Macross Plus has always been a title among titles, a name
recognized as representing some of the best Anime has to offer. And after a great opening set, it’s great to
say that it has lived up to that hype.
After a super mecha smack down brawl, it was nice for
Macross Plus to take a moment to step back and breathe. Like Isamu riding out with Myung to the
forest to recoup, the story seems to get a nice chance to air out and bring
tensions to the surface. Gould and Isamu’s
second dual, this time with fists, is mixed very well to a recipe of rain,
piano and just a lot of anger that needed to be resolved. Myung getting caught up just made the
situation all the more important, allowing her to vent her frustrations about
the past and her own role in Sharon’s existence in front of both her former friends. I really liked Lucy, who we know has pinned
for Isamu, tell Myung that Isamu knew the entire time about where Sharon’s true
voice came from. It’s a strong moment
for a couple of reasons. First and
foremost it shows that while he doesn’t want to admit it like Gould, Isamu does
give a damn about Myung and second, Lucy is willing to put Isamu’s happiness
ahead of her maybe ending up with him.
Lucy may be a cute tech girl and a helpful ally to Isamu in the testing
of the YF-19, but this selfless admittance earns her so much good cred. Scenes like the fight in the rain solidify
that the human drama works just as well as the science fiction action element.
But that scene is just a simple set up for the perfect
pay off-The final duel between Isamu and Gould in the only way they could
decide it: pushing it to the limit in air combat. Here just about everything ive bragged about
in this two part review is live and on display in spades: the fast paced
action, Yoko Kanno’s whimsical and exciting score and, probably my favorite
part, the truth of seven years ago. The
look on Goulds face when he thinks he’s killed Isamu following his memory
coming back to him says more than any line of dialogue ever could…even though
he does say it a moment later, heartbroken.
Cue the piano version of “Voices” as the two friends fly together softly
and without quarrel, their rivalry behind them and a hearty laugh shared. We’ve been waiting to see who would come out
on top in this competition…and the winner was both pilots, no longer enemies
but once again friends.
That being said, the finale of Macross Plus does kind of
peak at the end of that duel. Not to say
I didn’t think it was well done, I just like the Isamu/Gould fight best in the
entire story. I was a bit skeptical
about a new AI controlled fighter being brought in if only to give Isamu and/or
Gould something to go up against. But once
I heard that the chip used to complete that fighter was the same chip Myung’s
boss used in his crazed attempt to complete Sharon, then it became clear as
day. Hasn’t this guy seen Small Soldiers
(forgettable flick but the example remains the same)? You don’t put military hardware into a rather
peaceful project for mankind (in Small Soldiers it was toys, in the Anime case
a sexy songstress), it just wont end well for anyone. And sure enough, Sharon hijacks not just the Ghost
fighter, but the legendary Macross fortress itself for the final battle. As far as upping the scales go for a finale,
that’s a pretty sweet set up. It even
allows Myung a small bit of Die Hard/Ripley time as she is forced to ditch her
dress top and shoes (no nudity guys sorry) and pick up a machine gun to try and
kill Sharon…I just thought that was pretty funny even though she was trying to
be serious.
And appropriate enough for the final countdown, Sharon’s
tunes take a more heart pumping techno enthused route with my favorite track “Information
High”. While some of her songs from the
concert do make an appearance as well, this is the call to arms, race to the
battlefield track that you could mix perfectly with any fight scene. Special notice should also be given to “A Sai
En”, the tune Sharon sings as she launches the Macross. Haunting and foreboading, it’s like the entry
music for the endgame boss battle, starting unexpectedly and then ending in a
sudden drop of sound as if to strike fear in a sea of beautiful imagery as the
transfixed/possessed audience and Macross crew look on in awe. I wasnt very clear on Sharon’s ability to
hypnotize a crowd with her singing but I can sort of overlook it just because
it demonstrates clearly, the power of song in the Macross universe. Oh and the image of Sharon’s face projected
against the Macross as the cannons fire away?
Simply gorgeous.
As “Voices” played one final time once the battle
concluded, a message from the first episode flashed on the screen, “Dedicated
to you, our future pioneers”. I always wondered
what this could mean exactly and in a way, it’s a shout out to anyone watching
this show who wants to take to the skies, the stars, even pushing the
boundaries at how detailed you can make a piece of animation on a piece of
paper or a computer. Macross Plus pushed
boundaries for scifi and mecha, taking what Macross did wonderfully in the 80s
and updating, even surpassing them for the then present day audience. A collection of fast paced action packed
fights, music that will stay with you forever, and characters at the heart of a
tale who manage to be worthy of time invested and are well rounded even in 4
short episodes, even the love triangle wasn’t incredibly annoying as all
parties involved: Isamu, Gould and Myung, all had their fair share of hurt and
dealt with it in a natural way. It never
felt like it detracted cause it felt so integral to the plot that it’s hard to
think of removing it at all…way, WAY better than the awkward love triangle from
Escaflowne.
Was there anything to nitpick about? Well one thing I think the OVA and the Movie
Compilation both had a small problem with was the pacing of the very end. Without spoiling anything I think that the
OVA went a little too quick with events and in contrast, the Movie Compilation
kind of drags things out longer than it should and does drag down the built up
momentum more than it should have by that point. I guess I would have also liked to have seen
a bit more of the big past sequence but the way we are shown it makes sense for
the moment in which it is revealed…plus hey some things are just that more fun
to speculate.
Still, it didn’t make me dislike the final part in
anyway. This anime in rewatch as a whole
is about as close to a perfect Anime as one can get. It’s a technical animated wonder that still
hold up more than 20 years after it was released. Macross Plus set the stage for many a
mecha/scifi series to follow, some successful, others not. And I think it’s fitting that it ends with
the song that opened it. Like I said in
Part 1, hearing “Voices” at the beginning made me know I was going to be
watching something special…and closing out with it, Macross Plus proved to be
just that all around…special.
10/10
I was going to review the movie compilation next week but
I think I will come back to that later in the year (thinking of a special
feature ill mention later). Next week,
it’s the long awaited (I hope) return of Section 9 with the second season of
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig.
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