Back on Earth, the military quickly covers up facts pertaining to the space battle and completely censored Hibiki's news footage. Hibiki still has Ishtar though, and is determined to blow out a huge scoop with her. He also wants to expose Ishtar to his culture and in the process, shows her the old Macross fortress. Upon seeing it, she believes that it is the Ship of the Alus, a legend from her culture that is foretold to bring peace to her race. Hibiki then discovers that she is actually a Marduk, and that her people have been using the Zentraedi to conquer planets.

Later, when the Marduk capture Earth's emulator, Hibiki and Ishtar go after her, leading to their capture. Silvie must then free Hibiki, and together, they must find a way to bring peace to both sides before Earth is overwhelmed and destroyed.

Being totally new to the Macross universe, I wasn't sure what to expect. And to be fair, Macross II probably wasn't the best place to start. However, I did find Macross II to be fairly enjoyable, if not overly long. The story, to my surprise, didn't focus completely on space battles, but in fact, it was about finding love with a focus on the characters. The movie though, could've really benefited from some trimming, as the long running time of 160 minutes really makes watching tedious near the end.

Picture:
Macross II is presented in 1.33:1 full frame. There are some marks and spots here and there and the image does appear soft. Overall though, transfer is decent with vibrant and well-saturated colors and accurately represented flesh tones.

Sound:
Macross II is presented in English and Japanese 2.0 Stereo. The dialogue remains crisp and clean with no distortion throughout, though several of the English dub actors were pretty bad. The optional English subtitles were mostly well done, with almost all of the dialogue and subtitles matching or coming close.

Extras:
Extras include a music video, four character bios, fifteen concept sketches, the Manga Preview trailer, a catalog of their titles, weblinks, and English subtitles. The Manga Preview includes trailers from Perfect Blue, X, Wings of Honneamise, Black Jack and Ninja Scroll.

Summary:
Macross II: The Movie is a decent anime movie hampered by a long running time; fans of the Macross universe, though, should find that easy to overlook, as there is a lot to enjoy here. First time Macross watchers should start somewhere else, as it is a little confusing. Recommended.