Macross Plus-Collection 2-Parts 3 & 4 (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Biographies-Character Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Blood: The Last Vampire, Street Fighter Alpha - The Movie Trailer-Wings Of Honneamise DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	77:57 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Shoji Kawamori Shinichiro Watanabe
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$29.95	Music	Yoko Kanno

    Macross Plus Collection Two contains the final two parts of a four part series that has been called the 'Top Gun' of Japanese animation.

    Macross Plus is based in the Macross universe that was first introduced in 1982 with the series Super Dimension Fortress: Macross. Australian viewers may remember this series as the dubbed and severely edited series Robotech that aired here in the mid-1980s. If you have not seen any part of the Macross saga before, do not be concerned as Macross Plus easily stands alone and requires no previous knowledge to be fully appreciated.

    Following directly on from the first two episodes, this disc starts with the UN Government investigating the incident between Isamu Dyson and Guld Bowman. After this investigation, the governments plans for the fighter program are revealed and will be publicly announced during the celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of the formation of the UN Government. Myung returns to Earth with Sharon Apple to perform at the celebrations and both Guld and Isamu follow her.

    This disc continues to display the fabulously detailed animation that was seen on the first disc. The computer generated sequences are well integrated with the traditional animation of the feature. Macross Plus is an excellent series that should appeal to both fans of anime and viewers who would not normally consider watching animated material.

Video

    As seen on the first disc, Macross Plus has been digitally restored for its DVD release. This has definitely been worthwhile as the image looks fantastic.

    The full frame transfer is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is consistently sharp and clearly reveals the gorgeous animation. No low level noise was detected during this transfer. The transfer has excellent shadow detail and the animation shows a high level of detail in the dark backgrounds.

    The transfer utilizes a wide range of vibrant colours including many subtle shadings. These colours are accurately portrayed throughout the transfer.

    At no stage during the transfer where any MPEG artefacts visible.

    During both of the episodes, a small amount of aliasing can be seen on a small number of occasions. Examples of this aliasing can be seen in Episode 3 at 5:38, 11:01 and 26:50 and during Episode 4 at 6:11, 20:42 and 30:10. Each occurrence of aliasing is short and only slightly disruptive to the viewer.

    A small number of film artefacts can be seen during the transfer, with examples occurring at 3:16, 4:32 and 6:00 during Episode 3 and at 4:42, 7:24 and 12:58 in Episode 4. At no stage are these small artefacts disruptive to the viewer.

    During both episodes, a small number of NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts are visible. Examples of these can be seen at 0:22 and 12:46 in the first episode and again at 1:06 in the second.

    A single set of yellow English subtitles are provided and these are always clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    During both soundtracks, the dialogue is always clear and easy to understand.

    As this is an animated feature there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. At no stage during the transfer were any audio dropouts detected.

    The musical soundtrack for the film is one of the best ever presented in an anime and supports the on-screen action. As one of the major characters is a pop star, there are a number of memorable extended musical numbers that are of very high quality. The main theme from the series is repeated with a number of variations during these two episodes but this does not become annoying because of its quality.

    With the English 5.1 mix, the soundstage is mainly focused across the front three channels but the surrounds are used very effectively during the numerous fight and concert scenes.

    The subwoofer is used throughout the transfer to support both effects and the score.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Profiles

Trailers

Macross Plus (2:53)
    Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

The Wings of Honneamise (1:20)
    Presented at an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 with an English 2.0 soundtrack.

Blood: The Last Vampire (1:40)
    Presented at an aspect ratio of approximately 1.66:1 with an English 2.0 soundtrack.

Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie (1:06)
    Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

     The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Photo Gallery
• English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Additional trailers

    The initial R1 release reportedly had a problem with subtitle sync and incorrectly mastered audio. These problems were rectified and the disc was re-released. Both versions of this DVD appear to be nearly identical. The photo gallery is likely just to include still frames from the feature, so I would therefore have no preference for either version.

    Macross Plus is an excellent series that will appeal to a large audience and should not be missed by anime fans.

    The video transfer for this title is of extremely high quality and is able to effectively show off the gorgeous animation.

    Both the English and Japanese audio mixes provided are of high quality and will be sure to please both fans of subs and dubs.

    The minimal extras provided do little to educate the viewer but are better than nothing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall