8.4 /10 1 Votes
90% Rotten Tomatoes Written by Shōji Kawamori Initial release 21 December 2002 Music director Kuniaki Haishima | 7.7/10 MyAnimeList Directed by Shōji Kawamori Music by Kuniaki Haishima Director Shōji Kawamori Number of episodes 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre Adventure, Mecha, Military science fiction Studio Studio Nue (production)
Satelight (animation) Released December 21, 2002 – October 2004 Characters Roy Focker, Shin Kudo, Mao Nome, Sara Nome Cast Sanae Kobayashi, Yuuka Nanri, Kenichi Suzumura, Akira Kamiya, Minami Takayama Similar Macross Plus, Macross: Do You Rememb, Super Dimensional Fortress, The Super Dimension Fortress, Coicent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Macross Zero (マクロス ゼロ, Makurosu Zero) is an anime prequel OVA to The Super Dimension Fortress Macross released for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Macross franchise during 2002 in Japan. It was created and directed by Shoji Kawamori and produced by Satelight.
Contents
- Premise
- Characters
- Production
- Soundtrack
- English release possibilities
- All That VF Macross 25th Anniversary Air Show Zero Edition
- References
Premise
Macross Zero is set in 2008 A.D., one year before the events of the original Macross series, depicting the final battles of the U.N. Wars between the U.N. Spacy and the Anti-UN forces, and is also set in the South Pacific, where a gigantic alien spaceship crash landed 9 years earlier. Amidst the violence, a U.N. Spacy F-14 KAI pilot named Shin Kudo is attacked by a strange enemy aircraft that can transform itself into a robot. Crash landing on Mayan Island he learns that this remote island and its peaceful native inhabitants hold a great secret linking them to the alien space ship and would become the focus of the war, whether they like it or not. Shin eventually returns to his carrier fleet and joins the Skull Squadron, who also operate brand new transforming fighters, the VF-0 Phoenix. He trains and engages Anti-UN forces operating from a converted ballistic missile submarine as both sides fight to locate and control alien artifacts, with the peaceful and agrarian Mayan caught in the middle of the war.
Characters
Production
The OVA was released in 2002 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Macross franchise in Japan. New mechanical designs inspired by those of the first Macross series were developed by Shoji Kawamori and Junya Ishikagi, while mecha and sci-fi illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin worked as an animation artist for the CGI mecha action sequences.
Soundtrack
Composed by Kuniaki Haishima, the OVA's soundtrack is orchestral with some tribal influences. One track, titled "VF-Zero", borrows a section of "Klendathu Drop" by Basil Poledouris, from the Starship Troopers soundtrack. The ending theme for episodes 1 and 5 is "Arkan" (which means "star" in the fictional Mayan language), performed by Holy Raz. "Life Song", the ending theme for episode 2, is by Yen Chang and Holy Raz. Yuuka Nanri performs the episode 3 ending theme "Yanyan".
Two volumes of the soundtrack were released in Japan by Victor Entertainment.
English release possibilities
As of 2013, there are no plans to officially release the series in English due to legal concerns with the Macross copyright, including but not limited to the original series. According to Tommy Yune of Harmony Gold USA (sub-licensor of the original Macross series and merchandising rights of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? outside Japan), the company would have been "willing to let the deal go through" for a possible release by A.D. Vision.
According to the Japanese company Big West, it (along with Studio Nue, the creators of Macross) is the "copyright owner of all character" designs of the original Macross series, and through that, other Macross products.
All That VF - Macross 25th Anniversary Air Show (Zero Edition)
Coinciding with both the 25th Anniversary of Macross and the Blu-ray releases of volume one of both Macross Zero and Macross Frontier, the official website of Macross Frontier posted two newly animated short films featuring Air Show style demonstrations for both series. People who purchased the first pressings of either Macross Zero or Macross Frontier received a unique code to enter into the website and therefore able to watch the short film of the respective anime.
The music track for this clip was an excerpt from an orchestral track of Macross Frontier titled "Vital Force" composed by Yoko Kanno.