| Yeah I feel the same (sorry I'm not actually answering your questions). Though I'd like to add, does it matter if you watch Frontier without having watched any others? It's just that it states that it's a 'sequel' to other Macross series. |
| As everyone else have said there is no need to watch them in order but from what i read on an FAQ somewhere (cant find it anymore) There is no need to watch in specific order (like Raistlin said only some references) It also said that some of the macross family is a recap of some of the shows but not sure if it was referring to an ova/movie so might want to look up a review before getting it. I was going to give a try for macross 7 and macross plus as it was recommended to me but not sure yet if ill have the time to grab those and watch em. |
| As others have said, there's no great need to hit them in the right order. I haven't seen the whole franchise, so I'm not as reliable a source of information as a hardcore fan, but I'll drop a few notes . . . The Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (the original, of which I've seen half) is definitely worth a watch if you have any tolerance for old animation at all. Besides being old the animation's a bit spotty in places, but there's nothing seriously wrong with the show. Worth watching for its influence. Also has what I think is a great opening sequence. Macross: Do You Remember Love? is a movie reworking of the first series which alters a lot of the events into a more-or-less coherent movie. It's supposed to be a within-universe movie (like the movie Titanic relates to real events, I guess?). The animation is quite simply mindblowing, the music's fun in an 80s way and I for one rather enjoyed it. Macross II: Lovers Again I haven't seen, and don't plan to. It's a 6 part OVA from the early nineties. Due to the fact that Kawamori wasn't involved I believe it's been written out of the canon, and the general opinion of it is low. I'm told that Macross Plus slots into the canon after (well, a few decades of canon time after) the original SDF Macross. It's an interesting approach to the Macross tropes - the heroes feel more mature and more worn down by life compared to the usual teenage pilot - and the action sequences are among the best mecha/airborne action sequences I've seen. Personally I think Plus also contains some of Kanno's best work in its music. I recommend it. Macross 7 is a mid-nineties tv series, the longest entry in the franchise at 49 episodes, and again I haven't seen it. This is the series with the band that Ozma's fond of, Fire Bomber. It divides opinion because the hero is apparently rather annoying and because of the way the story takes 'music-as-weapon' even more literally than the rest of the franchise. I'd guess the only way to find out if you like it is to try it yourself? Macross Zero is, as you may have gathered, set before even SDF Macross. I have no complaints about its quality and since it's the one that, as you say yourself, was referenced pretty heavily in that episode of Frontier, it's obviously one to watch. There're a couple of minor entries in the franchise (2012, a few M7 OVAs, I think) but my impression is that they're not worth considering 'till you've seen the series they relate to. I hope I haven't missed anything. Personally I'd recommend you watch Zero, Plus, the original SDF Macross and Do You Remember Love?, in any order, though as I said before I'm not a hardcore fan. |
Raistlin said: It doesn't matter at all. There are however, some references to previous series that I would feel to be more rewarding had I actually watched them. If you haven't seen Frontier yet, go do it naow! Thanks bro, I'll definitely check it out. |
| The thing about Frontier is it doesn't so much reference Zero as answer and explain it. Zero had a very odd ending (especially for a Macross title) that left a lot of questions. Many of them were addressed to varying degrees in Frontier, and many of the references were mostly to make sure people get the hint. A few, however, were clearly meant with a wink and a nudge, but I'll just say that you won't get what most of us did out of Zero if you saw Frontier first - you know too much ;-) That said, Frontier is somewhat special in that it was only the second Macross title to directly build on previous series, and has by far the most references to previous installments. The other one that does this is Macross 7, which itself has the distinction of being the only title in the franchise that actually contains characters from a previous installment. For Macross II and Macross Plus, their only connections to previous titles are that they give the SDF-1 a cameo in the finale. On watching, the first series does give a foundation, but beyond that, any order is good. Macross Plus and Zero are the most highly recommended. Macross Plus was the one that introduced the much faster paced and more chaotic aerial combat sequences, and is truly spectacular in both sight and sound. I also strongly urge you to watch both the Movie and OVA renditions of Plus. The OVA is more complete, but the movie gives several key scenes a makeover that just completely blows away the original in the last parts. Zero, as said, is a bit different. It continues the combat trend, to the point of having the best modern aerial combat sequence I've ever seen (not just in anime!). However, the combat scenes are mostly secondary, and the story is quite different compared to previous installments - I already mentioned the ending it builds to. It was a good precurser for Frontier. Flashback 2012 is just a music video compilation. It provides nothing new. The SDF Macross movie is quite impressive in its own right, and also highly recommended, but as stated, it's really little more than an alternate telling of the original series. I have not seen Macross 7 personally, but I know that it's gotten mixed reviews from fans because the music is very different, and given much, much more emphasis. But, I can't judge what I haven't seen. Macross II is the black sheep of the family. I wouldn't say it's all that bad, but it just doesn't live up to its name. You can watch it as a completist, but this is the one installment I can confirm you don't have to see. |
| Personally I would say: Macross Zero, Macross: Do you remember love, Macross Plus, Macross Frontier. I think those are the best ones and you won't miss much important things. |
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Leuconoe said: I'm told that Macross Plus slots into the canon after (well, a few decades of canon time after) the original SDF Macross. It's an interesting approach to the Macross tropes - the heroes feel more mature and more worn down by life compared to the usual teenage pilot - and the action sequences are among the best mecha/airborne action sequences I've seen. Personally I think Plus also contains some of Kanno's best work in its music. I recommend it. ^ |
| I've talked about this with some people here recently and I'd have to say, the original Macross SDF series is far more mecha and space drama than any other Macross show. In the original series the impact of the music on the Zentradi and everything was certainly more original at the time and a lot more believable, not to mention that they didn't figure out music really had an effect on them until towards the end of the show. All in all I'd say the original comes highly recommended because it's well ... pretty original in its delivery. They never really get ridiculous with the music and singing in this one, unlike just about every other Macross series (but as I like to say, since it's Macross it's to be expected). I also really enjoyed the movie too, which doesn't contain any reused animation or anything from the series, it's completely redone and very top notch (hard to believe it came out in the early 80's). I'd say if you watch one of these, either the movie or the series, you should watch the other too, since everyone else has pointed out the fact that DYRL is more of an alternate retelling of the SDF story rather than a compilation or whatnot (in fact DYRL is considered a "film" within the Macross universe itself. It gets specifically mentioned in an episode of Macross 7. You can see DYRL as the Macross' universe retelling its own story). Plus is also one I'd really recommend. Production wise and visually it's downright incredible to see, with some really good music. I didn't care for the characters a whole lot at first, but I thought it came together pretty well towards the end. Zero I'm not a big fan of, but as you can see from others in this thread it's fairly popular. For me, the issue simply was that it didn't feel like a Macross show at all, the music was extremely weak, didn't like the setting, and it also has some weird supernatural (magic) elements that felt totally out of place. But, some poeple like it, and F did have a handful of references to this one. Definitely worth giving a try. So for me, I also recommend SDF and DYRL, then Plus and Zero. And as others have said you can pretty much watch them in any order. I'm currently watching Macross 7 pretty slowly and unlike SDF, it completely flies with the "music can change people" idea or whatever and repeatedly tries to grind that into your head ... regardless of all of its issues, I'm actually enjoying the show. Honestly though so far I've been seeing it as a rock/musical anime, rather than a sci-fi mecha. I think maybe with this outlook it's made me enjoy it a little more or something. It's definitely a hit or miss for most though, but certainly not utterly worthless like everything I hear about Macross II. So far I'm kind of seeing Macross 7 as the ZZ of Macross (ZZ as in Gundam Double Zeta) - it's not nearly as bad as I've heard, but it definitely isn't without a handful of flaws and from what I hear the story doesn't really pickup until you're close to episode 20 or something. I'd say if you watch everything else and really enjoy the Macross world, then finally give Macross 7 a try. Call me crazy, but I'm wondering if I'll like 7 more than F. I certainly like the characters a good bit more. I personally enjoyed F a lot and gave it a solid 8, but in retrospect and thinking about it I'd have to say I think it definitely has a lot of issues. Pacing, character development, plot-jumps, etc (series seems like it should've been longer). Overall I'd say the Macross franchise is consistently entertaining, but F is kind of lower on the list for me. I'd say SDF/DYRL are probably my favorite entries. |
EchelonOct 21, 2008 4:38 PM
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Raistlin said: Thanks everyone. I'll be sure to check out Plus and Zero for sure. Then I'll get to Do you remember/7/etc. ...Where's the original SDF Macross in there? By far the best of all of them (except for the animation...) |
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