SUMMARY
In the year 1999, a mysterious ship
crashes on South Atria Island. The advanced technology on board ship
proved to the world that intelligent life existed out in the universe. The
governments of the world begin the form a new United Nations, and set out
to repair the battleship. The reason behind this decision is simple. The
U.N. is certain that the previous owners will come looking for it.
Now, it is 10 years later. The Unification War is over. After the years of
hard work the reconstruction of the ship, now called the SDF-1, is ready
for takeoff. During the opening ceremonies, Captain Bruno J. Global is
alerted to the arrival of a large space fleet in orbit around the Moon. It
appears that the Zentradi have arrive to reclaim their ship. Soon after
their arrival, they bombard South Atria Island from space, and destroy the
UN space fleet.
Hikaru Ichijo, an amateur pilot, is attending the ceremony at the request
of his friend, Roy Fokker. Roy is the leader of the Valkyrie Skull
Squadron, the primary fighter squadron assigned to the SDF-1. While
showing Hikaru the insides of the new fighter, the Zentradi attack begins.
Accidentally pressed into service by the attack, Hikaru flies into battle
and makes three startling discoveries. He learns that the Zentradi are
giant humanoids, the Valkyrie can transform into a robot, and the biggest
discovery of all, Lynn Minmay, a Chinese girl who works at her aunt's
restaurant.
Now, Hikaru is caught up in a way that
threatens to destroy all life on Earth. Will he survive the Zentradi
onslaught, and be able to hook up with Minmay?
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: Wow. The video quality on this
DVD far surpasses anything made before it. The colors are no longer solid,
showing the folds of the uniforms. The image is sharp, free of pixels,
color bleeds, rainbows or any other defects. The quality is so good, you
can see the scratches on the glass from the photographing process.
AUDIO: With the Japanese track, the mono sound has been pumped up. While
quite loud and clean, there is not a lot of surround sound elements.
Dialogue is center based as is the music, with just a few back ground
noises from the sides.
The music and sound effects only track is quieter, but since it doesn’t
have to share the sound with the dialogue, this is not really a problem.
EDITS: The only edits that have been made was replacing the Japanese
credits with English ones for the opening segment. Since they used the
clean intro, this is not a real issue.
EXTRAS: On the volumes we reviewed, there were no extra features, unless
you consider being able to deactivate the opening from playing an extra.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: Macross is an example of good
story telling. Unlike Gundam, which concentrated on soap opera thearitics,
Macross take characters that are familiar to you or I and place them in
situations that they never dreamed of. Matsuzaki Kenichi has done a good
job of balancing the action with human drama. Not only do you get how
people handle war, but you get to see how they handle the aftermath.
ACTING: The acting in Macross is decent, for 80's television. Pretty good
range, intense in the right moments, and happy in others. There are no
real stand out performances. Yes, Mari Ijima does a great job of Minmay,
but if it wasn't for the fact that Reba West was so "memorable"
as the English Minmay, most people would never have noticed.
FAN SERVICE: Well, all the shower scenes have been restored, but don't
expect any nudity. You have to watch the movie for that. Of course, Misa
Hiyase is a hot little number in her space suit.
CONCLUSION
Macross is perhaps one of the most
recognizable anime in the United States, thanks to Robotech. For years,
American fans have been waiting to see Macross, unedited and subtitled.
With AnimEigo's highly publicized announcement about obtaining the rights,
and then the big clean up on the source material, this was expected to be
the release of the year.
The big question that remains, "Is the Macross DVD worth
getting?"
Yes. Indeed it is.
The hype surrounding the pain staking work on the restoration is quite
warranted. Since I own the Japanese Laser Disc release, a comparison was
required. You can see the difference. The video is breathtaking. It looks
so much cleaner and nicer. A lot of the "trash" (white specks
and image scratches made from the film stock) is gone, and the level of
detail is astonishing. The audio with dialogue and the music only track
are crisp and clean with none of the mono hiss associated with pre stereo
sound.
The only problem (if you can call it that) is that the restoration is so
good, any defects of the source material (light reflections, scratches on
the glass) can be seen. It would be very difficult to clean this up. Do
not let this problem stop you from getting this set.
This is the best way to view Macross. Period.
Now that I am finished raving about the restoration, how well has the
story held up since the early 80's?
Well, if you judge by the number of series out there (Macross II, Macross
Plus, Macross Seven, Macross: Love Do You Remember The Movie), very well.
If you judge by the merits of the story, pretty well. The theme's
addressed here are ones that are still present today. Love, hate,
jealousy, surviving tragedy, and redemption are all covered here. While it
presents it in a more simplistic fashion, it can still educate.
If you were unlucky enough to not get a copy of the box set (like us),
then you have missed out on a great deal. Now, you have to buy each volume
as it is released. With good stories on a great DVD, this series is worth
getting.
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