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A 1984 anime produced by Tatsunoko Production, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross is perhaps best recognized these days as the second part of the Robotech trilogy.

In the year 2120, humans have colonized other planets after Earth has been left ruined after too many wars. On one such colony planet, Glorie, the Southern Cross army has been established to keep the peace with its Transforming Mecha. Their vigilance is put to use when the planet's former inhabitants, the Zor, come to reclaim their former world by force. It falls to the 15th Alpha Tactics Armored Corps, led by brash newcomer Jeanne Francaix, to lead the charge against the invaders.

In addition to its fame as part of Robotech, the series also marked the voice-acting debut of one Noriko Hidaka (as Musica), primarily known as an idol singer at that point. Jeanne was also an early role for Michie Tomizawa, nearly a decade before she became best known as Sailor Mars and Sumire Kanzaki.


This show features examples of:

  • Absent Aliens (Liner notes for the DVDs reveal that the Zor are descended from temporally-displaced human colonists. Though the Protozor flower may qualify as an alien species.)
  • Adjective Noun Fred
  • Amazon Chaser: Charles de Etouard
  • The Big Guy: Andrzej Sławski
  • Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Jeanne disarms Seifreit twice in this manner.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Seifreit, though he fights against it.
  • Earth That Was: Thanks to numerous wars, many of which involved nuclear arms, Earth has experienced mass migration towards planets outside the solar system.
  • Ensign Newbie: Jeanne Francaix
  • Fainting: The Emotional Faint variety. Musica is overwhelmed by her feelings for Bowie and faints away when her superiors tell her she must deny them. She later nearly faints again when she realizes how deeply she must have hurt Musiere and Muselle.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The planet of Glorie is based on French culture, especially with the characters' name (Jeanne, Claude, and Charles).
  • Gainax Ending: This series ending sequence is in the league of The Prisoner in terms of being incomprehensible and explaining little, though it appears that Jeanne and the rest of the denizens of Gloire may become Zor themselves due to the Protozor spores. The Mind Screw properties of the ending are probably due to the production staff having to wrap up the series at warp speed to beat the clock on the show's cancellation.
  • General Ripper: Supreme Commander Claude Leon
  • Heroic Sacrifice: General Rolf Emerson acts as a human shield for Bowie when a Zor soldier is about to shoot him from behind.
  • Hypocrite: After finding out about Musica, Charles gives Bowie a lecture about how pointless it is to fall in love, because it will only lead to heart break. In the very next scene, Charles visits the hospital to check on an injured Mary Angel, whom he's fallen madly in love with.
  • Interservice Rivalry: Shown in the first episode, when Jeanne and Angel's squads get into a brawl for seemingly no reason than being in close proximity to each other.
  • Jeanne d'Archétype: Jeanne. Reportedly this would have been even more blatant in the original series plan.
  • Macekre: Frankensteined together with Macross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA to produce Robotech, becoming its second season.
  • Nipple and Dimed: Jeanne's knockers in a shower scene at the end of the first episode.
  • No Ending: Because of the sudden cancellation, viewers never found out what really happened in the end. In Robotech, The New Generation starts the next episode with all new protagonists, villains, etc.
  • Official Couple: Bowie and Musica. They are shown holding hands and flying in the opening of each episode.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Jeanne's suit is pink.
  • Red Baron: Mary Angel, AKA "Cosmo Amazon."
  • Settling the Frontier: In contrast to Robotech's dub version, Southern Cross is set on a planet called Glorie, which is located in the distant parts from explored sectors.
  • The Stoic: Lana Isavia.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Seifreit Weisse.
  • Shower Scene: Early on, almost Once an Episode for Jeanne.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss: Seifreit quiets Jeanne with one in the final episode, intending to distract her long enough that he might throw her in an escape pod.
  • Stupid Sacrifice: Seifreit could've easily survived the series if he hadn't killed the ONE MAN who could land the ship while he was ESCAPING.
  • Transforming Mecha
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Mostly one way from Jeanne Fránçaix to Seifriet Weiße.
  • Weapon of Peace: With some backing from the military's R&D, Louis adapts a revolutionary video game tracking system of his own design, intending it for use for battle simulators. He is devastated when he realizes that they went behind his back to Leon, who immediately authorized it to be used for upgrading all fighting craft.
  • Women Prefer Strong Men: Jeanne Fránçaix seemed to have fallen for Seifriet Weiße after he proves to be a better pilot than her, Mary Angel, and the rest of the earth forces.

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