Macross Zero

A phrase came to mind after I finished watching Macross Zero, “mind-boggling”. As in, the fight scenes were mind-boggling amazing. As in, the characters were mind-boggling shallow. As in, the plot was mind-boggling bland. As in, the character development was mind-boggling absent.

If you aren’t a Macross fanboy who absolutely needs to see everything Macross then there is one reason and one reason only to watch this OVA: the fight scenes. This is some of the best CGI work you will ever see. The fighters are wonderfully detailed and animated beautifully. Combine that with the physics-defying transforming fighters and the wonderful choreography and you get some of the best dogfights ever animated. However, aside from the beautiful art and above average music, it all goes downhill from here.

Out of the all the crap that’s left, one thing absolutely baffles me. The animation for regular scenes is absolutely terrible. For the other visual aspects to be so great it boggles the mind as to how the production company could skimp out on the regular animation. It’s like buying a Rolls Royce then deciding not to get those heated seats because you wanted to save a bit of money. There is absolutely no reason for the animation of regular scenes to be so terrible, especially when you consider that this was only a 5 episode OVA that was produced over a 2 year span.

And Macross Zero keeps going downhill from there with its stereotypical characters. You have your emotionless ace pilot who needs to find the one thing that can make him unbeatable. You have your mystical and mysterious island girl who dislikes all foreign things, and so fights with her little sister that loves them. You’ve got your teacher and student fighting for different sides making all sorts of clichéd comments to each other. It goes on and on. Of course, stereotypical characters can be overcome with good character development, but that’s also sorely lacking here. You can see the character and plot developments coming a mile away.

Speaking of the plot, I think the world has enough stories about something that wants to purify the Earth because humans are too violent. But the producers of Macross Zero obviously don’t think so. Of course, there are only so many ways this type of plot can be rehashed and the writers did not exactly create a groundbreaking interpretation. This means clichés aplenty and plot developments that can be seen a mile away.

I wish I had stayed away from Macross Zero. For the few scenes worth seeing, I would have been better off watching an AMV of this series instead of sifting through a pile of crap just to find a few rose petals.