Is Macross: The First Worth Reading?

Overview

Super Dimension Fortress Macross: The First is exactly what it sounds like: the original 1982 anime, redrawn from the ground up by Haruhiko Mikimoto, the character designer who gave the series its look in the first place. Serialized between 2009 and 2014, it retells the story of the alien battleship Macross crash-landing on Earth and the war that follows, filtered through Mikimoto's own modern art rather than the studio's TV-era line work. For a franchise now sprawling across multiple spinoff series, this is the one that goes back to the source.

The core story hasn't changed: rookie pilot Hikaru Ichijyo gets pulled into a war against the towering alien Zentradi while juggling a love triangle with stern officer Misa Hayase and idol singer Lynn Minmay, all while the Macross itself transforms between starship and giant robot to survive. It's a strange, specific combination — Cold War anxiety, teen idol culture, and giant transforming mecha — and the manga keeps all three elements intact rather than smoothing them into something more generic.

What it does well

Mikimoto's art is the obvious draw. Having designed the original cast in 1982, he's uniquely positioned to redraw them with three decades of additional skill while keeping their essential silhouettes recognizable — Minmay in particular looks like herself, just rendered with far more confidence and detail than the original TV production had time for. The mecha designs get the same treatment: the Valkyrie fighters' transformation sequences are clearer and more dynamic on the page than they often were in the choppier moments of 1980s TV animation.

The love triangle at the story's center also holds up better than you'd expect. Hikaru's split attention between Misa's discipline and Minmay's charisma isn't just romantic filler — it's tied directly to the series' bigger idea that culture and connection, not just firepower, are what end the war. The manga doesn't rush that theme, and having it rendered with cleaner, more modern pacing makes it land harder than the original broadcast often did.

Where it falls short

The five-year serialization shows in the pacing. Macross: The First went on hiatus more than once during its run, and the seams between arcs are occasionally noticeable, with some sections moving briskly and others slowing down to linger on character beats that could've been trimmed. Readers expecting a tightly uniform pace throughout may notice the unevenness.

There's also the premise itself to reckon with: a transforming fighter jet and a pop idol ending an alien war is a very specific product of its era, and even with sharper art, that central conceit may read as more charmingly dated than thrilling to sci-fi fans raised on later, grimmer mecha stories. And as with much of the wider Macross library, there's no official English release, so getting a copy takes more effort than a quick storefront purchase.

Verdict

This is the best-looking way to experience the story that kicked off the entire Macross franchise, redrawn by the person most qualified to do it. The uneven hiatus-driven pacing and the franchise's inherently retro premise keep it from being an easy universal recommendation, but for mecha fans tracing the genre back to its roots, or anyone who bounced off the 1982 anime's pacing and wants another way in, it's well worth tracking down.