Macross 7
| Macross 7 | |
|---|---|
| Director | Tetsuro Amino |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | Ashi Productions/Big West Advertising/MBS |
| Episode Length | 25 Minutes |
| # of Episodes | 49 |
Contents
Genres
Mecha, Sci-Fi, Action, Romance
Sum it up in a Sentence
LISTEN TO MY SONG! while we replay this stock footage for the next 50 episodes.
Main Description
Set 35 years after the events of the original Macross series, the Macross 7 deep space colonization fleet encounters a mysterious and hostile alien force that begins sapping the energy from the fleet's military pilots. Singer Nekki Basara, Mylene Jenius - the teenage daughter of Max and Milia Jenius - and their band Fire Bomber must use the power of their rock and roll music to confront this powerful new enemy.
If You Liked This, You Might Like...
Other offerings from the Macross Saga
- Macross
- Macross: Do You Remember Love?
- Macross Frontier
- Macross Zero
- Macross 7: Encore
- Macross Dynamite 7
Other black sheep of major mecha franchises
Personal Opinions
GojiraYoda
Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with this clusterfuck of a series. There are so many reasons that I hate this series that I can't single out the worst factor. Is it the fact that the protagonist is kind of a douche? Is it the fact that his "rival," while otherwise an okay dude, has a thing for a 14 year old girl? Is it the fact that the love-triangle is actually centered on said 14 year old girl? Is it the fact that at least 50% of any given episode and almost 90% of all action sequences is replayed stockfootage? Is it the fact that they run the same three songs into the ground over the course of 50 episodes? Is it the fact that they ruined some of my favorite Macross Plus designs? Is it the fact that they introduced "Spiritia," the midichlorians of the Macross Franchise, meaning that instead of music being the power of culture, it actually affects some sort of mystical life force energy? Or is it a combination of all these factors that really bring this series down?
I was told that after the first 30 episodes or so, the story really picks up. So I slogged through the series. All of a sudden I was treated to new stockfootage, trying to move mountains with the power of music, and giant alien demons that shoot pentagram-shaped lasers from their fingertips. Seriously. What. The. Fuck. Screw this series. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but the most diehard of Macross fans, and even then I'd give a very stern warning of things to come.
ImpAtom
Macross 7 is probably my favorite Macross series. I think it is the most thematically well put together, the most interesting, and comes close to having the best cast. The one thing I do need to warn about in advance is that it's not particularly about the mecha combat. There are some amazing scenes, but the mecha fighting comes second to the rest of the series. Whereas a lot of the other Macross shows built on the mecha fighting aspect, Macross 7 is the one that develops the idea of music and cross-cultural understanding. It does so in some pretty cool ways, but you have to be prepared for that and not for nonstop mecha action. If you go in expecting it to be cool robots blowing shit up for 50 episodes, you'll be sad or completely miss the point of the series.
The characters are very clever, although to be honest, the show could have been trimmed by about 10-15 episodes and not lost much. Basara, the main character, is fairly unique in how he is portrayed. At first glance, he's kind of an asshole. He bursts into fights, yells at people to listen to his song, and then gets in the way. Yet his constant cries of "listen to my song" are not a catchphrase. Almost all of Basara's character development is done through his songs and the lyrics of his songs. This is not a show to watch without song subtitles. The lyrics, and the times that the song Basara is singing changes, are what is the heavy focus of his character development, and you have to pay attention to that to understand the character. The other characters are more straightforward, but mostly well developed. Constant appearances by fan favorites Max and Miria help keep the cast from feeling too teenager-oriented as well.
Macross 7 is a lot more 'super robot' then a lot of the other Macross shows. It is basically the Macross version of G Gundam in a way. The enemies are supernatural beings who literally absorb the spirit from within people, and the good guys defeat them by shooting Sound Energy at them. It's pretty far out there, especially if you're used to the 'realistic' Macross combat, but it actually feels like a solid evolution of the idea of music in the Macross setting. There is a fair share of mecha combat, including some great scenes with Gamlin, Max and Miria, but they don't come until near the end of the series.
The show suffers from some frustrating pacing problems, but I'd recommend it to anyone who was interested in Macross for reasons besides "robots shooting robots." The characters and plot are very strong and rather nonstandard. The show does suffer a lot from stock footage, which is due in no small part to the pacing problems mentioned above. If they had trimmed 10-15 episode off the show, it would stand a lot better. It's still good enough, but if you ever rewatch it, you'll probably skip the second quarter of the series entirely.
