Name(s): Macross Dynamite 7 / マクロスダイナマイト7
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (4 30-minute episodes)
Studio(s): Ashi Productions
Related: Macross 7 (1994)

At long last, it’s finally over. Macross 7, somehow simultaneously the longest-running and worst Macross series ends in 1998 with the conclusion of the OVA, Macross Dynamite 7 (MD7). If you haven’t read my Macross 7 reviews before this, I recommend you do, as you can probably tell I dislike the series, and the majority of my reasons are detailed in those. Don’t worry though, I’ll find plenty more things to pick on Macross Dynamite 7 for, and maybe I’ll even find a good thing about it. Or two!

A short while after the series’s conclusion, Fire Bomber lead songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Nekki Basara disappears as he so often does to find himself. This was already the basis for an arc in the actual series, but whatever. Basara lands on the planet Zola, inhabited by hairy elf people whom each possess a pet catsnake (exactly what they sound like) for no explained reason. Basara is surprised to learn that some Galactic Whales are making their roundtrip to Zola while he’s visiting, and we as an audience are not surprised at all to see such a dull plot premise in Macross 7 that goes in every predictable route we can imagine.

To start with, these Whales are routinely hunted by poachers who sell their Whale parts for Whale bucks. However, the Whale poachers are given a whale of a problem by the Whales’ defenders, Zola’s (Whale) Patrol Force. Liza Hoyly is a high-ranking officer for the patrol and rightly calls Basara an idiot for attempting to stop the poachers from robbing a warehouse by singing at them (this concept would later inspire the character Swiper the Fox in the western anime Dora the Explorer). Basara is as unfazed as ever even after he’s attacked by the poachers, and launches in his Valkyrie to sing at the Whales for some reason. His entire mech is blown away and then he’s stranded on Zola in a coma. Dynamite!

Fortunately, Zolaians don’t believe in coincidence and Basara ends up in the care of a girl named Elma who happens to be Liza’s younger sister. Their father was a former poacher who now solely hunts the Whale group’s leader, the legendary White Whale, whom he blames for killing his wife, who was a pop star on Zola, and for taking his arm which unlike his wife was not a star at all. Graham underwent the Zentradi’s Macronization to become a giant so he could more easily battle the White Whale in his giant mecha scuba suit. It ain’t exactly Moby Dick. Ain’t exactly.

Back at home Fire Bomber are experiencing problems because of Basara being an asshole again and vanishing with tour dates still planned, and Mylene is losing focus as she worries about him. Mylene is later drugged by some much older and also female record label executive and very nearly raped. This actually happens exactly as I said it. Mylene is saved offscreen in the nick of time and we’re left to believe the rapist got away with no punishment. Gamlin goes off to search for Basara on his own and Ray lets Mylene know so she can follow. This is the extent of what happens with the original characters. Literally nobody other than Basara does a single important thing in the entire OVA. Gamlin arrives on Zola and shoots down a few poacher grunts who ultimately don’t matter, and Mylene comically shows up after everything is over. There’s no reason for anything in this entire paragraph to be in the OVA other than obligation, but it should go without saying that the real problem is that nothing was made out of that obligation.

So Elma, who is basically Mylene without any temper tantrums and who might actually be a little bit retarded, carries the comatose Basara around after he leaves the ICU unconsciously. Basara eventually wakes up and as usual decides he hasn’t learned his lesson and wants to sing at the Whales some more and stop Graham from killing the White Whale. What will happen? Will the evil poachers succeed in killing the White Whale? Will Graham have a sudden change of heart? Will the Whales, based on an animal known for singing, sing back to Basara? Whatever happens, it will be shocking and exciting.

The best thing I can say about this OVA compared to the main series, other than its brevity, is the fact that it looks pretty damn good. I like the art style of Macross Plus more, but Macross Dynamite 7 arguably uses its production values to better advantage. The variety of colors are lovely to see in all their newfound clarity and the framerate is very nice. The action scenes are a little more interesting than they were in the series because of this but still suffer from the fact that only one major character fights so they feel impersonal and generic. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Macross Dynamite 7 is one of the best-looking anime of the ’90s I’ve yet seen, although it does lack in the final push of a unique style.

Of course, many new Fire Bomber songs are featured in the OVA as well. I don’t think Fire Bomber are very good, particularly because most of their songs sound the same, but the theme song “Dynamite Explosion” is one of my favorites by them and is almost as good as the series opener “Seventh Moon.” I can do totally without the rest and can’t hum a single melody from them. On a side note, Basara himself is a little more likable in this OVA. I like to think he’s matured but it’s probably unintentional. In any case, he makes more of an effort to converse than before and seems to be having fun with his adventure rather than stubborningly trying to prove the power of his music.

Macross Dynamite 7 attempts its own standalone story but at the expense of being anything qualifying it for a good sequel—i.e. something necessary. No loose threads of the original series are tied up and no further background is given on any characters. This has no relevance to the series itself whatsoever and could be watched at any time without losing anything. I’m inclined to say that if you want to experience Macross 7 at all that you should simply watch MD7 because it’s much shorter and at least looks nice. Yet at the same time it’s not a good example of Macross 7 because it somehow manages to have even less plot detail than the meandering series. You really can’t win with Macross 7 other than to not watch it at all, but obviously that wasn’t an option for me. For those who liked the main series, you’re all eccentric and I recommend Macross Dynamite 7 highly, and for those who haven’t seen the main series… well… this exists. The worst thing about this OVA, however, is how the theme song misses the incredibly obvious rhyme opportunity by ending the chorus with “everywhere” instead of “every night.”