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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 |
 "--=Ugzz=-- (A "New" Fan)"Ok now here comes a review from someone who has never seen Macross, or any of the series, or any of the macross plus series. I am entirely uneducated in the Macross world of anime. But a friened of mine who is a Anime buff had this and i saw it at his house and Loved It Entirely. This movie is Amazing beginning to end. Some people complained comparing this to the seires or other macross medie. But not having anything to compare with, other then the anime titles i own (many St Fighter movies and episodes, Princes Mononoke, Akira and many others now) i loved it. This movie had everything and more that a movie should have. Great animation, Excellent voice overs. Wonderfull plot, action, drama, Everything.. and even the tail end of one of the songs is in english i believe its "do you remember love". The song also is excellent. Now on the other hand i have seen the origional version and it is better then the dubbed version. But belive me, not by that much. and personally i like not having to read the subbing. And with voice over that are as good as these i dont need subbing. They voices have great emotion and anything you would expect from a good dubbing job. I am Very Very pleased with this Amazing movie. Any anime fan should buy it. It was the 1st movie that sparked my entire anime collection and it is also the Best anime i have seen to date. "Excellent, but I don't understand all the putdowns..."I just saw Macross II: Lovers Again, and believe me, it was an excellent movie from start to finish. For those of you like me who have watched the classic Robotech series on either early morning television back in the 1980s, to a rebroadcast on the Sci-Fi channel in 1991 to Cartoon Network's airing of it, Robotech has been a classic series, and Macross II captures the spirit and essence that has made Robotech so popular. The characters, while somewhat blunt and re-used anime sterotypes, fit in well with the action - orientated universe of Macross. The music fares well with the story's simple but effective plot, nothing to the quality of Macross Plus, but decent in its own right. Yet the thing that shines about this film is the way it captured anime's classic look and feel in its beautiful renditions of space battles, gorgeous backgrounds on both land and space and creative and somewhat cute character design that is what anime is all about. I'm personally captured to this wonderful feeling, and Macross II has all of it, and (dare I say), does it better than Macross Plus. An overall excellent movie, don't miss this!  "Decent, but in no way excellent."When I first saw this movie, it was my first introduction into the world of "Macross". It wasn't as good as it could've been. But after seeing more "Macross" titles like "Macross Plus" and "Robotech" and doing a little research on this film, I quickly realized how low it really was in the world of anime. "Macross II: The Movie" (also known as "Macross II: Lovers Again") is a classic example of how a franchise can be milked out for all of its worth. Many problems plagued this movie from the start, including the overall "silliness" of the film and the "bluntness" of the characters' features (face shapes, noses, etc.) that was at the time being replaced by more sharper features in anime. The movie was originally set several years after the last "Macross" series, but because of the lackluster appeal of this movie, it was eventually discarded as an alternate universe. Although it does put out a decent effort on its part, "Macross II" somehow manages to contain a flaw in every aspect. The plot is quite original, although in the end it's one of the movie's main pitfalls. The characters, while not completely stereotypical, aren't well fleshed out and at times act like cardboard cutouts. This can be attributed to the less-than-bearable English voice acting, which often is flat, emotionless, and even laughable. I will give the film credit for one thing, however. For the English release of the movie, the invaders use the movie's original Japanese track as their "alien language," quite an original idea I have yet to see elsewhere. Even so, while I haven't seen "Macross II" in Japanese, the Japanese voice acting in the English version often at times sounds as flat as the English voice acting. The animation, while probably good enough for its time, is nothing special. Movements, particularly speaking, appear choppy and oftentimes unnatural. Even the two major factors that define a "Macross" world - fighting and music - fall short. The fighting in "Macross II", while plentiful, makes the viewer feel he's watching uninspired vintage footage. And the singing, while done rather well, consists mostly of bubblegum pop that isn't anything to talk about. All in all, "Macross II" made a decent effort yet couldn't live up to the standards of the rest of the "Macross" series. If watched on its own without any previous knowledge of the Macross universe, it might be seen in a better light. But with the name of "Macross" attached to its title, and with everything that defines a "Macross" series/movie falling short in this film, "Macross II: Lovers Again" isn't a good choice for serious anime fans.  "Entertaining anime."This movie isn't really a "movie" in the traditional sense, its really a short OVA compiled onto once DVD (complete with commercial break animations). It has generally decent animation (the most spectacular is definitely saved for last) albeit the odd frame rate drop here and there, which is survivable. The designs are great, and as for the characters, some like them, some don't, so its really a matter of taste. I personally enjoyed the main characters, they were different from the usual anime characters (eg: mysterious forgotten pasts, or recovering from flashbacks/memories etc etc), they had stronger personalities. It does have a few arguably hokey moments (as in j-pop helping them win the battles near the beginning of the movie) but those are understandable.. and are redeemed by the other 95% of the movie. As far as the english voice acting... if you don't like it.. the nice thing about DVD is that one can switch it to subtitled mode and watch it in the original japanese. If you've only seen Macross Plus this movie will explain a lot of things for you. Comparing the two.. I don't think this movie was of the same calibre as Macross Plus, but it was still very entertaining. As far as "nobody likes this movie" goes... all the friends I know who are into lots of animé and have seen this movie, enjoyed it.  "This is by FAR the worst Macross series ever.."I've watched Macross Plus and thought Macros II had the elements of being at least good as the PLUS...and BOY was I wrong. This movie probably makes one of my WORST ANIME ever list. The premise is about the main character who is this wimpy whiny cameraman/reporter who doesn't even know how to pilot a Macross.. accidently runs into a beautiful alien (cover girl) and trying his best to protect her from both sides and the event that occurs along the way (corny love triangle). ..the problem is..not only the plot and storyline is so damn annoying and repetitive, but I couldn't stand watching the main character and his wimpy persona. Main chracter in Macross series that doesn't know how to pilot... |
