Twenty Five Years of Seperation

As some of you may know, Macross Frontier is one of my favorite anime series. It impressed me back when I first saw it, and subsequent rewatching has had me thinking I should perhaps be raising its position in my list of favorite anime to somewhere in the top three. With the recent screenings of the show I’ve done for an anime club I’m part of and the VF-25 model kit I acquired at a local convention, I’ve been in a real “Frontier” mood recently. Because of this, I allowed myself to be talked into going and viewing the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. This proved to be an interesting experience both in terms of the links between the original series and Frontier and in terms of how much anime has changed over the past 25 years.

First of, Frontier really does draw a lot on its predecessor. Numerous shots in Frontier deliberately mimic ones from the original Macross, one of the most notable examples being a sequence where Alto attempts to grab hold or Ranka’s hand and haul her into his VF-25’s cockpit. There are even entire episodes which are modeled on ones from the original series such as the episode “Goodbye Sister,” which is a deliberate subversion of the original series episode “Pineapple Salad.” Even many of the characters in Frontier seem to be modeled on ones from the original series –Catherine Glass is reminiscent of Misa Hayase, Ranka Lee is reminiscent of Lynn Minmei, and Michael Blanc is an interesting hybrid of Roy Focker and Max Jenius with perhaps a little outside influence thrown in. All this (as well as references to other Macross series) generally plays out pretty well, although I do think having Ranka work at a restaurant with the exact same name as the one Lynn Minimei worked at may have been going a little far with the continuity porn. (I had less trouble with Alto and Ozma’s fighters having paint jobs resembling the ones on Hikaru and Roy’s or even the fact that they fly for a unit with the same name as the one those two flew for.)

Now as far as my thoughts on the original series go, I was surprised by how good parts of it were. I’d previously seen the movie version of the original Macross, and the extreme cheesiness of that film sort of turned me off the original series for a long time. Thankfully the much longer TV version quickly proved to be less cheesy than the shorter movie version. On the negative side, it did take quite a while to find its stride, and the characterisation was rarely entirely satisfactory. Whether due to improvements in the original animation or improvements in the restoration process, the artwork improved over the course of the series from something which had an effect comparable to seeing a model hanging from poorly obscured strings to something quite passable, and the storyline actually got fairly involving during some of the middle-late sections. It was actually kind of interesting to see a series investigate the aftermath of a devastating (not so) final battle, and there were actually times where I was reminded a little bit of the new Battlestar Galactica (though I think the new BSG is on a whole different level than this show). As noted however the characterisation was rarely entirely satisfactory –Hikaru comes across as an irresponsible douchebag, Lynn Minmei is a ditz, Misa Hayase had a tendency to gain my respect and then lose it again later, and there were times where I really didn’t feel that Captain Global was the sort of leader who ought to have a ship named after him in the future.

In spite of some good points the original series had, comparing it to Frontier really shows how far the anime industry advanced in the twenty five years between the two series, and not just in a strictly technical sense. The massive change in visuals may be the thing that strikes most people right off the bat when they first compare the two series, but there are also significant differences in how their stories are brought to life. One thing I found with Macross was that there were times were I felt a newer series would have portrayed things in a way that had more impact. A prime example of this is the scene where Hikaru sees a Zentraedi for the first time when one climbs out of his damaged battle pod. I think a modern series (at least a good one) would have used techniques that could more effectively convey a sense of terror than the ones in that scene did. Frontier’s wham episodes (and even a fair bit of stuff in the “regular” episodes) had a much greater impact on me than anything in the original Macross did, and I think that’s partly because the techniques used to give scenes in anime an emotional impact have been refined considerably over the years. I also think that Frontier has much better characterisation than the original Macross. Its characters are more believable and more complex, and the show does a much better job of establishing them and who they are. Furthermore Frontier had far less moments where it felt like the characters behaved the way they did simply because the script said they were supposed to act that way in that particular scene.

In spite of its flaws, there were parts of Super Dimension Fortress Macross that worked surprisingly well, and it’s clear that Macross Frontier owes a huge debt to its illustrious predecessor. The newer series is also not without its share of flaws. On the other hand however, I don’t think Macross Frontier is simply a sequel with a bigger budget and a heavy dose of CGI. In terms of visuals, music, characterisation and dramatic impact it simply plays its game on an entirely different level than the original series does. Despite all the crappy, purile shows that get produced these days twenty five years of anime development seems to have amounted to something.

I have fond memories of Macross: Do You Remember Love?, but mostly because it was such a technical and visual advancement on any anime movie before it. I remember the huge "Summer of 84" marketing campaign they had for it and the "wow" factor at the quality of the animation and color the trailers and TV specials showed. Much like The Empire Strikes Back or Jurassic Park, it set a new benchmark for technical achievement.

And "Ai Oboete Imasu ka" is one of the most awesome love ballads, ever.

That was so long ago, Kisk. Wonderful memories at best.

I should try rewatching Do You Remember Love, since really I don't remember the movie that well (har har, laugh if you want). It would be interesting to compare it to the movie version of Macross Frontier which should finally be available in fansub form in a few week's time thanks to the upcoming DVD/Bluray release.

I think my main problem with DYRL was that the reactions of the Zentraedi to various shocks were so over the top. Which is funny since one scene that I felt worked surprisingly well in the TV series was Millia using her and Max's baby to terrify the hell out of the Zentraedi soldiers at that factory. Somehow the TV series managed to get me to accept things like that more readily. I also remember one person commenting that one problem DYRL has is that it was made at a time when Macross was already so huge that the creators didn't feel much need to try to give the newcomers some grounding (which might be another good reason why I should try to rewatch it after having seen the TV version).

Regarding your comments on how amazing DYRL was in the early eighties, I do remember one of the criticisms of Frontier being that it didn't really break much new ground for the franchise from a technical standpoint. I was actually pretty impressed by Frontier the first time I saw it, but after seeing the Macross Zero OVA from six years earlier I have to admit that any advancements made between the two from a visual standpoint were pretty minimal. Then again, the Zero OVA did some things that are pretty impressive even by the standards of today's productions and may have had a lot to do with why Satelight got picked to work on Macross Frontier.

The same person who criticised Frontier for it's lack of technical innovation did think the show did a really good job of attracting new fans to the franchise though, and I think I agree there. Seeing Macross Frontier for the first time kind of reminded me of seeing Star Wars for the first time back when I was six or eight or so. Considering that I was like twenty one when I saw Frontier for the first time, I think that's pretty impressive. The new Star Trek movie from last year is probably about the only thing I can think of that had a similar effect.

I'm also reminded of the fact that there's been some debate about whether Frontier's many references to previous Macross series are a good thing. Some people think it hinders the series' ability to develop it's own identity. Funnily enough, there's some indication that the series may work better for newcomers that Macross veterans in some respects because the references fly over newcomers' heads. Probably about the best counterargument in favor of the references is the one that Frontier is a 25th Anniversary celebration for the franchise and thus it's appropriate for it to have lots of references to other series in the franchise.

There is no doubt DYRL was nothing special in terms of story and acting. Within the official Macross canon, it's considered the movie the survivors of the television series made to tell their story. And we all know how well a Hollywood movie "based on a true story" tracks to the real story.

So there are significant changes to the movie plot and background compared to the original television series. And the characters are condensed down because you have two hours to develop them as opposed to the 18 the series gave. And the movie's sequel, Macross II: Lovers, Again, has subsequently been removed from the official Macross canon.


As for Macross Frontier on a technical level, I think it was quite impressive and significantly better than the preceding Macross 7. As a series, it had the highest technical and artistic production values and I agree that it compares well with the OAVs like Macross Plus and Macross Zero. Then again, the OAVs had significantly less episodes so they could afford higher production values, I imagine.

And as someone who has seen all of the Macross franchise, I liked the homages to the earlier shows, especially the episode where they re-shot the finale of Macross Zero. And it was nice seeing the Megaroad-01 from Macross 2012: Flashback Lynn Minmei in the opening animation of all the various colony ship trajectories.

Do you think I should check out Macross 7 as well? That seems to be the one Macross series which doesn't have a very good reputation (among the fans over here that have managed to see it -I hear it's very popular in Japan). However I imagine it could be a sort of "Missing Link" as far as the development of the series goes, as I believe it's the only full length TV series between the original Macross and Frontier. Plus Ozma Lee is a big fan of a band that plays a major role in that series, and that's got to count for something.

And I actually do like the homages and such in Frontier in general, in fact I consider the sequence with Alto rescuing Ranka that pays homage to Hikaru rescuing Minmei in the second episode of the original series is one of the highlights of Frontier. I just wonder if maybe they did take it a little far, particularly with the restaurant names.

As a note, much as I liked Frontier better overall I think Zero may still deserve to hold the crown for variable fighter dogfight scenes. Some of the air battles in that OVA are just amazing.

Piero wrote:Do you think I should check out Macross 7 as well?

No. I found it totally dull and stupid, mainly thanks to the main cast. The only good episode was when Max and Miriya stopped bitching at each other long enough to jump into their original VF-1s and kick some ass.

Macross Zero is my favorite part of the franchise. They just hit that one out of the park, IMO.

Having only only seen Robotech which includes macross I can't really compare it to Macross fronteir because of the changes made for the adaptation for Robotech. I will say that I found Macross fronteir to be very well done, and I didn't mind all the references to previous shows mainly because I haven't seen those shows. I really enjoyed the final episode where they blended all of the songs from early in the show into the music for the final battle.

Nyan Nyan Service Medley doesn't include all the songs -even the final episode of Frontier as a whole doesn't use all the songs that are in the series (though it might be funny if they had tried to find a way to incorporate Carrot Loves You Yeah! ). Nyan Nyan Service Medley is composed of Lion, Infinity, My Boyfriend is a Pilot, Diamond Crevasse, Interstellar Flight, What 'Bout My Star?, Lion, Do You Remember Love, Lion, and Aimo (yes, it uses Lion three times before the end). Which is still pretty impressive for a seven and a half minute song.

I missed an opportunity earlier, so I'm going to take it now:

Kiskaloo wrote:

Piero wrote:Do you think I should check out Macross 7 as well?

No. I found it totally dull and stupid, mainly thanks to the main cast. The only good episode was when Max and Miriya stopped bitching at each other long enough to jump into their original VF-1s and kick some ass.

Well, what do you expect from two people who decided to get married within twenty four hours of one of them trying to kill the other? (One part of the original Macross where the characterisation was a wee bit of a stretch, IMO.)

On a related note, I shouldn't have watched this trailer, because it has me really pumped up for the DVD release of the first Macross Frontier movie on October 7. Hiopefully there's some fansubbers out there who are just as pumped about the release as I am.