Macross II: Lovers Again

Macross II: Lovers Again:  D

So, most of a year ago I reviewed the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, which wasn't terrible, but hadn't held up well over the intervening 30 years (as well as having 10 episodes more than it needed).  Due to running across a couple images from it on my favorite image board, I decided to download the rest of the Macross saga and watch as many of them as I could stand, starting with Macross II, the first true sequel ("Do You Remember Love?" is a movie retelling of the original series minus the extra 10 episodes).

I have a bit of a historical attachment to Macross II: when I was in my early teens and a budding role-playing game enthusiast, I found a copy of the Macross II role-playing game by Kevin Siembieda in a used bookstore and fell in love with the mecha designs and the scantily clad alien chicks.  Surely nobody would make an RPG out of a bad series, right?  Apparently Kevin Siembieda would.  12-year-old me managed to find the two things about Macross II that are actually worthwhile.

Macross II suffers from a lot of early-90s OVA problems: wildly variable animation quality and style, disjointed plot and characterization and a conclusion which not only stands dramatically at odds with what's actually being said by the characters, but also feels pointless and hollow.  It clearly is attempting to pay homage to the original Macross with its awkward love triangle, transforming mecha, weaponized pop idols, and cultural warfare, but it all winds up seeming hollow and constructed, and so many things go undemonstrated and must be assumed from context.  Also, the animation sucks, even by early 90s standards.

Given that Macross II has been officially removed from the Macross canon, I would say that it's more than safe to skip it unless you're a die-hard fan who absolutely must see everything Macross ever.