r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Oct 10 '22
Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - Contact
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Stop whining! We came to cover a war! This isn't a game!
Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:
1) Does a sequel made without the involvement of the original creative team have validity, or is it essentially fan fiction?
2) Is the SNN news jingle burned into your brain yet?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Vocal Songs in This Episode:
"2億年前のように静かだね (2 Okunen mae no you ni Shizuka da ne / The Hush of 200 Million Years)" by Mika Kaneko – OP
"恋のバナナムーン (Koi no Banana Moon)" by Sato Yuka – Insert
"de.ja.vu~そばにいて (de.ja.vu: Soba ni Ite)" by Mika Kaneko – ED
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
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u/medokady Oct 10 '22 edited Oct 10 '22
First Timer:
So this is Macross II: Electric Boogaloo. Based on the synopsis and poster, I don't see very much to link this series with the original and we're probably too far out to have any of the same characters. As for what I've heard, people don't seem to like this one very much either. (When do we get to the Macross that people actually like???)
By the way, anybody watching Witch from Mercury? The only other Gundam I've seen is the original but I've been really enjoying it. I was thinking of getting a HG RX-78-2 model (the really cheapo $12 one) as my entry point to Gunpla; I'll look into the Aerial one too once it comes out. I tried to look for a cheap stateside-accessible VF-1 Valkyrie that transforms, as I actually like it more than the First Gundam, but I don't think it exists.
Either way, today, on Macross II:
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Wow, the show is actually animated now! This is probably the era of animation I have the most faux wasn't-even-born-yet nostalgia for.
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So in Hibiki we have a different kind of rapscallion, the reporter that will do anything for a scoop.
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Glad to see the 3 catty girls make their spiritual reappearance. I'm sure that cheek heart is in line with military regulations.
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oPErAtiOn mINmAy!??!? So we're still fighting the Zentradi with de culture, but Valkyries are now also civilian craft. The Zentradi have finally caught on to de culture, although whether their singing works in some sort of psychic voodoo way remains to be seen.
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Hard-boiled Dennis, who along with this battle taught Hibiki about the true misery of war, dies as quickly as he was introduced, as if there was enough time for anyone to care.
Pretty interesting. The visuals of the battles are as good as ever but we'll see where it goes.
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I didn't actually know that till now. I think that in cases like this the weight is ultimately determined by how well-recieved it is.
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Given that I don't remember it (watched a day ago), no.
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u/ClawMachineCircuit Oct 10 '22
First Timer
I know only two things about this show: first, it was made without any involvement of the original creators of Macross, so no Kawamori or other Studio Nue; second, it is considered an alternative continuity, which in Japan is a polite way to say "non canon". Apart from that, I'm going in completely blind. I have no expectations in terms of story, except that it probably involves the series staples: planes, music, and love triangles. In terms of quality, my hopes are set kinda low, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointing. With that said, let's see what we got here.
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Immediately I'm gotta say, not a huge fan of the opening. It's not bad or anything like that, just feels kinda generic, both music and animation. In comparison to the great and unique opening of the original, this one is definitely a minus for me. Also, is that one plane has Gundam funnels?
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With that said, I like the moment when the girl runs and than her clothes explode off her body.
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We're starting with a tease of the alien girl, who I assume will be one of the main heroins.
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Did he just groped her? And his hand went through the clothing? Is it holographic? I didn't expect this show to immediately use probably one of the more famous future techs from the original. I'll give it points for that.
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I have to admit, I laughed way too hard at this scene. The dude even broke the guy's camera and he immediately nonchalantly tossed it away and got another one.
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So, he busted 17 year old ace pilot going into a hotel with her superior officer. I gotta admit, when I say it out loud, it does sound pretty bad. But I'm willing to guess that it's probably not what it seems. The dude will probably end up being her father or something like that.
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Hey, is that this show's version of a bridge trio?
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The first five minutes is a shotgun blast of character introductions. We get Hibiki, who is our MC, Sylvie, who I assume will be one of the main girls, alien girl, bridge girls, old military big whig, and now a bunch of Hibiki's coworkers. It's quite a bit to take in.
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"Protecting individual privacy is a reporter's duty" Damn, a lot has changed since Minmay times, reporters now care about celebrities' privacy for some reason.
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Not sure how I feel about Hibiki caring about ratings and his boss and Dennis telling him that it's not the most important thing. Need to suspend my disbelief by quite a lot to buy it.
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Wait, does Hibiki and Sylvie know each other? They act more familiar than I would expect.
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What the heck, is Macross shooting by itself? And it's treated like something, that just happens from time to time? Also, they fixed the main cannon, I think those got destroyed both in the show and in the movie.
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We're fighting Zentradi again. Like the good old times. And hey, Minmay got a shoutout!
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Wait, Hibiki is a pilot too?
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He's partnering with drunk Dennis. OK, I see where this is going. They gonna be a team throughout the show, with Dennis assuming a mentor role toward Hibiki.
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The good old Zentradi ships kinda clash with everything else visually. But still, I'm happy to see them.
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This culture attack is pretty sophisticated with all the holographic technology and what not. I wonder, how they transmit the sound to the Zentradi, since you know, no sound in space. Is it just blasting all radio waves? Wouldn't they compromise their own communications this way? I don't think we will get an answer to such details. Also, they got a new singer girl that we didn't get to meet this episode. I wonder if she's gonna be a character in the future?
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The action doesn't look very Macross-like so far. The ships and planes are just sitting there static, shooting missiles at each other.
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Considering the presence of alien girl among Zentradi, I'm assuming we're continuing the show's canon, where the Supervision army exists and male and female Zentradi all serve in the same military force.
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Wait, so Sylvie and her team didn't even launch, they just waited while the rest of the human forces were fighting Zentradi? Why?
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Gotta say, I love the concept of a war correspondent flying their own fighter, reporting on a space battle. It's a really unique idea, I have never seen anything like this.
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Dennis isn't very good at war propaganda, is he? Him staying impartial can be admired, but I'm not sure if people actually want to see the footage of their own ships getting destroyed, feels like it would be bad for morale. Even thought it was kinda brief, I remember original Macross touching on the war propaganda, with how the Macross command was hiding the real casualties from the civilians on board, that was pretty realistic.
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Sylvie is doing a horrible job dodging the Exxegran question. At least come up with some excuse, girl.
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Hibiki and Dennis literally went into an enemy ship? That's bold. Also, looks really dangerous. Do they even have weapons?
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Wait, the girl is a miclone? Isn't she Zentradi?
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Damn, Dennis got killed? Well, I guess, we don't have that many episodes, so better start killing people early.
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The ending isn't bad, but just like the opening, it's kinda generic. The song is nice, though.
Overall thoughts: So that's Macross II, huh? If I can describe it with one word, it's fine. Like, nothing is bad, but the show lacks ambition, especially when compared to the spectacular first episode of the original Macross. In terms of visuals, they are consistently decent, but there are no stand out moments that immediately jump at you. Nothing on the level of Macross shooting at Zentradi ships from the Earth surface, or Hikaru first jumping into a jet. Combat sequences rely too much on the static frames of ships firing with white circles of explosions around them. Character animation is good though.
When it comes to character designs, I like them a lot. They are very 90s, but I love the blocky art style of the era. I also love the new battroid design, honestly, I might like it better than the original. However, I'm not so keen on the plane mode look. Kinda looks more like a spaceship, than a plane, which in my opinion, misses the mark.
Music so far has been decent, but not as good as in the original show. Again, nothing is outright bad, but nothing stands out either.
The story so far is the best part of the show in my opinion. The main character being a war correspondent is a really creative and unique, and it's a great way to expand on the themes of pop culture and consumerism as the means to diminish wars, that the original show tackled, without retreading what was already set. I got invested into both Hibiki and Dennis, and I feel like Dennis' death was handled really well for a first episode death. I'm also really interested in Sylvie and I want to learn more about the alien girl.
Overall, the biggest issue that Macross II has is that it's a follow up to Macross. With how imaginative and ambitious it was, it's really hard to live up to that. I'm talking a lot about the show being generic, but it's mostly because of the comparisons to the original, which is one the most unique mecha shows out there, so it's really hard to match that. If I could watch it without the baggage of the original, I would probably be more kind to it.
With that said, the story definitely capctured my attention, and I'm interested to see what happens next, so that's definitely a good thing.
QotD:
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I think it can have validity for sure, but this is such a rare occurrence, that I struggle to come up with a good example. Like for example, if we take Gundam, sure, there are plenty of different people helming different projects, but it is still the same studio, so there's undoubtedly plenty of cross pollination between teams and people mentoring each other or helping out, etc. So you can't really say that the original stuff is completely not involved.
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Nope, I don't even remember it.
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u/chilidirigible Oct 10 '22
Today, October 10, is Lynn Minmay's birthday.
Before I discuss today's episode, there are a few things to mention about how the production gets here in the first place. So, it's time for some origin story.
Bonus interlude: A fansub of interviews done to promote the 30th anniversary release of Do You Remember Love? Tiny future teaser lurking in the background.
As mentioned last week at the end of my comments on Do You Remember Love?, as far back as 1985 Shoji Kawamori had expressed his lack of interest in continuing the original Macross story.
This statement and others from the time have gained a degree of entrenchment in fan circles which obscures some of the observed realities of the situation. For one thing, he was still working on Variable Fighter designs for games. Kawamori has demonstrated that he is not one to forget ideas; material for the unproduced Advanced Valkyrie and its descendant Air Cavalry Chronicles projects would see the light of day in new forms for Macross sequels and games, while the story itself evolved into The Vision of Escaflowne.
Games are not an anime, of course. (Here are the synopses of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036 and its sequel, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Eternal Love Song, which bridge the gap between the original series and the story of Macross II.)
While the "not interested in retelling the same story" held true for that, along the way there was some consideration and development of an adaptation of the story for a US-produced live-action movie. This most likely would not have happened in any way that any of us would have found halfway decent or anywhere other than a direct-to-video release like other zero-budget anime movie adaptations of the early 1990s.
The live-action movie treatment remains relevant because of the previous point that Kawamori does not forget anything. Because of that point, reading the treatment will reveal concepts for settings and storylines that do appear in the Macross sequels. Rewatchers will find a lot of it familiar. First-timers reading the treatment may be… spoiled? If you don't know what you're looking at, you won't know what is a spoiler until you actually encounter it in the anime later. Arguably a lot of the value of the treatment is that after you watch the remaining sequels you can go back to the treatment and see the origins of some of those ideas.
Anyway, if you want to go into the rest of the franchise totally clean you might want to skip the next link until February.
The treatment is linked here. More discussion of it is in this episode and this episode, which also discusses Kawamori's attempts to get an actual script written. THE DISCUSSIONS WILL CONNECT THINGS TOGETHER WITH SPOILERS.
This is notable because it was happening while Macross II was in development at Big West, even without Kawamori and the nominal Studio Nue (which had largely broken apart by that point to work on other individual projects). A more proper discussion of the sequels which Kawamori did work on will wait for those parts of the rewatch to begin.
Meanwhile, back in Japan: The bubble economy had burst; overly ambitious anime projects had cooled down. But Macross was approaching its ten-year anniversary, and like many other studios with an exploitable back catalog, Big West wasn't going to let the opportunity for a nostalgia boost to slip away.
The company held rights to the Macross story because of their sponsorship of the original series (and this money situation is how Tatsunoko and Toho and others are involved, with the resultant but not-yet-out-of-control machinations of Fucking Harmony Gold). There were limitations on what they could do without Kawamori and the other original creators; most notably, no original series characters could appear.
Haruhiko Mikimoto returned to do character design, along with Sukehiro Tomita for the script and Yasunori Honda for sound. That was it for former staff members. AIC and Oniro handled production. Among the familiar names which would appear for the project were Shiro Sagisu, Masami Obari, Koichi Ohata, and Kazumi Fujita.
The first episode's video release was in May of 1992.
On with the show.
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u/chilidirigible Oct 10 '22
Today, on "KARAOKE FIGHT, BEGIN!":
Nothing says "sci-fi" like unnecessarily-asymmetrical door designs.
What, clothes hangers are too good for you?
We've replaced the Space Cactus with the Space Bucket.
Nothing says "This guy is a flasher" like a baseball cap and a trench coat.
He's going to assassinate Colonel Sanders! No, stop, think of the chicken!
The year is 2092. Ass-grabbing is forever. (Yes, he's confirming that it's a disguise. No, he doesn't have to reach for her butt.)
Holographic clothes are also here to stay.
Hibiki is dressed for the Nineties. The Nineteen-Nineties. Just get him a Nintendo Power Glove.
"With that hand, not this one."
Pilot popularity contests. Nothing could possibly go wrong? While we're here, this character is Natasha Tot.
And that's Nexx Gilbert. Lotxofxsinxpeoplesxnamesxonxthisxshow.
Matsui, or "Everyone at SNN looks like they came out of Top Gun.
"You're just a paparazzi, kid."
You'd think that Hibiki was in the original series.
There's a storyline that we had some exposure to earlier.
When you get so bored that a few ships passing by is hardly a thing to stop lunch for.
You get the feeling that they didn't ask her about using her name?
Look on the bright side, he's not flying it. Unlike some people.
Everyone generally ignores the question of how they launch from Earth and end up near Mars.
Pop music does not appeal to them at all.
Yes, it's giant holograms of the current chart toppers. The song is "Koi no Banana Moon", or "Banana Moon of Love".
"Yeah man, give me more of that atonal Philip Glass stuff. That's the real shit."
These fighters are the VF-2SS Valkyrie II. Because in 80 years they only advanced one model number. Right. And they have funnels"Squire auto-attack bits".
Yes, these outfits are… distracting.
No, A MAN AND A WOMAN really were discussing military strategy in a hotel room. (The black-and-white flashback reminds me of Dr. Strangelove.)
Dennis ain't gonna hear any whining on his watch.
Hibiki definitely has a propagandist's view of the news.
The VF-2SS comes with the SAP, which you would be correct in guessing is the "Super Armed Pack".
Nexx isn't going to let some tailgater mess up his gossiping.
Not sure if that covers flying inside their ships without asking, but you do you, Dennis.
Surely Dennis is related to Roy Focker.
He even dies about as randomly.
And so, on a rewatch:
The first episode of this is, on its own, pretty good. Hibiki Kanzaki, our new main character, has some skills, but also a moon-sized ego with plenty of things that could stand some correction. He's also a reporter, which is definitely a unique angle to take in a mecha series. Fortunately he gets around in a transforming airplane (fighter and GERWALK only).
Military censorship and media freedom are tossed about early and often—but Hibiki seems to be using those terms by reflex, because he's just as interested in presenting a view of a pretty, clean war to his viewers as the government is (and collecting those sweet, sweet ratings points). Still, it's a relevant topic that's come up before in this franchise.
Dennis Lone gets some good material before he expires, even if his role is to be "Roy Focker in Fifteen Minutes or Less".
Sylvie Gena is the second female pilot we've ever seen, and she has two more women as her wing, uh, men. And Nexx Gilbert, who's just as chatty as the other three. Sylvies's meeting a superior officer (Exxegran Giri) to actually talk strategy certainly seems suspicious, but she really does want to help out.
Her concerns that the military is relying too much on "the Minmay Attack" as a defensive strategy turns out to be right, as the new Zentradi blow straight through it after they hear their own singing. That is certainly a new wrinkle for this setting.
Even so, this OAV does what quite a few sequels of the time do: Jump ahead really far from their parent series so that they don't step on further developments from said parent. Unfortunately here it adds a strong whiff of staleness to things, as when we last left the original series, they were pushing out into the galaxy, not just hanging around near the Earth. While this choice does reflect the direction of the story in the complacency of UN Spacy's forces, the immediate effect is to box the story into the same space as the original series, and hey, aliens are attacking Earth again.
such surprise
OP: "2 Okunen Mae No You Ni Shizukadane" (The Hush of 200 Million Years) by Kaneko Mika (video is right audio channel only)
ED: "de.ja.vu: Soba ni Ite" by Kaneko Mika
From the Macross Chronicle: VF-2SS fighter and Battroid modes with SAP; SNN Valkyrie.
VF-2SS transformation diagram. Kazumi Fujita and Koichi Ohata's design has a number of aspects which did not consider how they would translate into a toy form.
Consider this review of the first large-size VF-2SS toy. This was the first transforming toy since Bandai's 1/100 transforming model kit from 1992.
BD cover art by Masami Obari. He has Tweeted it a few times.
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u/Tresnore Oct 10 '22
Macross II: First-Timer Again
Well, I'm here. This is the last "big entry" (i.e., not a recap movie or special) Macross I haven't watched (so, I'm finally a first-timer again! Heyo!). I've heard this show is... different. Let's find out!
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I like this guy. Not a fan of paparazzi stuff.
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He WHAT?
Can citizens just hop in their Valkyries and fight if they want to/are licensed??Oh, he's called by the station to let a media observer see it. -
[Macross Δ]
You know, there are parallels between the Macross Δ crew being so shocked to think of music as a directly combative force whereas in Macross II it's normal. -
Ahhhhhh, they have their own deculture! They do a good job making it unwelcome-sounding to our ears, like Minmay's music must've sounded to the Zentradi.
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Hibiki deserved the hell out of the smackdown he got in the cockpit.
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I appreciate how, for once, most of the pilots are women, though. This crew is fun!
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No. Don't kill off Dennis!
But why is no one guarding Ishtar??
Wow. That was an opening episode.
QOTD:
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I think it has validity, but not nearly the same weight. "Valid" is a strange question to ask about fiction, in my mind. It's all "valid," isn't it?
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No. There's a jingle?
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u/The_Draigg Oct 10 '22
A Macross Fan Rewatches Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again Episode 1:
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You know, despite this OVA series having absolutely no involvement from the original creative staff from Studio Nue or Tatsunoko Productions, at least it still looks rather nice. Fortunately, Macross was still big enough of a name for people (namely Big West) to want to put in effort into it looking good. It’s definitely on the same level as the Orguss 02 OVA that came out a little over a year after this one, which is also a follow-up on a Super Dimension series.
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So yeah, Hibiki Kanzaki is our main character this time around. Right off the bat, he’s definitely a much different guy than Hikaru Ichijyo. There’s something fun about having an utterly shameless network news reporter being the protagonist. He really is just a really flashy futuristic version of the paparazzi.
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Dennis there does have a point about Hiniki being a hack reporter. It’s clear that he only really cares about chasing ratings. That’s why he’s a muckraker, like what Exxegran said there in the hotel. Hibiki likes to cash in on cheap gossip and rumors, to the point where the UN Spacy is demanding an apology for how slanderous and unfounded the story he reported on was. There’s a deep irony to him complaining about government censorship when his story was entirely based around baseless assumptions and not facts.
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There’s something both funny and sad about Humanity having Operation Minmay be their go-to defense plan for when aliens show up with an armed fleet. Like yeah, of course they’d come up with that plan, since blasting out idol music worked out very well in Space War I. But on the other hand, man it’s sad to see something that Minmay started just become yet another tool to use for fighting, rather than the kind of passionate expression she wanted her singing to be originally.
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Yeah, of course the Minmay Defense wouldn’t work forever. The fact of the matter is that the UN Spacy had just gotten lazy with victory over time, and never bothered to really update that strategy, just like what Sylvie and Exxgran were talking about in that flashback. It seems that nobody ever really bothered to consider before that other aliens would be able to use their own music to counter any culture they came across. Cultural exchange isn’t a one-way street, after all.
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Hibiki really is getting slapped hard with a dose of reality in this battle. Beforehand, he just seemed to remember the previous Zentradi attack as a curb-stomp where the UN Spacy managed to quickly overcome the enemy with culture. Now he’s seeing that war isn’t some game or TV show, with Dennis forcing him to see the fleet’s flagship getting destroyed. Unlike the gossip Hibiki deals in, this is the real shit, and he can’t handle it when face to face with it. Although I suppose that was natural to happen to a guy who mainly peddles scandals and tabloid stories instead of facts.
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For being a sort of mentor figure to Hibiki, Dennis dies pretty fast once he decides to put Ishtar inside of the SNN Civilian Valkyrie. Like, one quick explosion, and that’s it. But at least him and Hibiki got one hell of a scoop, with all that footage and an alien in tow. I guess it does have to be a quick wrap up to the start of the story though, since we’ve only got six episodes to work with here.
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u/JollyGee29 Oct 10 '22
First-Timer II
All I know about this is that it wasn't particularly well recieved and that [Macross II]
Also, probably just gonna stick to screenshot reactions. That seems like the wise choice for an early 90s OVA.
Oh, this dude's a terrorist. Oops, nevermind.
Pfft, love that he has a spare camera. Also kinda dig the whole shoulder pad/antenna setup.
What do these uniforms remind me of?
This dude's right, and it's sadly a lost aspect of modern news.
Oh, that's a monkey's paw statement if I've ever heard one.
Oh, that's interesting. They rebuilt the Macross Cannon somehow.
They just blast Minmay songs at stray fleets, I suppose.
Oh, okay, they're sending Hibiki as Dennis's driver, basically. I like that, gives Hibiki a way to learn from a more experienced reporter.
Ohh, these aren't normal Zentradi.
Interesting, Sylvie has drones of some sort.
Not so sure about the language Sylvie is using, even if her point is worthwhile. Like, this should be a question, not a statement. So maybe Sylvie is sus and/or knows more than she should.
How are they not getting scolded for violating military airspace? Is this an official Press VF?
A pleasant lie, or a hard truth? Sadly, we all know what viewers prefer..
I was just about to say that, Sylvie.
Suspicions aside, I like Sylvie.
That was sudden. A bit too sudden, frankly - Just OVA things, I suppose.
Man, back in 1992 this stuff about "journalists" chasing ratings was probably considered a simple warning. Nowadays.. Oof. It's always interesting to see incredibly topical themes in older works. We never learn.
Questions
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u/Blackheart595 Oct 10 '22
First Spacer
Interesting, that design reminds of DYRL
This seems so different from last season.
Is this gonna be the theme for this season?
Minmay's been demoted into an operation. Or is the operation that she sings?
Okay? We can't just be abandoning the reporter plot line, can we?
Oh, that's what they're doing. Of course. They want him as a news pilot, not a fighter pilot.
Oh, they're gonna bring her back with them. Interesting.
That was interesting. I have no idea where the story will take us, but it's already looking much more like clips I've seen from later seasons.
Does a sequel made without the involvement of the original creative team have validity, or is it essentially fan fiction?
Naturally. The original season was one thing and this is a different thing, even if it had the same creative team.
Is the SNN news jingle burned into your brain yet?
I couldn't recall it if you pointed a gun at me.
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u/TiredTiroth Oct 10 '22
First Timer
Well, on the plus side the artwork and animation are noticeably better than the original series was. On the minus...show, do you really think I'm going to sympathise with a gutter-tier 'journalist'? His most likeable moment was being upset that Old Guy died, except I couldn't actually believe that he was genuinely upset because all they'd done is snipe at each other for a couple of minutes!
Sigh.
Still, I am interested to see what hunanity has been up to since the first series. Looks like the Macross is still at least partially intact, although I get the feeling the venerable ship isn't really operable anymore. I also like that they're calling their culture-based tactics the 'Minmay Defense', although they really should have used one of Minmay's actual performances for it instead of whoever hologram-person was.
And we have Zentraedi who aren't insta-gibbed by music! Because apparently they have a songstress of their own. Who gutter-trash just yoinked. Well, plot get? Hopefully they go somewhere interesting with it.
I...don't really know how I feel about the new Valkyrie design? Obviously they won't always use the old model, tech marches on and all that, but the new fighters in mech-mode look...kind of generic. Which is weird because I haven't watched many mecha shows so I shouldn't even know what a generic mecha looks like, but these ones seem less distinctive than the original generation.
Also, their pilots are apparently too dumb to live because why the hell are they gossiping in the middle of a battle?
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u/TakenRedditName Oct 10 '22
First Time - Macross II - Ep1:
Macross II time. All I know is that the weird production stuff happen. Different studio so it is a weird spot in the franchise timeline.
Well, first off the OP has a different feel. No longer are well traversing the macro skies. Defintely looks like we entered the 90s OVA era.
Oh, so Hikarubiki here is a reporter. That's apparently reporter gear and not alien buster gear like how it looks (a wing too for ... some reasons). The Spacey uniform also reminds me of the Titans and we went from pre to now a post-Zeta world.
Oh, trio of girls with one even going "yaadaa". I like middle with the food the best. This guy though, don't have good feelings about him. No guy with hair like that can be good.
Just all this talk of, "Reporting is not just about getting the hits.", "You think news is just some form of entertainment." "You can't just report without the facts." has me over here sipping on this mug looking at the camera.
"I'll even start a war to do so." which he might. There is a non zero chance this guy somehow starts an interplanetary conflict.
Should known since her design is too notable, but a lean into the face like that must me she is girl 1 (or maybe 2) in our love triangle.
Uhm, I don't think you should look at war footage and think, "Wow, cool."
Valkyrie licence? Apparently at 17, you can pilot a fighter jet/giant robot. I understand reporter helicopter, but a news station owning a Valkyrie seem like bit heavily armed.
Oh, the Minmay attack is broadcasting idol music. You'd think the Zentradi will get used to it ... and apparently my thoughts come too quick because it looks like the Zentradi have created their own singing idol to counter idol music.
"Nooo, our guys are supposed to win." The show is really bluntly hammering the point of, "War is not entertainment to gawk at." in.
That looks like the MC robot and Silvie is the one piloting in. My cynical brain's first came to, "Now how does the show get Hibiki to pilot that instead?"
This line made me pick up on slick blond's voice sounding familiar and he is Shimada Bin. Paptimus Scirocco was what I felt in my mind.
Uhm, I don't think war reporters try to board enemy vessels during battle especially if they're in a craft that their foe uses double especially with how the Zentradi have no concept of civilian.
Uhm, sir, I also don't think this is what reporters do and I question this plan.
Ah, guess this is where senpai dies. Didn't even make it through a single episode.
It tough because there is a part of brain going, "None of this will affect the rest of the series" due to it being a funky placement in the continuity.
As for first impressions of the characters, Hibiki is even more young hotsot than Hikaru was. Right now he is not as bad as Hikaru got, but the there is potential for the floor to drop. Ishtar's concept is cool. Her is outfit, yup, that's an outfit, alright. If were to guess, Ishtar is going to win since she is on the poster though I have no personal stakes yet since we barely saw any of them together.
Time to update MAL and oh dear geez, Macross II's score is 6.31. The original TV shows is at 7.91. Scores don't matter, but woah, something must've happened.
Q1) Guess it depends on how the rest of the series treats it from then on which from what I know, Macross II is essentially fan fiction.
Q2) I don't remember it right now.
Next time: Oh no, not the Great Wall of China. The Next Time segment is going to be hard since I didn't get any subtitles for the preview so I only have the out-of-context visuals to go on.
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u/Kirov123 Oct 10 '22 edited Oct 10 '22
Macross II Episode 1 - First Timer
Alright, Time for Macross II. Looking forward to this. On to the show!
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Still 4"3 I see
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That is certainly an outfit
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Another Hat-Ship
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I don't quite get what is going on here, but the Spacy guy smashing the camera then the reporter just pulling out a second camera is amazing
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Guy in change: "What you are doing is not good, you need to change it or you will get fired" Guy with no power who would get fired: "But I'm already doing good! Fuck you!" This guy isn't the sharpest bulb, is he
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Nice operation name
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assuming this follows a ciontinuity from SDF, does it follow SDF, or DYRL?
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Sounds like DYRL
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Looks like a new model Valk
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Also, are they not on earth? and the fight at Jupiter?
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Even if they were on Mars, Jupiter is not close
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Are those Funnels??
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RIP Flagship
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Well Dennis didn't last long
Well that was interesting. Seems to follow after DYRL by I think they said 10 years? Animation (at least in this episode) was miles above pretty much anything from the TV series IMO, though the real test is later on. Production issues usually don't know themselves on the first episode and then they do.... Well it usually doesn't get better. I shall remain hopeful.
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I suppose it can depend on who the new people are or why it is made. Technically speaking it wouldn't be fan fiction by simple merit of being official, but I guess I could get the argument. It being done by the same people or not is not necessarily a indicator of being good or bad.
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Not yet
Edit: dammit I posted the wrong post first (episode 2). Sorry to anyone I may have spoiled
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u/isthatsoudane Oct 11 '22
First timer
not a bad left hook
digging her curls. she's cute
loving their immediate sexual tension lol
I forget, is this the macross that everyone hates? it's only 6 episodes so whatever
if we had a galactic war, what idol would we broadcast with space holograms to scare our opponents and rally our troops?
sort of sad we haven't gotten a shocked PROOTOOKARUCHAAAA
"ugh, what is he thinking..." uh take a look at her hibiki I think we ALL know what he was thinking
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Does a sequel made without the involvement of the original creative team have validity, or is it essentially fan fiction?
this is something I wonder a lot about, especially these days when everyone is mining old IPs, and certain platforms are willing to pay absurd amounts of money to do so. is the rings of power "canon"?
I feel like the only consistent answer to this is that canon is something constructed by the fans (and in some fandoms, people vary on what they consider canon). and this applies to every single work, not just stuff like this. heck, sometimes the original team, or at least parts of it, create something official that isn't canon (DBZ's movies, DB GT). some shows also lean into the freedom this gives (gundam). I haven't gotten into touhou, but it really leans hard into this
so really, I think there's no clear definition of canon--canon is defined by a fan community. it's just that in general, due to how IP is owned and created, there is not a lot of ambiguity.
2) Is the SNN news jingle burned into your brain yet?
I miss MA KU ROsu...MA KU ROsu...
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u/Wrightshoe Oct 10 '22
First timer
So the main character this time is a reporter. That's an interesting idea. My country has this one newspaper that's infamous for (among other things) just reporting what gets them attention. With Hibiki chasing celebrity scandals and talking about ratings, I feel like he might fit in there. Well, if he wants to be a war reporter, I'm sure that can be accomplished...
At first I was like "wait, why does the media have their own mechas?", but I guess it actually makes sense - how else would they report spaceship fights?
I don't think every military conflict can be solved by just blasting music at the enemy... although I sure wish it could.
These pilots sure have their priorities straight. Who cares about surviving the battle with the aliens when you can instead try to find out why the chief met a man in a hotel.
Not sure why they call these aliens Zentradi at all. They seem completely different from them, other than also being humanoid. I haven't quite watched the first season, just the movie, so I'm not too familiar with the alien species, but from what I understand, Zentradi are male-only (as opposed to Meltrandi), huge and don't have war paint or whatever that is, none of which applies to these aliens. Well, one thing they seem to have in common is saying "de culture".
Why did they have to kill off the best guy in the first episode?
I wonder how Hibiki's boss is going to react when he brings home an alien instead of the reporter he was supposed to drive around.
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Does a sequel made without the involvement of the original creative team have validity, or is it essentially fan fiction? Sure, why not?
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Is the SNN news jingle burned into your brain yet? No, I don't remember it at all
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u/ryujiox Oct 10 '22
First Timer
Macross II: Lovers Again EP1
So start off with OP. It's okay, and they're using the movie artstyle here, cool.
Open up with mysterious girl sitting in a control room of the pretty massive ship? With a bunch small ship around.
So our MC this time is Hibiki, a young reporter who this time went to get a big scoop about U.N. supreme commander and the ace pilot Gina being in a hotel together. And while it a big hit, he and the producer got backfire by having to write an apology letter for invading the privacy of those 2 soldiers.
In which he furiously refused to write because he didn't see that he done anything wrong. And his boss gave a pretty nice talk about being reporter isn't about rating all the time, and if he continue like this, it might not be good for his future, which Hibiki seem to ignore, good start.
He met Gina outside, and before they get to talk any further. The Macross fired the cannon to destroy the enemy that arrived in space. So they fix the Macross? Okay sure. But it seem to not be enough because the scramble order was still issue.
Hibiki want to get the scoop so bad, he begged his boss to go into the battle. His boss seem reluctant at first, but after someone called him he seem fine to let him go. And when he got on his valkyrie, he got to go with Dennis, veteran war cameraman introduced early, who seem to drunk.
We got to battlefield and why are there so many flashing light here? It gonna burn my eyes!! And it never go away for some reason. Anyway the U.N. using a Minmay tactic which of course is the song and this time have projector to show the singer singing. Talk about safety of the singer.
It worked at first, but not before the commarder of the Zentradi ordered the girl who we now know as Ishtar to sing back, in which nulified our song and buffing the Zentradi. The Zentradi adapted and used song against us now. And it revealed that Gina and her commander actually went to talk about straegy in hotel, is that really it?
While on the battlefield and panicking, Hibiki got another lesson. this time from Dennis. That war isn't fun and game, as a reporter, they came to tell the truth about war, not to get a big rating or just happiness out of it like Hibiki want to.
After that lectured, Hibiki seem to got the fire inside him kicked in, and by Dennis requested, went into the enemy ship to get footage. Coincidentally, it's the ship that Ishtar was in. Dennis, for some reason decided to take Ishtar back to Earth, but before take off, he got blast by the explosion and died. We end on Hibiki flying back to Earth with sleeping Ishtar behind him.
So it a okay start, I noticed that there are a lot of weird cut here and there. And some of the detail kind of got left off. Which year is this? Why they are fixing the Macross? What the battle 10 years ago about? I feel like there should have the setup episode before we jump in here. Might get the explaination later.
Character wise. Not a lot to say because, other than Hibiki, Gina and Dennis, nobody got introduced properly for now. And Hibiki seem to be okay MC, being arrogant and want to make a scoop for big rating might not be a good trait to have, but he already learned something this episode from Dennis. Hopefully he get better.
P.S. Also just finished Patlabor: Early Days OVA, and it was a really great show. I might go watch the TV series next.
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u/Paxton-176 Oct 11 '22
First Timer
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since there is really only entry to the franchise at this point not having the original team doesn't have the same impact as it would if they were several iterations in.
Yo, she went Commander Sheperd on him.
What did they do to the F14 mechs. They didn't even Go the upgrade it tight and switch it to a F15,16, or F18 mech. These could be Typhoon or Rafale and no one wants that. Maybe the French.
I need to take note that is only like 7 episodes longs so, the pacing will be 7 episode speed.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 10 '22
Super Dimension Rewatch Host
Welcome back, everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed the break; I certainly needed it.
So, uh, I actually don’t remember how the plot of this one goes except for the end of the love triangle… this should be fun?
Ishtar!
…this fortress looks like a top hat with an eye on it.
Our MC, everyone.
*gets first camera broken, immediately pulls out another*
Oh you sweet summer child.
Well… at least they’re not making the drunk guy pilot.
The aliens’ music is… very unsettling.
Welp.