Review Tuesday: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross [1982]

The Super Dimension Fortress

Macross

[1982]

When hostile alien giants invade the Earth, it's up to the The Super Dimension Fortress Macross to defend the planet and humanity. 

I was first introduced to MACROSS during the mid-1980s. Not in the context of Japanese animation, but with mecha models from the series. I was immediately taken by the series from the time I put my hands on a $3 1/100 VF-1J Hikaru custom. I wasn't able to watch Macross until it came to the USA rebranded as the cursed Robotech. I did get to watch the Macross Movie DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? a bunch of times. That was basically a good animation cliff notes version of the series. However, I never went back to ever re-watch the original series. 

 

UNTIL RECENTLY!

 

Believe it or not, a friend and I needed to watch the entire series for actual research for a project we are working on together. Details on that may show up on this blog at some point. But I digress. 

 

The show started off with Earth forces discovering an ancient crashed alien battleship. The craft was called The Macross, as well as the city built around it. The craft was called the Super Dimension Fortress - 1 and preparing for its maiden voyage. It's circuitry activating attracts the attention of the Zentradi, an alien race of giants that exist only for war. Of course, this sets off an intergalactic war. 

 

Despite the advantage of numbers and technology, the Zentradi weren't prepared for something they had never come across before. CULTURE. They refer to it as proto-culture and it disarms them and the singer and actress Lynn Minmay is the big weapon. The use of culture unravels the entire Zentradi fleet during the big battle. It didn't happen soon enough to prevent them from destroying the Earth, however. So the show ended with the Earth destroyed, the Zentradi were vanquished and the Macross returns to Earth with Hikaru and Misa watching in an embrace. 

 

That was MEANT to be the ending, but due to fan acclaim, they rushed out some extra episodes. That last group was very different. The quality of the animation dropped and the stories were more like a run of the mill soap opera. As I understand it, they weren't prepared to keep the story going and were caught in a bind trying to make a continuation. So, they gathered what was left of the disgruntled Zentradi survivors and they took a final stand against the miclones. And guess what? The Zentradi lose again! 

 

This is exactly why when they made the movie DYRL? that it ended with the big battle. They didn't need anything else. It was the perfect ending. The RIGHT ending. I suppose I can say that the show is mostly great. Up to the big battle the story and animation is good and consistent... and glorious. After the big battle, not so much. But in general I would call this classic of anime well worth the time to view.