Macross

Macross (マクロス, Makurosu) (English /məˈkrɒs/) is a series of science fiction mecha anime, created by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising.

Within the series, the term Macross is used to denote the main capital ship. This theme began in the original Macross, the SDF-1 Macross.

Overtechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship (Alien Star Ship - One later renamed Super Dimension Fortress - One Macross) that crashed on South Ataria island. Humans were able to reverse engineer the technology to create the mecha (variable fighters and destroids), faster-than-light space fold drive for starships and other advanced technologies that the series features. The first TV series with edited content and a revised script was released as the first part of Robotech in the U.S.

Title

The series title comes from the name of the main human spacecraft (which is usually shortened from Super Dimension Fortress to SDF-1 Macross as it is the first). The original name for the Macross project was Battle City Megarodo (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, Big West Advertising, 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 in comparison to human vehicles (though when compared with the alien ships in the series, it is a relatively small gun destroyer) and the distance they must cross.

Themes

The following are themes commonly seen and established among the various series in the Macross franchise.

U.N. Spacy

U.N. Spacy Roundel

The U.N. Spacy is a fictional military arm of the Earth Unified Government (地球統合政府, Chikyū Tōgō Seifu). It was established by the successor to the modern United Nations in order to defend Earth from a possible attack by hostile aliens, and was involved in Space War I against an extraterrestrial race called the Zentradi. Later operations of the U.N. Spacy expanded into interstellar colonization and general peacekeeping of off-world Earth settlements.

The term "Spacy" is a portmanteau of the terms Space and Army or Navy. Some Japanese sources also use the term Space Army and some English-language sources use the term Space Navy, suggesting that the term is a contraction.

Variable fighters

A variable fighter, also known as a "varitech" fighter in the Robotech adaptation of the series, is one of a series of transformable aerospace fighters, primarily designed by Studio Nue's Shoji Kawamori and Kazutaka Miyatake. They are generally able to transform into jet/space fighters, a humanoid robot and a hybrid of the two modes, better known as Gerwalk (Guardian). The original VF-1 Valkyrie was actually named "Valkyrie", but the craft have generically been referred to as such in the series since then.

Music

Music is integral part to almost every Macross title by having significances in a series' antagonists behavior towards it. Music idols also play a central role to various Macross stories. Often, the protagonist will be involved in a love triangle with a series' music idol; most notably, Lynn Minmay.

Space Fold

Space folding permits nearly-instantaneous ultra-long distance travel: a space-fold transports a spacecraft in a very short amount of time by first swapping the location of the spacecraft with super dimension space or subspace, and then swapping the Super Dimension space with the space at the destination.

According to U.N. Spacy First Lieutenant Hayase Misa during Space War I (2009–2012) an hour passes in super dimension space as approximately ten days passes in normal space. The latest Macross TV series Macross Frontier further expands on that concept by introducing fold faults or dislocations, which further retard fold travel and interfere with fold communications. Also explained in Macross Frontier are the limitations of space folding, such as the geometric increase in energy requirement with the mass of the object to be folded, which prevents very large objects from being folded across vast distances.

The act of entering Super Dimension space is called "fold in". When arriving at the destination, the act of leaving Super Dimension space is called a "defold" or a "fold out".

Other elements

The franchise also explores minor themes including culture shock, coming of age, and nostalgia.

The New Age following the end of Space War I is part of the ongoing fictional time-line of the Macross franchise. The most recent series, Macross Frontier, is set 50 years after the start of the war with the Zentradi and depicts one of the colonization missions to the center of the galaxy.

Along with Gundam, a real robot mecha series of which Shoji Kawamori is a fan, Macross explored how individuals cope with warfare. Whereas Gundam is far more political and direct on the horrors of war, each Macross television series is unique for never depicting the antagonists as inherently evil and proved in the end that love, culture, and music can be used to defeat them.

Series chronology

Several sequel series and one prequel have followed. Most use a chronology created by the Studio Nue creators, and those that followed their own chronologies were regarded as "parallel storylines" by the studio. Several different studios were involved with Studio Nue in the Macross franchise along the years, but since 2002's Macross Zero, production has been handled exclusively between Nue and Satelight, from which Shōji Kawamori is one of the main key members. The main of Macross production consists of (in chronological release order):

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. This movie was later described as a "historical drama" movie within the Macross universe (similar to World War II films 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). Kawamori described the relation between the two depictions of Space War I: "The real Macross is out there, somewhere. If I tell the story in the length of a TV series, it looks one way, and if I tell it as a movie-length story, it's organized another way."^[16] (An edited, English-dubbed version of the feature was also released to video as Clash of the Bionoids.)

Macross II, the only animated project without Studio Nue's direct involvement, was declared a parallel-world story by Studio Nue.

In March 2007, Studio Victor placed a casting call for a voice actress to play the heroine, Ranka Lee,^[17] in a then untitled new Macross series.^[18] Eighteen-year-old Nakajima Megumi was selected in the nationwide singing and acting audition for the role of Ranka Lee in Japan. The project was given the tentative title of Macross 25. Later, as part of the 25th anniversary concert, a trailer was shown that revealed the new tentative title of Macross F (Frontier). During the concert, Kawamori Shoji mentioned that the timeframe of Macross Frontier was about 2070 AD. Kawamori also announced that Yoko Kanno would be the music co-composer of the new Macross series. According to Newtype Magazine, this new series were supposed to take place in a school. The pilot episode aired on December 23, 2007. The new series were finally set in the year 2059 AD and took place in a new Macross Colony Fleet called "Macross Frontier". The new show was produced by Satelight and its episodes began their regular broadcast on April 4, 2008, in MBS channel of Japan. The final episode aired on September 25, 2008, what brought the series to a total of 25 episodes. A Macross Frontier Movie Edition was announced just after the ending of the new TV animated series.^[19]

The Kanto area rerun of the Macross Frontier television anime series during early 2014 in Japan ended with a teaser announcement that a new Macross TV series is in the works,^[20] and later in the year was tentatively titled Macross Δ (Delta). Just like in Macross Frontier, a casting call was held for the series' main singer who also became part of the cast.^[21] The winner of the contest as well of the rest of the cast and characters were revealed in a special event held in October 29, 2015. ^[22]

Macross/Super Dimension fictional chronology

Several sequel series and prequels have followed in Macross/Super Dimension. The main of Macross/Super Dimension production consists of (in fictional chronological timeline order):

Video games

Macross video games are based on its universe, sometimes expanding it with original characters and sidestories; latest games often include newly created anime footage, and all of them were exclusively released in Japan;^[23] except a Takatoku Toys handheld electronic game distributed by Incoming Trading, a Banpresto arcade game licensed by Fabtek, and a Bandai Visual PlayStation game whose debuted North American localization was eventually cancelled probably due to copyrights issues involving Harmony Gold.^[24]

See the list of Macross video games for all the official and crossover releases from the 1980s up to the 2010s.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Macross.

• Macross episode reviews at MAHQ
• Macross Compendium
• Macross World

Japanese

• Official website
• Macross 30th Anniversary Official Site
• Macross F Official
• Big West