"Eighty years have passed on Earth since the events chronicled in Macross. The descendents of the Zentradi/Metrandi conflict have established a new society with people of Earth. The UN Spacey force has integrated Zentradi warships into its fleet, and Zentradi and humanity peacefully co-exist."
Director: Kenichi Yatagi Character design: Haruhiko Mikamoto Mecha design: Koichi Ohata, Junichi Akutsu & Jun Okuda Copyright: Big West/Macross II Project Label: Kiseki Films Language Format: English Language Volume no.: 1 2 3 Running time: 55 mins 55 mins 55 mins Certificate: 15 15 PG Catalogue no: KIS 93001 KIS 93002 KIS 93003 Price: £10.99 £10.99 £10.99 Release Date: ? 13th Dec 1993 ? Also released as a box set on 5th Dec 1994 for £29.99 (cat no: KIS 95001). All three volumes were released on an unknown date at £5.99 each, and then again in 2000 at £7.99 each Also released on video CD (cat no: KIS 96001/KIS 96002/KIS 96003) DVD version: Language Format: English Language Running time: 165 mins Label: Kiseki Films Certificate: PG Catalogue no: PAR 61106 Price: £19.99 Release Date: March 2001
The complete title of the six-episode series is "Superdimensional Fortress Macross II - Lovers Again."
MACROSS II opens about 80 years after the end of MACROSS I. The descendants of the Zentradi/Metradi conflict have established a new society with the people of Earth. The UN Spacy force has integrated Zentradi warships into its fleet, and Zentradi and humanity peacefully co-exist. Ten years previously, a wave of alien invaders has been repelled by the so-called 'Minmay Defence', which consists of projecting audible inages of idol singer Lynn Minmay into space, and thus giving the aliens culture shock and causing them to flee. This idea is put forward quite seriously in the videos. At least, it makes a charming change from large guns.
In MACROSS II the main characters are: annoying 17 year old brat TV reporter Hibiki Kanzaki, 17 year old space pilot ace Silvie Gena, and the alien 'micron' Ishtar, who looks like a young human female.
The latest wave of invaders, the Marduk, have enslaved the Zentradi, using them as soldiers. The slave soldiers are controlled through song by an 'emulator', Ishtar.
MACROSS II is rather different in 'feel' from most of the animation offered by rival label MANGA VIDEO; though produced in 1992 it's very typical of a Japanese 1980's SF space series and the relative lack of sex and violence makes it suitable for 'family' viewing. It has the usual ingredients of space anime: spaceships, giant transforming robots, futuristic settings, fast action, space battles - and pretty girls.
The appeal of the series, again like many of the older shows, seems focused on younger and less picky viewers of an age with the implausibly young principal characters. Apart from that, there is a very stylish opening animation sequence and the backgrounds generally look quite good.
While hardly an anime classic, MACROSS II is an engaging series that delivers good family entertainment. [Geoff Cowie]