Compared to watching modern anime's shorter single-season lengths, completing a watch-through of Macross 7's fifty-two episodes feels like a real achievement. Forty-nine of those were broadcast on TV weekly, without a break, from October 2004 until September 2005, while the last three episodes comprise the Macross 7 Encore OVAs released a few months later. If only we could be blessed with a modern Macross series of similar lengths. Even Mobile Suit Gundam's recent Witch from Mercury was “only” 25 episodes long, and split-cour at that. How the anime industry has changed.

Macross 7's comparatively bloated length is something of a mixed blessing. It means we get plenty of time with a great cast of multifaceted characters, through many slice-of-life interludes that would likely be excised from a shorter series. However, it's also quite repetitive and formulaic, with a lot of re-used footage for mech battles (as was the custom at the time), and the central plot seemingly takes forever to progress. Macross 7's focus isn't on the supremely goofy, monstrous Protodeviln baddies. Compared to its more focused later franchise siblings like Frontier and Delta, it's more concerned with wacky hijinks, daft humor, and music. While I complained in my review of the series' first half that the few music tracks it featured were repeated ad nauseum (tiresome no matter how excellent they were), the second half introduces a lot more, equally excellent songs. This means that when the older songs are unexpectedly reprised towards the end, their return is welcome, even emotional.

Its sheer length, slow pace, and light-hearted tone all likely contribute to why Macross 7 seems less popular than other elements of the franchise with Western Macross fans. It was wildly popular in its home market, and I'm definitely with my Japanese Macross buddies on this one. There's no doubt in my mind now that after completing the whole series, Macross 7 is my favorite Macross. While Delta and Frontier are both technically more impressive from a visual point of view, Macross 7 has real heart – a scrappy, messy, chaotic heart, but one that I love unabashedly.

It's a show unafraid to poke fun at its absurdity, and this is none more pronounced than in the three Macross 7 Encore OVAs that comprise the final three episodes on Disney+/Hulu. It's unclear where exactly they fit chronologically, whether after the end of the Protodeviln storyline or during it, but it doesn't matter. One episode is a surprisingly heartfelt flashback that explores Basara's tragic childhood and the formation of Fire Bomber. The next episode very explicitly calls out Macross 7's seeming inability to resolve love triangles, with almost every character demanding poor 15-year-old Mylene choose between either Gamlin or Basara for marriage. She's only fifteen! She should still be in school, though we never see her there (it doesn't look like Basara was educated either…) This episode is hilarious, especially Mylene's mother Milia's motivation for trying to organize her daughter's love life. It culminates, as all things Macross should, with an impromptu singing session in space, and a total lack of resolution as the punchline.

The final OVA episode is an explicit callback to the original SDF Macross TV show and movie Macross: Do You Remember Love?, including archive footage, with Mylene singing Lynn Minmei's songs in an attempt to calm a marauding army of renegade Meltrandi warriors. It features some of the best space battle animations in the entire show and feels like a concentrated burst of everything Macross as a franchise is about. I'm glad these three OVAs are bundled onto the end of the show, as they feel like a perfect, thematically appropriate epilogue that fills in some gaps while acting as a highly entertaining victory lap.

In terms of the TV show proper, episodes 27-49 are, in general, lots of fun from beginning to end. Basara remains intensely self-absorbed, refusing to listen to anyone, or even answer questions most of the time. He is annoying, but it turns out he was right all along, his music does have the power to end wars, it just takes almost fifty episodes for everyone else to catch up. During his multi-episode doldrums where he loses his will to sing, his selfishness and lack of consideration for his friends almost lead to their deaths on multiple occasions. Still, they forgive him anyway, because he's Basara, and he'll never change. His (mutual) obsession with Protodeviln Sivil eventually leads to interesting, emotional consequences – though it takes a long time to get there.

Bandmates Ray and Veffidas don't get a lot of development. Ray should probably be the adult in the room who reins in Basara's worst tendencies, but he mostly shrugs off Basara's bullshit and keeps on smiling. Veffidas is almost entirely silent, except for a handful of important occasions where she vocalizes. Mostly she “talks” using her drumsticks, drumming constantly on whatever surface is nearby – it's just another of Macross 7's many, many endearing running jokes. Say what you like about Macross 7, it sticks to its guns from beginning to end with a consistency of tone and intention that's admirable. Even poor Flower Girl gets her moment, sort of, eventually.

Without a doubt, Mylene is the standout character. She's innocent but driven, peppy and energetic, at times irrationally emotional, but always loyal. We get the impression she loves her friends and family and will do almost anything for them. While I often despise cute mascot characters, I find her perpetually attached fluffy alien blob pet Gubaba adorable. He always mirrors Mylene's expressions, yet has a character of his own. Myelene's growing confidence in her singing ability, to the point she's able to equal Basara's musical ability, even saving him at one point, is great character writing. Although she's part of a central love triangle, it never overshadows any part of the show. Her attachment to Basara doesn't seem overly romantic – though she does show jealousy if she thinks other women are interested in him. I don't think Basara even realizes he's one side of a love triangle, he's so oblivious. Gamlin is the one I feel a little sorry for. He's never been anything less than upfront about his feelings towards Mylene but she's around five years younger than him and isn't mature enough to consider long-term relationships and marriage. I'm glad this triangle isn't resolved despite Milia's attempts to force a resolution.

Fans of the original series SDF Macross are likely to find a lot to enjoy in the latter half of Macross 7. Tonally, and content-wise, I think it's the closest of all the sequel series to the original. SDF Macross characters Maximillian and Milia Jenius get a lot to do, including fighting alongside one another in their Valkyries. Such blatant fanservice is very welcome in this context. Their relationship is fascinating – although still separated, it's obvious they deeply care for one another, and they take some steps towards what I hope might be an eventual reconciliation at some point. Green giant Exsedol Folmo gets some good one-liners too, though he's not as central to the plot as Max and Milia.

Lore-wise, Macross 7 is important to the franchise because it explains the fate of the Protoculture, the progenitor race and common ancestor of every humanoid in the Macross universe. Planet Lux harbors Protoculture ruins with murals that explain what the Protodeviln are, and why the normally belligerent Zentradi and Meltrandi are terrified of them. Macross 7 also more fully develops the idea of music as a weapon/defense tactic, to which later franchise entries give their own spin. Macross 7 even introduces a music-powered idol group as a backup for Sound Force – the Jamming Birds, even if they are endearingly useless, suffering through horribly intense physical training only to be completely inadequate in battle. They don't even get an original song – they cover Riding in Your Valkyrie, from 1992's non-canon Macross II.

For many fans, Macross 7's enduring legacy will always be the music of Fire Bomber. Two albums contain the entirety of the show's Fire Bomber music – Let's Fire, covering the series' first half, and Second Fire, covering the second. As of writing, they're both on YouTube and are well worth listening to. Of the new tracks, I particularly love the second closing song Dakedo Baby, sung by Mylene from episode 35 onwards. It has a catchy retro 1960s vibe and will be a permanent addition to my playlist. Another Mylene track, Kimi ni Todoke is both chill and evocative, while Basara track Power to the Dream can't help but make me smile with its 1980s power rock sound and wonderfully cheesy, upbeat lyrics.

Compared to the contemporaneous Macross Plus OVA and movie, visually Macross 7 can't possibly compete. As a 52-episode series made on an appropriately lower budget, and in a typically rushed TV production schedule, many episodes look wonky. Characters are often off-model, and sometimes cel paint escapes the confines of outlines. In a way, this only adds to the show's scrappy charm. Made entirely in 4:3 for 1990s TV screens, it's presented in pillar-boxed fashion on streaming, but that's much better than the pan-and-scan or cropped abominations that other shows have endured (*cough* Dragon Ball Z *cough*). Despite the age of its assets, the streaming image is wonderfully clear, with colors that pop – and Macross 7 is a very colorful show.

Perhaps Disney/Hulu are using restored Blu-ray versions for streaming? I hope that means someday we can get official English-language Blu-ray releases. You know, before the last Blu-ray factory closes down. While I'm very happy Macross 7 is now finally, legally available to most English-speaking viewers, who knows how long this streaming grace period will last? Macross has disappeared before, it could disappear again. I'd snap up Macross 7 Blu-rays in a heartbeat, but following the takeover of Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment (who held the US license) by Sony, who knows if we'll ever get them?

Even without shiny, shiny discs, Macross 7 is well worth your time. It's probably better to have seen the original SDF Macross (difficult to find legally) or at least its Robotech: Macross Saga version (streaming on Crunchyroll), but it's a fun enough show that it can be enjoyed without the background detail gleaned from watching an admittedly dated TV show from over forty years ago.