Why Macross Delta is Misunderstood - Spoiler Free Anime Review 285 

I started with Delta as my first Macross show from recommendations from fans of another show that is dear to my heart Symphogear and really loved it. After finishing it and finding out its polarizing reception among fans of the series I was a bit surprised especially after going back and watching through the rest of the series it felt like a good continuation of the stories and themes of prior entries. I do really agree with your assessment that thinning up the number of walkure girls to spend more time on the main 3 of them would of gone a long way to improve the show. I have heard mostly good things about the sequel movie so I am very excited for when they receive their home release and translations.

I think one issue with delta is how it is very costly and difficult to watch legally and people didn’t like the idol parts

Harmony Gold and Big West made a deal this past April to have most Macross TV Shows and Movies come to the West, including Macross Delta's New Movie that came out a couple of weeks ago in Japan.

Macross Delta was my 1st Macross Series that I watched... I like it...

As much as I love frontier for its characters, I fell in love with the songs and seiyus of delta. Now I don't see the anime characters anymore while listening to their song. I love the real people behind the voices

No one: Macross and Symphogear: Haha, J Pop makes mech go WOOOOSH.

Perhaps it's an unpopular opinion for me to say this, but I liked Delta more than Frontier. I believe Delta has far more expressive characters along with a stronger, straightforward romantic relationship depicted between Hayate and Freyja. I wasn't bothered by how one-sided the supposed love triangle turned out to be seeing how well they go together, but I do feel a little bad for Mirage for being left by the wayside. I don't think of the aesthetic changes as a con, rather I think the new style complements this show's emphasis on idols by helping them stand out. I do agree that both the protagonists and antagonists are fairly fleshed out, and by pitting them against each other like rivals/adversaries makes their encounters more personal resulting in greater investment on the outcome of battles. While I'm still not completely accustomed to the idols, there are a couple of songs that I liked especially the first ED Rune ga Pikatto Hikarittara that sounds similar to Earth Wind and Fire's September, and the performance in the first movie Change!!!!! was spectacular. For now I think the ending left much to be desired with the finale feeling derivative, but I haven't watched the second movie yet so I'm reserving my full judgment until I see how all of this actually ends. Other than the ending, I was surprised to see how invested I was into certain characters and liked listening to some of their catchy songs that I ended up really enjoying Macross Delta.

It took me a long time to give Delta a chance at first glance at the promotional art and a synopsis I did not think I would like it. I recently rewatched sdf macross and frontier and decided lets give delta a shot. I was expecting to hate it from hate I’ve seen online but honestly it wasn’t that bad. By the end I actually thought it was good for what it is. It has some neat concepts, world building etc and action and sweet valks. Though the music was not as good as frontier and the focus was heavier on the idols yet the music quality not as great and as mentioned some of the members of the group not developed enough. So even though I did not enjoy it as much as some other macross series, overall I still think its good and a must watch for a macross fan. I am pumped for the second movie!

I felt like Macross Delta need more episodes to makes things work better. At least the number of episodes the original series.

I've got the entire series, but have only seen episode one and was...underwhelmed. Perhaps I should give it another shot. I'm gonna get into hellacious trouble by writing this, but my biggest over-arching problem with the Macross series (which I love to death) is the almost singular focus on idols. I know idol culture is ginormous in Japan, but it doesn't translate that well in the U.S.. Yes, many singers here are "idolized", but they're not expected to be the literal saviors of mankind like Macross treats them. The original Macross series featured a species that was particularly vulnerable to song, especially those sung my Minmei. This was (or should've been) a one-trick pony, though, as even the original series saw various Zentraedi soldiers revert to their warlike state. And then you had really immune bastards, like Kravshera and Lap Lamiz, who never succumbed to human (proto)culture. Songs were never suppose to be this "one size fits all" and go-to weapon against other species, though. It was only via a very special and peculiar combination of events that made songs work so effectively against Boddole Zer's forces AND EVEN THEN it took a cataclysmic fight to fully win Space War I since much of Zer's army were undeterred by Minmei's siren call. Series like 7 (and, I suspect, Delta) just crank up the idol worship to 11. Basara raking his guitar while belting-out some tune, which also somehow controls his mech, has to be one of the cringiest things in all of Macross and is undoubtedly why many devotees can't stand 7. And Delta did itself no favors by having no less than FIVE idols doing all sorts of arcane and magical things in episode 1 to assist the military. Even Macross II is guilty of hyper-focusing on the militarization of idols and their songs. I wish Macross had pivoted away, at least a little, from the whole idol stuff, as it just gets too much and too silly as the series progresses. I suppose I should be thankful that Macross Plus did it right by having Apple simply be an idol singer and not the UN Spacy's Swiss Army Knife.

I see why some ppl might actually like Delta, but I think those ppl are probably not watching it for the things I feel make Macross unique. Haven't seen Delta in a while and have no urge to do so again, but here is what I remeber: - Waaaay too many characters: singers, pilots, antagonists - The baddies are basically an arrogant techno-medieval kingdom with swords and attitude .... just why? - For the amount of talking (over things actually happening), most characters have very little development. we basically go on a roundaround way to get to know their back story ... and thats about it. - (personal pref.) I think most Macross hit a very good balance between music/sci-fi ... this one is waay too much on the idols side. - I think I've checked out mentally by the second half of the series (as I was not really enjoying it) because for the life of my I cannot remember the thing having any actual resolution on a a macro level (the whole NUN vs Windbags conflict). - I remember thinking that Macross Zero did the Valkyrie vs Valkyrie thing much better. I felt Delta was forgetting that is is not Top Gun waay too often.

i very much liked Delta.... and going to an Idol Group totally made sense for Macross and made sense if you know Japanese pop music, also some great connections too the Original Macross

i really wanted say this about the moive if people dont know but about the movies the first movie Gekijou no Walküre is a retelling of the tv anime but it is still diffrent with pacing and added/ new animations along with removed and changes from the 24 episode anime this is where the second movie Zettai Live follows the event from the movie when i comes to how it was progressed. there is a diffrence i still would watch the movie for the pacing and over all how it was portrade before watching the second movie

Unless I'm mistaken, Macross isn't as readily available to the US market. Maybe we'll see a licensing company distribute BluRays of all of the TV series, movies, etc kind of like how Gundam got a revival in the US through Nozomi Entertainment & RightStuf.

The Macross valkryes are badass as all eats but ... The idols aren't my thing but at least the mecha battles are badass and the setting is amazing if you love dramas.

Honeslty can they just do what gundam did on 0079 showing different perspective on big events during the original macross. Like how the grunts or other teams handle or felt about the minmay attack or something... then just sprinkle an unpopular idol that idolizes minmay and a mini love trianlge within the grunts. You could even spinkle some new variation of the VF 1 series jets to have new toys. Honeslty the world of the past Macross before delta are super interesting I want to get to know them better first.

I liked most of the characters after the TV show, but found Freyja annoying. However the Zettai Live movie made me LOVE the characters even more!.

This is the 7th Macross I've seen if you include Macross II and I rank this series somewhere in the middle. As for the whole idol group controversy, Walkure is just a natural progression of the musical acts featured in the show and would have been stupid from a money making stand point not to feature an idol group. But yeah, their character development was lacking and the inclusion of the Windemerean Ariel Knights didn't help any. The series was ok. It wasn't the worst. Even if it was the worst, the music was fantastic and would be it's saving grace just like the music in Macross 7 was that show's only redeeming quality.

I've never heard of any of the other macross series. I discovered delta from the song sung in ep 1 featured in a gacha video, after a ton of searching I found the anime and got hooked

One of my big problems though with Macross Delta was how they had to rush to the ending. I'm guessing they either couldn't afford any more episodes to produce or the studio wasn't getting enough viewers so they just cut to the end with them like the last three or four episodes. In related TV and media, they did pretty much the same thing with the Swamp Thing show for DC.

I loved Macross Frontier. I had just started watching Delta , two episodes in, when it was pulled. I thought I was going to cry. Thanks for the spoiler free review.

I thought Delta was OK. I enjoyed the characters in Frontier better. But I do have one major gripe with Delta, Frontier, and ALL of Macross. What is the point in watching a TV series when the movie comes out, retcons who lives and who dies, and makes an all new continuity? The franchise, as such, is a mess. So original Macross, the Frontier TV, and Delta TV are not canon anymore.

I don't really see a problem with the folding. I mean the only main problem with folding that has been consistent since Frontier is the fold faults which slow down travel from point A to B. I think you are talking about how the singers can open/ activate a fold jump, but that requires users to be near a protoculture ruin. Basically the Protoculture did the same thing as Luca did in Frontier make a super fold booster but it was encrypted by a lock aka singers that have fold bacteria from the Vajra otherwise everyone could just use it including their enemies which at the time would be the protodevils which where rampaging through out the galaxy. In short Windermire was like the Protoculture laboratory in making a weapon to stop the protdevils or just other enemies from taking over. As it was located in a fold fault rich environment that only the Vajra could enter into due to their instant zero time lag fold and fold communication,but the Vajra are only enemies when you either take one of their kind away from them. Which is why the battleship and mind control device was there in Windermire. And is relatively safe from any attacks otherwise the enemies would have to take the long route of just travelling into the planet with out using a fold, which would 100% get noticed and there will be a response to deal with it as there is enough time to react, unlike just folding out of no where charge a few million Zentradi or Macross cannon's for a minute and fire.

i understood it. it got me into macross lol but of course i absolutely love idol anime. they really don’t mess around with the music, it’s incredibly good. junna is legendary

I'm going to slightly disagree; I was actually turned off to Delta from the TV show but I reengaged it through the movie and ended up enjoying Delta.

From what I understand, the main ones in the Macross franchise chronologically consist of: 01. Macross Zero (5 episode OVA) 02. Super Dimension Fortress Macross (36 episode) 03. Macross Plus (4 episode OVA) -- Macross Plus Movie Edition 04. Macross 7 (49 episodes) -- Macross 7 Encore (3 episode OVA) _side story_ -- Macross 7: The Movie _side story_ -- Macross Dynamite 7 (4 episode OVA) _sequel_ 05. Macross Frontier (25 episodes) -- Macross Frontier: The False Songstress (movie) -- Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye (movie) 06. Macross Δ (26 episodes) -- Macross Δ Movie -- Macross Δ Movie 2

In the beginning of the first episode I was like "no, please no ! Not an idols band !!!" End of episode : Mikumo starts to sing and I knew I was in for a good ride

Protoculture didnt fear the Bajura, they idolized them, they were in awe of their ability to fold on their own and their fold network. This is how they built the Tori no hito and left it on earth to watch over humanity.

Flying dog is behind most of the casting/music for Macross hence why 5 pop Idols in Delta

Recently watched delta and I personally think is bad

With everyone constantly shitting on this series everywhere i was not sure about if it was worth a watch or not but from the way you explain it a lot of older anime fans should just calm down and think before hating everything new, it gets so tiresome within these fandoms to constantly run in to extreme nihilists and boomers, thank you for being the voice of reason.

So I rewatched both macross frontier movies in the movie theater and I realize how foolish I was to judge some of the over the top sequences of Delta on TV

I’ll be honest, I don’t like Delta. But having watched the second movie last year, I can respect it for doing something no Macross has done before, and resolving the love triangle in a very definitive way we haven’t seen before.

Very Beautiful 👍👍👍

To me I think Delta needed a bit more episodes to flesh out the story and character as the final arc felt really rushed. But overall liked the series. Other problem is that it is hard to compete with established older series of Macross like Frontier, or Plus as that is where majority of the hate comes from. "Delta isn't as good as Frontier or Plus" etc. But I mean how can you really top Macross Plus? Macross Plus was like peak Macross fiction right there. Man watching mirage lose oof man she be getting L's everywhere bruh why, seems like Max kept all his chadness to himself and didn't pass it down to his 8 offspring's.

I remember seeing someone I used to watch shit on this show, but I take everything he says with a grain of salt anyway. It does seem like Macross goes full on Weaboo in this series. Have to judge for myself to see if I can tolerate it. It kind of reminds me of how Yakuza 5 shoved in a weird sub plot regarding the Idol Industry that I really didn't care about. In fact that game in general had a bunch of stuff about it that I didn't care about. Eh, getting off topic, will probably watch the other Macross shows before this, does annoy the franchise doesn't get nearly as many English Dubs as Gundam does.

I love macross delta cause I start from there the other macross though I must say it's were I fist started music anime any other tat I watch I always compare to and secondly it's a cool space anime

lol comment about walkure going on spy missions, not all that different from why is the captain of a star ship and the chief medical officer going on a spy mission?

Any news on when the movie will come to the west?

I just hate idols...

you need to keep the movies and the series separeted. The movies time line are different from the TV series.

Tbh might watch it for the cute purple hair girl

I've watched and rewatched everything Macross since the late 80's and I still can't stand Delta.

most controversial? that goes to M7

nice horror anime

✌️ ✌️ W

ｌｏｌ ｉ ｗａｓ ｎｏｔ ｒｅａｄｙ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ Ｔｕｐａｃ ｐｉｃ ＞＜；；

Nope, you've failed to convince me. This is just a modern Macross 7 and I hated that.

You could say Macross Delta was ahead of its time. By which I mean the movies, while clearly better directed, also experienced way more success with fans simply because the way idol culture, or at least the appreciation for it, spread over to the West. If Macross Delta was aired in 2020 it'd have been significantly more popular.

Mecha and idol group does not mix. Its a hard pass for me.😂

I hate the magic pop idol crap so much. I tried so hard to watch this series, but they ruin everything. Minmay worked because her song was not magic, but part of a culture shock. Her it just remove my immersion completely. Even standalone this is a unfocused mess, with to many things that goes nowhere, bland characters, and unfocused plot. Unless you are REALLY into magic pop idols, there is nothing for you here. Even the importance of the mech's are meaningless unless a singer is near in this show.

Macross Delta is a shit,

i have seem every single macross, and i found Delta totally bullshit. characters are boring without development, the action is bland and so on.