VF-15 Banshee

*waits patiently for AgentONE to show up*

What meanest thou?

Yeah, that sounds like something that would happen to Hikaru.

Listen To My Song!!!

This ain't your daddy's Macross. Released in 1994 at the same time as Macross Plus, M7 is a bit of a departure from what has happened in the Macross productions that came before. Now what I'm going to do in this is no more plot summaries, at least not long ones. I'm going to split this up into the story, the characters, the mechs and misc. So here we go.

First off, the story. As short as I can do this, the story takes place in the year 2045, five years after Macross Plus and thirty-five years after the end of the Space War in the first Macross series. The YF-19 prototype is now being mass-produced and is the VF-19 Excalibur, although the older VF-11 Thunderbolt still far outnumbers the -19 in the fleets of the UN Spacy. Instead of focusing on a single ship, Macross 7 is focused on the fleet of the same name. The colonization plan that we saw outlined in the last few episodes of SDF Macross and the launch of the first colony ship, SDF-2 Megaroad-01 in Flashback 2012, is expanded upon here. The Megaroad ships, which could only hold about 25,000 colonists, give or take, have been replaced with the New Macross-class ships, which can embark roughly a million colonists. The Macross 7 fleet in particular consists of the central colony ship City 7 and its escort battle carrier, Battle 7,

seven main ships that fulfill different functions such as the recreation ship Riviera and the factory ship Three Star, and an entire flotilla of frigates and carriers to protect the fleet. This fleet is the seventh of the New Macross-class colonization fleets, as the name implies. We see some old standbys from SDF Macross show up here. Max Jenius is now the Fleet Captain of Macross 7 and the Captain of the Battle 7 carrier in particular. A funny little anecdote here: Max is 52 by the time Macross 7 starts but he looks like he's only in his thirties. The character designer explained it, I believe, by saying, "Growing old is a state of mind... and Max Jenius is a genius, so it's not an issue for him!" We also have Max's Zentradi wife Milia, who's basically his opposite number as the Mayor of the City 7 main colony module. She also doesn't look too much older but that has more to do with her Zentradi DNA than anything else. We also see the Zentradi advisor Exedore Folmo. Unfortunately we find out that not all is well with the Jenius family since we saw them last. Max and Milia's relationship has gotten to the point where they're pretty much separated and Milia's even wondering if it was the right thing for her to have gotten involved with Max.

We're also introduced to all the new cast members as well. We have the rock band Fire Bomber, which consists of members Basara Nekki, Ray Lovelock, Veffidas Feaze and Max and Milia's youngest daughter Mylene Flare Jenius. There's ace pilot Gamlin Kizaki and the pilots of Diamond Force, and bridge operators Sally Ford and Miho Miho. Why her last name is the same as her first, I have no idea. Another little anecdote here: The long running joke about bridge bunnies continues here or, that is to say, that the ships in UN Spacy all seem to have a 90% female bridge staff. Har har.

So the basic story of Macross 7 is that the fleet has been searching for an Earth-like planet to colonize for the past seven years until they encounter the Protodeviln and their Varauta army slaves. The Protodeviln need this energy called Spiritia to survive. It's never explicitly stated what Spiritia is but it seems to be some term for a person's lifeforce. The Varauta find the Macross 7 fleet and realize that the people onboard can regenerate their Spiritia, so they decide to make a kind of farm out of the citizens of Macross 7. However, some people like main character Basara Nekki, produce a kind of Spiritia called Anima Spiritia that Varauta mechs and the Protodeviln can't absorb. We eventually find out that the Protodeviln are responsible for the destruction of the ancient galactic Protoculture and the Macross 7 fleet takes the fight to the ice world where the Protodeviln are imprisoned. At the eleventh hour, Basara and Fire Bomber's music, enhanced by some nifty techno-wizardry is able to show the Protodeviln that they can produce Spiritia on their own, the destruction of the galaxy is averted, the day is saved, hooray!

A simplistic take but Macross 7 is still the longest Macross series so far at 49 episodes so I didn't want to make this too long. Now, as I said at the beginning of this entry, this ain't your daddy or your grandaddy's Macross. Though plot points from the previous productions are filled in, Macross 7 has a style that is definitely all its own. The overarching story could lag at times but there were many episodes with a lot of character development that made up for this. The concept that music is a form of (possibly psychic; they're very vague on this point) energy and can be used to bring understanding and an end to conflict may seem pretty far fetched even in a sci-fi setting but it is one of the primary themes of Macross, just taken to a new level here. Personally, I feel that when stacked up against the other Macross productions it doesn't really jive but that's a minor gripe at best.

I liked how they showed that after 35 years, Max and Milia are experiencing a lot of relationship problems. It even gets to the point where you think Milia at least just doesn't love Max at all anymore and then it slowly starts to change, starting with an episode where Mylene gets her parents to sit together at one of her concerts. By the end of the series they're not back together but I believe they've pretty much fallen back in love with each other, which is nice because, even with the bad knife fight and the almost instantaneous wedding in SDF Macross, I liked Max and Milia's relationship and was glad that they reached an understanding at the end of Mac7.

No Macross show would be complete without some kind of love triangle but the one in this show is kinda weird. It could even be said that there are two triangles in the show. First of all there's the "triangle" with Basara, Mylene and the Diamond Force pilot Gamlin Kizaki. I put "triangle" in quotes because I really don't know if this qualifies. Mylene is set up with Gamlin because Milia wants Mylene to marry him. She eventually develops feelings for Gamlin BUT she also has a crush on Basara. Basara for his part really doesn't give a damn. As far as he's concerned she's a kid (which she is). But having all that said up, nothing really happens. Mylene waffles between Basara and Gamlin, Gamlin kinda-sorta-awkwardly proposes to Mylene which she doesn't say anything about. Considering the triangle between Hikaru Ichijo, Misa Hayase and Lynn Minmay in SDF Macross, this doesn't quite measure up. In my opinion, the actual triangle with more punch should have been between Basara, the Protodeviln banshee Sivil and the Protodeviln Gigile. Why? Well because the sexual desire that Sivil has for Basara could be cut with a chainsaw! And Gigile is so devoted to her that he actually betrays the other Protodeviln. He even ends up sacrificing his own life to prevent Basara and Sivil from being killed. You know what? I'm going to declare it right here: Basara should have ended up with Sivil at the end of the series.

One part of the story that was well done was when they discover a sunken Protoculture instalation/temple thing. The murals inside reveal a lot of what happened to the Protoculture, which was never explained in SDF Macross. One of the best touches was that to access a holographic data cache, Mylene's blood (she had got cut on the arm earlier) which is half-human and half-Zentradi opens the cache. Seems some of the Protoculture thought that their creations might meet in the future! Basically the story that is revealed by the murals and the Protoculture AI is that the Protoculture had an ancient galactic republic and they were peaceful... UNTIL (you knew there had to be a but or an until in there right?) some of the Protoculture dissented from the rest and formed the Supervision Army. The Protoculture genetically engineered the giant Zentradi warriors to fight in this war and then, as most people probably would, created even more powerful bio-weapon creatures. But then (and I might be messing this part up) either some Protoculture drew the Protodeviln into our universe or they just showed up, but the Protodeviln posses the bio-weapon creatures and pretty much trash the Protoculture completely. But just before the Macross 7 crew can find out how the remnants of the Protoculture imprisoned the Protodeviln, they attack and destroy the installation. Figures.

Overall the story was enjoyable enough to keep me going to the last episode. And it's unusual but somewhat satisfying to see the villain of the series get a happy ending whereas usually they are slain by the hero. There are some aspects though which lessened my enjoyment of the series, mainly that with a lot more focus on the music and the "power" of music, there isn't as much of the high-flying adventure or space opera as there was in other Macross shows.

Now to the characters. Basara is likable enough as a hot-blooded rocker and Valkyrie pilot but he can be a jerk a lot of the time. He also doesn't have a lot of dramatic change in the series. When you look at what Hikaru went through originally, especially with Roy dying, not too much happens to Basara and he's pretty much the same character throughout the whole series. This would certainly be a big minus if the series was plotted differently, but the way Macross 7 is, it's thankfully minor.

Mylene can be likable enough but she just doesn't quite do it for me the same way characters like Minmay, Misa, Ranka or Sheryl do. Also the sexualization of Mylene, especially in a lot of the end credits can be kinda disturbing when you remember that she's supposed to be 14. I ain't a Pedobear dammit!

Ray, I think, actually gets some more character development than Basara does, in that we learn he was once a special forces pilot that made a bad call that got his wingman killed. Ray almost became a hopeless drunken loser until he met Basara and started a band with him. Veffidas the Meltrandi drummer is mysterious. We never learn much about her and she doesn't talk much at all except to say mysteriously profound things. Also, her habit of drumming on EVERYTHING can get a little annoying.

Gamlin is one of the best characters of the series and I would actually rate him a little higher than Basara inasmuch as he starts off the series as a by-the-book pilot with an iron rod up his butt and later mellows out some, falls in love with Mylene and gains a belief in Basara's music. He grows as a character.

His old boss Lt. Kinryu gets points and a mention simply by being a pimp and dating Sally and Miho at the same time, something that the ladies in question don't mind one bit! (Which really makes me wonder about those two... you know what? better not go there.)

Dr. Chiba gets a mention as a creepy Minmay fanboy and being the resident Egon Spengler of the fleet.

I already mentioned Max and Milia and as another thing concerning them, I would have liked more info on their family. They have eight daughters (7 natural, 1 adopted) but we barely know anything about them. We know Moaramia was adopted and is a pure-blood Zentradi, Milia almost died giving birth to Miracle, Komilia was the first Zentradi/human hybrid, and Mylene and Emilia are singers, but that's about it. What about the twins Muse and Therese? What about Miranda? Where are the rest of the Jenius daughters during Macross 7 (besides Emilia, who we'll get to in the Mac7 movie)? Also, Max proves that he's still the best pilot in the fleet, even at 52, by doing his own version of the Death Star trench run and Milia also kicks butt in a (by then vintage) VF-1J.

I also felt sorry for the un-named Flower Girl. She only could get that bouquet to Basara right at the very end!

And Colonel Barton gets the award for being the military #$^&wad of the show.

The rest of the secondary and background characters on the fleet, like Rex and her biker gang, Sally and Miho and others all look like they have a story to tell, but don't get a chance because Fire Bomber's in the spotlight with others.

There's also the Protodeviln villains. The head boss man Gepelnitch might be a little confused as to whether he's a man or a woman (joke joke) but it's pretty obvious that if anyone interferes with his plans he'll kill them and not even blink. Funnily enough I think he's the only villian that I know of that gets a happy ending.

Gigile was kind of annoying at first but he grows on you and its kind of touching how he sacrifices himself and betrays the other Protodeviln to save Basara and Sivil, especially when you're not entirely sure if she returns his feelings.

Sivil herself was kinda cool, mostly for being a hot alien chick but for being the first of the Protodeviln to realize that something more can be had from the hapless humans than Spiritia. The long and short of it is that I think she goes from being creepy alien seductress/vampire to actually falling in love with Basara (and if I had my way she would have stayed with him in the end. Check it.)

As for the other Protodeviln there's not much to say. Except for those two really annoying twins. I WANT THEM TO ROAST ETERNALLY ON THE SPITS OF A FLAMING HELL!!!!!!!!! And they were only in five episodes or so. Think about that.

Now there are some cool mechs in this show but unfortunately they are seriously underused. I don't know what the exact reason is but most of the fights between UN Spacy and Varauta variable fighters largely consist of stock footage for at least the majority of 2/3 of the show. You have the VF-11C Thunderbolt, which is the old workhorse and looks cool but is made completely useless. Seriously, the way the Thunderbolts are depicted in this series they seem even more fragile and useless than TIE Fighters! And even with other designs like the F-117 inspired VF-17 Nightmare and the mass-production VF-19 Excaliburs and the Sound Force custom VFs all mostly operate on stock footage. One of the rare exceptions ar Max and Milia's VF-22S Sturmvogel II planes. If you've seen Macross Plus, you'll recognize that the VF-22S is the re-tooled YF-21. Even though the YF-19 won the competition and was mass-produced, the YF-21 was adopted by SpecOps and was produced in limited numbers as the Sturmvogel. Milia only gets to fly hers at the very end but she's still brilliant and Max pulls of the most awesome Death Star Trench, as I said.

The Varauta mechs look nice enough but don't really float my boat. *sigh* It's just such a pity that almost all the combat footage is stock. that is one place where this series truly fails.

There is one fun scene in an episode where Mayor Milia throws a festival and asks the citezins to donate their privately owned Valkyries/battroids for "exhibits." Actually it's a little plan for her to find some good pilot candidates after City 7 becomes separated from the rest of the fleet, but results in hilarity when some old farts bring a Monster mk. II Destroid and try to use its quadruple cannons, which results in devastation. They really should have known better to fire warship-killing cannons near a city!

Last thing to talk about is the misc. which means music in this case. And quite appropriate because music is a VERY big thing in Macross 7. The one unusual thing though is that Mac7 has no score. Instead the entire soundtrack is Fire Bomber songs. This is good and bad because while Fire Bomber's songs (featuring the vocal talents of Japanese Rock god Yoshiki Fukuyama) are early 90s rock and very catchy, some of them, like Charging Love Heart and Planet Dance get way overused while other gems, like Diamond Calling, barely get used at all. Also, I don't think that Mylene's singing voice, Chie Kajiura, doesn't actually sink up well with Fukuyama. They're still worth a listen and be honest, nothing matches up with space fighters charging into battle quite like rock. Here's some of Fire Bomber's songs.

A burning, passionate heart and a sound more explosive than missiles!! FIRE BOMBER!

In the final analysis, I don't think Mac7 is the strongest entry in the Macross franchise but despite the fact that it can seem like Power Rangers meets Star Wars, it's a Macross series at the core and is worth a watch both on its own and as part of the franchise itself. On the MAHQ scale it gets 3 1/2 stars. BOMBA!!!!

My original post of this seems to have been deleted, so...

Right Into The Danger Zone!

Originally in my SDF Macross review I said the macros was Top Gun meets Battlestar: Galactica meets Transformers with a dash of Star Wars thrown in. Well no where does the Top Gun analogy become more apparent than with the 4-episode mini-series(or OVA) Macross Plus, released in 1994. The story features two rival jet fighter test pilots in a setting that is highly reminiscent of the classic Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer flick. There’s planes, space, dogfights, pretty girls, but unlike Top Gun, Macross Plus features a psychotic AI pop star, a kinda-sorta love triangle and a futuristic setting.

Macross Plus marked the return of Shoji Kawamori to the Macross franchise. Initially he hadn’t wanted to do anymore work on Macross after DYRL and Flashback 2012 were finished, which is why Big West went ahead and made Macross II without him and the others. In making Macross Plus, Kawamori had originally wanted to do a show that was just about test pilots, probably in a more modern setting. It sounds like the studio then made the stipulation that it had to be a Macross project and so, Macross Plus was born. I guess Kawamori must have been feeling very creative that year because 1994 was also the year that the full-length series Macross 7 premiered.

In order to properly capture the art of fighter combat for the animators, Kawamori, choreographer Ichiro Itano (famous for the Itano Circus missile animations) and other staff members travelled to Edwards Air Force Base in California to take lessons from dogfighting school Air Combat USA. This is reflected in the absolutely awesome fight sequences in the anime. Even just the animation of the Valkyrie variable fighters flying around is superb.

Famous director Shinichiro Watanabe was also hired as a co-director for the production. He’s probably most famous here in America for the series Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo and, of course, Macross Plus. Watanabe always makes good stuff and this is reflected in the quality of the animation. Watanabe also believes very heavily in the ties between the film and its score and the power of music (one of the central themes of Macross). So, it’s not so surprising that the composer of Macross Plus is the prolific Yoko Kanno. Kanno is pretty much the Japanese equivalent to John Williams. She’s worked on some of the most famous and successful animes in Japan as well as live-action movies and television. Some of the most famous projects she’s worked on include Macross Plus, Cowboy Bebop, The Vision of Escaflowne, Wolf’s Rain, Turn-A Gundam, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Macross Frontier. She would probably most famous here in America for the jazz, blues and funk-inspired themes of Cowboy Bebop. As for her work in Plus, her talent shines through especially in the songs for Plus’s idol singer Sharon Apple. Three of Sharon’s songs are in English, one in French and four are in the fictional Zentradi language. There’s only one Japanese song in the whole soundtrack and that’s Myung Lon Fang’s “Voices.” (which actually got dubbed into English but is still very good; sounds a lot like an Enya song.)

With all this star talent in place, it was time to make the series. Macross Plus takes place in the year 2040, 30 years after First Macross. It starts off on the colony planet Eden where childhood friends Isamu Dyson, Guld Goa Bowman and Myung Lon Fang are introduced. Isamu and Guld are trying to fly a self-propelled glider that they’ve built. Fast forward to 2040 and Isamu finds himself back on Eden to be a test pilot for Project: Supernova, a competition being held between two rival companies, Shinsei Industries and General Galaxy, to field a new variable fighter for the UN Spacy (United Nations Space Navy). The two competing designs are the YF-19 and the YF-21. Project: Supernova is based on the real-life Advanced Tactical Fighter competition that the US Air Force held between the Lockheed YF-22 (which became the Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor) and Northrop’s YF-23.

In any case, Isamu is assigned to be the test pilot of Shinsei’s YF-19 and finds out that his childhood friend now-rival Guld Bowman has been assigned to be the YF-21’s pilot. Here’s where a lot of the similarities where Top Gun come into play as you could very easily say that Isamu, with his recklessness and cocky attitude, is Tom Cruise’s Maverick and Guld is Val Kilmer’s Iceman. It’s clear right from the get-go that these former friends have a clear dislike of each other for some reason and this is magnified even more when they find out that their other friend, Myung, is on Eden also and is now the producer for Sharon Apple, the known galaxy’s hottest entertainer… and supposed fully-functional AI.

Both Isamu and Guld are somewhat confused by this as Myung was a fantastic singer in youth. Concerns over Myung fade somewhat as the two engage in multiple aerial duels with each other as the testing of the two prototypes heats up. Also, we learn that Sharon isn’t as advanced as we claim. When Isamu and some friends attend her concert on Eden, we find out that Myung actually provides the emotions for Sharon as an emotions program is the one thing that Sharon still lacks. Things begin to get a little suspicious when the holographic Sharon shows an inordinate amount of attention to Isamu. Sometime later both Isamu and Guld get a strange electronic phone call saying that fire will break out in the concert hall. Isamu chooses to ignore it but Guld races to the concert hall and rescues Myung from certain death in a fire… exactly as predicted. From the way that the cameras were moving and how the fire just started up, it’s pretty clear that the Sharon AI started the fire. Things get even more tense as the rivalry between Guld and Isamu results in an accident. Even though it’s a fairly serious matter, the General in charge of Eden’s New Edwards Base sweeps the whole thing under the rug. As Myung and her team depart for Earth so that Sharon can participate in the UN Spacy 30^th Anniversary celebration of the end of the Human-Zentradi war, we learn that the reason the General swept the accident under the rug is that UN Spacy has been secretly testing the unmanned Ghost X-9 fighter, which seems to be superior to both the YF-19 and YF-21. A furious Isamu decides to go to Earth and screw up the ceremony where the X-9 will be unveiled. The YF-19’s designer Yan Newman goes with him and Guld is ordered to go after both of them in the YF-21. This turns out to be a good thing as Myung discovers at the eleventh hour that Sharon has indeed become self-aware and like all advanced AI’s that gain self-awareness

Hint, hint.

she restrains Myung and tells her that she is doing what she is doing because Myung’s thoughts have given her life. She loves Guld and Isamu even more so and wants to give him the ultimate emotion that he is seeking. This is sort of going to involve killing him. Isamu and Guld at this point are doing their level best to blast each other to smithereens in one of the most kick-arse dogfights in the whole series. Guld has a slight advantage due to the YF-21 having the Brain Direct Interface, which allows Guld to control the YF-21 with his thoughts. But just as Guld closes in on Isamu and fires the killing shot, the BDI breaks through the mental barriers Guld had in his mind. He finally remembers what the incident was that drove him, Isamu and Myung apart. As a half-Zentradi, Guld had lived with those fighting instincts his whole life but then things began to change in their little circle of friends. Myung and Isamu became more than friends and when Guld burst in on them during a tender moment, he lost control. Guld attacked Isamu and pretty much sexually assaulted Myung before he regained control. After that incident, Myung and Isamu left Eden and Guld blocked the memories out as he regained control of those instincts. Thing is as part of that he blamed Isamu for supposedly hurting Myung but Isamu let him go on thinking that, not wanting to let his friend, who truly loved Myung, to remember what he had almost done to her.

Guld thinks this realization has come too late but Isamu managed to survive the missile barrage. As the two friends are about to reconcile, the Sharon Apple-controlled Ghost X-9 comes screaming out of the sun, guns blazing. Guld, who can more easily manage the X-9 with his YF-21 tells Isamu to go rescue Myung. Guld then heroically sacrifices himself to destroy the X-9. Isamu arrives in Macross City and realizes that the holographic projection of Sharon has hypnotized the whole city and the AI itself has infected every computer. This is no more evident as the good old SDF-1 Macross has been launched from Lake Global to intercept him, even though it’s been lying there for thirty years. Dodging anti-air laser fire at every turn, Isamu tries to destroy the central core that Sharon has infected while trying to rebuff her holographic hypnosis. Kind of a hard task considering that Sharon can take the forms of various hauntingly (literally) beautiful women! At one point he looks like he’s about to give in when Myung starts singing her song “Voices.” Isamu snaps out of it and in true Luke Skywalker-fashion, pulls off a hundred to one shot and destroys the central core. Sharon’s AI unit explodes and the day is saved as Myung watches Isamu soar over the city.

Now first of all, I have to say that after the disappointment that was Macross II, Plus was about 10x, no, 100x better. I seriously wanted to have Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone or Cheap Trick’s Mighty Wings come blaring out of the speakers as the YF-19 and -21 danced across the sky. I mean, I enjoyed this so much I think there was only two things I really want to have them improve. They could have explained Sharon’s self-awareness a bit more and also why she seemed so intent on hypnotizing people and why she wanted to kill Isamu.

I also didn’t care much for Myung as well. I don’t dislike her but I think to myself “Gooooossshhh! Get off the pity wagon and stop being so damn depressing, especially when you’ve got guys like Isamu and Guld around." I don’t really blame Isamu for being more interested in Lucy when he got back to Eden than Myung.

Other than that this was solid, first-rate, no holds-barred, thrill-riding fun. I would not be embarrassed to say that I enjoyed Macross Plus more than Transformers 3, and that’s saying something. The characters, planes, visuals (none of that damn moe crap), music and sounds all come together beautifully. The fact that this was a good dub as well is an extra plus. With the talents of VA’s like Bryan Cranston (TV’s Breaking Bad), Richard Epcar and Beau Billingslea, it’s actually a joy to listen to as the actors actually emote. What a concept! All in all, on the MAHQ scale of stars, this gets five gold stars! Now if only it had Danger Zone…

Historical Note: The Ghost X-9 was deemed too dangerous if its controls were ever hacked, so the YF-19 won Project: Supernova. The -19 was mass-produced as the VF-19 Excalibur Main Variable Fighter and was the plane of choice for Macross 7’s Basara Nekki. The YF-21’s dangerous Brain Direct Interface was removed and it was produced in limited numbers as the VF-22 Sturmvogel II. The BDI would show up again in the VF-27 Lucifer from Macross Frontier.

My original post of this seems to have been deleted, so...

Flashback 'Em All

When a movie or TV show has a sequel that’s separated from it by a number of years, you still like to think that not much is going to change. Take Ghostbusters for example. The first movie came out in 1984 but Ghostbusters II didn’t come out until 1989.

Where Macross is concerned however, there really is no true sequel to the original series. The 1984 movie Do You Remember Love? was a cinematic retelling of the series and Macross II was set eighty years later. When Mac2 was retconned, the next production in chronological order was Macross Plus, which is still set 30 years later. Now, that all doesn’t mean there isn’t actually a sequel of sorts to First Macross, it’s just not quite what you think it would be. Released in 1987, Macross: Flashback 2012 is a 30 minute music video that is largely made up of clips taken from First Macross and DYRL, hence the title Flashback. There is a story there but it is very short. This is primarily due to the fact that most of the new footage that was used in Flashback was intended to be the final scenes of DYRL but weren’t ready in time for the movie’s release date.

Disregarding all the flashback footage, the story is thus: It is September 2012, nine months after the end of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Quamzin’s failed attack on New Macross City. The city has expanded and the SDF-1 has nearly been repaired, looking much like it does in DYRL. Lynn Minmay has arrived in Macross City to perform the final show of her Sayonara World Tour. The OVA then goes into all the flashback materiel before switching back to the ‘present.’ Minmay walks around the deserted concert hall where she gave her last show. We see Hikaru Ichijyo, one of the heroes of the last series, test flying the new VF-4 Lightning III variable fighter. He’s now married to Misa, who is about to take command of humanity’s first super long range colonization ship, the SDF-2 Megaroad-01. Minmay recalls the days of her youth, about how she wanted to be a singer and left her home in Yokohama to go live with her aunt and uncle in Macross City because her parents were not in favor of it. She remembers arriving in the city and seeing a poster about the SDF-1 Macross, which shifts to a scene of her in New Macross City looking at a poster for the Megaroad.

The Megaroad-01 is launched and thousands cheer her on as she soars up into the sky. Minmay waves to the people below from one of the observation decks as Misa directs her crew from the ship’s bridge, stealing glances outside at Hikaru in his Lightning III. The ship reaches orbit and joins with an escort fleet of Zentradi warships and sails off into a bright new future with our hero and heroines.

At least that’s what you would like to think. The one thing I don’t like about Flashback is that it doesn’t reveal the characters’ ultimate fates, which in this case is pretty important. The video also focuses pretty exclusively on Hikaru, Misa and Minmay (except for the flashback clips), but we do know some of what happened. A year later Hikaru and Misa have their first child, a little girl named Miku Ichijyo. We know that Max and Milia have eight children (seven natural, one adopted), all girls, and are seen again in the 49 episode series Macross 7 with their youngest daughter Mylene, but that’s about it. We don’t really know what happens to Claudia or Admiral Global or the bridge bunnies, although I suppose it’s not terribly important. Ah, I almost forgot Breetai and Exedol. The Zentradi tactician Exedol goes with Max and Milia to the Macross 7 fleet and I believe Breetai becomes UN Spacy Commander-in-Chief at some point. What I’m saying is, that it would have been nice to have had the whole cast get a send off.

There is one other thing that bugs me a little bit about this particular snippet of Macross lore. You see in Flashback we get Hikaru, Misa and Minmay riding off into the space sunset, but what you find out if you look it up is that the Megaroad-01 disappears without a trace near the galactic core in 2016. I’m a bit annoyed about that if only for the implication that Hikaru, Misa, their daughter Miku and Minmay all die a cold, lonely death in the forsaken depths of deep space. Me, I like my characters to have a happy ending, like the end of Return of the Jedi.

All in all, Even though Flashback really is just a long music video set to a bunch of Minmay songs (although I’m not sure why they didn’t include My Boyfriend is a Pilot), it’s worth watching for that new footage and as a chance to see these particular Macross characters one last time. Besides, maybe it’s not all bad as that. Maybe the Megaroad-01 is next to the second star to the right and straight on ‘till morning.

I dunno. I agree with Kawamorisan.

Partly to thumb my nose at the canon-heads and partly because I appreciate his attittude toward the idea of not being shoe horned into a continuity that tends to quickly take over and suck the life and joy out of any universe...*

coughStarWarscough. Oh and MZero.

Since I'm late to the party and haven't been able to start reading it yet, what was up with that scene where Hikaru walks in on Misa half-naked? Do they not believe in locked dressing rooms in Japan? I guess Kim, Shammy and Vanessa really CAN call him a pervert now!

EDIT: Went back and I guess the curtain for the stall fell off somehow?That's kinda convenient and weird. Please tell me she Bright-slapped Hikaru into the next building.

I just wish that it was Destination: Moon or Explorers on the Moon. Though given the general apathy towards anything to do with space travel these days, i shouldn't be surprised.

All of a sudden, something occurs to me. I want a frakking explanation for NUNS! How is that they are so incapable and/or incompetent that SMS, a private military corporation, is allowed to have multiple Macross-type variable assault carriers?

I MUST have those VF-22s!!!

@Frothy: For now, it'll run strictly as an RPG, assuming it gets chosen to be the new one.

Since I missed this thread earlier...

Anyway, I thought this was a very good first episode. It definitely is aimed at a younger audience I think, but it holds up and is definitely Gundam to the core. I liked the main character Flit, he definitely gets a pass on the accidental civilian pilot trope. Can’t say I’m fond of his character design though.

Emily might have a little bit of Fraw Bow syndrome; we’ll have to see. Most of the other characters seem interesting, especially the pilot for the Genoace mobile suit. Largan I think it was? We’ll have to see the next few episodes for me to really get a handle on the rest of the cast.

There were a couple of stand out scenes in this episode that I liked. The first was the scene where Flit’s mother dies in the first attack by AGE’s Unknown Enemy. Very Batman-esque. She gives him the AGE Device, which is certainly not the cell phone those damn fanboys were complaining about.

I also like the scene in the classroom where Flit tries to explain about how it’s just so logical that the space colony they’re on, Nora, will be attacked by the UE next and how the teacher doesn’t want to hear it. Seems little Flit may be a child-genius but he doesn’t understand how a lot of people’s heads work. Seems like he might be a bit of an outcast at school too, as Emily and this kid named Dique seem to be his only friends.

I also like how Flit isn’t obsessed with the Gundam to the point of being stupid. There’s a flashback scene to his home on the space colony Orvan where Flit is being shown a painting of a Gundam (one that looks a lot like the classic RX-78-2) and is told that the Asuno family have been involved with the legendary Gundams for years. But when the time comes that the UE invades the colony, Flit initially wants the trained military pilot Largan to fly the Gundam before he tries piloting it himself.

Lastly, while the Gundam AGE-1’s debut fight is kinda similar to stuff we’ve seen in First Gundam and SEED, what makes the fight stand out is the way that Flit quite literally shanks one of the UE Gafran MS. It’s actually kinda hilarious. The other two Gafrans blow up their injured comrade and then retreat. I guess this is why the UE are still unknown if they won’t let their tech fall into enemy hands.

What else? I can’t say that I cared much for the opening song of this series. It’s not that it’s a bad song, I just don’t think it fits a Gundam series, even one that’s aimed at a younger audience. But since this is a Gundam series, we’ll have at least two to three opening and closing themes in total, so we’ll see.

I also think that this series might be pulling a Gundam X. What I mean is, Gundam X was depicted as sort of an alternate history of the Universal Century. I think they might be going with that here with all the talk of the Earth Federation, O’Neill Space Colony cylinders and stories about legendary Gundams from the past. We’ll have to see.

I think I could safely say that this is the first Gundam series I’ve seen where I like the grunt and enemy suits more than the Gundam. Hopefully the AGE-2 and -3 will look cooler.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if that happened IF that RT movie ever got off the ground.

After seeing some clips from Robotech, boy do I like Minmay done by Mari Iijima in English! Actually I thought it was someone with like a French accent or something before someone enlightened me to the fact that it was miss Iijima.

Ah, he said colony ship and that's what threw me off. And hey it probably got pretty cold in those ruins at night. Hikaru and Misa were probably just sharing body heat. Yeah, that's the ticket...

I think it was MF novel. Kim was commanding the fleet defending Earth when Vajra simultaneously assaulted all the human fleet/planets.

Well at bloody last. That was the one thing I didn't like about FB2012, didn't show what happened to crew members like Global, Claudia and the others.

As for the credits, we didn't actually SEE it. Unless I see it, I'm extremely hesitant to believe it.

Oh and how about that Basara-ish VF-1 that Ranka was rockin'?

And Dynaman if you're implying what i think you're implying... I could believe that.

You're gonna have to remind me what scene that is, my memory is failing

Didn't seem very happy to me what with Sheryl in a coma and Alto MIA.

I agree with you somewhat, at least where the concerts in movie two are concerned. Felt like we were trying to have more psychedelic Ranka and Sheryl madness than Valks blowing crap up. Or some more story.

PS: hawt female Alto was haaaaawt ;-)

Are you sure it was a girl? You know Alto...

I dunno, Gundam took transforming suits, a songstress female lead, upgrading suits via add on armor and most recently, a main character that saves humanity by traveling with an all powerful alien entity to parts unknown...

Damnit Gundam, stop ripping off Macross!

Funny how it's taken only thirty years for that.

Another little gripe I had with the movie is that Luca seems to have lost his three apostles.

Starscream, it's funny you should post that pic of Sheryl in that outfit considering one of her outfits in the second Macross Frontier movie.

Also, this is a part of a proposal I'm writing for a new RPG over on the MechaTalk forums.

Macross: The 106th Fleet

Firstly, upon further reflection, I think this would work great as a players vs. GM game. In fact I would prefer it this way but I can work with the other way.

It is the year 2051. The 106th Autonomous Fleet responds to a distress call from the Macross 19 colonization fleet, currently in the newly-discovered Alterra system. Their escort armada has been decimated by rogue Zentradi (possibly Meltrandi as well) and they need assistance in case they are attacked again as they attempt to settle the Alterra system and make first contact with its inhabitants.

The 106th fleet itself is somewhat of a ragtag collection. Because of the nature of its mission, the ships that comprise the fleet are often far past their scheduled maintenance dates. They have to take what they can get, so you'll see a couple of ARMD-class carriers flying around, as well as a few Oberth-class frigates (heavily modified and somewhat clunky), as well as newer ships like Guantanamo-class stealth carriers and Uraga-class Escort Battle Carriers and a couple of the brand new stealth cruisers. It is led by the venerable SDFN-10 Prometheus, one of the twelve mass-produced Macross-class ships that were built directly after Space War I (SDF Macross and DYRL). It was built all the way back in 2025 but still packs a mean punch, especially with its Main Cannon/Macross Cannon. It is the flagship of the fleet and carries about 400 Valkyries, Destroids and Ghosts altogether. Her crew is very proud of her as a carrier of the Macross legacy and she is captained by the leader of the fleet, Admiral George Armstrong.

This alone is not what makes the 106th unusual but it is also the Zentradi and Meltrandi battleships that are part of the fleet. The 106th includes several Thurvel-Salan Class and Queadol-Magdomilla Class battleships and Quiltra-Quelamitz Class gunboats led by a Nupetiet-Vergnitzs Class Fleet Command Battleship, captained by Colonel Kortai. The Meltrandi ships include several gunboats, destroyers, cruisers and battleships led by one of the signature flagship-class Meltran command ships. The Meltran portion of the fleet is under the command of Colonel Areea (are-ee-ah).

The Zentradi of the fleet are pleasant enough in their own right but are made up of some of the more war-like Zentradi that don't get completely "culture-shocked." That doesn't mean that they're uncontrollable, on the contrary, Colonel Kortai expects the best out of his men.

The Meltrandi of the fleet are a portion of the Chlore Fleet that the Macross 7 ran into more than five years ago. They're a lot more affable than their Zentradi counterparts but don't get them started on Fire Bomber or Basara Nekki unless you want to endure a lot of fangirl gushing and squealing. Note: Unlike the rest of the galaxy, most of the Zentradi and Meltrandi in the fleet are full-size so keep out from under their feet please.

Also due to the roaming nature of their mission and the Prometheus having the only factories, the 106th occasionally has to beg, borrow and cannibalize fighters and mechs for its pilots. Often you'll see fleet patrols made up of VF-4G Lightning III's, VA-3 Invaders, VF-5000B Star Mirages, VF-9 Cutlass's, VF-11 Thunderbolts, and VF-14 Vampires, as well as the latest and greatest VF-17 Nightmares, VF-19 Excaliburs and VF-22 Sturmvogels, though these last three types of Valkyries are reserved for the fleet's elite pilots. There's even a squadron in the fleet, Ragnarok Squadron, that operates some heavily customized VF-1 Strike Valkyries. The 106th also maintains a number of Destroids because in the words of Admiral Armstrong, "Everyone is so busy looking for those pesky Valkyries and Zentradi power armors in the sky that when those Destroids sneak up on 'em and cut 'em to ribbons it's pretty damn hilarious actually. Although a Monster can't 'sneak' worth a damn. Gotta be careful with those." The 106th also fields Glaugs, Fighter Pods, Nousjadeul-Ger and Quedluun-Rau power armors and the "New" Battle Suit

All total, the 106th Fleet only numbers 100 ships but they're fierce fighters all. Cross them at your own peril.

As patently ridiculous as a 400 meter robot surfing across the sky sounds... it just looks SO DAMN COOL!!! Also, the 00Qan[T] gets way more awesome points than the YF-29.

You must be some kind of wizard!

Hey guys, what's up? I'm finally back after a bit of an absence and a question! Does it really matter which MFrontier ending is "official?" The TV one or the one at the end of Wings of Farewell?