Macross 7

JellySnake

If the Macross franchise is a family of black sheep in the anime paddock, then Macross 7 is the fucking rainbow coloured weirdo of that already strange family, resembling anything else even less and standing out even more. And I think it's my favourite anime of all time? --- ~~~img1000(https://i.imgur.com/eMtauID.jpg)~~~ Because Studio Nue decided to use pants-on-head Xbox naming conventions, despite being called Macross 7 it's actually the second main entry in the franchise. It follows a fleet of colonists from Earth in the year 2038, as they search the universe for hospitable planets, all the while being harried by space vampires from another dimension against which their only line of defense is, of course, a 90s-as-fuck rock band by the name of Fire Bomber. _Of course_. It's probably worth mentioning that Macross 7 is _pretty dumb_. While the goofy charm was occasionally present in the original SDF Macross, in this it's cranked up to eleven. What's amazing though is that it treats it's stupidity with such sincerity that you end up taking it seriously as well. In Episode 1 I was saying, "Why the hell does that transforming fighter jet have a face, but no guns?". By Episode 27 I was saying, "Well I mean obviously the transforming fighter jet fires energy beams from it's mouth when it's pilot sings, how else do you expect it to defeat the enemy?" Not to mention said transforming fighter jet is piloted _with a guitar_, or that it has speakers built into it's robot boobs, or that it's most powerful weapon is a giant battering ram wireless speaker that it smashes into enemy ships so it can _sing at them_. But no, I'm getting ahead of myself. In my opinion the brazen absurdity is Macross 7's saving grace, as without the spice and genuine hilarity it brings the story would probably be a bit too plain to support it's 49 episodes. ~~~img330(https://imgur.com/PLrRO22.jpg) img330(https://imgur.com/jRXO4mQ.jpg) img330(https://imgur.com/VltlMUv.jpg)~~~ Being relatively long for a Macross series, 7 is a fair bit slower paced than one might expect and is much more episodic in structure. The aforementioned space vampires are secretly kidnapping and brainwashing people in order to harvest a special energy that only humans can produce, but in between revelations concerning that you'll get an episode about Fire Bomber's bassist going on a date, or preparing for a concert, or maybe the fleet is accidentally being dragged into the gravity well of a red dwarf. You know, every day stuff. The story itself, when it decides to show up, gets pretty weird. The main narrative beats are pretty straightforward, but it veers off of the expected path as it gets near the middle, once they begin militarizing themselves against the threat. It brings in the franchise-wide theme of music and love being stronger than war in pretty much the most literal and stupid way possible (see: boob speakers). It certainly took me by surprise but it changes the dynamic of the whole show going forward, introducing much larger scale conflicts and playing Fire Bomber's rebellious rock band attitude against a wider political landscape, which I thought was genuinely quite interesting. As like any other Macross though, the war only makes up about half of the story. While the main characters are Fire Bomber's vocalists, Basara and Mylene, the show takes on an almost soap opera-like feel as the cast of characters expands and it begins to follow a number of people as their motivations and personalities interplay amongst each other. It's the kind of show where if someone were to sit down in the middle of an episode you'd have to stop and go, "Well, you see, she likes him, but he doesn't realise it because he's autistic and thinks he's in love with a sexy alien chick, but this other guy totally digs her but he's in the military and he's trying to capture the sexy alien chick, but then a guy in a rivalling squadron..." etc. Much like SDF before it, it does a good job of incorporating antagonist characters into this as well. One in particular has a really nice redemption arc that culminates in some pretty heartfelt moments. Unfortunately, it also has the least conclusive main romance in the franchise in the fact that it doesn't actually conclude. Spoilers, I guess. Despite that, I found myself legitimately engrossed in the small dramas aboard the 7th New-Macross Colonization Fleet as much as I hate to admit. ~~~img250(https://imgur.com/20RJamn.jpg) img250(https://imgur.com/L7RKmx1.jpg) img250(https://imgur.com/2qK4lSf.jpg) img250(https://imgur.com/sv5fgg1.jpg)~~~ I suppose I should talk a bit about the music in this music anime. Do you like rock music? Do you like late-80s, early-90s rock music? Of course you do! And that's good, because that's pretty much _all there is_. Reiterating how fucking weird Macross 7 is, there's no actual soundtrack. With the exception of episode previews and recaps, the BGM throughout the series is almost entirely diagetic, being comprised of songs being played in the scene either live or from the radio or sometimes just beats Fire Bomber's drummer is tapping out on a random surface. They even went so far as to make a handful of songs from other fake bands to play on the radio every once in a while. It's a novel and really cool idea, I think, and helps add to the soap-opera feel even if it's a bit pointless in the grand scheme of things. The music itself is great. Fire Bomber released five studio albums (the latest being in 2009, 15 years after the series aired), all of which I think are pretty solid. Basara's singing voice is provided by a young Yoshiki Fukuyama of JAM Project fame and has the near ridiculous power you'd expect from him. Mylene's is by Chie Kajiura, who has a real deep, husky, Japanese Stevie Nicks voice and it weirdly contrasts against her regular talking voice actor, who is as high pitched and squealy as you'd expect a pink-haired 14-year-old anime girl from the 90s to be. Despite that, I really love Mylene's songs, which are generally a lot slower and softer than Basara's, and have a sound that's pretty unique from anything else in the franchise. Obviously, it comes down to taste, but liking the music helped a lot, as virtually every single action scene plays to a Fire Bomber song, resulting in some really awesome scenes built around the music. But, quite frankly, you absolutely can have too much of a good thing. webm(https://giant.gfycat.com/SpryAccomplishedAndeancondor.webm) ~~~_???_~~~ As with any long running mecha anime, Macross 7 has an apparent requirement to have at least one action scene every single episode. As a fan of such anime, I've gotten accustomed to that. A problem unique to this show, however, is that each action scene is accompanied by a Fire Bomber song, as previously mentioned. This wouldn't really pose a problem if they used their full discography, but they don't, and so the first 20 or so episodes suffer from repeating the same two or three songs over and over_ and over_. It gets better later on, but God damn I've heard Planet Dance and Totsugeki Love Heart a million times by now, I'm sure. It also doesn't help that the animation of Macross 7 can get pretty mediocre at times. A lot of talking heads and panning scenes, all of the budget-saving animation tricks they had amassed by the 90s feature here. That's not to say it's all bad, but it's certainly no _Cardcaptor Sakura_ or _Turn A Gundam_ and the action scenes definitely take the biggest hit. This show probably has the most egregious reusage of stock footage I've ever seen, as well. Most series would typically have the decency to alter and shorten their transformation stock as they go, but nope. Not Macross 7. If I close my eyes I can still see the VF-17S transformation sequence as clear as day (which isn't entirely bad, since the stealth bomber-lookalike is one of my favourite VF designs in the franchise, but still). It's a shame, [especially since the beautifully animated OP plays at the beginning of every episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h_rkhnjZzc), just reminding you of how you want it to look. ~~~img330(https://imgur.com/cRifsUs.jpg) img330(https://imgur.com/8xAvBOP.jpg) img330(https://imgur.com/G1Hsta6.jpg)~~~ --- Between it's questionable animation management and absurd plotting, I'm really not sure if I think Macross 7 is a _good_ anime. But that's fine, it knows it's dumb and thrives on that. There's a character that shows up in every single episode, who has whole scenes dedicated to her, but has no lines whatsoever and whose only purpose is to attempt and fail at giving Basara a bouquet of flowers. Why? Fucking why not I guess, because at the end of the day that's also part of why I love this show. Macross 7 is the only show that I've ever finished and then immediately thought, "Did I really like that as much as I think I did? Let's watch it again and find out." So, I did. And, as it turned out, I did. ~~~img1000(https://imgur.com/Hnhu0C4.jpg)~~~

Pockeyramune919

[ img20(https://bestanimations.com/Signs&Shapes/Arrows/Left/left-arrow-15.gif) ](https://anilist.co/review/7456)

[ img20(https://bestanimations.com/Signs&Shapes/Arrows/Right/right-arrow-29.gif) ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDt_RsJ_9GE)

img520(https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_macross-7_4407.jpg) “**LISTEN TO MY ~~SONG~~ REVIEW ANILIST!**” “**[AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH](https://youtu.be/Deu-i1C5t_A?t=25)**” If you couldn’t tell from me opening my review with an oft-used quote from *Macross 7*, I had a lot of fun with this show and I had a lot of fun reviewing it, too. It’s the same the same type of fun I had watching *[Mobile Fighter G Gundam](https://anilist.co/review/3900)*. Compared to other entries in their respective series, both shows are silly, dare I say dumb, even. Yet they take themselves seriously enough to ground them. They’re goofy, yes, but endearingly so. They’re just so earnest and exciting that it’s hard to *not* love them despite how radically different they are from the rest of their series. Your mileage obviously will vary a lot based on what you’re looking for in mecha - it’s essentially the difference between [real robot](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuperRobotGenre) and [super robot.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuperRobotGenre) That said, despite how much it departs from what we’ve seen before, it still *feels* like a *Macross* show, still ultimately committing to the same themes and aesthetics established in *[Super Dimensional Fortress Macross](https://anilist.co/review/3394)*, just changing how they’re conveyed. For what it’s worth, this very well may be my favorite *Macross* show thus far. But enough of the warm up, let’s get this concert rolling! The story of *Macross 7* takes place thirty-six years after the events of the original series (and five years after *Plus*, though *7* is definitely more of a sequel to *SDF* than *Plus*) and its Zentraedi War, which culminated in the coexistence between humans and Zentraedi. Two years later, of course, during the finale of the original series, humanity decides to take to the stars in order to ensure their survival by creating colonies throughout the galaxy. *Macross 7* takes place on one of these colony fleets, the 37th Long Distance Colony Fleet, led by the eponymous Macross 7 which is comprised of the residential "City 7" and the battle carrier "Battle 7." *Macross 7* follows Nekki Basara, the leader of an up-and-coming rock band known as Fire Bomber. *Macross 7* begins when their concert is interrupted as sirens blare. The fleet is being attacked by an unknown force and *Macross 7*'s elite special force unit, Diamond Force, is sent out to repel the enemy. However, in an act that shocks the military (most notably the deuteragonist, the straight-laced Gamlin Kizaki) and new enemy alike, *Basara*, a citizen with apparently no military training, *also* sorties to battle in an unregistered, ruby red custom Excalibur variable-fighter (astute viewers might notice that the VF-Excalibur Custom is derived from the YF-19, the variable-fighter that Isamu piloted in *Plus*). In an act that will soon become nothing short of iconic, Nekki Basara commands the enemy to listen to his song before he begins singing and playing guitar *in the middle of an active battlezone*. Thankfully Macross 7 doesn't suffer heavy casualties and the enemy retreats. The military is obviously confused at the rocker's actions, but he flees the area before they can question him. As the story of *Macross 7* unfolds, we follow the career of Fire Bomber as well as Gamlin, discover the identity of the new, alien force, and find out why in the cosmos Nekki Basara keeps flying into battle to sing at the enemy. img520(https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000041260450-svk6yz-t500x500.jpg) You can probably tell by the synopsis how wild this show is. Very quickly we learn that in *Macross 7*, battles may be waged with bullets and reaction weaponry, they're won by the immortal, unadulterated power of **[rock](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePowerOfRock)**. I can see how some could be annoyed by this. While it's better in some episodes than others, as a whole the power of music doesn't supplement the power of actual weaponry but instead completely *replaces* it — in *Macross 7* the fearsome [reaction weaponry](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NuclearWeaponsTaboo) are rendered a complete joke in the face of the new enemy, the Protodeviln. What *does* work wonders is Fire Bomber flying out to give the enemy a show and rock them into absolute submission. If you *still* need an example of what type of show this is, the villains are revealed to be what essentially amounts to *space vampires*, draining other species of their "spiritia" (essentially "spirit" with an "ia" attached to the end) to get stronger, leaving the victims in a comatose state. And want to know how spiritia-drained individuals get better? If you guessed "through the power of Fire Bomber's singing," then congratulations! Give yourself a~~n easily-earned~~ treat. Apparently, *Macross 7* is an extremely contentious show within the fandom and I can definitely see why. Most of the time, *Macross 7* reads less as a serious war drama and more like a Saturday Morning Cartoon. But I absolutely revel in *Macross 7*'s more silly elements; it's a fun show, one of the more outlandish I've seen in recent years, yet it never really feels like it's dipping into "joke show" territory. img520(https://cdn.donmai.us/original/54/7d/547d1eb480d568ae30d9bd69d86ce9c4.jpg) The show works in large part due to it's treat of a main character, Nekki Basara. As you can begin to see in my synopsis, Nekki Basara is a *very* ridiculous character, but he works, because he's a ridiculous character for a ridiculous, very fun show. I wouldn't say he "carries" the show because there are many great elements that carry the load, but I *would* say he's a great character to carry us *into* the show. He's a young man with a very one-track mind — if there was a telepathic character, they'd go deaf the moment they tried getting into Basara's mind because they'd find themselves blasted with "Planet Dance" at ungodly decibels. What you see is largely what you get — just a guy that believes in the power of music and wants to spread his shredding guitar-backed message of love throughout the galaxy. There's not *much* in terms of development, but we certainly get a bit of it. He begins a devout pacifist and still largely is by the end, but he's more willing to accept weaponry if it's used to save others, even if it still pisses him off. In the series proper, we don't even get much of a backstory besides the fact that, as a child, Basara would sing at a mountain, believing that if he did it enough, it would move, which is in parts ridiculous, parts naively charming, and parts *so goddamned on-brand* that it actually starts to hurt a bit. The chaotic energy that radiates from this guy is such that *this* is probably the only thing a given anime fan will know of him: youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYps5fUrAWs) As someone who's watched the series, I'm pleased to tell you that's as much context as you're going to get. I've seen [two theories](https://basara-nekki.weebly.com/explaining-the-leaf-gif.html) as to the meaning of this scene (yes, I know). Reading this, it might seem like Basara's a bit generic — after all, having a dense protagonist with a one-track mind is a pretty big staple of shounen. Just replace "music" with "fighting," "becoming hokage," or whatever have you. I still think Basara ends up being more unique than not, though. For one, he's not *really* dense, at least when it comes to relationships. He might come across as this way, but I think it's moreso than he's just a really chill person who takes things in stride. It's not that he doesn't *grasp* things, it's just that he doesn't particularly acknowledge them. Furthermore, he has a surprising amount of attitude. There's a certain edge, a "bite" to Basara that you might not expect. He can be a bit of an ass to his bandmates, most notably Mylene and in general is often rude and brusque when it comes to...well, anything that doesn't involve music. And, hey, if Basara isn't quite your cup of tea, *Macross 7*'s got you covered through Gamlin, who balances out Basara excellently, essentially serving as his [Javert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNAOKyoGm8g). Gamlin's the salt to Basara's spice and his role in the love triangle that I'll get into further contrasts him with Basara, as he's [the Betty to Basara's Veronica](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BettyAndVeronica). Even if you like Basara, if you're dumbfounded at his antics, you'll no doubt empathize with the military-man Gamlin, who just wants to ensure that no one gets hurt from Basara's reckless actions. There's just something endearing about how awkward he is when he's not on a battlefield and I kind of saw myself in him in ways. He quickly and easily became my favorite character of the show as one of my [favorites overall](https://anilist.co/user/Pockeyramune919/favorites). He has some pretty good character development wherein he's brought closer to Basara's point-of-view. Mylene also serves as a good foil to Basara, getting her own bit of positive development. I can't stress how well she plays off as him. In another series, her complaining might make viewers annoyed, but in the face of Basara, nearly everything she says is justified. I liked the supporting cast in general. While it's a shame that no one else is quite as fleshed out as Mylene, Gamlin, or Basara, the cast is at least pretty colorful and I liked the other bandmates, [Rey] and [Veffidas]. It was also nice to see Max and Millia again and see how they changed. Take notes *Yashahime, *this* is how you satisfyingly utilize your existing characters while still focusing on the next generation. img520(https://gubabablog.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/7-ep-6.png?w=700) The character designs themselves also inform the tone of the show, in ways. Haruhiko Mikimoto returns as character designer following his absence in *Plus*. As always his designs are stylized, but they're particularly striking here. They're quite "loud" for a lack of better word, like the music this anime rocks and they fit in with some of the more out-there elements. Hair is notable for its wildness— Mylene's is bright pink, Gamlin rocks a haircut that's either "Wolverine" or "Devil Horns," and [Exedol](https://i.imgur.com/44fa0KF.jpg) is pretty much a giant head of broccoli. Fire Bomber's outfits are a mix between "glam rock" and "cyberpunk" — Basara has a wild spiky mane, thigh-high white boots sleeveless rubber vest with...lights, a leaf...zipper, and a fishnet vest beneath. It's the little things that Haruhiko does, too. I love Basara's glasses; they're just another thing that makes him distinct. There aren't a terrible amount of main characters with glasses in the first place, and Basara's don't pigeonhole him into a "nerd" role. The mech designs are also great. They're extremely distinct. At times, I have trouble remembering the valkyries from previous series, but that's not a problem for Basara's very striking Excalibur Custom. When the entire band of Fire Bomber gets mechs, the designs are all very colorful, team-based, and in general, super robot-esque. I loved seeing the evolution of designs we first saw in *Plus* such as the Strumvel and the aforementioned Excalibur. I feel like I'm beating around the bush the longer I hold off on talking about *Macross 7*'s music. In short, I absolutely adore its rock songs. If rock isn't your thing, this show might not be for you because not an episode goes by where Fire Bomber isn't rocking. Furthermore, Basara will sing the same song *a lot* (Planet Dance is sung *thirty-eight times*), so if you don't particularly like the songs, it *will* get grating really quickly. But I guess I'm the perfect viewer (listener?) for this show because I never got tired of the songs. It's no surprise I love the music as much as I do — after all, rock is one of my favorite genres of music and the electric guitar is my favorite instrument along with the synth. Rock always has a way to get my blood-pumping in a way that makes it hard for me to acknowledge how formulaic *Macross 7* probably is. None of the songs are particularly intricate, perhaps they're not even "objectively good,"[ but they always bring a smile on my face. *Macross 7* handles its OST in a pretty cool way. Save for the (awesome) OPs and EDs, *Macross 7* features no non-diegetic sound; everything you hear will have a source that exists in the show itself. If no one is singing or a radio isn't playing (in-show radios have played the [Torch Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liCOzDWJl58) as well as songs from II, apparently, so I'm going to say it's canon and no one can stop me), then the audio track will be completely silent. This does a good job of pushing the importance of music. Another cool thing is Mylene's voice as a backing vocal gets more prominent as the series goes on. You can definitely hear the difference when you compare "[Planet Dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C1Bh8FTlpY))" to the later "[Try Again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw58J_NlFPg)." Speaking of which just a few great tracks are "Planet Dance," "[Seventh Moon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga_aTC1MCY0)," "[Pillow Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsqX5fZOUfQ)," "[Holy Lonely Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTlio9lPUfQ)," "[Power to the Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x-ZClLqSKY)," "[My Friends](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crohJP5HMWk)," "[Remember Sixteen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNAOKyoGm8g)," and "[My Soul For You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOVaAOPoEto)." img520(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vZfa6FGFEH0/WlaGeKGcqSI/AAAAAAAAdgc/2lRcuh_C-_QSFBOgohZbkCrh7ZVy3EK-gCLcBGAs/s1600/Macross-7-Sound-Force-Valkyries.jpg) I just realized. The *Macross 7* fleet fights the Protodeviln force in space. Basara sings at them. How the hell can they hear him? You can't say "radio" because he primarily will use *speakers* to amplify his *sound waves*. *Which you can't hear because space is a vacuum, thus a piss-poor medium for—* You know what, it's *Macross 7*; thinking about it takes away from the fun. While some might decry *Macross 7* as a departure from the *Super Dimensional Fortress Macross*, which is fair, it's definitely more in style and tone and not in themes and preoccupations. The original *Macross* was all about the intersection between the power war has to alienate people and the power music has to bring people together. In using music to pacify the enemy, *Macross 7* simply heightens a theme we've seen before and the ending is peak optimistic *Macross 7* as opposed to the night-eternally pessimistic *Gundam*. Speaking of continuing the original's themes, *Macross 7*, like *SDF*, *Plus* and *technically* *II*, has a love triangle. There's actually two, with Basara-Mylene-Gamlin and Sivil-Basara-Mylene. I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it this time around. I think it's mainly because it never quite dominates the plot in ways that most love stories do (I guess it's mainly because *Basara* is part of them). It's to the point where neither is *quite* resolved, which is admittedly a bit of a con. Unlike the original, there's no payoff for this plotpoint, but hey, I suppose it's better than being annoyed over who "wins." img520(https://gubabablog.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/7-ep-27f.png?w=640) While I've praised the show to high-heaven for its silliness, the show isn't afraid to tone it down and be serious at times. There's still death even though it's not in spades and it *does* depict war even if it's not quite "War is Hell"[tv tropes]. Some of the highlights of the series are its more somber and mature moments, such as dealing with the loss of a friend or having to grapple with divorce. Fortunately, for me, at least, there really aren't many glaring flaws to *Macross 7*. Sure, there are things that aren't great, but none of them impede my enjoyment too much. One of the most common complaints I've heard levied against the show is its length. At 49 episodes, it's the longest *Macross* show, beating out the original, *SDF Macross* by thirteen episodes. I didn't really balk at the episode count; *Gundam* prepared me for shows of this length and I assumed *every* *Macross* show from this point on would be around ~50 episodes. While I agree that it didn't "need" to be this long, it doesn't feel artificially extended, which is a lot more than I can say for *SDF Macross*. Many will point to this show's "filler" that doesn't advance the plot, but for better and for worse, this largely *is* the show, so it really doesn't feel like it's at odds with what the show's trying to achieve. The length more becomes a problem if you're not completely into how the show does things. The show certainly would feel like a slog past a certain point if you dislike how formulaic it can be. *Macross 7* is certainly a dog that can be taught new tricks, but it's *also* a dog that will get its money's worth out of said tricks, doing them again and again before moving on. Episodes can really begin to blend together; something could be said about the fact that I struggled to remember when this show actually starts. The first episode, at least from what I can remember, isn't notably distinct from other early episodes other than the simple fact that it was the first. Finally the show can feel a bit long due to the pacing, or rather sort of lack thereof. You already know my deal — I never found *Macross 7* boring but given its pacing, I can see how some might. Again, it's a show that takes its sweet time, not just in plot but in the medium of said plot. Episodes are generally self-contained, without much incentive to immediately watch the next one. My sporadic viewing methods actually helped me here. My heart goes out to whoever tries to binge this their first go because it really wasn't made for it. Hell, watching an episode a day, as mandated by rewatch threads is still pushing it. The ideal way to watch this is an episode or few per week. img520(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/J08AAOSwR2RZ7WK5/s-l300.jpg) A critique I can get behind more is Basara's character. He's a hard character to get into, as he doesn't change *that* much and throughout, we're not very privy to his thoughts. I've heard Basara defended as a "force of nature" rather than a character, but I never found those types of characters satisfying, at least not in the face of actual people. Don't get me wrong, Basara's still fun as hell, I just wish they made more of an effort to explore him as a person and not a setpiece. Many characters in general feel a bit bare — Veffidas and to a lesser extent Ray come to mind. A deep character dive, this ain't. If you're a character in *Macross 7* and your name isn't Mylene or Gamlin, you're probably getting the short end of the stick. img520(https://basara-nekki.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/7/2/5472242/hey-everybody2_orig.gif) Another complaint I have is with Mylene's age. Mylene is a fourteen year old girl and the anime states this fact several times. The show proper does a pretty good job of not-sexualizing her (and bear in mind that's not praise, as having decency shouldn't be celebrated; it should be expected) but the EDs are weird in that they depict her in the shower (thankfully we don't see anything). It might make some viewers uncomfortable and I really wasn't a fan of these depictions. It's especially weird because, again, they do a good job of not sexualizing her in the show itself. Then we have the love triangle. We're reminded of Mylene's age often but we're never told of anyone else's age, so I had to look it up. Gamlin is 17, which is weird. Basara is *21* which is **weird as shit**. My rooting for Gamlin and Mylene to get together instead of her and Basara quickly went from being due to personality preference to being about *moral obligation*. I really, *really* don't know why the had to make Basara *21* and makes the entire love triangle angle very weird. And again, the love triangle is a bit frustrating because it never resolves. Syvil notably yeets off to another *galaxy*, leaving Basara-Gamlin-Mylene as the primary triangle. My headcanon is that Basara will eventually go to find her or vice-versa and Gamlin and Mylene get together. (Or Basara and Gamlin both decide not to pursue Mylene and decide to be bibros.) At the end of the day, though, I still enjoyed *Macross 7*. It has *some* of *Plus'* competence and the charm and heart of *II*, making for a very fun show, overall. img520(https://64.media.tumblr.com/865b7c117dc013abea9d6a87a6db8b18/f308da5f4898ed21-24/s540x810/2d88b9969a46d1a09d564a41932e95076cc7b01a.gifv) From my cursory look at the discussion surrounding this show, I was initially surprised to see that *Macross 7* is contentious (in the West, anyway. From what I can tell, it was an absolute smash hit in Japan, being the *Macross* show with the most spin-offs). While I now can see *how* this show is contentious, I'm still surprised at what's *not* considered contentious: *[Plus](https://anilist.co/review/7456)*. When I watched *Plus*, I assumed *that* would be the black sheep of the franchise. It's a bit unfair to single out *Macross 7* as being different. Both sequels are remarkably different from the original, just in their own unique ways, highlighting certain aspects of *SDF* and downplaying others. Both existing is a form of divergent evolution of the franchise and makes me appreciate how different each entry is. While I'm still convinced that *Plus* is the best the franchise has to offer so far, I think I like *7* more. More than the original, too. It's just, again, a very fun, unique show that affirms part of why I liked the original, but expands upon it. There's several spin-offs to *7* that I can check out. If I get around to them, I may-or-may not review them, depending on if I can say anything different about them compared to the parent show. I might look back and think I scored this too high, similar to *G Gundam*. I suspect that, much like *G Gundam*, when I think about changing it, I ultimately won't be able to. Maybe it's not an objective masterpiece but *goddamn* if it isn't awesome. 9.0/10 A- img520(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VLdnJCateo4/maxresdefault.jpg)

kinkinbeer135ml

Macross series has three elements. Those are “Song”, “Robot” and “Love Triangle”. This anime Maross 7 has those three elements as well as other Macross anime. However, Macross 7 has a very different taste from Macross Frontier and the original Macross. In the other Macross anime, the women presence is stronger. But, in Maross 7, rowdy men glamorize this anime. The battle of __Basara__, the main character in this anime, and the enemy __Guigil__ is the best bout for me. Then, I seriously love Gigile singing very much. Main characters are members of the rock band “Fire Bomber”. I feel the name “Fire Bomber” is a hilariously uncool and nostalgic and songs sung by “Fire Bomber” is corny but funny, too. Compared to the original Macross, drawing and modeling of robots are sophisticated. The main Valkyrie Frame in this anime is red and seems to express the passion of Basara. This robot name is __“VF-19 revision Excalibur Nekki-Basara-Special”__ and has the most advanced performance. However, Basara doesn’t use this Excalibur for battle but for delivering his songs. This Excalibur doesn’t fire assault bullets but speakers for delivering his singing voice. There are also characters from the original Macross. Main character __Mylene__ is their daughter. Mylene is palliative for this manful anime. Basara and Mylene are members of the rock band “Fire Bomber” and always fighting. Basara is very straightforward and inflexible. Mylene is so young and clumsy. They have those characteristics to fight each other every time. However, they are good together when they do a concert. The songs sung during a play by them are comfortable and exciting. I often get goosebumps by direction tacky but not get it in this anime. Personally, the first ending song “MY FRIENDS” is the best. __Gamlin Kizaki__ is the vertex of the triangle. He is Mylene’ s companion for formal marriage interview. He is so square at the beginning but changes little by little. The growth of him with Basara and Mylene is also noticeable. Then, __the girl with a flower bouquet__ is also cute and unmissable. I wanna give the Fighting Spirit Prize to her, too. How much longer does she take to talk with Basara and the “Fire Bomber” members? She is so unfortunate but the times of her appearance in this anime are many among all the characters. So, she sits in a subtle position whether a supporting character or a main character. I think she appears to be drawn upskirt…? After the main story finished, the side stories aired. The side stories are past events, after events and also funny compared to general anime. Macross 7 brings back memories from my youth. Enjoy.

SpiritChaser

After watching nearly all of Tomino's Gundam, and other mecha, nothing could have prepared me for the hilariously absurd approach Macross 7 took on the genre. When Basara took his Valkyrie into the battle, shot speakers at everyone, took control of his guitar shaped controls, and started singing to everyone's confusion, I knew at that point in episode 1, that this was going to be something special. Early on, his passion for singing moved me immensely, and I felt a great sense of inspiration whenever he sang out in the battles, partly because of what he stands for. I was singing along each time, and impatiently waiting for the next performance. Near the end of Dynamite, I was tearing up, because the end meant no more Basara performances. After finishing Macross 7, I abandoned my seasonal work, and went immediately into a re-watch to start making a video on this. Regardless of that reason, I would have anyways, because I wanted to see him sing again. It wasn't enough by the end. I connected with Basara on a spiritual level, screaming along the lyrics with him as he went. But most importantly, it's what he taught me. Macross 7 has so much passion in what it tries to say, that Basara touched and set my soul on fire. I saw many similarities between him and Yabuki Joe from Ashita no Joe. Basara is a difficult person for others to understand because he has a very unique point of view, and doesn't just spoon-feed you. Such as with Mylene, he wanted her to figure it out on her own, and he looked with praise and approval when she started to get it. Characters such as Ray and Veffidas get him more, and sometimes, even have to say something, so other people can understand. A determined pacifist, he tries to sing to reach the hearts of his enemies. It's similar to Minmay, but the power of his singing is so great, that it's anything but passive. Very rarely have I found a character as passionate, well written, and determined as him. His presence alone gives off a type of uplifting energy. The use of music in Macross 7 is incredibly unique. There is no "background music." The series uses the setting and characters instead. From Veffidas drumming in the background, to radios, concerts in the distance, televisions in the room, there is never a dull silence. The soundtrack... We all have our preferences, but each song, and the talent of Basara's singing, moves me with such intensity. I can't help but move to it, and clench my fist with passion. Every episode, I was waiting with anticipation to see which songs Basara would use for the set list or moment. I love the music to Revolutionary Girl Utena and Initial D, but Macross 7's music ignites my emotions in a different, yet also wonderful way. I never grew tired of hearing his music, and still listen to it a lot now. I don't know what the consensus on this anime is anywhere, but right away, I want to talk about Veffidas. A character that is very silent in the series and rarely talks. Still, she does so much while saying so little. Her character is handled so cleverly, I'd be foolish to dismiss her just because she rarely talks. A lot of the humor comes from the things she does in the background, and how she "talks" with her drumming. You can feel it. But when she talks, you know it's going to be something meaningful and critical towards the situation. Besides all this, there is a lot of reused animation here. Sometimes, the characters are drawn so terribly, I laugh and save the image. Still, this did not ruin the experience for me at all. I was surprised, because in the original Macross, I did get burnt out of Minmay singing "My boyfriend is a Pilot" so many times. As a romance, the viewers should know what to expect, as this is Macross. The love triangles, and those of many other shapes, tug the viewers back and forth. You think you know who is best for someone, and then the series tries to win you over with what another character has to offer. This year, I made it a mission to find a new favorite anime. Out of the sea of seasonal trash and older works, Macross 7 soon gave me that feeling that my favorites invoke in me. The feeling that I look for in a series, regardless of genre. That's when I not just think, but can feel, that yes, this is what I have been looking for. It happens in specific moments. It's a realization that happens, that feels like a blissful chill, when the culmination of everything the anime has done at that moment hits you during a critical moment. I placed it early into my favorites, and Basara as a favorite character. I took a chance, as sometimes this can fail when a series ends up disappointing me. However, I found something that finally gave my favorites a run for their money, and I placed it up high, only second to Joe. I could say I finally found what was I was looking for. Still, this kind of journey never ends. This can't be the end. There is more out there I must search for.