Summary

The Mardook continue to pound the U.N. Spacy forces and move closer to Earth. U.N. Spacy begins to evacuate civilians to underground shelters, but they still make it seem as though the situation is firmly in their control. Sylvie walks down a hallway and attacks two MPs escorting Hibiki. As they drive away, she tells him that they’re heading to the Macross because there’s nothing more that U.N. Spacy can do. Hibiki wonders how they can use the Macross against the entire Mardook fleet, and Sylvie explains that she only intends to destroy Ingues’ mothership. Ishtar lands her shuttle in a forest and heads for the Macross on foot. In space, the Faerie Team fights off an overwhelming number of Powered Suits and Battle Pods. Nexx smashes into a Mardook ship with the Metal Siren and fires off enough missiles to destroy the ship from the inside. Exxegran calls Nexx and orders him to fall back and take command of a Macross Cannon. Nexx objects because he doesn’t want to leave an opening in their defenses, but Exxegran tells him they are gambling for the fate of Earth. More Mardook ships de-fold near Earth, including Ingues’ mothership. Across the capital city, U.N. Spacy deploys several types of Destroids to prepare the ground defenses. Sylvie and Hibiki arrive at the Macross and begin activating its bridge systems. As the Mardook fleet enters the atmosphere, the Destroids on the ground unleash a barrage of fire on their aerial attackers. As the Macross‘ systems boot up, Sylvie asks Hibiki to call Exxegran so that she can get tactical information on Ingues’ flagship. He asks if U.N. Spacy is part of the plan, and she tells him that only Exxegran knows about it. Ishtar arrives at the Macross and has a look at Macross City. She sees that people used to live there and believes she can still feel their love song. Exxegran receives Sylvie’s message and tells her that the Mardook fleet is now in the atmosphere. With the Macross fully charged, Sylvie initiates the launch sequence and the old ship begins to slowly take off.

U.N. Spacy officers and the civilians are all shocked to see the Macross launching. Ingues zooms in on a picture of the Macross and wonders how much power such a small ship could have. The Macross charges and fires its main cannon at the Mardook fleet. Several ships are destroyed, but Ingues’ mothership is barely scratched. He laughs and says that the Macross cannot be the Alus. He is given the coordinated of the Macross to counterattack, but he says it doesn’t matter because everything on Earth will be destroyed. The battle continues, and U.N. Spacy headquarters is destroyed. Sylvie is shocked by their failure and wishes that U.N. Spacy had listened to her earlier. Hibiki says that that’s how people are because they’re selfish, lazy and never realize things until it’s too late. Hibiki then kisses Sylvie and tells her it’s not too late for them. Ishtar reveals herself and says that love is the power of the Alus. In space, the two remaining Macross Cannons launch with Nexx in command. Ishtar tells Hibiki and Sylvie that the power of the Macross is to bring people together as it did for the three of them. Ishtar then addresses all the Mardook ships and tells them that they must not destroy Earth because to destroy is to be without culture. The fighting pauses, and Ingues begins to destroy ships that refuse to fight. He then fires at the Macross and destroys most of the ship, leaving only the bridge. More and more Emulators refuse to sing the Song of Death and ask Ingues to stop, but he destroys them. Ishtar still believes in the Macross and begins to sing “Love You Once More.” As her song spreads, the Emulators begin to understand. Nexx has both of the Macross Cannons fire at Ingues’ mothership. Feff can bear no more of Ingues’ cruelty and turns on him. All the Mardook ships begin firing at the mothership and destroy it. Three days later, U.N. Spacy signs a peace treaty with the Mardook, and Wendy sings to mark the occasion. Ishtar says goodbye to Sylvie because she wants to show culture to all the Mardook. Hibiki gives Ishtar an SNN laptop as a present. Ishtar tells Sylvie she was a good rival and asks her to take care of Hibiki. As she leaves with Feff, Hibiki tells Sylvie that it is also their duty to create culture.

Commentary

So that’s the end of the first sequel to Macross. In essence, this series is a compact 6 episode version of the war from the original series. Although some bits are different, I would have liked for the love triangle to resolve differently. Hibiki spent a lot of time with Ishtar and it would’ve made more sense for him to end up with Ishtar rather than Sylvie. With Hibiki and Sylvie having found love, I guess Nexx is left out in the cold, although he still has the Faerie Team as fans. The one dimensional Ingues is defeated by the power of love (along with the combined firepower of thousands of ships). This series could have benefited from a higher episode count and more variation from the original Macross storyline, but at the very least it captures the classic Macross aesthetic that is missing from some of the later productions.

Original Review: May 1, 2000

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Macross II Info

Director(s):
Kenichi Yatagai
Ken’ichi Yatsuya

Writer(s):
Sukehiro Tomita
Manabu Nakamura
Eitakeshi Arii

Mechanical Designer(s):
Koichi Ohata
Hitoshi Fukuchi
Kazumi Fujita
Junichi Akutsu
Atsushi Okuda

Character Designer:
Haruhiko Mikimoto

Musical Composer:
Shiro Sagisu

Format:
6 episodes

Video Release:
Japan 05.21.1992 – 11.21.1992
U.S. 10.28.1992 – 02.10.1993

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