Starting back in January, I went back and watched Macross in its entirety in preparation for Macross Frontier this spring. This is the fourth of 5 entries that I will be writing that cover the Macross series from the beginning. Specifically, this one covers Macross 7, which is more of a sequel to the original Macross than Macross II or Macross Plus, and the longest series in the Macross universe.
Part 1: Macross, Do You Remember Love, & Flash Black 2012
Part 2: Macross II – Lovers Again
Part 3: Macross Plus
Part 4: Macross 7, The Galaxy’s Calling Me, & Dynamite 7
Part 5: Macross Zero
Epilogue: Macross Frontier
To say that I have been captivated by the charm of the Macross metaseries would probably be an understatement. Before I ever started watching anime under the moniker “anime,” the only thing I knew about it was what I experienced as a child–Voltron, Transformers, and Robotech. These days, any talk about those butchered Americanized shows stirs up more nostalgia about, rather than appreciation for those older series. All I really remember about Rick Hunter was that he wore a pretty sweet helmet. Then again, I do not remember much from 1985 or 1986 other than me receiving a Nintendo from my father and cousins.
Pull a 20-year time skip, with Macross’ 25th anniversary and Macross Frontier’s actual start in April of this year. I decided it was about time I actually went back and watched the entire Macross conglomeration from start to finish beginning with the original series. It is not as overwhelming of a task as say watching the entire Gundam franchise (even just limiting oneself to the UC time line), but it does entail taking on 2 very different series and a handful of OVAs and movies. What does make it a bit difficult is the fact that the majority of the series parts are in direct relation to other, but many were written and animated many years apart. You really have 3 generations of animation to go through–early 80’s, mid 90’s, and 2000’s. It is not like having a few years between the different Full Metal Panic series. Macross began in 1982, Macross 7 began in 1994, and Macross Zero began in 2002. And Macross 7 would not make as much sense without having seen the first series.
Macross 7 & Macross 7 Encore
Macross 7 takes place about 33 years after the end of the the original Macross (36 years if you’re referring to Do You Remember Love) and 5 years after the events in Macross Plus. Humans and Zentradi were colonizing the galaxy using massive fleets and ships capable of carrying millions more than any of the Megaroads could take. Macross 7 follows the events during the 7th years of the ship’s voyage. Macross 7. There were times when I loved it and there were times when I hated it. There were characters that I loved and there where characters that I hated. There are songs that I listen to all the time now and there are songs that get skipped unconditionally.
Macross 7 is a monster unlike all the other Macross series. It’s longer than any of them. It’s loaded with filler. The idol is a guy (or more correctly, a band). Its pacing and direction are more in line with a mahou shoujo series than Macross. And don’t even get me started on the bad guys… There are times when Macross 7 is just plain stupid. In all honesty, Macross 7 is hard to discuss because I posses such a bi-polar opinion of it. There were countless times when I literally be rolling my eyes at what was going on (Sound Boosters… lol…), but then would be cheering 3 minutes later.
Sound Boosters………………
First the bad.
Macross 7 was like Macross made to appeal to the non-Macross watcher or even the non-mecha watcher. Gone are the intense battles, engaging story, tech lingo, and tight pacing. Macross 7 is about 75% episodic and feels more like Sailormoon SuperS than Macross. It was a real struggle for me to even get through the first dozen episodes because of this. Each episode was reminicent of the monster-of-the-week formula with the Protodevlins attacking the Macross 7 fleet in some quirky way each week and Fire Bomber putting on some random performance somewhere. I came incredibly close to giving up on the series when Fire Bomber had to preform on the vacation ship. I’m all for Mylene in a bikini (BOMBER!), but that episode like so many other felt random and purposeless. Macross, Macross II, and Macross Plus all excelled at moving at a steady pace and keeping things balanced out, but Macross 7 feel fell flate way too often in that aspect. Other than a Protodevlin revelation or the continuing musings of Basara, Mylene, and Gamlin most of the episodes felt independent of one another. Continuity just wasn’t there.
MILF Miria is awesome…
…but Max got lamer.
Koyasu Takehito made Gamlin cooler than he really was.
Most of the characters didn’t help either. For the most part, nearly every character had a quirk about them that when put together in the same episode with other characters’ quirks made things annoying. Beginning from the top, Basara’s “I’m too cool for school” attitude was unbearable for most of the series. What was worse was that it wasn’t really explored until more than halfway through the series. Gamlin, who was supposed to be Basara’s rival in the love triangle, was equally annoying early on with his strict “by the book” personality. Even the RETURNING CHARACTERS from the original Macross, Max and Miria, had their annoying sides (though much less than the new ones). Even if Miria is one of the greatest anime MILFs out there, her 24/7 tsun tsun side got tiresome fast. Likewise, Max’s passiveness was a complete 180 from his ace pilot status as one of Hikaru’s wingmen in the original series.
“Girl with Flowers”
The LX models comes with GPS, warming seats, and drum pads.
Macross 7 also sported a large cast of USELESS characters to go along with the main cast. Rex the girl bike gang leader, Fire Bomber’s producer (the hot) Akiko, completely useless idol Alice Holiday, Lynn Minmay fanboy Dr. Chiba (who launched sound boosters), Miria’s bitch Michael Johnson, the “Girl with Flowers,” and Guvava the mascot character. Even the bridge bunnies were pretty useless, even for eye candy. Miria and Mylene were probably the only characters I liked… which is pretty sad, considering the size of the cast.
Protodevlins… why?
However, the biggest offenders were the Protodevlins. I seriously wonder what the writers were thinking when they crafted those bad guys. For a groups of enemies they did nothing but annoy me during the entire series. To make things worse, all of them were over-the-top annoying. Whether it was Gigle’s infatuation with Sivil or Gavil’s infatuation with making everything beautiful, the Protodevlin did absolutely nothing to give mea reason to care about them or their back story (or lack thereof). Even if the Protodevlins’ story added a bit of depth to the the idea of the Protoculture and was indirectly explored in Macross Zero, they were still textbook weekly monsters. The Zentradi in the original series were always an interesting group. You wanted to know more about them. Not the Protodevlins. I was given little reason to become interested in them primiarily because they were so incredibly generic.
Other than the poor characters, what really brought Macross 7 down was how the power of song (known as Sound Energy in Macross 7) was mishandled. In every Macross series, the songs accompanied the plot and were integrated into the episodes. However, in Macross 7, the songs were literally forced on you. The music is Macross 7 is excellent (more on this later), but they it was presented way too abruptly. Because this is around 35 years after Lynn Minmay, everyone knows that songs have an effect on others. Instead of letting the specifics unravel with the plot, we are forced to hear Nekki Basara force his music on everyone every single episode. The songs are no longer subtly part of the plot, they the focus. Unfortunately, for me, it killed off a lot of the enjoyment of them. Instead of being pleasantly surprised by the music’s integration, every episode I was subjected to listening to Planet Dance, Totsugeki Love Heart, and a few others over and over and over and over and over and over… Hearing parts of Watashi no Kare wa Pilot or Shao Pai Lon every few episodes was fine, but having Planet Dance forced down your throat repeatedly (i.e., every episode) is unbearable. Despite how good the music was, Macross 7 really downplayed the importance of the songs in the story. It didn’t feel like Macross anymore.
…And the good!
Mylene Flare Jenius.
Ahem…
“Love will save this world, itsuka kitto hikariha mieruhazu…”
On the plus side of things, Macross 7’s music in general is probably the best collection out of all the Macross series. When you take them out of their context, the songs are awesome. You cannot go wrong with Fire Bomber, especially the ballads. Songs like Light the Light, My Soul For You, Angel Voice, and New Frontier have epic written all over them. Although most of the songs are forced on you, there are a handful of times where they really work well with scenes, especially My Soul For You. One of my favorite all-time Macross moments was during one of the Encore episodes where Miria ends up singing Light the Light to the entire fleet.
Nothing says rock like a Stratocaster, big hair, and fire.
A few of Fire Bomber’s song got annoying mainly because they were played repeatedly (and I’m talking every. single. episode.), but they were far for bad songs. There were a lot of Fire Bomber albums released that include pretty much every song that was used in the series, movie, and OVA, and they are definitely worth listening to, especially fans of some good rock (Acoustic Fire and Let’s Fire I listen to a lot). A lot of credit goes to both Fukuyama Yoshiki (who is part of JAM Project and does the ED for Kamen no Maid Guy) and Kajiura Chie, who were the singing voices for Basara and Mylene, respectively. They two really livening up Macross 7.
David Archuleta should have won…
CULTURE!
Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy’s Calling Me!
Unlike Do You Remember Love, Macross II, and Macross Plus, The Galaxy’s Calling Me is more of a pretty bonus episode instead of a traditional movie. By this point I had already gotten used to the Macross 7 formula, making this “movie” very enjoyable. The story takes place somewhere in the middle of Macross 7’s storyline, with Basara off on one of his unannounced excursions. He comes across a Meltran who also loves to play the guitar and sing (and turns out she’s one of Mylene’s older sisters). The two befriend and the Macross battle of the bands commences. Really not much to say about this one.
GERWALK was pretty much non-existant in Macross 7. Boo!
“Woah, woah, woah…”
Dynamite 7 OVA
On the other hand, there is plenty to say about Dynamite 7. Personally, I thought Dynamite 7 should have been edited together and released as a full-length movie. A year after the end of Macross 7, Basara decides to travel the galaxy and crashes on the planet Zola. He’s runs into a conflict between space whale pochers and Zola’s police, a loli named Elma, and old Captain Ahab Graham who is out to kill the massive white space whale. Unlike pretty much every other Macross 7 entry, Dynamite 7 doesn’t dwindle around. It is well paced and is a lot more balanced in terms of story, action, music, and fun. It’s no Macross Plus, but it’s really how Macross 7 should have been. What I will remember the most about Dynamite 7 is easily the music used in it. New Frontier, Feel Universe, and Angel Voice are easily 2 of my favorite Fire Bomber songs, with Angel Voice being my #1 favorite. Even if the idea of Basara singing to the space whales and them “singing” back to him sounds beyond ridiculous, it’s probably one of the coolest moments in all of Macross 7 thanks to Angel Voice.
In the end Macross 7 is something that probably only Macross fans can enjoy. Once you get over the fact the it won’t ever be as epic as Macross Plus, or as intense as Macross, or even as potential ladden as Macross II, Macross 7’s charm comes out. It falls under stupidly entertaining category–a series you enjoy more when you expect less of it. It took some time, but looking back on it, Macross 7 was enjoyable of the music, Max and Miria, and the handful of awesome moments. It missed more often than it hit, but at least it provided some entertainment and a lot of awesome music.
hum, i don’t know, despite all the critical comments that was posted about Macross 7, i have to say that i still loved it. Most probably because i watched it when i was still in elementary school when it was out in HK. Plus, as Tim said, i didn’t watch all 52 episodes in one sitting, so that might have dampened the repetitiveness of Basara’s songs. Still, i remember sitting in front of the TV singing along with Planet Dance, Oh My Friends and Seventh Moon when my sister, while my mom looked at me as if i was insane. Although now that i think back on it, Macross 7 had a decidedly Dragonball feel to it, with the glowing energy and all…
Dynamite on the other hand didn’t appeal to me too much, mostly because i read the manga version first where Mylene was featured more often than Basara.(or perhaps it was just the version i was reading?) She actually left Fire Bomber at a point and joined another group and the part about her being..erm… drugged… by the producer/manager/blond woman lasted a little more than the 5 min airtime than it did in the anime. So that turned me right off. But now that a while has passed since i watched Macross7, i went back to Dynamite Anime Version and found that i quite like it. Other than the fact that Elma was an annoying little twit who kept saying ’sugoi’ at every single thing, god! can anyone be more clueless!? … not to mention her singing wasn’t that great -_-;;
Finally, with The Galaxy’s Calling Me… simply put.. it was somewhat pointless to me. Set during Macross 7 TV, Basara just decides to borrow the song receiver thingy from the military no less (AND it seems like they’re letting him do it too, on to of that, he’s leaving to go to some unknown place in the middle of war and yet again, the military is letting him… Along with the rest of Fire Bomber. I can understand if Basara leaves and the military doesn’t stop him because Mylene is still around incase the enemy attacks but to have everyone else going after him, including Gamlin, their best pilot?????!!!!! That’s just slightly far fetched) Do i even need to go on about the..erm… attempted romance between Basara and Meltran?
Ugh… what can I say about Macross 7 that hasn’t been said before?
Like I remember being giddy of the fact that Macross 7 was the first TV series to return to the Macross universe, and the fact that Max and Miria Jenus was part of the cast was like cherry on top. In addition, it was nice the fact that there was ongoing continuity from both SDF Macross and Macross Plus (the Jenus’s and the VF-19).
HOWEVER, (like alot of the commenter seem to be mentioning), Macross 7 suffered from a case of a poor primary cast and the constant aural barrage of Basara’s songs. I know if I was one of the aliens attacking the 7, I’d be running for my life too if I saw that modified red V-19, with Basara always screaming “Ore no uta wo kike!!” To be fair, I’m sure it wasn’t as bad for the people who was watching this on a weekly basis, as opposed to those who saw the entire series in one weekend (raising hand). Still, anytime I hear any of the Fire Bomber songs, I tend to wince.
Overall, I guess my biggest gripe about Macross 7 isn’t more about what it did, as much as what it failed to do. As in not meeting the expectation that it would bring back the love and nostalgia of the original series or the perfect harmony of music, animation, and story in Macross Plus.
I found a used VHS tape of Macross 7, Volume 1 at Book Off. It’s the Japanese used book and media shop on East 41st Street in Manhattan. I live on Long Island so I try to go there once every two (2) weeks.
After watching the opening credits an then the next five (5) minutes worth, I knew it wasn’t going to be something that I would enjoy. Obviously, there was a major change at Studio Nue.
As of this writing, 01-AUG-08, I am 38 years old, so the anime I remember from my childhood is Battle of The Planets, Starblazers and then I vaguely remember seeing a few episodes of Robotech: Southern Cross. From watching the tape of Macross 7, I got the same feeling when I saw the 1994 OVA of New Gatchaman: High tech and very slick, but with a totally diffren soul. With everybody around the world who watched the original broadcasts of Marcross/Robotech now being in their late 30’s and early 40’s, I guess Studio Nue wanted Macross to appeal to a younger demographic. When this happened, a lot of people who’ve been “on the bus” since the beginng got left behind. It really makes me sad but there’s nothing anybody can really do.
Thanks for your time,
Bill “The Colonel” N.
Your humble movie theatre maintenance man.
@Christina :
God awful singing? Fukuyama Yoshiki? Some of the songs aren’t exactly my favorites, but he’s a great singer and fits great for that genre and that time. I never liked Basara too much, but Fukuyama Yoshiki’s singing was great. Because you stopped watching at episode 11, you obviously didn’t get to some of the better ballads like Light the Light or Angel Voice. I also think My Soul For You was used by episode 11, so I have no clue how you can find that “god awful” at all.
I don’t remember all the details from the series, but I thought Miria was just trying to set Gamlin and Mylene up, and only brought up marriage as an afterthought. How is that in any way creepy? You also have to remember that arranged marriages and marriage meetings (Omiai) are common in Japanese culture. Secondly, a woman can legally be married at the age of 16 in Japan, but it requires parental approval. Thus in the case of Mylene and Gamlin, Miria was just getting the ball rolling. You may be “creeped out” by it, but it’s not that uncommon in Japanese culture. Remember, anime and manga are written BY Japanese people FOR a Japanese audience. And personally, I find nothing wrong with it because in all my years of anime and manga, I’ve see it so often that I don’t even question it anymore.
As for the fanservice with a 14-year-old part… Isn’t a huge chunk of fanservice done with younger (under 18) characters? >_> It’s almost unavoidable considering that like 90% of anime story lines take place in either junior high school or high school…
I have only watched 11 episodes and I have never ever in all my years of anime and manga have hated a character with as much scorn as I do with Basara. He ear raped me with his god awful singing. And I’m sorry but a fourteen year old being used as fanservice and having marriage proposals? It creeped me out in Evangelion and it creeps me out in Macross 7 as well.
@Square: I’ve seen that one before and I agree it is quite nice. Angel Voice and Macross Frontier do have the Kanno Yoko connection, so I’m hoping for that song appearing in some form. It’s a long shot, but if Totsugeki Love Heart can make it in there, so could Angel Voice!
If you liked Angel Voice you should check out the
[MAD]Angel voice ~Neki Basara & Lin Minmei Duet Ver.~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3SJItECuwA&feature=related
adding a female voice to the song really brings an extra layer