Macross Zero (2002) (V)

Director:

Shôji Kawamori

Writers:

Shôji Kawamori (story)
Hiroshi Ônogi (script)

Release Date:

21 December 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | War

Plot Keywords:

Island | Airplane | Creation Story | Alien Technology | Anime

Cast

Kenichi Suzumura	...	Shin Kûdô
Sanae Kobayashi	...	Sara Nome
Yuka Nanri	...	Mao Nome
Akira Kamiya	...	Roy Focker
Naomi Shindô	...	Aries Turner
Sôsuke Komori	...	Edgar LaSalle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nachi Nozawa	...	Professor Hasford
Tamio Ôki	...	Nutouk
Ryûzaburô Ôtomo	...	D.D. Ivanov
Romi Pak	...	Katie (voice)
Minami Takayama	...	Nora Polyansky

Runtime:

Japan:30 min (5 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Big West

Trivia:

Real world equipment is seen for the first time. The Carrier destroyed in Episode 1, is in fact a US Navy Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier named Illustria, in homage to the HMS Illustrious Aircraft Carrier of the Royal Navy. The Merlin Helicopter and F-14 Tomcat are both seen in this episode, (used by the Royal Navy and US Navy). The Russians are represented by the MiG-29 Fulcrum, the French and Israeli's by two different types of assault rifles. Studio Nue has tried to use NATO equipment versus Warsaw pact equipment to better reflect today's world conflicts.

Movie Connections:

Follows Chôjikû yôsai Macross: Ai oboeteimasuka (1984)

Macross embraces Disney Voodoo

I've seen a fair bit of Macross, understand the back story, and was looking for some new stuff to watch. I was sorely disappointed. The bag guys they brought in were clichéd and unbelievable, and the central plot descends from a great Sci-Fi story into sub par fantasy.

To understand why the bad guys don't work, you need to know a little about the original series. Alien ship crashes in 1999 ending a global war and uniting the world. Some anti-unification dissidents make a little trouble, and then in 2009 the aliens arrive. This takes place between 1999 and 2009.

With little else to work with, the anti-unification guys get tasked as the main bad guys for this. While Macross is known for variable fighters, here we learn that it was these bad guys that came up with them first. Theirs also seem to be better than the United Earth versions which are just coming out. So without any access to the alien technology on the ship, they have better variable fighters first, that actually work. Right, and what they're not telling us in the real world is that Al Queda was really the first to deploy the F-22 Raptor.

Otherwise the central story revolves around an island with remains of an alien culture that influenced our evolution. This is standard Macross fair, but they manage to take it to ludicrous ends. On this island, singing by the shrine maiden can induce spontaneous high level mutation in nearby life. I can just see the cautionary warnings now. Be sure not to teach the shrine maiden any Britney Spears, it causes cancer. Now music has always played an important part in Macross, but I'll buy it having an emotionally debilitating effect on a group of emotionally sheltered giants long before this makes any sense. In the end this is all to support an unnecessary claim that life on Earth evolved way faster than it should have. It's like the makers saw some of the more clichéd Disney fair of the princess dancing around and singing while the animals rally and decided they needed to throw it in.

It's a real shame, but Macross sequels and spin-offs have been extremely hit and miss. If you want action this is okay, but if you want a logical storyline, stick to the original Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross, and Macross Plus.