Macross Plus' 20th Anniversary

[UN Spacy]

The first of four original video animation was originally available for sale on August 25th, 1994 on VHS.

When was the first time you saw it?

[no3Ljm]

Between 1996 to 1997. Borrowed all four episodes VHS tapes from a co-worker. He told me that it's a new Macross OAV series. I was blown away by it. Fell in love with the YF-19 at first sight. It matches the love I felt when I first saw the VF-1J/1S.

After watching it, I told my co-worker that I have no idea that there was a new series 'after' the first original series. Then He told me that there was also Macross II, so I borrowed that one too. And he started telling me Macross 7. Got excited at first since he mentioned that Max is now the captain. But when I found out the Valk with Face and Valk with Boobs... I said, nah, not too interested watching it.

[Marzan]

Watched at a double screening Macross Plus/Ghost in the Shell in my university back in...must have been 95 or 96 ( I feel old yping this). Macross Plus just blew me away (so did GITS but in a different way) and got me back into watching anime.

[Gerli]

The first of four original video animation was originally available for sale on August 25th, 1994 on VHS.

When was the first time you saw it?

1996 I think, I was still on high school then and it was a copy from the Spain version of Mangafilms (They never dubbed the other three, so I buy the American VHS's and never understanded too much the plot until I buyed a bootleg copy with spanish subs on them )

Edited August 25, 2014 by Gerli

[Jefuemon]

The first of four original video animation was originally available for sale on August 25th, 1994 on VHS.

When was the first time you saw it?

Probably September of 1994.

Was in college at that time, and one of my friends, who was a Japanese exchange student, was even more excited than me at this being released.

[Mr March]

I believe I saw Macross Plus at some point in 1995. I remember being in college at the time, living as I was in Calgary back then. Absolutely loved the 4-part series. For me, Macross Plus was the gateway back into Macross. At that time, anime was beginning to gain plenty of ground in North America. Especially since moving to a large city (I'm orginally from a small town) my friends and I began finding all kinds of new avenues of distribution for anime, from hobby shops and asian markets to mail order services and indie film houses. We were watching all kinds of anime including Mobile Police Patlabor, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Mobile Suit Gundam, Bubblegum Crisis, Appleseed, Gunbuster, Space Battleship Yamato, Heroic Legend of Arslan, Record Lodoss War, Ninja Scroll, The Vision of Escaflowne, The Five Star Stories, Vampire Hunter D, and dozens more I can't even remember now. I also managed to see the original version of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind at that time, which was the first anime I ever saw back in the 1980's when I was a very young child.

I remember Macross Plus was so confusing to me at the time, but in the best way. Until then I'd only known Macross through Robotech. I tried revisiting Robotech a few years before seeing Macross Plus, but it was terrible. Macross Plus however grabbed my interest and wouldn't let go. I loved all the new terminology like OverTechnology, Valkyrie, Battroid, etc. The leap in setting and time was so interesting and I had to know more. So i did. The rest is history.

[Mommar]

I honestly don't remember when I saw it or why, other than I was in high school. So sometime between '95 and '99. I certainly saw it on the shelf for rent many, many times at the local video rental place but for some odd reason I avoided touching it. The only thing I really do remember is I eventually saw it, that I liked the Valks (I preferred the YF-21's Fighter mode over the 19 back then) and the music. Pretty much everything else about it I wasn't fond of, however. Given the epicness of Macross, and the fact I only knew Macross up to that point through Robotech which shared that same sort of big scope, Plus felt really small and unimportant.

[Hoptimus]

Gobbled up the VHS right when they came out then in 94/95 at Suncoast. I had rewatched Macross II and my UK import Macross DYRL in preparation. LOVED Macross Plus. LOVED the Macross Plus MOVIE even more. Still my favorite Macross.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Well damn.

[David Hingtgen]

1999 I think. Bought the tapes from BestBuy's anime section.

[abbadon]

I can't remember exactly when I watched this, but it was sometime in the mid to late 90's during a boom of anime in the Philippines. I think we borrowed a copy at a store that rented out anime VHS tapes. It was the dubbed version, and me and my friends were just thrilled to see another Macross OVA after Macross II. I missed out on owning my own copy on either VHS or DVD, as well as the initial Blu-ray release. So when I heard about the Blu-ray reissue, I immediately preordered it. Excited to see it again, this time in HD!

[anime52k8]

I remember sometime around 1999, Mac+ and MacII were both being shown reguarly on a premium cable channel (HBO, Showtime, etc.) along with the first two patlabor movies and tekkaman blade 2.

[Beltane70]

I saw it about a week after it was released in Japan. I have a friend who goes to Japan on a regular basis and he bought the LD right when it came out.

[The Shade]

It was broadcast on Teletoon in Canada in the late 90's. My brother taped on VHS and loaned them to me.

I watched it all in one sitting. It was awesome!!

[MillardsLeg]

I have a really great story about Plus. I work in the animation industry in L.A. My very first job in the industry was in 1993 at Warner Brothers Animation. One of the heads of the animation division was Japanese, and he used to bring through guests from the Japanese animation industry on tours of the studio all the time. On this particular day in '93, he brought a group of about four or five...well, Japanese kids through the studio. The oldest one looked to be about 22 years old. The youngest looked about 15 or 16. He informed us that they were working on the new Macross anime. Looking at these kids, I began to think we were in for another Macross II. OVA quality, acceptable, nothing groundbreaking. (I later learned that Kawamori himself was on a tour of Edwards Air Force base out in the desert on the same day, and have seen the photos taken there in various art books!)

Back then I used to attend an anime club in Orange County called Summer Side. It was the standard 10 vhs decks hooked up to a master console type of thing. About a year after the Macross tour came through, somebody brought a Manga Entertainment promo reel to one of the meetings, and on that promo video was a trailer for Macross Plus. It's the same trailer featured as an extra on Manga's Volume 1 dvd release of Plus.

I was blown away. I took it to work that Monday, and a large-ish group watched the trailer in glorious third-gen vhs quality. They were blown away. We looked at each other, and, remembering the tour, said "Those kids did this!!"

It took me some time to warm to Macross Plus, but I now consider it to be not only my favorite iteration of Macross, but one of my favorite anime of all time.

Kind of a shame I didn't get to meet Kawamori, but I still like to share that story to this day!

[Dexter]

The first of four original video animation was originally available for sale on August 25th, 1994 on VHS.

When was the first time you saw it?My first time when I saw this video was in 1995.

[macster1971]

I remember eagerly awaiting the next part of this OAV/OVA Many years ago and then... Disaster struck!!

The last episode was delayed due to "Legal Issues" or so the Story goes!

Finally got to see it on the Big/Well Big-ish Screen at the Brixton Ritzy Cinema way back in the late 90's

Happy Days!

Watched it again recently, Still Great!! I might get the Blue Ray Box Set, The old Manga DVD'S are starting to show their age with regard to picture quality though, But not the content.

[Mr March]

I have a really great story about Plus. I work in the animation industry in L.A. My very first job in the industry was in 1993 at Warner Brothers Animation. One of the heads of the animation division was Japanese, and he used to bring through guests from the Japanese animation industry on tours of the studio all the time. On this particular day in '93, he brought a group of about four or five...well, Japanese kids through the studio. The oldest one looked to be about 22 years old. The youngest looked about 15 or 16. He informed us that they were working on the new Macross anime. Looking at these kids, I began to think we were in for another Macross II. OVA quality, acceptable, nothing groundbreaking. (I later learned that Kawamori himself was on a tour of Edwards Air Force base out in the desert on the same day, and have seen the photos taken there in various art books!)

Back then I used to attend an anime club in Orange County called Summer Side. It was the standard 10 vhs decks hooked up to a master console type of thing. About a year after the Macross tour came through, somebody brought a Manga Entertainment promo reel to one of the meetings, and on that promo video was a trailer for Macross Plus. It's the same trailer featured as an extra on Manga's Volume 1 dvd release of Plus.

I was blown away. I took it to work that Monday, and a large-ish group watched the trailer in glorious third-gen vhs quality. They were blown away. We looked at each other, and, remembering the tour, said "Those kids did this!!"

It took me some time to warm to Macross Plus, but I now consider it to be not only my favorite iteration of Macross, but one of my favorite anime of all time.

Kind of a shame I didn't get to meet Kawamori, but I still like to share that story to this day!

Wow, great story. Thanks for sharing.

[takatoys]

I remember watching the Manga promo video around 1995 in a Miami nightclub. Remember watching these promo previews: Orguss 2, Patlabor, Ninja Scroll and of course Macross Plus. As many, I was blown away by the new Macross series. Later, I found the VHS volumes at Best Buy and bought them.

[Karaoke Ninja]

Watched it for the first time a few months ago. Pretty good.

[Swoosh]

2000 summer IIRC

[MillardsLeg]

Wow, great story. Thanks for sharing.

No problem! I can't think of a better group of people to share it with!

[Checkmate]

Probably '94 too, on WoWow with no subs at all. I was living in Manila at that time and for some reason we get WoWow on cable. Saw it again, this time dubbed on DVD arpund '99.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Checkmate

[Fly'n Brian]

I first saw it at the screening that was held at Anime Expo '94. I think I placed my preorder for the 1st LD from Mikado while I was at the con.

[terry the lone wolf]

When it aired on Encore Action Channel (remember the Encore Action Channel); it aired the 1st three episodes but a few months later the fourth finally aired in a marathon with the other three. Encore used to air Macross 2, Tekkaman Blade 2, Dirty Pair, Gunsmith Cats, Bubblegum Crisis, Darkside Blues, Yoma, Cyber City Oedo, etc, etc...

[grss1982]

First saw it in the late 90's when we still had cable. But I only caught the earth battle part of the OVA between Isamu and Guld (with "Dogfight" playing in background). And did I mention that it was Japan's WOWOW channel and I did not understand a single word that was said in Japanese? +_+

BUT. IT. BLEW. ME. AWAY!

It was so influential for me that I consider M+ and GITS as the two most important pieces of anime from my childhood.

Also, to this very day, when ever I hear the song "Voices" it always makes the hair on my skin stand up.

"Dedicated to you. Our future pioneers..."

Edited September 8, 2014 by grss1982

[Penguin]

I chanced upon volume one of Macross Plus at a Rogers Video rental store in Calgary in September that year. I'd started on Macross with Robotech, especially the RPG since only half of it aired on TV in Calgary, then found a copy of the DYRL program and the LA Renditions release of Macross II at the Sentry Box, a game store (and still a major geek Mecca 20 years later) that also carried a bit of anime at the time. Macross Plus totally blew me away, and I got my comics store to get the rest of them for me. With volume 2, Yoko Kanno's music had me totally hooked.

Heh... I can still remember looking through that program and being completely confused at all the characters I recognized from Robotech in unrecognizable costumes, thinking "didn't Roy die?" The stills of the mannequins from the Minmay/Hikaru "on the town" bit had me completely bewildered.

[Apollo Leader]

Meant to have repsonded to this a few weeks ago, but better late than never!

I originally saw Macross Plus (both the OVA and Movie Editions) in 1997. I think I bought both tapes from Best Buy or Suncoast. Of course a few years later I bought the OVA and Movie Edition on DVD.

Got such a big kick from the series that I built a large rocket to commemorate my love for the show Sadly after 8 years of flying it, it took just the right kind of damage to permanently ground it. Last fall I took a jigsaw to it and Macross Plus the rocket was no more. I still have it's nosecone and some other parts. If I one day rebuild it, it will be souped up and be renamed Macross Plus+!

[MILKAUTICO]

Meant to have repsonded to this a few weeks ago, but better late than never!

I originally saw Macross Plus (both the OVA and Movie Editions) in 1997. I think I bought both tapes from Best Buy or Suncoast. Of course a few years later I bought the OVA and Movie Edition on DVD.

Got such a big kick from the series that I built a large rocket to commemorate my love for the show Sadly after 8 years of flying it, it took just the right kind of damage to permanently ground it. Last fall I took a jigsaw to it and Macross Plus the rocket was no more. I still have it's nosecone and some other parts. If I one day rebuild it, it will be souped up and be renamed Macross Plus+!

This rocket without the ghost is not Macross Plus....

Edited October 11, 2014 by MILKAUTICO