Macross Zero

Despite what Macross fans may say, most Macross shows work perfectly fine as standalone anime, and while this series in particular is probably one of the strangest and most unique ways to start your Macross journey, it is certainly one of the most artistic and memorable ways to do so. From its unique art style and memorable characters, to its brilliant cinematography and battle choreography, Zero stands as a testament to anime’s ability to be serious and emotionally moving art.

Art style and Story: 10/10

Macross Zero released during a time when the anime industry still retained some of the hand drawn flair of the ... ‘90s, while it also began to rapidly incorporate CGI, 3D and digital coloring. Zero’s art style is definitely reflective of its time, but I think it actually benefits from that awkward period of artistic experimentation by being incredibly unique and outside-the-box with its approach to animation.

The artists here definitely went full experimental, with beautiful 90s style character design and detailed environments mixed in with semi-blurred CG that ends up appearing almost as if it was coated with oil paints. This is especially prevalent in some of the more movement-heavy mech scenes, where these strange stylistic (or technological) choices are mixed in with absolutely fantastic background animations. Mech battles are full of vibrant, beautiful lighting and mesmerizing rocket trails surrounding these strange CG-assisted mechs, as they blur and shift around hand-drawn environments, making every mech battle have an almost otherworldly experience.

This extremely unique and vivid mix of animation styles perfectly fits in with the themes of this series, which constantly contrasts and compares the natural with the mechanical, the pragmatic and the magical, and the unthinkable possibilities of both outer space and of ancestral times. It really left me awestruck at how this series’ obvious technological and budgetary constraints ended up contributing to so much of the shows own unique and beautiful presence, while also leading to some serious thematic consistency.

Ironically, this very strangeness is what put many people off to this Macross series, with people often complaining about Zero’s use of CG. Regardless, this is one of the few times I can honestly say that a series’ “dated” and low-res qualities are a big factor in what makes this show even more endearing in the present year. The artists worked within their limitations and still far surpassed the quality and artistry of many anime coming out in the last decade (2014-2024).

The story and the characters themselves are all very memorable, with everyone having distinct personalities and motivations. Zero rarely allows its characters to simply become the typical anime cliches, and Zero’s story has enough emotion and mystery within it to really captivate the audience throughout its duration.

I personally found the story and character relationships extremely moving, and over the course of 4 incredibly cinematic episodes, the show included some emotional and real character development despite the short runtime.

If Zero has any flaws, they are all certainly due to the shows tragically short overall run time, which amounts to one long movie, or an average 13 episode season of 20 minute episodes. I do think that the longer 30 minute runtime was a massive advantage to Zero, as well as the fact that it does not have any lengthy intro and outro songs like a traditional TV series would. I find OVA and longer formats to be highly superior due to the fact that episodes can be paced much, much more calmly and retain a certain cinematic flare.

Conclusion:
If you love mechs, or you love the more introspective and artsy anime OVA/Films like Ghost In The Shell, Patlabor 2, or even Princess Mononoke, then this is a perfect series for you, regardless of your previous experience with Macross. If you have already seen some Macross and don’t know where to start to do a full series run, I still think Zero is the best place. For me, chronological is usually king.

To conclude, Zero does a fantastic job of merging nature and technology, and also masterfully combines the tech-heavy world of Mecha with otherworldly and extraterrestrial story elements- and that is often quite difficult to do correctly (looking at you, Gundam 00). Its certainly an experience you won’t forget, and one that I believe has aged to be even better with time and hindsight.

This is not your typical Macross. There is music, missiles, and a love triangle, but the saccharine taste and the glitz has been toned way down. The characters have realistic proportions, the music is not cheery, and we're not getting a beach episode. This is the grounded Macross.

Story
I liked the story. It's the Macross take on the natives-meet-civilization tale that we've seen many times before: Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, Avatar, . . .

The setting is before the events of the first Macross. There is an alien ship/artifact on a Pacific island and the natives have a mystic relationship with it. The UN ... and the Anti-UN vie to capture it and exploit its power. The natives get caught up in the conflict and the story unfolds. Pretty fresh territory for this franchise.

I have to give them props for integrating a seemingly unrelated story into the mainline Macross series. They tie in the alien artifact, the music, and the Nomes.

That this anime is five episodes long is good and bad. It is short enough to be mostly engaging all the way through, but not long enough for twists and turns and character development.

Characters
The characters are mostly one dimensional. That's not a bad thing with an anime of this length.

We have our UN Team: Shin, our MC good guy, & Roy, Mr. Hotshot from the original Macross. Shin is a generic dud. Roy had his moments but was a minor character. There was also Aries, the scientist who was trying to learn more & exploit the natives. I like how her character started as curious and progressed to being straight-forwardly evil.

Then there is team Island: Sara, the main girl; Mao, the little sister; and the chief. They were just kind of there. Wasn't feeling them.

Then there are the Anti-UN guys: Two skilled pilots and the evil Dr. Hasford. Bad guys!

It was an average group of characters. I cheered for Shin and Sara, of course, but they didn't have great, memorable character moments. None of them did. The characterization was subdued.

Music
The music is not the standard Macross fare. Gone are the sugary pop songs, the racy rock tracks, and the dogfight montages. We get tribal music with melodic singing/humming, hand drums, and shakers. It's the island feel. I wasn't feeling it. I signed up for the pop/rock songs, the power ballads, & the little ditties. This is different.

The sound effects and voices are pretty good. Professional level. Not much to comment here. Oh yeah. The jets sound cool.

Art
It looks good. This anime doesn't look like the stereotypical anime. The characters have more realistic proportions. The hair colors are normal (mostly). The cartoony stuff is toned down a lot. I like the style. The quality of the art is good as well. Things were pretty to look at and the island setting amplified it.

The jets/mecha fights look great. The action is well directed. We get the sense of speed and G-forces. The time period was prior to the SDF discovery and technology boom so all the tech looks more like modern day. I thought that was a cool touch.

I really liked the style of the title cards. Very islandy.

They use CGI. I think it's fine for mech shows.

Enjoyment
I was expecting something more light-hearted. Instead, I got a dramatic story.

The action scenes were decent. It may be because my tastes are changing, but I got a little tired of the mech action toward the end. Much of it seemed inconsequential - the bad guy is not getting defeated by a no-name character & for all the shooting and explosions, the plot isn't pushed forward by the fighting.

I didn't have the best time with it, but I did make it through all 5 episodes.

Overall
It wasn't what I was looking for. I can see why other people would like it and how it is a nice departure from the typical Macross formula.

The positives: Decent dramatic story, nice realistic art, and decent action.

The negatives: Not my style of music, the love triangle was weak, I wasn't in the mood for something like this (I know).

Decent but not my thing.

Horribly dated CGI and photoshop animation ruins what could have been a good show. This is like the worst nightmare for 2000's CGI. Yes, the dogfights are cool, but that's only because so much stuff is happening on screen you can't focus on the terrible CGI. It constantly flips between blurry character models, super low quality models (they almost look like sprites from a 2D game), and 3D that looks worse than the original Initial D. If the original Macross movies are 10/10 then this is 0/10. Without question, this is the worst entry in the entire Macross franchise. It's quite sad that so many ... shows from the early 2000s fell into this same CGI hell.