Macross

Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Director/Artist	Noboru Ishiguro
Format	Anime (TV)
Made By	Tatsunoko/Big West/MBS
Episode Length	25 minutes
# of Episodes	36

Genre

Mecha, Sci-Fi, Action, Romance

Sum it up in a Sentence

Girl learns what it means to become an adult and in the process, saves humanity from an ancient race of highly-advanced giant warrior aliens through her unique talents and personal bravery - robots help.

And more accurately: guy becomes robot-fighter pilot, aliens evade, shit hits the fan, has relationship troubles, LOVE TRIANGLE.

If You Liked This, You Might Like...

• Macross: Do You Remember Love?
• Gundam
• Zeta Gundam
• Macross Frontier
• Macross Plus
• Macross 7
• Macross Zero
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
• Not being murdered in your sleep by a misguided but well-meaning Macross aficionado.

Correct Opinions

TenementFunster

This series is one of my favorites, and in many ways superior to the Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie based on this series. After watching a few episodes back in the early 1990s with my old school nerd uncle, when I rewatched as an adult I went into SDF expecting a fun, brainless robot punch-up nostalgia fest. However, after about 15 episodes I realized that while the robot punching is excellent, it takes a backseat to the quality of the unconventional, shockingly competent plot, story pacing and above all the stunning character development. The show featured notoriously shoddy animation, even for the day, and age has not sweetened the current appreciation for Misa Hayase's character sheet. However, this show stands the test of time simply because of the complex characterization and a romantic subplot that is actually compelling. The last nine episodes are far and away my favorite simply because they undermine the stereotypical triumphant 'victory' over the enemy, which less interesting shows would have felt satisfied to end on. SDF Macross deftly subverts the happily-ever-after victory by showing us what happens when the characters are left to pick up the pieces of their lives in the aftermath of the battle. One thing this show suffers from is "Seinfeld Syndrome," in that the originality and complexity that wowed audiences in 1982 has been so frequently emulated in later shows in the Space Opera genre that they can seem worn out to the less sophisticated viewer (i.e. any individual who didn't waste tens of thousands of dollars on a literature degree).

So basically if you liked Macross Plus and want to watch more of something like Macross Plus, do yourself a favor and just rewatch Macross Plus. Non-stop high definition action this is not.

I see this series and Zeta Gundam to be sterling examples of two different antithetical types of storytelling in a genre which largely revolves around people slapping other people to impart wisdom or insight. While Zeta excels at creating an interesting and entertaining world focused greater political conflict, and is a more "serious" show, SDF provides an engrossing character-driven look at issues of conflict, fame, personal growth, human nature, and inter-personal relationships as well as their interplay.

p.s. fuck robotech

Links

<Link the ADTRW thread if there is one>