MACROSS ZERO

MACROSS ZERO

(2002 release date)

The chronological "first" series in the macross saga, taking place in 2008 before the launch of the SDF Macross 1 spaceship.

OVERVIEW - Set in the south pacific seas around a small island called Mayan, The story follows a Pilot called Shin Kudo, fighting on the side of the UN forces who is shot down and recovered by the villagers of Mayan. His interactions with the village priestess and her sister brings to light the truths behind the Mayan's ancient legends, an outlandish theory on the fringe of accepted science and showcases the first variable fighter battles in the macross saga. Created as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first macross series, its cutting edge, for the time, animation techniques have become something of an internet legend and even featured as a "film-in-a-series" in Macross Frontier. 

REVIEW - Giving some backstory to the referenced "UN Wars" as well as information regarding The Protoculture's tinkering with Earth's evolution, Macross ZERO is a prequel in every sense of the word. Breaking and tinkering with set macross standards, featuring no space battles, no direct aliens and no real "pop" songs it still delivers everything you'd expect from a macross series, the epic battle are there, appearing on the ground and skies of earth instead of in space, the music/culture/aliens connection is there too, with the reactions caused by the ancient song of the priestess (for some reason with french words.. one would assume its the tune rather than the words themselves that is important...) and not only a love triangle, but a triangle of romances themselves.. one doomed to sadness, one pure but never to be realised and one that transcends hate, beliefs and possibly even time and space itself. In spite of its short length (5 OVA's) its story is powerful, well written and in keeping with established canon for the saga, and in a sense also shows the horror, loss and sorrow that war brings, and why by the time of the start of the space war we see in SDF MACROSS humans are beginning to look for peace rather than conflict and domination. 

The main character is Shin Kudo, who as a child witnessed the landing of the "giant alien ship", and the rise of the war over the unification of the world governments. While we're not given his full backstory to begin with, his family were killed by anti-UN forces, driving his anger and making him feel like he must not depend on anyone, a fact that wins him no friends really. At the start we see his skills in a normal jet, presumably an updated version of the F-14 Tomcat jets the VF-1 "Valkyrie" fighters in the SDF MACROSS series were based on, as he shoots down three enemy targets, then his whole wing (about 5 jets) gets taken out by a mysterious new target, that to Shin's surprise shifts into a humanoid form when it shoots him down. He wakes up on Mayan island, where he gets to know the head priestess, Sara Nome and her little sister Mao as he recuperates. He's picked up and drafted into Roy Focker's "Skull squadron", the first squad of the UN's experimental VF-0 variable fighter jets, still equipped with conventional engines, though highly powerful, rather than the "Reaction engines" suitable for space use. 

Its in the training given to Shin and the rest of Roy's squad that we start to see the point of the variable fighters. The speed of a jet is coupled with the highly manoeuvrable thruster positions of the "gerwalk" mode, and the humanoid "Batroid" mode allows for more natural combat on the ground. As Roy puts it, "you must become like water, able to flow and adapt to all situations". We also see two masters of the variable fighters, Roy and his former instructor, battle it out in some pretty epic scenes, fully utilising the capabilities of the craft, much more so than in previous series. (Macross Frontier is the only other show to use VF's like this, and its the only show made after ZERO)


The female leads, the sisters Sara and Mao Nome, are from the ancient bloodline of the priests of the Island, and couldnt be more different from each other. Sara takes her role as "the hand lead by the wind" extremely seriously, as it is her job to protect the ancient songs, keep the village free from "Kadons" (evil spirits thought to be created by un-harmonic living, as in modern life in general) and prevent the "Birdman" from singing the song of destruction. Regal and aloof in her appearance, speech and behaviour, she is the very model of a defiant tribal village leader intent on protecting their way of life. Mao on the other hand is shown to be not only insanely acrobatic, but very care-free in personality, utterly entranced by the concept of the modern world, a point of argument between the two often.

Speaking of the "Birdman", I'll take this chance to reveal the story told in the village about it.

A long time ago, the birdman who travelled through the stars flew above the ocean. The fishman, in awe and fear of the birdman's grand wings, said this to the birdman: "You may be able to fly, but you do not know how deep the ocean is. How sad and pitiful," he laughed. The birdman was angered by this and cut off the tail and fins of the fishman. From the woulds, legs grew. This is how the first human, Rooy Kanu, was born.

This tale, which later explains how the island of Mayan was formed, and that the birdman cut off its own head to create a wife for "Rooy Kanu" and have many children who would become the inhabitants of the island, forms the whole religious and social basis of the villagers. There is a fascination with birds and images of "the birdman" in the art and sculptures that surround the village, and its Shin who first voices what I thought when I saw the statues. "Those look more like a plane than a bird".

Thing about it all is, the military group Roy Focker is assigned to is on a research mission, tracking down an item that created a reaction on a new sensor designed to find "Over-technology", the term used for the alien tech found in the crashed alien ship 9 years previously, and they had found something, a large shape that almost perfectly resembled the body of the "Birdman" sculpture, before they had even found the island. As the story progresses it becomes more and more obvious that there is a link between the 10,000 year old alien artifact and the people of Mayan, even more so when "Mao's treasure" is taken from its hiding place under the sea.

Its also shown that the battle taking place in the area is all about this artifact, and the anti-un side knew it was in two pieces. Both sides are working from a theory called "The Human-Protoculture Intervention Theory", rejected as pseudo science by most, the concept that an alien race intervened and alter, or sped up, human evolution is what the UN science team is hoping to prove, pushed by the lead scientist Aries Turner, Roy's former "Sempai" and also former lover. She is working from the theory as layed out by her teacher, Dr Hasford.


In some striking co-incidences, Dr Hasford is in fact the key figure in much of the stories of the leading characters, Roy's unit is there to protect Aries' unit, seeking to validate Hasford's theories, the anti-UN forces are there also on the basis of Hasford's work, because Hasford had been to Mayan before, as seen in Sara's flashbacks when he took her blood, breaking an island taboo ("there are twin snakes entwined around each other in the blood, and they contain a terrible power!") for which Sara believes lead to the death of her parents, and she blames herself for which is why she is so strict in her role now. It all once again ties back to the story of the birdman.

Mayan island is subjected to the horrors of war, with villagers caught in the cross fire between the two forces, and the hunt for "Mao's treasure". While lost in the forest Shin and Sara grow closer, and Shin begins to understand Sara's philosophy and viewpoint. As things go on, it ends up with both sides holding part of the Alien artifact, with Mayan island caught in the middle, and in the end, the legendary birdman does rise, to sing its song of destruction and wipe the world clean of humanity. It is only due to the heroic sacrifices of Shin and Sara that this is ended, and the series ends on quite a melancholic note, with Mao leading the villagers in singing the ancient song to the now departed birdman.

MACROSS LOVE-TRIANGLE

The love triangle in this series is obviously the one between Shin, Sara and Mao, and at first it seems more likely that it'll end up being Shin and Mao, with Sara saying she'd never leave the island compared to Mao's constant questions about the "City", there's even outright antagonism between Shin and Sara. Its when Sara "views" the underwater kiss between Shin and Mao that we get a glimpse of her true feelings towards Shin, feelings that grow while they are lost in the forest and Mao is unconscious on the UN carrier. Ultimately Shin's feeling for Sara are what get through to her and help end the rampage of the birdman, and her response in saving his life and vanishing into the stars/time/space/alternate dimension/whatever the hell happens to them gives their love not only requitment but becomes a "transcendent" love story.

I mentioned before that there were three romances in this series, the "Transcendent" one is Shin and Sara's, with them vanishing off at the end, the "unrequited" love is the one Mao has for Shin, because he never returned her feelings and ran off to literal parts unknown with her sister. The "Doomed" love is Roy and Aries, who had dated in the past but split up, they reconciled during the series but Aries death obviously stops it there. Its worth noting that this death is linked to Roy's surly and womanising behaviour noted in the SDF MACROSS series, as he never wanted to fall again fearing the same pain of loss.



Groundbreaking for its time (2002) its still better in many production aspects than anime being released today, stunningly slick cell shaded CG, frantic combat scenes still mostly unmatched outside big-budget productions and a complex story of betrayal, love, loss and pain that stands on its own as a great story but makes an epic building block in the overal macross saga, If you've not seen MACROSS ZERO yet then why the hell are you waiting?

SUMMARY -

Story -  A prequel made 20 years after the original story, its understandable if you worry about continuity issues or ret-con to beloved storylines, much like what happened with Star Wars with the "Episode 1" midichlorian debacle, or almost all of Star Trek - Enterprise's plots and technology. However, MACROSS ZERO not only avoids that, it re-enforces established canon.As an example:- The VF-1 was the first space/atmospheric transforming fighter, still true as the VF-0 was a prototype only capable of atmospheric flight. The storyline itself, as a self-contained story it nearly epic despite its 5 episode limit. Fast paced but never feeling rushed or crowded it throws in shock after revelation after realisation, each episode reaching a crescendo of action before breaking to the credits. In true macross style, while not a set "aspect", the ending and the ultimate fate of the heroes is left open to debate, like many legendary stories of ages past. Character growth is quite good given the time frame of the short series, and its very easy to grow fond of the characters who in the start feel rigid and cold as you see them blossom on-screen. A great tale that lays the groundwork for the whole saga to come. 9/10

Production - Words cannot describe the sheer masterpiece this is in terms of production, ten years old yet still out-shining many modern animes, this would have been the absolute cutting edge of animation at its release. Suffering none of the normal issues of distorted characters during action sequences, retaining scale and scope at all times. Its CG is a little obvious, but its use of cell shading, the earliest example of this technique I know of, allows it to nearly blend in with the traditional animation. Backgrounds are stunning and vibrant as well as heavily complex, with its tropical jungle setting produced in detail. Excellent use of desaturation in areas too, again out-performing many modern animes in this aspect. Voice casting is well done, Roy's voice actor is even the same as his original appearance 20 years previously, and each character's voice actor provides emotive performances, conveying the on-screen action well. 9/10

Music - With no opening themes, and 5 different ending themes, it will be hard to comment on them without first mentioning the "theme", in a clear cut case of "Singing the song of my people" the central theme of the series, generally referred to as the "ancient song" is a highly operatic piece with nearly impossibly high notes and french words.. yes, thats right, an ancient song of jungle people is an operatic french piece... getting past the sheer "WHAT THE FUCK" of that, the theme crops up in some of the ending pieces, either on its own (episode one and five) or worked into the tribal/jungle song that ends episode four. The biggest oddity is the 80's style funk-pop piece at the end of episode two, which while it borrow "tribal" aspects in places, sounds like a drunken tom jones impersonator for the most part. Episode three ends with a gentle tribal style piece sung by Mao's voice actress. Its worth saying that the voice actress for Sara does NOT sing any of Sara's pieces, mostly because of the sheer level of training one would have to undergo to be able to sing like that. Given the effect of that singing however, having an other-worldly, angelic quality to it, on this occasion i will not consider having a separate voice actress/singer a downside. The score is heavily orchestral or tribal, sometimes mixing the two in a way that really suits the themes and feel of the series, with the orchestral style representing the "developed" world and the tribal styles for the Mayan people. With only one piece really letting the side down, but with no "instantly jumping out" parts, the score here isnt as high as in other areas. 7/10

Accessability - Set in an alternate timeline the macross saga is generally very accessible, more so as the production dates of the series gets closer to the present day. With the majority of the action taking place on an isolated island and centred around their culture and history there's very little concern that a western audience would have more trouble "getting it" than a Japanese audience. In fact, nothing comes to mind to suggest otherwise. 10/10

Overall Impression - What can I say? a ten year old anime that looks like it could have been made in the last month, an epic story laying groundwork for a HUGE saga thats spans 30 years of our time and nearly 60 in-universe. Amazing action scenes, jaw-droppingly well animated, three solid romances with different conclusions.. For fans of space-operas, mecha anime or jet-fighting this is an absolute must-see.. I cannot express in word just how fantastic this anime still looks... for comparison's sake, here's a trailer for RahXephon, another "giant robot" anime from 2002. Seriously, go check this anime out now, even if you've not seen any other macross stuff, or even if you have.. you wont be disappointed. 10/10


Final Score - 45/50