MACROSS DYNAMITE 7

— by Egan Loo

Detractors may say MACROSS 7 is no MACROSS PLUS. But then again, the first MACROSS series is no MACROSS PLUS either.
Kawamori Shouji and other MACROSS creators have often noted that, more than any other sequel, the 1994-95 MACROSS 7 series is closest to the duality in spirit of the original that alternates between the serious and fantastic. Indeed, Kawamori describes the first MACROSS series in a 1983 book introduction as being "realistic, and yet not realistic. It's tongue-in-cheek, and yet not tongue-in-cheek." These words aptly describe MACROSS 7 as well. In a 1997 interview, he sums the whole Big West franchise quite succiently by describing Macross as a world where the creators "can do the strangest things."
MACROSS DYNAMITE 7 is the latest case in point. This four-volume video series blends popular music, transforming fighters, and a love story (albeit puppy love) into an eclectic work befitting the name Macross. Whereas the first series employs idol music, MACROSS DYNAMITE 7 and its parent work MACROSS 7 employ rock music more contemporary to Japan's pop scene of the '90s. More fundamentally, these two works pose a question: if a pop singer and a mecha pilot helped save Humankind in Space War I, what if the two were the one and the same? That is Basara: rock singer, mecha pilot, DYNAMITE 7's main lead, and a legend in his own mind.
Tough concept to swallow? Those viewers who have not seen the original MACROSS 7 series yet should go watch it first. Suffice it to say that DYNAMITE 7 is in the same spirit as its parent work. For those who have seen the entire series of MACROSS 7, reaction to DYNAMITE 7 will be pretty much the same. It can also determine whether or not readers will want to continue below.

The year is 2047, thirty-seven years after Space War I (the first MACROSS series) and one year after the Protodeviln War (the first MACROSS 7 series). Disillusioned by the mass media and attention in the wake of his band's explosive popularity, Basara (Hayashi Nobutoshi) takes the first Hoshinote train out and leaves the Macross 7 fleet and Fire Bomber behind. (Read MACROSS DYNAMITE 7: MYLENE BEAT to find out how Mylene (Sakurai Tomo) takes her own path of independence.) Guitar in hand, Basara hitchhikes to the asteroid-ringed world of Zola where a space race known as the Galactic Whales migrates every year. There, his penchant for entering a fight singing would embroil him in an ongoing conflict between Galactic Whale poachers and Zola's patrol force. He encounters an ace patrol force pilot named Liza (Okamoto Maya) and her little sister Elma (Sakaguchi Aya), a preadolescent Fire Bomber fan who is also the splitting image of Mylene. (The Zola people's cappy pets even looks like hairless serpentine versions of Mylene's pet Guvava.)
On the surface, DYNAMITE 7 would seem to be Macross's take on MOBY DICK. MOBY DICK is known in Japan as the LEGEND OF THE WHITE WHALE, and indeed there is a legendary white Galactic Whale whose pursuit consumes one man's driving force in life. Liza and Elma's father Graham (Nakata Jouji) still bears the physical and psychological scars of a white whale who claimed his right arm and his wife five years ago. There is also a conservation theme woven into the story: Elma explains that poachers try to harness the Galactic Whales' bodies to propel spaceships of unparalleled speed. (Not incidentally, Japan is one of only two nations still officially hunting whales for "research purposes.") These two themes form the crux of the story's conflicts, giving Basara plenty of opportunities to belt his signature line "Ore no uta o kike!" (Listen to my song!) all the way to the first volume's cliffhanger.

As in MACROSS 7, no one person composes all the background music and vocal songs of DYNAMITE 7. Instead, music director Honda Yasunori intersperses musical pieces originally composed for other Macross works into a soundtrack of old MACROSS 7 music and new Fire Bomber songs. For the most part, Basara and Fire Bomber's latest rock songs (including all-new opening and ending themes "Dynamite Explosion" and "Parade") are as good as those from the original MACROSS 7. Note the rather innovative use of baleen as well as Elma's karaoke take on Fire Bomber's Planet Dance—not in Japanese, not in English, not even in Zentradi, but in Zola.
Naturally, this story would not be Macross without the trademark variable fighters. Debuting in animation are the VT-1C, the civilian version of the classic Valkyrie's trainer variant, and the VF-5000G, a revamped update of the VF-1 created by Shinsei Industry (the folks who would later create the VF-11 Thunderbolt and VF-19 Excalibur). The whale poachers use the VT-1Cs (modified with harpoon-firing gunpods) as their craft of choice, while Liza's patrol force sorties against them with VF-5000Gs. The poachers will also use customized VA-3 Invader attack craft (the VC-3C Kai) later in the series.
As with the previous MACROSS 7 theatrical short THE GALAXY IS CALLING ME!, it is refreshing to see MACROSS 7 animated with a decent budget. Computer graphics, digital composition, and good old-fashioned animation with high cel counts — original MACROSS 7 director Amino Tetsuroh and animation studio Ashi Production bring them all together into a technically sound production. (To be sure, original character designer Mikimoto Haruhiko's evolving elven ear designs and tendency to recycle his old designs are more apparent than ever.)

The work is sprinkled with subtle and not-so-subtle references for any fan of Macross or Kawamori works. There are fleeting shots of a VF-1 construction variant, Kanno-Yoko-written interludes, and a computer screen with an almost kitschy Macross interface. Scriptwriter Tomita Sukehiro even included a subtle news reference to MACROSS GENERATION, the radio drama he wrote last year.
The ending credits are the final icing. They digitally compose Basara with snapshots and videos from Kawamori's globetrotting expeditions of the last decade. They include Kawamori's Asia trips to India, Nepal and elsewhere that inspired DYNAMITE 7 and THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE as well as his 1994 California trips that provided research for MACROSS PLUS and MACROSS 7. (For the first MACROSS series, Kawamori took photos all over Tokyo to serve as backgrounds to Mikimoto's Minmay drawings in the ending credits.) Watch for the split second cameo of the real-life XB-70 Valkyrie bomber — the very plane whose picture inspired Kawamori as a child to pursue aerospace engineering all the way to Japan's top private university.
(Granted, this is before he dropped out of college, joined Studio Nue full-time, and created the first enduring mecha series from the post-GUNDAM generation — but that is a subject for another article with more space than this one.)