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.

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.