The Macross Franchise
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross franchise has run continuously since 1982, four decades of TV series, OVAs, and movies all set in the same evolving timeline. Unlike Gundam, Macross is mostly a single shared continuity, so the main thing to decide is where to drop in. Pop music, transforming jets, and love triangles are the through-line.
Where to start with Macross
Macross runs in one big continuity, but every entry is self-contained enough that you don't have to start at 1982:
Macross Plus
The most-recommended modern entry point. Four OVA episodes (or one compiled movie), feature-film production values, no prerequisites.
Set decades after the original Macross, it follows two test pilots and an old friend reunited around a virtual pop-idol whose AI is starting to act on its own. Directed by Shōji Kawamori and Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), with a score by Yoko Kanno. This is the project that made all three of them international names. If it lands, Cowboy Bebop and Macross Frontier are the natural follow-ups.
Macross Frontier
The most accessible modern long-form Macross. 25 TV episodes plus two recap-and-extend movies that rework the ending.
Set on a colony fleet generations after the original Earth-vs-Zentradi conflict, Frontier hits every franchise touchstone: idol singers, transforming Valkyrie fighters, and a love triangle around the central pilot with 2008-era animation polish. The Frontier movies are the best-looking thing in the entire franchise.
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
The original Macross condensed into a single 1984 movie. Often the cleanest way into the original story without committing to 36 TV episodes.
An alternate-continuity retelling of the 1982-83 TV series: same major beats, completely reanimated, with a different ending. The animation was a landmark for its era, and the title song is canonical in-universe lore by Macross 7. If this hooks you, the original TV series is the natural follow-up for the full version.
SDF Macross (1982)
The foundational TV series. 36 episodes, slow-burn romance, the first transforming-mecha-meets-pop-music story.
Note on naming: the 1982 Macross series was re-edited (and re-scored, and partly rewritten) into the 85-episode American Robotech, which combined it with two unrelated series. On this site the original Macross profile lives at /robotech/ alongside the Robotech material. Start here if you want the canonical version of the franchise's origin story.
Main Continuity
Every Macross entry below shares the same in-universe timeline, starting with First Contact in 2009 and continuing through the colonization fleets of the late 21st century. Listed in release order, the most common viewing path for newcomers.
Alternate Continuity
Macross II was produced in the early 90s during a period when the franchise rights were split, and it ended up officially treated as a parallel universe rather than a sequel to the original. It still uses the same core ingredients (Valkyries, alien war, an idol singer) just in its own timeline.
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