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.