It’s Friday once again and here’s another anime Pocket Review for ya!

Buy the soundtrack

Positive Experience/Entertaining? This series was a tremendous amount of fun and at times was even moving.

Technically any good? This series represents the best of everything the Macross saga has to offer–the best music, the best animation, the best acting (not that previous acting was bad) and probably even the best writing. This is a series that is one-part sequel, one-part remake, one-part homage to everything that has led up to it. Viewers new to the franchise will probably have no trouble enjoying this series without having any previous knowledge–the story stands very much on its own, though more than a few references will be missed without having seen what has come before.

Meanwhile, old fans of the Macross universe will see a lot of great callbacks to the original Macross and Macross 7, as well. However, the score is composed by musical genius Yoko Kanno, which means that even covers of the very dated and cheesy music from both previous Macross series sound incredible (yes, even Kanno-san’s cover of “Watashi No Kare Wa Piloto” pretty much rocks). The story holds up pretty nicely, though the wrap-up is a bit too neat for my personal tastes. Of course, the acting is as solid as ever thanks to the Japanese taking their cartoons seriously. :) I should probably stop bagging on western dubs since I haven’t watched one in ages. Then again, I did try to watch a few minutes of Christian Bale as Howl in Howl’s Moving Castle and I couldn’t help but cringe.

How did it leave me feeling? Definitely happy. The series ends with an amazing homage to the Macross universe as a whole and really made me feel bad to see it all finished. The good news is that there has been a Macross Frontier movie announced, though I haven’t heard if it’s going to be a remake of the series or a sequel to it, or both (the Japanese have done all three at times). My hope is for the sequel–I fell in love with these characters. There are also two more Macross titles to review, so be back here next Friday for my review of Macross II followed by Macross Zero which, while made earlier, reside at either end of the Macross timeline.

Final Rating? GSN – Go See Now – this is a classic anime crowd-pleaser, but also works well to please the purist. After finishing this up, I had a hard time going back to older anime, both for quality and story. It felt like going from caviar to tuna fish in a can. Still, I love seafood, so it’s cool. ^_^

Sadly, Macross Frontier has yet to see an American release. However, you can pick up Kanno’s score from Amazon.com if you have $50 laying around. T_T