Macross Plus is a part of a much larger saga that begins in 1999, when a giant spaceship crashes into an island in the Pacfic Ocean, bringing a premature halt to global hostilities. The governments of the world put aside their differences and band together, to investigate this extra-terrestrial vehicle. Much of the ship is salvaged and redeveloped for human use, creating the Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross (the SDF-1), a giant battle fortress with the ability to travel vast distances through space via brief inter-dimensional voyages. In addition to the fortress, other defenses are consructed using the alien technology, including fighter craft and tanks that had the ability to tranform into giant mechanoids.

The arrival of the spacecraft is not all good news, however. The Zentraedi, a race of militaristic giants from a distant planet have tracked the vessel to Earth, and wage war upon humanity in an attempt to acquire the superior technology.

Thus the war between two species played out over one of the most popular anime series in history. As with many popular television shows, sequels and spinoffs are created, to appease fans, and to make more money for the creators, in this case including Macross Plus, and the feature length Macross: Do You Remember Love?.

Many people may recognise the original series under its American title, Robotech, but it is important to note that Robotech included two other series in the saga, with slightly altered storylines to better fit the USA's seasonal programming.

Macross Plus occurs some thirty years after the original series - the war is long over, a peace treaty having been signed and the Zentraedi miniaturised to human size. The action focuses around three characters, Isumo Dyson, and Guld Bowman (half-Zentraedi) both test pilots for the military, and assigned to competing projects, and Myung Lone, the producer for the first Artificial Intelligence pop singer. The three grew up together on the colony world of Eden, and it is here that they have been reunited, to resolve their personal demons left behind when they went their separate ways.

With some fantastic animated combat and flight sequences, it is really the characters and emotional content that will draw you into the story. This isn't your Saturday morning cartoon, and come the end of part 2, you'll be screaming at the distributors for parts 3 and 4.

Another superb animated transfer, the video contains a great deal of colour (something Macross fans will expect). With no colour bleeding, loss of detail or evidence of artifacting, and only very minimal aliasing at times, we're left with a picture that can be simply breathtaking - the Sharon Apple concert at the beginning of Episode 2 springs to mind.

On the audio front, we are presented with the choice of both the original Japanese soundtrack, stereo, or an English dubbed track in Dolby 5.1. Whilst the Japanese track is adequate to the task, the English 5.1 track packs a much bigger punch, that greatly enhances the show. Usually, I'm a proponent for original audio with subtitles, as many times the voice casting for the English dub can leave something to be desired. In this case, I'm very happy to say the English speaking voice actors are magnificent, and with the enhancements offered by the 5.1 mix, the English track is an easy choice to make.

The included extras are pretty thin on the bits, with a total of four theatrical trailers, one for Macross Plus and three for other anime titles (The Castle of Cagliostro, The Wings of Honneamise and Street Fighter: Alpha - The Movie). Additionally, there are six images included for the major players in the drama, with a couple of sentences on each.

If you are a fan of anime, this series is a must-have, and for those of you who may not be inclined towards this style of storytelling, I urge you to give Macross Plus a try. At its core, it's a story about humanity and the mistakes of the past. Check it out - I think you'll be surprised.