YJK

I really don't want to sound like a jerk or anything, but I have to just get it out. After watching the first 10 episodes or so, I was pretty content with the show, but at episode 12, I felt like it really got lame. I mean what the hell was with the whole Zentradi thing? What was with Michel coming down on the planet with speakers connected to his vf? I do understand that the original series had alot of cheese to it, but c'mon, we were kids and had no real problems looking past that(Plus they made up for alot of that with DYRL). I just think this episode was a real step backwards. Macross 7 sucked, and everybody knows it. Macross Plus was totally awesome. Macross Zero was insane (good insane). They just kept getting better. I really want to enjoy this show, but it just was a big slap in the face to the original in episode 12.

Look, before everybody gets all riled up and pissed at me, just calm down. I'm simply stating an opinion. I just wanted to know if anybody else out there agrees with me.

I liked it. It felt like they just took everything that was great about the previous shows and then turned it up a notch.

Have you finished the series yet? The second half is absolutely amazing, IMO.

Forget the singing. Megumi Toyoguchi has more range than that...

...see what I mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpTpm1SS2hU

Wow, that was so awkward it makes the voice you hear for phone recordings sound positively naturalistic in comparison.

Course her english is probably better than my Japanese...

TV series.

First saw DYRL years ago, unsubbed (talking over 15 years now). I had heard of Macross, but never saw the original show, only watched a little bit of Robotech when I was a kid.

Again, I saw it unsubbed and in Japanese, so I had no idea of what was going on, but I thought it was GREAT. Just the whole epic "feel", the music and the GORGEOUS eye candy were enough to keep me interested. Plus I was about 15 at the time, so I loved the intense violence (especially the Zentraedi splatterfest during Miria's first attack).

But now, though, I watch a subtitled version online, and now I see that the story itself is really kind of rushed and there are a number of plot holes (some of which have already been mentioned, but my favorite is how Misa knows how to operate the computer system of a 10,000 year old civilization that she just discovered). But I still enjoy watching it, it certainly has a lot of great moments (the final attack is incredible, as is the Max/Miria dogfight), and visually it's still an absolute joy to watch. I still think it's the best looking "traditionally animated" (no CG) anime I've ever seen.

Now I'm watching the original series, and while the animation looks very dated, I'm amazed at how much thought really went into the story and the characters. I just finished episode 20, and I love how the show is hitting a lot of different storylines at the same time, in an intelligent way. The way Hikaru and Minmei are drifting apart, with Minmei off making movies and being a big star and Hikaru dealing with the fact that Kakizaki and Focker are dead. The way that UN Spacy is so cruel to the Macross and its people, using it as a sacrificial lamb and political tool rather than let the civilians off, and the way that they told everyone else on earth that the inhabitants of South Ataria Island are dead. The way Captain Global has to give a press conference with a heavy heart, telling everyone that they are being forced by the UN to leave the earth within 24 hours.

Sure, there are a few things that are a little cheesy(the ability of the city to recover from almost any attack, without any limit on resources or whatnot, for instance) but it really is on the whole smartly written and nuanced. As a character drama, a love story, a war story, it really is hitting on all cylinders. Awesome, awesome show.

DYRL looks great, and I still enjoy it a LOT, but the storyline is so much juicier (and the supporting characters are much better defined- Kakizaki had, what, two lines in the movie before he died?) in the TV series that I have to give it the nod.

Does anyone know of Macross: DYRL is available in Blu Ray format yet? If not, are there plans to release it soon? If there's any anime that would look amazing on Blu Ray, it's DYRL, and I think it would be well worth the price to import it from Japan.

My favorite has to be Lion. That just gets me pumped every time I hear it. Also love What Bout My Star- particularly the Ranka/Sheryl duet version. One of my favorite scenes in the show.

But no listing for Seikan Hikou? Great song too, IMO.

Just watched episode 25 of Frontier.

Holy CRAP that was epic.

O_O

I gotta watch that all over again.

Hell, I'll watch the whole series again (though part of that is because I didn't quite understand what Mishima's plan was, and how that benefitted Grace O'Connor).

Thanks guys for the responses so far! I'll give Macross 7 another shot, but when I'm finished with the other series.

Another question- not about the shows themselves, but about the apparent legal mess about who actually owns the rights to Macross. Now I understand that, because of this, shows like Macross 7 and Frontier would probably never see the light of day here, but how the hell did ADV manage to get the rights to the original series on DVD, amidst this giant lawsuit about who controls the rights to the franchise?

Another question- what exactly is the long term colonization plan for the series? On one hand, in Macross Frontier they are looking for long term habitable planets, but in Macross Plus, the planet Eden is already colonized.

Hi there. Not really a newbie to Macross, just my first time getting into it 100% (I've owned Macross Plus on VHS for years, and have seen Macross II and subtitled Macross: DYRL, which I loved, and Flashback).

Right now I'm basically seeing three titles at once- Macross Frontier (almost finished, on ep 24), Macross Zero (finished ep 1) and the original Superdimension Fortress Macross (just finished episode 11). And I gotta say, this is awesome. I've always enjoyed what I've seen of Macross, but right now I'm just completely under the spell of the whole franchise. It's an action show, a character drama, a war drama, and love story all rolled into one. And not just me- my mom too (she's the furthest thing from a sci fi fan you'll ever meet, and she just spent the day watching the first six episodes on DVD).

Loving everything Macross right now. But you'll notice that the one series not listed above is Macross 7. Not that I haven't given the series a shot, but Basara so rubbed me the wrong way after the first couple of episodes, I pretty much gave up on it. But I was intrigued by the idea of characters from the original show like Max, Miria (who so far I've only seen in DYRL but I think is awesome) and Exedore continuing on in their own stories years later. So I want to know- is it worth going on with Mac 7 after I've finished the others? Or have I wisely jumped ship after a couple of episodes?