What a difference writing makes.

That could pretty much be the whole article right there, but it would be bad form to leave it at that. I hadn't realized just how low my standards for anime writing had gotten recently until watching SDFM, and subsequently dipping my toes into what is obviously a fully-realized, cohesive, convincing sci-fi world. It's not really worth singling out the plot, or the characters, or the pacing, because the fact is that every aspect of the writing is just so unilaterally solid. In other words, trying to explain why I was so impressed with the writing in SDFM would go a lot like this: "Well, it all comes down to the characters...no, the characters are great but it's the pacing that puts it a cut above...hmm, but you can't discount the dialogue..."

There's always a problem when you watch anime backwards- that is, when you've seen the many ripples of a show's influence on the medium long before seeing the original, seminal show. I had to keep reminding myself that all of the similarities I was noticing to more recent anime were not homages, but the reverse; that this was the source material that inspired so much imitation to begin with. I can't imagine what this show must have looked like to anime fans when it was brand new, and the fact that I cannot do that is really my only source of disappointment with the show.

Okay, so I don't think there was realistically any way out of this other than Minmay ending up as a red blotch on the pavement, but it looked cool and romantic so who cares.

After chastising myself for putting up with so much bad writing in anime just because the newer stuff is colorful and shiny, I realized that I didn't know how to asses the animation of SDFM. While individual screens of the show look pretty terrible, and calling the style merely 'dated' would be charitable, there's such a feeling of life in the animation that I wonder if any of that matters. Even scenes where the animators could have easily gotten away with using mostly static frames have lots of motion, and while that motion isn't always terribly fluid, it's very engaging. For example, despite her detail-deficient appearance and fairly bland lines of dialogue, Minmay stands out in my mind as a unique character in large part due to her mannerisms.

My opinion of the animation kept flip-flopping, because while I couldn't deny that some of the specific visuals were downright ugly, those visuals were presented and combined with so much confidence and finesse that I was constantly engaged in the action onscreen. While the final product undeniably lacks polish from a modern perspective, I have to wonder why we don't see direction like this anymore. I expected to have the experience of sitting through something old, and while I wasn't completely wrong...nah, actually I was completely wrong. Moving on.

The fact that this show deals with mature themes without getting bogged down in melodrama (at least, not yet) is perhaps its best feature. We can totally relate to the civilian Hikaru's fear and disgust at the carnage going on around him, yet the show never degenerates into a "this is the true face of war, oh woe is us" sobfest. In fact, the relative nonchalance with which Misa and especially Roy regard the battle is perfect; we can see exactly why their unflappable behavior seems chilling to Hikaru in light of the death all around him, but the truth is, if there ever really were an alien attack, these are exactly the kind of people that you would want in charge. The just-another-day-at-the-office mentality of characters like Roy is a disturbing reminder of how violence on a massive scale is perpetuated in real life, and yet, it's that very attitude that makes the show so watchable. This show refuses to drown in the darkness of it's premise, but it doesn't run away from it either, and that's a very rare quality.

Finally, I like this show's approach to realism, which is a bit fickle but effective. I love the fact that the hot-shot exhibition pilot gets shot down immediately due to his lack of combat experience; most anime would use Hikaru's piloting talent as an excuse for him to fly rings around everyone else, despite the fact that he's never been shot at before, and should logically be scared out of his wits. However, when Minmay gets shot out of the sky and Hikaru dives after her, the realism established thus far is bent- not broken- in favor of some very timely wish-fulfillment. When everything in their world seems to be going to hell, Hikaru and Minmay's aerial dance reminds us that hope is never futile, because you just never know until you try. It communicates something integral to the human experience that I find very difficult to put into words. Maybe it all ties in once again to the show's sophisticated view of violence; yes it's terrifying, but would something this exciting and romantic be possible in a world without it? In a better world, these two never could have had such a perfect meeting.

I don't know if I'm going to move on to watching all things Macross- who is that Sharon Apple, anyway?- but I definitely want to see more of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. I guess Macross Day beat me, somehow.