PLOT: Same premise of most Macross series – J-Pop saves the universe! However its so much more than that, as Macross Frontier has lots of nicely written dialogue and well thought out plot progressions. Sure its got a heap of clichés, a rather standard love triangle and I could spot many of the plot twists coming a mile off thanks to my familiarity with this kind of series; but despite its faults Macross Frontier never failed to be interesting and entertaining. I loved the characters – they did start off fairly generic, but there was lots of character development and they are all very memorable. It’s the kind of show that just wants to entertain you and I was definitely entertained.
ANIMATION: Its obvious that Macross F had a huge budget – there is not a single scene that isn’t animated beautifully. Tons of work went into this series; the animation is fluid, the character designs distinctive and well thought out, and the background detailing breathtaking. The action set pieces are something else – massive Valkyrie battles with ridiculous amounts of beam spamming just leapt out of the screen and demanded your attention. Yay for explosions! Use of CGI was extensive, but this is a rare example of how the use of CGI enhances the animation to perfection – its an extremely pretty anime.
MUSIC: Thankfully for a series based on J-Pop the soundtrack is nothing short of brilliant. I’ve both OSTs downloaded and they feature quite highly on my playlists – although I generally prefer Sheryl’s songs to Ranka’s. The songs are used to great effect in the show, enhancing fight scenes and adding a musical quality to some of the more s'life orientated scenes. The background score is also fantastic. The ever-changing OPs & EDs are great and I don’t think I ever skipped over the OP & ED for any of the 25 episodes!
VOICE ACTING: One of the 1st things I actually noticed was the stellar cast this show has! So many well-known seiyuu in one show was just the icing for the Inner Fangirl; I mean you’ve got Tomoya, Kamina, Watanuki, Tieria, Miyuki, Kagura and Belldandy all in one show!!
In case you haven’t noticed by now I loved this show – granted I’m quite biased as I really like this genre, but Macross Frontier really is a great example and I’d quite happily rewatch it!
