FIF#64-Genesis Climber Mospeda

2050 AD-Earth was attacked by a powerful alien force called the Inbit and was conquered while the survivors escaped to Mars.  2080 AD-Humanity attempted to reclaim their homeworld, sending a massive force from Mars…they failed.  Three years later another attempt is made, resulting in greater disaster.  But this time, hope has made it to the surface in the form of Stig Bernard, the last survivor of the 2^nd Mars Liberation Force.  While he is one man, he is armed with the latest weaponry from Mars.  And he is no longer alone.  Amassing a small team of freedom fighters, Stig takes the battle to the Inbit, for freedom, for revenge, for a new tomorrow for the human race.

Like I said last week, the 70’s and 80’s were overly stuffed with Giant Robot Anime, they were the decades of scifi after all.  Many titles kind of clashed together, especially the Super Combiner titles like Combattler V or Beast King Go-Lion (aka Voltron).  So it’s kind of surprising that Genesis Climber Mospeada was the title chosen to be the third season of Robotech (The New Generation) because, much like Southern Cross, what makes it so special?

Well, the praise I can give Mospeada (an incredibly long acronym for…something, ill be sure to add it at the end of this article), at least the mecha designs are a bit more interesting.  On the one hand, its not surprising after all to see why this was a Robotech story candidate: there are transformable fighter planes in space.  The fighters aren’t too badly designed, though I could do without them having their backs look so bulky.  Plus there’s the transforming bikes on the surface.  I definitely got a bit of a Bubblegum Crisis feel from watching Stig combine his pilot suit with the motorcycle to form a battle ready piece of genuine awesome.

Otherwise, Mospeada feels like a slightly better Southern Cross.  The characters are a little better (or at least more mature than Jeanne), but the animation isn’t anything to write home about and the quest to retake Earth from invaders is…well kind of old if im honest.  You can only do a premise like this so many times before it becomes stale and stagnant and the 80’s played this premise to death before the 90’s breathed some life back into it with Macross Plus and Martian Successor Nadesico.  As for the Aliens themselves, theyre own mecha designs aren’t spectacular individually but it was chilling to see them swarm and overwhelm the Mars Strike Force. 

I know this Anime has its fans but im not sure if ill continue on with Genesis Climber Mospeada.  After checking out the three series back to back, I can kind of see why more people love the Macross Saga and not so much the latter two Sagas.  The art is 80’s classic fare but forgettable, the premise has some promise but the first episode doesn’t get things going too quickly and the characters aren’t very stand out either.  The Mecha have cool designs and its always fun to see that Macross/Top Gun style action.  But like Southern Cross, Mospeada doesn’t have much to its legacy besides its Robotech connection…I kind of feel sad.