The battle between humanity and the Robotech Masters reaches its dramatic conclusion as the final battle that decides the war begins in earnest. The Fifteenth Squadron risk capture and death at the hands of the Robotech Masters as they carry out an undercover mission inside the enemy mother ship. Meanwhile the ominous threat of the Invid lurks on the horizon as they come to claim the dwindling supplies of protoculture: the reason why the Masters are trying to invade Earth.

For all the explosive mecha action and romance/drama subplots the beginning of the Robotech Masters arc was a rather dull space opera that barely held my attention through the seemingly overlong twelve episodes. In some ways it has not improved much during its second half with the execution of the moral messages’ delivery still being pretty clumsy and the constant fighting a bit repetitive. On the plus side there have been some more interesting developments that made viewing these episodes more enjoyable and I was actually curious as to what happened next.

The theme of love conquering the ultimate boundaries has been revisited as Bowie comes to terms with his love for Musica, the player of the Cosmic Harp on the Masters’ side. I must admit that Bowie is one of the most interesting members of the Fifteenth, being more at home playing jazz piano than fighting. Similarly Musica’s earlier encounter with Bowie caused her to question the Master’s way of life and unknowingly sow the seeds of unrest among the clones as she tried to understand her feelings for him. Music really is the food of love…

Zor is another character worthy of note here, as he has much greater significance to the Robotech saga at large than he first appeared to have; he is also a good example of the divided loyalties and double-crosses that can be found in these episodes. It is credit to the Stateside writers of the show that the Masters arc ties in so well with the Macross arc (it is a shame that this did not allow for exploring Dana Sterling’s half-Zentraedi heritage, but this is after all a retelling of a separate show), as well as setting up the start of the next chapter: the arrival of the Invid.

Although the Invid themselves will not make an appearance until the next volume the mention of them makes a refreshing change from the point of view of the galactic war. Up until now it was just humans vs. Robotech clones, which felt like little more than a pale imitation of our battles against the Zentraedi. Now the war is becoming something of a three way fight with the Robotech Masters taking the Invid’s imminent arrival into account when formulating their battle plans. Even if the Earth forces defeat the Masters they will soon have an even more powerful enemy to contend with.

In Summary

The Robotech Masters arc improves in quality during its second half to give a more satisfying and interesting viewing experience than the first did. The characters’ motivations are more complex, the plot is marginally more inventive and the story is set up well for the third and final story arc of the saga. Viewers who have followed the story so far should see no reason to stop now.