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Those familiar with Macross will know the core elements, and they are all present:
- Mankind battles for survival
- Bitter sweet love triangle
- The power a song to change the world

Story:
The series started great, then turned average when things happen too conveniently all the time. It suffers from a number of problems:

- The enemy is a major letdown. For much of the series aliens just randomly appear, make mayhem, get taken out, then rinse and repeat. There's no plan, no overall objective, we never learnt their origin, only a half-baked reason to attack (that we learnt only in the final part) and no build up of ... tension. Unlike the original where the enemy had their own culture, objectives, and are actually beings that viewers can sympathise with, The enemy of Macross F are there to showoff the CGIs of space dogfight. Even then they fail due to the large amount of replayed footage and pitiful number of designs (I counted about 5, with 2 type that's used for 80% of the scenes).

- The characters are developed poorly or too late. Alto as the main is somewhat interesting at the start but stalled due to lack of growth. Unlike Hikari the prototype Macross protagonist who as the series progressed became a larger than life figure burdened by the weight of destiny, Alto remains a teenager in a variable fighter.

Ranka when singing is powerful. Ranka when not singing is mind numbingly shallow. I feel she would be better off not as the love interest of Alto, as she's simply not girlfriend material.

Sheryl is the 'meatiest' - (pun unintendedl) out of the 3 leads, who I came to cheer and symphasis with, through most of her struggles are somewhat detached from the main plot, robbing a sense of legitimacy.

The supporting casts are the typical sterotypes (or staples?) of the Macross world.

- Macross Heritage:
Whilst paying homage to the Macross series is important, basing entire eposides on such pilgrims sometimes weakens the core premise of the current series. Somewhere in the middle, the story lost its way when episodes after episode becomes a homage to a previous series, with a sprinkle of plot development as an extra. What should've been garnish became the main, so to speak. Too often, episodes walk a fine line between tasteful homage and pandering, when it needn't be this forced. A good thing then that the direction is generally skilled, able to weave sometimes jarring elements into the show with few seams. Die hard Macross fans will be pleased.

Verdict:
Overall, Macross Frontier is a comprehensive reboot of the Macross franchise, the full season format allows something OVAs (Macross Zero, I'm looking at you) cannot achieve. Die hard Macross fans may enjoy the countless references and homages paid to the franchise, otherwise it is still enjoyable in its own right though the quality of story telling vary.

Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai is a riotous ride of a Gainax production.

It started out tentatively, then suddenly thrust into the most outrageous slapstick/parody comedy show in the middle. Then, just about time the viewer is starting to tired\ of the gag of the day format, it turned serious drama and tied back to the introduction. Typical Gainax really, you can always expect a complete story (on this topic, Evangelion series did end proper, at the meta level. The extra 'ending' ovas only wrapped it up physically)

Some may find the transitions random, others may find it refreshing. This is a story about a boy growing up, throwing ... parallel universes, time travels, and plenty of symbolism.

It raises questions rather than giving definitive answers: For example, Does growing up always sacrifices the inner child?

Personal score is 10 however it very much depends on how comfortable the viewer is with the twists and turns. Therefore I think it is a solid 8 for everybody.

If you enjoy comedy, don't mind the randomness and willing to be taken for a ride, at the end of the tunnel there's just enough instrospection to leave a bitter sweet aftertaste.

How do you write a review for an on-gonig series? How do you write a review for a series admitted by the author to be his life's work (and evidently he took it literally - he's going to milk it for his whole life so what's a 10 year hiatus?)

Five Star Stories is as much an avenue expression for Nagano Mamoru as a work he produces. Imagine expand one's imagination as much as you can, settings with time lines in tens of thousands of years, beings akin to gods and you have the canvass that is the Five Star Stories. There's love, betrayals, tragedies and ... comedy. Sweeping landscapes, Mortar Headds with graceful lines and elegant movements adorn the pages.

The Joker star cluster consists of 4 planetary systems with the fifth that orbit and intersect the others every many years. Remenants of an ancient inter-glactic empire, the many nations that exists now uses large bio-mechnical machines called Mortar Headds in war. These are in turn only pilotable by headliners, those who inherit a trace of the genes of the super soldiers of the long lost empire, and their fatima partners - humanoid androids that act as an interface between the headliners and the Motar Headds.

Each book consists of mini-stories of the inhabitants of the Joker Star Cluster. Wars, espisonage, rebellions abound. Five Star Stories, is simply stories of the headliners and their fatima partners, until the end of their age.

I cannot give anything but a 10, because there's no other way. At times parts can be inconsistent (the series has been running since the early 80's) as the vast collection of settings can be confusing even for the author. This is however not a plot driven work - instead, entrust with Nagano to reveal bits and pieces about the legends of fatimas and their masters.

Medieval setting, tall, slender female warriors, an organisation shrouded in mystery and you have a rather interesting bag of elements for something different. The Claymores, silver eyed and haired, are weapons used by the organisation as the only means to fight a plague of man-eating yourma. Trained and conditioned for their sole purpose, they go about their business without much emotion.

The anime series largely followed the manga source material, the story interlaced with mini arcs that developed existing, or introduced new characters. Unlike typical fantasy on familiar settings of D&D, the Claymore world is different, and part of story telling is for viewers to explore ... the differences.

Unfortunately like most anime adaptation on an on-going manga series, the ending was at best abrupt and incorherent at worst, leaving a bitter taste in one's mouth after the promising start. However there's still enough material to appreciate the series and its characters.

The fight sequence is servicable but nothing outstanding, on par of the typical shounen series. The big drawcard is of course the various tall & handsome Claymores introduced throughout the episodes. With so many one-sans around, you'd bound to find someone you favourite character, whether the viewer is female or male.

I think a score of 7 is fair. Deduct 2 points if you've read the source material and expect the same epicness in animated form.