It's only really Southern Cross that got edited to death. Macross and Mospeda parts are fine. In some ways, the Robotech soundtrack is actually better than Macross's. Macross's Dogfighter is fine, but there's a lot of temp track quality songs in that soundtrack like Viva! Zentradian. In contrast, most Robotech tracks use their orchestra more effectively and more innovatively.
Strong agreement here. When I finally watched Macross, I was shocked that A) basically it was little different and B) the music--which I assumed had to be awesome (because Robotech's was good and Japan always does better music, right?).... was actually kind of a let-down.
In a particular unpopular opinion of mine... this includes Minmei's songs. Cheesy as they are, I can remember most of Robotech-Minmei's music. Japan-Minmei just sounds like average Jpop.
Also, Mospeada has one scene (in the Mint's Birthday episode) that is legit kind of uncomfortable to watch. Robotech did well editing that shit out.
Wasn't Southern Cross the bad part anyway? Macross always has its fans and Mospeada had its cult following but from what I've heard, Southern Cross was just crap until the Robotech edit came in.
That's the reputation, but having watched it, a part of me wonders if it wasn't just burnout from the audiences.
Gotta remember that in Japan, Macross forms a sort of spiritual-trilogy (IE not storyline connected) with Orguss and Southern Cross, with SC being the final part.
I've watched all the shows that make up Robotech (plus some of Orguss) and honestly... well, it says something that Mospeada was the only one I finished in its entirety. They all have their virtues but none of them feel especially stand-out to me, especially now that I know 1980s Japan was practically oversaturated with mecha shows that were all trying to be either the next Gundam or the next [insert popular Super Robot show here as that's a genre I don't know much about].
.......
Thread tax by the way, for anyone who IS into eighties anime and giant robots in particular, some absolute chad actually put DVD ISOs of the incredibly hard to find Licensed US releases of
Beast King Golion and
Armored Fleet Dairugger XV onto the Internet Archive!
If you're thinking "Aren't these the shows used to create....?" yes, yes they were.
Don't put off watching Dairugger just because you've heard people badmouth Vehicle Voltron, BTW. I can't speak for the dubbed version (Vehicle Voltron was one of those things I never knew about until the internet) but in Japanese its pretty good, basically watching like a mix of Star Trek and Macross but in the format of a Super Robot show.
(Don't take my not defending Golion for my not liking it--its just that the show everyone gravitates towards anyway, hardly needs a spokesman).
