Macross 7

Macross 7 is so far the most different installment of the Macross franchise. While it retains the three main story elements of all Macross series (Love Triangles, Music and Variable Fighters), for everything else it tries to push the envelope of strangeness while trying to keep it within the confines of the Macross universe. For that reason, it may rub viewers, especially older fans of the franchise with certain expectations, the wrong way. As a result, Macross 7 is truly an anime that you either love it or hate it, no in between, and the only way one can tell which camp you fall inis to watch the whole thing for yourself. Make no mistake, I for one am glad I did complete the show as I found myself enjoying it greatly. At its core, the story of Macross 7 is about a rock singer (Basara) trying to find his way in the world (or Galaxy whatever) with his singing. Sounds fairly typical fare, but the show introduces so many far-out story elements that you might wonder if the writers were on drugs. Someone once described Macross 7 as "Rock singers flying around in transforming robot planes fighting space vampires with the power of music", and I find that description is pretty dead on, so if you have trouble swallowing that it is unlikely this show is for you. Most Macross series pride themselves in not taking things too seriously, and Macross 7 not only revels in it but thrives on its weirdness, and that is really the fun of it. The key to enjoying it is to accept the silliness and go with the flow. I do understand that may not be to everyone's tastes, it reall tests the boundaries of one's suspension of belief. The show does drag at times, especially in the first 10+ or so episodes where they just seem to repeat each other. At the end it is painfully obvious that they could have done the show with a lot fewer episodes. When the story does pick up in the middle to late episodes, depending on whether you've allowed yourself to be immersed in the show's strangeness, it can turn out to be a fun ride. Macross 7 has a rather memorable set of characters. They may not be especially deep, but everyone from the main cast to the smallest side character are each built around a unique quirk which allows them to play off each other pretty well. From Gamlin's relative squareness to Miriya's hot headedness to unnamed Flower Girl's unending quest to present flowers to Basara, each of them helps breathe life into Macross 7's environ giving it a rather organic feel. The only real problem for most is the main character, Basara, who like so many things about the show, you either like or not. A lot of people are turned off by his seemingly pig-headed and abrasive personality, he does not go out of the way to make himself likable. But for me personally, I find that is what makes him rather interesting in the way he effects change in those around him. A welcome change to the standard type of main protagonists we've been seeing in other shows in the same genre. As expected, Music is very integral to Macross 7's story. The soundtrack mainly consists of Japanese Rock so if that's not your cup of tea, well then steel yourself for 49 episodes plus plus worth of it. Even then, early on, it does not show much diversity with Basara repeating the same two songs over and over again for the first few episodes until you are sick of them (afterwards he then repeats them so many times you end up liking them again) However this actually makes sense within the context of the show as Basara is still trying to find his voice early on and eventually as the story progresses, each time he achieves some self realization, he gets newer and better songs to play with. As for the animation, well, you can tell that their budget was rather limited, even for an older show. There is a noticeable lack of big dogfight sequences that characterize other Macross shows, so if you are a fan who is in it for the Itano circuses, you might end up disappointed. Recycled cels means you end up seeing the same Valk being blown up every other episode even till the later end of the show so there is a certain sense of laziness in this department. As I said, Macross 7 is a show that you need to watch in its entirety to give proper judgment on it as the early episodes do not do it justice. Even I admit that it took me 3 tries before I could move past the first few episodes, but I found myself rewarded with a rather enjoyable and surprisingly engaging ride by the end. Its 49 episode count may seem rather daunting, but I do encourage you to not give up so easily and try to endure it to the end. It is a show you either steer clear or watch all the way to the end. It is Macross at its silliest, and the show knows it. If you acknowledge this, Macross 7 might end up surprising you with a rather fun, and atypical Macross experience.

So, since I'm hell bent on watching all the macross series I thought I'd start on Macross 7. For a while I thought I'd made a big mistake. Story It took a LONG time to finish this series which already indicates at first glance it's not all that exciting. It's all about Nekki Basara, guitarist and lead singer of the band Fire Bomber (what a great band name). The band starts unknown, living and practicing in a hovel on City 7, joined to Battle seven. They're the mainstay of the colony fleet Macross 7, searching for a habitable planet to live on. First part deals with characterdevelopment (boring) then the protodeviln appear. Instead of getting exciting it's a wash-rinse-repeat of Nekki using his songs to save the day. There are a few plot twists but overall this series though keeping with the Macross themes of Love Triangle and Power of Music ... is not done very well and honestly could have been squeezed into 26 episodes. There is a LOT of filler (1 min flashback at the start of every episode) and too much "Basara is a rebel" for my taste. Wakate, wakate, we get it, Basara is a rebel. Luckily the story picks up towards the last 10 episodes but it took a really strong will to continue watching this series! Art/Animation Dated animation and TONS of frame reuse. Like every episode there's frame reuse. I hate when it's done badly enough that I felt like fast forwarding through the same old animation of the same old battles with the same old songs. The mecha look nice but that's about it. Sound Shoot me now! The first 25 episodes I *hated* Nikki's singing. Oh god he's singing the SAME old song. Again! and Again! and Again! Ugh! Hate hate! Play something else dammit! I don't know if they did it to save money by reusing the same songs/frames but somewhere around episode 35 I started enjoying the songs and found myself singing along at some parts. Ack! Insidious! So ... that was their evil plan! Repeat the song until the viewer starts liking it. Well, I hate to say but it worked. I guess I now have to go download the soundtrack. Grrr! Character This is a mish-mash. There are a lot of characters, all with different personalities. I really started to feel for some of them towards the last 15 episodes so I guess you can say this series "grew" on me. The lead protagonist is Nekki Basara, the cool tough rebellious guitarist/lead singer who has a huge ego and doesn't care what other people think. He's also a pacifist who sings instead of blowing up enemies. Of course while he's singing there's plenty of innocent people getting blown up by the enemies he won't shoot. But somehow no citizens protest his peacenik ways getting others killed. I hated this character. The secondary singer/bassist of Fire Bomber is Mylene, daughter of Maximilian Jenius and Milia Fallyna. Supposed love interest who spent most of the episodes in teenage angst. Mylene is cute, young (14 years old) and spoiled. She treated her suitor, Gamlin, not too well. I hated her too. The other 2 members of the band are Ray, the ex military guy and 3rd guitarist, and Veffidas the zentradi drummer. Ray was ok but Veffidas was just big and must have had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to drum everything in sight when she isn't at her drums - car windows, tables, chairs, other people's bodies etc. Veffidas is the strong, silent type. When she showed her strength and spoke it was with great impact. I loved Veffidas. Then there's Max and Milia, the first human and zentradi love connection from the original Macross Series. Max is older and handsomer, Milia got all straight laced. Estranged in this series (he's the military commander and she's the civilian's Mayor) I spent the whole series waiting and hoping for them to get back together. If only Macross 7 was about Max and Milia this series would have scored much higher. I loved them both! Lt. Gamlin is important and such a nice, honest, man. That's not good when you start falling in love with a 15 year old girl with no brains and who will likely choose the "bad boy" thus giving birth to the saying "nice guys finish last". I was 15 once and liked bad boys then but now that I'm more mature I wouldn't marry one. Gamlin is really likeable and he is the only human of 3 characters that really develop over the course of the series (other 2 are protodeviln). This was a well written character and I loved him too. There's a whole slew of other side characters. Mylene's ecchi fan. Basara's fan who is always trying to give him flowers. Take the damn flowers Basara! Learn how to treat your fans better! I just pitied some of the side characters. Enjoyment Well I wasn't enjoying this series at the start (it sucked) but it started changing around episode 33 and by episode 40 it was fun. Just takes a lot of time and patience to get to the good parts, so overall I can't say it was much more than mediocre.

Overall: Macross 7 has to be the most polarizing macross series of all time. I defiantly give this show a 10 out of 10, but I understand that this is highly subjective. I will explain what the show has to offer and point out parts that you will love or hate. Story: Macross 7 takes place some time after the origonal super dimensional fortress macross. For those of you that watched the original there is a fun surprise character wise in this for you. Macross 7 takes the spirit of the show, as in "Music can stop war" and makes it aliteral effect. Nekki Basara is a singer/songwriter/martial artist/ace macross pilot. He wants to push his music as far as it will go. As the show moves on the enemy this time wants to suck out human spirita. Basara possess the strongest spirita and can fend off attackers with his singing. Right hear if this concept annoys you, it stays thoughout the whole series. Personally I find it rather amusing that his singing can hurt his attackers, and even revive some of the men who have there spirita sucked out. Art: For its day macross 7 looked pretty sexy. Now a days it might seem a bit dated, and the fact that it is almost 50 episodes with lots of space combat means that some animation is going to get reused. This should not affect your enjoyment as since one attack is the same as another attack, do you really need to see the same thing a slightly different way? If you do then this will annoy you. Sound: Most macross shows are known for there music, but macross 7 is a bit more special in that regard. The show uses actual music from a Japanese band. Because of this (and because the music was already licensed at the time of the creation of the show), there are only a few songs sung and resung thoughout the show. New songs are added over time, but if you do not like the first song sung stop watching the show now, because you will hear that song over....and over....and over....and over... and did i mention you will hear it over....and over.... -ahem- Yes the music is repetitive in the sense that they sing alot, but its good rock music and I enjoyed it. Also the music is used as narration for the space battles like it is in other macross shows which is also very well done. Characters: This show shines because of its characters and there complex interactions between not only each other but the whole network of relationships as a whole. Basara and his band have quite a back story for each one of them, not to mention back stories of some characters once they paired up. (this will make sense if you watch it). None of the characters are one dimensional, and they always make logical decisions based on what is happening around them. In other words no one does anything stupid just so that they can make a filler episode of cleaning up the mess. Nothing from this area should turn anyone off. Enjoyment: Outstanding, when you combine good visuals with great sound and some awesome characters on a well throughout plot you get one hell of a ride. I actually like this Macross a lot better than the original. Id say its about tied in interest with frontier. If you like the music and dont mind repetitive space battle animation you are in for a treat.

Macross 7 was one of the first sequels to the Macross franchise made around the same time that Macross Plus came about. This chapter of the franchise focuses on the human and Zentradi members aboard the spacecraft Macross 7 dealing with a new enemy alien threat called the Protodevlin and a guitarist named Basara Nekki cutting in during heated fights in a Valkyrie unit between the forces to try singing to the enemy for seemingly unknown reasons. Continuity wise, the series takes place 35 years after the events of the original Macross series, clearly evident with the appearances of Maximillian and Milia, the first human-Zentradicoupling to come about from the original series. This particular entry in the Macross franchise has a good deal of infamy among its fans as such where many consider it the franchise's black sheep. In part, I can kind of see where these thoughts would come from. The first dozen or so episodes to the series are a bit on the repetitive side as Fire Bomber are doing a performance, Mylene and Basara get in some sort of argument, a Protodevlin attack occurs, Basara flies in on the scene in his Valkyrie to sing to the enemy, the enemy retreats after getting what they need and the cycle repeats. Basara is a bit of a shallow and difficult character to connect with as we have no clue why he is behaving as he does and he doesn't seem to have much dimension to his character either as he mostly comes off as a free-spirited and impulsive pacifist. Even throughout the entirety of the series, Macross 7 offers little exploration to Basara's character and the viewer has no clue what drives him to do what he wants. The majority of the Protodevlin are also rather shallow as villains and the quirks with some of them can border on obnoxious. Plus unlike the original series that had a "real robot" approach to the mecha genre with plenty of drama to milk, Macross 7 crosses into "super robot" territory with its more light-hearted mood and absurd "power of song" plot devices milked to combat alien threats capable of wiping out planets. In spite of the mentioned issues though, I would not necessarily consider this the worst offering in the Macross franchise in the same vain as forgettable entries in the franchise like Macross II or compressed film adaptations like Macross: Do You Remember Love? and the two Macross Frontier movies. The supporting cast in the series do rather well for the most part to carry along things in spite of how subpar things are with the series lead and the main conflict of the series. The series offers some nice exploration of Milia and Max's relationship as it has clearly been shown to degrade over the years in spite of the two gaining influential positions on the Macross 7 spacecraft and trying to raise their young teenage daughter, Mylene. Mylene's character also gets a good deal of development in the series as she tries handling the strain in her parents' relationship, comes to grips with the hostilities of war when events in the series escalate and get in an implied love triangle with Basara and Gamlin. The majority of the side characters in the series involve those connected to Fire Bomber's performances or involved with the military yet relevant characters still get enough focus to show there are more to them than a simple archetype. The series also subverts some of the typical plot formulas you would expect from a Macross title. Outside of the "super robot" approach being milked, the love triangle dynamic that most titles in the franchise implement has a minimal presence despite the implications played up involving Mylene, Basara and Gamlin. The series is instead more focused on expressing its main themes of understanding and acceptance of others, the implied reasoning behind Basara's refusal to attack enemy forces when he rocks out in front of enemy forces. This message does lead to gradual developments with a number of the characters in the series as they come to understand why Basara had been behaving as he was during early episodes in the series and even leading some among the Protodevlin to switch sides when they come to understand Basara's intentions. As simple as the message may seem, Macross 7 still does well for the most part in expressing it through developments taking place throughout its run. Presentation wise, Macross 7 is a mixed bag. The visuals were obviously done with a cheap budget in mind as scenery shots and character designs are on the plain side and plenty of corners get cut with animation as shortcuts like reused frames and still shots are a regular occurrence here. The soundtrack milked by Fire Bomber is a nice change for the series as unlike the original Macross' use of pop music, this series makes use of rock music. The energetic rock beats are fitting for the light-hearted mood given off by the series and the lyrics accompanying them fit in with the title's theme of understanding and acceptance. Only low point with the soundtrack is that there are points in the series where it gets repetitive as some of the same songs get recycled until new ones are composed for later episodes in the title's run. Overall, I guess I could say my thoughts of Macross 7 as a whole are somewhat mixed and I think it's infamy among Macross fans may be overblown. While rather generic and repetitive in aspects of its premise and characters, the series still offered up some fresh aspects to the typical Macross plot formula, an engaging supporting cast, an energetic rock soundtrack and a simple yet well executed exploration of its main themes. Your mileage may vary on how you perceive the series with how different it is from other installments in the Macross franchise. But I would advise that one should check out the full series to properly judge it instead of ditching it in early episodes due to their repetitive setup for plot.

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