Macross Delta - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Triple_R]

In the area of "enjoyment", I'd have to give Delta the edge as well. Delta put a smile on my face a lot, and Freyja had very strong emotional buy-in from me.

Frontier's main edge over Delta is actually OST/BGM. If I liked Delta's OST/BGM as much as I do Frontier's, I'd probably favor Delta overall.

@HirouKeimou Isamu is my favorite Macross male character. He perfectly captures "ace pilot". He is exactly what a Top Gun-style "ace pilot" character should be, in his strengths, and in his flaws. Very amusing character and fun to watch.

I also like how his English dub voice actor is Bryan Cranston of all people.

[HirouKeimou]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

@HirouKeimou Isamu is my favorite Macross male character. He perfectly captures "ace pilot". He is exactly what a Top Gun-style "ace pilot" character should be, in his strengths, and in his flaws. Very amusing character and fun to watch.

I also like how his English dub voice actor is Bryan Cranston of all people.

Oh yes he's so fun to watch~

And god, during Delta airing at first, I drew so many comparisons between Isamu and Hayate because of his inability to follow orders / carefree nature and Freyja helps in this area, too. Even so, I'm glad Hayate is no modern Isamu, that he becomes his own character later on, and like Isamu, I will miss Hayate.

[KongaKonga]

Originally Posted by HirouKeimou

Oh yes he's so fun to watch~

And god, during Delta airing at first, I drew so many comparisons between Isamu and Hayate because of his inability to follow orders / carefree nature and Freyja helps in this area, too. Even so, I'm glad Hayate is no modern Isamu, that he becomes his own character later on, and like Isamu, I will miss Hayate.

Good to see more Plus fan here...I love Isamu too best macross protagonist for me

[Thess]

Hmm. I'll say Isamu is my favorite male protagonist in Macross too. I seem to have a thing for senpai or aces, because I love him, Roy, Michael, Max and Messer the best (Keith's ok, but nowhere there I like him more in the novel and manga, but I do love his voice actor. I couldn't care about Brera). Roy was my first cartoon crush and his death crushed me in another way.

[HirouKeimou]

Originally Posted by Thess

Michael

I like Michael, too; however, not because he's an ace, and not more than Isamu. I loved his personality in Frontier. Sometimes I wish Michael had been the main protagonist in Frontier because he's more fun to watch than Alto.

That said, I like how Delta doesn't give us an ace main protagonist like Plus, or a brooding one like Frontier, or a two-timing one like SDF-1. I'm overall happy with Hayate Immelmann, even if others don't really care for him as much. I believe he's a good character for this series' theme.

Plus, Freyja is the main protagonist in reality because Delta revolves around her / her choices. And even if others disagree, I like her more than Sheryl. In fact, I enjoyed every scene with Freyja and I'll miss her like I occasionally miss Ranka.

[wredsa]

Hopefully the next series would be about the return of Megaroad - 1 and the return of the original triangle of Hikaru, Misa and Minmay.

[KongaKonga]

Originally Posted by wredsa

Hopefully the next series would be about the return of Megaroad - 1 and the return of the original triangle of Hikaru, Misa and Minmay.

Yeah Delta seem to be setup for bigger Macross series....maybe we will have Macross series that all previous Macross protaganist/idol will comeback or at least make cameo...Delta have this vibe at first....They can do this in Macross Scramble game why not in series

[-Antares-]

All this Isamu love giong around. :( To be honest, I have a hard time liking Macross' main protagonists. Isamu's not bad or anything, and he actually seems like the type of person you'd be able to meet in real life, so that's a big... plus for him. But he still has the problem that every other Macross protagonist has in that he spends a great amount of time being an abrasive jerk instead of, I don't know, talking to people to try to patch things up/make things clear like a normal human being. Shin is my favorite for the simple fact that he doesn't fit that pattern. I also tend to forgive Alto for fitting the pattern because I think his whole character arc was pretty well done... in the movies, anyway.

Hayate always seemed too volatile for me to like. One moment he'd be joking around with Freyja or Mirage, the next minute he'd act like the entire world is out to piss him off. And unlike Alto, I didn't see anything about his development or place in the story to forgive that. And speaking of Hayate... I'd really have liked to see Mikumo having more casual conversations with the cast. The one she had alone with Hayate was really nice, I thought. Most of what we got with her was her being ~mysterious~ and ~introspective~ and her vague moments of acting as a mentor to Freyja.

[Thess]

Originally Posted by -Antares-

Hayate always seemed too volatile for me to like. One moment he'd be joking around with Freyja or Mirage, the next minute he'd act like the entire world is out to piss him off.

He acts like a teenager. Those are hormones in the work. Bogue too acts realistically like a teen, despite his status as semi gag character.

[-Antares-]

True enough. I did actually like Bogue better, though... Maybe because he always acted like he had a stick lodged up his butt whenever his idol Keith wasn't scolding him, instead of just having wild mood swings all the time.

[ippus]

Originally Posted by -Antares-

True enough. I did actually like Bogue better, though... Maybe because he always acted like he had a stick lodged up his butt whenever his idol Keith wasn't scolding him, instead of just having wild mood swings all the time.

He's also shown as having strangely good discipline despite having a really abrasive attitude. Like people would have to reign him in sure, but he'd actually listen? He's hot headed definitely but not at all out of control and actually respects the people around him in Windermere which was a pretty peculiar trait for a character like him...

[Thess]

Originally Posted by -Antares-

True enough. I did actually like Bogue better, though... Maybe because he always acted like he had a stick lodged up his butt whenever his idol Keith wasn't scolding him, instead of just having wild mood swings all the time.

He seemed to finally mature in the end. I guess he'll just need to learn from his idol, Keith.

[BetoJR]

Well... Not much to say, really. I thoroughly enjoyed the series, even if I did not fall in love with it. Which is fine, it happens. We can enjoy something and not fall head over heels about it. Did have a soft spot for Mirage, and I'm not ashamed to admit it - that flashback was very late, tho. Could have used that a little sooner. Maybe in a movie, or something?

For me, the world building was the best part of the series, even if the details could be better fleshed out - they always can, I guess.

The music was cool. Not usually my cup of tea, but I'll still listen to it, occasionally.

What was troublesome for me, tho, was the heat of the forum. Some of the debate was... nasty. That was quite troublesome. I don't think even the old flame wars in the Frontier days were this bad. Not gonna miss that, no siree Bob.

Hmmm... what else? Oh, the series' rank!
It goes like this, for me:

- The Super Dimension Fortress Macross/DYRL (the original and the movie are still #1, for me);
- Macross Plus
- Macross Frontier
- Macross Delta
- Macross Zero
- Macross 7
- Macross II

And, that's it, for me. Bye, for now!

[serenade_beta]

I'd say the main problem was that the climax wasn't... climax-y. Sure, you got rid of the crazy ambitious guy, but we haven't finished the conflict between the countries and all of that mess.
The build-up itself was fine... except it didn't come through and the build-up fell flat in the end. Which is really unfortunate. Up to the end of the 1st cour, it definitely was pretty good... which is a shame.

At least Hayate actually chose a girl instead of rambling about how both of you are my wings. (And no, I didn't watch Frontier's movie)

7/10

[magnuskn]

Macross Delta is a unique show in the Macross universe, in that it appears to have been written by an ADHD victim without a clear direction on where it wanted to go.

Following the fantastic and hugely popular Macross Frontier, Delta comparatively fell flat on its face in every aspect it strove for. It had worse music, worse protagonists, worse characterization, worse animation, worse story and a much worse romance.

The show had tons of ideas which it refused to properly explore much less try to finish after it had tossed them into the room. Kaname declares a rivalry with Mikumo? Forgotten. Lady M is mentioned a gajillion times throughout the show and teased to be Lynn Minmey? Dropped or trolled, take your pick. Herman declares some sort of rivalry/mentorship in the second-to-last episode with Mirage? Apparently just there to fill up some airtime.

Still, the worst aspect of Macross Delta was its celebration of a culture of racial supremacists, who are beholden to a completely fucked up governmental system. Not only did the show never reach a point where the philosophy and actions of the Windermerans were soundly denounced, it also ended with said race of racial supremacists in the top position, having not been punished for enslaving millions of other sentient beings and killing at least thousands and still being convinced that they were in the right to do so. By the way, if there was any question if Imperial Japan would have cheering fans for their actions in modern times, that question has also been sadly anwered. I guess you just have to add a bit of bishi sparkle and Prussian uniforms.

Just as much as the story had a lack of consequence, so was the characterization of almost every character in the show woefully lacking. The worst culprits were, IMO, Frejya and Hayate, who both were presented as vastly superficial persons, who despite facing large difficulties were able to just barrel past them with the power of positive thinking and energy. It was kinda hilarious when the show ended with them both citing the vapid one liner sentences Hayate’s dad had sent him throughout his career, because it perfectly encapsulated their lack of depth as characters.

Mirage, touted as a third protagonist, was failed miserably in that role by the writers and should, IMO, be regarded as the only supporting character with any depth to her. I really liked her character and I hope they use her in another Macross show, this time maybe as a real protagonist.
Mikumo was the other character of which I wish I had seen more, since her story and plight was pretty heartwrenching to watch. That she was the best singer on the entire show also helped alot.

Every other character on the show is pretty much a one-note. Reina is stoic, Berger is mysterious, Bogue is an asshole. Any sort of introspection was shown by only a few characters and mostly for plot advancement reasons. The worst example of lack of character depth is Heinz, who is shown for most of the show as having no self-determination, no own goals, no introspection, nothing. People who claim that as a nine year old he has zero guilt in what he enables are insulting actual nine year olds, who have way more agency in their opinions than what some people here say. And that isn’t even going into the whole Windbag physiology deal, where Heinz would have to begin fathering children in about two years.

In conclusion, I have no idea what happened after the extremely good Macross Frontier to get to this generally mediocre and for a Macross show sub-par offering in the franchise. There has been speculation on the story being changed or on Kawamori losing his touch (for which a case could be made, given his track record since Frontier).

For me, Macross Delta is the worst Macross show I have watched. Every other Macross offering had something to redeem itself, but not Delta. I hope we will not have to wait for another decade to see the next show and this time around, I actually hope Kawamori takes a break and lets others take the reins, so that he can recharge his batteries.

3/10, would not watch again.

[dmaxzero]

Wont go on details regarding the show aspects, because most of it is average, animation was a above it with good fight sequences and mechanical designs, which is a must for any Macross show. I am actually waiting for the DX Valkyrie series.

Main issue with the show is the lack of consistency with its characters and overall story, branching and opening plot points that go nowhere or aren't explored at all. With protagonists that seems to have much more to say but are trapped in a bad story where except the main girl, no other can shine at all. Except Freyja, no other character leaves an everlasting impression or are totally forgettable.

That is the, in my view, the most rational conclusion I have.

On the more subjective part, I seriously dislike where the franchise is going with the main setting and world build. It is expected for any long time show to evolve but I do not agree where it is going. After Delta I hold no hope or expectation at all for these aspects to impress me once again. Hope to be wrong.

[SvenCalBayan]

I enjoyed Frontier much more than Delta.

Delta was disappointing IMO.

But my favorite, like many here, is Macross PLUS.

[wredsa]

To me fight between Humanoids ( Delta ) is much more dramatic then fighting bugs ( Frontier, most of the time ). I guess different people have different tastes though. I hated most musics of Delta though.

[Dash_Hunter]

Animation Quality: 8 Delta had some episodes with great 2D animation specially for the concerts, but it also had some really bad ones, the 3D animation for the Valkyries was really good but I liked Frontier's cel-shaded style more.

Voice Actors: 8 They did a good job with the material they were given, no character sounded bad or weird.

Script: 5 The first half was good, nothing special but really good, then the second half started dragging on and adding plot lines after plot lines, and also making the characters say or do things that made no sense to me.

Soundtrack: 8 I remember just a few tracks of background music, but Walkure's songs were great except for 2 or 3 of them, the problem is that the songs used for the second cour were not tied to important or exciting events in those episodes so they are not as memorable as the ones from the first.

Editing: 7 It was fine most of the time, some of the shots for the dog fights were really good but that's it

Enjoyment: 7 Again, I enjoyed the first half very much and would watch it again, but I don't see myself watching the second half, maybe just episode 22, 24 and the finale.

Emotional Involvement: 6 My emotional involvement went really down around episode 11 or 13 because I ended up caring more for secondary characters like Kaname, Messer or Herman, I liked the main trio too, but between how Mirage's character was treated and how Freyja and Hayate acted in the later episodes, I found myself more exasperated than anything else at times.

Average: 7

Macross Delta was a series with tons of potencial, it had the lore, the designs, it had the music and it had the name, but somewhere along the production the staff dropped the ball really hard with the story and how they wanted to tell it to us.
Also a side note but I had to mention this, the Windermerians are perhaps the weakest and worst antagonists of all Macross IMO, they are maybe just above the Marduk.

Anyway, I still hope Delta can receive the Frontier treatment and get one or two movies retelling the whole story while changing some things and getting rid of filler and useless or bad plot lines, it would benefit a lot with something like that and maybe that way Delta would finally become a more worthy instalment in the Macross franchise.

SDF = DYRL
Frontier (movies included)
PLUS = 7
Delta
Zero
Macross II

[Tak]

I enjoyed the show. It wasn't perfect, but Delta still proved entertaining. The production values of Delta were high, and animation remained consistent throughout. There were certainly discrepancies, but few and far in between. Certainly not the ones we experienced in Frontier. The highlight was the combat, but its a Macross series, so I expected no less.

The OST unfortunately, is no Yoko (OH NO!! ). The Walkure songs are largely forgettable. Although Mikumo is the center and poster-girl for Walkure, she lacks the vocal strength befitting of her character. If you listen closely, she sometimes sounded as if she was straining her voice. If I am to compare Mikumo's voice to a stream of river, then May'n's vocals are more akin to a tidal wave (and May'n is petite).

Plot-wise, its just got too many characters and lacks focus. Though I have accepted early on that it would be the events & setting that tell the story. As for writing, Delta is too ambitious for its own good. Ambition is not necessarily a bad thing, but I feel the writing would have been better adapted to a longer series. Delta's story veered off course early on, and failed to consolidate all the while introducing even more new elements to the audience. At the end, it made a messy U-turn to conclude its story, leaving us with even more questions and cliffhangers.

The story revolving the Kingdom of Windermere is particularly hit by bad writing. Winderemerian characters are bland and empty. For example, Fart-kun was a jerk from start to finish with little to no redeeming qualities. I have to admit, I fantasized about Mikumo stepping through his asshole with very high & sharp heels. I really did not like Fart-kun. Herman on the other hand, had no personality, none whatsoever. Roid started as a reasonable authority figure who I actually rooted for, then suddenly back-stabbed the King and turned heel. It was unclear why Roid suddenly decided to take over the galaxy when all he wanted in the first half was to negotiate with the NUN. Jailbait Ketchup-boy OTOH, was much like Herman and had no personality aside from being Roid's personal puppet. The only character, Cassim, was remotely likable, but they killed him... bastards.

Winderemerian actions were even worse from a practical point of view. Basically this was a faction in medieval stasis, possessed no industry, no manufacturing capabilities and relied mostly on Epsilon for everything it needed to combat the NUN. Fortunately, Macross ships did not require fuel, or the Winderemerians could kiss their chivalric-ass goodbye for all the good it did. Moreover, their victories were achieved pretty much through plot-armor and sheer, dumb luck. The Winderemerian's entire military asset for most part of the series consisted of six fighters, one Protoculture ship and a dozen frigates as escort. Yet Windermerians managed to score victory after victory against fleets usually 100 times its size. The Windermerians also managed to conveniently discover one ruin after another. Then comes the kicker, when Mikumo just so happened to conveniently land on Roid's lap, who was conveniently, also the revived Star Singer.

Talk about suspension of belief!

At the end, there was a victor in the war. Epsilon, also implied to be the remnants of the anti-UN organization from Macross Zero.

But we are left with a lot of unanswered questions.

As of Episode 26, Windermerians are screwed, very screwed. What are they going to do now?

Freya wanted to sing, and she got it. What about Hayate? Has he found his goal in life? That is to fly and protect Freya?

What about Mirage, who, despite being billed as a main character, had pretty much no development aside from gradually warming up to Hayate. What was her goal? What did she want? Why did she join Delta squadron? To protect the Walkure? To fly alongside them? To be part of their team? What?

What was the unequal treaty about?

Then there is the mysterious Lady M. If what Berger stated is true, then she could be one of three characters, imo.

Lynn Minmei
Hayase Misa
Ichijo Miku

I am ruling out Lynn Minmei because she just doesn't have what it takes.

Hayase Misa is more likely because she is an actual military officer and an avid researcher of Protoculture ruins.

Or, perhaps, possibly, it could be Ichijo Miku, Misa & Hikaru's daughter.

Well, the series did confirm one suspicion I had. Var syndrome came from the Vajra, and the last mission was Operation Ragnarok... HA!

And with Freya dying... well, Mirage...

Oh yeah, then there was the ENDGAME to Delta, which is exactly the same ENDGAME to Frontier.

Vajra Queen/Protoculture Ruins controlled by Grace/Roid. Kidnapped Ranka/Mikumo forced to activate it while performing a creepy rendition of DYRL. The objective being an attempt to link human conscious into one being. The heroes must brave enemy defenses and destroy Grace/Roid in order to save the Galaxy from certain ruin. Hmm... yeah. Same gig, different year.

- Tak