Malaysian Macross Frontier Movie Review (DVD)

[Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX]

Someone had asked me to do a review of this when my copy was in hand and I had seen it.

EDIT: I have recently realized that the shower scene was cut for unknown reasons from this version, as such I cannot recommend you buy.

1)Packaging is your standard Malaysian affair, hologram stickers and Malaysian government seals. One nice thing is that the packaging art is in nice high detail and the pictures do not look pixelated at all unlike others. It has a dvd case and a high gloss slip in cover, both of which have the same art. The slip on cover has a metal effect over top of the lettering that looks quite sharp. For a DVD of questionable origins I feel that it has a great presentation.

2)Menu's are non animated however look clean. The only options are Subtitles, play and scene selection. Subtitles are English, Malay and Chinese. The scene windows in scene selection are animated.

3) English translation was about what you would expect. For the first minute when Alto has his monologue while floating in space there are no subtitles at all. They kick in once the narrative about the history of the colony vessels starts. Having seen Macross Frontier TV (also a Malay "import" which I feel had marginally better subtitles)I had no difficulty understanding the plot, though I am sure some subtleties were lost on me. If there was an official English translation released (and for Zero and DYRL) I would snap them up in a second. Knowing the odd Japanese word was helpful when the subtitles had some ambiguity, but I think someone with no Japanese and no Macross Frontier would be able to follow this.

4) The video is clean, not high def (obviously), and probably not as sharp as it could have been if it had an official North American DVD release.

5) The only "Extra" of note would be that it does include at the end of the credits the preview for "The Wings of Goodbye", or as the movie puts it "The End Part Wings" (Hey, I never said all the translations were great )

Final: So for those of us that enjoy having a hard copy of our Macross, I give this version the nod until something better comes around with the caveat that if ever a legitimate North American release comes out (yeah right) you should purchase that. It is not perfect, but it will do for now.

As for the movie itself...I am in the camp that prefers the series. Spoilers below.

Pro's:

1) Brera's new costume

2) I liked the new songs mostly

3) Sheryl's first concert was cool, and I agree it did give me a small Mac Plus vibe. The set piece for her second concert was really neat as well. I liked how the sails were screens.

4) The fanservice despite what others have said was no worse then the series (I am not a fan of Fanservice BTW)As a matter of fact, most of the stupid gags were reused anyway. In the same vein, the "vampire" Sheryl was way more subtle then some people made it out to be. I wouldn't have even noticed it really if it wasn't for all the spoilers I read before the movie.

5) The backgrounds were nice.

6) I had read about all the reused footage from battles and actually had a hard time noticing too much. Mind you I have only watched Frontier TV 3 times. At least if wasn't kicking me in the face with how obvious it was

(I am looking at you Mac 7)

7) The smaller yellow Vajra seemed so much more ferocious instead of just cannon fodder for the big red ones.

Neither Pro nor Con:

1)I would have preferred more new tech. The tornado was decent, but still lacking compared to the already existing VF-25S armoured. The new Giant purple Lasers (someone is going to give me the correct name I am sure) on the battleships were really cool. The effect for the Macross Cannon was good but disappointing that it didn't do any damage initally. I thought the new green Vajra bug was pretty cool too. Maybe I am greedy, but more tech would have been better. (I refuse to count the segway.

2)No Nanase. Didn't really notice or care, though that could have been because there was such limited Luca on screen.

3)Klan Klan at school. Don't care, it was only one scene anyway, I did like how she was less child like when micronized.

Cons:

I am beginning to think Kawamori should not make "movies". Other then DYRL I always prefer his series. Mac Plus, Escaflowne, and now Mac Frontier.

1) Nothing really new here but the pacing was blistering fast. He should have cut more and expanded the best of what he kept. If it isn't the series, don't try to make it into the series.

2)The "plot" was a even more strange then the series. They suspect Sheryl as a spy because she came from the Galaxy and they were attacked when she came? Is that really all you got? Is she the only person currently on Frontier who is originally from the Galaxy? Wouldn't the Galaxy choose someone more low profile and less busy with concerts to do their spying? Maybe i am missing something in my poorly translated copy, but I find their "evidence" circumstantial at best.

3) What is with the lack of a clearly defined bad guy? Arguably the Vajra could be considered as such because we are not sure what their motives are but Macross history often repeats itself so most likely they will be merely misunderstood once the next movie comes out (like in the series). But now Grace isn't good or bad? Leon is just an adviser to the president? Kawamori should leave the "no black of white, only shades of grey" to people like Miyazaki who are better at it. Sharon Apple, Bodolza, Ingus, Grace and Leon (TV Frontier) and Dr. Crazy from Zero were all bad guys that needed stopping. I know there is another movie to come which might give us an archetype to hate, but for now I think it made the movie suffer as the storytelling wasn't good enough to support a "no one is really bad" type plot.

4)Again, I know there is a second movie, but since it does not yet exist, the lack of explanation for Sheryl and Ranka's powers is not encouraging.

In conclusion, while not a bad movie, it is no DYRL. I heard a poster saying they were going to get their brother to watch it in order to get them into Frontier..I would just get my brother to watch the first few episodes of Frontier and that would be enough to get him hooked, I'd be afraid the bad parts of the movie would turn him off of a great series.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX

[frothymug]

Yeah, perhaps having someone watch eps 1-7 to get the gist of what's going on. The only thing that they'd question is who the hell Brera is since he only makes a very brief appearance in episode 7.

[e_jacob77]

HI all,

Jebus, are u a columnist? Haha.. Nice review, an a VERY welcomed one as well!! Makes the ebay pick up alot easier on the 'ole noggin...

THANX again!

Eric J.

[Zinjo]

I was not aware Malaysia were given an official license??

[Karakhighway]

Hei.. Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX

Where you brought this? From Animetech or Speedy Video?

[thegunny]

I was not aware Malaysia were given an official license??

They haven't. Malaysia is the home of "official" knock off's.

I can remember when the very first Batman movie came out they were selling videos that looked like the real thing, so called seals and all but it turned out to be a copy of a video someone took in the cinema with a hand held camera