Book Review: Robotech Visual Archive: The Macross Saga

Oh my goodness. I think I've watched Robotech so long ago when I was a little kid that I cannot even remember anything from it. So I can't say that a flood of memories came back to me when I saw the book. My faintest memories are of the fighter jets that can transform into robots. It was so cool back then, and even now.

This 246-page book is obviously going to appeal to Robotech fans more because it's a companion that features the episode guide and concept art for the anime series. If you haven't watched the anime, or can't remember anything like me, then you won't feel the flood of feelings that I imagine a true fan would feel. LOL

This companion artbook covers specifically the The First Robotech War (The Macross Saga) and all its 36 episodes. Each episode has a synopsis with accompanying screen shots. The synopsis provides a nice recap and summary for each episode.

The bulk of the book shows off the concept art. There are character designs for the humans and Zentraedi in the form of line art and marker sketches. My favourite section is the concept art for the space ships, jets and robots. Included are the SDF-1 Super Dimension Fortress and other space ships, the different models of Veritech robo-jets (I love those), carriers, battleloids and other miscellaneous ships, vehicles and robots.

Environment art are in the form of small thumbnails which are really difficult to see what the artist is trying to portray. So I guess that's the downside to the book. There are also multiple pages of storyboards, but again are a bit too small to see what's going on.

Last few pages of the book looks at the origins of Robotech as written by Carl Macek, a producer of Robotech. There's also an interview with Noboru Ishiguro, the MACROSS chief director. The writeup delves into the history and also some background for the characters.

If you're a Robotech fan, then getting this book is a must. It's loaded with lots of wonderful artworks and insight.

Robotech Visual Archive: The Macross Saga is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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