Macross Plus" Synchronizes the Action of Humanoid Mecha with the Recollections of the Characters.

Shinichiro Watanabe is the general director of "Carols & Tuesdays," which has been broadcast and distributed since April 2019. Watanabe's first work as director was the OVA "Macross Plus" (1994), which was released in 1994; the OVA version consisted of four episodes, which were edited into the two-hour "Macross Plus Movie Edition," which was released theatrically in 1995.
On the planet Eden, competing tests are being conducted for the YF-19 and YF-21, candidates for the next mainstay variable fighters: the pilot of the YF-19 is Isamu, and the pilot of the YF-21 is Gardo, a former friend who Isamu had broken up with in high school. A woman who was also close to both Isamu and Gardo in high school, Mun, returns to the planet Eden as the producer of the artificial intelligence idol Sharon. Mun is torn between Isamu and Gardo, who are becoming increasingly at odds with each other.
The story's penetrating goals (the issues that the story must resolve) are threefold.

(1) To determine the winner between Isamu and Gardo, who are rivals.

(2) To settle the love triangle between Isamu and Garde over Mun.
(3) The story depicts Sharon's seeming intervention in the relationship between the three.

The climax of the story is the fierce battle between Isamu's YF-19, which has infiltrated Earth, and Gardo's YF-21, which is tracking him. At the end of the battle, most of (1) and (2) above are resolved when Gardo regains a clear memory of what happened in high school.
The key to the solution is Gardo's "high school memories," which he alone remembers. Let's take a closer look at how Gardo's "memory" is depicted.

All cuts in red are from Gardo's subjective viewpoint.

The first time Gardo recalls a memory is when he is alone on his computer in the middle of the night.

■A man's hand is placed on the shoulder of a crying Mün.
Isamu's startled face, close-up.
A chair on the floor, a telephone, a flowerpot.

These short images are inserted in fragments.
Next, when the YF-21 and Isamu's aircraft approach rapidly during the test flight, Garde recalls the same images. A red line of concentration runs across Isamu's face as he sits in the cockpit, and the following images are inserted: ■ A chair on the floor, a telephone, a telephone, a chair on the floor, a telephone, a chair on the floor, a telephone.

■A chair on the floor, a telephone, and a flowerpot.
Torn clothes and the chest of the mun.
Isamu's surprised face, close-up.
A man's hand is placed on the shoulder of a crying Hyun.
The face of Mun who is crying, close-up.
Bust shot of Mun holding his chest and crying.
A long shot of a naked Mun and Isamu holding her shoulder.

In the last cut, Mun looks up and looks at the camera. In other words, we see Garde's face as she reminisces. We have more information than in the first recollection, and we know that some violent incident occurred between the three of them.
It is important to note that all of these recollection cuts are painted in red. In fact, the "picture in Garde's head" appears before Garde recalls the incident in high school. This is the scene at the beginning of the film where the YF-21's Brain Direct Imaging (BDI) system is linked to Gardo's senses. The human hand overlaps with the wings of the YF-21, and the human foot overlaps with the nozzle of the YF-21. Of these, the "human hand" and "human foot" are painted purple and pink, clearly indicating that they are images in Gardot's mind.
Since it is indicated at the beginning of the film that "the cuts painted in colors different from reality are from Garde's imagination," we know that the recollection cut, which is tinted red, is also Garde's subjective image. And the second recollection occurs during the neural bonding between Gardo and YF-21. Immediately after recollecting the incident, Gardo imagines a scene in which he crushes the Isamu plane, but the YF-21 reads Gardo's imagination and actually crushes the Isamu plane.
The third recollection occurs during a battle between Isamu and Gardo on Earth, when Gardo and the YF-21 are in the midst of a neural bonding process. Let us look at the recollection scene, keeping in mind that Gardo is linked to YF-21.

Why YF-21 "punches itself in the mirror"?

During the battle on Earth, Gardo begins to reminisce about the scene where Isamu's YF-19 descends to the ground and gets into a physical fight with the YF-21 that has been chasing him. The two aircraft change from flight form to robot form and begin to exchange blows.

You always!
Garde yells at Isamu, and the YF-19 knocks the YF-21's gun away with its knuckles,
'You'll ruin everything I hold dear!
YF-21 tries to hit YF-19 with his left hand, but is evaded. This cut begins with a close-up of YF-19's face, and the background is a glass window of a building. The glass reflects the image of YF-21, who is about to strike YF-19, but YF-19 dodges, making it "look like he is striking himself.

This is followed by a single shot of the red-tinted recollection (a long shot of a naked Mün and Isamu holding her by the shoulders), with Garde's line, "I've got something important to ......." The YF-19 is in flight mode.
The YF-19 transforms into flight form and flees into the sky, while the pursuing YF-21 fires countless missiles. The smoke drawn by the missiles overlaps Garde's helmet in multiple, striped patterns, and the rest of the recollection begins.

■Mun cries, and Isamu hugs him on the shoulder from behind.
Isamu leaves, but Mun chases after him.
Mun nuzzles his face into Isamu's chest.
The two turn around in a huff.
Garde's arm punches Isamu.
Isamu falls to the floor.
Mun looks worriedly at the fallen Isamu.
Garde's hands come at him and tear his clothes.
Garde finds his face in the mirror.

These scenes are depicted in fragments, modulating from red to gray, as in a silent film.
Garde's arm hitting Isamu" and "Garde looking in the mirror," which is the exact same performance as the aforementioned "YF-21 trying to hit YF-19 but hitting himself in the mirror. Garde had assumed that Isamu was the one who had hurt Myun in high school, but now he realizes that it was actually himself who was the culprit. That is why Garde wanted to hit himself.
The YF-21 is a dangerous mechanic that can read the pilot's imagination and execute on its own. Given this setting, doesn't the action of "a humanoid mecha punching its own mirror image" seem to express Garde's deep psychology?　Isn't this a rare scene that combines the violence wielded by the characters with the action of the robot on a literary level?


(Text by Keisuke Hirota)