Robotech, the anime series that was brought to America in the early to mid 1980's opened the floodgates and helped indoctrinate a generation on the basics of Japanese Animation. Originally known as Super Dimension Fortress: Macross, Robotech became a merge of that original series, plus two more, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada to create a cartoon trilogy that follows earth's struggle against the Zentradi, Robotech Masters and finally the Invid. Mixing human drama with interesting technology (which became a precursor to Transformers and their ilk), Robotech became a series with a strong following.

While time has given us insight into how campy and hokum some of the dialog is, one cannot pass up the ongoing drama. Unlike most American cartoon tales (and even some Anime), when a character dies, he's dead. No coming back. Even with some of the less realistic aspects of the storyline, the series still manages to hold on to a real life and death struggle bottom line. In fact, there are numerous parts where things just can't seem much grimer.

On an animation stand-point, Robotech really shows it's age. The seems to be a lot of inconsistencies in the animation and coloring, but that can be forgiven when a full-fledged dog-fight is going on. Some of the battle sequences are just fun to watch. Along with all of the action are numerous side stories and the full love triangle between Minmei, Rick and Lisa.

This DVD collection is a god-send to those who have had to go cold turkey since Toonami ceased showing this series some time ago. Each disc contains 6 episodes, running a length of 150 minutes. With such a cheap price tag (anywhere from 11 to 14 bucks) this discs might not stay on the shelves long. My only real gripe with the DVDs is the absolute lack of anything extra. While the animated menus are nice, there is no subtitles or Japanese voiceovers. This set is all done in the English Dub we're all familiar with.

For those who grew up with this series, you should really try to get these discs. Fans of the old series can forgive some of the poor quality in script and animation for the overall drama of the series. if you never watched any of this series, you might want to take a look before getting it. Some parts, and people (Minmei), can be annoying, but the overall package is strong.

- - Vane