Macross Frontier 01 and First Impression

More Screencaps from Macross Frontier 01

OP01: Traingler (Maaya Sakamoto) [4shared]

Macross Frontier is perhaps one of the most anticipated releases for 2008 Spring anime for two main reasons:

1. The series celebrates the 25th anniversary of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series, which ran from 1982-83; and
2. The series heralds the return of premier composer Yoko Kanno and her frequent collaborator, Gabriela Robin (whom many believe to be Kanno herself) to anime music.

There's also a third reason -- that is, the opening theme, Triangular is performed by Maaya Sakamoto [Sample], who can be said to have made a name for herself singing Kanno's songs in many anime series. (The ending theme for episodes 2 and 3 is "Diamond Crevasse" by Sheryl Nome (Megumi Nakajima)[Sample].)

I'm sure there are other reasons, but whatever they may be, there can be no doubt that Macross Frontier is the "it" series for this season.
Now I'm going to confess something astonishing. Despite the long history that the Macross universe seems to have, I don't recognize this series at all. I wasn't born yet when the first series aired, and I was not that into anime when the second series came out in 1998. So really, I have nothing to compare this new Macross to.

That's either a good thing or a bad thing. Good, because then I don't have a lot of high expectations for this anime, which, of course, means lesser disappointment if the series turns out to be not quite up to par. But bad since the hype over the new series almost did not get me. If you notice, Macross Frontier never made it to my ANIME LIST OF DOOM for this season.

Even as I knew that Yoko Kanno was going to lend her genius on the series' soundtrack, I wasn't to keen on this anime at first for several reasons.

1. I'm not really a fan of mecha;
2. High school kids saving the universe (*rolls eyes*);
3. The hype was all about this being the third Macross installment and Yoko Kanno but nothing about the plot...so I was like...meh.

But thank my innate randomness to suddenly decide to download the first episode. To put it simply: I was WOWED.
From the opening clip, the series sucks you right in. Beautiful medley of hand-drawn animation and CG, it's animation at its best. Of course, it helps that the OP song is just that right mood of hyper and rousing. Just by listening to it, you feel victorious for absolutely no reason at all. Yoko Kanno is a genius. I think I said that before.

As for episode itself, it starts with a short introduction about the where, when, why, what and how of the Macross universe. Inside the Macross Frontier (actually the name of a spaceship), the protagonist, Alto (a bishie, if I do say so myself) is trying out his, err, jet pack while miles away but still in the same spaceship, Ranka Lee, a green-haired moe girl who works at a delhi, gets the wonderful news that her brother has bought her tickets to Sheryl Nome's concert. Then, Sheryl Nome herself is shown, arriving at Macross Frontier for her concert. This is all to set up how all three characters end up in the same place at the same time even as they are, as yet, unaware of each other's existence.

From here on, the series flows like any typical high school flick. Alto, who, along with his fellow classmates from the flight academy, does some flight acrobatics as Sheryl's opener. Predictably, something goes wrong with the machines and Alto almost crash-lands right on Sheryl before the machine manages to fix itself and Alto to conveniently catch Sheryl in his arms. The show goes on and the near-accident actually becomes the highlight of the concert.

In between all this heart-stopping make-believe, the real action is going on. The fleet has detected an anomaly in the system, which turn out to be a whole swarm of alien ships. The fleet's system defense is virtually destroyed in the first wave of attack and command is forced to issue evacuation orders.

At the Sheryl Nome concert, the lights turn off and as people file out, they see a sky above them lit up by strange lights. A furious space battle ensues with delicious graphics the likes of which you can probably see only in a Star Wars movie.

It's beautiful, it's heart-stoppingly beautiful. The music is astounding. And just when everything culminates to the best part -- when Alto jumps into an abandoned variable fighter, the VF-25, to shoot at an alien ship -- the episode ends. Aargh!

But I'm sold. Expect me to blog about the coming episodes.

MORE INFO:

OFFICIAL (Japanese)
Watch Promo Vid
Anime News Network
Wikipedia
Sheryl Nome - Iteza Gogo Kuji (Don't Be Late) (Macross Frontier Insert Song)