Short summary: A young but experienced navy pilot named Shin Kidou with the rank of ensign is fighting in the middle of a world war. As Shin and his co-pilot Edgar La Salle’s plane was blown, both of them managed to escape but he was drifted away to a small island, he encounters a stunningly beautiful and technophobic priestess, Sara Nome and her energetic and bright little sister, Mao. While staying on the island for awhile, he forms an innocent friendship with Mao who, unlike Sara, was enthusiastically interested in the lifestyle of the modern world and has a crush on him. Sara is still wary of him. Later on, Roy Focker leads a squadron of brand-new Valkyrie fighters to battle the enemy squadrons above the island. Realizing Mao was in danger, Shin goes to rescue her only to see an incredible machine that transforms into a man. Later he has rejoined his military and meets Major Roy Focker. He was overjoyed to see Edgar was alive. Shin conducts his training session in his new Valkyrie fighter plane under Roy’s instruction for a short time before he was assigned to bring Roy’s old flame to the island where he runs into two Nome sisters again. Shin and Sara argued with each other on some issues, especially whether to allow or to forbid the Mayan inhabitants’ blood to be taken by Aries. Sara favors against taking the people’s blood while Shin asks the natives to decide for themselves. But as Shin and Sara continue to converse more smoothly with each other, they soon fell in love with each other. Sara’s Mayan island was under attack by the anti-unification forces again. When Sara and Aries were kidnapped during the attack, Roy and Shin mount their jets to rescue their damsels in distress. At tat time, Sara was so shocked seeing Shin die, she gave up hope in mankind’s ability to change. She even decided to allow the alien power destroy Earth even though her sister is still alive.

Shin and Roy engaged in a fierce battle and somehow won but at a high cost. Shin managed to convince Sara that he was alive. Aries was killed and Sara gave up her life essence to end the mysterious alien life force’s global threat. Sara’s life essence still remained with Shin enough to miraculously pilot his disabled and inoperative plane.


My opinions:

The animation is superb, innovative and gorgeous, the oceanscapes as well as landscapes are lush and beautiful, the battle scenes are entertaining, the character designs of girls are attractive and cute as ever and the storyline is enjoyable. Even if you aren’t a Macross fan and don’t understand scientific jumbo-mumbo concerning the aliens’ connection to the Mayan legends, you might enjoy this excellent anime. Furthermore, it is good to see Roy back in action. Shin and Sara have such a lovely intimate bond. His relationship with Mao is hardly romantic at all and he has absolutely no interest in her although she has a strong crush on him. In fact, she kissed Shin on the mouth. Sara and Shin’s relationship is a thoroughly interesting one. Overall, I'll say this is an excellent anime with awesome visual effects/animation worth watching.

Rating:

(Review written by Ichirou Ohgami)