10/10
Do You Remember MACROSS
12 December 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I had forgotten this little gem until it was finally released on Blu Ray recently. This story is the pinnacle of the Macross cycle. Macross is in the outer solar system, on it's way back to Earth. It's just a regular day on Macross, and Lynn Minmay is performing her first ever concert.

Meanwhile, rookie pilot Hikaru Ichijyo is out on his first patrol. They come across some Zentradi attackers, three of which actually get inside the Macross! His commanding officer, Misa Hayase orders his to keep on attacking, but he goes after the three instead against orders.

The Zentradi (Male Giants) don't care much for music and attack the Macross right in the middle of Minmay's first song. This means, they have to transform!

What happens when the Macross needs to transform? Plenty - Whole areas of internal structure are destroyed. Lynn Minmay and her actor friend are caught and separated when a bulkhead closes, a gravity generator goes out and Lynn is in Free fall, Ichijyo has to save her as well as kill the internal attackers.

On the outside, Macross finishes its transformation and activates its primary weapon, vaporizing the huge Zentradi ship.

But down below, Ichijyo saves Minmay and they are trapped in the Engine Block with no gravity. This is where the song "Zero G Love" is played appropriately, when Lynn finds one of her dolls. A spark of attraction is between Minmay and Ichijyo, and they fall for each other - Right at the moment the bulkhead finally opens and a news crew happens to be there to exploit it.

As time goes on, Hayase is asked by Roy Focker, another pilot in Ichijyo's squad, if she ever acts like a woman and has relationships. She claims Duty is all she needs at that point. Meanwhile Ichijyo is being chased by Minmay and he takes her out in his "jet"

The real star of Macross is Macross, and the fighters the pilots use. There are basically three shapes that these Mechs can use, the full Robot shape, and Intermediate shape, and the Vehicle shape. What is great with this Anime is that they depict the smaller fighters as being able to shift shapes rapidly, from Jet shape to Man shape, and when the Humans fight the Zentradi and later the Meltrandi (Giant Women), these transformations are the meat of this series.

What makes this film stand out, is that it shows the power of music and Love. The Leader of the Zentradi Fleet is in a gigantic fortress, and he has "the piece of culture" - The Zentradi do not know what it is, it is actually a cassette containing the music for a popular song.

As Ichijyo is flying Minmay around, he is captured by Zentradi who also capture another fighter with Hayase and Lynn's actor friend. Roy Focker sneaks into the ship and tries to free them. But before he can do it, the Meltrandi Women attack and everybody is separated. Ichijyo is in a fighter with Hayase, Minmay is with her actor friend in a mobile Zentradi Cell.

Ichijyo and Hayase try to keep up with the Zentradi ship, but it "goes into fold" - this was 1984, and the "fold" looks a lot like the Star Trek "Warp" - The giant ship shoots off in a beam of light, the two fighters are cast down onto some strange Planet.

They discover that they are on a now-lifeless Earth. The only thing they find is a huge structure that has been on the ocean floor for hundreds of thousands of years. Somehow, Hayase can communicate with an ancient computer, that tells her the story of how the Zentradi and Meltrandi, and ultimately, Humans came into being, they were all made from "Protoculture" - An Ancient Civilization. It is at this time, Hayase and Ichijyo find that they have feelings for each other.

Hayase finds another piece of "Culture" and she is able to read it, it is a cassette what has words, words for the song that the Zentradi have.

A sad "triangle" ensues, Ichijyo now has feelings for Hayase and Minmay still has feelings for Ichijyo - All three of them deal with it, and they are able to complete the song, putting the words onto the Music, which Minmay sings and Broadcasts.

The Music alone, when Broadcast, has the power to confuse both the Giant Men and Women. The Giant Men come to Earth and propose a truce, but it is basically a trap so they can get the Women there and destroy them.

But as they all fight, MinMay sings the complete song to all of the fighting factions-This causes them to turn on the Zentradi leader who is in the Fortress, and Ichijyo takes him out personally.

There is a point at the end, where Minmay and Hayase are looking across at each other, and Ichijyo is just outside in his Fighter.

In my mind, this is probably the best Anime ever made - This is full anime and nothing is held back, and the idea that a simple piece of music can have such an effect, maybe this is unrealistic, but if it is the right piece of music with the right words, it could-Especially if revealed to a group of people who have no concept of Music, Love, or Intimacy. There is one scene where Ichi takes down a Giant Woman, her helmet falls off as she lay dying, and he looks up at her and she is beautiful, he says so, but she has no concept of what he is talking about.
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