The Show:
Super Dimension Fortress Macross, or Macross for short,
is justly famous for being the first chapter of the Robotech saga.
To create that show, Harmony Gold edited Macross and changed some
things around to suit American audiences before they dubbed it. Because
of these edits the English doesn't match up to the original show.
If you wanted to watch Macross you had to choose between a subtitled
version or watching the edited Robotech version in English.
Well, that's no longer the case. ADV has taken this seminal anime
series and released it with an English dub which includes Mari Iijima reprising
her role as Lynn Minmay in English. A great series with a great looking
restored picture, this first volume of the series is fun to watch.
The story starts in 1999. A giant space fortress, heavily damaged,
warps into our solar system. Hurtling uncontrolled through space,
the unmanned ship crashes into a small island on Earth. This triggers
the Unification Wars that end with all of the nations of Earth under one
flag that studies the ship and its strange technology. A city is
built on the island where the ship crashed.
Over the next ten years, the ship is studied and repaired. Using
the newly discovered knowledge a fleet of jets is built that can transform
into giant robots. Then, on the day that the rebuilt space fortress,
named the Macross, is to take its maiden voyage, the Zentraedi attack.
These aliens have been searching for the damaged space fortress because
they too want the technology that it contains. And they are willing
to kill anyone who gets in their way.
The show centers on the adventures of Hikaru Ichijyo, a young pilot
who grew up doing stunts with his father's flying circus. On the
day the Macross launches, Hikaru ends up in the battle for the island thanks
in part to his idol and best friend is Major Roy Focker. While in
the battle, the hot-shot pilot rescues a young girl, Lynn Minmay, who has
aspirations to become a singer. The two end up living on the Macross
together, but their relationship is anything but clear.
This is a classic show and with good reason. It's a lot of fun
to watch. The show is full of action and excitement, just about every
episode has a battle scene with laser cannons blasting and ships
exploding. The program isn't just combat, there is a good deal of
interpersonal relationships and a touch of romance. It's a well rounded
show that manages to balance the fighting with drama.
Since this series has been already released in Japanese with English
subs, the reason most people will want to get this edition is for the English
dub. ADV is one of the better companies when it comes to creating
dubs for their titles and they did a very good job on this one too.
While the voices are different than the Robotech voices that we are all
used to, these new voices fit the characters very well. Everyone
is voiced by pros who know how to bring a character to life, and they really
go the extra distance to make these nearly iconic characters seem real.
The only problem I had with the dub was with Mari Iijima and Minmay's
voice. It just doesn't fit at all. First of all Mari sounds
much too old to be the young and bubbly waitress/singer. Her voice
has matured over the years and you can tell by listening that Mari is no
longer a teenager herself. Also she has an accent that is fairly
heavy. Ironically the accent sounds out of place when the rest of
the cast are native English speakers. Sometimes this accent also
makes it hard to understand what she's saying. Whenever Minmay opens
her mouth I'm taken out of the moment and reminded that she's just a cartoon
character. While I can understand why ADV wanted to have Mari on
board for the project, she just doesn't work.
The DVD:
The volume contains the first six episodes on two DVD. There
are four episodes on the first disc and two on the second. This pair
comes in a single width keepcase with one disc on each side when the case
is opened. There is also an insert with the lyrics to the theme song
in both Japanese and English.
Audio:
For the first time the original Macross has an English dub. This
disc offers the choice of either the original Japanese track in stereo
or a 5.1 English dub. Both soundtracks are very good, and the English
5.1 is particularly impressive. The sound during the frequent battle
scenes is very cool. They make full use of the sound stage, with
planes swooshing from the rear to the front and all over the room.
There are laser blasts coming from all corners. This part of the
mix is very dynamic and exciting, the audio track really puts you in the
middle of things. Unfortunately, after the battles end, the sound
collapses to what is basically a stereo mix. The dialog is centered
over the screen, and rarely moves about. Even the music is piped
to the front speakers most of the time. The audio quality is good
too. There is no hiss or hums, and the dialog is clear and clean.
There are English subtitles available too.
Video:
This show was previously restored and released on DVD by Animeigo, and
ADV is almost certainly using the same elements as the earlier release.
It looks very good. The lines are tight and clean, and the colors
are bright and solid. There were a few spots on the image that looked
like they were on the cells themselves, but they were not a major problem.
The 1.33:1 presentation is overall very good.
Extras:
This set of discs is loaded with extras. The first disc starts
with Becoming Minmay: An Interveiw with Mari Iijima. In this
14-minute interview the actress talks about how she got the job of voicing
Minmay in the original Macross series and her memories of recording the
role. She reveals a lot, including the fact that she's a classically
trained pianist.
There are two commentary tracks, one on episode three with ADR Matt
Greenfield, and translator Javier Lopez and another one on episode four
with Mari Iijima and Monica Rial (Misa.) These were both better than
your average anime commentary track and both held my interest. (Something
most anime commentaries can't.)
There is also the original dub to the first episode. Originally
Harmony Gold was going to release Macross directly to video tape, but then
later decided to market it to television. This dub was done for the
aborted video release.
On disc two there are a series of liner notes (the same ones that accompanied
Animeigo's release of the series) a clean opening, and a restoration comparison.
There is also a nine-minute interview with translator Javier Lopez who
worked on the script for the dub. He talks about how he approached
the translation and some of the problems that he encountered. He
talks a bit about Japanese culture too. It's an interesting interview
and not dry at all.
Final Thoughts:
If you have the Animeigo release of this series, there's not a lot of
reason to purchase this one unless you really want the English dub.
Having said that, this is a great set. The picture is very good,
the English dub is excellent with one exception, and there are a lot of
extras. Macross is a classic series that every anime fan should see
at least once. A great space opera that's really quite a ride.
If you've never seen it, or haven't seen it lately, do yourself a favor
and pick this up. Highly Recommended.
Buy: