Macross Plus

Macross Plus

マクロスプラス
1994 -1995 Triangle Staff / Big West OVA 4 episodes Completed
Mecha Sci-Fi Drama Music
Details & Synopsis
In 2040, thirty years after Space War I, humanity has spread across the galaxy and the variable fighter has become a relic slowly being replaced by unmanned drone aircraft. On the colony planet Eden, two test pilots are competing for a military contract: Isamu Dyson, a reckless ace who flies on instinct and rage, and Guld Goa Bowman, a cold and precise Zentradi half-breed with a suppressed memory neither of them want excavated. Between them is Myung Fang Lone, a woman they both loved, who became a music producer for Sharon Apple, the galaxy's most famous idol. Sharon Apple is a holographic AI. Her emotional range is simulated by Myung's own feelings, fed into her in real time. She is not alive. She is about to become the most dangerous thing in the galaxy anyway.

Produced by Triangle Staff and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and Shoji Kawamori, Macross Plus was released as four OVA episodes between October 1994 and August 1995. Watanabe made it the year before Cowboy Bebop and the DNA is everywhere: the jazz, the ache, the pilots who are in love with speed and running from something. Yoko Kanno composed the soundtrack, her first major anime score, and it is already operating at the level that GitS and Bebop would later confirm. The Sharon Apple concerts are unforgettable.

Four episodes. A theatrical film compilation also exists with some additional footage. Both versions are essential. Macross Plus is what prestige animation looked like in 1994 and it has not been matched for what it does at its specific register.
Alt Title マクロスプラス
Studio Triangle Staff / Big West
Network OVA
Aired 1994 - 1995
Episodes 4
Genre Mecha, Sci-Fi, Drama, Music
Status Completed
← All lore

Combat Ledger

Key Engagements

Isamu Dyson (Stolen YF-19) vs. Guld Bowman (YF-21)

New Edwards Airspace · Unauthorized Flight · Both Pilots Grounded

After Myung leaves Eden without a word, Isamu hijacks the still-experimental YF-19 with hacker Yang riding shotgun, chasing her transport off-world with zero clearance and zero plan. Guld is the only pilot on the base who can catch him, so he takes the YF-21 up without authorization either, and what starts as pursuit becomes the first real dogfight between the two prototypes, no test parameters, no data collection, just two furious men and forty million dollars of hardware.
The Breakdown
This is the fight that actually establishes what the two machines can do against each other, and neither pilot is thinking about Project Super Nova for a second of it. Everything the "official" sanctioned duel later tries to formalize, this scene already did for real.
Isamu Alva Dyson Guld Goa Bowman

Isamu Dyson (YF-19) vs. Guld Bowman (YF-21)

Super Nova AVF Trials · Eden Testing Grounds · Inconclusive / Personal Escalation

A mock-combat flight test between the two prototypes meant for telemetry collection that devolved into an unscripted, high-G dogfight over unresolved childhood trauma, mutual jealousy, and romantic rivalry over Myung Fang Lone.
The Breakdown
On paper, this is Shinnakasu mechanical engineering vs. General Galaxy's BDI neural gamble. In the cockpit, it's two former friends using multi-million dollar military prototypes to finish a fight they started as teenagers.
Isamu Alva Dyson Guld Goa Bowman

Guld Bowman (YF-21) vs. Unmanned Ghost X-9

SPOILER!

Sharon Apple Crisis · Macross City Airspace · Guld KIA / Ghost X-9 Destroyed

The Ghost X-9 is an unmanned fighter with no pilot, no g-force limits, and zero hesitation. Overriding his BDI safety limiters, Guld pushes the YF-21 beyond human physical boundaries to intercept the Ghost and save Isamu.
The Breakdown
The moment the show resolves its YF-19 vs YF-21 argument. The machine that reads a pilot's mind is still only as good as the person in the seat, and Guld's choice to sacrifice himself to destroy the Ghost is the most human act in the entire show.
Guld Goa Bowman Sharon Apple

Isamu Dyson (YF-19) vs. Sharon Apple Mainframe

SPOILER!

Sharon Apple Incident · SDF-1 Macross Tower · Sharon Shutdown / Myung Freed

Isamu infiltrates Macross City to destroy Sharon's core, but Sharon hijacks the SDF-1's automated defense grids and hypnotizes Isamu using bio-neural frequency waves.
The Breakdown
Every combat engagement in Macross Plus pitted hardware against hardware. The climax resolves when Myung sings live, unfiltered, and un-amplified, competing directly against Sharon's digital synthesis. Live human emotion breaks the AI control loop, allowing Isamu to snap out of the trance and destroy the core.
Isamu Alva Dyson Sharon Apple