It feels a bit surreal to be writing this, honestly. Macross is a property that has spent so long in licensing turmoil that, even months after it was announced some entries could finally make their way to the West, I kind of can't believe it. Granted, Plus is one of the only entries to have gotten some reprieve from that limbo, with home video releases and sporadic streaming stints thanks to Manga Entertainment. But this Fathom Events release still marks the first (though hopefully not last) time established fans and newbies alike can see a piece of this storied franchise in theaters.

And the theater is definitely an amazing place to witness this. Plus' most immediate and stunning feature is its absolutely jaw dropping animation, delivering some of the most breathtaking mechanical artwork ever put to animation cels. Every plane, robot, computer, vehicle, or stray piece of metal is rendered in glorious detail, to a degree that could be a genuine shock to the system to folks used to modern CG mechs. Its action sequences in particular are some of the most elaborate and dynamic you'll see in anything, making the central Valkryie fighters feel truly as powerful and cutting edge as they're meant to be.

Though this particular edition of Plus does come with some caveats on that front. The “Movie Edition” is an edited combination of original four-part OVA series, and it considerably trims down certain portions to keep from being a three hour affair. The edits don't make anything unwatchable, as the story and major character arcs are still entirely comprehensible even on first viewing, but the biggest casualties are some early skirmishes between Isamu and Guld in their fighter planes. The cuts are understandable, as they're lengthy scenes that don't contribute much to the plot, but it does mean first-timers will be missing out on some spectacle, and it also leaves the first act of the film feeling a bit disjointed, as we speed through much of the initial premise of Isamu's piloting duties to zero in on the central love triangle. That's probably the right decision when you have to cut things down to a reasonable feature length, but if new viewers feel like they're missing something in the early minutes, that's probably why.

Thankfully there's not much of a learning curve if you're brand new to Macross as a franchise. While all of the various entries in the series' nearly 40-year history are technically set in the same world, each new one is very much written to be understandable on its own. There's of course easter eggs, references, and some visual callbacks to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross here, but so long as you can roll with the fact there are green aliens living alongside humans and everyone has cool robots that transform into fighter jets, you're more than prepared.

Though, on the topic of entry points, it's hard for me to decide if Plus is necessarily a good one. It's a great film, make no mistake, but it isn't necessarily representative of the franchise as a whole. A large reason for that is the presence of some big name collaborators. Co-Director Shinichiro Watanabe and the late, great, wholly incomparable Keiko Nobumoto, don't just leave their fingerprints on the final work. They leave a trail of handprints across every square inch of it. It's still got the hallmarks of Macross; high tech transforming robots, pivotal diegetic musical performances, a central love triangle as the characters' driving motivation. But it's all orders of magnitude darker, harsher, and more cynical than anything else the franchise has produced. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it means this won't necessarily be an ideal barometer on whether you'd enjoy the other shows or OVAs.

As its own, standalone experience, though? Plus is absolutely worth the price of admission, especially on the big screen. Watanabe and Nobumoto both had long careers of creating classics after working on this, and you can immediately see why. Combined, the two have a mastery of mood that few film makers could hope to rival, crafting scenes and setpieces that can be thrilling, haunting, or sublimely beautiful on command, perfectly capturing the larger than life emotions of this sci-fi story while keeping the entire affair grounded with painfully human characters. In its best moments, this film achieves a synthesis of writing, visuals, and sound that are impossible to describe in text alone, and deserve to be seen firsthand where at all possible.

The story itself is also arresting, showing us the bitter and conflicted fallout of the central trio's friendship, and how losing that relationship has left them all floundering in the years since. Guld still boils with barely contained anger, taking any chance to antagonize Isamu even as it compromises his status as a pilot. Isamu, meanwhile, seeks thrills at the edge of death, searching for the spark he used to find when flying alongside his friends by callously risking his life. Myung insists she's given up on her dreams, but is still torn up inside with all of the hurt she's carried all these years and aches to let it out even as she fears the intimacy that entails. Every time they come together, by chance or choice, is a barely (and sometimes not-at-all) contained explosion every bit as engaging as the big action scenes. It's expertly crafted personal drama that spirals out into at much larger, dangerous sci-fi conflict that serves to heighten all those emotions to a razor-sharp peak.

Though I do again have some caveats – first and most immediate, the introductory concert sequence from Sharon Apple comes with a very big photosensitivity warning. There's sequences of extremely fast and jarring flashes that are only magnified in the theater experience, so I thoroughly advise photosensitive viewers to practice discretion. On the narrative side, the warning is that the central character drama centers around an attempted sexual assault. The film is never gratuitous or indulgent with the topic, but how the story chooses to first present, then later resolve it is...questionable, let's say. It's not enough to ruin what's good about the film, but it's definitely worth knowing about before one goes in. More than anything it just feels like things are answered and concluded far too quickly for such an involved and intimate conflict.

That's representative of perhaps the movie's biggest weakness. The characters are setup effectively, the conflicts are compelling, and their personalities are fleshed out fantastically across the first two acts, but the finale just doesn't have room to conclude all of it as thoughtfully as you'd expect from all that came before. There's not even really room for denouement, outside of final credits, and it can make the ending feel uncomfortably abrupt. It doesn't ruin anything, but one gets the sense a couple of extra minutes might have really brought everything together.

Still, for any faults it might have, Macross Plus most definitely deserves its reputation and place in history. Whether you're a decades-long fan or only realized this week you've been pronouncing “Macross” wrong this whole time, it's well worth seeking out, and with any luck it'll be the first of many more releases for this vast and quirky universe.