The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
This article refers to the anime series by this title; for the ship which shares the same name, see SDF-1 Macross.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 a science fiction series that combines
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 of Japan for the first saga of
Robotech.
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.
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).
Japanese Staff*Original Design:
Studio Nue, in cooperation with
Artland*Series Coordinator:
Ken'ichi Matsuzaki*Character Designs:
Haruhiko Mikimoto*Mechanical Designs:
Kazutaka Miyatake,
Shoji Kawamori*Creative Supervisor:
Eiji Kurokawa*Background Art:
Kikuko Tada,
Kazuko Masai*Music:
Kentarō Haneda*Recording Director:
Yasunori Honda*Chief Director:
Noboru Ishiguro*Produced by:
Mainichi Broadcasting,
Tatsunoko Pro,
Anime Friend'''English Staff (ADV Dub)
*Executive Producers:
John Ledford,
Mark Williams*Produced & Directed by:
Matt Greenfield*Production:
ADV Studios*Production Manager:
Joey Goubeaud*Post Production:
Shelly Thomas*International Coordinator:
Toru Iwakami*Project Translator:
Javier Lopez*ADR Script:
Mike Yantosca,
Matt Greenfield*Sound Design & Mix:
Matt Wittmeyer*Recording Engineer:
Bryan Leach*Editors:
Roberto Garcia,
Patrick Givens,
Neil O'Sullivan*Production Assistants:
Miyuki Kamiya,
Maki Nagano,
Paul Mericle#Booby Trap#Countdown#Space Fold#Lynn Minmay#Transformation#Daedalus Attack#Bye Bye Mars#Longest Birthday#Miss Macross#Blind Game#First Contact#Big Escape#Blue Wind#Global Report#Chinatown#Kung Fu Dandy#Phantasm#Pineapple Salad#Burst Point#Paradise Lost#Micro Cosmos#Love Concert#Drop Out#Good-bye Girl#Virgin Road#Messenger#Love Drifts Away (愛は流れる
Ai wa Nagareru)#My Album#Lonely Song#Viva Maria#Satan's Dolls#Broken Heart#Rainy Night#Private Time#Romanesque#Farewell to Tenderness
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):
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.
Like many other anime franchises, Macross video games are based on its universe. These include:
*
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: Scrambled Valkyrie - A 2D shooter released on the
Nintendo Super Famicom and based on
Do You Remember Love?. The story takes place after the movie, but before the launch of the SDF-2 Megaroad-01.
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
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 difficult to obtain 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.
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]
*
Super Dimension Fortress - a UNIX shell access provider named after
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross*
Itano Circus*
List of companies in Macross*
U.N. Spacy*
VF-1 Valkyrie*
Variable fighter*
Macross CompendiumOfficial Sites:*
Macross Official Website (Japanese)*
Big West (Japanese)*
Macross CompendiumOther Sites:*
The Invid Connection (Beyond Reflex Point) - Information on Macross and Robotech
*
Macross World*
Macross Nexus*
MAHQ*
UN Spacy Database*
Macross RPG Galaxies*
Macross RPG Community*
Macross Generation (In Spanish)*
ADV Films Macross trailer
