Rating: 
Summary: The Greatest Anime Series Ever, on DVD
Review: Robotech – The Macross Saga 2: Transformation, contains episodes 7 through 12 of the legendary anime series from the mid 1980s.For the uninitiated, Robotech was the most popular of the Americanized Japanese anime series to hit American TV waves during the 1970s and 1980s (along with Star Blazers, Voltron, Transor Z, etc.) Known for its cutting edge animation, thrilling battle scenes, futuristic techonology (planes, tanks, motorcyles that transform into robots), cool alien invaders, and realistic and compelling storylines, Robotech swept an entire generation and helped put Japanese Anime forever on the map of American pop culture. Robotech’s sweeping saga spanned three seasons and weaved together three actual separate storylines based on Japanese anime: The Macross Saga (Season 1), The Robotech Masters (The Southern Cross in Japan) (Season 2), and The New Generation (Mospeada in Japan) (Season 3). The basic story premise is that the earth became forever changed in 1999 when a mysterious alien battleship crashes on earth. The people of the world, now knowing that they are not alone in the universe, end all wars and unite to understand and assimilate the advanced technology and prepare for the inevitable alien invasion that is sure to come. As the story unfolds mankind would go on to battle three separate alien races over the next three seasons. The sweeping intergalactic war saga itself though, merely becomes the backdrop of a deeper “human” saga. Included on this second volume are these six episodes (7-12): Episode 7 – Bye Bye Mars: The Battle of Mars. Commander Breetai recruits the ruthless and dangerous Khyron to set a trap on Mars to capture the SD-F1. Meanwhile, heading to Mars brings back Lisa’s memories of her late fiancé Karl Reaver. Also, Rick Hunter, hero!!! Episode 8 – Sweet Sixteen: In light of his heroics on Mars, Rick Hunter receives an award and a promotion. He is made commander of Vermillion group and is assigned under him Max Sterling and Ben Dixon, just in time to once again battle Khyron!!! Also, Rick searches for the perfect birthday gift for Minmei!!! Episode 9 – Miss Macross: The (seemingly entire) galaxy tunes in as Minmei enters the Miss Macross pageant. Meanwhile, poor Rick dogfights it out with a reconnaissance group of Zentraedi warriors who believe the broadcast is a new secret weapon!!! Episode 10 – Blind Game: The Earth Forces finally make contact with Earth. Meanwhile, Khyron sends out a warning shot at the SD-F1 prompting Lisa and Vermillion Group to do a recon mission which leads to a confrontation inside the Zentraedi battleship. Also, Rick’s relationship with Minmei takes a turn as she embarks on a singing career in light of the results of the Miss Macross pageant!!! Episode 11 – First Contact: Captured by the Zentraedi, Vermillion Group learns of the true awesome (world destroying) power of the Zentraedi. Plus, we finally learn the real reason behind their need to retake the SD-F1. What is Protoculture? Plus, Minmei’s singing debut!!! Episode 12 – The Big Escape: Vermillion Group makes its daring escape from the Zentraedi. Breetai is relieved of command!!! Plus, Ace Zentraedi Pilot Miriam delivers an infiltrating payload to the SD-F1. In addition to these episodes the DVD also contains trailer ads for other anime series coming out on DVD from ADV. Here’s my assessment of the DVD itself: Great: ROBOTECH ON DVD!!! ‘Nuff said. Good: Awesome production. The design, navigation, video and audio are all top-notch. .... Okay: The trailers for the other DVD anime series from ADV were well done, but of course are just shameless plugs… Incidentally, these volumes DO NOT have special DVD features. While on its own this may be considered a crime, not to fear. If you purchase the boxed set collections, each boxed set collection will come with an “Extra: Elements of Robotechnology” DVD special which will contain all the DVD special features you could want on DVD: interviews, trailers, specs, etc... So by all means, get the boxed set if you are planning on buying. Personally, I’m very happy that ADV and Harmony Gold have finally released this series on DVD. This is BY FAR one of my favorite cartoons from childhood. If you’ve never seen Robotech, simply put YOU MUST. It is the series that forever set the standard for Japanese anime. If you did grow up with Robotech, give these a watch again. They’re great for a trip down memory lane. Watching these episodes again now, I can honestly say that they are better than I remember. Give this (and all the other volumes, current and future releases) a watch. You won’t be disappointed. Highest Recommendation possible.
Rating: 
Summary: Top-notch Anime - Volume II :-)
Review: The second DVD volume of the Robotech series contains six excellent episodes concerning the SDF1's progress back toward Earth, including the eyecatches to and from commercial breaks. In the late 1980s, F.H.E. had released a videotape of these same episodes edited together to form one "movie;" while that was okay, this presentation by ADV Films is far superior, allowing easy access to any particular episode on may wish to view. This is one of my favorite anime series. However, I can only rate this DVD as a "3" for two reasons. First, concerning the DVD construction. The main menu begins with a brief clip from the series without any actual menu selections immediately available, which can cause confusion for some users; also, this is the exact same clip used for the main menu in the first DVD of the Robotech series - at least this should have been changed during DVD construction. Secondly, and by far the most significant flaw, this DVD is NOT compatible with the PlayStation2, whereas the first DVD in the series worked flawlessly with the PS2.
Rating:
Summary: Top-notch Anime - Volume II :-)
Review: The second DVD volume of the Robotech series contains six excellent episodes concerning the SDF1's progress back toward Earth, including the eyecatches to and from commercial breaks. In the late 1980s, F.H.E. had released a videotape of these same episodes edited together to form one "movie;" while that was okay, this presentation by ADV Films is far superior, allowing easy access to any particular episode on may wish to view. This is one of my favorite anime series. However, I can only rate this DVD as a "3" for two reasons. First, concerning the DVD construction. The main menu begins with a brief clip from the series without any actual menu selections immediately available, which can cause confusion for some users; also, this is the exact same clip used for the main menu in the first DVD of the Robotech series - at least this should have been changed during DVD construction. Secondly, and by far the most significant flaw, this DVD is NOT compatible with the PlayStation2, whereas the first DVD in the series worked flawlessly with the PS2.
Rating:
Summary: If you want to know where this series all began....
Review: Then get the Animeigo version since it will be all in Japanese, and have subtitles (since there can be only one dubbed version of the series, and it has to be the the originally dubbed Robotech:Macross that was originally released in the early 80's.) Yes, anime has to be edited for it to be shown here in North America, and in some cases, heavily edited. The wonderful guys at Harmony Gold and Carl Macek did their best with what they were given. 3 series, (since the one series of 36 episodes wasn't enough for North American standards for a full t.v. series they had to combine the 3 Macross, Mosapeda, and southern cross) built into one for the North American audience. This is strictly for the buffs who enjoyed this series when it was originally released to North American audiences back in the 80's. So, if you've never seen this series, and want to know where it all began, yes, buy the Animeigo version with the uncut violence and subtitles with no english dub. If you want to see the edited North American version with english dubbed voices, combining all 3 series into one terrific story that's somewhat edited, get this version. You won't be sorry either way.
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