The Macross Delta series and its movie spinoffs (one already released, the other due out this year in Japan) continue the long-running storyline of the Macross franchise. In this installment, the Tactical Sound Unit Walkure uses song enhanced by biological fold energy to combat the spread of the Var Syndrome, an affliction which strikes seemingly from out of the blue and turns otherwise normal humanoids into extremely violent killing machines.
The series follows the traditional Macross formula incorporating music, Valkyrie transformable fightercraft (or in this case the successor to the venerable Valkyrie, the VF-31 Siegfried), and a love triangle between primary characters. The Siegfrieds are an order of magnitude more advanced than even the VF-29 Valkyries from Macross Frontier, a mere eight years earlier, able to transform from fighter to Gerwalk or Battroid mode almost instantly. The music, similarly, has evolved from the single-performer days of Lynn-Minmay, now incorporating a five-member group of idols, the Tactical Sound Unit Walkure. (The real-world performing group incorporating the Walkure seiyyus had their first number-one hit in Japan last May with the first release for the new movie.) The group holds an audition during the second episode to select their fifth and final member, a part which goes to 14-year-old Windermere native Freyja Wion. At the same time, civilian pilot Hayate Immelmann is offered a position with Walkure's assigned protectors, the Siegfried unit Delta Platoon.
And thus is born the slowly-emerging love triangle between Hayate Immelmann, Freyja Wion, and Delta Platoon pilot Mirage Farina Jenius. Yep, that's right: Jenius. Granddaughter of SDF Macross's Max and Milia Jenius, two of the greatest fighter aces in Macross history. The triangle itself recalls the original love triangle that started the whole thing: a civilian pilot inducted into the military (originally Hikaru Ichijo, this time Hayate); an idol he falls in love with (this time Freyja, originally Lynn-Minmay herself), and a military woman who falls in love with him over time (originally Misa Hayase, this time Mirage Jenius).
Like all Macross installments after the original, various plot devices are used to help keep continuity with the overall franchise and carry on its traditions. This is pretty much essential, since the Macross franchise as a whole encompasses a huge slice of in-world history and spans a monstrous chunk of the known Galaxy. Parts of Minmay's songs can be heard here and there (like the snippet of "Do You Remember Love?" contained in the Song of the Stars near the end of the series); the beach on Ragna is known as Ranka Beach, named for Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier; I've already mentioned Mirage, granddaughter of the Jenius elites from both SDF Macross and Macross Seven; numerous other little Easter eggs in various places throughout the series. All those do a pretty good job of tying the series into the overall franchise.
On the more technical side, the visuals and animation are probably the cleanest and most visually appealing to date. The music is excellent, although frankly that's only to be expected of a Macross installment -- as in, it's really, REALLY expected because music is so central to the entire Macross franchise. The characters are both likeable and believable within the context of the Macross universe, and as always characterization is given a high priority.
The writing... okay, here's a bone of serious contention, and I'm just going to give it straight. A number of reviewers have bashed the writing of this series, simply because it didn't deliver some minor thing that *they* thought it should have, like going way out on a tangent to dig deep into characters' backstories, or expounding to exhaustion this or that event that they felt was somehow crucial, or a number of other nits they decided to pick with it. Those reviewers, one and all, have consistently ignored essential plot mechanics such as narrative flow and series continuity in favor of their own pet peeves, which frankly is typical of "critics" for just about every genre of entertainment ever. What the series DOES deliver, and delivers well, is solid, consistent writing, with healthy doses of aerial, space and ground combat; powerful emotive content with laughter, triumph, thrills and, yes, even tears all to be found within; and solid, enjoyable music in the truest traditions of the Macross franchise. The dialog is natural and in-character, and events are scripted so that everything contributes to moving the story along. It's EXACTLY what Macross fans have come to expect over the last four decades, and I very, very highly recommend it to any anime fan and, especially, to my fellow fans of Macross and the marvelous universe we've cherished for the last forty years.
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