MacrossReviews

Macross Ep. 2: Countdown

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Summary

The Zentradi attack on South Ataria Island pauses briefly. Global wants Roy and his squad to return, but they are in the middle of a dogfight. Vanessa reports that enemy forces are entering the atmosphere, and Global orders Misa to dispatch helicopters to investigate. She informs him that she already has dispatched the helicopters. Near the Nyan-Nyan Chinese restaurant, everyone watches Hikaru’s Valkyrie and wonders if it is an alien mecha. Minmay’s cousin Yoshio runs across the street, and Minmay scolds him for running in front of the mecha. Yoshio wants to look at the mecha, so they go up to Minmay’s room. Hikaru gets out of the Valkyrie and asks Minmay what the Valkyrie looks like. He has no clue why it turns into a mecha, and a truck driver tells him to get out of the way. Two Sea Sergeant helicopters approach the ocean and are destroyed by the Zentradi Regult battle pods. Global sees that the Zentradi want to surround the island. The government official comes to bridge and orders Global to launch. Global notes that the ship isn’t outfitted, and the politician tells him to launch into space and dock with the ARMD carriers. As everyone on the bridge listens in, Shammy realizes she doesn’t want to go into space anymore. With no other choice, Global orders the ship to takeoff. As the ship rises, the gravity control system breaks away from the ship instead of lifting it up. The Macross crashes on the island again, and Global thinks it is a terrible ship. Hikaru tries to move the Valkyrie, but he puts too much thrust into it and crashes into Minmay’s room. Luckily, Minmay and Yoshio are safe. Several trucks pull the Valkyrie out of the restaurant, and it crashes into another building. Roy calls Misa on the bridge to report that the enemy air forces have been destroyed. He asks her where Hikaru’s Valkyrie is, and she tells him it crashed into the city earlier. She asks what the deal is with that pilot, and Roy promises to explain later. He breaks away from his squad and searches the city until he finds Hikaru. He’s glad to see that Hikaru is alive, and he prepares to land.

Roy lands and transforms his Valkyrie into Battroid mode. Hikaru asks why the Valkyries transform into mecha, and Roy says it is a secret. He begins repairs on Hikaru’s Valkyrie so that it becomes flight worthy In space, Britai orders his ships to begin firing at South Ataria Island. The Regult squads surround South Ataria Island to prevent any escape. Roy and Hikaru both stare at Minmay as she and her family evacuate to a shelter, and they transform to GERWALK mode and take off. Minmay remembers she left something at home and runs off. The Zentradi ships begin their barrage from orbit, and Macross City is devastated. Roy is worried about Minmay, so he and Hikaru decide to look for her. The Regult squads begin their attack and many Valkyries are caught in firefights. Roy destroys a Regult pod attacking Minmay and tells Hikaru to watch her. As more pods attack, Roy provides cover fire while Hikaru grabs Minmay with the Valkyrie’s hand and takes off. Roy asks how everything is, and Hikaru says he’s fine. Roy says he doesn’t care about him and only wants to make sure that Minmay is safe. Hikaru remembers that the plane is a two seater, and he thinks of he can get Minmay inside. A Regult attacks him, and he flies high in the air to avoid the missiles. His Valkyrie is attacked in the air, and the arm holding Minmay breaks off. As she freefalls through the air, Hikaru dives in after her and manages to get her in the cockpit. They return to the ground, and she thanks him for saving her. She sees that her hair is a mess, and when Hikaru asks her if her hair is more important than her life, she jokes that it’s her hair. As Hikaru laughs, he slams into a Regult and crashes into the ground. When he stands up, he starts firing at the Regult until his gun pod runs out of ammo. To his shock, a giant man gets out of the Regult and approaches him. Roy kills the soldier and tells Hikaru that the Valkyries were built to fight those giants. He is quite surprised that they look like humans. Misa calls Roy and tells him to fly escort for the Macross. The ship’s rocket engines, which were built on Earth, activate and begin lifting the ship. Roy takes off, but Hikaru is frozen in shock over what he has seen.

Commentary

This episode continues on the cliffhanger from the first one. Hikaru has gone on quite a wild ride, but it’s far from over. He expected to just hang out with Roy and see fireworks, but this is far different. What a coincidence that his path of destruction through the city leads him right to Minmay’s house. Both he and Roy show what perverts they are by again staring at Minmay’s legs. She’s the right age for Hikaru, but she’s definitely too young for Roy. The Zentradi press their attack here, and this is the first time we get to see their Regult battle pods (aka the ‘chicken legs’) in action. Now that the Macross has taken off after one blundered attempt, it’s off to space to fight the Zentradi. Of course, nothing in that battle will go as planned either.

Original Review: May 1, 2000

Overall Rating
4/5
Macross Info


Director:
Noboru Ishiguro

Writer(s):
Hiroshi Ohnogi
Shoji Kawamori
Noboru Ishiguro
Sukehiro Tomita
Kenichi Matsuzaki

Mechanical Designer(s):
Shoji Kawamori
Kazutaka Miyatake

Character Designer:
Haruhiko Mikimoto

Musical Composer:
Kentaroh Haneda

Format:
36 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 10.03.1982 – 06.26.1983

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