Two Companies, One Contract, No Room for Both
The Super Nova AVF Procurement Program
Macross Plus
マクロスプラス
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.
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
Variable Fighters
Super Nova AVF Program
The Hardware Procurement War
The UN Air Force needed a replacement for the aging VF-11 Thunderbolt. Two companies built a prototype apiece, and Macross Plus hinges on the fact that a military procurement decision is just as dramatic as a war. Shinsei Industry built the YF-19. General Galaxy built the YF-21. Only one wins.
YF-19 (Shinsei Industry)
Pilot: Isamu Alva Dyson · Forward-Swept WingConventional stick-and-pedal controls backed by proven engineering: Shinnakasu thermonuclear engines, a transformation sequence 20% faster than the VF-11, and a Battroid-mode cockpit stored deep in the torso for pilot protection. Equips a fighter-scale Pin-Point Barrier (PPB) system, active stealth, and an optional fold booster.
The Breakdown
The reliable, high-agility option built to win through mechanical excellence rather than experimental risk, flown by a rogue pilot whose entire personality is refusing to fly it safely.
YF-21 (General Galaxy)
Pilot: Guld Goa Bowman · Brain Direct Interface (BDI)Gambles on the Brain Direct Interface (BDI), a cybernetic neural control system allowing the pilot to fly through pure thought. Its sleek Battroid silhouette borrows heavily from Zentradi Quaedluun-Rau battle armor to maximize kinetic output, matching the YF-19 in PPB shields, active stealth, and fold-booster capability.
The Breakdown
Proven stick-and-rudder skill vs. a machine that reads your mind and eventually starts making its own decisions. The 19 wins races; the 21 wins arguments about whether a machine should be trusted to think for itself.
Who Actually Won: VF-19 Excalibur
Production Standard · Macross 7 LegacyThe YF-19 won the military contract, evolving into the mass-production VF-19 Excalibur (featured prominently in Macross 7). The YF-21 never got a second act, though its airframe was later salvaged for the limited-run VF-22 Sturmvogel II.
The Breakdown
In-universe, it was a practical procurement decision. Thematically, a machine that trusted a human pilot beat a machine that trusted itself.
