross Saga" isn't as good as "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross", though it's still good, owing to the strength and lack of wholesale changes to the original material.As for "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross" itself, it's one of those shows you watch for the sake of childhood memories, only to find yourself caught up in its old school charms. It's a show that, upon rewatch, reinforces rather than dispells the romance of nostalgia. Simply put, it's just a classic, and can be considered as one of the greatest legacies that the director Noboru Ishiguro (who sadly passed away around the time of this re-write) left behind.