Macross Plus

Macross Plus

マクロスプラス
1994 -1995 Triangle Staff / Big West OVA 4 episodes Completed
Mecha Sci-Fi Drama Music
Details & Synopsis
In 2040, thirty years after Space War I, humanity has spread across the galaxy and the variable fighter has become a relic slowly being replaced by unmanned drone aircraft. On the colony planet Eden, two test pilots are competing for a military contract: Isamu Dyson, a reckless ace who flies on instinct and rage, and Guld Goa Bowman, a cold and precise Zentradi half-breed with a suppressed memory neither of them want excavated. Between them is Myung Fang Lone, a woman they both loved, who became a music producer for Sharon Apple, the galaxy's most famous idol. Sharon Apple is a holographic AI. Her emotional range is simulated by Myung's own feelings, fed into her in real time. She is not alive. She is about to become the most dangerous thing in the galaxy anyway.

Produced by Triangle Staff and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and Shoji Kawamori, Macross Plus was released as four OVA episodes between October 1994 and August 1995. Watanabe made it the year before Cowboy Bebop and the DNA is everywhere: the jazz, the ache, the pilots who are in love with speed and running from something. Yoko Kanno composed the soundtrack, her first major anime score, and it is already operating at the level that GitS and Bebop would later confirm. The Sharon Apple concerts are unforgettable.

Four episodes. A theatrical film compilation also exists with some additional footage. Both versions are essential. Macross Plus is what prestige animation looked like in 1994 and it has not been matched for what it does at its specific register.
Alt Title マクロスプラス
Studio Triangle Staff / Big West
Network OVA
Aired 1994 - 1995
Episodes 4
Genre Mecha, Sci-Fi, Drama, Music
Status Completed
← All lore

Fansub & Scanlation History

What AniDB Actually Documents

KickAssAnime Has the Highest Rating, But It May Just Be the Cleanest Rip

Complete, September 2007 · 8.98 from 27 Votes
KickAssAnime's September 2007 release carries the highest rating on record, 8.98 from 27 votes. Worth being honest about what that likely measures: KickAssAnime is established elsewhere on this site as a DVD-ripping outfit, and it isn't clear from what's available here whether their subtitles were an original translation or an adapted or reused track. The rating may reflect video quality more than translation work specifically.
[KAA]

zx Also Worked This Show

zx, already documented on this site's Blue Gender and Chrono Crusade pages, also released Macross Plus, real continuity of the same group covering the wider franchise rather than an isolated one-off.
[zx]

W_B Also Worked This Show

W_B, already documented on this site's main Macross page, also released Macross Plus, another real case of a group's work spanning multiple entries in the same franchise.
[W_B]

One of the Only Pieces of the Franchise That Actually Got Out

Manga Entertainment Delivered a Real Release, 1995-1997

Both Dubbed and Subtitled · North America and Europe

Manga Entertainment licensed Macross Plus for both North America and Europe, releasing it in both English dub and Japanese-with-subtitles form between 1995 and 1997. It was one of the only pieces of the Macross franchise to get a real Western release during the decades Harmony Gold's trademark dispute froze out most of the rest, and by outside accounts, it happened specifically because of direct pressure from fans, critics, and other distributors not to let it sit unreleased.

It Even Aired on Australian Government TV

Macross Plus aired on Australia's government-owned ABC Television in 1995 and 1996, part of a broader run of Manga Entertainment-licensed dubbed anime the network carried during that stretch.

The Sharon Apple Songs Got Pulled From Release

The in-story songs performed by the AI idol Sharon Apple, composed by Yoko Kanno, were withdrawn from release, described specifically as containing content flagged for hypnotic or subliminal elements, a restriction that carried through to later reprints as well.

The 2021 Settlement Paid Off Here Directly

Anime Limited Blu-ray Announced 2023 · Disney+ Worldwide Streaming, 2024

Following the 2021 Big West/Harmony Gold settlement already documented on this site's main Macross page, Anime Limited announced a Macross Plus "Ultimate Edition" Blu-ray in 2023, and Disney Platform Distribution now holds worldwide streaming rights, with Disney+ confirmed to stream nearly all Macross anime globally starting in 2024.

A Real Manga, Fifteen Years Later, Still Unlicensed

TAC Name Adapted the OVA, But Not Until 2010

Kadokawa's Macross Ace Magazine · 2 Volumes, 2011

Macross Plus: TAC Name, written by Naoki Moriya with art by U.G.E, adapted the OVA's story in Kadokawa's Macross Ace magazine, which ran January 2009 to March 2011. The manga was later compiled into 2 volumes in 2011. It's confirmed scanlated and hosted on platforms like MangaDex, but no specific named group could be confirmed from what's checked here. Unlike the OVA itself, this manga does not appear to have ever received an official Western license, even after the 2021 Big West/Harmony Gold settlement opened the door for most of the rest of the franchise, making it a genuine, still-open gap rather than a license-then-stand-down story.