SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS
The original series that launched the saga, an epic space opera following the fortunes of the first human spaceship capable of "Superdimensional travel" via space folds.
OVERVIEW - Released in 1982, This is the second major "Real Robot" series after "Mobile Suit Gundam" and a genre defining classic, with many of its plot points "borrowed" or downright copied repeatedly over the last 30 years. The plight of the SDF-1 is seen through the eyes of its bridge crew and the civilian-turned-soldier Hikaru Ichijyo. Thrown into a space war against the race of giants known as the Zentradi and then lost in space at the edge of the solar system, the crew battles not only the Zentradi but fear, internal issues and the unexpected extra load of over 50,000 civilians. Hidden in the distant past the link between humans, the Zentradi and the original owners of the ship that becomes the SDF-1, known as "The Supervision Army", slowly comes to light as the opposing human and Zentradi forces slowly learn more about each other. Huge battles, transforming space-jets, romance, loss and song are the key points of this series who's story still resonates now, as we live the same year as the fictional stories end.
REVIEW - SDF MACROSS is a story that almost didnt happen, Originally thought up as a response to another networks surprise smash hit, Mobile Suit Gundam, the original idea began in 1979 as a partnership between two studios, and was stuck in development hell for 3 years due to one studio wanting a space-comedy and the other wanting a space opera. By 1981 however, the studio wanting the comedy had gone bankrupt, and the show began to go ahead in its space opera format.
Originally called "Battle City Megaroad/Megaload" (due to the Japanese transliteration to either ‹l› or ‹r› gives the title a double meaning in reference to the story line: Megaload, referring to the spacecraft containing an entire city of people; and Megaroad, referring to the long journey through space back to Earth) one of the producers wanted to name the ship "Macbeth", pronounced phonetically as "Makubesu" in Japanese. The eventual compromise became Macross, signifying a wordplay combination of the prefix "macro" in reference to its massive
size and the distance they must cross. Rushed to air with only three episodes produced, and after nearly losing the master tape of the opening episode, The series was only meant to run for 27 episodes. Its instant success however allowed the studio to increase production to its current 36 episodes, allowing for a more complete feeling to the end and the full resolution of the now infamous love-triangle aspect.
The plot starts with the crash in 1999 of a kilometre long alien space ship in a small south pacific island. Faced with the fact that alien life undeniably existed now, the world began to form a unified government, though its policies were not universally accepted and many years of wars (the unification wars) began. As peace just settles on earth, the now rebuilt spaceship, dubbed the SDF-1 is about to launch for the first time from the middle of the city that grew around it during its recovery and refit. As part of the celebrations a young acrobatics pilot is invited in by his "Sempai", Roy Focker who is one of the squadren leaders of the new fighters being launched with the giant ship.
Just as the celebrations begin, a force of alien ships enter orbit, chasing after the trail of one of their enemy's ships. These are the Zentradi, who have been at war with the supervision army for thousands of years. As scout ships approach the earth dormant system still hidden in the SDF-1 activate and fire the ships main cannon, wiping out a large part of the city and the Zentradi ships. This act is taken as a declaration of war by the Zentradi and they begin attacking the SDF-1. Attempting take-off to get the battle away from the city, it become apparent that the Humans are still not 100% competant with the alien technology, as the gravity alterations devices fail. Launching under conventional technology, their "Valkyrie" squadrons are ordered into the air. Stuck in the cockpit of one of these is Hikaru Ichijyo, left in there by Roy who was going to give him a flight to show it off with. Forced into the air and into the middle of the fighting, Hikaru is quickly shot down. Instructed by the harsh air controller Misa Hayase to switch to "B mode" Hikaru's crash is lessened by his fighter turning into a robot, though he still makes a mess of part of the city. As the fighting carries on overhead Hikaru struggles to make sense of the controls for this new robot form and in doing so trashed a few buildings, including one belonging to the family of a young girl, Lynn Minmay. Eventually rescued by Roy, the family evacuate to shelters while Roy shows Hikaru how to use the third mode, resembling a jet with legs and arms.
While her family evacuates, Minmay decides to go back for something, just as ground forces begin their attack. Roy and Hikaru head back to check that the family got out ok and end up saving Minmay. In some frantic scenes Hikaru manages to get Minmay into the cockpit and is then downed once again by a "Battlepod", one of the Zentradi's assualt machines. In a panic Hikaru shoots the pod, and to his shock and horror a giant "Human" climbs out of it, just before it can kill him and an unconcious Minmay, Roy returns and saves them by killing the giant. Taking them onboard the now space-bound SDF-1 he leaves them with Hikaru's little private jet before returning to combat. In space the Zentradi forces prevent the SDF-1 from meeting with the small Earth fleet and the SDF's captain, Captain Global, decided to descend back to the island then "fold" to behind the moon, to catch the aliens off-guard in a pincer move. However, the fold doesnt work quite as they planned, and instead of moving just the SDF-1 to behind the moon, it takes the whole island and the ship to the orbit of Pluto.
Hikaru and Minmay, trying to leave the SDF-1 as it folded crash back into the ship, and are trapped in an unused section for almost two weeks. Eventually rescued by the Civilians, themselves rescued from the islands (pressumably) airtight shelters and brought on board the "The Macross" as it is becoming known, it becomes known that the civilians and military are moving in all the supplies they can from the island, including the ocean ships and the sections of the entire city and rebuilding them into The Macross. Its also found out that the fold engine itself has vanished during the accident, leaving the ship incapable of firing its main cannon. As the Zentradi forces begin to close in on them again the people of The Macross, now carrying upwards of 70,000 people face endless battles for their long journey back home to earth.
The Constant adaptability, unpredictable tactics and unusual weapons of The Macross pique the interest of the Zentradi leader, who decides to capture the ship rather than destroy it, and The Macross and its crew continue to surprise them. Creating a transformation system that turns the ship from a long, aircraft carrier looking ship into a giant humanoid robot, which allows the main cannon to be fired again, developing a roving barrier that blocks incoming attacks and then combining these two things into a move thats know as the "Daedalus Attack" here but as the "Macross Attack" in later series, whereby the robot slams an "Arm" into an enemy ship, protected at its tip by the barrier, then from inside the arm thousands of missles and blasts are fired by "Battloids" and "Destroids", the human-esque armoured robots used by the human forces, into the enemy ship, blowing it up from within. The fact that the Zentradi are holding back coupled with this kind of determination and inginuity is what keeps the crew and civilians on The Macross alive.
The Civilians begin to try and live as normal lives as they can, and as they begin to adapt to the situation they begin to work out comforts and luxuries of home, The launch of the TV station is done with a beauty contest, "Miss Macross", won not by the famous hollywood actress who was stuck onboard, but instead by Lynn Minmay, who uses the chance to become an Idol, her dream back when everyone was still on earth. Hikaru, who has joined the military to help protect the civilians, and in particular Minmay, on whom he has an obvious crush that everyone but Minmay realises, is seen sharing his time between defending the ship and trying to get time with Minmay, but as her Idol status begins it becomes more difficult. The Zentradi in the mean time have begun picking up the TV signals from The Macross and are highly confused by them. Launching an attack to capture some of the "Miclones" as they refer to normal sized people, they end up capturing Hikaru, Misa and one of Hikaru's subordinates, while another manages to sneak onboard in his Valkyrie. Becoming quickly apparent to Misa, The Zentradi live seperate from their women (Meltrandi, as Zen means man, Mel means woman in the alien's native language) based on their reaction to her, and that they are a race without culture, living only for battle and in military discipline. The shock eventually becomes too much for the Zentradi who have the humans moved into a cell, from which they are rescued by Max, who had been the one who snuck onboard in his Valkyrie. Escaping mostly by luck back to the Macross their report is met with disbelief.
Eventually returned to earth after a year in space, The Macross, its crew and civilians are treated like lepers by Earth, who's government have not declared the war against aliens, that the attack on the Macross was the work of the last small groups of anti-UN forces and that the whole island's population were dead. Due to her celebrity status, Minmay is flown to see her parents who lived in Japan, and there picks up her cousin, the arrogant and highly anti-military Lynn Kaifun before returning to The Macross. Still fending off occasional attacks from the Zentradi forces, The Macross crew begin trying to find ways and places for the civilians to leave the ship, eventually being offered help by an autonomous government, however a surprise attack by a rogue element of the Zentradi forces, seeking to destroy The Macross rather than capturing it, forces the use of a new barrier system, which overloads, destroying not only the attacking forces, but one of the cities controlled by the autonomous government, who rescind their offer. During this time while on earth, Max fights the "undefeated ace" of the Meltrandi force, Milia Fallyna, and gives her the very first defeat she'd ever experienced. She undergoes "Miclonisation" and infiltrates the Macross, like three Zentradi soldiers before her had. In the end, the fact that the Zentradi are only attacking The Macross causes the UN government to order the ship back into space.
The three male Zentradi spies return to their ship, and bring reports of the "Culture" found onboard, that is reported back to the high commander. The soldiers however kept some artifacts of the culture on The Macross and begin to show their fellow soliders, telling them about how amazing life there is. As a result of this, the three original spies and 23 others secretly undergo miclonisation and when an attack meant to board and capture The Macross goes ahead they manage to sneak onboard, while others openly defy orders to destroy the city inside the Macross, causing the Zentradi commander to call off the attack. As the defectors ask for aslyum their blood and genetics are tested and they are found to be nearly identical to humans, shocking the military brass on The Macross but confirming Captain Global's suspicions about why the Zentradi have been holding back. During an off duty period, Max and Hikaru go to a game centre, with the ace pilot Max winning a fortune in a simulated combat game. When he spots a woman perfoming as well as he does, he challenges her, beating her. The woman, Milia, notices the similarity in Max's combat techniques to the pilot who beat her, and becomes enraged at her second defeat at his hands. Max, the fool, asks her for a date in a park at night as Milia storms off, which she accepts. When the day of the date comes, Milia attacks Max with a knife, sparking another fight that Max once again wins. Breaking down in tears, Milia asks Max to kill her, as she has "become worthless", he instead kisses her. Next thing you know, The two are getting married (yup, instant marriage), and because of the symbolic meaning of a Zentradi soldier marrying a human solider the wedding is broadcast across the whole ship, the Earth and to the Zentradi fleet. Recieving orders to finally destroy the Macross, the Zentradi commander begins an assualt at this time, but is forced to call a ceasefire when large groups of soldiers, influenced by the culture of The Macross and especially by the songs of Minmay, begin to mutiny.
In order to negotiate a peace between the Zentradi fleet in orbit of Earth and The Macross, the Zentradi commander's chief adviser undergoes miclonisation and boards The Macross as a diplomat. As the two sides openly talk for the first time, sorting out misconceptions and coming to an understanding the news that the high commander and his entire fleet of roughly 4.8 million ships will be arriving to wipe out all trace of "contamination" caused by culture, the Zentradi commander realises that his fleet will also be destroyed and comes to an alliance with The Macross. Faced with nearly impossible odds, Hikaru comes up with a plan to use Minmay's songs to force a culture-shock in the incoming Zentradi forces, but before it can be fully set up the large fleet arrives. UN HQ, who never approved of the alliance forged by The Macross, open fire with a massive weapon that makes use of the Earth's gravity itself (yup, in the macross saga they finally went and weaponised a planet...) taking out huge amounts of the incoming fleet, but the attack on Earth couldnt be prevented, and almost the entire planet is wiped out, leaving the surface cratered. The Final attack by the Macross/Zentradi alliance begins, with losses on both sides, but in the end The Macross forces its way into the moon-sized carrier containing the high commander and destroys it, falling heavily damaged to the earth.
This is the point where the original plot ended, but due to the increased budget the show's success brought, we pick up the story two years later.
With all of Earth's cities destroyed, and most of its people killed, the combined people of The Macross and the Zentradi begin the process of rebuilding a place to live and recovering the earth itself from the painful battle. The Macross is contained in a man-made lake and the city from inside it has been moved back outside, around it and is now known as Macross City, the new capitol of a new world. Minmay and her cousin, now her manager, have left, and Hikaru and Misa are still in the military, working to keep peace and protect against any other Zenradi forces from attacking. The world isnt at peace yet however, as many of the Zentradi are struggling to fit in to a peaceful world, being only ever used for war and destruction. The slowly bubbling romance between Misa and Hikaru begins to take root in Misa, as her feelings toward Hikaru become far more obvious, as well as her jealousy for Minmay as Hikaru still obviously holds a torch for her. As the unsatisfied Zentradi begin to form under the banner of the leader of the rogue faction who had lead many unauthorised attacks during the war, Minmay grows increasingly unhappy in her role as a singer, constantly trying to get back to Hikaru. When she is kidnapped by the rogue Zentradi leader and Hikaru rescues her, she realises she is in love with him, and begins in earnest to try and spend time with him. However, its at this time that Hikaru finally finds out Misa is in love with him, and begins to try and spend time with her. After standing Misa up to see Minmay, then lying to Misa about it, who finds out like 20 minutes later it seems like nothing will come of it. Minmay vanishes from her singing career after a row with her cousin and turns up at Hikaru's. Misa finds out and considers quitting the military as seeing Hikaru is too painful for her.
Its at this point that Captain Global, now effective commander-in-Chief of the military government of Earth, offers Misa command of the first ship of the space colonisation programe, stating that the Earth, and human culture, was almost wiped out, and there's no way they can definately defend the earth from future attacks, and in fact trying to build up a military powerful enough to do that would ensure the earth would become a target. His idea is to spead humanity with it Zentradi allies and the human culture out among the stars, so it will definately survive. Misa then turns up at Hikaru's, where Minmay is trying to convince Hikaru to quit the military and vanish with her, and tells him the whole story about the colonisation plan, and that she loves him, and will never see him again from that day on. As she leaves the rogue Zentradi launch an all out attack on Macross City, and in the flames and explosions the final confrontation between the three members of this love triangle happens. Hikaru decides to go and fight, to protect the city, its people and the human culture, leaving Minmay behind to go with Misa and making his choice between the two. The attack is thwarted, and in the aftermath Minmay tells Hikaru and Misa that she's leaving for a town so far away she's never been, and that when she can sing with her true feelings, she'd like to join Misa's colony ship.
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This is a VERY abridged version of the story, there's so much more in there, some thing's i've left out so as not to spoil it too much, others because while its interesting, its not completely relevant. For a 36 episode story its packed to the seams with tales, individuals with their own stories, pasts and battles. Part of why this story is so loved, so long lasting is because of this, because despite its fictional setting its so very real and human. Epic is such a over-used term these days, but its original meaning was used to describe historic poems of ancient heroes and battles taking place in a massive, grand scale, so its not an exaggeration to refer to this series as "Epic" in the slightest, no other term can come close to explaining it.
MACROSS LOVE-TRIANGLE
The original macross love triangle, the main hero, Hikaru, begins very much in love with Minmay, but her constant referal to him as "only a friend", her flirting with other men constantly and eventually all the time she spends becoming an "idol" frustrate and upset him. The final straw coming in the on-screen kiss between Minmay and her cousin in a movie she starred in, as Minmay's cousin had been deliberatly driving a wedge between Hikaru and Minmay because of his hate for all things military.
On the other hand, Hikaru's relationship with Misa was nearly always atagonistic, offending her right from the start by calling her an "old lady" as well as clashing with her verbally once she became his commanding officer. He rarely sees her or treats her as a woman, and is always disobeying her orders. The romance is very one sided on Misa's part, born mostly from his herioc actions and personality, refusing to leave her to die on several occasions, directly saving her life as well.
Minmay comes across as a bit of a childish, selfish flirt, but she genuinely holds Hikaru dear, just never sees him as anything but a friend. She aggravates the wedge her cousin drives between her and Hikaru with her fan-like adoration of him, even if she doesnt see her cousin as romantic material her behaviour around him leads everyone, especially the press, to believe otherwise. Driven only by wanting fame, in a way I think ending with her being the one left out was the right choice.
The interactions between the three are fairly straight forward to begin with, its not till we get towards the end that the triangle aspect really begins to kick in, With Hikaru telling Minmay he loves her before the huge battle in episode 27, and her admitance that she only sees him as a friend, when he later rescues Misa there's a moment of tenderness, possibly because of the emotionally charged situation, because they'd not seen each other in a while or due to genuine feelings. Its the extended section, the "two years later" episodes that really expand, explore and drive home the love triangle, and set in motion the much-loved bittersweet aspect of macross stories that help set this franchise apart from so many others.
SUMMARY -
Story - Where to begin? the plot itself is legendary, when you watch it you can see things that happen that are seen in so many other animes you'd be forgiven for thinking that Macross is a huge jumble of ripped off ideas, except this is the ORIGINAL source for most of them, Its inspired so many other stories, created a massive legal war, a model sales franchise to rival Gundam and shaped the course of anime. Individuals are reasonably well written, a little wooden and under-developed in some cases if you compare it to today's standards, but as the anime pre-dates the majority of anime fans brought up on a diet of pokemon, one-piece and narutodatebayo, I'm willing to be a little forgiving in that respect. I'd give the story 50 out of ten if i'd be willing to compromise my own scoring system.. 10/10
Production - With only 3 episodes completed when the series launched, and a resticted budget that was close to being exceeded even before launch, the production is well noted by fans for being terrible. Animation was shipped out to a lot of different studios to speed up the production, and as a result there are discrepancies, colour issues, continuity screw ups, timing issues, re-used animations, distorted character bodies and everything else. There's even a point during the "miss macross" sequence where it looks like half the contestant HAVE NO FEET.. Its also 30 years old, so is entirely hand-animated, no CG to spot or save parts. Under normal circumstances, and if it was almost any other anime, I wouldnt even have watched it. By its time-period it was poorly produced, and by today's standards its awful.. But the story is so good, it really should be remade using current techniques.. 1/10
Music - Again suffering from both the 30 year time difference and the exceptionally low budget, there is very little scoring, and what is there is terrible. often overpowering the voices, very forced and unconvincing. Minmay's song "My boyfriend is a pilot" is played so many times you'll never want to hear the words "Kyuun kyuun" EVER again. Later songs, obviously done once the budget was increased, have less play-time in the series, sound better and have better production values themselves. I'm not an expert on Japanese music trends in the early 80's, as i was only 5 myself, but the music hasnt lasted the test of time too well. The opening theme sounds like bad karaoke, while the ending uses a Minmay track. Its only the fact that the songs fit the time-frame of release and later insert tracks are better that prevents this from getting a 1. 3/10
Accessability - Alternate timeline, in space on a ship.. There's really no "exclusively japanese" aspects to the show, save for maybe the "idol fan club chants" during Minmay's concerts. should pose no trouble culturally unless you're from a giant alien race bred only for war. 10/10
Overall Impression - I am so torn on this.. I love the story, even watching it fresh like this it impresses me. Its so huge in scope, paced well and action packed with no real boring moments, but its so poorly produced, and so old now, that its harsh to watch from a critical viewpoint. I was hoping that as they've done something for the last 2 5-year-interval anniversaries, that they'd do something HUGE for the 30th anniversary this year, and I was praying for a remade modern version of the first macross series, or a movie at least.. instead they put on a musical at the Tokyo dome.. which makes Shingi a very sad panda. I would tell people to watch this show, but I wont blame you if the age and bad production put you off. Still one of my personal faves though. 7/10
Final Score - 31/50
