The Quick and Easy Guide to Watching Robotech

What’s the Difference Between Robotech and Macross?

Not as much as you might think. Many names were changed and Americanized—Hikaru Ichijyo became Rick Hunter, SDF officer Misa Hayase became Lisa Hayes. The main fighter jet/mecha were mainly called Veritechs in Robotech, while in Macross they were exclusively known as Valkyries. But the show was primarily edited solely to take out things that, while appropriate for young Japanese audiences, were considered inappropriate for young American audiences, like blood, a bit of nudity, characters getting drunk, and things like that.

All in all, the Macross saga is a pretty accurate translation of the original Japanese series as New Generation was to Mospeada, although of course the Flowers of Life seen in the latter have nothing to do with protoculture. It was Southern Cross/Masters that received the biggest changes in order to form the connective tissue between the two other series, turning the main character into the daughter of two Macross characters. The original Southern Cross wasn’t even set on Earth!

Why Should I Watch Robotech?

It is a classic by any standard. It’s a classic American ‘80s cartoon, it’s a classic ’80s mecha anime, it’s a classic example of how America used to adapt anime back then, too. But Robotech was also a pioneer in many, many ways, at least in America. It was one of the first animated series to have a serialized story in the U.S. instead of telling episodic tales like Transformers or He-Man. While the violence was somewhat toned down, Robotech did not flinch from showing the horrors of war and even featured a main character dying. It featured far more mature storytelling than its American cartoon contemporaries, and many viewers became obsessed with the show.

This is why Robotech had such an integral role in the birth of the American anime industry. Very few Japanese series had been imported prior to it, and while Robotech wasn’t as popular as its American peers, those kids who did become fans often became obsessed with the show. What was so striking about Robotech, despite its American adaptation and English dub, was its foreignness. Robotech inspired kids to investigate its origin and discover the world of anime, leading to its increasing popularity throughout the ‘90s and eventually the American anime boom of the ‘00s that continues to this day. It’s not an overstatement to say Robotech was a crucial step in anime’s invasion of the U.S., without which the world of pop culture would be very different indeed.

Where Can I Watch Robotech and Macross? 

Right now, all three sagas of the original Robotech cartoon, the few remnants of the justly maligned 1986 sequel Robotech II: The Sentinels, and the so-so 2007 movie Shadow Chronicles are all available to stream on the Funimation streaming service, which presumably means they’ll become available on Crunchyroll once it absorbs the anime licensor completely. You can currently rent the series via Prime Video, iTunes, or Vudu, but nothing else.

If you want to watch the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada, it’s much trickier. A small anime licensor named AnimEigo brought out the original Macross, unedited, with the original language soundtrack, on DVD back in 2002, while the defunct ADV Films imported Southern Cross and Mospeada shortly thereafter. However, they’ve all been out of print since then, the latter two because of lack of interest and the former as a casualty of long-running rights disputes. So if you want to track them down, happy hunting!

Since those very complicated legal battles between Robotech owner Harmony Gold and Macross owners Big West and Studio Nue were resolved last year, it’s entirely possible—plausible, even—that a new release of Super Dimension Fortress Macross could be on the way sooner rather than later. Stay tuned!

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