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ShaftoftheSpear

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Macross Zero

Nov 18, 2009

                                                              MACROSS ZERO

     Macross Zero is a prelude to the Macross Saga and apparently happens one year prior to the first episode.  So, before there were epic battles between the good people of Earth and skyscraper-sized aliens falling from the sky in massive ostrich-legged ping pong balls, there was world-wide turmoil and political strife.  After all, before there was a Batman, there was an emotionally-stunted child-man wandering aimlessly around town, dressed like a burglar, wanting to beat people up.  In July of 1999, a massive alien spacecraft crash-landed on Earth.  Although it was abandoned, it solidified our world's fear/wonderment of us knowing that we're not alone in the universe.  Zero, rather than being a direct pre-qual, is only a mere story in the midst of the transition from the world we now know to the complete unification of Earth's governments.  Obviously, we're not all gonna get along...  not all at once, I suppose.  In a race to understand these new beings, or rather, the race to rape their technology, two major factions emerge:  The U.N. and, for lack of a better term, yep, you've guessed it, the Anti-U.N. Alliance.

     I grew up knowing only the American Edit version of the Macross Saga, Robotech.  I don't suppose it's too different from it's Japanese counter-part albeit for some hackneyed english voice-acting/scripts/editing, a highly-annoying English-speaking version of Minmei with her crappy singing and an even crappier set of wonky 70s-sounding pop tunes that were never cool - And let's not forget NO NUDITY!  For God sakes, I was eight!  I coulda used the boobage; it's hard to come by at that age.  One cool thing about the American version was that they combined the Macross Saga with two unrelated series, Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada to create the epic universe known as Robotech.  I'm going to be very biased because I can only relate Macross Zero to the Macross Saga I know.

     Zero follows a brief chapter in the life of a prima donna of a pilot, Shin Kudou.  He has his reasons for who he is, one being, that compared to many, he simply is the best.  At the closing of the conflicts that would unite the world, Shin is pitted against the last remaining remnants of the Anti-U.N. Alliance's new transforming fighter...  and loses. His F-14 Tom Cat turns into a rock, falls out of the sky and he is washed ashore on a tropical isle, where the natives choose to lead an isolated lifestyle with no electricity or other modern conveniences.  The short series takes us through some under-developed, but none the less well done, Pocohontas/John Smith-esque kinda-sorta love affair as Shin tries to get his thang wet with the radically religious head village priestess.  When Shin is finally discovered and rescued, he finds that the warfare he had once excelled at had become obsolete overnight.  The U.N. had created their own answer to the transforming fighter, the first models of the Veritech.  Just like its Anti-U.N. counterpart, the Veritech is a jet plane that also has the ability to transform into a 60-foot tall robot that wields a Gatling gun rifle.  Shin falls into a steep learning curve as he is basically handed one of these things and told to do what he does so well.  Some very intriguing political and humanitarian themes begin to develop as both factions vie to uncover the mystery of the last pieces of the alien hardware embedded in the earth.

     Macross Zero is visually stunning.  Zero is one of the most breathtaking animes created to date in terms of animation and graphics.  In fact, if nothing else, the animation alone makes this title worth watching.  The story is enticing and the mystery is captivating.  The characters stem from anime archetypes but get their share of development, depth and realism.  Its quite impressive when you keep forgetting you're watching an animated series rather than a live-action drama.  The voice acting is not too shabby either.  Everything is so well done and of box office production quality.  With so much done right, what could have possibly gone wrong?

     One of the main problems that keeps Zero from greatness is that it's way too short.  It's only FIVE episodes!  Five 30-minute episodes!  Why?!  Such the wonderful beginnings of beautifully woven themes and plots and character development which all culminate into one of the most rushed, "What the fuck-?" endings ever created.  Many questions were left unanswered and all those great plots, themes, character development; everything, put to a 120 mile an hour, "straight-into-a-brick-wall" halt, as if the studio had simply run out of money for this project.  As the final episode played out, I kept chanting over and over to myself, "no way is this the last episode, no way is this the last episode...  " as if doing so would help an extra 21 episodes magically be found in Tibet.  Sadly, wishing did not make it so.  One thing I should mention; there is a supernatural element that surrounds the plot of Macross Zero, which, although would make a wonderful story on its own, doesn't seem to have a place in the Macross universe as a whole.  The mysticism almost made Zero a totally different animal than its supposed offspring, which dealt mainly with the extraterrestrial.  On a side note, the way the natives viewed the outside world, technology, and the happenings around them, I am reminded of the movie, "The Gods Must Be Crazy," and the transforming fighters and the enigmatic alien hardware are like the infamous empty glass Coke bottle that some random helicopter pilot threw out his window while flying by.  THE Coke bottle, that natives believed had fallen out of the sky from the gods, was found to have musical properties and, also later discovered, could be used to beat the living shit out of people.

     The only real tie to the characters of the Macross Saga is the stud, the man, the legend himself:  Roy Fokker.  Not quite a retold image of himself, as I was expecting since everything else seemed to be so different and new, it is him, the womanizing lover of a man, who fights better when he's drunk.  Amen.  Macross Zero seems to present a previous account in his life.  I was a little disappointed about Zero in that aspect, because, if Roy's here...  where's Rick?  What?  No younger cameo of Rick Hunter and his dad's flying circus?  You'd think that with such a fantastic premise to base a series on, there would be an "Anakin Skywalker...  meet Obi Wan Kenobi...  " moment with Rick Hunter and Roy Fokker.  No Claudia Grant either-who the hell is this doctor chick?  I wanted to learn more about how Roy got down with the swirl.  Instead, his love interest is some doctor involved with the research of how the natives are connected to this mysterious alien race.  Oh, and another thing...  if he's the only one here from the original series...  why is he a supporting character- AGAIN?!  I dont know, being a fan of the original series, I guess after all these years, I was just hoping for some continuity (  ...like the kind the Star Wars fans and the trekkies have) and not another one of some guy's vision.

So...  does it suck, or what?  

     Absolutely not!  Watch it.  Dont be put off by this inevitable shotgun of an ending; an ending that'll make you scream, "WHAT THE- ...huh?"  Although the problems caused by its biggest flaw, of being way too short, would keep it from a full blown perfect/excellent rating of "10," and give it a terrible score in my book, Macross Zero is wonderfully made and a must see.  As I keep mentioning, the story and the character development along with the rest of the production levels are top notch.  If for nothing else, the action sequences alone make this mini-series worth a look.

RATING: 7.5 out of 10

7/10 story
10/10 animation
10/10 sound
7/10 characters
7.5/10 overall
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RyuSoma Nov 19, 2009

An interesting review to say the least.  Nice touch with the humor, but your opinion is clearly expressed.  I'm a fan of the Macross universe myself, and I started to watch the series when I was introduced to Robotech.  I've heard Macross Zero is not bad, so I want to see it.  Even if it is only five episodes...