Macross Zero

After seeing episode 10 of Macross Frontier, in which a movie about the events of Macross Zero was made, I thought I should also watch this highly-regarded prequel. Although a few small things were modified in regards to the original Macross story, that didn't matter so much for the beautifully animated anime prequel.

Since I've mentioned it, I'll talk about the art and animation first. Outstanding! Stretch mentions the battle where the Anti-U.N. forces assault the Asuka II aircraft carrier and her battle group. This was simply breathtaking and had me feeling I was really there. Actually, many of the aerial dogfights take you there. The animators often go for views that are not often seen in anime (if at all). I think of when the VF-0 first transforms. I've never seen any variable fighter transform from within the cockpit. The animators not only did it, but made it so that it was clear how this affected the pilot. Once was all I needed to see of this and that's all the animators gave us. So kudos to the production staff for including this one scene, which did not impact the flow of the story (IMO).

As I said, the animators often went for different views than one might normally see. A neat trick they used was a distance shot. So when the Mayans observe the fighters battle in the skies from their mountain cave, we see it from a distance. While this surly was cheaper to animate, it was no less beautiful to look at. That was the brilliance of it.

Further, the animators took us under the sea. The scene where Mao is showing Shin life under the ocean was another breathtaking moment for me. At that moment, I wished I had a Blu-Ray version of this series to watch on a 1080P HDTV. That's how great a job the animators did on this thing, even on the little things such as flowers blooming or insects emerging, or whatever. This really is a beautiful anime to look at.

Now for story. We are used to the alien elements in the Macross franchise. Macross Zero introduces a new alien element, one that had been on Earth for who knows how long. As such, the writers insert this story at the end of the U.N. Wars and just before the Anti-U.N. Alliance is officially dissolved and everyone is part of U.N. Spacy. They make the alien element here be the final cause that lead the Anti-U.N. to give up for good. It works, though I gather some may not care for the mystical elements introduced into the Macross Franchise, via the alien's connection with the people of Mayan. That didn't bother me. The only thing that did bother me was the alien elitist attitude about humans and fighting. If these aliens are so opposed to war, why are they so technically advanced in the weapons of war? Bah!

Minor preaching aside, the story is good. I believed in how the romance between Shin and Sara developed. Despite knowing Roy Focker's reputation from Macross, I believed in his feelings for Aries. So that was good. With only five episodes, we don't get any great character exploration of any character. We get enough to get us through the story, which is fine. That said, I would have preferred knowing more about what happened with Shin's parents and the events that lead Focker to change his mind and join the military after vowing he'd run away if war broke out. However, the writers felt that this stuff wasn't that important apparently. Oh well.

The Macross franchise is also a lot about music. This time, song is there, but it isn't pop music or rock as seen in the other Macross titles. Sara's singing and its effect on her surroundings is akin to what Belldandy does in the Ah! My Goddess franchise. So Sara's song is beautiful in a classical sense, and considering the Mayans aren't big on technology, it fits. The song sung in episode 5 is operatic and proof that opera will bring about the end of the world. lol Opera is not my thing and while there's nothing wrong with the final song, it just felt out of place to me. I think that's because while Sara's first song started a capella before adding a soft, minimal musical background accompaniment, the last song had more musical accompaniment to try to add to the moment. But for me, it just seemed wrong. It is a minor thing though.

I hope more elements from this anime are produced in Macross Frontier, such as the aliens.

Bottom line: Beautiful to look at and a good story to boot. You can't go wrong with that, and since you don't need to have seen the original Macross to enjoy this, it is a sure-fire "Buy" in my book (if only the legal dispute about the rights could be resolved).

Last updated Wednesday, July 02 2008. Created Monday, June 16 2008.