Macross - the 1982 science fiction anime series

November 19, 2020

Macross (マクロス Makurosu) is a science fiction anime series, mecha made by Studio Nue (leading designer, writer and mecha producer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. Macross presents a fictional history of the Earth and the human race after the year 1999, so like the story of the humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four films, six OVAs, a light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, as well as 40 video games set in the Macross universe, two crossover games and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

Within the series, the term Macross is used to refer to the main capital ship. This theme started in the original Macross, the SDF-1 Macross.

Excessive technology refers to scientific advances discovered in an alien spaceship ASS-1 (Alien Star Ship - One later renamed Super Dimension Fortress - One Macross) that crashed on South Ataria Island. Humans have been able to decode the technology to create the mecha (variable fighter and destroyer), faster-than-light space folding unit for spaceships and other advanced technologies that the series features. The first TV series was adapted into Robotech's first season in 1985, with modified content and a revised script.

Title

The title of the series comes from the name of the main human spacecraft (which is usually shortened from Super Dimension Fortress to SDF-1 Macross as it is the former). The original name of the Macross project was Battle City Megarodo (or Battle City Megaroad, as the Japanese transliteration in "L" or "R" gives the title a double meaning in reference to the plot: Megaload, referring to the spaceship containing an entire city of people and Megaroad, referring to the long journey through space to Earth); however, one of the project's sponsors, Big West Advertising, was a Shakespeare fan and wanted the series and the spaceship to be named Macbeth (マクベス, Makubesu). A compromise was made with the title Macross (マクロス, Makurosu) due to its Macbeth-like pronunciation in Japanese and because it still contained connotations to the original title. The word Macross comes from a playful combination of the prefix "macro" in reference to its enormous size compared to human vehicles (although when compared to the alien ships in the series, it is a relatively small destroyer) and the distance they have to cross.

United Nations Spacy

A Spacy Roundel
The UN Spacy (統合宇宙軍, Tōgō Uchūgun) is a fictional space military arm of the Unified Earth Government (地球統合政府, Chikyū Tōgō Seifu). It was set up by the successor of the modern United Nations to defend Earth from a possible attack by hostile aliens, and was involved in the first space war against an extraterrestrial race called the Zentradi. Subsequent UN Spacy operations expanded into interstellar colonization and general peacekeeping of out-of-world land settlements.

The term “Spacy” is a portmanteau of the terms Space and Army or Navy. Some Japanese sources also use the term Space Army, and some English-language sources use the term Space Navy, suggesting that the term is a contraction.

Variable fighters
A variable fighter (also known as a “veritech” fighter in the Robotech adaptation of the series), is one of a series of transformable aerospace fighters, primarily designed by Shoji Kawamori and Kazutaka Miyatake of Studio Nue. They are generally capable of transforming into jet / space fighters, a humanoid robot and a hybrid of the two modes, better known as a Gerwalk (Guardian). The original VF-1 Valkyrie was actually called the “Valkyrie,” but the aircraft has since been generically referred to as such in the series.

Music
Music is an integral part of nearly all Macross titles as it has significance in the behavior of a series' antagonists towards it. Musical idols also play a central role in various Macross stories. Often the protagonist will be involved in a love triangle with the musical idol of a series; in particular, Lynn Minmay.

Space fold
Space fold allows near instant travel over ultra long distances: A space fold transports a spaceship in a very short amount of time by first swapping the spaceship's position with super-dimensional space or subspace, then swapping super-dimensional space with space at destination.

According to UN first lieutenant Spacy Hayase Misa during the first space war (2009-2012) an hour passes in super dimensional space while in normal space about ten days pass. One of Macross's latest TV series, Macross Frontier, further expands this concept by introducing bending defects or dislocations, which further delay bending travel and interfere with bending communications. Also explained in Macross Frontier are the limitations of space folding, such as the geometric increase in energy requirement with the mass of the object to be folded, which prevents very large objects from being folded easily over large distances.

The act of entering the Super Dimension space is called "folding in". When you arrive at your destination, the act of leaving the Super Dimension space is called a "defold" or "fold out".

Ancient astronauts
The metatrama of the franchise centers on a supposedly extinct humanoid alien race called Protoculture (プロトカルチャー, Purotokaruchā). It was first conceptualized during pre-production of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross when the creators were researching cultural studies to develop concepts used in the plot.

According to official sources, Protoculture was the first advanced humanoid race in the universe - the advanced civilization of Protoculture began 500.000 years ago - and is the creator of Zentradi and homo sapiens. The phases of colonization led to the creation of an "Interstellar Republic", (similar to a galactic empire) covering much of the Milky Way galaxy 2800 years after the beginning of the Protoculture civilization (498.000 years ago).

Sixty years later a civil war broke out, which resulted in a rift in the Republic. One of the faction-created "super-Zentradi" forces, which was later possessed by interdimensional beings, these forces are later called "Protodeviln", which feeds on the life energy of both Protoculture and Zentradi; some of the Protocultures and Zentradi were later brainwashed in the "Supervisory Army".

The oversight army continued to fight both Protoculture and Zentradi, which led to a decrease in the Protoculture population; they revoked the primary directive banning Zentradi from attacking the Oversight Army. This, however, made the war even more intense and the Protoculture population dropped dramatically; to avoid extinction, they sowed uninhabited planets by means of pantropy and avoided any conflict as much as possible. This action included genetic engineering of homo sapiens on Earth by combining Protoculture genes with native genes; a race of “sub-protoculture” destined to prepare the Earth for a future colonization of the Protoculture. The genetic engineering crew, however, were immediately destroyed by the anti-Interstellar Republic warships.

The final blow of the war occurred because the Protoculture lost control of the Zentradi; 475.000 years ago, Protoculture was believed to be extinct. However, it was discovered that 10.000 years ago, the remnants of Protoculture came into contact with humans on the "Maya Island", genetically redesigning the native inhabitants to use the artifacts they left behind. This included the “Bird Human” bio-mecha, charged with destroying humanity if it were still at war.

Technical data and credits

Created by Studio Nue, Artland, Shoji Kawamori
Original work The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Owner : Studio Nue, Big West Frontier

Movie

Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Macross Plus: Movie Edition
Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy's Calling Me!
Macross FB 7: Hours no Uta or Kike!
Macross Frontier the Movie: The False Songstress
Macross Frontier the Movie: The Wings of Goodbye
Macross Delta the Movie: Passionate Walküre