Musings of a technophile

I finished watching Macross Frontier, the newest addition to the Macross saga, last night. It marks the 25th anniversary of Macross (the series that was changed to Robotech in the United States). Because of this, there is lots of references back to the older series such as Macross, Macross II, Macross Plus and Macross 7. For instance, at the beginning of Macross Frontier, the main character Alto has to save Ranka, who later becomes and up and coming singer, by flying in a variable fighter and opening the cockpit hatch to save her – it’s a scene that very closely resembles the scene with Hikaru Ichijyo and Lynn Minmay (Rick Hunter and Minmay in Robotech) from the original Macross.

This new series is all about the journey of Macross Frontier, basically a huge space going vessel with numerous “islands” attached with a mission to search the galaxy for a new home for the humans and Zentradi on board (a major initiative to spread out the human race so that they are not all wiped out by a single attack like in the original Macross). It takes place in 2059 – 47 years after the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Specifically the story focuses around three main characters. First there is the hero, Alto Saotome, who joins the S.M.S (a independent contractor for the military) and becomes one of the best fighter pilot within Macross Frontier (reminds you of Ichijyo eh?). Then there is Ranka Lee, a normal girl who becomes a hit singer (reminds you of Minmay – in fact in many cases they even refer to her as the Minmay of the new generation). And Sheryl Nome, an already hit celebrity singer. Both of the girls become interested in Alto over the course of the series, so a bit of a love triangle evolves. The bad guys this time around are the Vajra – an insect like race which attacks in hordes in an attempt to destroy Macross Frontier.

Anyways, the story is incredibly good, and the character development is great as well. The thing that will really stand out to viewers though is the singing. As with all Macross stories, there is a lot of singing, most of the time accompanied with space fighting scenes. This time however there are two singers which alternate, and they both have some awesome songs which they use to bolster the fight against the Vajra. In fact I looked it up and the Soundtracks to Macross Frontier were sold as CD’s in Japan, and became some of the top sold CD’s for a while – yes, they are that good.

In any case, it’s hard to speak much about this series within giving away too many plot details. There is so much development even in the first couple episodes. I will say that this anime is extremely good and you should definitely watch it if you are an avid anime fan. I’ll give this anime overall a 9.