A big part of it for me is the mecha, the VF’s are just about the sweetest transforming mecha there is.

One thing I totally think MF got right was the music and I think that helped bring a lot of new fans into it too.

Macross is about the heart and at the heart of Macross is great music and great characters

I never actually really hated Basara, I suppose is the main difference–I rarely, if ever, harbor genuine hate for a character; or, rather, there’s intra-series hate, and extra-series hate, and I rarely feel the latter. Intra-series, I might have screamed at Basara for being a, uh, “dunderhead”, but extra-series I thought he was quite awesome. I think I draw a finer line there than most people do, though–it’s also why I would scream at Sheryl for steppin’ on Ranka’s toes–and yet also liked her more as a character than Ranka. That said: RANKA ÜBER ALLES.

And, yes, Airplane! is an hour and a half, but it’s the same feeling, just shorter, for me.

And, technically, they’re still not the BEST PICTURE EVER because they lack a certain genetically defective Zentradi, but this works too–which was my MAL profile picture for the run of Macross F, iirc, but HWATEVER.

The music video aspect is certainly one of the easier parts to like — I even liked that part of Frontier, probably because it had some of the best music.

OGT:
I really should get around to installing a comment editing plugin.

while others might go “sigh, I have to survive these early episodes of Basara being as dumb as a brick to get to the GOOD STUFF”, I revel instead in the inherent ridiculousness and repetitiveness of those early episodes

I think when the time comes for me to watch a second time, I will be able to revel more effectively. But really, it’s not that much of a problem. Hating a character from the beginning and then realizing that you’ve been won over is a great feeling and proves that for all his dunderheadedness there’s something effective about Basara after all.

Let’s be fair about Airplane!, though — I’ve seen it a few dozen times, yes, but it’s an hour and a half. I think that makes a difference too.

As much as I like Ranka (she’s super cute, a great singer, and super cute), it’s more fun to accuse her of being useless. After all, her great contribution to Frontier’s plot was becoming a pawn for Grace’s fiendish plan, and she seized up like the main character in a harem at the smallest sign of trouble. I don’t play into the idea that Kawamori was trying to make a comment on “moe,” she was far too sincere a character for that. Suffice to say, she’s no Minmay, but she’ll do just fine.

As far as Best Picture and Second Best Picture go, they are really only called that for content. The omission of Ranka makes Second Best Picture incomplete.

Martin:
I need to watch Earth Girl Arjuna too — it’s on my list, somewhere.

I’ll no doubt come back later and comment further but that one statement explains why Macross is great. And yeah, Kawamori is a big hippie…which reminds me, I need to watch Earth Girl Arjuna!

@otou-san: See, you should have put the posts together into one big fangasm; I think I was more upset at Things Happening Beyond Your Control or Knowledge than anything else, so sorry for lots of navel-gazing. And I was more curious about the mindset behind it than actually trying to immolate you, so…

I don’t come to Macross expecting–or even hoping for–Legend of the Galactic Heroes with VF-line fighters. I come to Macross expecting ridiculous writing, Basara being completely befuddled as to why people aren’t listening to his song, whole stretches of episodes of nothing happening in particular (but happening awesomely), Ranka being “useless” (yes, Sheryl was better, but she wasn’t “useless” >:( ), Sheryl wearing the Chocolat outfit and chasing after panties (I don’t care if the tone and manner is different, SDF Macross was as much about fanservice as Macross Frontier was), bridge bunnies, awesome music of varying genres, Valkyries with breasts that turn into speakers, CHIBA SONG UNITS, and, yes, maybe a scene or two that makes me mist up in spite of everything–either because of THIS ITANO CIRCUS IS AWESOME or because Neko Nikki was well-placed as an ending theme.

I come expecting all these things, and I revel in them–the bad writing as much as the awesome music, the continuous use of the Protoculture as a giant plot device (I suspect they transcended the physical universe and became Minovsky particles) as much as a barrage of missiles used as a very different kind of plot device. Perhaps this is why–for me–watching Macross 7 twice (and probably, in a year or so, a third time–yes I am crazy, why do you ask?) isn’t as much of a chore, because while others might go “sigh, I have to survive these early episodes of Basara being as dumb as a brick to get to the GOOD STUFF”, I revel instead in the inherent ridiculousness and repetitiveness of those early episodes (and the inherent ridiculousness and repetitiveness of the later episodes where Basara is firing off BEAMS OF SONG ENERGY at Protodevlin). I might not give them my full attention the third time through, I might get sick of hearing Planet Dance (as awesome as that song is) again and again, but I wouldn’t feel put off–like watching Airplane! yet again (or any comedy movie that I’ve seen several dozen times), where I laugh and enjoy the same jokes, the same ridiculous setups, and Leslie Nielson imploring people to not call him Shirley, so, too, do I watch Macross (or anything else, really; fiction in general is a slave to established tropes, it’s just a matter of playing your hand well) expecting more of the same, and I’m as delighted to get the same done masterfully right (Macross Frontier) as I am to get the same done masterfully right to the point that you can hardly recognize it as “the same” unless you really think hard.

And to make all those words worth reading: full-size version of “second-best picture ever” (which, actually, I think is better drawn than “best picture ever” by your reckoning, if only because the art style in the second-best is better to my aesthetics than the one in the best) now.

The first love triangle I’ve ever seen in my life was the Misa x Hikaru x Minmei one, and it’s somehow endured for me as the most gripping one. I still think sometimes that Hikaru could have gone either way.

The Ace Pilot culture, sure Char Azanble may be larger than life but he’s beyond being a pilot. Domon Kashhiu is a super robot fighter. Amuro Ray I never really cared for. This makes the Macross Aces supreme in my eyes. Max, Miriya, Isamu, Guld, Fokker, Hikaru, Ozma, Alto, and Gamlin… they’re such awesome pilots. They make their VFs do really spectacular things – especially the characters from the earlier series.

Basara, such a godly character. I personally find him irresistable. How can one not love this guy? Charging into someone else’s fight singing “My Charging Heart of Love,” wonderfully paid tribute to by Ranka’s impromptu concert on Gallia IV when she debuted “Interstellar Flight,” these are moments that just take my breath away.

The Ace Pilot culture is thoroughly enmeshed with the music, as the flagship scenes of the franchise are for all intents and purposes music videos of dogfights and musical performances. It works, by golly it works. Isamu’s breaking through the Earth’s orbital defenses while Sharon’s ‘Information High’ is playing, Alto’s practical exams against Klan Klan while Ranka covers “My Boyfriend is a Pilot,” The Macross Quarter and the Konig Monster making their grand entrances against the Vajra while Sheryl blasts ‘Infinity’ (with Ranka too!), the wonderfully obese final battle of Macross Frontier while Ranka and Sheryl hit the “Nyan Nyan Service Medley,” and of course the iconic battle against the Bodolle Zer fleet powered by Minmei singing “Do You Remember Love?” these are obviously some of my favorite moments in anime.

Music makes a big difference, as they can make some scenes go beyond the impossible: TTGL’s final battle with “Sora Iro Days,” End of Evangelion’s Tang sequence with “Kom Susser Tod,” and when LOGH unleashes Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto are all fine examples. But Macross integrates the performance itself in whatever’s happening in the narrative, as it happens, and it’s quite special when it does.

So yes, more please. I don’t think I’ll get enough of Macross.