Kikô sôseiki Mospeada

I enjoyed watching the Mospeada series but it's shallow compared to it's Robotech counterpart (Robotech:The New Generation (TNG)). Robotech:TNG is a small part of much larger epic saga. Mospeada on the other hand doesn't have that depth or build up. The plot is very shallow by comparison. Aliens called the Inbit invade Earth and plan to make it their new home. It's a story that's been done to death. At least in Robotech:TNG the reasons and background story of the alien Invid are explained better. In fact the explanation of the Invid invasion is told in the second saga. Long before Robotech:TNG. That's where the Robotech saga shows it's depth over any of the original three Japanese series. There is so much more background story in Robotech. In Mospeada not much is explained about the home world of the invaders. Also the Japanese have a thing for goofy names. Man are their (Mospeada) names horrible! C'mon, Stig Bernard? What the hell kind of name is Stig? Mint Rubble? Houquet Emrose? Geez man.

Almost all of the Robotech names were big improvements over the originals. Let's compare some of them:

Stig (stick) Bernard (Mospeada) - Scott Bernard (Robotech)

Mint Rubble (Mospeada) - Annie (Robotech) ('Mint' was a nick name)

Yellow Belmont(Mospeada) - Lancer (Robotech)(Yellow Dancer was an alias)

Houquet Emrose (Mospeada) - Rook Bartley (Robotech)

Rainy Boy (Mospeada)(Fruity name for a Killer) - Dusty Aires (Robotech)

Batra (Mospeada) (Sounds too feminine for a male. Yep, it's a guy) - Corg (Robotech)

I like the names Rey and Jim Austin from Mospeada. They are two of the few characters they managed to give decent names to. The creators must have been sober when thought these names up. Thank goodness.

The Robotech actors were great. Couldn't have been better. The Mospeada actors are just what you would expect from Japanese actors. A lot of over acting especially from the women. I'd take the Robotech cast any day over Mospeada's. To correct the previous reviewer: Robotech:TNG is not an 'Edit' of Mospeada. It's has a unique and more complex background story. Robotech:TNG is part of a much larger series and has more depth because of it.

Seriously though it's good series but it doesn't beat the Robotech version in anyway. Mospeada did a horrid job on the names and several other things in the series. It didn't hamper my enjoyment of it because I was able to look past them. If you can't tolerate Japanese actors and the goofy names; check out Robotech instead. I think Robotech improved all of the three original series from which it was based. Especially the plot and characters. There is no contest for me. It's Robotech all the way. Mospeada today is almost forgotten while Robotech is making a come back. Not that Robotech was ever dead. The comics never stopped.

Watch the 86 episodes of the Robotech series first and then hunt down the original 3 series. Beware though. After watching Robotech you may not want to bother to watch the original 3 Japanese series.

I've never seen Robotech outside of 6 episodes out of the Macross part so I feel like I can give a proper review without mentioning aspects about Robotech TNG vs Mospeada differences and having those sway my rating or decisions. I do take offense to the review that's on here where all it accomplishes is elitist Robotech propaganda and doesn't even review the series but only bashes it by saying Robotech is better which, there's no way it is. It's part of the reason I made this review since I know I had nothing to compare it to. Now the review.

This series is mainly about a man named Stick Bernard and he's trying to reach a place in North America called Reflex Point and team up with the army to defeat the Inbit, an evil race of aliens that have taken over Earth. He gets caught off course and he has to find his way to Reflex Point without knowing where he is. He eventually gains allies and they all travel together with him to find Reflex Point while sometimes having dangerous skirmishes with the Inbit.

Sounds good right? Well it's alright to be honest, but could have been a lot better at least in my opinion. The problem I had with this series, and it was a really big problem, was that instead of focusing on plot and story elements, like most series of this nature, a good 80% of the episodes are very episodic based. Meaning, for those that don't know, those episodes don't advance the plot too much at all. There are a few episodes here and there that are story and plot oriented but a majority are about random adventures that have no significance and can easily be done without. I wouldn't say that there is no story but I can say is that the ratio of episodes you need to episodes you don't need is very high. The reason why that's a problem is because the series establishes itself at the beginning as a story based mecha anime series, but as soon as establishing that it ends up turning into a random space and futuristic series that comes on Sci-Fi, and then back into a story based mecha anime series toward the end. Some of the episodic episodes are horribly painful to watch as well. I know I could've finished this series within a weekend but the episodes became chores to watch and felt draining after watching only 1 or 2 episodes.

There are some good things about this series. The Seiyuus (Japanese voice actors) really play their parts well. They actually helped me to continue watch this series. If it wasn't for Bin Shimada and Hirotaka Suzuoki, I don't think I could've finished this series. The Mecha designs are nice. Though the Legioss is completely ripped-off from Macross' Valkyrie. The Mospeada bikes are great they were very innovative. Same with the music. Though it sounds goofy and dated at first it really fits the mood of the series and is very fitting at all times. And Yellow Belmont's vocal songs are amazing.

Overall. I really wish that this series wasn't lacking in plot. If it had more of a story then I'd easily love this series but the episode structure and lacking story elements only make this more of a average Real Robot anime series that happened in the 1980's. It's a shame really I was gunning for this series the entire time. I know somebody'll like it though, it just wasn't for me.

6/10