Introduction
After a mysterious spaceship crashes into Earth, humanity realizes that they are not alone. Fearing a potential threat from space, the world pushes aside their nationalism, conflicting interests, and cultural differences, unifying under the banner of the United Nations. The newly formed UN forces decide to repurpose the alien spacecraft, naming it SDF-1 Macross. Unfortunately, on the day of its maiden voyage, a fleet of spaceships belonging to a race of aliens known as the Zentradi descend upon Earth, and the SDF-1 Macross, acting of its own accord, shoots down the incoming squadron, sparking an intergalactic war.
In an attempt to escape, the Macross tries to launch itself into the Moon's orbit, but the ship—as well as the city it was in—is teleported to the far reaches of space. Caught up in this mess are Hikaru Ichijou, a free-spirited acrobatic pilot, and Minmay Lynn, an aspiring singer. These two, alongside Macross' crew, experience an epic journey rife with grief and drama, coming face-to-face with the cruelties of war along the way.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Prashantttt
First Let's give it a correct -
Title ( Macross - A Total Disaster with a Cringe Story, Lame Romance, and Useless Characters)
Basically 90% of the 90s romance anime are xhit and macross is one of them ... If you’re looking for an anime that’s a complete waste of time, “Macross” is perfect for it . I thought I was going to watch a mecha show with some romance but what I got a boring, confusing story, a love triangle that makes you want to roll your eyes, and characters that are so irritating you’ll want to throw your TV out the window. Let’s break down all the ways this anime fails horribly.
About story ( a mess)
(Macross) tries to mix space battles, alien invasions, and love drama, but it just doesn’t work. It feels like the writers had no idea what they were doing and threw in every id…
Read at the sourceFashion_Mage
{minor spoilers}
As Macross started, I found the basic premise, theme (music/culture vs violent aliens) and story very fascinating, and I was gripped. Unfortunately, the story quickly descends into the most repetitive, contrived melodrama that I've ever had the displeasure of watching, filled with characters that behave in a similarly melodramatic and contrived manner. Additionally, despite the characters acting absolutely batshit, the series doesn't seem to be quite self-aware of this at all.
Macross' romantic plot can be summed up fairly easily into a few repeating segments. The two main characters Hikaru and Minmay meet at the beginning of the series, circumstances cause each of them to be trapped with each other, but before anything can develop they are saved from these circumstances…
Read at the sourceTheCoolGuy82
Note: This is my first time writing a review on myanimelist so plz go easy on me.
After finishing countless gundam shows i feel kind of tired. I started watching macross with more of zero expectations bcoz of how old it is. But i was very wrong..
Spoilers:
Story:
Macross is a story of an alien spacecraft land on earth years ago and the humans with their Technology made Spacecraft Macross. It shows the realism of human existence (which was explained great). It also center around love Triangle (which i like the most about this show).
characters: the characters in macross are huge piller (since they are the ones that made this show most memorable
Music: Aside from lin minmay's songs and ops, eds. The music in macross is better than anything
Art: the artstyle may not be that Impressive bu…
Read at the sourceLaLeLuLiLo
There’s more interesting things to say of Macross as a show than about Macross and it’s story. From it’s conceptual beginnings as a parody of Gundam before getting scrapped. Being the only show in the Super Dimension series that lifted off into a franchise. It’s use of pop culture as a tool which lead to the iconic duo of pop idols and mechs the the franchise is now known for. And also being two of the three super dimension series that became part of the Robotech tv show. The last one being something I watched a bit as a kid and now as I am older, am seeing where some of it came from. Of course it’s not like the show has nothing to offer as it focuses on being entertaining, and does a good job at it.
Despite the shows plot being about a war between the United Earth and the extraterrestri…
Read at the sourceMrLegitimacy
It took me a while, but I finally got around to watching SDF Macross. Beyond transforming jet fighter robots, I had no idea what to expect, and I was blown away by what I discovered. Macross kept me constantly engaged with its thematic ideas, solid writing, and charming aesthetic.
This show is great not for its plot or characters as much as the themes it explores. Namely, breaking barriers between the self and an alien other, and the purpose of waging war... With giant robots. Also growing from a boy to a man and being unsure of your place in the world. Culture's value is a prevalent issue, with many of our enemy characters being changed for the better by exposure to it. The power of a song, or of a loving embrace is shown to have power greater than or equal to physical might. Many of our…
Read at the sourcetramontina
This is one of the best anime I have ever watched, which was back in the 80s. Last year I watched the entire series and boy, I got multiple goosebumps from sudden hormone rush. By today's standard, the art and sound is definitely nothing to shout at but it was great back those days. You can see how much it differs from MS Gundam, especially the camera works.
This anime is very comprehensive and ambitious at that time, and still very few anime can match how it incorporates action, suspense, romance and science in a bag. The concept of "folding" and energy barrier are just mind blowing. The music score is still one of my top favorites where i often play them on Youtube.
The best thing about this show is perhaps it also appeals to matured audience with the intricate love conflict and the co…
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
*SPOILERS FOR MACROSS. I WILL ALSO BE COMPARING THE ORIGINAL VERSION TO THE AMERICANIZED VERSION CALLED ROBOTECH SEASON 1, AS WELL AS SHOW BOTH VERSIONS OF CHARACTERS` NAMES, EXCEPT FOR ROY SINCE HIS NAME DOESN`T CHANGE WITH EITHER VERSION. HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT, THEN TAKE IT UP WITH THE SDF-1. THIS IS ALSO GOING TO BE LONG AS HELL, BUT BEAR WITH ME. THIS SHOW IS WORTH IT*
Well, this is easily the oldest anime I`ve ever seen, and this was also my first. Nostalgic memories flow within me as this, Southern Cross, MOSPEADA, and Star Wars movies 3-6 introduced me to not only mechs, but sci-fi as well, and I am forever grateful to all of them for it. Now, for the present. This show has existed for 34 years. If you wanted anything even remotely popular from the 80's, (aside from DBZ because th…
Read at the sourceFirlian
There's a saying in the anime old testament, " Yamato gave a dream to every anime fans, Gundam gave the power to hold to that dream, Macross showed them how to widen that dream, and Evangelion taught them to crush that dream".
Enough joking, I'm here to talk about SDF Macross. A fenomenal and memorable show, which also had the same fate with the aforementioned three in my sacred verse above (Yamato, Gundam 0079, NGE). What's that fate? embarassingly, budget problem. They're are great anime, and ironically, all had to face the fate of their episode numbers being cut because there were not enough money.
So, even with budget problem, does Macross still be able to achieve the title of "Masterpiece"? In my opinion, yes.
If Gundam was the pioneer of "real robot" genre, Macross was the first in…
Read at the sourcePersonaSimon
SDF Macross is anime of epic proportions. It’s a story of war, of love, of adventure, and a dozen different concepts. But the biggest feat is that all these concepts actually blend these concepts in a way that actually work. While this sound fairly simple to do, it is not as easy as it sounds. Many anime try do this, but fail because of lackluster execution or lack of time. A good example of this would be Charlotte, where it tried to bite off more than can chew and put no effort in trying to blend its concept together in a natural way.
One element that makes SDFM work is it great story and strong characters. It is an anime about mankind finding an abandon giant alien spaceship and rebuilding the ship that they rename the SDF-1 Macross. But things go arise and aliens hunting the ship, a wa…
Read at the sourceseroth77
This was my first true introduction into the drama anime genre. While I have watched shows like Mazinger Z and Voltron as a child this show opened so much more for me. It is and will always be the best anime I have ever watched hands down. This show dealt with so many different issues that to this day some anime don't deal with. This was the first anime I saw that even had an interracial couple (Roy and Claudia). (^_^)
Story: The story of Macross, while centers on three people, really has a wider cast of secondary characters. You grow to love these characters as much as the main three people. Viewers got to grow with everyone aboard the SDF-1. You didn't just see a character once and then he/she was blown up or killed the next second. You actually experienced the highs and lows with them…
Read at the sourceNito-San
Before I really got into anime, my only knowledge of the medium was what most Americans know of it (Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Yugioh). Although, even then I knew that some animes were popular before that wave came in (Voltron, Battle of the Planets, Captain Harlock, and Robotech). So while watching newer animes that everyone praises as strokes of genius, I thought I'd look back at the some animes that established themselves as true anime classics. Through my search, I found a little show called Macross, which in the states was known as Robotech. However, I didn't watch Robotech, I went for the real deal. You see in 2006, a little company called ADV films took the original Macross (full name Super Dimension Fortress Macross) and released in the U.S. the way the Japanese origin…
Read at the sourcekekekeKaj
I'm from the generation who grew up watching "Robotech" on TV. For those of you young 'uns who don't know (I say this as I stroke my long white beard and rock back and forth in my rocking chair), "Robotech" is an American adaptation of three different anime. The three series were virtually unrelated in terms of story, and were forcibly mashed together into "Robotech". By far the most famous one of the three adapted series is "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross", or "Macross" for short, which became known as the "The Macross Saga" arc in "Robotech"
Around a decade after I originally watched "Robotech", nostalgia led me to hunt down and watch all three original series, and while the other two weren't as good as I remember (or in the case of the "Robotech: The Masters" arc, not even good to…
Read at the sourceyngtadpole
It's amazing that after this anime is over 30 years old but still excels in the quality of the animation even up to today. Macross Plus was my first exposure to mecha anime and I definitely enjoyed the tie-in between the two shows. Macross has some excellent animated sequences during fights in space and in their mechs as well. You can tell the animators really took great detail to making the action polished, the explosions delightful, and the destruction detailed. There was so much detail put into the fights you get sucked up into the epicness of fighting in space with all the war debris around and missles and lasers going back and forth between enemies. One of the more interesting things they animated were the perspective changes around characters and places during the fight.
Macross do…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Being just as successful in bringing about the "real robot" genre of mecha titles for anime like Mobile Suit Gundam, Macross offered up its own unique spin on the genre with pop idols, an intergalactic war with an alien race and a love triangle. Focusing on the clash of humans and Zentradi, Macross offers a good mix of plot developments and character depth to keep you hooked on the conflict. Characters among both factions are fleshed out as not all the Zentradi are portrayed to be shallowly evil and have their own justifications in understanding human culture considering their culture's upbringing. The series also takes its time with slowly unveiling connections that the Zentradi and humans have with one another as their conflict commences. Because of this fleshing out, I found the charact…
Read at the sourceRampant
A simple summary of this series is that it is a really inferior imitation of both Gundam and Space Pirate Captain Harlock/Galaxy Express 999.
The style of the anime sits firmly on the laurels of a Mobile Suit Gundam, but it forsakes this with the actual character styles, opting to imitate the Harlock/Galaxy Express style instead. Instead of airs to grandeur, the characters instead all are fairly subdued and slow to react to everything. This results in every character looking like Harlock, talking like Gundam, but not really having a personality at all in the end. It is just a bunch of gazing at each other, talking about Minami, or elementary school level bickering or gossiping.
The story of aliens for whom culture (mostly just pop idol singing and sex, unfortunately) is either a drug or…
Read at the sourceBeatnik
Aired just two years after the end of Mobile Suit Gundam, a show which defined the mecha/space genre in anime, Macross takes the 'humans attacked and on the run in a super ship' template and blazes forward a new path of its own.
Macross is the sexier version of Gundam, the carefree serenading romantic. There is an air of enthusiasm and happy-go-lucky charm to its characters that the Gundam franchise rarely ever allowed on its unlucky downtrodden crew. Whereas Gundam grinds Amuro and company through the emotional wringer from episode one, Macross lets Hikaru and gang regularly let off steam in the interior city residing within the Macross itself.
This small city is the show's unique selling point. Whereas most other shows, that might have civilian refugees crammed aboard a ship, will igno…
Read at the sourcekamirecca
Ok time to review Robotech, the Macross Saga.
Its frikken awesome!
Done.
Ok you demand more than that, i get it. Lets break it down into details.
Story.
The story is solid, with a few flaws that age itself is accounted for.
First of, the serie starts year 1999 when a huge alien spacecraft crashes down on earth... last time i checked it didnt happen. but concidered that Robotech was launced 1985, the year 1999 was far into the future.
the story is concentrated around three parts. The first part is the obvious invasion of aliens trying to retake the crashed spacefortress (Known as the SDF-1 or the Super Dimensional Fortress 1). The second part the story is concentrated around is the love triangle of Rick Hunter, Lisa hayes and Lynn Minmei. And the third part the story is concentrated arou…
Read at the sourcejmoriarty84
The characters themselves are what really drive the show. Hikaru may be an ace, but deep down inside he’s still a kid that’s growing. He’s also discovering love as he is trying to be a man. Roy, his big brother figure, is well confident in his abilities and never second guesses anything. Hikaru will also develop as a pilot or soldier and he eventually has subordinates assigned to him. Max, one of his men is a very popular character amongst fans all over the world for his gentle personality and nerdy looks but yet death defying piloting skills in the stars. Minmei is slowly embracing her fame as the ship’s idol and is torn apart that it keeps her from spending time with Hikaru who eventually develops a relationship with Misa.
Though Gundam was the first to utilize m…
Read at the sourceninjasan8
Story: The main story is split up into two main arcs (from 1-27, and 28-36). While the second arc might not seem very necessary to the story itself, it closes up the loose ends left behind from certain character relationships. The story is very fluid, pretty deep, and all around well-planned. It's unique, and I never found myself wondering, "Now why are they doing this again?" like in other animes. The anime has a starting point and an ending point, with very little fluff in the middle. Every episode has its purpose, and it's basically very well thought out.
Art: Now, it's an old(ish) anime, so obviously the art won't be as good as some of the newer shows. However, all that aside, there is very few sequences that are reused (one being a Zentraedi ship being destroyed), and honestly, it's…
Read at the sourceBones
SDF Macross definitely falls into the catagory of Classic Anime; at the time it was made it was groundbreaking, refreshing and exciting.
After all these years it has lost little of its excitement and appeal, and its place in the history of anime is well earned.
The story took time to get moving but was actually rather intriguing once it got going, revealing itself to be more than just humans-kill-aliens-and-vice-versa and giving a fresh look at some of the things that we might perhaps take for granted within our own lives - even today more than 20 years later.
The art, however, has naturally suffered with the times and the advancement of technology and animation techniques: this, however, detracts little from the overall viewing experience.
The vast majority of the characters were enjoyabl…
Read at the source