Anime: Robotech - The Macross Saga

I'm not saying this is right but it does make a point

Content Warning: Violence, casual sexism (a product of its time), more violence, character death, apocalyptic destruction, and that god damn song!

When we discuss anime in America, the topic of Robotech is bound to come up. Robotech was part of the 80s cartoon boom that included many American and Japanese shows, many included giant robots, which were very popular at the time. What makes Robotech different is what it is. Robotech isn’t just one show, it’s actually three. When bringing over shows to the American market, there’s a small problem that companies run into, mainly the number of episodes. In Japan, at the time, most anime series lasted 26 episodes but the American TV market required more than double that for syndication. So, Harmony Gold didn’t just buy one show, they bought three. They then had to sit down and figure out how to connect these three unconnected but visually similar shows into a cohesive narrative. As such, they took elements from the plots from the shows and tried their best to make it all work. How that turned out is a matter of taste. Personally, I haven’t seen the whole thing but I have seen the original Macross saga and enjoyed it. However, I thought it was time to tackle the American version. Plus, I found a copy of the Macross Saga of Robotech for $20. Before we get too far into this, I just want to say that I’m not going discuss Harmony Gold and the various problems they’ve had or the whole thing with their various legal battles, because that’s not what I do. I will say that you can use Google to find out. Now, let’s get started.

The Macross Saga, the opening part of the Robotech series, begins with a bit of history. In 1999, an alien space ship landed on an island the Pacific and then World War 3 broke out (honestly, since we’re looking down the barrel of WW3 right now, I would welcome an alien ship turning up). Ten years later, the war is over and a new world government has been formed, and has investigated the mysteries of the alien ship and have created a bunch giant robots. After this introduction, we start our story proper, with the introduction of Rick Hunter. Rick will be our POV and central character for most of the series and it’s a good choice. When he’s introduced, he’s a teen pilot that doesn’t want to fight and looks down on those who engage in aerial combat, including his “big brother’ Roy Fokker. By the end of the series, we will see him change his stance on most everything but it does make sense as to why he’s become the way he is.

Another character we get introduced to is Lynn Minmei, a 16 year old girl that wants to become a star. Now, I understand why so many people dislike her (I have to admit that I’m not her biggest fan) but I do have to point out how young she is. This, I feel, explains why she acts the way she does, because she’s immature and little more than a child. She’s 16. And she does have a bit of naivety in her thinking, as well as a honking huge ego.

 Our story really gets started with the preparations for the launch of the alien spaceship, a warship, from the island, Macross Island on it’s madien voyage. Rick arrives, talks with Roy about why he stayed in the military after the end of the war, and we have our introduction of Minmei. However, things go sideways when the aliens known as the Zentradi attack, trying to capture the ship, the Macross. During this battle, Rick somehow ends up in the pilot seat of a Veritech fighter. He has to do something he never wanted to, engage in combat. Of course, since he’s got no idea what he’s doing, he barely does anything. However, he does discover that this fighter plane is more than meets the eye (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself) as it transforms. The plane is now a human shaped robot. While fighting on the ground, he shoots up a battle pod, only to have the pilot climb out and try to fight him. The pilot is a 50 foot tall humanoid that could pass for human, if he was our size. Rick has trouble fighting him and has to be helped by Roy. Keep in mind, this enemy is killed on screen. Not stunned, not hurt, but killed. Bullet holes and everything. This was a contemporary of the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon show, which was targeted by parent groups for being “too violent” when many of the enemies were tied up, pushed away and the like, rather than being hurt. Robotech was different. We’re two episodes in and there’s been several deaths on screen. Planes and other vehicles blown up and there’s no parachutes. And, as the series continues, we’re going to see major and minor characters die.

Moving on, the Macross ends up having to do a jump fold (their version of FTL travel) to get away from the Zentradi fleet. However, several things happen. The first is that they do it too close to the island and teleport part of the island with them. And then they wanted to pop out near the moon but end up pretty far out in the Solar System. To make matters even worse, they end up having the Fold Drive vanish, too. The ship is in a bad position but is far enough away that they have time to figure some things out. Their first order of business is to rescue the citizens of Macross Island and salvage the aircraft carriers that came with them. While Rick and Minmei are trapped in a part of the ship, the ship has taken in parts of the city and put them in a massive hold. The city becomes part of the ship. No joke.

After this, we get started on the military aspect of the show, with Rick joining the Robotech forces. He starts out as a Sargent but is swiftly promoted to a Lieutenant and ends up with two enlisted men under his command. This is also when the Macross starts making the long journey back to Earth. Side note, I find it interesting how the pilots are enlisted when in the American military, it’s the officers who fly combat aircraft. That’s why you want to join the Chair (Air) Force is we do end up in WW3, as only the officers fight. Personally, I’m too tall for combat aircraft, so sign me up. Put me in logistics and forget about me. You’ll get your bullets and beans, I promise.

Ahem. Moving on. While Rick is working his way up the chain of command, Minmei is also starting out her dreams. She participates in the Miss Macross contest and wins, and is soon working on her modeling and singing career. Which brings me to another problem some have with the show: That God Damn Song. Which song? My Boyfriend Is A Pilot. In the Japanese version of Macross, Minmei had several different songs she performed and each would capture a different emotion in the series. In the Robotech version, all we get is My Boyfriend Is A Pilot. And the singer isn’t that good. It’s really grating after the second time. And we’re going to be hearing it a lot.

As the show progresses, there’s a few things that start to happen. The first is Rick forming a complex relationship with Lisa Hayes, the second in command of the Macross and the Flight Control officer. At first, before joining the Robotech forces, he calls her names. Afterwards, they still don’t get along but he saves her during a battle on Mars. Lisa is exploring the mars base, hoping to find her fiance who was stationed there but the base has been abandoned for a long time. When she realizes that her fiance is really dead, she helps to blow up the base to save the ship but decides to stay behind to die. Rick saves her, against her will. After that, they get kidnapped by the Zentradi, who interrogates them. As the Zentradi are cloned and separated by sex, they have no concept of love or relationships. And this comes to one of the major changes between the Macross anime and Robotech: Protoculture. In the Japanese version, Protoculture was a type of culture that the Zentradi were told to avoid all contact with. In Robotech, Protoculture is the basis of Robotechnology, which is how they have their giant shape changing robots. This change is small in this part of the series but becomes a major plot point in the later parts of the show. 

 About a third of the way through the series, there’s a shift in tone and the stakes get higher. At this point, the Macross gets home to Earth, only to be told that they can’t offload the civilians. Why? Because the military told everyone that what happened at Macross Island was caused by Separatists, not aliens. Keep in mind, the whole damn ship is alien but whatever. Unable to drop off the civilians, the ship starts to fly around and just show that they’re still there.

The first major change is Rick and Minmei starting to grow apart. This starts with her singing career taking off after the Miss Macross competition and then gets worse when she visits home in Yokohama. While there, she runs into her cousin, Kyle. Kyle is a anti-war peacenik but also a Judo master, and he has a real problem with Rick and the military. Kyle is the fly in the ointment for the show on a lot of levels. Upon going back to the Macross, Kyle starts getting involved in Minmei’s career and even stars in a movie with her. The complications come in two ways. The first is that Kyle and Minmei have some chemistry, and yeah, they’re cousins, so ew. This drives Rick and Minmei further apart. The second complication is that Kyle reminds Lisa Hayes of her lost love and it makes her very confused for a while.

The next thing is serious and another big change in tone. It starts with Lisa getting distracted during a battle and Rick getting injured in a friendly-fire incident While he’s in the hospital, he has visions or dreams about rescuing Minmei and comes to realize that he needs the help of his friends. Meanwhile, Roy goes out to fight off another attack, and comes back injured. He doesn’t say anything and goes back to have dinner with his girlfriend, Claudia. I’ve kind of forgotten to talk about her but she serves on the bridge with Lisa and a group of girls. One thing that makes her stand out from the rest is that she’s black, which is rare in anime and her being in a position of authority, is even more rare. Anyway. Roy goes to have dinner with her as it was that they had planned and goes there even though he was badly injured. He might have survived but lost too much blood and pretty much dies in front of her. Roy’s death hits Rick hard and makes him have to grow up a little more.

 The last part of this absolute dump on Rick is when he loses one of the pilots under his command. Ben is a bit of a risk taker but Rick seems to like him. Unfortunately, he dies in a battle against the elite female Zentradi units. This really just hammers on Rick some more. However, after everything that’s happened, Rick just keeps rolling. He does have trouble writing the letter home about Ben’s death for his family.

Now, let’s take some time to talk about the Zentradi. The first forces that arrive are under the command of Breetai, a fairly intelligent and tends to think before he acts. With his advisor, Exedore, he keeps trying to understand the simply irrational and chaotic tactics of the humans. To further understand the “Micronians” Breetai sends a trio of spies to the Macross and learn more about the culture and ship. These spies lead to a lot of cringe humor for a while before they return. When they return, they end up corrupting the rest of Breetai’s men. But, we’ll come back to that in a bit.

Under Breetai’s command is a terrible person called Khyron. This guy is bloodthirsty warmonger and is willing to do anything for victory, including destroying the Macross, which is not what they’re suppose to do. It’s a good contrast from Breetai, who represents the best of the Zentradi, as a noble warrior who thinks before he acts. Meanwhile, Khyron is the worst of the Zentradi, driven to fight and kill without thought. This creates conflict between the two and Breetai calls back Khyron’s forces on at least one occasion.

Another commander is Azonia, the leader of the elite female warriors. One of these is Miriya, the ace of the Zentradi. In one of the battles, Miriya is defeated by one of the human warriors. This warrior is Max Sterling, the other pilot under Rick’s command. After this defeat, Miriya also undergoes micronization and tries to hunt him down. We’ll come back to that.

Moving on with the story. The Macross develops a new defensive shield to protect it while traveling to Ontario, who have agreed to take in the civilians. However, Khyron attacks the Macross and the shield overloads and all but destroys the city. In the aftermath, the Macross is ordered to leave the planet and stays in orbit from this point on. The drama on the ship continues with Lisa and Rick starting to developing feelings for one another, while Minmei is pushed away from Rick by Kyle. During this, the ship is attacked several times and even has enemy mecha (called Battle Pods) entering the city inside the ship and wreaking havoc. During one of the battles, Miriya is able to get inside the ship and begin her hunt for the pilot. There’s also those spies, who have managed to figure out how to get by in the city and will miss being there. Upon their return, as I mentioned before, they end up bringing a lot of stuff back with them that they don’t turn in. These include recordings of Minmei’s singing and dolls. All of this starts to get out in the fleet. They were also suppose to give a briefing to Breetai, Exodore, and Dolza, the supreme commander of the Zentradi forces. With his arrival, there’s now somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 million ships around the earth.

Now, let’s get back to Miriya and Max. He encounters her at a video arcade and challenges her to a video game version of flying and fighting in a Veritech. During the fight, Miriya realizes that she’s up against the same pilot she’s come here to kill. However, Max has fallen in love with her. After he defeats her, he makes a date with her the following night. When he arrives, she tries to kill him. She throws a knife and misses, and then charges him with another knife. Max, the ultimate chad, is able to get the knife she threw and defeats her. And, rather than killing her like she ask, he asks her to marry him. She agrees and this leads to a major wedding. However, before the wedding is the defection. During one of the fights, the three spies and several other Zentradi make their way to the Macross and apply for sanctuary. Captain Gloval, the captain of the Macross, using the wedding as propaganda. After the wedding, Miriya joins Max as a pilot and they go to war together. Ultimate. Chad. Confirmed.

During this battle, this is when some of the Zentradi who didn’t defect instead mutiny. This leads to a meeting between a mirconized Exodore and the humans. The long and the short of it is that Breetai has realized that he can’t win against the humans and has learned to respect them and doesn’t want to destroy them. Dolza, however, has other plans. The main Zentradi fleet, which is (again) almost 5 million ships launches an attack against the Earth.

This is the end of the main story right here. 5 million Zentradi ships versus the Macross, the Zentradi ships under Breetai’s command, and Earth gigantic laser cannon. That’s right, Earth has a giant laser. And it does a lot of damage when it needs to. But the Zentradi deal a lot of damage. Something like 95% of the surface of the Earth is hit by weapons fire during the assault. But the laser, Breetai’s fleet, and the Macross are able to destroy the 5 million ships. From this point on, the Earth is almost lifeless, with carters and crashed Zentradi ships littering the landscape, and the planet ringed by the wrecks of the Zentradi fleet. The Macross, damaged and worn, comes to rest in one of the craters.

And there’s still more to come. There’s a two year time jump and we see that the Earth is starting to heal and society is starting to rebuild. Having brought a city with them, New Macross City is the hub of the redevelopment and society. Rick has settled into a more comfortable life, trying to live in this new world. And this life includes Lisa, even though she’s not really his girlfriend. They’re clearly starting to become a couple but haven’t quite taken that step. Max and Miriya, however, are settling into domestic bliss, including a their first child. I think it’s rather cute. However, there is trouble in paradise. Minmei is having trouble with Kyle, who’s become a controlling alcoholic, and he’s still her manager. And not all the Zentradi are happy with their new lives. There’s several episodes just getting things shown off.

 The action really returns when Admiral Gloval and Breetai have hatched a plan to secure a “Robotech satellite” to help rebuild. They use tactical prowess and Miriya and Max’s baby. Yes, they take a baby to a battle. They have a little pod on their Veritechs. I’m not joking. The revelation that Miriya made a baby inside her makes the untainted Zentradi run away in panic.

The next action bits have to do with Khyron and Azonia. They’re a couple and they’re collecting all of the renegade Zentradi they can. At one point, they kidnap Minmei and Kyle, only to have Rick rescue them.

The big climax comes when Khyron and Azonia repair a ship and crash it into the Macross. The Macross is heavily damaged and Lisa is lucky to survive. Rick, Lisa, and Minmei have a heart to heart to heart conversation. Rick was in love with Minmei but he’s become a member of the military and can’t give it up. In short, she’s too late. Instead, he’s fallen for Lisa. And, with all the threads tied up, the Macross saga comes to a close.

However, during these last few episodes, bits from the next series are spliced into the show. These bits are supposed to be the Robotech Masters discovering the Macross and slowly making their way to the Earth to recover it. There’s not a whole lot of it but it’s there, I guess.

And that’s where I’m going to wrap up this review. All in all, this was a good but long watch. As this was the second time I’ve watched it, and since it was dubbed, I was able to pick up more details in the visuals. There were several visual cues and elements that reminded me of things from later shows. And it was really nice to let things take time to develop, even if it does drag on a little too long towards the end. It’s a classic for a reason.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: While I prefer the original Macross Saga, I will say that this one isn’t bad. However, the following parts of Robotech aren’t nearly as good as this one, in my opinion.

Music: Macross Plus - The Cream PUF

Content Warning: Some VERY sexually explicit lyrics

Welcome back to Mecha March and yet another entry under the “Music” heading. Now, finding the music from anime wasn’t very easy back in the day. Until file sharing programs and sites came around, you had to get music imported from Japan or hope that you lucked upon some in a Japanese book or movie store. I remember when Suncoast Movies had a whole rack of music from Macross Plus when the DVD came out. It was wild. And I was broke. So, piracy ensued. However, all these years later, I managed to track down this CD and give it a listen.

INFORMATION HIGH:

This is the first track and it is a song I have been obsessed with ever since I first heard it. While in English, there is some “Engrish” going on with the lyrics. Slow to build, the song picks up and just takes off. If you’re wondering, this is the song that plays while Isamu is trying to get through the defense barrier of Earth. However, the eight minute and five second length might be a bit much for some of you. For me, I could listen to it forever. I suppose it would be Trance? Electronica? I don’t know but I want more of it in my life.

Idol Talk:

This track is the one that causes the warning above. Why? Because there’s snip-its of actual phone sex in it. I’m not joking. You can clearly hear a woman with a British accent talking about sex and sexual acts, towards the end. It fades in and out during the start and end of the song but is covered by the rest of the music. Besides that, this is actually a really good track. The lyrics are in French, I believe and it has a very Pop sound, with a dash of Electronica, that just works for me. Can you believe that this came out in the 90s? Because I sure can, as it feels very Madonna influenced. Once again, there’s a bit of a slow build up to the faster part but when that switch it flipped, it’s great. This song plays during Sharon’s concert on Eden.

The Borderline:

Another song in English, I never knew what the name was because the singer’s accent made it hard to make it out. It makes sense, as the Japanese don’t really have an L or R sound, it’s something somewhere in between the two sounds. Anyway, after the faster songs so far, this one feels so nice and relaxing. But it’s also a bit sad, melancholy, really. I like this one, too. Hell, I like all the songs here but for different reasons. This one is just so… Wispy, soft, and ethereal (yes, I know I’m pretty much saying the same thing three times, get over it). It’s very clearly got a Jazz or perhaps Blues influence and it works. This song also plays during the first concert of Sharon Apple’s. If you really want to enjoy it, I suggest using headphones. Also, this is the shortest track on the album, coming in at five minutes and eighteen seconds.

SANTI-U:

You know what’s interesting about this song? I think it’s in Zentradi. Yeah, a made up language from the show. This song is really two but are one track. The beginning opens with that etherealness from the last track, with some soft singing and slow drums, making for a relaxing start. It’s slowly relaxing you and preparing you for what comes next. Halfway through the song, there’s what sounds like someone flipping through TV channels, followed by a test signal, and then the song changes. There’s this drum beat that slowly starts up and then gets louder and louder, faster and faster, and then it hits you with the Scat (like, the singing thing) and Trace beat. It builds, and builds, until the end, where it all just fades away like a dream. This is the last song from Sharon’s first concert. It’s interesting, because if you listen to the album on repeat, it’s like a circle that never ends. Or perhaps waves rising and falling, over and over again.

And with that terrible metaphor, I think it’s time to wrap up this review. There are two more soundtracks for Macross Plus out there. Both of them, and this one as well, are available on Spotify, should you want to give them a listen.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: A great one, if short one. Oh, did I mention that the artist is credited as Sharon Apple? Because it is. And that’s neat.

Anime: Mcross Plus (OVA)

The many forms of Sharon Apple

Content Warning: Brief nudity, mecha action, some violence towards women.

Before we get into it, let’s talk a bit about the Macross thing. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross was a mecha anime that came out during the glory days of the genre and was one of the more popular and unique ones. Well, America being America, it got lumped into this thing called Robotech. While most of what made things unique still ended up in the Macross saga of Robotech, Harmony Gold held the license and didn’t allow a lot the subsequent shows to be released in the US. Well, until they went into the property management business and let some stuff slip in. One of these was Macross Plus.

Our story begins with three teens on a hill, with the song “Voices” playing over the footage. These are our main characters, Guld, Isamu, and Myung, some years in the past.

It then jumps to 2040 and deep space, and some great mecha combat. With the Macross forces engaged in a battle with Zentradi forces in space. One hotshot pilot just blows them away without much effort but also without much regard for everyone else. Not saying he’s hurting anyone but he really thinks he’s all that and a bucket of chicken. He gets called into the Captain’s office and gets dressing down, before getting told that he’s going to get transferred. To where? Well, after showing Isamu some of the more boring assignments he could get, he sends him to New Eden to be a test pilot. When he arrives, he discovers that he will be the test pilot for YF-19, which is competing with the YF-21, to be the new standard fighter of the military. The test pilot of the YF-21 is Guld, once Isamu’s friend as well as a Human/Zentradi hybrid,, and now rival and enemy. Things can’t quite kick off yet, as the TF-19 is being repaired after an accident, which is not the first time it’s happened, given how the designer, Yang, mentions that four pilots were badly injured and two died during testing. But, Isamu doesn’t care. When he gets to fly, he has to use a standard fighter with booster rockets to follow and record the YF-21 during a test. We also find out what could make the YF-21 into a game changer for the future of flight: mental control of the vehicle. While it does have manual controls, like throttle and flight stick, it is usually piloted using will alone. Guld is very good at it, unless he gets upset, which Isamu is very good at doing. During the test, Guld does lose control and tries to recover, but can’t Isamu is ordered to save him and does so. Isamu uses the “hybrid” form of his VF-11 to hold up the YF-21 while it’s in humanoid form. As Guld recovers, he thinks about how easy it would be to make Isamu crash by exerting a little bit of downward thrust. Which the YF-21 takes as a command and does it. Guld, rather than taking responsibility, blames the incident of an error. Thankfully, Isamu isn’t badly hurt.

Once the YF-19 is returned after repairs, Guld and Isamu begin pushing their planes to the limits. There’s also some more drama going on with other people. Isamu, being a terrible flirt and general maverick, cons one of the flight controllers named Lucy to go out with him, kind of. Exactly what kind of relationship they have isn’t spelled out, but they do hang out outside work, there’s a bit of handsy stuff going on, but we never see them kiss or anything. Yang, the guy I said was the designer of the YF-19, is also a master hacker and slowly warms up to Isamu. The commander of the program, Colonel Johnson, also has some conflict with Isamu but seems to have a soft spot for him. He also seems to respect Guld as well.

Now, there’s someone else we need to get back to, Myung, the girl we heard signing Voices at the beginning. She had a dream of becoming a singer but is reintroduced as the producer of the new artificial singer Sharon Apple. When Isamu hears just a snip-it of one of Sharon’s songs on an ad, he remarks that it reminds him of an old friend. Of course, he’s referring to Myung. Myung is also on New Eden, as part of the tour of Sharon Apple. When she goes to visit Star Mountain, she runs into Guld, who makes it quite clear that his feelings for her haven’t faded in the last seven years. Isamu turns up, with Lucy who prompted him to go there, and we can almost see the love triangle snap into place. When asked, Myung says she “gave up” singing and fakes being happy so hard, she should have just told everyone how she really felt.

After this meeting, there’s Sharon’s concert. We see a lot of interesting technology being used. Like, stimulating emotions in the crowd. Yeah, creepy as shit. We also find out that Myung isn’t Sharon’s producer, she’s her emotional core. She provides the emotions that Sharon just doesn’t have. So, Isamu, Lucy, and Yang are all in the concert, and it is a visual feast. Some of the best animation I’ve ever seen. They don’t make ‘em like they used to, let me tell you. While in the concert, Yang (a Sharon Apple super fan) hacks Sharon to make her appear in front of him. But, she doesn’t. Instead she flirts with Isamu. And seeing him upsets Myung. Afterwards, she goes to hang out with an old high school friend, Kate. Her husband turns up with their kids, and then they do karaoke. Kate preforms “My Boyfriend Is A Pilot” from the original Macross and tries to get Myung to sing but she refuses. Kate lies about going to the bathroom and calls Guld and Isamu. Isamu refuses to go but Guld does. Myung overhears the conversation and runs away, right before Guld arrives. After this, Myung returns to the concert hall instead of her hotel and falls asleep. While she sleeps, we see something is happening to the computer system, setting up something. Then, Isamu gets a call about a fire in the concert hall in 30 minutes, thinking it might be Kate up to something. He gets on his motorcycle and rides like the wind. Guld, who went to Myung’s hotel, gets the same message on his car phone (keep in mind, this was released in 1995, before cell phones were ubiquitous as they are now) and heads over there. When he arrives, he finds the place on fire and manages to rescue Myung, but gets hurt. By the time Isamu arrives, Guld has taken Myung to his home. After she patches him up, I’m pretty sure they bang.

From this point on, the rivalry between Isamu and Guld goes to the next level. Instead of doing the test they’re suppose to, they end up having a battle in an urban combat mock-up. During the fight, there’s punches and kicks thrown by the mecha but when Isamu opens up with the YF-19’s gun pod, it shoots paint rounds. There’s a scuffle and Guld gets ahold of the gun pod. When Colonel Johnson enters the command room, demanding to know what the hell is going on, Isamu’s mecha takes fire from Guld, using Isamu’s gun pod. When Isamu used it last, it was empty. Which means that Guld loaded it with lethal rounds. Isamu is in the hospital and Guld is brought before an inquiry to find out what happens. He says that there’s been some problems with the ammo records and that Yang is a master hacker. The Colonel knows something is up, as this is the second time Guld has been involved in something with Isamu that could have killed him, but the general in charge decides to accept that it’s an accident, surprising everyone.

Isamu wakes up in the hospital, having been unconscious for two days, finding Myung by his bedside. He escapes the hospital and steals a motorcycle, and the two of them go out to the forest. There’s a lot of character building that happens here, with Myung comparing Isamu and Guld. Isamu is reckless while Guld is dependable. But, if Isamu hadn’t escaped from the hospital and taken her with him, they wouldn’t have seen the giant bird thing. When they return, they find Yang, Lucy, and Guld waiting for them. Guld picks a fight between them and Isamu goes for it, hurt as he is. During the fight, Myung tries to stop them, and Isamu accidentally punches her. It stops the fight and she just lets everything out. She’s Sharon’s emotions, they’re living their dreams, and she couldn’t make it during hers. Isamu runs away and Myung ends up leaving on her own. Lucy does point out to her that Isamu knew it was her all along.

The next parts are the set-up for the finale. Myung goes to Earth, as Sharon is due to preform at the 30^th anniversary of the First Space War, with Guld giving her his good luck charm, a recording of her singing Voices. Then, we find out that the testing of the YF-19 and YF-21 has been canceled as the Ghost X-9 drone fighter has finished development and there’s not going to be pilots anymore. Sharon has been upgraded with a Bio/Neural chip, giving her emotions. However, they have a tendency to cause an overwhelming self preservation instinct in systems that use them. That does mean that Myung is no longer needed and she gets locked out. Isamu, with help from Yang, decide to that the YF-19 to Earth and mess up the Ghost’s premier. The only thing that can follow him is the YF-21, which means Guld is going to hunt him down.

And here comes the conclusion! Sharon has “awakened” due to the chip. With the stuff they use for her concerts, she’s able to effect people’s minds, pretty much controlling them. But, she’s taken things from Myung, like how much she loves Guld, but loves Isamu even more. Isamu arrives in Earth orbit and has to pull some tricks to get past the defense network. Guld follows him and they have a fight. This is the BEST fight in the OVA and is worth the time it takes to get to, trust me. During this fight, there’s an argument taking place between Isamu and Guld, about their friendship they had in high school and how Isamu was a really shitty friend, let’s be honest. However, there’s one thing we’ve been getting hints about as the OVA has gone on. It features Isamu and Myung, from Guld’s perspective, with Myung’s shirt ripped and looking afraid. We’ve been led to believe that Isamu did something to Myung and that set Guld against them. But, that’s not what happened. Myung was sharing her feelings about Isamu with him, and Guld saw it. With his Zentradi heritage making him a bit quick to anger, he punched Isamu and attacked Myung, ripping her shirt off. That seems to be as far as it got, thankfully. Of course, Guld finally remembered the truth as he killed Isamu with a barrage of missiles. But did he really kill him? NOPE! Isamu might be a reckless hothead, but he’s a damn good pilot. Now, Isamu and Guld have made up. Just in time for the Ghost, under the control of Sharon, to attack. Guld says he’ll take care of it and have Isamu save Sharon. And, at the cost of his own life, he does. Meanwhile, Isamu goes to the Macross to save Myung. You see, Sharon has taken control of the Macross, as well as everyone in Macross City and aboard the ship, and brings it out of Macross Lake. The first time in 30 years, that has moved. Of course, Sharon tries to take over Isamu and give him everything he’s ever wanted, only for him to come back to his senses as Myung starts singing Voices. He defeats Sharon and saves Myung, the Macross, and possibly humanity.

Whew. That was a long one. And it’s one of my favorite anime. Beautifully done, even the primitive CGI is used sparingly so it doesn’t distract too much. But the real thing that will bring you back again and again is the music. The Macross series has long had been a mix of mecha genre and pop idol genre, with one moving to the forefront over the other depending on the series. It’s what makes Macross stand out from the crowd and that means they have to be very picky about the music. And Sharon’s music is what makes this OVA go from “Great” to “Best.” With songs in English, French, Japanese, and even the fictional Zentradi language, it brings you in. And the stuff they talk about, drones replacing human fighters, AI idols, and all of that, it’s way ahead of its time. Sure, it’s not a perfect vision of what we deal with these days, but it holds up, almost 20 years later. I was glad I tracked down the OVA version, having seen the movie version on VHS tons of times. There’s a lot of changed scenes and context, as well as some new scenes, between the two. Personally, I prefer this version, but if all you can get is the movie, watch it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Suggestion: If you can find it, this is one of the best mecha things made in a long time.