Trivia / Macross Plus

• Defictionalization:
  • Sharon Apple is basically a Vocaloid. The motion-capture aspect has since become emblematic of yet another type of virtual performer - VTubers. "Hologram touring" is (as of 2019) a blossoming business that is gaining legitimacy.
  • Many airplane manufacturers are now trying to find a way to make systems that allow the pilot to see through the cockpit, similar to the "transparent" cockpit of the YF-19. The most notable being the Lockheed F-35.
  • Forward-swept wing aircraft are nothing new - the YF-19 was inspired by the Grumman X-29. The closest we got to having a forward-swept wing fighter in regular service was the Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut which looks uncannily similar to the YF-19's fighter mode and even had a similar reputation of Awesome, but Impractical as the prototype YF-19 had.
• Executive Meddling: The story was originally written as a feature length movie, but the studio was unwilling to risk the production budget for a theatrical release straight off, so it was re-edited into a four episode OVA, with the theatrical version edited to be closer to the original screenplay following a year later.
  • This lead to the removal of most of the contents of the first OVA episode, a post-sex scene between Lucy and Isamu (and the only boob and ass shot of the movie), a more stylized rendering of Guld's final battle, some minor scene editing/shuffling, and some music changes.
• No Export for You:
  • Compared to the rest of the franchise from which it comes, this is a rare exception - the retail DVDs had a large print run in the early to mid 2000s and were widely available for decades, and the movie version was a staple of the Sci-Fi Channel throughout the noughts. By all indications, the only reason it got through the infamous Macross legal snarls surrounding Tatsunoko Production, Harmony Gold, Studio Nue/Satelight and Big West was due to absolutely overwhelming pressure for release from basically every corner of the industry; fans wanting a legitimate release in an era just before digital downloads were prevalent, critics wanting another excellent production to be released internationally, and similarly other animation distributors wanting an excellent product out strengthening the marketplace rather than being held back and producing no profit at all for anyone. It helped that at the time Manga Entertainment was able to snap it up, Harmony Gold was in chaos after a staff-hunting raid by Haim Saban, and nobody was paying attention to make a legal challenge; once they did realize what happened, the above kicked in to make challenging it far too dicey a proposition from a PR perspective.
    • It also helps Macross Plus has very few vocal songs (some already in English or Cypher Language) and most of the themes are instrumentals, compared with later series.
  • And of course, in the huge wave of Macross release announcements in July of 2022, a Blu-ray version of Plus was naturally announced alongside the other releases as a priority, now being handled by UK-based Anime Ltd.
• The Other Darrin: Episode 4 of the OVA was later redubbed by Bandai. Several of the English dub actors were replaced; most notably, David Hayter took over from Bryan Cranston as Isamu.
• What Could Have Been: According to Animaze, they wanted to get Bryan Cranston (Isamu's English voice) to also dub the movie version, but trashed plans for it since at the time, he was involved in the production of Saving Private Ryan.
  • The Haydonites from Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles are similar to Sharon Apple's true form, suggesting that if it hadn't been for Saban raiding the staff, allowing Manga Entertainment to license the OVA, Harmony Gold would've tried to incorporate the OVA into the Robotech canon.
• Some of the scenery in the OVAs is based on real locations in Orange County, California:
  • The statue at the space port is designed after the statue of John Wayne as found in his namesake airport.
  • The spaceport's docking area is based on Dana Point Harbor, a bit south of the aforementioned airport.
  • New Edwards AFB? That comes from Edwards Air Force Base - not in Orange County, but up in the desert by Lancaster, about an hour and a half from John Wayne if the traffic is very light.