Macross Zero

Simply put, Macross Zero is the crown jewel of the Macross franchise. It takes the franchise's staple set of features of songs, love triangles, and transformable fighter jets and produces not only a visually breathtaking experience, but its story also carries a healthy weight in depth and substance, making Macross Zero not only a feast for the eyes, but also a memorable tale as well. The plot of Zero is noticeably more grounded than its predecessors. Instead of narrating conflict between humans and extraterrestrials, Zero's plot revolves around the war between the UN and Anti-UN forces, as well as the inhabitants of Mayan Island's struggle withthe introduction of the outside world, which they have mostly avoided until now. As a result, the story becomes much less detached from reality as other Macross series', and viewers are able to relate to themes such as globalization and the environment. Zero is able to provoke a number of thoughts on these themes without being preachy or detracting from the overall entertainment value. The romance element is amazingly well-developed for a short series such as this. It is convincing and touching without a heavy stench of melodrama. Of course, the success in the romance department would not be possible without great characters. Zero's cast of main characters, like the romance, is also well developed. From Sara's inner struggle with the encroachment from the outside world, to Shin's exploration of the ways of the Mayan Islands, to the sheer Charisma of Roy Focker, the characters go beyond being merely caricatures, but rather breath life to the story as interesting and likable human beings, which makes the conflict and romance all the more engaging and satisfying. However one minor gripe on the subject of characters would be the lack of development for the antagonists. Though lightly alluded, the stories behind them are never revealed, therefore the antagonists of Zero exist solely to get in the way of the heroes. But for a five-episode series, this flaw is easily forgivable, given with the limited screen time. The art and animation of Macross Zero are undoubtedly its strongest points. The character designs are clean, the background art is as detailed as it is beautiful, and the CG animations of the variable fighters are nothing short of breathtaking. Without feeling too out of place in a 2D anime, the 3D jets are superbly rendered. Trails of air adorn the fighters as they pull off amazingly choreographed dogfights. Missiles dance across the screen gorgeously in true Macross fashion, and the superb use of camera further heightens the exhilaration of the aerial combat. The attention to technical detail must also be noted in the movements of the thrusters, rudders, and the transformation sequence of the variable fighters. The sounds of Macross Zero compliments its visuals well with booming explosions during the fights and lovely singing during... well, the songs. However, in the department of background music, though certainly not bad, Zero did not offer any particularly memorable pieces for me. Overall, Macross Zero is an incredible entertainment package that combines a great story, superb art, and mouth-watering mecha action no fan of the genre can resist. If you enjoy the Macross franchise or mehca series' in general, Macross Zero is without a question a must-watch. Even if you aren't, Macross Zero is still an amazing experience, and at only five episodes, it's a great investment for your time.

I can safely say that, after watching all five episodes in one sitting, Macross Zero is one of the best animated series in existence that my eyes have viewed. It had pretty much everything, ranging from a man coming to terms with the primitive way the people on the island he crashes on live to the most convincing (and semi-understandable!) battle with a God-like entity to grace anime. The only flaw the series had was the slightly depressing and inconclusive ending. I wanted a happy ending; not one where all the couples end up unhappy and the fate of a certain somebody is left upin the air. The story of Macross Zero isn't hard to digest: A war is on-going between two halves of humanity. On one side is a pilot called Shin, a rookie who learned about war the hard way as a child and got involved in order to stop the fighting. During a battle he ends up getting his plane badly damaged, forcing him into an emergency eject. When he wakes up later, he finds himself wrapped in bandages and inside a strange hut with bird images around him. He soon discovers that the island he's found himself on is inhabited by primitive people, and the leader of these people, Sara, wants him to leave as soon as possible in order to avoid him bringing a curse on her people. However, with the war taking place near the island due to an ancient life-form having been discovered underwater close to it, things soon take a turn for the worse... For some reason, I like stories that involve a primitive race of people having to come to terms with the realities of the modern world, or the reverse. Macross Zero showed a primitive group being forced to experience the pain and suffering of war AND had the main character, to a certain extent at least, become one with nature. I haven't seen this type of story in anime before and that semi-original vibe allowed me to get even more out of the experience. Putting originality aside for a second, it's a good thing when mecha series are grounded in reality by a plot element because it prevents the story being too far-fetched and allows people to connect to the story and characters on a real world level. Another impressive aspect of the show is its multiple love stories. Macross is well known for its blend of romance, singing and sci-fi, and Zero didn't let me down. The romance never came across as fake or forced, which surprised me a little given the short length of the story. The relationship between uptight Shin and primitive Sara was very touching, and it had a very funny beginning since Shin unknowingly threatened Sara with what the Mayan people think of as being equivalent to love letters. The other major relationship, between Aries and Roy Focker, wasn't quite so moving due to them having been together (and later splitting apart) prior to the start of Macross Zero, with the events of the story pulling them back together, but it had its moments and, like with the other relationship, their relationship created a fairly amusing scene or two. As for the visuals, Zero looks fantastic. The art/animation is up to the standard I expected an OVA series of a huge franchise to be at, but the CG aerial battles blew me away. They were a little difficult to follow at times due to the frenzied pace aerial battles move at, but I never lost track of who was shooting at who. And, unlike with lower quality anime that features CG, the CG blended excellently with the animation. The music was less impressive than the other aspects. There were a few decent songs here and there but, overall, nothing stood out as truly special. Off the top of my head, I can't even remember any of the BGM music right now, which is an indication of how much of the soundtrack caught my ears. I don't feel the soundtrack was bad (I'd be being far more critical if that were the case), I just felt it lacked something in comparison to everything else. All in all, I loved the series. I enjoyed it so much that it got a rare 10/10 from me and has gone straight into my top five (edit: many months later, I changed my scoring system, and Zero got a 9/10 on my list.) For someone as critical as me to rate something 10/10, it has to be brilliant, and Macross Zero had every element an anime needs to be as close to perfection as humanly possible. It's hard for me to imagine a better blend of reality, mecha and a sci-fi 'God' story. If this series never gets released outside of Japan it'll be a crime - every (and I mean every!) anime fan should see it.

While this is a decent chapter in the Macross franchise, it does carry some major flaws that stuck out enough for me. But before I address my issues, I'll address what I did enjoy out of this OAV. The series does do a decent job at incorporating the tribal beliefs of the Mayan Island natives within the mythos of the series as the beliefs become strikingly similar to the Valkyrie mecha used within the franchise and dropping some hints about the Protoculture. In addition, Roy Focker is around to provide some serious and funny moments as he helps out series lead Shin and tries makingadvances on scientist Aries Turner. After seeing Macross Frontier, I definitely took notice of the Nome sisters as pop idol Sheryl from Frontier is Mao's daughter. In terms of visual presentation, this is easily the best-looking title in the Macross franchise I've seen to date. The series effectively blends in CG animation with the regular visuals to render the slick and highly-detailed Valkyrie fighters and battle planes used throughout Macross Zero. This work also went into creating the beautiful and lush island scenery seen throughout Mayan Island. This effort also went into the title's animation as aerial battles between UN Spacy and Anti-UN forces were very fluid and a sight to behold, mixing in some shots of the cockpit view as pilots were engaging one another in combat. Where this series does falter for me however is with its music and characterization. The Macross franchise is most famous for mixing around mechas, music and love triangles into the storylines of their titles. My issue with the music has more to do with it being a similar issue I had with the original Macross. While the element is effectively conveyed within the storyline of Macross Zero shown through the Nome sisters' abilities, the overall soundtrack has nothing notable that sticks out as it makes use of new age and classical music. The characterization for Macross Zero is perhaps the title's weakest area. There isn't enough fleshed out with the new characters and their motivations. Hints are dropped regarding the backgrounds of these characters yet Zero doesn't have the time to go into greater detail. As a result, this makes the love triangle element to the series involving Shin and the Nome sisters unconvincing due to the lack of proper buildup and tension. Overall, Macross Zero proved to be a mixed bag for me within the Macross franchise. While sporting the best visuals I've seen from the franchise to date and making decent incorporation of its tribal elements into the Macross mythos, the weak characterization and unmemorable soundtrack does really hamper it a bit in my book.

Despite it's obvious visual splendor and amazing fight choreography, Macross Zero never achieves the high concept that Shoji Kawamori aims for. Even ten years later, the visuals and cinematography still hold their own and aren't the least bit dated. But the ret-conned plot (Roy Fokker was an anthropology student in college?!?!?!!?) is downright silly; introducing tribal cultures, creation myth, and a mad scientist thread. But my real issue comes with the pacing - Kawamori's real downfall. As with Macross Plus, 140 minutes of exposition and narrative are tied up and concluded in thefinal 10 minutes. And in true anime fashion, that amounts to lots of people dying, some giant thing stomping around, and some head-scratching moralizing.