How do you rank the various Macross series?

[Basara]

The Macross series stands as one of animes longest lasting and most beloved series. Its standard hallmarks are epic space battles, acrobatic dogfights, transforming Valkyries, love triangles, and the power of song. So, how do you rank the Macross series? Here’s my list

1) Macross: This is the original story and it remains one of the classic anime stories of all time. Everything about this show was epic. The designs for the SDF-1 and the original Valkyries are one of the most recognized and loved mecha designs in the world. The love triangle between Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay is one of the great anime love triangles. There are so many great and shocking moments on this show: the rain of death, Roy’s tragic death, Kakizaki’s sudden pointless death, the first appearance of a Zentradi, the Zentradi’s reaction to a kiss, and of course, the epic duel between Max and Milia. This series had it all and remains the classic foundation for all that follows.

2) Macross Frontier: Quite simply, this show is a celebration of nearly every great idea that ever happened in the Macross series. I loved the SMS. Ozma and his mercenary fighters were simply badass! I especially loved Mikhail’s sniping ability with his Valkyrie and Bobby’s extreme piloting of the battleship, Quarter. This series also benefits from having one hell of a good villain, which I will not spoil here. Let’s just say that someone is using the Vajra for their own nefarious scheme, and it’s a doozy of a scheme. We’re talking galactic domination here. The show returns to its J-Pop roots with catchy tunes from not one, but two idol singers vying for the affections of the main hero, Alto. There are nods galore to all the previous series. The only real faults I find with the series are that Alto is a boring main hero, the rivalry between Brera and Alto wasn’t really much of one, and the over reliance on fan service at times.

3) Macross 7: Here it is: the polarizing sequel of the franchise. Fans either love or hate this series with a passion and it all comes down to one question: Did you like Basara Nekki? If you do, Macross 7 is one of the most entertaining series you’ll ever watch. If not, this series is an eyesore. No other sequel depends so much on its main character as Macross 7. I fall in the camp that loved Basara. I loved his music, his attitude, his philosophy, his red VF-19, and everything about him. This series also had a great supporting cast. Mylene, Ray, Veffidas, Gamlin were great new additions to the Macross universe, and the best part is that we got to see more of Max and Milia Jenius. And Max gets to prove once and for all that he is the best pilot in the Macross universe with one hell of a flying stunt at the end of the series. The series does suffer from a slow start though as the writers set up everything, but once you get to the point where Lord Geppernich starts getting devious, this series really gets fun. Lord Geppernich is one of Macross’ great villains. He sets a number of clever traps for fleet 7. Also, I really, really love the music of Fire Bomber. Imho, Macross 7 had the best music of all the Macross series.

4) Macross Plus: Oh what an enjoyable side story this is. This small OVA had one of the best rivalries in all of Macross: that between the cocky Izamu Dyson and Guld Goa Bowman. Also, since this was a small, four episode OVA, the production team went all out on animation and music. This is one of the most beautifully animated Macross series out there, and they melded that beautifully with Yokko Kano’s unique style of music. Overall, it was a visual and musical treat and it would be the best Macross sequel if that is all you focused on. Once you get past all the gorgeous animation and catchy music though, it’s hard not to notice that the story is rather lackluster, from Myung’s nearly constant whining to the ultra-convoluted plot of Sharon Apple to give Izamu his greatest desire.

5) Macross II: the only Macross series not involving Studio Nue and thus it is not part of the actual Macross continuity, for which most fans are please about. One of the things that fans hated was that the story’s main hero, Hibiki Kanzaki, was a journalist. I actually liked this about Hibiki. His character made sense. He underwent one of the franchise’s best growth spurts, going from ratings driven media whore to growing up to becoming an actual true journalist seeking the truth (as rare in the Macross universe as our own world). It’s a fascinating journey to watch. The series does suffer from having too many similarities to the original story. It basically is Macross retold with a twist, the enemy has been brainwashing their Zentradi with song, so the Minmay attack doesn’t work. Despite this, it’s one of the better Macross stories and one I continue to enjoy to this day.

6) Macross Zero: This is the one misstep of the franchise, imho. Yes, Macross series should be serious, and introduce wild ideas, but this one overdosed on both. There is a big case of WTF opened with a small island legend becoming a real alien super weapon. It’s also supposed to be the big unveiling of the UN forces unique fighter, the VF-0, only to find that the anti-UN forces also have variable fighters of their own. Huh? How did they even come up with those without access to the alien tech on the Macross? This is one time that the visual spectacle of variable fighter dogfights could not draw away from a bad story.

[CromagnonMan]

I only ever watched the original Macross, and while i liked it, ive never watched any of the others, mainly because as a space opera i always preferred the original Gundam over it.

Mind you, Ive also seen Macross Plus, but as an OVA series that requires a lot less time investment than the others. Beautiful animation, i agree.

[Jmacq1]

1. Macross Frontier - All props to the original, but I flat-out enjoyed Frontier more than SDFM. Alto might not be the most outwardly exciting protagonist, but I still felt very invested in his character and story by the time all was said and done. Everything about Frontier just worked for me. Also, the swerve they throw with the "major supporting character death" (coupled with some clever misdirection in prior episodes) proves that yes, you -can- have a worse gut-punch in Macross than Roy Fokker's death in the original.

2. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross - It may not be my number one, but it's still the original and among the best. It's here (to me) that we suffer from some flat characters (Hikaru, Misa and Minmei really don't do anything for me), that are buoyed by some great supporting characters. Of course, the design work is impeccable. Later designs may be "cooler" but the classic VF-1 series is so iconic as to be timeless, and the SDF Macross itself remains to my mind one of the coolest spaceships ever.

3. Macross Plus - It's a smaller, more personal story, but for some reason I really love the way it all comes together. I felt like the "competing test pilots" plotline was a great peek "behind the curtain" of the Macross setting, and helped make it feel that much more "real" to me. Plus the love triangle/relationship aspect of this entry is easily the most "mature" in how it's handled. This brief story is not overly violent or anything, but this feels like the most "adult" of the Macross series (even more so than Zero).

4. Macross Zero - You may have to dig into alternate sources to get explanations for a lot of it (and it's got a pretty WTF ending), but it's still got some of the best dogfighting of the entire series, and a grittier story that to my mind does a good job of showing us how messed up Earth was before the events of the original Macross.

5. Macross II - It's not in continuity (though I didn't know that at the time that I watched it), but it's still got some spiffy design work, and honestly the story isn't that bad, it's just not great, either. I felt like Sylvie and Hibiki worked, but the rest of the supporting cast was sort of just barely sketched over.

6. Macross 7 - I fall into the "Basara Nekki can die in a fire" camp, sadly, which pretty much punts this series all the way down to the bottom for me.

[romanwarrior84]

I never got to finish Zero or Frontier and never saw 7 but to be honest I wasnt digging Zero and there were things about frontier that bothered me so I would Rank them as follows:

1. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross - Can't beat the original and in this day and age where everything is getting remade I actually wouldn't mind this one getting a update with a tighter story and a little more stuff thrown in...I kinda also want to see those original VF-1 and the space battles done with better animation.

2. Macross Plus - Smaller in scale but it works to make things feel so personally and the animation was and still is pretty top notch.

3. Macross Frontier - Sure there were things that bothered me and i haven't quite finished it yet but I still think its a worthy addition to the Macross world

4. Macross II - I feel like macross 2 is that cousin that some of your family hates you but you have a soft spot for. Ibiki is a little annoying at the beginning but he improves by the end of the story and Silvia is awesome.

5. Macross Zero - yea I dont have much to say but I'm not a fan of the island set up and the anti un forces having variable fighters as someone else said.

[Inkthinker]

I think I like Macross Plus best, because it stands alone best.

Macross Frontier was awesome, but mostly what I enjoyed (aside from the mecha) was the way it was a complete call-out to the original Macross on a near plot point by point basis, but consistently added new twists to each one.

From the early scenes where Hiraku/Alto (Rick for the Robotech fans) rescues Minmei/Ranka by picking her up in a Valkyrie's hand and carrying her across the city, only to have that hand cut off and he has to open the cockpit to pull her in (but in Frontier he fails to grab her hand, and has to pull an exo-suit maneuver to grab her) all the way to the finale where Hiraku/Alto has to blast his way directly into the heart of the alien base to rescue a captured Minmei/Ranka (except now it's a captured SDF), the love triangle (but with both women being singers), the ace-to-ace rivalry (but not Max and Mirya, it's Alto and Breya), the killing of a secondary hero (but not the one you expect), the whole "singing affects the aliens to give humans a strategic advantage"... it's pretty awesome how they effectively told the same story in a completely new way.

I should try Macross Zero again, since Frontier ties into it closely. I never could get into Macross 7... piloting/fighting with a guitar? No thanks.

[Basara]

I never could get into Macross 7... piloting/fighting with a guitar? No thanks.

That's just it, Nekki Basara wasn't a fighter. He hated fighting. He wasn't trying to defeat the enemy with song, he was just trying to get everyone to stop fighting. The fact that he was a naturally gifted ace pilot as well as a great singer gave him the opportunity to sing right smack dab in the middle of the dogfighting.

It wasn't until later that Basara became the galaxy's only hope of survival against the Protodevlin, whom make the Vajra look like, well, like bugs. Tiny ones that are squashed on windshields.

[Castel]

Hmm, let's see.

1 - SDF Macross - A surprising depth in it, Hikaru for example is kind of a simpleton during a good part of the show but as time passes he finally comes to realize how stupid the whole conflict is and how tired of it, physically and mentally, he is. Well, at least that's true until when they go back on earth. From there it's like if writers took a break and left the story to pot-smoking monkeys.

2 - Macross Plus - An amazing bunch of oavs. Characters, music, writing...that's just an excellent anime. Visually i have to say that time has been cruel with it. Shame cause the rest is so damn good.

3 - Macross Frontier - Well, it sure is a candy for the eye, no question. Story-wise it's entertaining, nothing great, nothing too bad.

4 - Macross Zero - Good concept, some interesting ideas and i appreciated the characters but, well, not as good as plus or frontier for example.

Macross 2 and 7 suck so bad that i can't even tell which one is the worst.

[Hiromi]

Macross Zero: hasn't aged well, back when it came out the animation and dog fights in general were amazing, the story and characters were pretty flimsy, though it was nice to see Focker get some more screen time and background

SDF Macross: Still a classic, first 2/3s still hold up well, however starting with episode 28 there's a drop off, which is understandable, episode 27 was supposed to be the finale, and the rest were rushed and tacked on. Still moments to be found.

Macross DYRL(Do you remember love): Amazing animation for its time and also brought the art in line with future series, not a good place to start off as much was cut out of the story but it was a treat for Macross fans

Macross Plus: Great OVA/Movie, once again had great animation for its time, and good characters. Plus it was one of the first anime series I ever saw and the first Macross title I ever saw what with harmony Gold being colossal dicks about stateside distribution of the other Macross titles.

Macross 7: Slow boring start, series picks up somewhere in the middle and has a good ending, so its worth it to stick it through

Haven't seen Macross Dynamite 7, so don't know, seen mixed reviews of it

Macross Frontier: Solid series all the way through,

Never seen Macross 2, and haven't heard or seen anything that makes me want to see Macross 2