YMMV / Super Dimension Fortress Macross

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Did Roy grossly miscalculate the seriousness of his injuries and thus caused his own death, or did he correctly assess that his time was almost up and deliberately choose to hide the gravity of his injuries so he could see Claudia one last time?
• Americans Hate Tingle: Lynn Minmay in the Robotech dub, for multiple reasons:
  • The irritating and annoying Character Exaggeration/Flanderization given to the Robotech version of the character.
  • The opinion that Minmay's American voice actress Rebecca Forstadt (using the name "Reba West") was not up to the task of voicing a main character in a dramatic, full-length animated series.
  • The songs written for Forstadt were awful, especially the bellicose "us vs. them" song "We Will Win," in the climactic final battle. This Robotech-only song was the total polar opposite of the original "Ai wa Nagareru", a very pacifist song; as such, one could argue that the Robotech song qualifies as a case of American Kirby Is Hardcore. (And it's rumored that Forstadt sung her songs while tipsy or drunk.)
  • Note: The "Minmay hate" damage was partially corrected when Harmony Gold and ADV Films produced a new dub of Macross in 2006, as they promised much better accuracy than the 1985 Robotech dub. Part of that promise included hiring Minmay's original voice actress Mari Iijima herself to dub the character again (24 years later), in one of the most well-received aspects of the ADV dub. Hearing the original version of Minmay voiced in English, with the proper emotion and dialogue, helped restore her "innocent, but strong girl" personality to American audiences.
    • When hired to re-dub her lines in English in 2006, Mari Iijima had by then lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years, and had mastered the English language (with an understandable Japanese accent).
• Awesome Music: Plenty; particularly noteworthy ones include "Sunset Beach", "Zero-G Love", and the classic "My Boyfriend is a Pilot".
• Die for Our Ship: Minmay would surely get much less grief if she wasn't interested in Hikaru, thus keeping him and Misa apart.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Arguably, the Destroid Monster: it's the only mech outside of the variable fighters that has showed up in some form in every series since, however briefly and however importantly.^note Macross Plus has a Monster being used as a target by the YF-19 and YF-21 during their competition, Macross 7 has one of the Monsters from the original series being used to defend City 7 when it got separated from the escorts, Macross Zero has a Destroid Monster mk I (the prototype version) show up to fire reaction shells at the Bird Human, Macross Frontier has the VB-6 König Monster (a variable mech whose main combat form is an improved Destroid Monster) as the strongest mech of the SMS, Macross Delta has a whole squadron of König Monsters show up to wreck enemy ships when the Vordor NUNS garrison goes on a counteroffensive, and the non-canon Macross II has the Giant Monster, a much larger take on the Monster with even more shoulder cannons and missile launchers, all larger than on the original, that makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the final episodes.
• Fan Nickname: For the guy currently in charge of the series no less, Shoji Kawamori is known among some fans as the Hory Froating Head^note The genesis of this name came from the AnimEigo release of the series back around 2000: when the first sets were finally ready for shipping, Robert Woodhead posted a gag picture of him and a couple of staffers on their knees holding a copy as if in offering to a gigantic floating head of Shoji Kawamori. The fandom at MacrossWorld immediately started calling Kawamori both "The Holy Floating Head" and (in parody of Engrish) "The Hory Froating Head"
• First Installment Wins: The first, most popular, and best-known of the Macross series, and generally considered the best, too.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Any romantic and Heartwarming Moments between Hikaru and Misa in the dub becomes this after the nasty falling out between Vic Mignogna and Monica Rial regarding the sexual misconduct allegations against the former and his subsequent defamation lawsuit against the latter. Ditto for any such moments between Hikaru and Minmay after similar news between Mignogna and Mari Iijima came to light.
  • For the Japanese-speaking fanbase, it was after Arihiro Hase jumped from the 7th floor of the apartment building where his parents lived in 1996.
• It Was His Sled: It's virtually impossible for a new viewer to go into the show without already knowing Minmay as a superstar idol singer, which might lessen the emotional impact of watching her rise to fame from her humble start as a waitress at her family's restaurant.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • YACK! DECULTURE! - An expression initially meant to display disgust in the fictional Zentraedi language, the expression was used in scenes depicting the Zentraedi reacting to Earth culture, including Minmay's songs as well as people kissing. This eventually led to the expression becoming a positive one both in-universe and among the series' fans, to the point, by Macross Frontier and Macross Delta, Deculture is a Zentraedi exclamation of excitement, and even the 2018 smartphone game is suffixed 'Deculture'.
  • Captain! No smoking on the bridge! ^note from the bridge bunnies constant berating of Capt. Gloval whenever he tries to smoke on the bridge.
• Shocking Moments: Many, but the ones who stand up the most are the titular ship punching an enemy ship in the face (this even in-universe: after seeing it, Breetai and Exedore are left speechless for a moment before monotoning they need reinforcements) and Bodolza glassing Earth as soon as he's in orbit (a first in anime history, and lampshaded by Misa crying they can't do it as soon as she sees the data).
• Strangled by the Red String: While the show foreshadows it before they've met, Max's feelings for Milia go from "let's go for coffee" to "be my soul mate" at the drop of a hat ( or a dagger in this case.). This is especially funny considering he declares his love right after she tries to kill him in a knife fight for defeating her, once in battle and then at the arcade.
  • Lampshaded by Hikaru not long after:
  Hikaru: Excuse me, but didn't you just go out on a date with this girl? I mean fun's fun, but jumping straight into marriage?
• Superlative Dubbing: Debates with how it compares to Robotech aside, you can't deny that there are some exquisite performances in ADV's dub. The fact that Iijima was brought back as Minmay certainly helps.
• Values Dissonance: In Japan, Kaifun being Minmay's cousin and love interest isn't a big deal. For Americans, it's a lot creepier, to the point where the Robotech dub had to have Misa's character awkwardly defend it as "Not that weird... in some places."