StoryMacross Zero is an undeniably huge undertaking; this
clearly has one of the biggest budgets to ever be
granted to an OVA. Bandai has fairly deep pockets, but
I’m sure even they must have been a little antsy about
the huge capital investment involved in such a
project. Thus, my primary concern when I started up
the first episode was that the OVA, in the interest of
"playing it safe," would create a relatively
ambitionless plot that strayed little from what other
animes from the Macross series have already done. My
worries were not completely unfounded, as the anime
has many of the trademarks that the franchise is known
for.
The most noticeable of these trademarks is the
ever-prominent dichotomy of pro-war and anti-war
sentiment. By this, I mean that like countless other
Gundam and Macross animes, the OVA finds itself almost
constantly deriding war as a pointless and inhumane
endeavor, all the while providing bucket-loads of
often superfluous combat sequences that are clearly
designed to entertain the audience. As well as this,
the show also works a love triangle in, a literary
device that has been used in every Macross anime that
I have seen.
Fortunately, these all-too-familiar similarities are
outweighed by an the animes "twist" - namely, tribal
lore. The anime’s plot manages to work in a fair bit
of this, and, among other things, integrates
shamanism, primitive village life, and ancient
unwritten mythology into the general plot. The fact
that the OVA manages to mix these elements in with
science fiction mecha warfare is not only impressive,
but extremely beneficial to the overall storyline as
well. While a lot of mecha animes these days come
across as stale and derivative, Macross Zero’s plot
feels fresh and new.
The mix of tribalism with modern life works because of
the show’s rather clever juxtaposition of the two.
There are several times when modern culture noticeably
clashes with established village life, and the result
is surprisingly satisfactory and thought provoking.
The animes personal opinion of this conflict ends up
being rather one-sided, but I didn’t find this fact
particularly bothersome.
Unfortunately, the story is somewhat marred by the
final episode. Compared to excellent pacing of the
first four episodes, the fifth entry feels decidedly
rushed and sloppy. The ending in general is also
somewhat of a letdown, with the characters’ final
fates coming across as predictable and cliched. As a
whole, however, the storyline is a surprisingly
original piece that manages to squeeze in the required
action scenes without seeming too formulaic.AnimationI can actually remember when the project was started
nearly three years ago, and recall being thoroughly
awed that the OVA would not come out until I was well
into college. The wait was excruciatingly long, and
I’m personally amazed that I managed to hold off on
seeing any of the episodes until every single one was
out.
The reason for the incredibly long period of time
between episodes becomes apparent, however, when one
begins to watch through the first episode. Macross
Zero’s CGI work is absolutely amazing, and is
definitely the best I’ve seen in any non-Hollywood
production. The action scenes in particular are
absolutely stunning; fantastic mecha models combine
with blisteringly fast animation and ingenious
choreography to provide the undeniable high point of
the entire anime. Oddly enough, however, the
animation’s greatest strength turns out to also be its
only detriment. While the CGI is almost always
outstanding, there are times when it feels unnecessary
and awkward. Probably the worst-looking scene in the
entire OVA occurs when one of the characters spills
cola on another. The scene would have been relatively
easy to animate normally, but for some inexplicable
reason, the director decided to animate the actual
soda in CGI. The result is jarringly ugly, and is one
of several decidedly imperfect scenes. However, for
the most part, the CGI is nothing short of stunning,
and is probably the number one reason to watch the
anime.
Besides the fantastic CGI, Macross Zero also sports
some of the best backgrounds ever produced for an
anime. Of particular note is the lush tropical
rainforest environment that many of the scenes take
place in, which is often eye candy in and of itself.
Character designs manage to be appealing, if not
completely original.SoundThe OST is of decidedly high quality, with several
excellent songs present throughout the show. The
songs, which are very reminiscent of Yoko Kanno’s work
in Earth Girl Arjuna, work very well with the OVA’s
tribal theme. The highlight of the soundtrack is most
likely a song that is sung by one of the main
characters midway through the show, and is a
wonderfully ethereal piece that seems to have
permanently staked out a spot in my playlist.
Voice acting on the whole is passable, with no
performances that are either noticeably good or bad.CharactersWith the rather dense plot and lengthy action
sequences, the anime doesn’t really have time in five
episodes to have character development of any
substance. As a result, the OVA falls back on age-old
archetypes that can be found in countless other anime.
The two Mayan sisters both have personalities that can
easily be found elsewhere, and the protagonist is even
more generic and undeveloped. The show even goes as
far as to recycle Roy Focker from the original Macross
television series (although, to the show’s credit, he
works fairly well in his supporting role).
The utter lack of any depth whatsoever in the
characters is the most probable culprit for why the
aforementioned love triangle falls flat on its face.
Without unique and genuine personalities, just about
every romance is pretty much doomed, and Macross Zero is no exception.OverallMacross Zero, more than anything else, is a work to be
admired for the sheer amount of effort put into it.
Over the time that this rather monumental series was
put together, a tremendous amount of money and
man-hours were no doubt poured into the OVA. As a
result, the show feels almost blindingly well
polished, and is thoroughly entertaining for just
about the entire running time. While the characters
and storyline could have probably been a little
better, this is nonetheless an impressive work that
I’d recommend to anyone who doesn’t absolutely hate
the mecha genre.
Screenshots
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