Macross Frontier (Movies)

MACROSS FRONTIER

(THEATRICAL MOVIES)

The two movies released for Macross Frontier, "Itsuwari no Utahime" (The false Songstress) and "Sayonara no Tsubasa" (The Wings of Goodbye) that are set in an "Alternate" timeline and while the overal plot remains close to the TV Series, many events are altered. 

OVERVIEW - An alternative retelling of the story seen in the TV series, The movies compress a lot of the more mundane, "slice of life" style scenes and has a larger focus on the music and battles. The first film takes advantage of the 2 year release gap to update and improve its use of CG, while the second film leaps to the forefront of the field for animated features using CG. A nice "extra" to the series, they are best watched after  the series itself. 

REVIEW -   Choosing to re-work the story instead of simply adapting it or continuing it from the series, The movies feature most of the major events from the series, but with alterations and in some cases major differences. 

Some of the more obvious differences right off the bat include the fact that Alto and Ranka already know each other at the start, as its Alto who gets Ranka her concert tickets, not her brother, The rescue of Sheryl during the first attack instead of just Ranka. The politicians of Frontier being aware of a plot by Galaxy from the start as well as Sheryl's awareness of parts of said plot.

The movies story is more heavily focused on the singing and battle aspects, which when you think about it makes sense for a theatrical release, no need to try and squeeze in lots of friendship-building scenes when you only have 120 minutes or so, but as a result we're treated to upgraded CG in both the concerts and fights. The opening show for Sheryl is a jaw-dropping holographic event, dripping with high-class CG and a new, more sultry image for Sheryl in the form of new Yoko Kanno work "Universal Bunny" with more than a little touch of Sharon Apple's style worked in. While the first half of the first movie has little space-battle action, the later half more than makes up for it, with some seriously intense and massive action, including a lot more featuring my personal favourite of all the Macross-style ships, the Macross Quarter, easily the most kick-ass 400 metre's in all anime existence.

The second movie ramps up Sheryl's new sexy image with an opening piece not only stunningly animated, but very close to the knuckle, while Ranka turns the cute up to 11 as her singing career recieves a closer look this time around. The second movie also see's the story move further from the TV series, as a culmination of the changes made in the backstory and events in the first film. This see's several people who died in the series manage to live through the events or equivalents that killed them before, and it also forces a much different ending in to place, with no Battle Galaxy around, Ranka not leaving the fleet and The city part of the Frontier fleet landing on the planet much before the "end" as it did in the series

The movies also resolve the love triangle, but if you're hoping for a happy ending for which ever pairing you preferred then dont get your hopes up, while the ending is "good" in that more people survive it, get redeemed and go on to start to settle the planet, its almost as if the writers decided to punish the angry fans who complained that the triangle was left unfinished in the series, giving the ending a very very bittersweet slant. Its also worth mentioning that the epic battle that took up most of the last two episodes is condensed here, but the production on it is so stunning it'll literally burn itself into your mind. Backed with the song "Sayonara no Tsubasa" which is one of the most epic pieces in the film the dog fighting between the VF's over the backdrop of capital ships and massive Macross Battloids is simply a masterpiece.

Now confirmed as an alternate universe version of events, the movies increased production and altered story make them well worth watching even if you're already familiar with the series. in all honesty they're probably some of the best mecha anime films out there.

MACROSS LOVE TRIANGLE

Much different to the series while still featuring the same people, in basically the same situations. Ranka's attraction to Alto is made obvious from the very start, and Sheryl's new raunchy image puts a much more adult slant on her approaches to Alto. For his part, Alto seems less oblivious to the attraction of Sheryl, but still either unaware or unsure how to respond to Ranka's advances. While the resolution to this triangle should come as no surprise, the events of the ending mean the triangle is only resolved in words, rather than action.

SUMMARY -

Story - Different to the series, its hard to judge. For a movie its surprisingly packed, with plenty of events running at a steady fast-pace across the two, but when compared against the series there's so much left out and just plain not covered, such as the difference between the bioplants and the chemical plants, why Galaxy is using cybernetics when Frontier doesnt, How Frontier became aware of the Fold crystals more special properties.. if asked to judge it against the series, the story for the movies is lacking somewhat, but as a pair of films taken on their own merit, its high scores, and as these reviews always take non directly connected films and series on their own... 9/10

Production - Ramps the values of the series up as high as they'll go, and keeps them there, with the second movie clearly showing an increased mastery of the CG it uses over the first film. "on-the-ground" action sequences no longer have the "blurry/distorted" styles, and space battles not only look better static, but the fluidic movement and realistic dogfighting styles are some of the best on any screen. Voice casting remains the same, and while Ranka's voice has obviously matured a little, it still remains full of infectious enthusiasm, Sheryl still has her haughty bite to her tone and Alto's emotional states are expressed exceptionally well again. giving this aspect less than ten would be a crime. 10/10

Music - Once again scored, arranged and with insert songs from Yokko Kanno, the movie's newer CG techniques and increased budget give the loved songs from the series a vaster stage to play on, and the new material, mostly aimed at enhancing the divide between Sherly's and Ranka's images is as good, if not better than the series. If the series's score and soundtrack was perfection, then this is how one improves upon perfection. 10/10
 
Accessability - With a larger focus on the music, the obviously influence of Japanese concerts, or "lives", comes into play. While not essential to the plot for one to understand, without foreknowledge of audience styles in this respect some parts seem odd, or bizarre. Other than that, there is very little to mark this out as "Japanese" specifically, making it very accessible to the western viewers who probably dont even know anything about it thanks to the legal wrangles surrounding the Macross Saga which have seen it mostly blocked in the States. 9/10

Overall Impression - Containing some of the best music in anime, stunning visuals and a shortened but still twisting, turning, shock-filled story, There's very little to fault here. There's some plot holes in places, and areas that may have warranted some foreshadowing or deeper development, such as Sheryl's connection to the events of Macross ZERO, but overall this is a stunning action anime, set in space between the forces of humanity, aliens and the cold, cruel actions of the selfish, backed with songs that'll stick with you for days and a love story that'll leave many in tears. 10/10


Final Score - 48/50