The story of Macross Zero isn't hard to digest: A war is on-going between two halves of humanity. On one side is a pilot called Shin, a rookie who learned about war the hard way as a child and got involved in order to stop the fighting. During a battle he ends up getting his plane badly damaged, forcing him into an emergency eject. When he wakes up later, he finds himself wrapped in bandages and inside a strange hut with bird images around him. He soon discovers that the island he's found himself on is inhabited by primitive people, and the leader of these people, Sara, wants him to leave as soon as possible in order to avoid him bringing a curse on her people. However, with the war taking place near the island due to an ancient life-form having been discovered underwater close to it, things soon take a turn for the worse...
For some reason, I like stories that involve a primitive race of people having to come to terms with the realities of the modern world, or the reverse. Macross Zero showed a primitive group being forced to experience the pain and suffering of war AND had the main character, to a certain extent at least, become one with nature. I haven't seen this type of story in anime before and that semi-original vibe allowed me to get even more out of the experience. Putting originality aside for a second, it's a good thing when mecha series are grounded in reality by a plot element because it prevents the story being too far-fetched and allows people to connect to the story and characters on a real world level.
Another impressive aspect of the show is its multiple love stories. Macross is well known for its blend of romance, singing and sci-fi, and Zero didn't let me down. The romance never came across as fake or forced, which surprised me a little given the short length of the story. The relationship between uptight Shin and primitive Sara was very touching, and it had a very funny beginning since Shin unknowingly threatened Sara with what the Mayan people think of as being equivalent to love letters. The other major relationship, between Aries and Roy Focker, wasn't quite so moving due to them having been together (and later splitting apart) prior to the start of Macross Zero, with the events of the story pulling them back together, but it had its moments and, like with the other relationship, their relationship created a fairly amusing scene or two.
As for the visuals, Zero looks fantastic. The art/animation is up to the standard I expected an OVA series of a huge franchise to be at, but the CG aerial battles blew me away. They were a little difficult to follow at times due to the frenzied pace aerial battles move at, but I never lost track of who was shooting at who. And, unlike with lower quality anime that features CG, the CG blended excellently with the animation.
The music was less impressive than the other aspects. There were a few decent songs here and there but, overall, nothing stood out as truly special. Off the top of my head, I can't even remember any of the BGM music right now, which is an indication of how much of the soundtrack caught my ears. I don't feel the soundtrack was bad (I'd be being far more critical if that were the case), I just felt it lacked something in comparison to everything else.
All in all, I loved the series. I enjoyed it so much that it got a rare 10/10 from me and has gone straight into my top five (edit: many months later, I changed my scoring system, and Zero got a 9/10 on my list.) For someone as critical as me to rate something 10/10, it has to be brilliant, and Macross Zero had every element an anime needs to be as close to perfection as humanly possible. It's hard for me to imagine a better blend of reality, mecha and a sci-fi 'God' story. If this series never gets released outside of Japan it'll be a crime - every (and I mean every!) anime fan should see it.
