Many a Western anime fan can cite Robotech as their introduction to Japanese animation and, love it or hate it, it has undoubtedly played a part in popularizing anime in North America.
I finally got around to locating and watching Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and unfortunately, it still feels somewhat cobbled together like the original series.
(Screenshots on Page 2)
The Setting
While the original Robotech series was cobbled together from three different anime series, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is all original animation, sporting a blend of traditional cel animation and computer animation.
Shadow Chronicles begins during the end of the original Robotech series' third season. Admiral Rick Hunter's expeditionary fleet, having left in the first Robotech season, returns to Earth sporting new technology provided by a mysterious allied alien race. Meanwhile, while resistance fighters on Earth have successfully forced the Invid's exodus by attacking Reflex Point, the Invid's central headquarters on Earth.
(This actually takes up almost half of the film before you're introduced to the new story elements.)
While Admiral Hunter's fleet had managed to return to Earth, Hunter himself remains trapped aboard his disabled ship, the SDF-3, along with a science vessel used to assimilate the new alien technology. And there are clues that indicate that their new alien allies have ulterior motives and not to be trusted.
Unfortunately they get more things wrong than right with Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
Script & Voice Acting
The script is undoubtedly the weakest point of R:SC. It's mediocre fan fiction quality at best that attempts to tell too much, too soon. And it is in no way helped by the "bad dub" delivery of most of the voice actors.
The script's character subplots were not only too thinly spread among the cast, but suffered from an unfocused development. When the film begins, rookie pilot Marcus Rush is introduced and set up as the main character. But by the second half of the film, he's virtually pushed aside making you wonder why they even bothered with him in the first place.
It seems to me that the writer wanted to introduce a new cast of characters, probably in an attempt to extend the franchise, while attemping to further develop older characters (namely Scott Bernard and his Invid/human hybrid girlfriend, Ariel from the original series) but not having sufficient time to do so.
Justin Sevakis from Anime News Network put it best:
"The whole thing reeks of a fanfiction writer struggling to keep the show's worlds and its continuity straight, while at the same time trying to extend the world to go somewhere it was never intended. In otaku terms, it's like the manga artist quit and the filler episode writers took over."
Animation
The animation quality is uneven. While heads and shoulders above anything you would normally see on Saturday mornings, it suffers greatly from stiff, unemotive character animation. And when they do emote, especially in anger, it looks strange and somewhat unnatural. There’s a lot of “talking head” scenes, especially involving ship commanders and bridge crew and the characters also rarely blink.
The CG animation, despite the promise of epic fleet action and fast-paced mecha-on-mecha combat, still managed to lack dynamic and excitement. Check out Macross Zero if you want to see it done right!
The female character designs had me rolling my eyes as they were obviously designed to reel in the male anime fans with outfits that emphasize (and sometimes expose) their large bossoms and well defined posteriors. Hell even the Regess, the Invid Queen, had a mega-rack!
And what's with the freakin' pink mecha for Skull Squadron's female leader?!
Bottom Line
While not downright terrible, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is rough, rushed and unfocused and makes the mistake of attempting to cap off an epic story in as short a time as possible.
I should mention that one bright spot is the orchestral score by Scott Glasgow. Some viewers commented that the score felt out of place since it’s quite the departure from the sound of the original series score but I would say that’s a good thing! It sounds very much worthy of a full length feature.
With an uneven presentation, fan fiction message board quality script and less than stellar voice acting, it amounts to a forgettable production that had the potential for something epic. Die-hard Robotech fans will be disappointed. Stick with the novels of the extended universe.
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
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Tags: Anime, review, robotech, shadow chronicles
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