For my original entry for Megazone 23 (part 1), click here.
Sometimes you have to recover your tracks in order to move forward. In terms of classic anime and in particular, the first part of Megazone 23, I have a little more to say…
This is like going all the way back to the beginning. Starting from scratch, the second time around. If you have been through this site before, I hope you have dug down enough to find the very first entry, Megazone 23 (part 1). If you are new here, then you found a great starting point. I have had for some time thought about revisiting this awesome OVA from 1985, but I like to keep only one entry per show, movie, or OVA. Know you know what this means… time to change some rules!
Have I changed my opinions much on this first Megazone 23 entry from last time. Not really. I still love it, I still hold it highly in my anime watching experience and it is an all in one package for what did get me into anime in the first place and what mostly keeps me digging up more classics. It has that certain something, perhaps its just love and devotion, I can’t say for sure. And if I could put the feeling into words, I would more than likely miss the point. The character designs from Toshihiro Hirano and Haruhiko Mikimoto may be the closest thing to words to express my feelings for Megazone 23. Such a good looking cast from two of my favorite artists.
Now, have you seen The Matrix? Do you make references, or hear them often from others, regarding society and the The Matrix? Now watch Megazone 23 and tell me if you can spot the similarities? Megazone 23 came out a good decade and change before The Matrix and in my opinion totally surpasses the live action trilogy. We have the story about a hero who finds that reality is in control of a computer program and basically reality is someone else’s fantasy and creation. And our hero finds out he is only a mere pawn in the big game and decides to rebel. Except in Megazone 23 you also have motorcycle styled mecha, a lone wolf antihero, brighter colors, a refreshing soundtrack, Flashdance styled dancing (with leg warmers) and it’s Japanese in origin. “Yeah Doc, all the best stuff is made in Japan.” (Back to the Future strikes again) The next time someone mentions The Matrix just remember to recommend Megazone 23, or even better… shout out BAHAMUT 6!
Still I regard Megazone 23 the spiritual successor to my beloved Macross. I said it last time and I will say it again, Megazone 23 may not be Macross in name or story, but the main members who created both productions left a certain patina. Kind of like a band releasing two awesome albums in succession. I mentioned Hirano and Mikimoto earlier and there are other key figures, but the biggest was director Noboru Ishiguro. Such a professional, a gentleman and a renaissance man all rolled into one. Hayao Miyazaki, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Tomoharu Katsumata, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, Isao Takahata are all great directors and I love them dearly, but Ishiguro-sensei, if it was not for your work I may never have fallen in love with anime. Arigatou gozaimasu.
Bar none this is a title I still watch on a consistent basis. Repeatability is a major factor to anything great in media as there is always something new and still yet familiar to emjoy. The only question remains, ADV dub, Streamline dub, or the original Japanese track. All three have equal merit in their own way. Or, I can be adventurous and watch Robotech: The Movie. Wikipedia or Google that one if that is a title that does not ring a bell.
… and don’t forget you see a cameo of Lupin and Gigen (Lupin III) as… cops… ironic!
It’s #100 and I saved this one for this occasion. 🙂 In the far future of the year 1999… oh wait it’s 2018 now… don’t you hate it when the once thought of far future becomes a past memory? Well let pretend it’s 1982 once again, when a little show created by a bunch of anime and sci-fi fans hit the airwaves. Their story as stated before began in the year 1999 when suddenly a warp gate opens, bringing a behemoth of a spaceship into our local area of interstellar space. And much like a wild meteor with a mission, this ship came down like a speeding bullet onto a little island in the South Pacific. Ladies and gentlemen we humans are most definitely not alone anymore and this lone fictitious event in the sky is the beginning to THE most important anime in my whole fandom and life.
Love is something you can’t describe with simple language and if you can, it really is not the passionate love you should feel from the bottom of your heart. In 1985, as an impressionable six year old, via an adaptation named Robotech, I fell in love with the most beautiful of space operas. NO, one of the greatest mecha anime ever. NO, the greatest love story that I have ever encountered. Well… maybe all three combined. I had experienced a story, characters and emotions that resonated with me on a level one cannot define. This was and still is a title many of us hold in the highest regards as something beyond special. It was one of my gateway anime and remains to this day the yardstick that I measure anything else I watch up to it… Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
Much credit to Macross is given to Shojo Kawamori (way too much!) almost as if it was “his” project alone, which of course is NOT true! But again where did Macross come from… a manga, toyline, yada yada… nope? It was it’s own creation, completely original and influenced by a group of young creative fans. An almost proverbial otaku’s dream come true, the purest form of fan service. Not the emphasis on the usual definition of fan service, but the wanting to add reference upon reference making the story grand and sentimental. You can give credit to others like Noburo Ishiguru or Ichiro Itano, but one individual makes Macross very special (my opinion)… the greatest character designer ever (again my opinion), Haruhiko Mikimoto!
Mikimoto’s eye designs are always what win me over. Beautiful eyes with a romantic quality, they glisten like stars in the night (Mikimoto insists it was a shojo influence). Therefore this is the best looking cast ever (my opinion yet again), particularly our main cast… the perfect trio, handsome Hikaru, elegent Misa and adorable Minmei. Beyond the ‘main’ cast you have a huge subsidiary group and all of them get a couple minutes to show their individuality, but I have only been speaking of those of us who are all Earth born. Macross, after all, is an epic space opera and humanity meets another race from a far off area of the universe. Remember that spaceship I mentioned earlier that crashed onto the Earth… it is of interest of giant alien race, the Zentradi.
Thus the plot begins… a spaceship gets refurbished, an alien invasion leads humanity into outer space, a war ensues, a young girl’s dream of becoming a pop star comes true, a love triangle becomes difficult and the questioning of the origins of both humanity and the warlike Zentradi are tied to the mysterious Protoculture (not exactly the same thing as in Robotech folks)… and stretches over 36 episodes in total. Wow! Busy show indeed and never boring. No wonder Macross reached the tops of popularity since there is something for everyone to enjoy. But then again like I said before, this was a show made by fans of anime, manga and sci-fi. They knew which buttons to push to get the reactions which we all can identify with.
Wait a minute… I forgot to go into detail about one important piece of Macross that I love. One word… MUSIC! Music plays a major role in the plot and the soundtrack is oh so good. I love music, I play music and great music in an anime is a thumbs up from my end. Kentaro Haneda’s orchestral work is inspiring and certain tracks, in particular Dog Fighter, are anthemic. The character of Minmei and her pop idol status was one of the first iterations of this character archetype. Love it or hate it, Macross would not be the same without Minmei as the cheerleader so to speak. She was the true star of Macross, yet not the major protagonist who was Hikaru. Her simple pop songs, a blast of culture more precisely, changes the course of events in this show. Love conquers all, literally.
Wait, wait, this is my favorite part… This is an often quoted statement when watching a movie you love. The thing for me is that for Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (jeez thats a long title) I say this throughout the whole film, or I have to shut people up so I can listen to each line of dialog. Wait a minute… I usually watch this film by myself… anyway… Do I remember Macross? I do. Do I remember love? I do. Do I love Macross? I most definitely do. Do I remember and love that most awesome movie adaptation Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? I DO!
This sounds like a marriage ceremony with all these I dos, but in truth I am married metaphorically speaking to the original Macross. I don’t have a ring to prove it, so you have to trust me and as a mega fan of the original show, what is my take on the remake that was made for theaters in that magical summer of 1984? Well… it’s hard to be biased and/or objective, but it’s a masterpiece and a half. After all just look at it, no really look at it! NOW! That line work, the quality and care, the special effects and the fluidity of movement are some of the best of the decade. That and Haruhiko Mikimoto’s character design work is at it’s pinnacle here. Some have called it a labor of love as in my mind Macross was the first series made by otaku that ended up being for otaku at the time. It’s the ultimate space opera, mecha and romance story ever told wrapped in the prettiest of packages.
Now here’s a story, ‘do I remember’ (pun! on the title) seeing this the first time? Thankfully I do. Back in the days of VHS and being a bored teenager at the mall I stumbled into a Suncoast store and a tape caught my eye. Now mind you, my knowledge of anime was limited as I was a small town kid in the early 1990s here. I knew of and loved Robotech very much and when out of the blue I saw a tape labeled Clash of the Bionoids, I scratched my head. It looked like Robotech, it had the SDF-1 on the cover and some pictures in the back with Rick and Minmei. I was impressed and bought it. Upon watching it, three things happened. One, this was not Robotech. Two, the drawings looked much better than TV series. And three, it had this weird dub and everyone had different names? With no material to tell me anything I took a guess that this was the original Japanese Macross. I was right.
The plot is similar to the TV series except we start en media res with the Macross already in space and the sprawl of the shopping mall like city already installed. Minmei is in concert, Misa is with Claudia and Captain Global in the Macross’ bridge and Hikaru, Max and Roy are out in space doing their fighter jock best in those classic Valkyrie fighters going up against the Zentraedi armada. OK, par for the course, but what is different besides the already mentioned artistry? First, we get a glimpse of this possible Protoculture civilization, although it is in ruins. Perhaps it is the fabled Lemurian continent often quoted in many anime? And what is found there? A simple love song. A song that would eventually turn the tides of the battle, an established staple of Macross. Second, the budding romance between Hikaru and Misa is more poignant in this movie. The first serious kiss between these two when they were on Earth always makes me giddy. And third, going back to music, and even more epic soundtrack. Macross and music have always gone hand in hand, but this film takes it up a notch or two, ok three… actually four, lol.
On the flip side, I can see how dated this film is in some respects and often cries back to me a lost summer in the sun. The fashion and hair are of the period, but doesn’t it look good anyway? After all there was a quote I once read that the 80s was when anime and real life fashion and hair were one and the same. The inside of the Macross reminds me of how a shopping mall used to look like and in particular at the Holiday Season. Colorful, exciting and full of life. Malls nowadays look like badly branded race cars with corporate logos all over the place, run down and tired. Even with all this, the magic is still there as the optimism I remember growing up that the 21st century was just around the corner and new exciting things were on that horizon. I’m still patiently waiting for space travel and robots.
The Classic Anime Museum 
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