Macross 7: Surviving the first 20 Episodes

The points in this post are recycled from a comment, a response to Martin’s comment on LISTEN TO MY SONG! Vol. 2. I mention this just to be cute and symmetrical to the wholesale recycling of animation that happens in Macross 7. Kawamori is into recycling things after all, right? Yakk Deculture!

Man, I’m 20 episodes into Macross 7 and I think it’s a very intelligent, if not the most intelligent installment of the franchise. WAIT! Macross 7 intelligent? It is so, I believe – it rewards those who have a particular affinity for the Macross franchise.

There’s a superficial way of being a Macross fanboy, and there’s nothing wrong with it: loving the mecha, the dogfights, the ace pilots, the idols, the music, and whatever else among the elements of the franchise. And there’s this other way, this appreciation of the goofiness of it all, the ability to accept how much of it is a joke (a whole lot of it) – and how much of it not trying to be better than the other anime out there makes it pretty damn good. This is what Macross 7 is teaching me.

First of all, if you’re to enjoy this show there are things you’ll have to forgive and you’ll have to be very very forgiving:

1. Uber-crappy animation circa 1997. No excuse for this one especially it’s tangentially a sequel to Macross Plus. The fights are atrociously animated, and the sequences are re-used again and again (acceptable in SDF-Macross in 1982, not this time).

LOL SQUAD FORMATION. You see this image A LOT.

2. Mecha look goofy, especially the enemy’s. The poor animation makes the mecha look un-graceful. Since the mecha are descended from Macross Plus, the battloid modes look goofy to begin with. The valkyrie modes remain sweet.

3.. Mind-bending logic. I’m talking about willingness to take dogfights in public (populated areas), firing mecha weapons into buildings, inconsistent weapon damage upon mecha and surroundings (sometimes a gunshot is less than a gunshot, sometimes more), AMONG OTHER THINGS.

4. The main plot is unclear to me even almost at halfway through the series.

IF YOU CAN GET PAST ALL OF THAT, then Macross 7 is blissfully, and I mean blissfully rewarding.

1. Basara is unique among Macross aces. He is awesome and ridiculously moronic. Many people don’t take to him, but he’s been my gravatar from the start. He is godly.

Nostalgia Fanservice: I DIED (a TV movie production of the Linn Minmei story starring Mylene Flare Jenius and Nekki Basara)

2. Mylene Flare Jenius is the most winsome of all Macross idols. Mylene > Minmei > Sheryl > Ranka. I irrationally favor Ranka and Minmei will forever hold my loyalty but Mylene is the easiest to love.

3. MAX KANCHOU. Max Jenius is the captain of Battle 7. He is the greatest ace pilot in all of anime. And if Pontifus is to be indulged, you will feel moe for him. But he is bad ass as ever.

They've easily become one of my favorite anime couples, not that they weren't easy to like when I first met them in The SDF Macross series.

4. MILLYA FALLNYA JENIUS. She is the mayor of Macross City 7. She is the greatest Zentraedi ace and arguably the second greatest ace pilot in all of anime. She’s Max’s waifu, and the mother of Mylene. She is awesome throughout the series.

5. Deliberate and fulfilling nostalgia fanservice, but only if you’ve seen and love SDF Macross and DYRL. This is a big deal for me, and it’s very rewarding.

Jesus Mintz is this me in a few years?

Took my freaking breath away

6. The music is pretty damn good. They get repeated a lot with crappy animation (Planet Dance more often than most), but there are a lot of songs and I actually like almost all of them.

7. VAMPIRES. IN SPACE. Yes, them’s the enemy.

The episodes will come to you as a total joke and you’ll be fine with it because it’s such lighthearted fun. You’ll come to expect and love Basara’s stupid antics. And just when you least expect it you’ll get episodes that are so well done and serious that you just love yourself for being a fan of Macross.

I do think, that this is no way a good gateway to the Macross franchise. I’ m really writing this post for the fans of the franchise that are on the fence about this show. I’ve put this off largely because I’ve read very scathing reviews, and given its length of 49 episodes (+3 encore episodes and an OVA series), that’s a lot of awful to watch.

Is it possible to have a powerful and fulfilling romance with the Macross franchise without watching this series? Yes. After all, I got this far without seeing it (I had only started watching beyond episode one 2 weeks ago even though I’ve been fairly retarded about Macross for the last 26 years). But as a lifelong fan of the franchise, I’m very glad I’m going through with watching it.