Macross Zero in Macross Frontier
The legend of Zero
In episode 10 of Macross Frontier, Ranka and Alto take part in a movie production based on the legendary story of Shin Kudou, Sara Nome and Mao Nome and the events surrounding them that took place over half a century ago on Earth, leading up to the beginning of the first human-alien war.
Here are some comparisons between the adaptation and the original story as told in Macross Zero.
Spoilers ahead.
Format
[ Macross Frontier ]
[ Macross Zero ]
Weak attempts at humour
First meeting
Shin Kudou is a downed UN F-14 pilot who wakes up to find himself in a Mayan island surrounded by villagers who all miraculously speak perfect Japanese. Sara is the village’s priestess and Mao is her sister.
Fifty years later: The dude in the background aged gracefully
Shin wasn’t such a wimpy noob
Sara was way hotter than that bimbo
Mayan mating ritual
She’s admiring his piece
Episode 10 saved billions by reusing all the backgrounds
Mao did not receive as much focus… :(
The Bird Human
The Mayan’s oral tradition speaks of Bird Humans who came down to Earth in ancient times and gave birth to mankind. It turns out that this legend is to be a key component in the war between the United Nations and the Anti-UN, and eventually that between mankind and the Zentradi giants.
Mao > Ranka
I swear I didn’t just post the same picture twice…
Shin > Alto
The final goodbye
The descendants of the Bird Humans possess in their genes a special affinity with nature and alien technology, and their powers can be channelled and manifested through songs.
It’s the exact same footage
A perfection re-enactment…
Poor Mao never got the respect she deserved (though I prefer Sara)
Lazy animators
Or shall I say, reanimators? (That was awful)
The verdict
While Ranka’s AIMO is a pretty good song, I still prefer Sara’s ARKAN. It has a more mythical feel.
Also, Ranka seems to be related to Mao Nome in some way (granddaughter?), judging by Ozma’s reaction in episode 10. Now consider the fact that Sheryl shares her last name with the Nome siblings, perhaps Ranka and Sheryl are in fact related.
And oh, I warned you about spoilers didn’t I?
Awesome
I’m looking forward to more self-referential cost-saving footages in future Macross Frontier episodes. It’s a pity that episode 11 will only air on 19th June.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
yay!
June 6th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Woah the last pic sure was awesome and the picture that was reuse sure was a perfection hehehehe
June 6th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
i thought to myself that i was the first but again im not….
June 6th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
And What Macross zero episode was use may i know coz i haven’t watch any macross series except frontier hehehe
June 7th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Somehow I prefer the character design in Macross Zero, though I like Macross F’s story better.
June 7th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Not only is it cost effective, it’s environmentally friendly too!
June 7th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Oh god environmentally friendly…
Though I’d die if Kawamori pulls an Arjuna reference. Like a can of Appare Genki or something.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Well at least we aren’t getting any Macross 7 recycles @_@ oh dear god, okay let’s not ever speak of that again.
June 7th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Well, at least they didn’t waste the background cels… and at the same time, tied the Macross Zero thing more tightly into the rest of the universe, by having it referenced the same way that the original Love Triangle did.
That, and the director is TOTALLY a Kawamori expy/self-insert, Nabeshin-style. Without the afro, but a beard instead.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
It was better when they did this the first time in Macross 7 (re-enact the original Macross) with Max and Milia playing themselves. That was an ingenious ep….
June 7th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Hahaha, I loled at the reused scenes.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Hmmm… cost cutting that’s not so blantant.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:54 am
awesome post.
I’ve yet to watch Macross Frontier, and coming to know of the Macross Frontiers animation team scheme to pass old footage for new has really made my day.
thank you.
p.s. I just heard the link song you put up, but I may say I prefer Ranka’s song best ^^
June 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
hey, at least I know now that M0 was that good in the CGI department…(ADVERTISEMENT WARNING!*coughcough*)
Trackback from
AnimeSlice » Blog Archive » Macross Frontier - Episode 10June 8th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] thought it was a bit of a cop-out to literally reuse animation from Macross Zero. Darkmirage has an excellent frame by frame analysis of all of this, and I have to say this was pretty lazy on [...]
June 8th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Yeah, tell me about it, after so many episodes, it finally hit me that Sheryl shares the same last name as the two sisters. -_-”
Even though Ozma mentioned that it might be destiny that Ranka is depicting Dr. Mao, my speculation is that Ranka could probably be related to the Bird Man, and Mao was conducting further research on the Bird Man after Sara and Shin disappeared in Macross Zero.
Trackback from
Heterochromia - Whoa, Alto the studJune 8th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
[...] Nome from Macross Zero. For coverage of the resemblances of Zero and how they did it in Frontier, click here. I have to say that I agree with Darkmirage on everything except the [...]
June 8th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
They obviously didn’t use the reuse money they saved on the awful “action” scenes. Made the episode pretty uneven to the eyes.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
so……what happened to Shin anyways????
June 8th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Hahaha, they really did reuse back all the material from Zero. Understandable, since it’s a homage and an attempt to link Zero in to the Macross continuity.
Definitely there’s a relationship between Ranka and Mao, but to what extent, we’ll have to see. And I’m surprised no one on Frontier has drawn on similarities of Sara and Sheryl’s name! Oh well… :3
June 9th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Wow I can’t believe I went a watched the whole Macross Zero OVA so that I would get what was happening, both the OVA and Episode worth the watch.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Well, all the cost saving techniques were around since 1960′s. I hope that there will be more progress in the future coming episdoes.
Sigh~ seeing the trailer for Episode 11, it seems to be a repeat from the first TV series (1982)
June 9th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I love that dude that appears exactly the same in both of Sara’s scenes! That is awesome!
I am ok with scene reuse. I’d rather they spend the money elsewhere instead of reinventing the wheel.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:54 am
Ok, first time poster here but fan of Macross since 1985.
I noticed that Sheryl shared the same last name as Sara from MacZero when I saw the pilot back in January. I thought it was just a cute way to tie-in one the earlier Macross series. They do it several times in the first two episodes.
Both Sheryl and Ranka could be related, distantly, to Sara and Mao. The Vajara obviously react to their singing as evidenced in episode 2 and 5.
Could the Vajara be decendents, or the original enemy of the Protoculture race that created humans and the Zentradai?
Just my two cents.
June 15th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Am I the only one who sees the exact replication of scenes and backgrounds from Zero in Frontier as a good thing?
This is why Macross Frontier is so awesome – it’s making a point of paying homage to Macross Zero and the entire Macross mythology in an in-your-face manner. This is the 25th anniversary after all. :)
June 18th, 2008 at 4:31 am
While I laughed with the rest at the blatant reuse of the Macross Zero footage, I thought it was actually done tastefully well. And if pinching pennies by pinching footage means they get to do another magnificently done bit like Episode 7, then I’m all for it.
And of course, we get to know a little more about Brera, too.
June 19th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Are they not the Invid? The race the Zentradi Master’s stole protocuture from.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:31 am
That’s Robotech stuff. Robotech took the first Macross series, and tied in two additional unrelated Japanese series (Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospedia) into one over-arching plot, due to ’80′s US public TV constraints (Macross didn’t have enough episodes to air alone so they had to extend it). In Macross, protoculture refers to an ancient race, instead of an energy source, and the Invid don’t exist since they came from Mospedia.
As such, Robotech is essentially its own work, with Macross as a slightly altered starting point. Macross itself branched off in different directions in Japan.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
In other words, the US want to milk more out of the series and screw themselves over. Ever since their major screw up there are no plans for localization of newer Macross series *Thank God for that*
Trackback from
The Sighs of Kawamori Shouji: Macross Frontier 10 « We Remember LoveOctober 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am
[...] post exposes in detail which frames were re-used. It’s really good work worth checking out (Darkmirage 2008/06/06) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Drawing a Triangle: Macross Fontier 02 [...]