As Good As It Gets

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This anime series was used by Harmony Gold as the third generational saga in a larger space opera which also consisted of Macross and Super Dimensional Calvalry Southern Cross. All three mentioned series are roughly 25 episodes, give or take a couple. When Harmony Gold wanted to import these titles to North America, 25 episodes were not sufficient for syndication so they glued three unrelated series together into Robotech. I grew up on Robotech and dearly love the show, however, the original, uncut anime series stand much better than the censored patchwork Harmony Gold put together. Harmony Gold even tried to do their own anime series called The Sentinels, which is part of the Robotech universe, and failed miserably. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what Harmony Gold did to bring this anime series, and love them for it--but each of the three series stand perfectly alone. On to the review. Sometime in the future, Earth is colonized by an alien race who need our planet for her environmental conditions. The alien race, known as the Inbit, are a hive collective of shapeless beings who serve the Refless, their Queen. The species merge advanced biology and machine (mecha) ability to create a formidable force. The Inbit wipe out our military and about 90% of the human population while leaving nature, animal and plant life mostly untouched. The Inbit want to inherit our planet and are figuring out the best form to do so (as they can assume whatever shape the Refless chooses for them). The Inbit are not fond of humans as they studied human legacy and were not impressed. Ironically, the Inbit conclude that the human form is perhaps the best to inherit the planet. The Inbit are not evil, simply an intelligent race concerned with survival and finding the proper homeworld.The numerically reduced pesky humans are scattered and mostly left alone by the Inbit. I suspect the Inbit allowed a few cities and towns to survive just in case humans turned out to be somehow vital to Earth's ecosystems. However, it just so happens that we are far enough into the future that humans have successfully colonized other planets like Mars and and have large enough populations and factories to hurtle massive, powerful, mechanized fleets to retake our planet. Wave one of the reclamation effort failed. Some years later, a second reclamation force was sent. Enter Stig Bernard, an officer with the second reclamation force that also gets wiped-out while he is one of the few survivors. Stig's ship crashed somewhere in South America where he encounters locals, motley survivors who dodge the Inbit while trying to eke out a living. Stig recruits a small ragtag group of military survivors and rogues and molds a formidable guerrilla team out of them. Their destination is North America where Refless Point is located, the Inbit HQ. Once there, they are to wait for and assist the third and final reclamation force. Genesis Climber Mospeada tells of the perilous journey to Refless Point where the team tries to evade but sometimes confront and occasionally sabotage the Inbit. Over the course of the series, you learn more about the backgrounds of those who comprise this force, like Houquet (a former biker gang girl betrayed by her gang and off on her own), Mint (a child war orphan), Rei (a young forager), Jim (a mechanic and army deserter who seeks redemption), and Yellow (another army deserter whose own battalion betrayed him). The core group sometimes struggle to surmount personality conflicts while under pressure of their core mission, but grow close over time. The Inbit eventually notice this team who become a bigger thorn in their side, so the Refless dispatches special Inbit to track and eliminate them. In doing so, the Inbit learn about their enemy and it changes them. Our ragtag fighters also learn about and are changed by their 'enemy'. What I love about this series is its maturity, depth and beauty. There is no evil and good, just survival. There are troubled beings on both sides of the human/inbit divide, but there are also noble, redeeming characters as well. This series asks deep questions, are humans really worthy of the Earth, despite our wars and pollution? Why do we fight wars? Genesis Climber Mospeada is perhaps the least edited of the three Robotech series, and it still stands. Apart from brief bits of anime nudity and dialog excised for Robotech, it is almost the same. I think the animation very good for the 80's, the mecha's are fantastic and the story is powerful, heavy, harrowing. I both love and am saddened by the end of the series, because I have grown so attached to the characters in this wondrous anime. As a child of the 80's, I liked the fact that anime like this did not gloss over death in war, unlike the Transformers and GI Joe. The characters also form meaningful relationships and go through bouts of depression, which happens in real life. In not talking down to kids, kids like me respected the series. A lovely anime and a deep series for deep thinkers.

I've never seen Robotech outside of 6 episodes out of the Macross part so I feel like I can give a proper review without mentioning aspects about Robotech TNG vs Mospeada differences and having those sway my rating or decisions. I do take offense to the review that's on here where all it accomplishes is elitist Robotech propaganda and doesn't even review the series but only bashes it by saying Robotech is better which, there's no way it is. It's part of the reason I made this review since I know I had nothing to compare it to. Now the review.This series is mainly about a man named Stick Bernard and he's trying to reach a place in North America called Reflex Point and team up with the army to defeat the Inbit, an evil race of aliens that have taken over Earth. He gets caught off course and he has to find his way to Reflex Point without knowing where he is. He eventually gains allies and they all travel together with him to find Reflex Point while sometimes having dangerous skirmishes with the Inbit.Sounds good right? Well it's alright to be honest, but could have been a lot better at least in my opinion. The problem I had with this series, and it was a really big problem, was that instead of focusing on plot and story elements, like most series of this nature, a good 80% of the episodes are very episodic based. Meaning, for those that don't know, those episodes don't advance the plot too much at all. There are a few episodes here and there that are story and plot oriented but a majority are about random adventures that have no significance and can easily be done without. I wouldn't say that there is no story but I can say is that the ratio of episodes you need to episodes you don't need is very high. The reason why that's a problem is because the series establishes itself at the beginning as a story based mecha anime series, but as soon as establishing that it ends up turning into a random space and futuristic series that comes on Sci-Fi, and then back into a story based mecha anime series toward the end. Some of the episodic episodes are horribly painful to watch as well. I know I could've finished this series within a weekend but the episodes became chores to watch and felt draining after watching only 1 or 2 episodes.There are some good things about this series. The Seiyuus (Japanese voice actors) really play their parts well. They actually helped me to continue watch this series. If it wasn't for Bin Shimada and Hirotaka Suzuoki, I don't think I could've finished this series. The Mecha designs are nice. Though the Legioss is completely ripped-off from Macross' Valkyrie. The Mospeada bikes are great they were very innovative. Same with the music. Though it sounds goofy and dated at first it really fits the mood of the series and is very fitting at all times. And Yellow Belmont's vocal songs are amazing.Overall. I really wish that this series wasn't lacking in plot. If it had more of a story then I'd easily love this series but the episode structure and lacking story elements only make this more of a average Real Robot anime series that happened in the 1980's. It's a shame really I was gunning for this series the entire time. I know somebody'll like it though, it just wasn't for me.6/10

I enjoyed watching the Mospeada series but it's shallow compared to it's Robotech counterpart (Robotech:The New Generation (TNG)). Robotech:TNG is a small part of much larger epic saga. Mospeada on the other hand doesn't have that depth or build up. The plot is very shallow by comparison. Aliens called the Inbit invade Earth and plan to make it their new home. It's a story that's been done to death. At least in Robotech:TNG the reasons and background story of the alien Invid are explained better. In fact the explanation of the Invid invasion is told in the second saga. Long before Robotech:TNG. That's where the Robotech saga shows it's depth over any of the original three Japanese series. There is so much more background story in Robotech. In Mospeada not much is explained about the home world of the invaders. Also the Japanese have a thing for goofy names. Man are their (Mospeada) names horrible! C'mon, Stig Bernard? What the hell kind of name is Stig? Mint Rubble? Houquet Emrose? Geez man. Almost all of the Robotech names were big improvements over the originals. Let's compare some of them:Stig (stick) Bernard (Mospeada) - Scott Bernard (Robotech)Mint Rubble (Mospeada) - Annie (Robotech) ('Mint' was a nick name)Yellow Belmont(Mospeada) - Lancer (Robotech)(Yellow Dancer was an alias)Houquet Emrose (Mospeada) - Rook Bartley (Robotech)Rainy Boy (Mospeada)(Fruity name for a Killer) - Dusty Aires (Robotech)Batra (Mospeada) (Sounds too feminine for a male. Yep, it's a guy) - Corg (Robotech) I like the names Rey and Jim Austin from Mospeada. They are two of the few characters they managed to give decent names to. The creators must have been sober when thought these names up. Thank goodness. The Robotech actors were great. Couldn't have been better. The Mospeada actors are just what you would expect from Japanese actors. A lot of over acting especially from the women. I'd take the Robotech cast any day over Mospeada's. To correct the previous reviewer: Robotech:TNG is not an 'Edit' of Mospeada. It's has a unique and more complex background story. Robotech:TNG is part of a much larger series and has more depth because of it.Seriously though it's good series but it doesn't beat the Robotech version in anyway. Mospeada did a horrid job on the names and several other things in the series. It didn't hamper my enjoyment of it because I was able to look past them. If you can't tolerate Japanese actors and the goofy names; check out Robotech instead. I think Robotech improved all of the three original series from which it was based. Especially the plot and characters. There is no contest for me. It's Robotech all the way. Mospeada today is almost forgotten while Robotech is making a come back. Not that Robotech was ever dead. The comics never stopped.Watch the 86 episodes of the Robotech series first and then hunt down the original 3 series. Beware though. After watching Robotech you may not want to bother to watch the original 3 Japanese series.