Macross

Publisher
AnimeEgo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
36 episodes
Year
1982

Super Dimension Fortress Macross volume 2 (eps. 5-9)

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
25th Mar 05

The second volume of Super Dimension Fortress Macross takes off a few days after the end of the last volume.

Hikaru and Minmay have been rescued from within the Macross’ deep labyrinth of the unused areas and have moved into the makeshift town that has been built inside the gigantic space fortress. The Macross is under constant attack from the mysterious Alien race. The Zentradi whilst testing the Macross’ capabilities send forward a small attack force, however in the Macross’ current configuration it can no longer fire its main cannon leaving the Macross with a large disadvantage. The only way round it is too move some of the Macross’ parts, which would cause damage to the partly rebuilt city within. Captain Global is forced to make a difficult choice as does Hikaru as he is encouraged to join the Macross Defense force as a Valkyrie pilot by both Roy Focker and Minmay. The Macross tests out a new defensive weapon during the heat of battle and also reaches Mars.

Its on Mars that one of the Macross franchise other important factors becomes apparent , and that’s the love triangle. First Lieutenant Hayase Misa and Hikaru didn’t exactly get off to a good start , with Hikaru insulting Misa by calling her an old lady, and there second meeting isn’t quite as good either. On Mars Misa suddenly feels sentimental and runs off in search of someone she thinks may still be in the Mars base which was abandoned at the end of the Unification wars. She zooms off to search and also to blow up the base so that the Macross, which is under attack can take off. She tries to escape before the base explodes, but to make sure Hikaru is sent after her. This is one of the first times these two characters get close and it happens again later on, of course Hikaru will also have to deal with Minmay whose birthday is looming.

In this volume we also get our first hint that music may play a part in the story as Minmay claims to want to be a singer, and also hums a few tunes throughout the episodes on this disc (most of which were written and composed by Minmay’s voice actor Iijima Mari which can be found on her albums).

The second volume of Macross is just as good if not better than the first, again well worth importing.

R1 DVD Notes

Features: Japanese with English subtitles.

Release information: Publisher: AnimeEgo Released:Wednesday, July 30, 2003 Chief Director: Noboru Ishiguro

Notes: Again no extras on the disc. The boxset version contains a song lyrics sheet for some of the songs featured in Macross. Again unsure wither this is included when bought indvidualy.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 25th Mar 05