Macross Is Getting A New Anime - Here's What You Need To Know
There's no shortage of mecha franchises out there nowadays, from anime like "Gundam" and "Evangelion" to live-action efforts like the "Pacific Rim" movies. However, one of the biggest properties in the genre is now making a return in a very exciting way. "Macross," one of the longest-standing mecha juggernauts, is getting a new project.
According to a report from Crunchyroll News in July 2023, it was announced at the final official "Macross Delta Walküre FINAL LIVE TOUR 2023 ~Last Mission~" musical concert that work has commenced on a brand-new entry in the "Macross" series. The announcement came nearly two years after the franchise's last big project, "Macross Delta the Movie: Absolute Live!!!!!!," debuted in October 2021.
Details on the new production are very slim at the moment, but there's a few key details that may excite both diehard "Macross" fans and newcomers who aren't familiar with the franchise. Here's a brief overview of "Macross," and why this upcoming project could be one of the franchise's biggest yet.
Macross is the proto-Transformers franchise
"Macross" may have just been just a small new property on the scene when it debuted its first anime back in 1982, but the scope, lore, and universe of the franchise have expanded exponentially since then. Essentially, the series focuses on the human race in an alternate rendition of the 21st century where space travel and space-based civilization has become common and accessible. Amid the dangers of space (aliens and the like), humanity is protected by a military force who use massive mecha with a number of unique capabilities.
One of the most notable elements of "Macross" is how it pioneered certain concepts that other mecha and science-fiction franchises have since adopted. Perhaps the most egregious example is "Transformers," which centers around a race of sentient mecha that can transform their bodies into vehicles and other machines. "Macross" creator Shoji Kawamori actually popularized that core transforming concept first, and later helped develop the identity of "Transformers" in the same way.
Even if it's not considered by some to be the king of mecha franchises, "Macross" has a massive legacy. It's an important cornerstone of pop culture that has remained active for decades upon decades in TV shows, movies, video games, toys, music, manga, and just about everything else one could think of.
The Macross series has over 40 years' worth of history (and most of it is canon)
With "Macross" being an active series since the 1980s and consistently pumping out new projects all the while, it would be an understatement to say that there's a lot of media to parse through at this point. Perhaps even more daunting is that a lot of it is still considered canon, and adheres to a strict timeline of events stretching over more than 50 in-universe years.
The inaugural work of the series is "Super Dimension Fortress Macross," an anime which ran for 36 episodes and introduces the major characters of mecha pilot Hikaru Ichijiyo and idol Lynn Minmay. The central TV series was eventually succeeded by "Macross 7" in 1994, then "Macross Frontier" in 2007, and, most recently, "Macross Delta" in 2016. Between the tentpole shows, numerous OVAs and films have filled out the gaps.
As for the new upcoming project, there's not a lot known about when it will take place in the greater franchise timeline, but it at least seems that it will be a clean break from the "Macross Delta" era, which also happens to be the latest chronological point in the overall franchise.
Bandai Namco's Sunrise is spearheading the new project
Perhaps the single most exciting tidbit of information regarding the new "Macross" anime is that it won't be produced by the franchise's usual animation studio Satelite, but rather Bandai Namco Filmworks — the iconic studio commonly known as Sunrise. Sunrise is responsible for working on quite a few major anime productions, with credits on projects like "Gintama," "Daily Lives of High School Boys," "Pokémon 3: The Movie," and "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie." The studio even has experience with some major western series, such as working on "Batman: The Animated Series."
Arguably the most interesting thing about Sunrise working on "Macross" is that it's also the primary studio behind "Gundam," another popular mecha anime franchise which has historically been compared to "Macross" since the two originated just several years apart from one another. Having projects from both franchises under the same studio is unexpected, to say the least, but fans are nonetheless welcoming the news. "Sunrise is perfect," u/Rymphonia wrote. "They got the Mecha and the Idol genre expertise."
There's no official release date or release window for Sunrise's "Macross" project, but it's already shaping up to be one of the most hotly-anticipated anime of the next couple of years.