Macross 7 Movie: Ginga ga Ore wo Yondeiru!

30 minutes isn’t exactly a movie.

This is how Macross 7 should have been. Honestly, it should have been part of the main series. On the other hand, because it’s not, we actually get good animation.

There’s not much to say here. If you like 7, you’ll like this. If you don’t absolutely hate everything about 7, you’ll probably still like it.

My biggest gripe is the mixing of the songs during the duel. They did this in the main tv series for 7 too, and it just sounds like a chaotic mess. The other main criticism is that the new character has incredibly limited interaction with a ... certain other character.

The kid was really annoying, but to each their own.

Story

Taking place within the Macross 7 series arc, Ginga Ga Ore Wo Yonde Iru (The Universe is Calling Me) starts with Basara and sound force investigating trans-dimensional a sound anomaly that ends up warping Basara across the galaxy. He crash-lands on a snowy planet, receiving an unfriendly welcome from the local residents who aren't into music at all. He has one fan though, Pedro, a four-year-old boy who watches the Galaxy Network and idolizes Fire Bomber. Basara also discovers that the sound he's searching for is generated by Emilia, a lone Meltrandi struggling to make music of her own.

Character

There's very little character development for ... Basara, but more for Emilia. This was a waste as they could have explored the human/Meltrandi relationship a lot more than just the several humorous scenes of Pedro trying to climb down from Emilia's furniture using a ... um ... undergarment as a ladder. There's also a surprise revelation from Mylene. Overall, character was quite well done for the length of this movie, though there were a lot of opportunities for development that weren't used or furthered.

Art/Animation

Dated animation and TONS of frame reuse. The animation for Emilia is very well done.

Sound

There's a new song by Emilia, and a singing contest. As usual, Sound is one of the better things about this anime.

Enjoyment

Overall this was OK at the best.

I promised if Macross was ever licensed, I would watch all they offered, and that includes this not a movie movie. I REALLY don't like Macross 7 and I think Basara is one of the worst main characters ever, so if you're allergic to people like me, you're going to need an epipen to read further. The good news for you is I'm refusing to review Dynamite on principle since they edited out a portion, and even if I would find that part objectionable, I can't fairly solidify an opinion on something that's not fully represented. Shame, because you could call me out for my ... garbage sensibilities liking completely over-done 90's character designs with garish two-tone hair and we would all feel better yelling at something.

So, this movie. The animation is better (though they cleaned up the footage from a VHS/Beta print, I imagine), but it's sadly one of those 90% Basara "episodes." I suppose my time would be best spent saying why I don't like Basara at all. There is something weirdly sociopathic about him. Not in a Wall Street hedge fund manager kind of way, but more a complete lack of interpersonal skills or any kind of emotional learning. In this movie for example, he sees a Zentradi woman performing and his response is to greet her by completely drowning out her song with his. She even notes how she practiced every day and was "beaten" by his music. The meanest rap battlers let you have your turn. He's the equivalent of those people who listen to your problems by immediately taking over the conversation and making it about their problems. Himbos at least have some understanding about how their actions affect other people. That's not to mention his music is just power ballad word salad when even the music in the Macross universe that is "militarized" pop music or a baby attached to the Sharon Apple system tries to express SOMETHING.

This is how he handles EVERYTHING and he never learns after over 50 episodes. He keeps unintentionally hurting people, and because he's the main character with the Macross midichlorians, he can continually push awesome characters into the background. It's probably good he has a kid with him here who crawls around Emilia's bra and falls into her boobs when they try to have a romantic scene, because it would just be a waste of screentime anyway and boobs are funny.

Macross 7 the series at least has Mylene's experiences that are sort of a main character having an arc of some kind. She learns a little bit about the world, she grows up, and she finds her voice. In the movie, everyone else but Basara is on the sidelines until the last five minutes where they have to save a village and hundreds of lives, but Basara gets the most credit of all despite being in the way the whole time because of the power of his music. I'm sure a completely leveled community would've been able to appreciate it.

Even if we have to be fine with the movie being an extended episode, it's a terrible episode. It's a disjointed mess that starts as a Scooby Doo mystery, drops the mystery almost immediately, and then ends with Macross 7's sub-Sailor-Moon schtick where literally the crisis foreshadowed seems to have nothing to do with anything. And this is a lot of how Macross 7 goes about its business. I HATE this! Curse my obligations to a bunch of faceless corporations!