Lots of it when it comes to Isamu and Guld, especially when The Movie casts a somewhat different light on both of them. The film casts Isamu more as an outright Jerkass than a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Guld seems a bit less of a Stalker with a Crush toward Myung, and more of their friendship is revealed via flashbacks.
When Guld causes the accident with their planes by sending Isamu's crashing hard into the ground. The idea of smashing Isamu's plane comes to his mind, and then Guld goes ahead and does it, mocking Isamu afterward in that it was an "accident." Guld's anger has endangered Isamu's life before ending their rematch by sneaking in live ammunition to use on Isamu being a stand out example, but at this moment, Guld expresses surprise at sending Isamu into the ground. While it could be Guld deliberately trying to attack Isamu, it could also just as easily been a stray thought that crossed his mind that his jet decided to run with, especially seeing lapses in will send the jet out of control.
Awesome Art: Even 25+ years since the original release, the animation is downright fantastic, featuring very rich shading and internal consistency that to this day remains practically unmatched by digital animation.
"INFORMATION HIGH" is the one song in the score not penned or performed by Kanno (instead penned by DAI & KEN=GO→ and CMYK), but it's still a fan favorite and scores the Point of No Return of the narrative. Helps that it's written by Dai Sato and Kengo Watanabe, no less a legends themselves both in music and animation, who later went to write and score Eureka Seven, the series that's itself famous for the Awesome Music.
Even Better Sequel: The OVA and its movie recut are considered by many fans to be the apex of the Macross franchise, surpassing the first series and an almost impossibly Tough Act to Follow for all successors.
The fact that BryanCranston plays the protagonist has gotten some shocked reactions of "...Walt?" on YouTube.
Nightmare Fuel: Guld's death has a lot of Body Horror. His facial veins inflate, his fists crush his insides until he vomits blood, and worst of all, his eyes explode. It was effectively a Mercy Kill when he rammed Sharon's fighter shortly after.
The Problem with Licensed Games: In 1996, Banpresto released an arcade top-down shooter. It was a ripoff of the Raiden series of games. And even with the difficulty turned down it was generally on par with I Wanna Be the Guy.
No Problem with Licensed Games: Averted by Macross Plus Game Edition for the PlayStation, it's half a stylized flight sim with quick time events and half Virtual-ON clone, also with quick time events. it was a pretty good game overall.
