5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a whole lot different than Robotech Masters, February 8, 2007
This review is from: Super Dimensional Cavalry - Southern Cross (Complete Series) (DVD)
Like many of these ol' foggies that write anime reviews, stated that their love of anime started from the series Robotech...
This is true in my case. The thing about Robotech that I didn't like was that the Masters series didn't really make a lot of sense, especially when they started talking about the three way war between the SDF, the Masters and the Invid...and the whole "triumphiant" was all hokey.
Southern cross was nothing like that. The so-called Protoculture was more like an energy source than a "flower of life". I considered it more like plutonium than the fountain of youth.
Characters were different too...Charles was a ladies man, Nova wasn't that much of a prude and Marie Angel had a life. Jeanne was much more than an fun loving genetically confused brat that Dana Sterling was made out to be.
The whole show had a universal theme to it...No matter how much our political differences are, deep inside, we are still the same. As with the other reviewers, this show was wrapped up way too fast, but at the end. There was a scene where Jeanne was telling the Commander that she couldn't kill an alien invader that looked just like them (human beings). That scene stuck.
In a world where politics polarize societies, this anime hit pretty close to home dealing with the politics of war. The ZOR was nothing more than cloned human beings that was genetically 'improved' to live on the planet 'Glorie'. The planet 'Glorie' was abandoned because it became inhabitable to humanoids. The Zor abandoned Glorie years prior to the current human inhabitants, to the point that they did not think that they lived there. Later in the story, the human inhabitants of Glorie discover the remants of the Zor technology, the energy of protoculture that they needed to continue cloning the zor race (being created and controlled by three old men-like deities) and running their ship. The old men force the zor to fight with the settlers (by extensive training and brainwashing). The settlers fight back (not knowing why they are being attacked in the first place). The Zor believes that they have a right to live on Glorie, their original homeland. The settler demand that they have the same rights as the original inhabitants. Sounds familiar....
At the end, we all have to live with each other...just like the Zor and the humans. Bowie fell in love with Musica...Jeanne was right all along, deep down we are all the same.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Japanese only!!! (No English track as stated), June 29, 2009
This review is from: Super Dimensional Cavalry - Southern Cross (Complete Series) (DVD)
NOTE: Amazon's "Product Details" indicate that the languages of this DVD are Japanese and English. This is wrong! It is in JAPANESE ONLY with English subtitles. Most people would probably know this, but it is still a misrepresentation and grounds for a refund. So please get it together, Amazon. Also, the cover art of the product I purchased differed from the one shown in this ad.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Super Dimensional recap of the original version!, March 8, 2007
This review is from: Super Dimensional Cavalry - Southern Cross (Complete Series) (DVD)
I recently purchased this series from Amazon Marketplace for a really good price! My fond memories of The Robotech Masters still comes to mind when I was curious to see how different the original version is to Harmony Gold's version. I was surprised the backside of the box read;
"a powerful, bittersweet series from the golden age of Japanese animation which was the original source material for the second act of..." Robotech.
Watching the opening credits reveals familiar moments from Robotech's opening credits with Macross, Southern Cross and Genesis Climber cropped and combined together. The first episode is so different from how I remember the Masters. The creators of Robotech rewrote and re-editted this series to tie in with Macross to have Lt. Jeanne/Dana Sterling as the daughter of Max and Myria. A new character to Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, Maia Sterling, is added in to the movie as Dana's sister. She may have originally been added in the Robotech novels. But getting back to what I remember from the first episode of the Masters, Jeanne/Dana is written in as highly skilled, confident and brave. She reflects on what went on between her "parents" and how they met during the Zentran and Meltran War with one of her friends. But in Southern Cross, Lt. Jeanne is rebellious, defiant and troublesome to her superiors spending some time in the brig on disciplinary charges.
Yet the story itself rehashes on some political grounds of planetary occupation/colonization on Gloire belonging to returning alien inhabitants called the Zors. As the story continues, the mystery behind the Zor unfolds as civilians are kidnapped and used against the Southern Cross army. The Zor and Southern Cross army become desperate to survive and win each battle as the war becomes endless with casualties mounting on both sides. Overall this is a great anime series that inspired others like "Dirty Pair" and "Gunbuster."
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