Category: Mecha

Macross Plus, Luck is just one of my many skills.

Leave a comment

The same as Narutaki I watched Robotech as as child. Oddly enough I remember discussing Robotech around the lunch table more than I remember watching Robotech itself. But my formal introduction to the Macross franchise proper was, like so many others of my generation, through Macross Plus. It was one of the first anime to stick out in my mind that knocked my socks off. Late one of my friend in college was a huge Yoko Kano fan. I also vividly remember her various pieces of Sharon Apple fan art on her dorm room wall. I fondly remember watching Macross Plus with her. When I made my transition from casual anime fan to a hardcore one, the first DVD I went out and rented was Macross Plus. In retrospect I realize that Macross Plus might have had more of a significant impact on my life than initially suspected.

Macross Plus was one of those shows everyone saw in the 90’s. It was short, well animated, and quite good. And it had a killer soundtrack. I have my VHS copies laying around somewhere. It even secured some peoples’ places in anime fandom and therefore it secured itself as a memorable title that will continue to be talked about.

Macross Plus starts with Isamu Alva Dyson being demoted to test pilot on the planet Eden for being a reckless cocky jerk that disobeys orders. From the way Isamu’s face lights up this is like punishing a child by sending him to Disney World. When Isamu gets to Eden he learns that the new Valkyrie he will be flying is competing for the same contract against another prototype Valkyrie piloted by his former childhood friend, Guld Goa Bowman. They have had a major falling in years past that sets them at each others’ throats making their competition about more than just who gets the contract. At the same time the third member of Isamu’s childhood love triangle, Myung Fang Lone, has come to Eden to oversee a concert for the pop idol, Sharon Apple, who she is representing. Sharon Apple is not a human but a virtual idol. The reunion of these three friends will bring specters of the past to the surface.

Isamu is the classic type A robot pilot. The fiery, slightly jerky, hot-head who constantly disobeys orders. He loves flying and being a pilot almost as much as he loves women. And boy does he love women. The first thing he does when he gets to Eden is start hitting on Lucy, the blonde woman who works on the project with him. Isamu lives his life like he flies; always with his balls to the wall. He needs danger in his life so he is always pushing himself to the limit. Isamu is the Roy Fokker type. He is also clearly still in love with Myung but realizes there is still a far distance between the two of them.

Isamu lives to fly, from his childhood flashbacks to his present self Isamu is desperate to be in the sky, it drives him. Something about that is very endearing to me. But when Isamu comes back to his home planet of Eden, things and emotions he hasn’t thought about in years start bubbling and clouding his view. By the end he is no longer so single-minded. I’m glad you brought up Lucy because I was just thinking about how her quick attachment to Isamu was a little sad. I found her quite relatable. Her moment near the end when she tells Isamu that no one owns him seemed genuinely like she was convincing herself to do what was right even though it was the exact opposite of what she wanted.

To counterbalance Isamu, we have Guld who is your classic type B robot pilot. The ice-cold perfectionist who has a hidden, fiery temper. Unlike Isamu, Guld maintains control at all times out of fear of pushing himself to the limit. He never lets himself get to close to the edge because he knows the Zentradi rage is waiting there for him. He clearly blames Isamu for the incident that broke up their friendship and he is in no mood for forgiveness. Like Isamu he is still in love with Myung.

Guld and Isamu are so different from each other when we meet them that it is almost impossible to believe they were ever best friends. But as the past starts to unfold you realize that the incident is what really caused their personalities to move in polar opposite directions. Guld’s hatred for Isamu is so great it blinds him to everything else. He becomes unhinged during his test flights, he can’t concentrate when he never had this problem before.

Myung is a woman who is very successful but has had to make several compromises to get to where she is today. These compromises have tainted what she has accomplished and seem to greatly sadden her. That she has been forced to keep several huge secrets buried within herself doesn’t help matters. Her whole life is a series of lies she has been forced to live. Myung wants to throw off these lies but she would be forced to hurt herself and others if she did so.

Myung is strong and successful woman who has had to put her own dream aside to get where she is. The people that knew her so well back when still recognize her dreams and in turn make her remember them as well. Her character is the one that actually cements the fact that Macross Plus is a more mature story about life a little further down the road.

I would be very remiss to ignore the vitally important Sharon Apple. Sharon Apple is behind many of the conflicts and secrets of Macross Plus so too much detail about her leads to spoiler country. What can be said is that Sharon Apple is a very special AI with an almost hypnotic charm. Her non-human intelligence and instantly adaptable appearance gives her exotic and alien beauty its allure. After Isamu attends one of her concerts she begins to set her sights on him. This adds a very dangerous extra element to our love triangle.

Well, Sharon Apple is our idol singer but she doesn’t end up being quite what you’d expect. Her concert looks more like a strange religious gathering than a pop show and her fans are vehemently devoted. She also isn’t the essential ingredient in the love triangle but nonetheless she has a role to play in it.

The reason all these people can’t get their life back on tract all stems back to the reason that dissolved their friendship. This leads to one of the most unique love triangles in Macross. The standard Macross love triangle is one guy or girl who meets two potential loves at around the same time and has to decide between the two. Macross Plus’s love triangle is about old loves coming back together and dealing with their past. In a way it’s a more mature love triangle. It’s not the innocent story of puppy love but a gritty love tinged with regret and loss. Only Misa’s story in the original Macross even comes close. Also the relationship between Isamu and Guld is just as important as the relationship between Myung and the both of them.

Misa was a fantastic element because she had a life, a past, and memories before the story told in Macross happens. The same can be found here, but with our entire triangle not just a part of it. All of these characters were somebody with mistakes, successes, and dreams that go far beyond the story we get to see told. This overall gives them a more real, fuller feel. You can surmise things about them and it helps you understand their motivations better. Macross Plus sets up a triangle with characters that aren’t pristine and pure coming out of the gate and therefore makes the love found here that much more complicated.

The animation in Macross Plus is top grade 90s OVA animation. From the aerial acrobatics of the test flights; to the mind-blowing Sharon Apple concerts; everything is simply covered in professional polish. I still remembered all the little details in the Sharon Apple concert even after not seeing the OVA for years. Some of the CG looks slightly dated now, but it was definitely top notch for its time. Macross Plus can still create the same visceral response it did back in the 90s. I think that Macross Plus succeeds so well because it is a it is a 4 episode OVA the story is very personal it can be tight within the four episodes while still giving a full story arc. Any more episode would have been filled with extraneous filler and might have weakened the over all story. These four episodes were just perfect as they were. It is worth noting that there are two versions of Macross Plus. There were originally four 40 minute OVAs. These were condensed into a 115 minute movie with some new footage. I have never seen the movie but I know there is a good mixture of people who prefer one version over the other.

The music in Macross Plus is different yet familiar, both new and old. It harnesses all the things music is supposed to. It isn’t just to entertain you it is there to move you, make you understand a character, and push the drama that much further. Music is never so important as it is in Macross and Yoko Kanno blows it out of the water in this rendition for the franchise. They did well to bring her talents back in Macross Frontier.

I could easily just state that Yoko Kanno did the soundtrack for this series and certain people would have to read no farther in this paragraph. To them this is the ultimate mixture of peanut butter and chocolate. Two things that are great on their own but divine when mixed together. For everyone else not in the know I suppose details are necessary. One of Yoko Kanno’s greatest talents is mixing a wide variety of musicals styles into all of her works while still matching each song to the scene as well as to the overall theme of the story. Voices has the tone of melancholy remembrance while Information High has pulse pounding beats, however, each song sets the scene. It’s as telling as any piece of dialog or animation. I would go as far as to say that no other Macross series has has such a perfect synchronization of music to animation.

Macross Plus at its heart is a much more personal story than any of the other iterations of the Macross franchise. Even the spectacular battle at the end boils down to personals conflicts between the members of our core love triangle. Usually a Macross series is about intergalactic war and the fate of humanity being one step from extinction. Here it is about three friends being forced back into each others’ lives after their friendship was torn asunder. Each of them has lost their way in life and is trying unsuccessfully to get their life back on track but can’t seem to do so. It just so happens that a good deal of military hardware ends up getting used to sort out these personal conflicts.

Top 5 Favorite Macross Pilots
5. Nexx (Macross II)
4. Isamu Dyson (Macross Plus)
3. Ozma Lee (Macross Frontier)
2. Basara Nekki (Macross 7)
1. Roy Focker (Macross/Macross Zero)

//

Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II, What only stars remember.

Leave a comment

While I do recall seeing some Robotech when I was younger, Macross II was actually my first leap into the franchise and actually sparked my interest in it. Which is kind of ironic since it isn’t in the timeline, it has been cast out!

It is the only Macross series not worked on by Studio Nue. So when Studio Nue started making Macross anime again they promptly went out of their way to state that Macross II was not canon and was to be promptly ignored by all future Macross anime. I am curious how much of it is rights issues and how much of it is bitterness on Studio Nue’s part after being left out of working on Macross II. It’s not like it was Highlander II for goodness sake.

But nevertheless I still appreciate it! It seems to hold onto the spirit of Macross. More so than some other renditions in the Macross franchise. I even have a lovely poster of Macross/Macross II hanging in my office!

Macross II deals with a love triangle including a pilot and a singer, the power of a love song, a clash of cultures, and an intergalactic war that threatens to wipe out humanity. All the hallmarks of the original Macross series. They are both extremely similar in theme and style. Compare that to say Macross 7 and Macross Zero which both wildly differ from their source on a variety of levels. So far only Macross Frontier has come as anywhere near as close to recapturing the original Macross spirit.

Macross II starts 80 after the end of the original Macross. Hibiki Kanzaki is a reporter who’s journalistic paradigm is radically altered after witnessing a battle between the UN forces and a mysterious fleet of Zentradi soldiers who are unaffected by the culture shock of music. During this battle Hibiki find a mysterious non-Zentradi woman named Ishtar on-board one of the enemy ships. He takes her back to earth in hopes of getting the scoop of the century. He gets his story and much more than he bargained for. Ishtar is the key to defeating an enemy that is seemingly unaffected by the music of Earth.

Hibiki isn’t a hot-headed pilot but he is a hot-headed news reporter! He funnily enough seems to have the opposite view that most young reports have, he wants sensationalism! Forget the truth you have to keep people entertained! But after he gets roped into helping the war correspondent for his company he starts to have a change of heart. When he realizes that his partner’s legacy, what he died for, was not going to be shown to the public Hibiki vows to get the biggest scoop he can about the current war. He is very determined and completely reckless, this is the reason Silvie and him spend so much time together! And even though he wants to make a story out of her, he does end up caring deeply for Ishtar.

Hibiki is a real jerk that is secretly a good guy when push comes to shove. I felt from the start Hibiki want to report the truth. It’s just that he is not above pandering to the masses to get his point across. Hibiki grows significantly in a short time while still staying true to the character he was at the beginning of the series. But he is a more mature hot-headed sensationalist reporter who looks at what he reports on differently. It was interesting change to the standard Macross love triangle to make one of them a reporter. Hibiki being a reporter gives us someone who is an outsider to the military but has good reasons to be involved with them. It is a refreshing change of perspective.

Ishtar is apart of the enemy, they are different from the Zentradi in many way including that they use music to make people want to fight. Outside of the singers the race is a warrior culture with a desire for war and destruction. So she is amazed to find a culture that does the opposite with song. Through Hibiki she starts to learn about Earth’s culture and eventually he takes her to a concert of the current pop idol, Wendy Ryder. So the combination of learning about love songs and actually falling in love with Hibiki pushes her to try and make peace between the two factions.

Ishtar and the rest of the Marduk in general have a Babylonian theme. Ishtar herself is sort of a tabula rasa when it comes to dealing with society. She is a priestess that is isolated from others except for her role as an emulator. She wants to learn about Earth culture because she believes that Earth may be the planet that is featured in a ancient prophecy about the future of her race. When she first encounters human culture it overwhelms her enough to cause her great discomfort. Hibiki slowly shows her the beauty of human culture and she begins to believe that humanity’s songs of peace and love may open the way for a better future for the Marduk.

Silvie is a tough as nails ace pilot who starts off with a vendetta against Hibiki after he catches her going to a hotel room with a high ranking office of UN Spacey. She starts off following Hibiki in hopes of getting him back for humiliating her. While spying on Hibiki she has to defend him and Ishtar from the Marduk who come to retrieve their most valuable emulator. She eventually falls in with Hibiki to protect Ishtar and becomes closer to both them. She definitely comes off as a strong female character with a feminine undercurrent.

It is nice to see our pilot in the triangle be an intelligent and capable woman. Actually she is the only one who is involved with the military, much to Hibiki’s chagrin. Though I find her overbearing for most of the first half of the show, she has moments when her rough exterior is broken and you see a real woman. Especially when she and Hibiki are searching for Ishtar in the enemy fleet. After that she really starts to grow.

In the original VHS copy I have of this show, huge portions of the last three OAVs are missing. Thankfully the DVD version has them in. It was like watching a new show! Especially since what was lost was mostly the space battles. They were good, well done, and added some much needed action and suspense. Seriously, Nexx rocks! He was saving the entire fleet, why wasn’t there more Nexx in this show?

Yeah, if it is military related then Nexx does it. Nexx does everything from taking out enemies in a Valkyrie to planning battle strategy to captaining a capital ship. All he does not do is take out Lord Emperor Ingues in a fist fight.

So how come in three different Macross series the mothership looks EXACTLY the same? Even though they are all different alien races? Well, anyway the main villain seems to have the same motivation as usual, destroy the Protoculture! It will contaminate us! But the enemy is different from the Zentradi in many ways including the fact that they are microns and their men and women cohabitate. Feff, who is a captain of one of the enemy ships is interesting because he shows their is emotion on their side, as he admits to “loving above his station.” He is also a bad-ass.

The Marduk are different enough that the initial Minmay attack does not work but similar enough that the themes of original Macross can be revisited. The Marduk never get more than the bare minimum in back story but they seem like an interesting race. I was slightly curious how the Marduk become involved in such a parasitic relationship with the Zentradi but unfortunately Macross II is not nearly long enough to be able to go into such stories and still finish the important plot points of the series.

This show cracks me up because the military has Teen Beat stars. The military is the celebrities of the day. They are who the tabloids write about and who people want autographs from. They do flashy stunts and participate in the big event the “Moon Festival.” Girls squeal about Nexx and guys say they want to marry Silvie.

I think that marriage is not necessarily the first things on guys minds when they see Silvie. If Hikaru from the original Macross lived in time of Macross II it might have been Minmay that was chasing him.

The music in Macross II is actually quite nice. No Minmay of course though they do make reference to her and what she did all those years ago. They even use the Minmay attack at one point, but replaced by another girl. The opening song is especially good and also the main song at the concert Hibiki and Ishtar attend is a highlight.

For a Macross series we don’t get that many songs and Ishtar does not sings that much for the character that is the singer of the love triangle. But every time she does sings it makes a big impact. We also get some Wendy Ryder songs and like any good Macross series the concert scenes are as lush and awesome as the final battles.

My major criticism of the show is that it seems to have wanted to be a 13 or 26 episode series but only got to be a 6 episode OVA. They just introduced what could have been rather epic story but then they have to settle it rather quickly. If Macross II had had some more time to stretch its legs it might have received a better reception. The premise is solid and enjoyable, the characters are good and easily likable, and the director and scriptwriters seemed competent.

I can see what you mean. It has all the trappings of the original series so it could have easily continues on with a longer show. But I thought the character development was there. The things that were missing a bit for me was the military point of view. We get it a bit, but since two of the main characters are uninvolved directly with UN Spacy their presences isn’t as felt. I would have liked to see more Nexx, as mentioned before, and also Silvie’s squadron. Also the love story does not get pushed as far as it needed.

The love triangle certainly suffers as a result of its time constraints. While Hibiki, Ishtar, and Silvie definitely got closer as the show went on, there was that much romance between any of the three of them. Did the three of them become friends? Yes. Did they change each other lives and how they view themselves and others? Yes. Did I sense romantic interest or sexual tension? Not really. They just never had enough time to build up a proper love triangle. The foundation was there. There are inklings of feelings but not enough to fully sell me. Who ends up with who mostly seems to be there for the convenience of the plot more than full character development. I am sure they could have had a great triangle.

Top 5 Favorite Macross Women
5. Mao Nome (Macross Zero)
4. Silvie Gena (Macross II)
3. Misa Hayase (Macross)
2. Ranka Lee (Macross Frontier)
1. Rex (Macross 7)

//

Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, Do You Remember Love? It’s far better to hug a woman than to fight her.

Leave a comment

Macross: Do You Remember Love? is a movie remake of the first arc of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. DYRL starts off in the middle of the action with the Macross already fighting the Zentradi in space; Hiraku is already a pilot; Minmay is already a star. This is mostly a condensed retelling of the original Macross series. All the major scenes, deaths, defeats, and triumphs are revisited but now they play out a little differently than they did before. Canonically DYRL is supposed to be a movie made in the Macross universe based on the events in the TV series.

In fact, we start off in the middle of a Minmay concert. However, Hikaru and Minmay haven’t met yet. When they do meet it is much the same as the original though in the original the situation seems much more dire. All of the other relationships are already established, like Roy and Hikaru’s brotherly bond and Misa and Hikaru grating on each other. Oh and Kaifun is there too, though if you hadn’t seen the TV series you would be clueless of who the heck he is. They seriously don’t even say his name in the movie. Not that we care.

It’s rather odd they never even try to explain who Kaifun is because if you did not watch the TV series you would have no idea who this strange guy who is oddly familiar with Minmay is. They just assume you already know who he is or don’t need to know. He does not appear a lot but he is present for some pivotal scenes. Oh well it’s Kaifun. The less Kaifun the better.

So while we jump in with a lot of action, a lot of the relationships are not fleshed out to their necessity. It does rely on your knowing at least a little about all of these people already. But as popular as it was, that isn’t a bad assumption. Though I do feel if you were just going to watch DYRL without the benefit of the TV series you wouldn’t be lost. I just felt this was sometimes difficult to understand Misa’s point of view without knowing her backstory and family history. Also her friendship with Claudia gave many insights in the TV series which we miss here.

Continue reading →