The Super Dimensional Fortress 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 |
Contents
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.
Or more accurately: guy becomes robot-fighter pilot, aliens invade, shit hits the fan, has relationship troubles, LOVE TRIANGLE.
Main Description
In 1999 a city-sized space ship crashes on South Ataria Island in the Pacific. Over the course of the next ten years, the United Nations, through their new UN SPACY military branch, reverse-engineers the space craft and repairs it, dubbing it the SDF-1 Macross. The ship is massive and capable of transformation and, potentially even more frightening, seems to have been made for a race of giants. In order to guard against a potential military confrontation with these aliens should it ever come, the UN Spacy develops variable fighters, nuclear-engine planes capable of transforming into humanoid mecha.
During the launch ceremony of the Macross, Hikaru Ichijyo goes to visit a friend of his father at the Macross, Roy Focker. The Macross is, however, suddenly discovered by aliens who identify it as a ship that once belonged to their enemy, and begin an attack on Earth. Hikaru is dragged itno the conflict when he goes to save Minn Minmay, an aspiring musical idol who may hold the key to ending the conflict.
If You Liked This, You Might Like...
- Macross: Do You Remember Love?
- Mobile Suit Gundam
- Zeta Gundam
- Macross Frontier
- Macross Plus
- Macross 7
- Macross Zero
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Personal 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. Not to say that many action sequences didn't feature top-flight animation for the time, but have you played Doom lately?
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 (i.e. less robots and politics, more character development)
p.s. fuck robotech
Bob Smith
SDF Macross was a bit of a chore to get through at times due to the very dated animation and the obnoxious nature of all the main characters (seriously, Kaifun, Misa, Hikaru AND Minmay were all varying degrees of intolerable for much of the series) but the high points made up for the lows. Especially the epilogue arc, which had some great scenes and episodes in it. 3/5 because while good, I didn't rate it as highly as other shows I've seen.
My Boyfriend is a Pilo- uh, TannhauserGate
Macross is half of a really good mecha show. It's also half of a really awful harem show, and the two parts don't mix for me. The giant robots are interesting, the battles are awesome in scale, and the way the baddies are ultimately overcome is a really interesting idea. Everything on the military front is top-notch, and holds up well against anything else out there. The love triangle, though? No thanks. I absolutely loathe the main character and his harem- I mean love interests- they're all intensely unlikable. I'd still give the series a 4/5 though, just because of the awesomness of the awesome parts outweighing the parts that it's okay for fast-forward through in order to get back to more awesome parts.
IShallRiseAgain
I don't have much to add that hasn't already been covered in previous reviews. Overall, I found the show quite entertaining even if it drags a little bit at times. My main complaint is the blatant misogyny that sometimes appears in the show. At one point, the main character basically says that women belong in the kitchen, and they shouldn't try to do anything else. Another time, a female character that was previously shown as strong and independent instantly becomes a stereotypical housewife as soon as she accepts a marriage proposal. There is also a somewhat creepy relationship between the young male protagonist and an older woman. However, the show does manage to somewhat redeems itself by portraying an interracial relationship, between a black woman and Japanese man, as no big deal. I think the show was worth watching even if it is a little outdated.
