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The hype surrounding the pain staking work on the restoration is quite warranted.

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SUPER DIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS

Review by Matthew Anderson

36 Episode TV series

Company: AnimEigo

Running Time: 100 Minutes (4 Episodes)

Region: 1

Rating: PG-13 for violence, language, and mature situations

EXTERNAL EXAM

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.

FINAL EXAM

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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