Macross Zero
Macross Zero
Macross Zero (マクロス ゼロ,Makurosu Zero)
Production
Producer
Director
Story & Script
Character Design
Mechanical Designer
Art Director
Music
Publisher
Release
Japanese
Number of Episodes
Synopsis[]
Macross Zero is set in 2008, one year before the events of the originalMacross series, depicting the final battles of theUnification Wars between theUnited Nations Military and theAnti-U.N. Forces, and is also set in the South Pacific, where a gigantic alien spaceship crash, designated ASS-1, landed nine years earlier. Amidst the violence, a U.N. MilitaryF-14A+Kai Super Tomcat pilot namedShin Kudō is attacked by a strange enemy aircraft that can transform itself into a robot. Crash landing on a Mayan Island, he meets two sisters, the stern priestessSara Nome and the free-spiritedMao Nome. Shin soon learns that this remote island and its peaceful native inhabitants hold a great secret linking them to the mysteriousProtoculture alien space ship and would become the focus of the war, whether they like it or not.
Meanwhile,Aries Turner, a researcher working for theUnited Nations Military, is obsessed with proving her mentor,Dr. Hasford's "Human Protoculture Intervention" hypothesis, hoping to answer mankind's accelerated evolution as a species. Shin eventually returns to hiscarrier fleet and joins theSkull Squadron, headed byRoy Focker, who also operate brand new transforming fighters, theVF-0 Phoenix. He trains and engages the eliteAnti-U.N.SV-51 fighter unit led byD.D. Ivanov and Nora Polyansky, and operating from theAuerstädt, a converted ballistic missile submarine, as both sides fight to locate and control alien "Bird Human" relic, with the peaceful and agrarian Mayan caught in the middle of the war.[1]
Episodes[]
Number | Episode Title | Japanese | |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | (海と風と) | ||
2. | The Ground's Star | (地上の星) | |
3. | The Blue Fight to the Death | (蒼き死闘) | |
4. | Jungle | (密林) | |
5. | Bird Human | (鳥の人) |
Characters[]
U.N. Spacy[]
Anti-U.N. Forces[]
Maya Island[]
Mechanic[]
United Nations Military[]
U.N. Navy[]
Purple Flight[]
U.N. Spacy[]
Skull Flight[]
Anti-U.N. Forces[]
Development[]
Macross Zero was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of theMacross series. The story is set in 2008, seven months before the war with the alienZentradi, in the Mayan Island somewhere in the South Pacific. The conflict centers between technologically superior world and traditional civilization, along with the secret of humanity's creation.
Considering that the originalSuper Dimension Fortress Macross is set in the near future of 2009, this work traces back to the series' past in an attempt to depict the fictional Macross setting during a transition period of global conflict. DirectorShōji Kawamori wanted to mix real world aircraft such as the US Navy's F-14 Tomcat and MiG-29 with the series' fantasticalvariable fighters (VF), despite the fact that the F-14 was officially retired on September 22, 2006 (it was however still in active duty with the Iranian Air Force in 2018).
Kawamori originally envisagedMacross Zero to be a series of short stories involving development of the variable fighter, set in an island in the South Pacific. However, the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States occurred during location hunting, and and it was decided to refrain from fully depicting a military style scenario, so Kawamori it change to a more "mythical style" with a focus on ancient folklore.[2] In addition, Kawamori at the time became interested with humanity's connection to nature after he had worked on the 2001 animeEarth Girl Arjuna, in fact there are three references to that anime throughoutMacross Zero, even a cameo of Arjuna on a TV the islanders are watching in episode 3.
The original annoucement of the project said it would depict "a story that has been redacted from the chronology of Macross".[3] Kawamori's inspiration came from classified incidents in United States' history that were "deleted" from historical record and would not be revealed to the public for at least fifty years. The story would slowly be forgotten and remembered only as rumors or legend.[4]
Macross Frontier, set in A.D. 2059, retconned this information by describing that the events depicted inMacross Zero actually did occur in July 2008. The in-universe explanation is that theNew United Nations Government finally released confidential records regarding the existence of Mayan Island Incident and the development of theVF-0 Phoenix. This is done by having an in-universe film adaptation of the life of Shin Kudo.Frontier's tenth episode, "Legend of Zero" has the cast producing the movie "The Bird Human", with the hopes that it would become a widely known to the public. The film ironically castedRanka Lee for the role ofMao Nome.
This particularMacross Frontier shares the motif with other Macross works in that the events depicted in each Macross series are all produced within the "fictional world of Macross".
3DCG[]
Macross Zero is the first in the series to fully utilize 3DCG, althoughMacross Plus did use CG in certain sequences, along withMacross VF-X2.
Kawamori's studioSatelight handled the OVA's CG sequences, having proven themselves withEarth Girl Arjuna. In order to distinguish itself from the CG style of 2002'sSentou Yousei Yukikaze, they decided to apply a detailed texture map on their CG models that would make look similar to Hasegawa's model kits. IllustratorHidetaka Tenjin was involved in the process of adjusting the color tone and lighting to achieve an authentic look.
In order to reproduce the iconic "Itano Circus" in CG,Ichiro Itano served as a special supervisor and guided production of the mecha action. Meanwhile, the fighter aircraft's 3DCG tried to imitate the traditional animation by not interpolating between key frames automatically for a seamless feel with the traditional animation. Many CG cuts also took the mechanical specifications of VF-0 into consideration to allow for a convincing transformation sequence. They even included a tracking control system that locks on targets by following the pilot's eye movement, something that would be adopted by every modern Macross' series following this.
Sequences that could not be convincingly depicted in 3DCG used regular hand-drawn animation.[5]
Release[]
- Macross Zero Chapter 1 "The Ocean, The Wind, And..." - Released on December 21, 2002 (BCBA - 1332)
- Macross Zero Chapter 2 "The Star Of The Surface" - Released on May 23, 2003 (BCBA - 1333)
- Macross Zero Chapter 3 "Blue And Desperate Battle" - Released on November 28, 2003 (BCBA - 1334)
- Macross Zero Chapter 4 "Jungle" - Released on May 28, 2004 (BCBA - 1335)
- Macross Zero final chapter "Bird-Human" Release on October 22, 2004 (BCBA-1336)
- Macross Zero Blu-ray Disc BOX - ReleaseD on August 22, 2008 (BCXA - 0062)
Staff[]
- Original · Director · Mechanic Design - Shōji Kawamori
- Screenplay - Hiroshi Ōnogi
- Character design - Takuya Saito
- Roy Focker Original Design - Miki Himoto
- Special Feature Director - Ichiro Ishino
- Mechanic design - Junya Ishigaki
- Bird Human Design - Miyatake Kazuki , Okama (last chapter only)
- Mechanic Art - Hidetaka Tenjin
- Main Title Design - Makoto Kamada
- Art Director - Ota Odori
- Art Setting - Akihiro Hirasawa
- Color Design - Shigenobu Haiko
- Photography - Yuji Maeda
- Editing - Yasuaki Takeuchi
- Music - Kunimi Kagejima
- Acoustic Director - Masanobe Minami
- Produce - Onishi Crest, Takanashi Takanashi
- Production Producer - Shinichi Hirai, Hisashi Kunisaki, Michiaki Sato
- Animation Production - Satelight
- Production - Big West, Bandai Visual
Songs[]
| Songs | Composer | Lyrics | Arrangement | Debut | Vocals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Arkan~part1~" (Arkan,"Arkan~part1~") | Holy Raz | Holy Raz | Kuniaki Haishima | Main Theme | Holy Raz |
| "Life Song" (第二章,"Life Song") | Kuniaki Haishima | Kuniaki Haishima | Kuniaki Haishima | Chapter 2 | Yutaka Fukuoka, Holy Raz |
| "Yanyan" (第三章エンディングテーマ・挿入歌,"Yanyan") | Kuniaki Haishima | Kuniaki Haishima | Shōji Kawamori | Chapter 3, Ending Theme | Yuka Minasato |
| "Forest Song" (第四章,"Forest Song") | Kousaki Kagejima | Kousaki Kagejima | Kousaki Kagejima | Chapter 4 | |
| "Horobi No Uta" (最終章,"Horobi No Uta") | Shōji Kawamori, Kousaki Kagejima | Kousaki Kagejima | Sachiko Miyano | Chapter 5 | Holy Raz, Shirou Onuki |
All That VF - Macross 25th Anniversary Air Show (Zero Edition)[]
Coinciding with both the 25th Anniversary ofMacross and the Blu-ray releases of volume one of bothMacross Zero andMacross Frontier, the official website ofMacross Frontier posted two newly animated short films featuring Air Show style demonstrations for both series. People who purchased the first pressings of eitherMacross Zero orMacross Frontier received a unique code to enter into the website and therefore able to watch the short film of the respective anime.[6]
The music track for this clip was an excerpt from an orchestral track ofMacross Frontier titled "Vital Force" composed byYoko Kanno.
See Also[]
Series[]
Movies[]
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012
OVA[]
Games[]
- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (Game)
- Macross 30: The Voice that Connects the Galaxy
- Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture
Notes & Trivia[]
- InMacross Frontier, the events ofMacross Zero were produced into an in-universe movie called "The Bird Human".
- The Bird Human design shares many similarities with theStar Singer, as seen inMacross Δ and its theatrical adaptation,Macross Δ Movie: Passionate Walküre.
References[]
- ↑Macross Zero Wiki
- ↑Great Mechanic 15" Futabasha, 2004, pp. 84 - 86
- ↑ "Great Mechanic 6" Futabasha, 2002, p.62.
- ↑Great Mechanic 15" Futabasha, 2004, page 84.
- ↑Specifically, the sequence involving the VF-0 Reactive Armor, Destroids, and the Prototype Destroid Monster during the final episode.
- ↑Anime News Network - Promo for Macross All That VF Anime Short Streamed
External Links[]
- Offical Macross Zero Website
- Satelight's Official Macross Zero Homepage
- Macross Zero at Macross Net Cafe.
- Macross Zero at ANN.