The Macross Retrospective

While Mobile Suit Gundam might be the reigning King of Mecha Anime, there are several other long lasting franchises that have etched their own space in the history of the Anime medium.  One such franchise might be the closest Gundam has ever had to a true rival for the throne: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, or Macross for short.  Transformable jets; Wars on an Intergalactic Stage; blood and fist pumping music and romances that span the ages, Macross has pioneered much of what Anime fans love about Mecha and did for the 80’s what Gundam did for the late 70s, injected bold new blood into a genre that had become stagnant and repetitive.  As we near the end of 2022, and the 40^th Anniversary of the Macross Franchise, I figured it was long overdue for the Gundam Anime Corner to give Macross a quick retrospective of its own.  While I’ve reviewed my fair share of Macross features, I haven’t seen everything so many pardons if some info is a bit off.  Anyway, onto this bonus little Christmas present of mine, this is the Gundam Anime Corner’s Macross Retrospective.

 
The saga began back in 1982.  After the breath of fresh air given to the Mecha Genre of Anime with Gundam’s Human Civil War angle, Director Shoji Kawamori decided to shake things up a bit further.  Rather than center on the more traditional combining mecha forming one super giant robot to take on an Alien threat, Super Dimension Fortress Macross saw a massive Alien battleship crashland on Earth and receive repairs via Humanity over the next decade.  The end result was the newly minted titular battleship and while it could transform into a skyscraper sized weapon of mass destruction, it also housed hundred of newly developed, transformable fighter Jets aka the Valkyries.  These were some of the biggest draws of Macross as Humanities eventual war with the Macross’ original owners, the Zentradi, led to stellar dogfights, gorgeously animated and pushing the limits of what Anime could do in the early 1980s.  

But arguably the bigger draw of Macross is a core element that has seen itself repeated several times within the franchise…actually make that 2 elements: The Music and The Love Triangle.  The musical talents of lead character Lynn Minmei became an integral part of not just the series marketing but also as a defining tool of Mankinds war against the Zentradi, several times being used as a weapon to disrupt the attacking Aliens and give the Macross a way to win against overwhelming odds.  Beyond this, there were our three main series leads: Hikaru Ichigo, a gifted rookie pilot; Misa Hayase, second in command of the Macross; and the aforementioned Minmei, a young girl dreaming of stardom.  Hikaru found himself drawn towards both beauties numerous times for different reasons and both Misa and Minmei offered different romantic angles to flesh out their characters as well as Hikaru’s.  The end result was a smash hit that ran for 36 episodes and had viewers turning in for the Space Opera romance as well as the intense mecha dog fights.  While not the first Mecha hit of the 80s, Super Dimension Fortress Macross would become that title that would set the benchmark for the rest.  

Macross’ immense popularity was so huge that in 1984, the series received it’s first feature film: Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?  The movie retold the events of the series in a daker fashion, with more emphasis placed on the love triangle between it’s three leads.  Unlike Compilation Films, Do You Remember Love was created with 100% original animation, with many calling it one of the most gorgeous looking Anime films ever made.  While several Minmei tracks were utilized, new classic tunes were produced as well, including the titular “Do You Remember Love” which plays during the films finale.  Elements from both the TV Series and Do You Remember Love movie were later used for the Fifth Anniversary OVA, Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012, which centered on a proposed but unused ending for the original TV Series.  Other than these two major entries, Macross seemed like a one and done in Japan.  It’s reach in Japan was big, but it’s success in the US was another story. 

While there was an unsuccessful attempt to bring an American Dub of Macross to the States, US fans would get to know Hikaru and the Valkyries through a very different title.  In 1985, Macross would become the launch bed of the Anime Series, Robotech.  This project, the brainchild of Harmony Gold, saw three Mecha Anime with similar elements merged together to tell a sprawling, generations spanning adventures.  The three chosen titles, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeda, would each be the focus of their own individual season.  The First Season, dubbed The Macross Saga, proved to be the most popular with fans around the world falling in love with the sleek mecha designs of the Veritech (Valkyrie) fighter jets and getting swept up in the romance between Rick Hunter (Hikaru Ichigo), Lisa Hayes (Misa Hayase) and Lynn Minmei (name unchanged).  It was so popular in fact that while Robotech completed it’s three season run, most fans were only interested in the characters from Macross and often wondered what became of them after the Macross Saga.  There was an attempt to explore that angle in future sequels such as Robotech II: The Sentinels and Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, but neither of those projects ever scratched that particular itch from fans, some of whom still hope for a true Macross Robotec sequel one day. 

But let’s get back to Macross in Japan.  In 1992, the franchise turned 10 and a project was commissioned to celebrate that milestone.  However, what would come to be known as Super Dimension Fortress Macross II-Lovers Again, would be created by an entirely original animation team and studio, and it kind of shows in the overall quality and legacy of this OVA.  As a result, this sequel is often treated with zero connection to the original series, even being considered part of an alternate universe.  The lackluster reception to Macross II led to Shoji Kawamori returning to the franchise to work on a proper sequel and man what a sequel it was to be.  Released in 1994, Macross Plus centered on a competition between two former friends, Isamu Dyson and Gould Goa Boaman, over the next generation of fighter jets to be deployed by the military.  They’d also be compete for the affections of their childhood friend, Myung Fang Lone, keeping in the tradition of the Hikaru, Misa and Minmei love triangle.  Unlike Macross II, Macross Plus received universal acclaim from fans and critics and is often cited as one of the greatest Anime ever made.  The project would also see the use of rising industry talents such as Director Shinichiro Watanabe and Composer Yoko Kanno, both of whom would reteam a few years later for Cowboy Bebop, need more be said about that one?  One more quick tidbit before we move on, though it was released as four episode OVA, Macross Plus was originally envisioned as a feature film and would receive the Compilation Film treatment in 1995 with Macross Plus: Movie Edition.  Just between us though, the Movie is perfectly fine and expands on a couple of notable plot points…but I think the OVA is superior, basically perfect, just sayin. 

Macross Plus wasn’t the only Macross entry to arrive in 1994.  That same year saw Macross return to TV Screens across Japan for the first time in 12 years.  Macross 7 would be set 35 years after the end of the original series (and five years after the events of Macross Plus) and focus on a deep space exploration fleet headed by the titular Macross battleship.  While several characters from the original Macross would return, most notably Max Jenius as the ships Captain and his wife, Millia, as the Mayor of the ships civilian population, the main characters focused on in Macross 7 would be the Band Fire Bomber.  Led by the talented but aloof Basara Nekki, and consisting of both Humans and Zentradi, the music of Fire Bomber, like the music of Lynn Minmei before them, would become a focal point for not just the plot of Macross 7 but it’s overall success as well.  The music of Fire Bomber arguably became its most popular element with many original albums based on the shows music being released well after Macross 7 ended.  Also Basara had his own Valkyrie with a guitar that he could take into battle…weird and crazy at the same time.  Unlike it’s original predecessor, Macross 7 had a few more OVA projects after its 49 episode TV run including 1995’s Macross 7: The Movie-The Galaxy Is Calling Me!; the 1997 sequel OVA Macross Dynamite 7 and 2012’s Macross FB 7: Ore no Uta o Kike!, a crossover film between Macross 7 and it’s eventual TV successor but we’ll get there in a moment. 

Come 2002, Macross was turning 20 and the Anime landscape was changing, moving past traditional hand drawn animation that had been the staple for decades and moving into a more digital frontier, with Gundam trying its hand at Digi Paint with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and up and coming franchises like Full Metal Panic stepping into the ring as well.  Macross sought to get in on this new digital age as well and this time, for its 20^th Anniversary, it was going back to the very beginning…kind of.  Macross Zero took place a year before the events of the original series and focused on the closing days of the climactic war often spoken of but hardly seen before the Zentradi conflict that dwarfed it.  While the story focused on newcomer Shin Kudo and his interactions with a tribe in the Pacific with ties to the eventually christened Macross, the biggest sell point of Zero would be its implementation of CG animation, particularly for the signature aerial dogfights of the franchise.  One of the most iconic moments in the whole Macross franchise appears early in in the OVA where viewers got to see a Valkyrie transform in incredible detail, down to the smallest gear switching within the fighter.  While not quite as memorable as Macross Plus, Macross Zero was a good primer for things to come when Macross would return to TV screens in 2008. 

Nine years after Fire Bomber blew up the Anime airwaves with their legendary music, a new generation of Macross took flight in Macross Frontier.  Set 15 years after Macross 7, this newest TV entry saw the titular battleship continuing the exploratory adventures begun by its predecessors.  At the heart of it all, Frontier saw a new love triangle take form.  This time the three wayward souls were Alto Saotome, a handsome pilot from an accomplished family of Kabuki stage actors; Sheryl Nomme, a popular and beautiful music idol; and Ranka Lee, a one quarter Zentradi girl with aspirations to become as popular as Sheryl.  Seeing as how Frontier was animated by the same studio that worked on Zero, the series continued to excel at CG mecha dogfights and even had a full CG Macross joining the battle as well.  As is the theme of most Macross entries, the music was key and both Sheryl and Ranka brought their own memorable idol tracks to the mix, the series leaning into a more Jpop centric sounds as opposed to Fire Bombers rock, though Fire Bomber and Lynn Minmei continue to be influences to everyone in Macross Frontier.  Frontier proved quite popular despite it’s short episode run compared to the OG Macross and Macross 7 and Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee continue to be major faces of the franchise, practically as popular poster girls as Minmei and Misa.  The success of Frontier led to not just the aforementioned crossover movie with Macross 7 but also a pair of Compilation Films as well, 2009’s Macross Frontier: The Movie-The False Songstress and 2011’s Macross Frontier: The Movie-The Wings of Goodbye. 

In the latest chapter in the Macross franchise, 2016’s Macross Delta, the key theme of Music uniting all life in a peaceful passion, took a more important turn than ever.  The series sees a group of Idols, the Walkure, being selected a special squadron whose music is essential to calming a new kind of viral weapon that turns people violent.  While it doesn’t exclude the more traditional aerial space action, it’s clear that Delta has opted to put more of an emphasis than ever on music.  As essential as that is to Macross though, it hasn’t earned Delta or it’s two Compilation Films, 2018’s Macross Delta: The Movie-Passionate Walkure and 2021’s Macross Delta: The Movie-Absolute Live, the most resounding fan fare, especially compared to previous entries.  As of right now, any new Macross news is radio silent.  But then again, fans have become used to waiting nearly a decade for a new project to make its way to the airwaves or theaters. 

It's funny, Macross is only slightly younger than Gundam, celebrating it’s 40^th Anniversary in 2022, and yet it doesn’t have nearly as many titles to its name by comparison.  Since it’s creation in 1982, there have been 4 TV Series, 3 original OVAs, 2 original theatrical sequels and a handful of Compilation Films.  It’s not a super long list of titles to peruse compared to Gundam but that makes Macross a bit more easily accessible, I think.  Not to mention, whether you love it or hate it (probably the latter), the Macross Saga of Robotech isn’t the worst introduction to Macross either, probably hueing closer to the original source material than later seasons, heck its where I first learned about Macross myself on Toonami.  While there’s usually a lengthy wait between new stories, Macross continues to soar fast, look fantastic, sound beautiful and continue to redefine and reinvent itself while still preserving those core elements that make its legacy a long lasting one: cool fighter jets, cute idol girls and eternally awesome music.  

Happy 40^th Birthday Macross and here’s to 40 more and many more.