15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross - A Science Fiction Anime Classic, March 17, 2009
This review is from: Macross: Complete Collection (DVD)
Not again! I get this, watch this and come onto Amazon to review it and... it's out of print?! And this went on sale in October of last year - it was on sale for a total of five months! What, did ADV lose the licence? Argh... well, you know what? I watched it, I'm a gonna review it! And this is going to be a positive review because I really, really enjoyed this show.
The story? *Minor Spoilers Ahead*
In 2009 (the presen- I mean the FUTURE...) Repairs and rehab have been completed on an alien battleship that crash landed on Earth in 1999 (this didn't make the news though as everyone was more concerned with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Millennium Bug). This ship, dubbed Macross by the UN (which now runs a unified Earth government - quake in fear, Black Helicopter Conspiracy Nuts!) is ready for its maiden flight when a fleet of alien ships enters the solar system looking for it. Of course, things go bad and the Zentradi aliens and the UN military end up in an accidental war, a war that will be decided not by pure military firepower but by civilian culture.
*Okay, you can open your eyes now*
This is an Anime Classic. The story is gripping and full of intelligent drama - this is equal parts science fiction, space opera and love story. The pacing is good, with very little filler. The animation is for the most part good for its time (more on this later). The music is good (though the opening and ending themes are kinda cheesy). The giant mecha and spaceships are both cool and realistic looking. The requisite space battles are kinetic and exciting. But it is the characters that stand out the most as this series' greatest asset. The characters of Macross are three dimensional, flawed and human, likable and unlikable. Even the "villains" are well rounded, and are not completely unsympathetic. Character development is subtle and realistic. The hero Hikaru Ichijo, who gets caught up in the war between the Humans and Zentradi matures into a capable and humble pilot and commander (he can even admit when someone is better than him - no fighter jock ego here) and yet still has attitude problems he needs to work out. Hikaru's superior Misa Hayase is a model officer and a superb tactician but has emotional and personal issues to deal with. Minmay, a girl Hikaru saves during an attack in the beginning is cute, fun and friendly but also very selfish and immature. And she sings. A lot. If you don't like J-Pop, especially the eighties variety, turn back now or have your fast-forward button finger on standby. Even if you are indifferent to or like J-Pop, you will hear so much of it in this show that you will find your patience taxed. I have not counted the number of times that Minmay sings her first big hit, "My Boyfriend is a Pilot," but I think it is in the triple digits. But I digress.
If there is any real criticism that can be leveled at this show, it is the result of the constraints of the time period and the way it was made. Let me explain. This is a Japanese animated television show from the early 1980s. As such, the animation is not going to be on par with a modern anime TV program. Personally, I like seventies/eighties animation and all of its retro stylings, but Macross while having some good period animation also has some of the worst. This is because of a very tight budget - some of the animation duties were farmed out to cheap overseas studios, and it is very easy to spot which scenes were done by these companies. The drawings are crude, the cels are not synched correctly and the frame rate drops to the low single digits. Again, this did not detract from MY enjoyment of this show, but be aware. Also the show was originally set to run at 26 episodes but cut short by the studio, so one or two plot points were shortened drastically. Amazingly, after the show started to be popular the studio *extended* its run, bringing the episode count up to 36, then giving the producers room to *lengthen* some of the story arcs.
Well, enough analysis. If you're reading this you're probably a fan of the show already. So, to the burning question on your mind: do I want to get this (now out of print like all the others) DVD box set? Answer: yes. This set is extraordinary. All 8 discs fit in a handy-dandy set of four thin-packs that take up little space on your shelf. The video is great - the image is clear and has great colors. The audio is pretty good - the Japanese track is the original from the eighties and while not having been cleaned up like the video is perfectly adequate. The English track is a good Dolby 5.1 with more bottom and aural oomph than the Japanese. The English dub itself is a typical ADV dub, meaning it ranges in quality from decent to pretty awful. Some of the voices are pretty good (Misa, Claudia, Minmay) while some are not (Hikaru sounds like he is about 12 years old). Also, like many English dubs some liberties are taken with the translation, which range from understandable to unforgivable (gratuitous swearing). Extras-wise this set is loaded down with goodies on each disc, mainly consisting of production notes (copied from Animeigo's DVD set from a few years back) and English cast interviews with a few commentaries, clean OP and ED videos and previews of other ADV titles.
In conclusion, get this if you can. This is a timeless television sci-fi anime classic with few flaws and a lot to enjoy. All that I have written here does not even begin to scratch the surface of expressing the joy that I experienced while watching it.
Summation:
Pluses - Great story, good action, cool mecha, well-rounded characters, thoughtful social commentary, intriguing human (and alien) relationships.
Minuses - Some bad animation, minor plot compression, if I have to listen to "My Boyfriend is a Pilot" one more time....
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
super dimension fortress MACROSS is a must have!!!!!!!!!, January 3, 2009
This review is from: Macross: Complete Collection (DVD)
MACROSS!!!
This is by far,my absolute favorite anime series of all time.The original 36 episode "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" was created in 1982 in Japan originally.The United States first got to see it in 1984,as somthing different.It was called: "Robotech".
The story was changed,character's names were changed,or altered as well.Then they merged two other "unrelated" anime series into the story,creating: Robotech.
The original Macross story is much better,in my own opinion.Very great dramatic story.Nicely remastered also.
I hope that the U.S. would now aire this series on a regular basis,now that they finally have english translated voices.
But I always prefer the original Japanese voices,and use the subtitles.
Later,the movie version of this series was released in theaters in Japan,and now out there on DVD as well.It's called: "Super Dimension Fortress Macross the movie.Or,"Macross the movie,"Do You Remember love?".
It's a little different than the original series,but based on the same story.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original Source is GREAT and it IS STILL AVAILABLE elsewhere!, July 23, 2011
This review is from: Macross: Complete Collection (DVD)
This is the original source series from which Robotech was created. Although this particular collection is no longer available here, it has been re-issued in new packaging, which is slimmer and takes up less space. It can be found at the Lake Anime dot com web site for a very reasonable cost.
The video is very crisp and clean with very good color saturation. Sound quality is also excellent although the opening and ending themes aren't all that great because of the guy they chose to sing them. They should have let Mari Iijima sing them instead. The other weak point in music with this series was that they played "My Boyfriend Is A Pilot" to death. A pity too since there were some other great songs in the series with the classic masterpiece being "Ai, Oboete imasu ka?" (Do you remember love?) the 500,000 year old love song Lynn Minmay sings at the height of the final battle.
The action and characters are excellent and fairly well developed. They are all too human in their frailty and yet most have a great inner strength that helps them overcome their weaknesses when it really counts.
Overall this is a terrific series that you'll want to watch again and again.
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