One of the very few great mecha classic of the 80s.  Personally, I never watched it.  Or should I say never the chance to watch.  It was never broadcasted in my home country.  I don’t know for what specific reasons it’s left out.  It’s an utter shame as sources indicated to me that the series was so good that it’s ranked the same level of outstanding recognition as Gundam and Macross achieved.  After reading them, I’m guessing they’re right.

It’s that nostalgically good.

Series’ them said to be more futuristic. It’s heavy militaristic material that many fans didn’t find that most appealing.  Rather they would go for something less realistic but more emphasis on fantasy-like elements ie like mixing a bit of super robot characteristics into the real robot series.  And it’s true.  Many prefered that.  At least that’s what I’m aware of, after reading a few forums around.  Anyhow, here’s what I’ve gathered from Wikipedia.org and MyAnimelist.com.

Synopsis

The series followed a main character named Chirico Cuvie (Kiriko Kyuubi), a former special forces Armored Trooper pilot and former member of the Red Shoulder Battalion, an elite mecha force used by the Gilgamesh Confederation in its war against the Balarant Union—both interstellar nations within the distant Astragius Galaxy. Gilgamesh and Balarant had until recently been locked in a century-old galactic war whose cause was long ago forgotten. Now, the war is ending and an uneasy truce has settled.

Chirico Cuvie is suddenly transferred to a unit engaged in a suspicious mission, unaware that he is aiding to steal secrets from what appears to be his own side. Chirico is betrayed and left behind to die, but he survives, is arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, and tortured for information on their homeworld. He escapes—triggering a pursuit extending across the entire series, with Chirico hunted by the army and criminals alike as he seeks the truth behind the operation. He is driven to discover the truth of one of the objects he was assigned to retrieve in that operation: A mysterious and beautiful woman who would become his sole clue to unraveling the galactic conspiracy.

The main characters of the series take their names from the Greek alphabet. Chirico, (Japanese transliteration, “Kiriko”), is from the Greek letter “chi” (Χ). Fyanna (Fuiana) is from Greek letter “phi” (Φ), and Ypsilon (Ipushilon) from the Greek letter “upsilon” (Υ).

Here’s the opening theme video.

Characters:

“As the central character around which Votoms revolves, Chirico Cuvie is haunter by two pasts – one he cannot remember and another he cannot forget. He has no memory of his life prior to his 10th year, in which he lived on the planet Sunsa with adoptive parents who found him in a refugee center and were studying his unusual healing abilities – until they were killed in the first of many enemy invasions. Chirico witnessed their deaths, and survived burns that would have killed an ordinary human … but over the subsequent years, he proved himself to be far from ordinary. Enlisting in the Melkian army as an Armored Trooper pilot, Chirico distinguished himself in many battles against the Balarant and was transferred at age 16 to the elite Red Shoulder Battalion. There, he was scrutinized by the commanding officer, Colonel Yoran Peruzen. Peruzen had been watching Chirico for many years, and had become convinced that Chirico’s miraculous recuperative powers made him unkillable; a supreme survivor. After nearly ending Peruzen’s life, Chirico was thrown into the final battle of Sunsa. He wasn’t supposed to survive it … but he did. This was the battle that brought the Hundred Years War to an end, and the Red Shoulder Battalion was disbanded soon after. In the last ditch effort to rid himself of Chirico, Peruzen transferred him to General Albert Killy’s rogue unit for the raid on Lido. Killy’s men were instructed to kill Chirico during the operation, but Chirico’s unusual abilities made him more difficult to eliminate than anyone could guess. Caught up in events completely beyond his control, however, Chirico became a renegade – haunted both by Killy’s agents and the Melkian army. Waiting only to uncover the lies and conspiracies that surround him, Chirico makes his way across the galaxy to find him destiny. His incredible stamina and resourcefulness are the result of his unknown heritage. When this truth is uncovered, nothing will ever be the same again.” “Beautiful and mysterious, she is at the center of the conspiracy that nearly cost Chirico his life on Lido. She is many things to many people, and her evolution through various identities changes her from a living weapon to a human being. As “Proto-One,” she is the deadly killing machine she was designed to be as the first Melkian Perfect Soldier. As “The Phantom Lady,” she is a figure of mystery on the streets of Uoodo City. Chirico later gives her the name “Fyana,” and from that point she begins to develop as a person with genuine emotions. Genetically engineered by the Melkian army, her enhanced fighting abilities make her as deadly as she is captivating. What no one could have foreseen, however, was that when she first awoke in Lido and saw Chirico, her destiny would be forever linked with his. From Lido, she is abducted by the Secret Society and later sent against Chirico in battle. When she meets him face to face for the second time, she feels a strong attractions to him which eventually inspires her to defect from the Secret Society and join him on the run.”

“Her dependency on the radiation of jijirium for re-energization leads to dangerous conditions when she cannot find appropriate regenerative facilities, but when in top from she is an excellent, refined soldier, highly skilled in many forms of combat. As indicated by his codename, Ypsilon is the second Perfect Soldier, having been “born” after Proto-One. She was with Ypsilon during his awakening in the underground sections of the former Red Shoulder base on Melkia. She gave him his name, and he formed an immediate attachment to her as would a child to its mother. She first attempted to teach him gentleness, but his pre-programmed killing nature emerged despite this, much to be pleasure of Albert Killy and the other masters of the Secret Society. Under the later tutelage of Borough and Prince Kanjelman in Kummen, Ypsilon matures as a warrior. His genetically-engineered combat skills are honed to perfection, and unlike Proto-One, he remains fiercely loyal to his commanding officers. Emotionally, however, Ypsilon is still very much a child. Arrogant and egocentric, he sees himself as the ultimate in human evolution. From his first encounter with Chirico Cuvie, Ypsilon becomes obsessed with killing him, convinced that Chirico has poisoned the mind of Proto-One … and only his death will end her “confusion” about whom she really loves. This obsession increases from one bloody battle to another throughout Kummen and all the way to their final showdown on Sunsa.”

“Coconna grew up as an orphan in Uoodo City, managing to hold onto her innocence despite the crime and corruption of the streets. She tags along with Gotho and Vanilla, constantly looking for her own profit margin and throwing in her services whenever she can. She develops a searing crush on Chirico early in the series and often has to push her reluctant companions to help him when he is in trouble. Her brashness (and screeching volume) tests everyone’s patience until later episodes when she becomes useful despite her constant complaining and argumentative nature.”

Mecha Units

ATM-09-ST Codenamed ScopeDog. One of the mass-produced medium-class armored mech used by Gilgamesh Confederation to beat the Balarant Union.

ATM-09-SA Codename Scopedog II.  An upgraded version of Scopedog 1.

There’s still a lot about Votoms I don’t know really know. So this is by far the most incomplete Armored Trooper Votoms I could compile. So there’s more to contribute here in the future.

Related posts:

1. Time for old school Votoms memory recap
2. Votoms Video Promo: Upcoming in March 2010!
3. Votoms Producers: On Promo Video

Voltron Lion - Armed and ready to defend the Universe

Synopsis:

Another childhood favourite from the 80s. As mentioned from Wikipedia, the story revolves a team of 5 young lads piloting 5 powerful lion robots, each with different unique abilities whose purpose is to serve and protect Planet Arus from the evil clutches of King Zarkon, ruler of the planet Doom.  The story revolves how 5 young men dispatched by the Galaxy Alliance were supposedly to do some space exploration as part of the mission, however led them in a war-torn planet.  They were later captured by King Zarkon’s men and taken back to Planet Doom for enslavement and King Zarkon certainly takes a huge interests in ensuring every planetary conquest he seeks will result in having human enslavement counts increases.  The lads broke free, escaped on one of the enemy ships and flew back to Planet Arus, sought refuge in castle Arus and piloted the 5 lion robots to form the greatest defender of the universe, known (which we all know so well) as Voltron.  Voltron, a combined robot with 5 lions each acting as its limbs to give us a giant robot that faces any evil monsters King Zarkon’s dispatches and ultimately destroys them (and succeeded in defending Planet Arus).

The epic sounds of Voltron opening music theme/transformation sequence thrills me to the bones! :)

Here are the list of the Voltrion Lions’ heroes, mecha and villians (as sourced from Wikipedia.org)

Characters:

Keith Kogane : Commander and leader of the Voltron Force, who pilots the Black Lion that forms the bulk of Voltron. Keith wears a red uniform in the original series, and a black uniform in Voltron: The Third Dimension. Keith is a quiet individual who spends much of his time pondering his decisions, thinking up new strategies, and simply being a leader. He also has a hobby of reading books. He can often be found doing so either in the pilot’s lounge, or in his room. He seemingly cherishes Princess Allura and is thought to be somewhat protective of her; his worst fear, according to Voltron: The Third Dimension, was that she would be forced to marry the evil Prince Lotor. In the “Devil’s Due” comic series, Keith originally ran a dojo prior to being recruited by Hawkins.

Lance: Second-in-command of Voltron, who pilots the Red Lion that forms the right arm of Voltron. Lance wears a blue uniform in the original series, and a metallic red uniform in Voltron: The Third Dimension. He is a tall man, both wiry and wily, Lance is always cracking jokes and teasing others whenever he gets the chance. He is the only one in the group who contests any of Keith’s commands. He is a ladies’ man and a great pilot, though reckless at times. In the “Devil’s Due” comic series, Lance was forced into the mission to Arus due to his criminal record.

Pidge: Pidge is the youngest and smallest of the group; he pilots the Green Lion that forms the left arm of Voltron, and wears a green uniform. His home planet Balto was destroyed by nuclear missiles from King Zarkon. Pidge graduated from the academy at a young age, and his specialty is science. Like the others, he is well-trained in martial arts, and uses his size and agility to his advantage. Pidge is not afraid to speak his mind, especially to the villains. His heart is often in his words. Pidge has a twin brother, Chip, who is a member of the Vehicle Voltron Air Team.

Sven: Sven, a Norwegian pilot, was the original second-in-command. He piloted the Blue Lion and wore a black uniform at the very beginning of the series. In Episode 6, he was badly injured during an attack by Haggar, and was sent away to the planet Ebb to be healed. He was killed in the Japanese version, with his younger brother appearing later in the series. Ebb was attacked and raided by Lotor’s Forces and Sven was captured. The prison ship on which he was transferred accidentally crashed on Planet Doom where Sven went into hiding becoming a hermit within the caves. He eventually encountered Allura’s cousin from the Planet Pollux, Princess Romelle, who had been sent to the slave mines after she rejected Lotor’s advances. During Sven’s time on Planet Doom he witnessed Zarkon and Lotor’s cruelty to their slaves, which drove him to the point of madness. He recovered thanks to Romelle’s emotional support and helped her escape Doom. Sven was later reassigned to the Planet Pollux with Romelle and her brother Prince Bandor. Sven eventually fell in love with Romelle, though he was reluctant to pursue his feelings because he felt he was unworthy of her. Sven was always very quiet and reserved, and spoke only when he had something important to say. Though he may not show it, he is a very emotional person, and his heart is always leading his mind in any decision. Sven does not appear in nor is he mentioned in Voltron: The Third Dimension. Although Sven no longer pilots the Blue Lion on a regular basis after Episode 6, he continued to be featured as a pilot for the Voltron Force in the opening credits of the series while Allura appears in the closing sequence. Sven does pilot the Blue Lion into combat alongside his colleagues on one more occasion, however, during the second season episode, “Who’s Flyin’ Blue Lion.”

Princess Allura: Princess Allura of the planet Arus is the ruler of the Kingdom of Altair, as well as de facto ruler of the entire planet, and is also the object of Lotor’s affections. Daughter of the late King Alfor, Allura inherited her father’s authority on his death and is commander in chief and head of state for the planet Arus, and thus Commander Keith’s superior. However, later she takes over for Sven as the pilot of the Blue Lion that forms Voltron’s right leg, and defers to Keith during operational engagements. Allura wears a pink uniform in the original series, and a metallic blue uniform in Voltron: The Third Dimension. Though a bit naïve, especially with matters of romance, Allura is a strong-willed person, and is very capable of ruling her planet, though some like Coran and Nanny tend to doubt this ability. She is capable of invoking the dead, particularly her father, the late King Alfor. In The Third Dimension, Allura later learns special mind skills that could allow the Voltron Force to control the Lions without having to be in the cockpits, and also helps the others to learn it as well. She also has feelings for Keith.

Hunk: Hunk is the strong-man of the group, piloting the Yellow Lion that forms Voltron’s left leg. He is shown wearing an orange uniform in the original series, and a metallic yellow uniform in Voltron: The Third Dimension. He may look tough and mean, but has a soft heart, especially when it comes to children and puppies. He is never late for a meal. Though his friends tease him about his appetite, most of Hunk’s bulk is muscle. It is revealed that he eats “-’Fruit Loops’ (almost) every morning”.

Voltron Mecha:

Black Lion: Piloted by Commander Keith. Piloted by Allura in one episode. Unlike the other Lions, the Black Lion did not have a “closed” hangar. Throughout the series, it was assumed that the Black Lion’s hangar was located on the large tower fronting the castle, which was previously occupied by a winged lion statue which hid it. When the Black Lion was first activated, this statue crumbled apart to reveal it, and the Black Lion folded its seldom-used wings. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, it is shown that the winged lion statue literally morphs into the Black Lion when the lion is launched, meaning that this statue is nothing more than a disguised form of the Black Lion.

Red Lion: Piloted by Lance. by Princes Allura in one episode since Lance was using the Blue Lion to find the cure for the deadly flowers. The Red Lion’s hangar was located inside a volcano near the castle.

Green Lion: Piloted by Pidge. Piloted by Keith in its first launch, before the Black Lion was recovered. The Green Lion’s hangar was located in a forest near the castle.

Blue Lion: Piloted by Sven up to episode 6, and thereafter by Princess Allura (although Sven would return to pilot the Blue Lion on one more occasion in the second season episode “Who’s Flyin’ Blue Lion?”). Piloted in one episode each by Keith, Coran, and Nanny together, and a replacement pilot (who turned out to be an agent of Zarkon). Piloted once by Lance when he went off to a distant planet to find the cure by which to heal the Princess. Lance piloted the Blue Lion because the planet had a special magnetic field that only the Blue Lion could overcome. The Blue Lion’s hangar was located underneath the moat that surrounded the castle.

Yellow Lion: Piloted by Hunk. The Yellow Lion’s hangar was located inside a cave located in a desert near the castle. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, its hangar was redesigned to resemble a sphinx-like form instead of an ordinary cave.

Villains:

King Zarkon: King Zarkon of the Planet Doom is one of the rulers of the Drule Empire, though by no means the absolute ruler. He is constantly using others as scapegoats for his own failure, including his son Lotor. In the Japanese version, however, he is the evil ruler of his own Empire, without anybody controlling him. Where as he was killed off the japanese version of the series finale, Zarkon resurfaces in Voltron: The Third Dimension, having redeemed himself prior to his final defeat, and became a member of the Galactic Council. His redemption, however, was a ruse by which he and his son worked together to take over the alliance.

Prince Lotor: Prince Lotor is the son of Zarkon. He dislikes his father greatly, and wishes to rule in his place with Princess Allura by his side, to whom he has developed a strong and obsessive attraction. So powerful are his feelings that he is unable to even destroy a holographic image of Allura. Lotor also has an even stronger hatred with Keith, because he’s seen Allura’s love towards Keith. Because of Allura and Keith’s love, Lotor is more determined to kill Keith than any other Voltron Force member. Lotor is a very sly, smart, smooth, powerful man, who exudes force and emanates what seems to be pure evil, except when Allura is around. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, Lotor was mortally wounded in the final battle, and was converted into a cyborg after he was placed in prison. However, he escaped and perpetrated his revenge on the heroes, though he still has feelings for Allura. In the “Devil’s Due” comic series, Lotor met Allura while they were children during Zarkon’s invasion of Arus. In the comics, Lotor follows a warrior’s code of honor and sees all non-Drule life forms to be inferior.

Witch Haggar: Haggar the witch is the one responsible for creating all of the Robeasts Zarkon uses. She is notorious for using her dark magic to cast hypnotizing spells over people. Though she was once good and beautiful, she is now evil and ugly. It was Haggar who was responsible for originally splitting Voltron into five components in the American version. In the Japanese version, she is hinted to be King Zarkon’s mother thus making her Lotor’s grandmother where she was killed in the end for revealing Lotor’s true maternity. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, Haggar went into hiding after the final battle, but rejoined Lotor in his conquest schemes. They strike a deal in which, if Lotor conquers the universe, she gets the magic of the lions while he gets the universe and the lions themselves. In the “Devil’s Due” comic series, Haggar had no part in Voltron’s origin story, replaced by an ancestor of Zarkon’s, though she is well versed in it. She also attempt to brainwash Sven under Merla’s wishes

So what is about Voltron became such a cultural phenomenon during the 80s got entire North America so crazy about these mechanical feline that seemed to woo in the youngsters of all ages?

Well.. Pretty much everything.

Its story telling.  Impressive cast of characters and mecha.  Unique monsters (or Robeasts) Voltron mecha gets to face. The way how the plot captures our imagination and makes our excitement all very electrying!  It couldn’t get any better than this I realise.

There’s further hidden truths or secrets about Voltron I never realised before whilst googling it for quite some time now.  Especially this series was originally created in Japan (produced by Toei Animation under the name of Beast King GoLion) and suggested it was far more violent and has more bloods and gore.   And it suggests plenty of human cruelty acts as human slavery is the strong theme behind the series.  And how World Events Production (WEP) decides to censor and edit the entire show, rebrand it to the American audience as a different product altogether.  It intrigues me a lot and that’s something I’ll look forward to writing more about sometime in the near future.

But for now. Let’s embrace of what appears to be one of the best cartoon import series that was ever produced in our time.  I thank WEP and Toei Animations for making this happened.

Related posts:

1. Voltron – 25th Anniversary Collection Review
2. Voltron Lego
3. Miss Voltron?

One of my favourites (or everybody favourites, if you lived through the 80s) of all time. It was one of my first favourite mecha shows to watch other than Macross.

Who would have thought this long-line of Japanese toys made by Takara (aka Takara Tomy as of 2006) were reused or rehashed in this cartoon version that everybody get so much craving for? Having to learned that Takara’s toylines range Diaclone and Microman series were scooped up by Americans when American toy maker Hasbro came to see Takara at the Tokyo Toy Show in 1983. They were keen to have their toylines range because they were impressed how their scale models were designed to include humanoid figures to sit/drive in them and they’re able to transform into humanoid forms. Since Hasbro bought the rights to their product lines, the company and its key people began their marketing heavily on these as one major toy line range, hence the name “Transformers” was born. So what this evolution possible?
What started was that Takara made Microman toylines that were based on one of Japanese cyborg anime series called Henshin-Cyborg 1. The series’ popularity spawned many of these 3-inch cyborg models are that tiny many kids grew to like them so Takara made one of many great commercials on these such as below.

After its success, Takara made another spin-off of Microman series (using the same toy design development) which you have miniature size vehicles that are transformable into humanoid figures. Since then, Takara had made a number of Diaclone TV commercials in the early 80s such as this (featuring Optimus Prime in its formative days).

There are a number of countless Diaclone commercials featuring other familiar Transformers characters such as Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumble Bee just to name a few. And that’s probably the reason why Hasbro made a wise decision to have them and reinvented them into a branch so people in my generations would never forget how and why it was considered as one of the great childhood cartoon stories that’s ever produced of all time.

Henceforth, Hasbro decided to give us two distinctive factions.

Autobots Logo

Decepticon Logo

The story sets in a far away distant planet called Cybertron, and the two forces are battling out for the greater control of the planet. Autobots were fighting for peace and justice whilst Decepticons sought for power, domination and control. The battle was fought for many millennia. Several millennia later, the Autobots wanted to come up with an ultimate strategy that will end the war with Decepticons. They want to start the space exploration to find raw source of energy that will help them accomplish that goal. However, little did they aware, the plans were eavesdropped by Decepticons and so Decepticons decided to ‘join’ the exploration in their own space ship as well. Soon, once both of them caught up with each other, the intense fight took up in the Autobot spaceship. Next few brief moments, their spaceships made a collision course into the Earth’s stratosphere and Autobots crash-landed onto a volcano. All of them remained lifeless.
Four million years later, they were revived again as new technologies were invented. And Autobots and Decepticons learned to adapt the Earth’s environment and began to transforming into all sort of vehicles. Later in the series, the battle between the two forces ensues and once again the war of the Transformers resumes…
They are two great leaders of the two factions.

We have Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, seen as very honourable, compassionate, strong, pragmatic, possess strong leadership qualities and a very wise leader.

Then we have Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons, leader of the Decepticons, seen as the tyrant, vile, cunning, evil, greed for power and seeks for interplanetary domination with the final quest of eradicating all the Autobots in all galaxies, starting from our solar system.

And then you have the Autobots and Decepticons teams who follow their respective leaders, all of them share one purposeful goal of winning the Transformers war. With an impressive cast of characters, we see a large array of Autobots and Decepticons, each has a unique characteristics when they transform from robot mode into humanoid mode and vice versa.

Autobots

Dinobots

Aerialbots

Decepticons

Insecticons

Constructicons

Combaticons

Since the series ran for 98-successful episodes between 1984 and 1987, numerous toy production lines came out from the series and many new Transformers series came out such as Headmasters, Beast Wars, Machine Wars, Robots in Disguise etc etc. Transformers franchise really became a serious hit for many kids around that time and they just flocked to their toy stores like crazy buzzy bees sucking out all the last boxes of Transformers toylines to bring them home. I was like that one of them. All of the Generation Mechs were, I’m sure.

Transformer’s popularity was its raw power of attraction that has kept people for talking about it for years and generations, even after the series ended. And now we have several websites that are dedicated to these such as Transformers.com (by Hasbro), IDW Publishing, TransformersClub.com, Botcon.com and several other unofficial fansites more to come.

We’ve seen the two latest Transformers movies that’s recently came out towards the end of first decade of 2000 since Transformers: The Movie back in 1986.

And to remind ourselves that have seen Transformers G1 and recall those four seasons of episodes, here are their intros. (If you haven’t, then sit back, relax and watch the intros and I would put a recommended suggestion you get its DVD/Blue ray release.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

I remembered after the entire series ended at its fourth season, the continuity of Transformers saga went on but it was divided into a couple of streams, and one of them was produced in Japan, where they gave us The Headmasters, Super-god Masterforce, Victory and Zone. They were broadcast mostly in Japan/Asia in the later years. Looks like I have another Transformers subcategory to write into my list of mecha chronology. It’s going to be a long while.

In the meantime, let’s us rejoice the fact what is to one of the best childhood cartoon series that’s ever produced, throughout our lives. For the past, the present and the future. And it’s all thanks to this one little figurine that turn Takara’s and Hasbro’s imaginations into a reality. A reality that results in achieving incredible scale of critical success to its franchise.

Microman toylines

Related posts:

1. New Microman Film about to debut…
2. Awesome!! Got myself some cool Transformers goodies :)
3. Transformers’ long time toymaker,Hasbro Inc, reaps majors earnings from its latest film

One of the great anime legends of all time.  Such story.  Such epic.  Such fascinating story that comes with great scenes of robot-planes fighting scenes with a bit of love triangle that involves our young pilot hero, Hikaru Ichiyo who’s caught in between two women that are very important to his life.  The series captivated my former childhood’s heart and soul, at that time.  It had everything that any classic anime could attest to.  It became a grand masterpiece that any mecha fan in my time would consider as their past time favourites.  A fabulous series to watch and cherish for many years to come (which resulted a number of websites which brought up by several Macross fans all over the world to commerate them such as MacrossWorld.com and a Wiki site that looks into Macross’ universe in greater depth).

For most of you are probably aware the fact that this series has two versions of plots ie it’s catered for two countries’ audiences only.  We have the Original Macross which was geared for the Japanese mainstream public (and other Asian nations), and then we have the English version which it was retitled as ‘Robotech Masters’ that targeted for the USA market. Solely.  So how did such a great program like this ended up in two different continents of the globe with different titles yet the visual content and character development are the same?

Well.  Before we unravel the details behind this confusion, let us take the journey back to the early 80’s when robot anime became a boon for Japan (and the rest of the world).  A young Japanese student named Shoji Kawamori, who always wanted to get into animation industry to show his artistic talents and gifted-story telling abilities whilst he’s still studying in Keio University.  At the time, it was a major difficult path for him to take as he’s studying and working on the story development of Macross at the same time so expectations and responsibilities soon overwhelmed him on a day by day basis.  Nevertheless, he pushed on and decided to take this mission, as if it were a destiny for him.  During those early years of the 80’s, it wasn’t certainly easy.  But he succeeded it.  With his long time university friend, Haruhiko Mikimoto, they both worked together studiously to deliver its great epic of drama.  This success didn’t not come with one simple iteration they both worked on.  Clearly, a lot of determination and preseverance made this possible.  Getting a large mixture of geo-political warfares, a complex triangle-love romance, incredibly fast-paced robotic-plane technology, heartfelt songs/music and several memorable twists of humour was the grand scale of plan they had in store for us.  As a avid fan, I would drop my had and applaud them with great sincerity.

At this time, Shoji Kawamori looked at the Real Robot subgenre for his Macross series.  And it worked out pretty well.  After all, you notably see that a lot of his mecha were designed closely on all of VF plane fighters models. They’re based on the actual XB-70 Valkyrie, a supersonic jet bomber that used in tactical warfare developed by the Americans several decades ago.

The story revolves around a alien spacecraft that landed onto one of the Earth’s shore in 1999 and a special military organisation came to that site to discover this technology was so advanced that it could prove very useful for the human race as part of global military strategy.  They reversed-engineered the technolgy and gave it a name SDF-1 or “Super Dimension Fortress” Macross.  When this project was completed in 2009, alien in a distant galaxy happened to arrive within the Earth’s solar system and detected heat source of the missing space craft as it belongs to them.  Soon later on in the story, a space war broke out, Hikaru become a better VF-figther pilot and he eventually meet up Lynn Minmay and Misa Hayase in the most unusual relationships, we started to learn bigger truths about the alien encounters.  Aliens know as the Zentradis after capturing humans, they started to believe humans were the ancestors of their race, known as the Protoculture. Meaning that human beings are “the first extraterrestial humanoid civilization in the universe that occurred over a million years ago.  This civilization had proven leaps and bounds in terms of advanced spacy technologies they used/researched to make their race more powerful.  They invented a sub-light travel velocity in time and space continuum.  And 100 years later, Zentradi were genetically modifed thanks to the expanding influence of Proculture spread into wider colonization of the universe.  The show gathered great accolades of fanfares around Japan and Asia all over.

On the other hand, we have the American version ie Robotech, which the production company Harmony Gold had obtained the licensing rights over Macross material along with the other two (Southern Cross/Genesis Climber Mospaeda) and re-edited the story lines and linking all three of them as a chronology that talks in a complete different medium compared to the Original.  In Robotech, the Protoculture was termed

“powerful energy source, a catalyst in genetic engineering, a hallucinatory substance, and the described “lifeblood” of two different races. As the “foodstuff” and the by-product of the Flower of Life, it is used by one race, the Invid, in “finding the ultimate lifeform through the ritualistic eating.” The Robotech Masters also call it “the lifeblood of our existence,” and say their “foremost goal is to control this life force by conquering Earth” — from Wikipedia.org

Whatever that means…  It makes little sense to me how and why Harmony Gold decides to create

such incredibly convoluted plot taking 3 mecha series merged into one so-called ‘chronology’ when in fact they bear no relevance against each other.  They could have just made a direct translation of Macross story (even dubbing!)  and tell things as they are and the story made more sense to common masses of mecha fans out there, so we don’t end up having divided opinions on who’s telling what stories and what. I never figure out why the American company took down this path of producing such translation, other than betting on the possibility of making a unique adaption of it series to call their very own “Macross” saga.  I must say they were doing it pretty well with their little piece of work.

Anyway I must digress. Macross is, without a doubt, considered the greatest mecha classic of our time.  People in my generation would remember how great the film gave us the sense of gravitation and we knew how other programs would find it hard to compete with the show that had this level of magnitude of success in its reins.  The romance, eye candy, the environment, the incredible dog-fight style scenes of robot planes vs Zentradi, the wonderful designwork  of Shoji Kawamori’s VF Fighters, the heart, the politics, etc etc.  And last, but not least, the music and songs that captivated our hearts and minds that render our thoughts to enjoy everlasting tranquility and peace while humanity fights against those that threatens human ideals, and (hopefully) bring an end to war. “Ai Oboete Imasuka” – meaning “Do you remember Love?” in English.  What a great song.

It’s truly gem to hear this over and over again.  I find that its unique quality that today’s mecha anime would find it hard to compete its standards unless there’s new generation of anime artists that could surpass Shoji Kawamori.  It could happen. We just don’t know yet.

Related posts:

1. Macross: Do you remember love? – Main composer died…
2. New Exciting Macross Manga to be released in Japan
3. Macross Frontier – selected as the winner of a prestigious award at Japan SciFi Convention