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Macross II The Movie Directors: Shôji Kawamori, Shinichirô Watanabe Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Pan & Scan Format: Color, Animated Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 160 minutes Studio: Ryko Distribution - Video Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-11-28 Buy from Amazon |
 "The sequel to the beginning of the Saga from 20 years ago..."Okay, everyone's opinions seem to be clashing on this particular anime, so I might as well put my two cents in. Do you dig anime/sci-fi with epic yet rediculous plotlines like stopping a war with songs of love? Do you like gundam/macross style space battles? Do you love the often stereotyped anime main characters? Do you wish more anime had soft edges on the characters instead of the sharp lines so often seen? Do you like cool backgrounds, japanese pop and (above all) long for an animated movie longer than an hour and twenty mintues? Look no further! If you are what I consider a true anime fan, you'll love this movie. It's got everything. Epic space battles, weird plot, cool backgrounds, japanese singing, sappy motivational speeches, and a really hot alien babe the story revolves around. Don't rent it, buy it!  "This movie is Great!!"I rented this movie for vhs back in 98, and I watched it 5 times in the 3 days I had it. I bought it a few weeks later, and watched that tape a couple of times. Then I got it for dvd, and it still kicks [rear]. The picture and sound quality is excellent as well. I like the dubbing, especially for the Marduk characters, but the humans sound better in the Japanese track. Anyway, the language track goes by preference from each person. Anyway, this movie is great. It has cool villians (Marduk and Zentran), cool mech battles, and great music. The only donwside is that the subs for the characters that speak Zentran are hard subs fixed to fit the dub, so those subs won't be timed correctly with the Japanese tracks Zentran language. It isn't that bad though. Most people consider this in an alternate universe, but since it is 80 yrs later, meaning it takes place in 2092 (since that is when Space War I ended), I think it does belong in the regular universe. Anyway, I highly recommend this movie, well OVA, especially if you love Macross. Oh, and I prefer this one over Macross Plus.  "The Plan 9 of Anime!"So this isn't best anime feature in the world. Okay maybe that is an understatement. The art is dated, the subbing is awkward, and all that other jazz. But you know what? That is the best thing about this movie! It is so damn bad it is freaking hilarious, heck the opening battle scenes had me rolling on the floor with the fact they were fighting amidst holograms of dancing pop singers! And what is up with the singing? The singing is the best part! Hell I am little [irritated that] the characters didn't whip out any dance moves during their selected scores... Just try to keep a straight face when Hibiki is placed in jail and he gives his "heartfelt" speech about media censorship or whatever... Even the closing dialogue will give you big chuckle. God, what a disastrously great movie. "Extremely underrated excellence"I've been a fan of the Macross universe since the beginning of time (for the Macross Universe anyway). Recently I ran across this little gem of an anime that was bashed by almost every reviewer in professional sites. The truth is, this title not only delivers excellent animation, but also quality entertainment for all ages. The story opens with an ambitious reporter for the SNN uncovering alleged scandals drawing from his inspiration formed when he saw the war report from the first Zentraedi war. In a series of events, Hibiki, the main character, runs across an alien girl, who at first is Hibiki's "scoope" but later becomes more. As the story progressed, the movie uses the theme of love and music to begin tying up loose ends in the movie, and ultimately agrees with the proverb "Love conquers all". This movie has many underlying social comments, including human rights(or Marduk rights), handling responsibilities, government censorship of the media. All in all, this movie's animation quality is extremely well-done. The characters definitely follow the style of the Macross series. Transformations of mechas are done with extra detail. Action sequences are done with impressive cinematography complete with crisp animation and timely perspective changes, as well as excellent camera work. The English dubbing as well as the localisation of the script are not among the best in the anime genre, but they are nothing terrible either. On top of all that, if you truly do not like dubbing, you could always turn on the subtitles and switch the audio to Japanese track. There are awkward pauses every now and then, however. This movie is extremely highly recommended, and unlike most other anime DVD releases, this one actually contains a respectful amount of extra goodies outside of the featured film and previews for other animes. If you are a fan of the Macross universe, snatch this one up with extra greed in your eyes and drool in your mouth. If you're not ... well, buy it anyway... or I will tell the Marduk Emulators to sing the song of death as I unleash my Zentraedi warriors upon you... "Touching and Beautiful"When I first watched this movie I was caught by surprise that a movie with robots blowing up one another could have such a great romantic storyline-in this case a love triangle. It's appealing for those looking for great action scenes set in space and for those looking for a tear-creating storyline. Even if you have never seen any Robotech or Macross episodes, this movie sets anyone watching it out on a solid foot and doesn't loose them simply because it's all set in the future and they slowly have to explain everything anyways. The music is also very beautiful and it includes some Japanese songs translated into English. As far as the story goes, the main character being a young reporter named Hibiki, finds himself in the center of a war when he rescues a young woman named Ishtar from her ship and takes her back to Earth. Luck being against him of course that her race, the Marduk, are just interested in destroying and conquering Earth and every other planet that exists without compromise. Fortunately, Hibiki soon discovers that the Ishtar he has with him just happens to be an Emulator for the Marduk and in short is very important and indispensable to them. After an almost deadly encounter with Ishtar's previous boyfriend his sights begin to focus more on keeping Earth in one piece rather than making his last love affair jealous. If you like Gundam Wing then you should already have this movie in your collection. Definitely a collector's item, Macross II: The Movie is money well spent. |
