Macross Zero

    Macross Zero (マクロス ゼロ) is a 5 episode mecha OAV series that is part of the larger Macross narrative.  The series was released between 2002 and 2004.  It was created by the original creator of Macross, Kawamori Shoji.

     This first new Macross title since the mid 90’s takes the story back to the very first introduction of the variable fighters. Humanity has split into 2 warring factions after the large alien ship crashed into Earth, bringing with it a plethora of advanced technology that would eventually lead to the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. Before this though, the factions warred against each other for control of the alien technology and various resources.  

    The story for Zero takes place in the south pacific and brings the evils of greed and hatred to an isolated island tribe. In a first contact battle, as the UN forces are scouting out the remains of an alien/artifact, a young pilot is shot down and washes up on the island of Mayan. The pilot, Shin, awakens in the middle of a hut, bandaged up with no one around. He quickly secures a weapon, a wicked looking pointed stick, and begins to explore his surroundings. On the outskirts of the village he runs into the first villager, an elder, who calmly greets him. Soon the rest of the village appears and a beautiful young woman approaches him sternly and tells him to leave saying that he is going to bring great tragedy to their people. The woman, Sara, the tribe’s priestess, is strongly rooted to her people’s traditions and shuns all outside influences. Her younger sister, Mao, is the opposite and quickly latches onto the beleaguered Shin. Soon a dog fight erupts in the skis above the islands between the two factions. In the aftermath Sara gladly see’s Shin leave the island after being rescued.

    Shin is rejoined with his copilot and they are drafted into the elite and secretive Skull Squadron, under the command of Roy Focker and once again he finds himself back on the Mayan islands, this time escorting a scientist who is leading the search for the alien/artifact. The scientist begins ruffling Sara’s feathers as she begins to collect data about the islanders and Shin must try to smooth things over between both sides. The Mayan’s eagerly help in the research, much to Sara’s horror and she begins to see the end of the world according to their mythology being eminent. In their mythos a bird human created all and gave up its head so the people could survive. If the bird human regained his head he would begin to sing the song of destruction, thus wiping everything out. Both world factions are actually pursuing this bird human in an attempt to use it as a weapon. Shin must figure out what matters most to him, his military duty or trying to save the peaceful inhabitants of the island. He must also choose between his growing feelings for Sara and Mao’s feelings for him. As the search, and ultimate battle for control of the bird human, comes to a head the islanders find themselves caught in the middle and Sara must face her own past mistakes and try to save her people from destruction.

     This is a well done series. Some of the computer animation is a bit dated but it does not detract from the series it’s self. The soundtrack, as with all of the Macross titles since the mid 90’s, is well done and wide ranging. This one was not, however, done by Yoko Kanno. The story line it’s self is nice on the micro scale, but when it comes to the larger story line things become a bit confusion and some things are just never clarified. Unless something was missed from the original Macross lexicon, some of the terms used are a bit confusing…although I’m not one to use as an example…I kind of fell asleep during the whole massive explanation dealing with protoculture and deculture in the original Macross series way back in the day and never bothered to properly understand it. In some ways, dealing with the side characters, you feel as if you are thrown into the middle of something and you don’t know what. I don’t particularly remember anything about a 2 faction global conflict before the launch of the SDF Macross, but the original series is really fuzzy to me now a days, it’s been over 14 years since I last watched it. Or, it might be something new in the world of Macross, anyways, some stuff was confusing. 

    I think the only thing that really matters in the story is the relationships between Shin, Mao and Sara. Everything else is just background, fan service, history and set up. While short and a little rushed, the series sits well at 5 episodes, even though when it initially was being released everyone was tearing their hair out waiting 6 months between each installment. The series has been out and done for a number of years now so that is no longer an issue, what is an issue is that this has not yet been licensed in America and most likely won’t be due to weird agreements and copyrights between the Japanese holders and the American company Harmony Gold. Although with Macross Frontier broadcasting in Japan right now and a good possibility of it coming to America soon, there might be a push for Zero to come out finally as well. All in all, the series is good, its a bit depressing and sad.  I recommend it to fans of the Macross series.  People who might not be into Macross its self might enjoy it as the focus isn’t on the mecha so much. I think I need to rewatch the original Macross series’ though now...

UPDATE: As of October 2013 this series is still unavailable commercially in the United States due to the aforementioned issue between Bandai and Harmony Gold.

 

UPDATE: As of September 2023, Macross Zero has yet to be released commercially in North America.  Harmony Golds control and restriction of Macross titles being released has been lifted but this title has yet to be scheduled for distribution, instead focusing on releasing Macross Delta and redoing Macross Plus.