Macross Plus

Manga have a potential belter on their hands here - the OAV and Movie editions of Macross Plus on DVD. In my humble opinion this was always the best title Manga
released over here, and the DVD format finally does the series justice.

For those who don't know, Macross Plus is a visually stunning tale of two test pilots vying for the love of their childhood sweetheart. The fantastic computer graphics enhance the smooth animation, and the flying sequences are incredible to watch. The problem is that you really do need to see it to appreciate it - but take it from me - it's stunning!

This Ultimate Edition comes on 3 discs - 2 comprising the 4 part OAV series and another containing the movie version, which edits the 4 OAV's together and adds some new scenes, plus a more comprehensive ending.

The extras are a bit disappointing - trailers for the series, a few stills and some bios are hardly anything to get excited about, and the movie edition is slightly less sharp than the series, but there's only one major gripe here - and that's the disc labeling. The Ultimate Edition has 3 discs, and not one is labeled correctly - I had thought this was a problem with the review copies, and therefore didn't mention it in my Anime Connect review, but the problem has spread to the retail version, and I can see a lot of unhappy punters sending this back to Manga - I haven't heard about any replacement sets being made (highly unlikely) and with Manga's front man Charles sadly departed, I doubt the remainder of the staff will really care enough to bother.

In short, this is a great set, marred by inadequate extras and some silly labeling mistakes, but you're getting 5 hours of top quality, crisp animation with a great soundtrack and stunning CGI - you'd be mad to pass it up.