What does everyone think of Macross II?

[nemesis_trooper]

other than the music (which was great) and the VF-2SS (a close second behind VF-25 for me) i really liked Lord Feff's red battroid. That suit looked seriously evil ! Wish MII caught on, just so some company would produce the VF-2ss and the Marduk mecha!

[TheLoneWolf]

When I first saw Macross II back in '93 I was extremely disappointed. At the time, it was the first true Macross sequel and my expectations for it were very high, needless to say I wasn't too happy with the outcome. I rewatched it again 2 years ago and found myself liking it more. That's probably because Plus satiated my need for a good Macross sequel, so I'm now able to judge MII solely on its merits rather than what I think it should be.

It's still no masterpiece, but it's okay. I love the character & mecha designs as well as the music, but the story was uneventful. It borrowed too much from SDF and DYRL, I got the impression that the writer(s) were afraid to stray too far from the original Macross formula and decided to play it "safe." The media censorship and inept military themes were refreshing, but the writers underplayed them IMO.

[Jeid]

I'd sort of want to see MII remade, maybe as a longer properly-budgeted OVA. I actually don't think it'd be hard to adapt it for the official timeline if some of the details were abandoned (like the numbering schemes and depiction of Earth/Earth's defenses) and revised to match the timeline proper. Heck, they could even recycle the Mikimoto character designs.

But that'll never happen. Unless Frontier explodes off the charts and they go clamoring for quick ways to make more, and even then I'm not sure it's likely.

Edited April 15, 2008 by Jeid

[Skullsixx]

I tried to watch it and lost interest.

[Exsedol]

always like to pose the question to those who dismiss the Mac II story as a rehash of DYRL to prove it...

DYRL was the movie version of macross released within the macross universe. I've heard Macross II is a sequel to that movie also within the macross universe. I've also heard it takes place in another dimension which is just a lame way of dismissing it as nothing. The reality is it was released for fun and I believe it hit the mark.

[Zinjo]

DYRL was the movie version of macross released within the macross universe. I've heard Macross II is a sequel to that movie also within the macross universe.

That doesn't make it a rehash, it makes it a sequel... Thus different...

[Exsedol]

That doesn't make it a rehash, it makes it a sequel... Thus different...

Hehe True. You can tell they were drinking from the DYRL well during the entire production

[Sergorn]

DYRL was the movie version of macross released within the macross universe. I've heard Macross II is a sequel to that movie also within the macross universe.

Heh. I know Macross II has been officially booted the "parralel universe" category since Shoji Kawamori and Studio NUE didn't work on it - but personally I've always liked thinking that it could just be a fictious sequel done to DYRL in the Macross universe. After all we do sci-fi films all the time - so it's not far-fetched to think that someone in the Macross universe could have come up with a fictious alien invasion and made a series out of it And besides there some Macross II song in Macross 7 - so you could argue Macross II must exist somewhere inthe Macross universe

On a related note - has there a been a remaster DVD version of Macross II ?I bought the Manga Video DVD when it was released in France, but the image quality was kinda meh... and with a dubtitle to boot We actually had another DVD release at the same time but it was even worse : a VHS Dump with no subtile for the Japanese version.

-Sergorn

[Sorata]

Well I admit in the past I didnt like Macross II as much as I do now. I bought it when it came out just cause it had the name Macross in it. It was so-so to me then. But as I got older I came to appreciate it on its own merits. I was pleased with the look and equipment of the VF-2SS but not so with the VF-2J. I thought the VF-2SS pilot suits were better than the flight suits used in SDF Macross, Macross DYRL, Plus and Frontier. I still am not a fan of any of the UN capital ships and any other of their mecha and Variables in the animation, the same goes for the Marduk mecha like Feff's. It felt like the designs were too un-Macross, more in line with a Gundam or Dark Super Robot 80s series. As for characters the only ones I appreciated from a design point was Silvie and Ishtar (pre-haircut god that hair cut was awful).

I agree with Sergorn I would like a rerelease of it or at the least a good source of a raw of it as the foreign releases suffer from degraded images compaired to the Japan release.

[Zinjo]

There is a special edition(?) release that came out around the same as the Perfect Edition of DYRL, if I recall. It had new Mikimoto cover art and still sells for about 8000 Yen on YHJ. With all the 25th anniversary releases going on now, we may well see a remastered version coming out before the end of the year...

Afterall Bandai is re-issuing the 1/100 VF-2SS, so a DVD release could well be in the works.

[Warmaker]

I think a similiar Macross II thread was in the Model or Toys subforum a while back.

Anyways... I've watched Macross II twice. Once from a friend's VHS English dub copy. Another in Japanese with subs (my traditional realm, subbed anime).

There are a few good things with Macross II.

- Character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto

- VF-2SS

- UN Spacy uniforms

- Silvie Gina

That's about it.

The negatives?

- The story didn't make any impression on me. A bit underwhelming, especially since I was eagerly anticipating anything Macross related in the 90s. So I didn't know the existence of DYRL? and FB2012.

- I utterly despised Hibiki. Not as bad as the Guld and Isamu from Macross Plus, but I still hate him and found him quite annoying. It was too bad he was the main character just like Isamu, so the irritation permeated throughout the show.

- They blew up the SDF-1. W...T...H...? Probably to make a statement, or make the story seem more important than it really was. I noticed the same thing with Star Wars books where they kill off Chewbacca to lend weight to a story arc of theirs.

- The *ahem* love that (abruptly) "blossoms" between Silvie and Hibiki towards the end of the show. It came out of nowhere, so suddenly. Like a bolt of lightning out of a bright, sunny day with clear blue skies.

[Exsedol]

Heh. I know Macross II has been officially booted the "parralel universe" category since Shoji Kawamori and Studio NUE didn't work on it - but personally I've always liked thinking that it could just be a fictious sequel done to DYRL in the Macross universe.

Exactly hehe

[jasgripen]

The story was rushed and could have been expanded to more episodes. Personally, it's much better compared to Mac 7 with all of that basara and fire bomber crap. Atleast in macross II you get decent valkyrie action and explosions. See mac 7 and your see the same cheap action sequence.

o yeah, episode 4 with all the macross cannons and white ox and firebolt units launching was great.