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| The Macross engages in a desperate fight for planet Earth! |
Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Love Drifts Away
Original Air Date - Macross: Apr. 24, 1983.
Written by: Ken'ichi Matsuzaki. Directed by: Noboru Ishiguro, Tatsuya Kasahara.
Robotech: Force of Arms
Original Air Date - Robotech: Apr. 9, 1985.
Story Editor: Steve Kramer. Supervising Director: Robert V. Barron.
PLOT - MACROSS:
The Zentradi fleet has surrounded Earth, with Lord Boldozaa intending to personally oversee the destruction of the humans and their dangerous protoculture. Even with Britai's forces joining the Macross, sheer numbers seem to make any defense hopeless.
Hikaru has an idea, however: asking Minmay to sing. It's a request that Capt. Global decides to use in the exact way Exsedol previously accused him of. The Macross will broadcast Minmay's songs to the enemy as a psychological weapon.
The tactic is effective, with Minmay holding a full concert throughout the fight. Even so, the Zentradi ships number in the millions, making this a desperate fight that could all too easily be humanity's last stand!
PLOT - ROBOTECH:
The Zentraedi has surrounded Earth, with Lord Dolza intending to personally oversee the destruction of the humans. Even with Breetai's forces joining the SDF-1, sheer numbers seem to make any defense hopeless.
Rick has an idea, however: asking Minmay to sing. It's request that Capt. Gloval decides to use in the exact way Exedore accused him of. The SDF-1 will broadcast her songs to the enemy as a psychological weapon.
The tactic is effective, with Minmei singing an extended ballad throughout the fight. Even so, the Zentraedi ships number in the millions, making this a desperate fight that could all too easily be humanity's last stand!
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| A confession at the end of the world: Hikaru confesses his feelings to Minmay before making an important request. |
CHARACTERS:
Hikaru finally tells Minmay that he loved her - and that is his exact phrasing, using the past tense. Telling her this frees him to finally let her go, and he even wishes her happiness with Kaifun. He is also relaxed in his late episode interactions with Misa. He rescues her against her orders, joking with her about disobeying her yet again. In effect, in this episode he's a grown-up, possibly for the first time in the series. The comparison between this Hikaru and the arrogant teen of the first few episodes is striking.
For all that Hikaru's feelings have seemed obvious to us, we learn that Minmay really was clueless. She doesn't seem entirely sure how to process Hikaru's declaration. She says, "I guess I like Kaifun," but neither that phrasing nor her tone make her sound particularly convinced. When she agrees to sing, she tells Hikaru that she's singing for him.
Robotech takes this all a step further by having Rick and Minmei say, "I love you," to each other (no past tense in the American version) before letting each other go. But in either variant, this episode sees both characters behaving more maturely than at any previous point.
Advantage: None.
NARRATION:
Robotech remains terrified of silence. The Japanese version of this episode features multiple dialogue-free stretches. Robotech fills every one of these gaps with narration. This steps up on some effective moments by not allowing story beats and images to sink in. Macross lets us properly absorb events. Robotech's narrator keeps "helpfully" chiming in to either tell us what to think or to move us on to the next plot point.
Advantage: Macross.
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| Minmay's most important concert. For the first time ever, the Robotech version of her singing is also good! |
CUTS AND ALTERATIONS:
A Farewell to Max: Hikaru makes a point of telling Max and Milia, "Don't get yourselves killed." Robotech doesn't want us to focus on the overall hopelessness of the situation, so Max and Rick just say that they'll see each other later.
Additional Flashback: Hikaru and Minmay watch when the Zentradi attack. Macross allows us to silently absorb the attack with them. Robotech doesn't trust the audience to recognize that their home is at stake, and adds flashbacks to Rick and Minmei's visit to Japan with To Be in Love playing over the scene.
Minmay's Concert vs. Minmei's Song: In Macross, Minmay sings a full concert during the battle. She runs through most of her repertoire, starting with My Boyfriend Is a Pilot as the ships take off, then moving to Shao Pao Long as the battle intensifies, and finally to Silver Moon as Hikaru descends to Earth.
Robotech's Minmei sings only one piece... but, for a change, it's a good one. The producers must have realized that this moment needed a genuinely strong song. So rather than just telling an overworked staff writer to "bang out something by lunch," they must have opened their wallets to hire an actual songwriter. The result, We Will Win, proves to be an excellent accompaniment to the Robotech version of the battle: stirring and exciting, with a timber that lends itself to action while not forgetting the human themes.
Advantage: Macross. But not by much.
INCIDENTAL MUSIC:
Macross uses Minmay's songs as incidental music for the second half of the episode. This works well, particularly the juxtaposition of the energetic Shao Pao Long against the most exciting part of the battle.
Robotech follows suit to a point, with We Will Win punctuating the fight, but it also mixes in its own incidental score. The closing minutes see the music moving back and forth between song and incidentals. This is also very well done, with well-chosen transition points and effective bridges between song and incidental tracks. It's actually rather artful, and that's not a word I use to describe Robotech's variations.
Advantage: Robotech.
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| Misa's father finally gets to fire the Big Gun. It lives up to its name. |
OVERALL ADVANTAGE: MACROSS:
A close call. We Will Win is Robotech's first song triumph. Even acknowledging a couple of lip sync mismatches, it's a great song that's extremely well used. I also quite liked the Macross version of the battle, with Macross Minmay's more versatile repertoire serving the scene well and giving more of an impression of a concert set against a potential apocalypse.
Both versions of the episode are outstanding, with it clear that the writers and producers of both versions recognized this as a key (maybe the key) episode. I would probably award a tie save for one aspect: the narration. Macross avoids the voiceover during the main body of the episode, allowing the story to unfold in its own way. Robotech can't seem bear all the moments of silence (which are there for a reason!), and so unneeded and frankly intrusive narration is slathered over these pauses, which is to the episode's detriment.
OTHER MUSINGS:
Love Drifts Away/Force of Arms is the series' biggest episode to date, and it very well may be the series' best. Though there are nine installments left, this feels like the real climax to Macross, with the culture clash that's run through the series finally deliberately used as a weapon to devastating effect.
The script is densely packed, with enough set pieces for a two-hour movie. I don't want to say too much for the sake of anyone reading this who hasn't seen the episode. I will say that Misa's father finally gets to fire his Grand Cannon, and the big gun lives up to its hype. Pretty much all the series' major elements are used here: Hikaru's not-quite relationships with both Minmay and Misa; the Zentradi/human culture clash; the conflict that's been building throughout the series. When I think about all that happens in this episode, I'm amazed how neatly it all fits into a mere 25 minutes... though that's the benefit of an episode that gets to pull the triggers that have been put in place over the course of the entire series!
The animation problems that have occasionally harmed other episodes are absent here. The battle is spectacular, exciting and devastating in equal parts. The choice to go to, essentially, an animatic when Hikaru and Misa reunite emphasizes the emotion, and their reunion is followed by final images that are simultaneously gorgeous and haunting.
In either version, this episode is a triumph. Forget that it's animated, or anime... I would rate this as legitimately very good science fiction television by the standards of any format.
Overall Rating: 10/10.
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