Macross Dynamite 7

[areaseven]

It's time for a special Macross installment of:

Macross Dynamite 7 ( マクロス ダイナマイト７ )

Big West/Bandai Visual, 1997-1998

Not Available in the U.S.

Directed by Tetsuro Amino (Macross 7, Iria: Zeiram the Animation)

Running Time: 29 minutes per episode

Not Rated (Suggested 16-Up). Contains violence, slight nudity and suggestive HLA with a minor.

One year after the war between the Macross 7 fleet and the Protodeviln ended, Basara leaves Fire Bomber and travels to the planet Zola. There, he meets a girl named Elma, who is a big fan of Fire Bomber. It is also on this planet where he must once again use his Spiritia powers; this time, to stop an army of poachers and Elma's father Graham from killing a group of space whales travelling within the planetary system.

Story: F

It took a while for most Macross fans to accept Macross 7 as a sequel series. But in the end, the series gained a larger fan following than expected, and it ran for an unprecedented 49 episodes (13 more than the original series) plus a three-episode "encore" OAV. And, as predicted, such a huge following was followed by a sequel.

And unfortunately, like a galactic whale, it blows a big one.

Macross Dynamite 7 suffers from an overly shallow plot, but that doesn't stop there. The OAV resorts to fan service; just the wrong kind. In episode 2, Mylene is drugged by her female manager and is about to be raped. What was the whole point of that? Even worse is that we have more pointless fan service with Elma (who also happens to be underage) taking Basara for a bath (I'm not gonna explain any further, because the end of this scene is beyond tasteless). The OAV's ending will just leave fans asking WTF that was all about.

In short, Dynamite 7 is just a poor excuse to lure Macross 7 fans into coughing up more money.

Animation: A

With character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross, Gunbuster) and mecha designer Shoji Kawamori (Macross Plus, Escaflowne) reprising their stints on the TV series, Dynamite 7 boasts better artwork and animation quality than even the theatrical short Macross 7: The Galaxy Is Calling Me! GONZO Studios (Yukikaze, Last Exile) made their presence known by providing an exciting opening animation sequence, featuring various CG renderings of the Fire Valkyrie.

Soundtrack: B+

"Dynamite, Dynamite, Dynamite Explosion once again!

Dynamite, Dynamite, Dynamite Explosion once again!"

Once again, Basara urges you to listen to his song. Much like the TV series, Dynamite 7 does not have a musical score (other than recycled BGM from Macross Plus); it relies on new Fire Bomber songs like the opening theme "Dynamite Explosion," the ending theme "Parade," and the mellow ballad "Angel Voice." If you hated Fire Bomber's music in the TV series, skip this OAV.

Cast

Reprising their roles are Nobutoshi Hayashi (Guts in Berserk, Ban in GetBackers) as Basara, Tomo Sakurai (Saint Tail, Shayla-Shayla in El-Hazard) as Mylene, Takehito Koyasu (Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Il Palazzo in Excel Saga) as Gamlin, and Masashi Sugawara (Burning in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083, Kaoru in Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl) as Ray. Joining the cast are Aya Sakaguchi (Tanya in Battle Athletes, Ura in El-Hazard) as Elma, Maya Okamoto (Lamba in Dangaioh, Emma in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) as Liza, and Jouji Nakata (Alucard in Hellsing, Jack in Yukikaze) as Graham.

The Bottom Line

What a perfect way to kill the Macross 7 franchise.

Reference

Anime News Network

Edited March 12, 2005 by areaseven

[MilSpec]

Great review!

Just finished watching D7 and I actually enjoyed it though. I must be a sick, sick individual! My favourite part was the ending theme, 'Parade'. nice setting Basara to live backgrounds. Dot and the Kangaroo style!!!

[zeo-mare]

i have yet to see Macross 7 or anything of it, i held off because of all the negative things i heard i can see that my desire to see it will not be changing after reading this review. i am waiting for Agent One to post his opinion or maybe i should save him the time

No Arnold, not a great movie

chris

[lt.actionjackson]

Wow, yet another review bashing Mac7. I downloaded the first 10 eps of the series over 2 months ago and still haven't watched it. Right now I'm thinking about just freeing up the hard drive space and pretending that there is no Macross other than SDF and Plus.

[areaseven]

Wow, yet another review bashing Mac7. I downloaded the first 10 eps of the series over 2 months ago and still haven't watched it. Right now I'm thinking about just freeing up the hard drive space and pretending that there is no Macross other than SDF and Plus.

The TV series itself is an acquired taste. The first five or so episodes are hard to swallow, but the show tends to grow on you.

The Macross 7 movie The Galaxy is Calling Me! is actually very good. Most people recommend watching it before the TV series.

In saying this, my review is not against Macross 7 as a whole; it's merely against the POS excuse for a sequel to Macross 7. I suggest you watch those episodes in your hard drive before you erase them. Then you can decide for yourself if you like it or not.

[MilSpec]

I thought the Movie was very weak actually. No new songs, animation quality was barely better than the TV show and the story was uninteresting. They didn't even bother to make new opening animation. Just a tacked on episode imo. Dynamite was really something new and different at least.

[Renato]

I thought the Movie was very weak actually. No new songs, animation quality was barely better than the TV show and the story was uninteresting. They didn't even bother to make new opening animation. Just a tacked on episode imo. Dynamite was really something new and different at least.

The movie was an EXTREMELY stupid story, but it did have new songs, namely "Heart & Soul" and "Flash in the Dark". As well as that, there was an acoustic version of "Remember 16".

Personally, I felt that Dynamite was a lot less cheesier than the silly M7 Super Robots vs. giant monster style. (Although admittedly it did have its fair share of stupidity in Basara pushing the levers and controls with his guitar, and also the near-rape scene).

[MilSpec]

it did have new songs, namely "Heart & Soul" and "Flash in the Dark".  As well as that, there was an acoustic version of "Remember 16".

Yep, sorry, you're right. I just had the feeling i'd heard them all before when I watched it for the first time the other day. I think it must have been when I borrowed a friend's soundtrack years ago.

I still can't really figure out why I liked Dynamite so much. Maybe I enjoyed the lesbian scene just a little too much

Edited March 20, 2005 by MilSpec

[Radd]

While I also didn't see the point of the scene where Mylene's manager tries to rape her, it wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment of the OVA. In fact, other than a simple, but enjoyable, story, Dynamite pretty much seemed to be most of what I liked about Macross 7, minus nearly everything I hated about the series.

Gone are the glam rock costumes and Sound Force valkyries. Nowhere to be seen are the monster of the week style Protodevlin designs. Instead we get the VF-5000, the VA-3. the most excellent VF-19P, and a Diamond Force coloured VF-22.

The so-called "tasteless" bath scene seemed no more tasteless, and no more sexual for that matter, than the young Sara scene from Macross Zero.

I enjoyed Dynamite far more than "The Galaxy is Calling Me". About the only thing it was lacking that I enjoyed in the tv series was the stellar character developement, but to be fair it seemed hardless neccessary for the story they were telling, and a 49 episode tv series can almost always put forth more character developement than a significantly shorter OVA.

[Renato]

While I also didn't see the point of the scene where Mylene's manager tries to rape her, it wasn't enough to detract from my enjoyment of the OVA. In fact, other than a simple, but enjoyable, story, Dynamite pretty much seemed to be most of what I liked about Macross 7, minus nearly everything I hated about the series.

Gone are the glam rock costumes and Sound Force valkyries. Nowhere to be seen are the monster of the week style Protodevlin designs. Instead we get the VF-5000, the VA-3. the most excellent VF-19P, and a Diamond Force coloured VF-22.

The so-called "tasteless" bath scene seemed no more tasteless, and no more sexual for that matter, than the young Sara scene from Macross Zero.

I enjoyed Dynamite far more than "The Galaxy is Calling Me". About the only thing it was lacking that I enjoyed in the tv series was the stellar character developement, but to be fair it seemed hardless neccessary for the story they were telling, and a 49 episode tv series can almost always put forth more character developement than a significantly shorter OVA.

Agreed on all points. I would have enjoyed M7 a lot more if it had been done (or at least started off) the way D7 was.

As for that bathing scene, though, it just so happens that a friend of mine found a shop the other day selling lots of cels from that scene, quite cheaply. It seems no-one wants to buy cels of Nekki-d Basara (understandably)!

[areaseven]

As for that bathing scene, though, it just so happens that a friend of mine found a shop the other day selling lots of cels from that scene, quite cheaply.  It seems no-one wants to buy cels of Nekki-d Basara (understandably)! 

276229[/snapback]

The shop should just forget about selling those cels and burn them if they're worthless.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Gone are the glam rock costumes and Sound Force valkyries. Nowhere to be seen are the monster of the week style Protodevlin designs. Instead we get the VF-5000, the VA-3. the most excellent VF-19P, and a Diamond Force coloured VF-22.

 

Agreed on all points. I would have enjoyed M7 a lot more if it had been done (or at least started off) the way D7 was.

276229[/snapback]

Couldn't have said it better!!! That pretty much sums it up for me

I enjoyed the damged VT-1C with exposed internals too