As someone who has never watched Macross, if I wanted to try it out, what would be the best way to do it? There’s seems to be a ton of it. I like watching entire series, preferably in order, but I dunno if I want to go through that whole list. Are there a few key bits to watch?
FYI, I loved the original Robotech, the anime series as well as the books. Ate that up when I was a teenager. I know Macross is different, though, so I’ll try not to let that get in the way.
Holy crap, why are there so many “re-tellings” DVD/OVA/whatevers?!?
I’m interested in an answer, too. But, I’ve watched Macross Zero and Frontier, and I’d think that these are essential, along with the very original, of course.
Yeah the constant re-OVAing shortened versions and/or movie condensed versions are getting really annoying.
So the things you have to understand across all Macross is: there are big robots that can turn into fighters (Veritechs) and their pilots, aliens, a love triangle (generally one or more of the participants is fairly under age), and the overwhelming power of music. Each series treats these pillars in various ways and some are more prominent than others. For instance, in Macross 7 the power of music is literally everything, while Macross Plus is very pilot/duel oriented.
As for favorites… well Zero is great. It’s a bit of a prequel and takes place before the events of Macross/Robotech, and Fokker is a main character. It’s a five-episode OVA but, man, it traverses a lot of ground quickly. The ending is… ambiguous at best.
Macross Plus is fairly similar in many ways, and takes place some years after the events of Macross/Robotech. The themes are poignant and to the point: two fighter pilots, former boyhood friends, now generally hate each other, but are testing out what will be the next series of Veritechs, but at the same time UN Spacey is investing heavily in the Ghost–basically drone technology–to replace manned fighters. I wonder if you can just take this plot and just make it Top Gun 2, because that’s how it feels at times.
I’d avoid Macross 7 unless you were really bored. I like how Macross Frontier, which was the last real series, started but I felt it really lost its way, and turned into a giant callback machine to other series (in only basic ways).
— Alan
Decided to pose the Macross question over at Crunchyroll, too. Pretty much jives with what Alan said. The consensus seems to be:
Macross: Do You Remember Love movie (same overall plot as the Macross:SDF series, which is also worth watching if time permits)
Macross Zero (5 OVAs)
Macross Frontier (TV series, then the 2 movies)
At which point you’d be an informed viewer for Macross Delta when it comes out.
Macross Plus apparently doesn’t directly tie into the canon of the other series, so can be skipped, though it’s worth watching if time permits. No one seems to like Macross 7 much.
Macross Plus doesn’t tie into the canon? Perhaps not the characters, but the evolution of the veritechs certainly does… the use of the -19s and even the -21 becomes standardized by the time Macross 7 rolls around.
The only thing that’s really not canon is Macross II.
— Alan
Thanks, good to know. I assume the folks I pulled that from were talking about the characters being different, although it’s equally possible that I just didn’t understand what they were saying. :)
The general background of the series is fairly generalized as well and holds true outside of the OVAs. Basically: after the events of Macross it’s decided to basically send colonization fleets across the galaxy to spread humanity (and I guess Zentradi and hybrids as well). Each fleet is its own self-sustaining microcosm with colonization ships, one or more main Macross battleships (depends on the fleet, the one in Macross 7 is a big ship that tows the entire colony, while in Frontier it’s a “quarter” sized ship run by a separate corporation/organization), plus dozens of cruisers/destroyers, some carriers, and lots of support ships. Occasionally these fleets run into each other, or encounter the failed results of other fleets (both 7 and Frontier have these).
— Alan
edit: whoa, randomly discovered that for the English (or International) version of Macross Plus, Bryan Cranston was the voice of Dyson.
OPM animation status: still good
So, Norigami came back for a second season. The first season really caught me for surprise.
I really can’t do the anime justice, but it’s nifty. Some cool kits, but mostly, a surprisingly involved story about a girl that almost died trying to save the life of a very minor Japanese deity, and how becoming a half spirit makes her a target for phantoms. The deity in question used to be the god of calamity, but has since then taking to answering any prayers for 5 yen, in hopes of earning enough to build a shrine. So, it’s a bit of Bleach and Rurouni Kenshin all mixed up together.
Anyway, their are Evil Phantoms, other deities and other random spirits to fill up the series, and corruption.
Second season just started, but the first was cool.
Thanks for the heads-up! I remember watching the first season, and enjoyed it, though I wouldn’t put it on any all-time favorite lists. Definitely good enough to be worth checking out a second season, though.
Just watched Occult Academy over the last week or so, and I pretty much agree with this. I think the thing that makes Fumiaki so annoying is that the “romance” subplot is so bad, and he’s involved with all of it. They could have reduced it to about 1/4 of the scenes, or replaced it entirely with some other enticement, and it wouldn’t have affected the overall story at all.
I can’t believe they’re actually pulling off One Punch anime. It seemed like manga that was impossible to adapt properly. But it’s pretty much perfect. Faithful, but not a slave to source material, the action is absolutely mind blowing and the humor is spot on.
Noragami is the king of this season for me. The first one became the biggest suprise of last year to me. What looked like a cliched shonen show ended up being so much more. It split it’s episodes into three arcs - first one was comedy, second one was drama and third one was pure badass action. And it did each of them perfectly. I laughed my ass off at first, then got depressed and by the end I fist bumped how utterly badass Yato was.
Now second season seems to be doing just as well.
First 5 episodes really get the ball rolling, and you get some neat back story that was missing from the first season.
Not the greatest anime of all time, but well worth your while.
The great anime of all time would be… I think I’m going to go with Alchemist Brotherhood, but I haven’t put much thought into it.
Although, maybe Full Metal Panic? I love realistic Mecha anime. Than again, Fairy Tail should get a mention, just for the music (the rest, it’s good, but the music really stands out to me).
Gil102
3894
Been really enjoying One Punch Man…far funnier than I thought it would be. I’ve seen 4 episodes of Noragami…I’ve found it interesting, but it hasn’t really grabbed me yet. I will continue to watch it, though.
I will second (or 5th?) One Punch Man . I saw TurinTur’s gif, and I had to see what the kind of story would generate such an interesting image. The animation/art style is great, the characterization of both the hero and others is great, I love the way the story is told (though i don’t want to characterize why I like it so far, as to not ruin anything for someone else.) Even some of the music is quite good so far. I’m only 2 episodes in, but if this quality keeps up it’ll be my favorite anime in the last year[1].
[1] I don’t watch nearly enough anime.
Teiman
3896
Thanks, I will check that. I love getting anime advice, so I discover unknown gems. Is hard, almost imposible, to navigate the anime space… theres too much anime, too much of it is really bad, but theres always a million gems to discover somewhere.
Gendal
3897
I started watching One Punch Man despite being turned off by the similarities to the Dragon Ball Z art style and it’s been fun. The only thing you need to know is to not turn it off every time a villain starts monologuing.
I’ve started working through some of the recommendations. Got through the original series in refresher mode, since I’d seen the Robotech version, looking up the differences.
Watched and enjoyed the OVAs for Macross Plus. It’s short, but they pack quite a bit into those four episodes.
Then I started in on Macross 7, but after about 10 episodes I don’t think I can stomach any more. I’ve watched a lot of cheesy shows in my time, but this one just does nothing for me. It feels like someone looked at the original series and said, “hey, they used music to overcome fighting, we should do that too” but forgot to include any reasoning behind it. And then decided “super musician-pilot-bike rider-street fighter with no social skills” and “spoiled teenage girl being marketed to older men by her mother” made for good central characters. Alan was right on when he said to avoid this one. It might get better later on, but I’m not sticking around to find out. Read the Wikipedia summary instead.
Hoping Zero and Frontier are more like the original series and/or Plus.
Only needed if you don’t have a sense of humor!
Chronic
3900
Great thread. I’ve not really watched Anime much since I used to rent it on laserdiscs, so quite a while ago. There’s so much out there it’s hard to know where to start but after hearing so much about Attack on Titan and watching a few of those I dug into this thread and have filled my queues on Netflix and Hulu.
I just started watching One Punch Man this week after reading the positive comments recently and wow is it awesome. It’s hilarious and over the top and just fantastic. The villains sort of remind me of Venture Brothers and the humor is just very Adult Swim. I think I’m 4 or 5 episodes in and can’t wait to see more.
I really like Attack on Titan. I’m about 8 or so in and I was hoping to get my wife to watch but she hates subtitles my son started watching though and has really gotten into it to. I think in AoT the biggest draws are just the horror and strangeness of the Titans behavior and the way the backstory and history is filling in. I love the little Text lore bits interspersed throughout. I don’t think it’s as consistently engaging as OPM though. I just got to a “plot twist” too that I’m not sure I really like but I’ll stick with it to see how it shakes out.
Gurren Lagan- This was the first one I started with after reading this thread and I enjoy it I’m about 8 or so episodes in. I started on Hulu with subtitles and then saw Netflix had it with a dub I tried that and was surprised at how well done it seemed to be. While I’m still interested in seeing where this one goes it is starting to drag a little and I’m sure I’ll be watching OPM before this.
Death Note- Another Netflix with dubbed English. I really like this one. I watched 4 episodes in a row and came away loving this one. I think my wife will really like it too so I’m holding off on anymore until I can get her to watch.
My son mocks me for using the dub but it seems good to me. What’s the consensus, are Japanese with Subs considered the true way? I’m guessing it all depends on how well done the subtitles or dub are.
I watched a few FLCL but it didn’t quite grab me yet. I saw Hunter X Hunter is on Netflix and want to check it out it seemed to be high on a lot of peoples lists. I want to find something with more of a horror angle. I remember seeing Parasyte mentioned a lot so I’ve got it queued up, any others you guys can recommend?
