A few years ago, Hollywood optioned the rights to make a live action Robotech movie. Instantly, my first thought was “Man, what would really awesome would be if they remade Macros in a similar way that Moore & Eick remade Battlestar Galactica.” Turns out that Macross Plus is pretty close to exactly what I had in mind for what that would be.
First off, the silliness that’s inherent in a lot of Macross doesn’t necessarily make the series “bad” in any way (and quite frankly is a big part of the franchise’s charm). This is more about serious-ifying and good-ifying the franchise, sort of like what I was thinking about during some of my early thoughts while watching Giant Robo. For example, Minmay’s pop songs are kind of cheesy and lame, but that’s also an irony that makes the subtext in Macross interesting. Sharon Apple’s songs on the other hand are very ethereal and sci-fi-y songs which sound every bit as hypnotic and intoxicating as the characters themselves also feel. Score one for show, don’t tell.
The anime really makes the best case for the argument that Macross is something Serious that Matters and is All The More Reason to be angry about the later, lesser iterations of the franchise that have Tarnished Its Legacy. I’ve already mentioned the music, but there’s also the grown-up characterization, replacement of hippie-dippie undertones with more militarist ones, and importantly, the animation. Ohhhhhhhh man, the animation. It’s hard to look away at Macross Plus. It’s probably the second most exquisite anime that I’ve ever looked at (pretty easy to guess the number one spot.) I mean, just look at those plane scenes! Those HUDs! The movement! It’s borderline pornographic!
Oh, and one last question: am I the only person that thinks that after seeing Hatsune Miku, that there’s nothing to fear from any kind of potential Sharon Apple?
How do you feel about Mac0′s visual porn?
That one’s for next week.
Mmm Macross OVA robot porn
^_^
I don’t mind all those things you say about 7 and Frontier. I like them a LOT not because you’re wrong about them. I have I think far bigger complaints about the franchise as a whole (mostly leveled at Kawamori) but only because I remember love etc etc.
I’m actually OK with Macross Frontier. I think I gave it the 2008 award for something like “Show that I wish could’ve been show of the year”. I think it starts having a lot of problems about halfway in, but on balance it was still fun. I really just wish that the second half was as good/fun as the first half, rather than a mess of half-baked, poorly-connected events.
Its high production values and great music helped my opinion of it a lot.
Actually, when Miku came out I thought of Sharon Apple and got really scared.
I think you nailed what a lot of Macross fans think about Plus, too — it’s the one that tends to win over non-fans, but just because it doesn’t share a lot of the hippy-dippy and silly parts (Watanabe’s fault, probably) doesn’t mean it doesn’t belong for fans, it’s too fucking good for that. Also, the Clements story of Kawamori and Itano blacking out in the fighter planes for research lol.
- M0 is not nearly as good looking, but I thought it was a good take on the mythology, which Frontier subsequently ruined in its “mess of half-baked, poorly-connected events.”
Man, the “research” story is sooooo good.
I think M0′s animation is interesting, but more as a drastic contrast in the nature of digital/analog divide in production methods. Mac+ was still largely a cellular effort and 0 is the first Macross that used 3DCG in a way that doesn’t make me feel ashamed for it. What you prefer will vary of course, but I think Frontier is basically built on the same technology that made 0.
As for the “mess of half-baked, poorly-connected events” I think it was more amusing as a self-referential database construct that is actually rarer than it appears. But that is just my otaku tendencies talking.
omo: I can’t say it’s bad at all. They don’t get into any of the really bad off-model stuff that happens in frontier, but Frontier did improve on the 3DCG. Overall I think it’s really good looking but sometimes it just seems literally “flat” to me.
You know, I really hated Plus.
I basically see the characters as trying to give some kind of psychological “reason” behind not needing to settle the obligatory love triangle. Kind of like a 60′s European art film sort of characterization, and we all know how much Watanabe LOVES those.
I’ll check this out once I overcome my anti-mecha pr0n stance. I was able to stomach Frontier because of the raburabu and the music but a little more robot action wouldn’t hurt too. I’ve been wondering about Sharon Apple frequently being coined by some of you as the original Hatsune Miku.
Out of curiosity, did you watch the film version or the OVAs?
The OVAs