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Super Dimension Fortress Macross

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This article refers to the anime series by this title; for the ship which shares the same name, see SDF-1 Macross.
Super Dimension Fortress Macross
File:Sdfmacross.JPG
The titular ship, SDF-1 Macross.
GenreScience Fiction, Space Opera, Mecha, Action, Drama, Romance
Anime
Directed byNoboru Ishiguro
StudioStudio Nue, Tatsunoko Pro, Artland

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (超時空要塞マクロス, Chō Jikū Yōsai Makurosu) is an anime television series. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a small love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war. [1]

Macross is widely considered a classic, combining giant transforming robots, apocalyptic battles, wartime romance, and victory through the use of various unconventional means, including bubblegum pop music. It features mechanical designs by Kazutaka Miyatake and Kawamori (both of Studio Nue) and character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto. In addition, Macross created one of the first anime idols Lynn Minmay, turning her voice actress Mari Iijima into an instant celebrity, and launching her musical career. Most of its animation (with edited content and revised dialogue) was adapted outside Japan for the first saga of Robotech.

Story

In 1999, a city-sized alien spacecraft crashes on Earth, and over the course of 10 years the humans rebuild the spacecraft just before a fleet of Zentradi warships arrive on the hunt for the ship belonging to their enemy, the Supervision Army. Meanwhile, a young pilot comes of age and struggles with a love triangle between a rising pop singer and a dedicated bridge officer. During the war that ensues, the human crew operating this untested alien ship find themselves alone in fending off the invaders. Due to inexperience operating the ship, they end up stranded on the edge of the solar system, with refugees from the city that grew around the restored space craft living within the ship. The malfunctioning "fold system", which usually allows rapid space travel, vanishes, causing the crew to take about a year to return to Earth using conventional engines.

Title

The series title uses the name of the main human spacecraft (which is usually shortened to SDF-1 Macross as it is Earth's first Super Dimension Fortress). The original name for the Macross project was Battle City Megaload (or Battle City Megaroad, as the Japanese transliteration to either "L" or "R" gives the title a double meaning in reference to the story line: Megaload, referring to the spacecraft containing an entire city of people; and Megaroad, referring to the long journey through space back to Earth). However, one of the sponsors of the project was a fan of Shakespeare and wanted the series and the spacecraft to be named Macbeth (マクベス Makubesu). A compromise was made with the title Macross (マクロス Makurosu) due to its similar pronunciation to Macbeth in Japanese and because it still contained connotations to the original title. The word Macross comes from a wordplay combination of the prefix "macro" in reference to its massive size (though when compared with the alien ships in the series, it is only a relatively small gun destroyer).

Production staff

Japanese Staff

English Staff (ADV Dub)

Cast

Human side


Episode list

  1. Booby Trap
  2. Countdown
  3. Space Fold
  4. Lynn Minmay
  5. Transformation
  6. Daedalus Attack
  7. Bye Bye Mars
  8. Longest Birthday
  9. Miss Macross
  10. Blind Game
  11. First Contact
  12. Big Escape
  13. Blue Wind
  14. Global Report
  15. Chinatown
  16. Kung Fu Dandy
  17. Phantasm
  18. Pineapple Salad
  19. Burst Point
  20. Paradise Lost
  21. Micro Cosmos
  22. Love Concert
  23. Drop Out
  24. Good-bye Girl
  25. Virgin Road
  26. Messenger
  27. Love Drifts Away (愛は流れる Ai wa Nagareru)
  28. My Album
  29. Lonely Song
  30. Viva Maria
  31. Satan's Dolls
  32. Broken Heart
  33. Rainy Night
  34. Private Time
  35. Romanesque
  36. Farewell to Tenderness

Sequels

Several sequel series and one prequel have followed, with most using a chronology created by the Studio Nue creators (the rest followed their own storylines). The main Studio Nue chronology consists of (in chronological order):

Story Time Title Production Year
1999-2012 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 1982-1983
2008 Macross Zero 2002-2004
2012 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012 1987
2031 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?
  • as a "historical" movie within the Macross universe
 1984
2040 Macross Plus 1994-1995
2045-46 Macross 7 1994-1996
2047 Macross Dynamite 7 1997
Parallel World The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers, Again 1992

A feature film, subtitled Do You Remember Love? (愛・おぼえていますか Ai Oboete Imasu ka), was released in 1984, with a condensed version of the storyline and cutting-edge animation. (A shortened, English-dubbed version of the feature was also released to video as Clash of the Bionoids, though this is largely lambasted.) This movie was later described as a "historical drama" movie within the Macross universe (similar to, for example, Pearl Harbor in the real world). In Macross Plus and Macross 7, it is revealed that there was a movie produced after Space War I (the original Earth-Zentradi conflict). Macross II, the only animated project without Studio Nue's direct involvement, was declared a parallel-world story by Studio Nue.

Video games

File:Sdf 1 Macross Bridge.jpg

Like many other anime franchises, Macross video games based on its universe, including:

  • The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: A sidescrolling game released in 1985 for the Nintendo Famicom by Namco and Bandai. The main objectives of the lone Valkyrie are to destroy the Zentradi forces, penetrate the Zentradi mothership, and destroy it.
  • The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? - A 2D shooter released on the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation. Very closely based on the movie, it had a solid mix of 2D and 3D action and special effects that added depth to its gameplay. It was released with 2 CDs (on Saturn) as it contained footage and sounds from the movie. The footage contained new scenes showing Hikaru and his fellow pilots still on Earth flying on their way to the Macross which made a space fold jump just before the massive Zentradi attack reached them.
  • Macross: Digital Mission VF-X - The first ever 3D graphics and polygonal game of the franchise made by Bandai Visual, it was panned by critics, Macross fans and video gamers alike for its poor production quality and shallow gameplay.
  • The Super Dimension Fortress Macross ("超時空要塞マクロス") - A full 3D shooter released by Sega AM2 only for the Sony PlayStation 2. The game features both famous and new characters, as well as a large number of VF (Variable Fighters) from the TV series to Macross Flashback 2012. This game made by one of the most experienced and famous development team (Shenmue series, Virtua Fighter series, Daytona USA series, Virtua Cop series) has been acclaimed by both the media and the gamers as the best Macross game ever released. As a pretty hard to find import game, it has become a collector for Macross fans worldwide.
  • There were three arcade games released by Banpresto, all of which were scrolling shooters: Macross, Macross II, and Macross Plus.

In 2000, Big West and Studio Nue took Tatsunoko Productions to the Tokyo District Court over who had the rights to the first Macross series. During production, Big West hired Tatsunoko to assist in the production of the series. Before the series premiere, Tatsunoko was given the license to distribute the show worldwide (i.e., outside of Japan), as well as earning some royalties to the merchandise. Tatsunoko then sub-licensed Macross to Harmony Gold for the production of Robotech. In 1999, Harmony Gold became aware that they had the license to the Macross franchise, and began sending "cease and desist" letters to import toy shops, effectively barring any Macross-related merchandise from the US (with the exception of the first series). In 2002, the Tokyo District Court ruled that Big West/Studio Nue is the sole owner of the original character and mecha designs for the first series, while that same court ruled in 2003 that Tatsunoko owned the production rights to the first series. Some Macross fans accuse Harmony Gold of using the case to continue to promote Robotech and to bury the Macross franchise.

English Releases

In fall of 1984, Harmony Gold released the first English-language version of Macross: an English-dubbed VHS video release containing unedited video footage of the first three episodes with a new English theme song, adapted dialogue scripts, and several name changes. This release was cancelled after one volume when production of the Robotech adaptation began. The first episode of this 1984 English dubbing was later released as an extra in the Robotech Legacy Collection 5 and Robotech Protoculture Collection DVD releases, and is also included in the first volume of ADV Films' 2006 release of Macross.

Streamline Pictures then released Robotech Perfect Collection: Macross on VHS in the summer of 1994, combining two English subtitled episodes of Macross and the corresponding dubbed episodes of the Robotech adaptation in each volume. This was the first English subtitling for Macross, but it contained unedited video footage with incomplete and mistranslated English subtitles and was cancelled after seven volumes and 14 episodes.

In December 2001, AnimEigo released The Super Dimension Fortress Macross DVD box set. It was the first complete, unedited English release for Macross, containing unedited English-subtitled video footage with no English dubbing. The nine DVDs in this set were re-released in three smaller 3-disc boxes and later in one final new artbox.

In the summer of 2005, ADV Films announced that they would be releasing an English dubbing of Macross on January 10, 2006. This is the first complete, unedited English dubbing for Macross. Mari Iijima, the Japanese voice of Minmay, plays the same role in the English dub. [2]

See also

Official Sites:

Other Sites:

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