Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

My problem with Shadow Chronicles is where's the ending? It was touted as answering the question of what happened to Rick Hunter and the SDF-3 but we still don't know.

I have no problem with the animation like other people seem to, though it does come off as being a little too slick. The film itself seems to be more of a prologue setting up the storyline for a series which has not eventuated.

I agree with other reviewers on the feeling of being ripped off and not getting to see our old favorites from the Macross Saga. I know a few of the characters were killed off in the Sentinels novels. Why not finish off the Sentinels story arc? There's so much they can do with Robotech.

I have always been a Robotech fan. After seeing too many animated GI Joe characters parachute to safety it was nice to watch a show that respected that I could handle viewing a war-based cartoon where people actually died.

For "Shadow Chronicles," the movie-masters seemed to be serious about giving the Robotech fans what they want. Overall, the movie was okay but it seems like they missed some of the finer things that made the original show so endearing.

The first thing that fans like about Robotech is the Mecha. Jets that turn into robots = awesome. Motorcycles that turn into robots = awesome. Tanks that grow legs and hop around = not so awesome, and that is why season 2 is weak. I was excited to see cool Mecha in Shadow Chronies but was a little disappointed. The fighters and Cyclones are still cool and the alien ships are pretty cool but nothing AWESOME. The CG really could have been better in a lot of the scenes with vehicles.

The second thing fans like about Robotech, I believe, is the Drama. Like Rick Hunter innocently meeting Minmei and then being stranded with her in the depths of the SDF1. And it doesn't stop there... suddenly Minmei breaks into song, then they catch a giant space-tuna (just the head), then they rebuild Macross city INSIDE the ship... how about a beauty contest?... a trip to a lingerie store?... or aliens that spaz out every time they see a guy and a girl kiss? How about Yellow Dancer doing a strip tease to reveal that he's a dude in drag? Shadow Chronicles didn't seem to have any bizarre drama that the fans like so much. It was all battle strategy. I know that a lot of the quirky stuff derives from the original show being made from three completely unrelated Japanese cartoon shows but somehow, IT WORKED, and the model should be followed.

And how about more rock music? And an original NEW song? Chase Masterson has a good voice, I think she is up to the challenge.

There are people out here who want MORE Robotech. Overall, every aspect of this movie was at least OK. It's nice that fans of the show made the movie. It's nice that a lot of the original voice cast is back. This can be a good first step into an awesome new Robotech series. Keep it going and don't mess it up.

Having been a fan of the original series since I was a kid, I was very excited to hear about this sequel. I was also eager to see what happened after the conclusion of the last of the trilogy which most consider the strongest and darkest of the three. Unfortunately, I left the theater disappointed.

Overall the voice acting was good. It was reminiscent of the original series. The corny jokes and at times hokey dialog seemed right at place.

However the animation was disappointing. The computer graphics seemed very out of place. It was not integrated seamlessly with the traditional animation like other successful animated projects have done (Clone Wars, Appleseed).

Finally, the storyline was...well...boring. It was dull and confusing. It left me scratching my head as to what was going on and I'm an avid fan. I'm not sure what the unfamiliar viewer would think.

Again, a disappointing movie especially after so much online hype.

Shadow Chronicles is a relaunch of the US Robotech Animated TV Series.

The movie/OVA deals with events that accrued on last episode of its "third" series. A key character from old series, Scott Bernard, leaving his beloved "Marlene/Ariel" begin the search of giant warship named SDF-3. By joining the surviving ships of the Robotech Expedition Force to discover what happened to the Invid and SDF-3.

From what has been printed about this OVA, it is a modified story based on the Robotech novel "End of the Circle" which was suppose to be the completion of the original series in printed form.

This is the strongest attempt to produce a actual sequel to the series. Previous attempt, Robotech II: The Sentinels (1986) which failed to be completely produced due to production cost changes between Japan & USA.

Sentinels was published in Novel form as well in form of a successful comic book series till it was canceled in mid-90s by Harmony Gold.

Thou it is high quality, i do not think its as good as the original series. I know its tough act to follow. However, the CGI does not blend well with hand drawn animation.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles is the long awaited sequel to the Robotech franchise that started in the 80s. Its release was met with very mixed fan reaction and reviews ranging from amazingly awesome to downright terrible.

I am a "late comer" to Robotech, having only discovered the classic series recently thanks to dvds and youtube. My first impression was not a good one and only season 3 of the original series made me not dismiss it as overly dramatic, hyped up anime trash.

Robotech the Shadow Chronicles was entertaining but inconsistent. It is very obvious that there were different directors and writers working on different parts of the movie.

Story - The good points of the story was that it was easy to follow. It lent itself well to the setting of the movie. However, the creators make the assumption that the viewer already has a level of knowledge concerning Robotech since little time is devoted to flesh out the backstory, and this would tend to alienate new viewers.

Characters - A very varied bunch of characters with well defined personalities. Only the main cast gets any significant development though. Most of the characters are likable and the dialogue interplay between them fits very nicely. Their character redesigns are very attractive and still keep the essence of the originals. On the other hand, once again the creators assume that the viewer should have prior Robotech knowledge and thus character back stories are just glossed over.

Animation - Inconsistent in both the 2D and 3D. For the most part, the 2D art is a good balance between detail and animation fluidity. Vibrant colours complement the attractive character designs and smooth character movements. However the few animation short cuts used can be quite obvious and jarring and the "zoom in to face close up" shot is slightly over used. In the 3D department, there are scenes of amazing quality, like The shot where Scott Bernard is flying is Alpha Fighter toward the invid Hive to look for Ariel. Another well done 3D scene was the Haydonite mecha invading Space Station Liberty. The quality in those is equal to that of high production value anime movies like Sky Crawlers. However, at the same time, you get really shoddy 3D work like the invid mecha and the human space cruisers.

Choreography - I do not know if it was just inexperience, or that the directors were trying to be true to the original.......but the fight choreography of the space battles looked like they came straight out of the original 80s anime. This is not really a good thing since this is a 2007 production. In the original anime, to save on budget, mecha would zip across screen locked in a set pose, enemies would disappear in gaudy balls of flame and space cruisers exchange volleys of fire while making no attempts at evasive maneuvers, basically on screen movement of mecha and spaceships were kept to a minimum. Robotech the Shadow Chronicles continues that tradition. Mecha are locked in a set pose as they zip about screen, there is minimal mecha part movement, spaceships do disappear in gaudy out-of-place looking balls of flame.

All in all, Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles is a good effort by the creators. Especially since for most of them, especially the directors, this is their debut production. Perhaps their only mistake was continuing the mistakes of the original series. The sometimes campy dialogue, derivative music(the original robotech theme seemed ripped from Superman), limited mecha animation and inconsistent production standards were all carried over from the original series. Of course, this would spark the "keeping true to the original" debate again among fans.

I look forward to seeing the next installment of the Robotech saga but I do hope that the creators learn from the mistakes of the original series and Shadow Chronicles.