Macross II: Lovers Again

Story

A.D. 2089 - 80 years after Space War I, human and Zentraedi are living in ignorant bliss and peace on Earth when a new alien race called the "Marduk" appear within the Solar System. Annoying SNN rookie reporter Hibiki Kanzaki discovers Ishtar, an "Emulator" that enhances the Marduk's combat abilities through singing, while reporting on the first contact with the Marduk. Hibiki smuggles her to Earth to teach her the values of life and culture. Together with ace Valkyrie pilot Silvie Gena, can they find a way to save Earth from total destruction at the hands of the Marduk leader Ingues?

The plot was rather simplistic ... and had the potential to go Orwellian - state vs. individual, censorship and the public's need ... no right to know things! Sadly this was never taken to any kind of satisfying conclusion so while it had great promise it never lived up to its potential. The part that was done well was Ishtar's discovery of earth culture. Overall, the story was Mediocre at best.

Character

Hibiki started off as a totally unsympathetic character, very papparazi-like, but he learned some life lessons from an older war correspondent who changes his view of life. Ishtar is a very well conceived character and because of that the end sequence for her made me cry.

They are surrounded by a largely forgettable cast of support charcters, chief of which are Silvie and Max, the resident ace pilots with little to no character development. In fact the zentradi who is always protecting Ishtar was more memorable than either of them ..

Art/Animation

Dated animation but very little frame reuse. The animation as a whole was decent at the best, besides Hibiki and Ishtar (who has faboulous outfits), the rest are kind of stereotyped and not very exciting to look at. Fight scenes were rendered "ok" not great either.

Sound

Sound was the highlight of this anime. Great songs, some taken from other series (Macross 7 etc.) and some new songs. This was the best thing about this anime.

Enjoyment

Overall this is only something you'd watch for the music and the sake of saying you watched it to finish the series. I might go look for the music CD but I doubt I'd buy the series DVD.

One of my fav macross serie´s for years on end, Though the storyline os on an alternative macross timeline, it shows that , well it was trying to be quite special from the ´macross saga´ and did a nice job to it, but still from many fans it has received mixed reviews, the Minmay attack specially was becoming discarted along with some of the mecha/designs wich i liked , you see big space shipbattles and other known macross related stuff, colorful animation , nice and bright personality , buit some stuff could be done better

On the surface, Macross II isn't a particularly exceptional OVA, and you might say it relies on the Macross franchise to carry it. But it is very enjoyable.

It is set after the events of Do You Remember Love, and takes a Zeta Gundam-style approach to the future of humanity whereby, complacent after their decisive victory over the Zentradi, mankind has established an unsteady peace and industrialised the solar system. The extensive space colonisation alluded to in Macross Plus, 7 and Frontier is nowhere to be seen, and the UN Spacy are no longer the officious but well-meaning organisation you come to expect but instead have ... taken up dark blue and gold uniforms and a love of media control and state interference reminiscent of the Titans.

The heroes of the original movie and show are nowhere to be seen, with Minmay now just a pawn whose music is seen as humanity's superweapon.

It's a good subversion of what DYRL and the series set up. It's also a nice twist on Macross 7's use of music as an offensive weapon rather than just culture shock - especially when the Marduk reveal themselves.

Also of interest is the shift away from the traditional "officer/star/pilot" love triangle - the real pop star of Macross II is barely present, and the ending offers a decisive main character (there's no "you are my wings" here.)

All that aside, though, the biggest problem is that it feels like Macross II is trying too hard to be another Do You Remember Love. There's a lot of material that feels familiar - and not in a good way, more of a lazy way. The songs themselves aren't actually very memorable - they're pleasant to listen to, but not catchy or powerful.

The mechanical designs are very interesting, but don't really innovate much compared to the new styles of Valkyrie seen in Plus and 7.

All told, it definitely feels like a sequel and that's good in its own way. But the problem is the lack of innovation, and the fact that the plot is very weak when considered outside of the franchise as a whole.

Also the fact that, as you'll see if you watch it, it completely retcons all other franchise material (or all subsequent franchise material retcons it.) It has to exist as an Alternate Universe - and that's why a lot of diehard fans don't like it.

Let me preface with "This was my First Anime.. Ever" so not only does it for on just about every cylinder for me, but i also have nostalgia goggles. I gave this show a perfect 10 PERSONALLY. However objectively i rate it more at a 7 or 8 now that ive seen hundreds of other anime. I still stand by a high rating though, the characters seem like they actually care about what's going on and react reasonably for the situations. I'm a fan of Hibiki and Sylvie, overbite and all. Ishtar is a bit more bland but really she's supposed to be given the ... context. You get some love triangle angles, but its not too prevalent and focuses more on the story, which while relatively direct i do enjoy. I know part of the guidelines are not to comment on other reviews but the entire Internet as a Whole seems to cast some hate on this movie for it not really being Canon and lining up in the universe. I say F all that noise, watch this movie, enjoy it for what it is, and take into consideration it's release date. It's a fantastic show. I also really enjoy the Dub, while not perfect most of the mains are well done, and in the emotional scenes, its believable, in the end thats the goal here.

I got almost NOTHING out of watching this. It's got some nice music, some of the character designs are quite nice, and I think that Ishtar is an endearing character in and of herself, but none of that can save a production that I just felt apathetic towards. The characters are paper thin, the plot is paper thin, this isn't long enough to justify itself. I wondered why this was declared non-canon until I watched it (as I like giving most things the benefit of the doubt) but if this were my first venture into Macross I probably wouldn't have become a fan of the ... series. It's by and large harmless, but I can't say I enjoyed a lot about this production. It'll probably end up having aesthetic screenshots taken by nostalgic teenagers for their blog, but that's about the only staying power this production has outside of its admittedly banging opening theme.

As someone who has been watching anime for the majority of their life I decided to sporadically hit up old anime from the 90s and earlier that I have never watched, but heard mentioned repeatedly. I recently attempted to watch the original Macross and dropped it after 4 episodes. It didn't age well. Yes, I know this is supposed to be a review for Macross II, but I'm going to give you my angle as someone who immediately watched this after finishing Macross: Do You Remember Love?

The first Macross movie was great. It aged better than the original anime and I loved it. That's why ... I didn't rate Macross II very well. Overall and enjoyment was a 6 for me while the characters and story are a 5 and 4 respectively. If you watched the original Macross or its movie, then you know what will happen here. You have the basic formula of an attacking alien species, songs that will eventually lead to a peace pact, a hot-headed main character who might fall for the slightly younger singer, but instead falls for the slightly older, mature female of the show. It's so predictable that I'm hoping some of the other Macross are a bit more original.

It's hard to judge things from the 80s to standards that we have now. Sound doesn't age well. It does, however, have some nice songs, bringing me to a 7. It's probably unfair for me to compare this to the Macross movie, but I felt like the music there was better and I definitely did go to find it on Youtube by the time I finished.

Art styles over the years have changed for anime, but the art of Macross II is decent. The animation is done well and it's pretty consistent. I enjoyed the designs of the songstresses a lot and decided on another 7/10 here.

TLDR: Macross II is very similar to the original/its movie and doesn't bring much to the table. It was very forgettable.

I've been a fan of Macross Plus since the days of VHS and then later in life I finally saw the original TV series and DYRL. I've recently decided to watch the lesser loved series like this and 7 just to make sure I wasn't missing anything because sometimes reputations of certain series aren't really deserved. Let's see what the scoop is on Macross II: Lovers Again.

I'm not going to break down the plot aside from just saying that it's an alternate timeline that breaks off from the original TV series / DYRL. There are no returning characters that I'm aware of. I found the ... story serviceable and entertaining enough for a short series. It won't blow your mind or anything, but it does stand above many short OAV series of the time just by having a plot that follows through to an ending. Low bar, I know.

The main feature here as far as I'm concerned is the character art by Haruhiko Mikimoto. Close-ups of these characters should leave you dazzled. The art here is even more refined than what we saw almost a decade before in DYRL, just slightly less animated. There's a level of detail here that in my opinion makes the show worth watching no matter what.

The art in this series starts off above average and hits a peak around episodes 4 and 5 where you'll see high framerate animation with precise, colorful designs that look stunning especially if you manage to catch this show in HD. There are a few segments that an animation lover might want to rewind and watch over a few times just to enjoy the fine details.

Sadly, two problems are present here. First off, the general mecha design (ships, backgrounds, settings) are all great. No problems there, but the Valkyrie fighters design in this series don't quite stand up to other Macross series. There's very technically well-done animation applied to designs that just don't do it for me. I'm guessing this is due to Shoji Kawamori, the original designer of the Valkyries, not being present during this production. I feel bad knocking them because they're very Masami Ōbari-looking (I believe he's involved), which I sometimes love, but in my opinion, they just don't hold a candle to the flowing, solid designs of the original Macross works.

Secondly, something terrible happened with the last episode of this series. The quality of the art and animation took a drastic nosedive. It doesn't help that it follows up the most stunning-looking episode 5 AND it's the final part of the story. I'd love to know the story behind the production because while it remains serviceable and doesn't ruin the show, it lacks any of the spectacle the OAV had displayed up until then. The key art of the characters seem to be done by a different artist and long shots show sloppy artwork that looks nothing like the rest of the series. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The music in the series is composed by Shiro Sagisu of Evangelion fame. I can't say that it ever really stood out to me, but people in other reviews seem to enjoy the soundtrack so maybe I'll enjoy it more on a second viewing. There's a few idol style Macross songs here aside from the opening theme and they're just fine. Again, nothing stand-out, but it supports this short OAV well enough.

I felt like if the animation continued it's high quality up through the final episode I would have given it an 8, but it was seriously jarring enough to put a damper on the whole thing. I think Macross II: Lovers Again is absolutely worth a watch for any Macross fan and for any fan of 80s / early 90s OAVs. It's an interesting piece of anime history that you may enjoy more than you think you will. It's one of those "more than the sum of it's parts" type of shows. See if you can seek this out in HD and enjoy some old-school goodness.

So for me, Macross (or at least the bastardized edit that we got with Robotech) was my gateway prime; the first anime that I had ever seen, well over a decade before I understood what this genre called anime was. And I only saw it in passing, bits and pieces years apart. But it stuck with me.

I don't remember when I first saw the movie version of Macross II, but I do know at least one time I had rented it on VHS. Kids ask your folks what...those...shit, that's us now.

MOVING ON!

So what is Macross II? It is the quintessential space ... mecha action story, with a new enemy bearing down un humanity. Our only hope is...an alien pop idol? Eh, what the hell, lasers and missiles aren't working.

It's one of those older scifi titles that I love so much for their bullet hell action sequences amid a starry backdrop. It belongs into a bygone era of animation alongside Bubblegum Crisis or the original Transformers movie. And I can't wait to share this one with my boys.

It looks a lot like macross the original and that is good and at the same time not. They kind of use the same plot of aliens who only know war and that's why they do it. It sins a lot of lack of originality. Since it replicates the winning formula that his previous series had. This does not mean that the anime is bad, not quite the opposite, I feel that it condenses the best of the previous season in 6 super intense chapters but they are very similar. There is a love triangle, they turn them good to bad with a song and ... that became a bit repetitive to me, they used the same formula, they could have changed the plot a bit to make it more different but they did not try that is the only thing that bothered me about the anime after all good.

En español:
Se parece un montón a macross la original y eso esta bueno y a la vez no. Tipo usan la misma de trama de alienígenas que solo conocen la guerra y por eso la hacen. Peca mucho de falta de originalidad. Ya que replica la formula ganadora que tuvo su anterior serie. Esto no significa que malo el anime no todo lo contrario siento que condensa lo mejor de la temporada anterior en 6 capítulos super intensos pero son muy similares. Hay un triangulo amoroso, los vuelven buenos a los malos con una canción y eso se me volvió medio repetitivo tipo usaron la misma formula pudieron haber cambiado un poco la trama para hacerlo mas diferente pero no se esforzaron eso es lo único que me molesto del anime después todo bien.

Macross II: Lovers Again was my very first anime. I saw it as a teenager and it made me a fan. Even though it may not have the best story, animation, or characters of the Macross series, I have a soft spot for it.

The way I viewed the episodes is a worth mentioning. I saw the first four episodes as VHS rentals from Blockbuster. Episodes five and six were not available, so I watched one through four many times without knowing how the story ends. It wasn't until months later, at my friend's house, that I finally got to see the last two eps.

Story ... 6/10
It's your space-war plot: aliens invade, Earth fights back, news guys get involved. There's music, a cultural exchange, and a touch on news censorship. And of course, since it's Macross, there are mechs, love triangles, and lots of J-pop. There are some twists that happen along the way but nothing too surprising. It's decent sci-fi fare.

The plot progressed at a normal pace. Much time is spent developing the characters, their arcs, and their relations. It fits with Macross on the whole being more character-centric. The battles and mech parts were cool but dragged towards the end. It seemed like they made a lot of battle footage and needed to use it.

The cultural exchange aspect was a nice addition. It added humanity to the story and let us get to know the characters better. The news reporter/censorship angle was interesting in the first few episodes but didn’t grow into anything important in the end. It would have been plus one point for the story if they had expanded on the censorship issue.

Overall, the story was formulaic but good enough to fill out six episodes.

Art 6/10
The character art was okay in some spots but rough in others. There were close-ups where the characters looked good - they had all the little detail lines drawn and carried the emotions well. And then there were other parts where the characters didn't look like the characters at all, especially during motion or from side angles. In particular, there was a climactic scene where two of the characters kiss and their faces are drawn poorly. The female's chin was awful and she looked nothing like how she was supposed to. It's a shame, too, because she had a good design and looked cute in other parts.

The art on the cover and in the art book that was separately sold were great. The art book was filled with concept drawings, model sheets, and water color paintings that were stunning. It seemed like a more effort was put into the side art than the actual OAV.

The mechs and the action were well-drawn and looked cool. Mechs, missiles, capital ships, and energy blasts. All good stuff there.

Character art is 3/10. Mecha art was 7/10. Plus one for the art book. Overall 6/10.

Sounds 8/10
The songs from this series were great. It was professionally produced J-pop. The opening theme was energetic and catchy. It set high expectations for the episodes. The ending theme was good too. Toward the end of the series, it seemed like they had too many songs and not enough time, so they just unloaded some ballads. It was okay but seemed a little rushed.

I had a copy of the soundtrack when I was young and listened to it a lot while I waited to see the last two episodes. It was good to play in the background and space out. Where the story, art, and overall feel of the anime was slightly substandard, the soundtrack was high quality and could stand on its own.

The voice acting was adequate. I watched the subbed version and nothing about it stood out. The voices fit the characters and their emotions were good. I think I may have watched a couple of episodes as dubs way back in the 90s and I remember thinking that the voices and the translation sounded weird. Can’t really comment on the dub version beyond that.

Music 10/10. Voice acting 6/10. Overall 8/10.

Characters 5/10
The character concepts were decent. The three main characters are there to serve their roles and to move the plot along. Hibiki is the brash, hot-shot news reporter. Sylvie is the ace pilot who learns to open up with her feelings. And Ishtar is the alien siren who learns about humanity. They interact, go through the plot points, and there is some growth from all three through the series. Even though I didn't relate to any of the characters strongly, they were decent.

The bad guys were bad because it's who they were. Nothing too special there. We did get a little humanity from one of the villains and that was a nice touch. The baddies were otherwise one-dimensional.

The supporting cast was present. They didn't play a large role. There was some intrigue set up in the beginning with Sylvie's meeting the general but that didn't play out in an interestingly. There were the Macross-standard military personnel, the grizzled news reporter, the gay friend, an idol singer, and a super-evil bad guy and his minions. They were there.

The characters were average.

Enjoyment 9/10

Macross II was my very first anime and it blew my teenage mind. It may not have been the best that Macross had to offer but I enjoyed the anime, the soundtrack, and the art book immensely.

After watching it again recently, I have to say that it was not as impactful. The inconsistent art and the unrelatable characters were the negatives. The plot is standard space-war stuff with a nice turn here and there. If it had been better directed or script-doctored, it would have been a better series and a more memorable space saga.

Overall 6/10
Overall, Macross II is a must watch for fans of the series. But for new people who want a taste of it the early Macross, it's probably better to go with the Do You Remember Love movie or Macross Plus. On the patheon of Macross from the 80s and 90s, it is above Robotech, but below the original Macross series, Do You Remember Love, and Macross Plus.

The most (?) reviled series in the franchise. But it’s actually not bad.

Macross II is solidly average. Its first three episodes are really great, but then it seems like they forgot to actually continue the direction of the show and decided to wrap it up with the three remaining episodes. With a bit of stronger writing and three more episodes for this OVA, it probably would have been amongst the best of the Macross series. You’ll find a lot of later entries in Macross seem to borrow from ideas presented in II, but tend to handle its concepts in an inferior manner.

It’s a good follow ... up to SDF/DYRL. It’s overall themes are the weaponization of culture, something you can imagine became far more prevalent after the events of SDF/DYRL. Including in more understandable terms than just combat idols, covering propaganda as well. The idea was perfect for a follow up. It doesn’t fully land all of its points, but it’s serviceable. It’s a shame there were no proper music duels, which would have instantly made this show much better.

It’s soundtrack is nothing to write home about. It’s not bad, but it still lacks to some degree. Quite a few songs are catchy, though.

It’s greatest weakness may be its love triangle, where it’s only hinted at with one line. Then the triangle is dropped on you later. Also, the resolution to said triangle is really quick and pointless, leaving you wondering why this was included in the first place. This is truly the only bad part of the OVA.

Macross II features some female Valkyrie pilots, and the main female character is one of them. And she’s a good female character for 90’s anime. Like, really good compared to how a lot of the women are treated. Better than half the crap that comes out today.

Macross II’s biggest sins may be that it can be boring for some, and otherwise forgettable for others. I don’t think it ever was boring, though. It’s never bad, it just never hits any really great heights. The definition of average. Also, Banana Moon & Deja Vu are great songs. Fight me.