Robotech: Cultural Analysis

Volume 9, No.4 By Geoff L. (Edited by Ramón Bannister) In his third contribution to Kena Cubed, Geoff L. discusses Robotech’s hero Rick Hunter. A complex character for sure, Rick matures very quickly in the midst of a seemingly unending war with a super alien race. In Robotech: Macross Saga, the main character in which most of the story revolves around is our hero Rick Hunter.  From the beginning of the series, we see that [...]

Kena Cubed contributor Geoff L. discusses how Lisa is made very human, in part to contrast her with the alien Zentraedi race, but also to enhance the story of Robotech.

Volume 9, No.2 – By Geoff L. (Edited by Ramón Bannister) As a child, I enjoyed a good variety of pop culture shows that were indelibly burned into my memory. The one that I cherished the most was the animated TV series, Robotech.  Produced by Carl Macek for Harmony Gold, it is perhaps the most richly written story that I remember from that time. Some say that this was the show that popularized Japanese anime [...]

Volume 9, No.1 By Ramón Bannister It has been a long time since I published the last cultural analysis of Robotech. But I hope my fans are still with me. The next post below is an analysis of two episodes. This time I decided to start with the cultural analysis rather than the episode summaries. I believe the former is much more interesting and may encourage my readers to really think about what I have [...]

Volume 8, No.6 – By Ramón Bannister The episode, “The Long Wait,” develops the characters of Rick and Minmei, who have a somewhat romantic experience amidst the horror of war. They are in the human space fortress, a.k.a. SDF-1, and get stuck in a forgotten section of the ship. All of their efforts to find a way out lead to the realization that there IS NO way out. They both turn to that old human [...]

Volume 8, No.5 -Ramón Bannister In my last post, I briefly raised your attention to a Robotech fan project. It is a film called “Midnight Sky.” As Tana Sarnt, the filmmaker, explains on his Project Robotech blog, he has set a goal to become an actor in the Robotech live-action film being produced. I commented to him through email and through his Facebook page that the producers should hire him as an actor AND script [...]

Volume 8, No. 4 – By Ramón Bannister And now we arrive to episode 3, “Space Fold,” of the 1st Robotech series known as The Macross Saga. The battle fortress of the human crew survives and is in space just above Earth’s atmosphere. The Captain orders the crew to take the ship to an agreed-upon location to rendevous with other Earth defence forces, a small fleet of ships. An interesting discussion arises among the captain [...]

Volume 8, No.3 – By Ramón Bannister Episode 2 of the first Robotech series is a continuation of Episode 1, “Booby Trap.” The title “Countdown” refers to the humans’ first attempt at launching the huge space craft, or battle fortress. It had never been tested before this battle – only its computer systems and other functions were known to work with any certainty. Keep in mind that the only reason Captain Gloval even considered launching [...]

Volume 8, No.2 – By Ramón Bannister As I said in the last post, I will do an episode-by-episode cultural analysis of the cartoon, Robotech, produced by Harmony Gold. Robotech provides us with a fascinating portrayal of our desires, fantasies and overall society. So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. “Booby Trap” The first episode is entitled “Booby Trap;” it starts with a narration. As it turns out, the entire cartoon is narrated, kind of like [...]

Volume 8, No.1 – By Ramón Bannister I have written about Robotech in the past and am a huge fan of it. I own all three DVD sets of the series as well as the more recent “Shadow Chronicles” film. I even interviewed the director of Shadow Chronicles, Tommy Yune. This story is the first of what I’m calling a cultural analysis, which I first explained in my last post. I intend to analyze the [...]