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Sep 20, 2025
1) GDucks (It's pronounced "Quacks." Why not?) is a fragmented mess from the the beginning (Literally, from "-Beginning"). If I put my analysis goggles on, I can sort of see a story about the old guard making the "worst timeline" throttling the ability for the latest generation to make their own story, but its doesn't make the show resonate in any way. Anno's content-neutral, slick version of Mobile Suit Gundam where the bad guys win (I know, I know, it's more complicated than that) does get in the way of the FLCL-styled, "lofi beats to relax/study to" new characters, and there's a lack of emotional
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heat from the latter to begin with. The first few episodes do give a good base to their quiet desperation, but once they get into the illegal fighting, it loses the emotional story threads of the leads. The emotional center of the latter half is tied around Shuuji, who is more in execution a plot device than a person. Which leads us to...
2) There's the feeling Bandai installed a hard "NO HOMO" button on this series after their P.R. got clowned claiming Witch from Mercury's ending was "ambiguous" in the ways D-rank pick-up artists try to hit on my wife who's clearly wearing a wedding ring. Having seen the the whole series and its reveals, that's not necessarily the case; it sure as hell feels like it, though. Not everything has to lean into "the gay," but Machu and Nyaan are clearly working off a similar dynamic to Witch from Mercury where the naive redhead with drive partners with a girl who's trapped within a system with no way to get out on her own. Shuuji is a zoned-out character who feels separated from everyone, and that he becomes the center of a love triangle in the middle of the series is baffling. It's not there, and making it the emotional center of the latter half of the series makes it seem like the characters are being dragged forcefully through a plot they're not interacting with. It's supposed to lead to hard-hitting moment between the leads, but the characters themselves admit fairly quickly that what they've been doing is "stupid." Finally, that brings us to...
3) The series simply amounts to "stuff happening." Once everything comes together, there is no emotional companion with the plot, so everyone feels like they're stumbling into each other than this being the natural outcome of the journey; and sometimes they ARE literally stumbling into each other. It cuts out half the new characters in the middle and then just forgets about them until the epilogue. It doesn't do the work that this feels like a culmination of the story instead of the medium ending of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. I didn't dislike this series, but I'm completely at a loss about what I'm supposed to get from it, thematically, emotionally, or whatever.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 10, 2025
Phantom is SO close. Yes, it's later Bee Train after they realized the big money wasn't coming, and it has some STUPID things like when they spend a whole episode mistaking Los Angeles for Las Vegas. HOWEVER, it has some vision in taking the dark and occasionally sleazy 80's crime B-movies movies and refracting it through the lens of anime. There are times it reaches that kind of height of a good William Friedkin movie, like the episode where the main characters seemingly indulge in a fantasy life as a normal couple at a mall while being keenly aware of what they are now.
The
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main problem is it's a story told in 3 acts when it should've been told in 2 halves. The HARD left turn in the final act happens over such a short period of time in both time that has passed in the series and in the time the series has left to tell its story. I get why it is the way it is, but it really needs to be a mirror instead of an unbalanced finale with not enough weight for it to adjust to the complete changes, especially with one character. It completely spins out the momentum of the whole thing.
Which is a shame, because it's the one Bee Train series that nails the ending. It's the perfect film noir conclusion to the story. Also, Lizzie Garland is one of the best supporting characters in anime. She's a character who's so hard to get right, especially in anime if you've seen her design in the VN (Yikes), and she's GREAT here. All that said, I remember when this first came out and certain people were so relieved Yuki Kajiura had become too big for Bee Train and the new composer was far better for scoring the series. NO. JUST NO. You listen to that hip hop music cue that starts the beginning of Act 2 and you apologize to Miss Kajiura right now....
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 3, 2025
I promised if Macross was ever licensed, I would watch all they offered, and that includes this not a movie movie. I REALLY don't like Macross 7 and I think Basara is one of the worst main characters ever, so if you're allergic to people like me, you're going to need an epipen to read further. The good news for you is I'm refusing to review Dynamite on principle since they edited out a portion, and even if I would find that part objectionable, I can't fairly solidify an opinion on something that's not fully represented. Shame, because you could call me out for my
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garbage sensibilities liking completely over-done 90's character designs with garish two-tone hair and we would all feel better yelling at something.
So, this movie. The animation is better (though they cleaned up the footage from a VHS/Beta print, I imagine), but it's sadly one of those 90% Basara "episodes." I suppose my time would be best spent saying why I don't like Basara at all. There is something weirdly sociopathic about him. Not in a Wall Street hedge fund manager kind of way, but more a complete lack of interpersonal skills or any kind of emotional learning. In this movie for example, he sees a Zentradi woman performing and his response is to greet her by completely drowning out her song with his. She even notes how she practiced every day and was "beaten" by his music. The meanest rap battlers let you have your turn. He's the equivalent of those people who listen to your problems by immediately taking over the conversation and making it about their problems. Himbos at least have some understanding about how their actions affect other people. That's not to mention his music is just power ballad word salad when even the music in the Macross universe that is "militarized" pop music or a baby attached to the Sharon Apple system tries to express SOMETHING.
This is how he handles EVERYTHING and he never learns after over 50 episodes. He keeps unintentionally hurting people, and because he's the main character with the Macross midichlorians, he can continually push awesome characters into the background. It's probably good he has a kid with him here who crawls around Emilia's bra and falls into her boobs when they try to have a romantic scene, because it would just be a waste of screentime anyway and boobs are funny.
Macross 7 the series at least has Mylene's experiences that are sort of a main character having an arc of some kind. She learns a little bit about the world, she grows up, and she finds her voice. In the movie, everyone else but Basara is on the sidelines until the last five minutes where they have to save a village and hundreds of lives, but Basara gets the most credit of all despite being in the way the whole time because of the power of his music. I'm sure a completely leveled community would've been able to appreciate it.
Even if we have to be fine with the movie being an extended episode, it's a terrible episode. It's a disjointed mess that starts as a Scooby Doo mystery, drops the mystery almost immediately, and then ends with Macross 7's sub-Sailor-Moon schtick where literally the crisis foreshadowed seems to have nothing to do with anything. And this is a lot of how Macross 7 goes about its business. I HATE this! Curse my obligations to a bunch of faceless corporations!
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 31, 2025
It's a good cheeseburger of a blockbuster, but if I had to rate from 1-10 the amount of Macross lore you need to fully understand it, it's a hard 9. Not only is it an epilogue of Macross Delta the series, it follows the CONTINUITY of the first movie that cut out things like THE war crime and the stereotype Middle Eastern character. But even if you're an American who's watched everything Hulu has to offer, you'd still be missing the Wrath of Khan aspect to the villain.
The film feels like it added all of the things Kawamori missed out on in the 90s
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doing Macross 7 that felt like a children's show from the 80s and Plus which was well ahead of its time. It features stuff like the sick Ghost Valkyrie designs that are like the Miami skyline got squished into a jet, Dark Walkure that feels like they're out of a Sailor Moon series, and the android that explodes its human skin to reveal it has a cannon for a head which seems right out of a tail-end bubble economy anime Manga Entertainment would license... without the copious amounts of blood, tits, and swearing.
All of this isn't fully baked and I'm disappointed the music producers didn't go hard into Dark Walkure instead of simply serviceable Daft Punk beats and pop punk lyrics. I'm thinking Jacqli's songs from Ar Tonelico 2 have the right feel of apocalyptic sound with electronic-tinged female vocals. Look up "EXEC_DESPEDIA/." if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Sexual vampire goddess Sheryl Nome would wipe the floor with this group.
Overall however, it's a fun movie that feels like Macross is back to setting the standard for spectacle instead of struggling to live in it, which has been one of Delta's big drawbacks. It's the most Macross of all of Delta, and if you want this story with melodrama written for the stars and gigantic, slick action sequences, this has it. The music features a bit too much repeating of what's in the series, but the big songs from the series are still pretty damn good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 28, 2025
It's just not fair, Delta. When Frontier makes a movie that re-tells the series with new context, it has the money to feel like an entirely new production, and when there's glaring 3DCG in a song section, it feels like part of the concert production and not, you know, THE WHOLE THING. That's not to mention the dodgy editing of reaction shots that's on the level of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Riding with Death where, "GO SAM, GIVE IT THE OLD COLLEGE TRY!!!" is horribly ADR'd on top of a scene to try to slam two separate episodes of a TV show into
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a "coherent movie."
I could look past this if their attempts to re-edit the series to tell a new story worked, but it doesn't. Making Freyja more the main character isn't a bad move at all, and this thing is a lesson in using editing to change context, but it doesn't work. Freyja seems less heroic because there's a more "chosen one" vibe. Even if she had the same special advantages in the series, she still auditioned and passed the final test. On the other end, what they removed weakens the piece just as much. The dancing Valkyrie scene the internet edited Earth, Wind, and Fire into (And is probably the only scene most have seen of Delta) features Freyja and Hayate when they have known each other for two minutes rather than two people who've gone through a similar experience sharing a special moment. When Mirage later asks Hayate for suggestions on a birthday present for Freyja because he knows her better, does he really?
Sure it's better than just slamming 7-13 hours of a series into a feature film and calling it a day, but the experiment doesn't work and the extra scenes distract the movie as a whole while not being worthwhile by themselves.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 27, 2025
I want to say up top that I like Macross Delta. The usual dig is it has shortcomings in comparison to Macross Frontier because it doesn't have an unlimited budget and the immortal Yoko Kanno (AKA the basis for Ed in Cowboy Bebop) given permission to write FUCK JAMS; this is certainly true. However, Walkure's songs are still immensely catchy, and while the idols certainly follow the process of combining various molds, they still work enough as individuals to be enjoyable. It's one of the few Macross shows where the pacing is just about right. I would've preferred the story use some time to internalize
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Mikumo's feelings instead of being a plot device for the climax, but what can ya' do? Macross has also gotten wise to what is a loving connection and what is something else. Yeah, there's all the usual love triangle melodrama and overage of people hearing things they shouldn't and not saying things to each other, but it knows what love is and definitely shows it to you. They even changed the ending of the Macross Frontier movie ending because how they changed the character dynamics changed how the relationships worked. It's lately been weirdly keen for these types of general audience franchises.
It works as a usual Macross series does with flashy jet fighting, awesome songs, and fun characters. However, Macross is edging towards a drop it possibly can't recover similar to the Kelvin timeline in Star Trek where the need to tell "darker" stories completely eclipses the appeal of the show itself. Certainly, the series hasn't shied away from the grim reality of war (The famous "Do You Remember Love?" sequence from original Macross literally has someone getting beheaded by a pillar), but I wouldn't be surprised if the next major series is about a bright, shiny group of songstresses showing the people the value of love and Deculture in a bloody civil war with New U.N. Spacy that is costing billions of lives.
N.U.N.S. (Who have info about the A.S.S.-1) is arrogant and stupid in Macross II as the perfect opener to the 1990s where the attitude was, "Eh, war, racism, and everything else is over." Then their soldiers become the same cannon fodder as the U.N. in Evangelion. It then starts to balloon to N.U.N.S. potentially "Nanking"-ing countries that didn't join it in Zero with no follow-up (Not helping is the Valkyries in the series are called "Zeroes." DON'T), and outright being villainous in Frontier and Delta. It's baked in since the utopia is built on consumerism, which requires maintaining resources at minimum cost and potentially undermining and even enslaving certain "partners," but we're beyond that (Though micro-purchases utilizing predatory behavior acting as a good thing does give one pause). The inciting incident in Delta deals with the use of a weapon that is even stronger than the franchise's metaphor/analog to nuclear weapons strictly banned by the universe. There is a lot of waiting for the explanation that redeems a certain person, and when it happens, it amounts to... oh, it's absolutely as bad as it looks, but without one person, it could've been worse. Well, that fixes everything, doesn't it? Also, the idea from Frontier and Delta that the civilian contractors are the real heroes needs to meet Blackwater.
Look, there are two wolves inside Shoji Kawamori: The one who made Macross which loudly proclaims the utopia of mankind involves malls and pop songs, and the one who made Arjuna about how mankind is the greatest virus the Earth has and probably needs to not exist anymore. He has not decided which one he's going to feed, and that has led us to this mess. We are at the point where there are multiple civilizations chosen by Proculture; they have music, they have love, and what do we have as humanity have besides the need to undermine other civilizations out of their resources and control? Tourist trinkets? Sure, the villain sucks because he ultimately wants to become the universe's civil engineer without anyone's permission, but his way of going about it sure sounds more up Arjuna Kawamori's alley.
I LIKE Macross Delta, but from now on, Macross needs more the main cast disguising themselves as a cat civilization and saving some kids' father from being mind-controlled by an invasive force, and not humanity being so awful and stupid, we nearly suicide ourselves and the universe. Also, don't do the stereotype Middle Eastern guy who plays all sides against the middle for more money and gets to essentially escape the series unscratched.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 2, 2025
I think of Macross Plus as a bit of a mess with pristine work that turned people like Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno into major names paired with a story that makes an atrocious choice that firebombs the entire work. I have a spoiler review of the OVA if you want me taking a bat to that particular hornet's nest.
The movie, while paring down some of the more impressive mood sequences, also heavily cuts the tender scenes that are pretty gross in hindsight. Also, if you're like me, reducing the scenes showing Isamu as a reckless, loose cannon is a plus; even if they're
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technically impressive, they bog down the first two parts of the OVA when the idea is grasped fairly early on.
It's the best presentation of a flawed work. It still has the ending that is an explosion of rushed and confused emotions, and there's still THAT PLOT TWIST, but it doesn't linger on its drawbacks nearly as much to make me able to appreciate the marvelous things it does accomplish.
Finally, Lucy MacMillan, you did nothing to deserve all of this, and none of them deserve you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 2, 2025
Yes, we are going to discuss THE PLOT TWIST in a moment. It's why we have the spoiler warning. After watching everything Macross Hulu has to offer, I once again have to circle back to the Macross Plus OVAs for the first time in almost 20 years. I'm not going to lie, I HATED it the first time I watched it. For all that is above and beyond any artistic ambition Macross has ever had with many notable names becoming gods, the points that are still tethered on a space opera level are the most devastating to the work. I've seen the movie, and it's...
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good. Maybe not all the best scenes are there, but it minimizes the issues I have with the OVAs and properly communicates what the work does well.
Brass taxes time, everything the series revolves around centers on when THAT happened. Every time I re-watch, I keep it in the back of my mind and either NOBODY makes sense from a character standpoint, or everyone is terrible... except Lucy MacMillan. Lucy did nothing wrong except accidentally step onto a relationship landmine; happens to all of us. To suggest Isamu couldn't keep his mouth shut about the situation right after it happens, even to protect Myung, asks too much of the loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules, and that it NEVER comes up in any conversation or is even disputed until it's time for the plot twist suggests he doesn't even care. He even goads Myung to go back into Guld's arms at times.
Look, I've been been through the Wings of Honneamise discourse. It was a bunch of dudes who didn't have much contact with women making a bad choice indicating the main character was reaching the bottom of his downward spiral. I can forgive it, but if it ruins the entire film for you as the main character gets to be the one who has revelations and shares them with the planet, I understand. It's worse here, as it's a plot device where the only reason it's handled like this is to surprise the audience, and every tender moment Myung has with the person who tried to force himself on her lacks awareness of that fact, which makes them feel unclean. The movie graciously edits out the airport scene, and while Myung's reaction is far more along the lines of someone who has been permanently traumatized on closer scrutiny, it's still a gross and manipulative scene.
Their lack of dealing with it until the last episode completely screws over the ending, which in the middle of its prog rock music video, had to rush Guld's "redemption" and tries to paint a happy ending over nobody likely ever being able to go back what they love. Good God, it's a mess.
In-between my viewings, I've watched The Right Stuff and Macross Plus' on-the-nose references suggest the makers of this did, too. I get the idea that the test pilots are a special breed of people that almost requires some human failings, like Alan Shepard basing half his personality on a racist Mexican stereotype, but even if John Glenn visited a prostitute during his astronaut training, he never tried to force himself onto his wife and his mind switched who he thought did it to Alan Shepard to protect himself. You put that into The Right Stuff and the second half of the movie sinks. That's what happened to the Macross Plus OVAs, and despite the top-of-the-line everything else, that's why it's here at 6. I had it at a 5 before. This IS me being reasonable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 29, 2025
I imagine this one would've fared a little better if it was just a side story and not labeled Macross II: Lovers Again, because that title pretty much aims at all the show's weakness. As a sequel, are the characters, the story, the songs, the action sequences, or anything better than the original Macross? No. Even if they had the best songs and unlimited money to make it look at the level of "Do You Remember Love?," this is SIX episodes. That's not to mention beyond Ishtar's one-day date, the lovers aspect is severely lacking, leaving the ending to feel like it has tacked-on aspects.
Putting
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aside all that, is it GOOD? In its own way, sure. Rating Macross is a nightmare for people who understand giving numbers to reviews is a sliding scale, and ALMOST EVERY. SINGLE. MACROSS. THING. is on an entirely different level. When I'm done, people will come at me saying, "How is Macross Plus ANYWHERE near everything else?!" Macross Plus puts ITSELF on one of the hardest difficulty scales and because of the subjects it CHOOSES to deal with on the same soap opera level as most other Macross, I have to scrutinize it harder than I normally would. But I will restrict talking Macross Plus to when I'm just talking Macross Plus and under spoiler domes.
Macross II has one subject that lifts its substance over complete fluff like Macross 7, and that's the relationship of the media with the government and the military. Like everything else in Macross II, it's hardly comprehensive because of its length, but that I can't remember if it's the Space news Network or the Spacy News Network, and what hit me is IT DOESN'T MATTER.
I've worked in the news for 20 years, which is enough to make jokes that the SNN station Valkyrie was probably budgeted down to being permanently parked in space-only requiring a strict military permit instead of needing to be slingshotted into space before being phased out completely in 5 years along with editors and production assistants. I watched this serendipitously while the strikes on Iran's nuclear ("NEW-CLEE-UR," say it with me now...) program were going down. The thing is, there is no way you have can have facts to know what is closest to the truth here. There are the statements of two countries who clearly have no vested interest in anyone knowing the complete reality, some satellite shots that could mean certain things or they could not depending on the underground facilities, and a couple opinions from some watchdogs or independent organizations. But me, I can't feel confident in anything because every comment is treated like a fan war between two teams, and the news directors in charge these days are all business majors who haven't had to pass 8 a.m. ethics and law classes with above-average grades like journalism majors are only concerned with "numbers go up," and are likely friends with the same people and officials we have to keep watch over.
So, while Hibiki's rise from "GOTCHA'" Inside Edition journalist to keeper of the truth happens in about an episode and a half and all of this is about third-grade reading level, I'm glad it's here. The rest is extremely loose, jumping quickly from one event to another, and having a rather shallow investment in character reality. Ishtar just wakes up in some dude's apartment on her enemy planet, has some stranger guy force a device on her, and is pretty chill about all of this pretty quickly. That's not to mention Silvie's relationships with EVERYONE are never really cemented. It's nice the Greek choir of women have graduated from bridge officers to pilots, but they literally disappear for two episodes with nobody noticing.
I'm awfully critical, so why is it sitting at a 7? After 50+ episodes of Macross 7 that have not improved my life in any way except giving me the firsthand experience of watching it, I appreciate the brevity. The songs work as well, even if there's less of a focus on them because this is the LAZY, SELLOUT GARBAGE version of military-supported pop. Most of it would do well on one of those city pop Youtube playlists, and if it wasn't for its immediate dismissal by fans, Ishtar's turning them into genuine SONGS would be on all-time Macross song lists. They are legit.
Overall, I had fun watching it. Macross has NEVER had proper pacing or episode count for something, so this series is missing a ton of content that would beef it up. In this case, there should probably be about two episodes extending the relationships with Ishtar, Silvie, and Hibiki, really pressing the drama of the mind control, and probably make Wendy Ryder a bigger supporting character to give an idea of what the "Lynn Minmay program" is at this point. Beyond the arrogance of the Earth generals and what Spock would call their "two-dimensional thinking," there's nothing pushing the drama here. But it is light, breezy, enjoyable, and I would watch it again easily. I guess that's all that matters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 22, 2025
Having characters from a show I like (Macross Frontier) watching clipshows from a show I don't (Macross 7) is not a completely terrible idea. I'm on board with the cast of House M.D. watching Watson. But as a movie? Having the clips so haphazardly edited that they keep the narrator explaining basic concepts of the world IN UNIVERSE (It's like something stopping to explain what Earth is)? And having the cast be so inactive that really the only think they do is perform decent covers of the previous show's songs at the end (Sheryl and Ranka + Yoko Kanno would've KILLED covers of "My Friends"
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and "Sweet Fantasy")?
I get limiting cast interactions between shows because uh, Macross 7 besmirched the good names of Maximilian and Milia by kinda' suggesting they were incompetent at their jobs in the first half and have a secret between themselves that kind of taints their legacy as the first interspecies couple. But no. Just no. I don't care who you are, you've got better stuff to do than spend an hour and a half on this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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