If you were at Otakon this year, you might have seen Macross Delta's first and fourth episodes for the first time officially outside of Japan. In the lead-up to the screening, some were left asking, “Why just episodes one and four? Why not the first four?” According to Creative Sphere's Adrian Lozano and BIGWEST's Haruna Hashimoto in the screening's introduction, these episodes were chosen as they highlighted some of the biggest moments of Macross Delta's early run. I agree with this decision, as the omitted episodes are more character-focused in comparison, and it's best to lead off with a bang.

As Lozano and Otakon's tech staff set up the screening, I recognized the disc they put into the player. It was volume one of the Japanese Blu-ray release of the series, which happens to have rock-solid English subtitles. As at least one of a few ANN-adjacent folks with the entire Japanese series box set at home, we can take a complete look at Macross Delta's opening quartet of episodes.

With a long-running series like Macross, new viewers may be understandably intimidated by jumping in with the most recent entry. The good news is that Delta succinctly informs the audience of what they need to know right away. Though you might miss a few references sprinkled throughout for longtime fans, there's no need to delve into prior Macross material before watching it. In that same vein, the first episode quickly establishes that Delta is very much its beast.

We meet Hayate Immelman as he's being fired from his job on the docks. Though I question why he didn't just leave after that, Hayate continues his last shift by blasting some tunes and dancing around the worksite in his robot. He soon discovers Freyja Wion hiding in one of the shipping containers when she starts to sing along. Freyja shares that she's run away from home to audition for Walküre, but Hayate informs her that she's not quite on the right planet for that.

After running from the port authority and encountering Delta Flight's Mirage Jenius, the pair find themselves in the middle of a Vár outbreak. Then, a superpowered idol busts out from a pile of rubble right before she leaps onto the back of a fighter jet, all while continuing to belt one out. Hell, Hayate even hops into another robot and starts breakdancing with it. The sequence that wraps up the first episode is ridiculous, and I love it. There's so much life and gusto to everything that goes on. It's easy to tell that some Symphogear staffers worked on this, too.

The episodes that follow that bombastic opening episode are more low-key in comparison but do so much to endear the audience to the growing cast and the world they live in. One of my favorite things about the cast of Delta is that they often have little tics that show up from time to time, even if the particular character is way off in the background cast. The green-haired Reina immediately comes to mind, with constant quips about “the type of woman she is” or the fleeting faces of bliss she makes while eating.

Another rather endearing element is the introduction of the Delta Flight's home base on the planet of Ragna. The setting oozes personality, taking notes from South Pacific Island cultures without feeling like it's ever portrayed as a stereotype. Ragna feels like an incredibly lived-in location, and it is one of the franchise's most fleshed-out settings since the original Macross.

Looking more at the meat of episodes two and three, they work quite well at showing our protagonist duo's descent into the world of Walküre... and it's not easygoing for them. Hayate comes face-to-face with the fact that while he may be a member of the Delta Flight, he's not some hot shot pilot; he's a kid who's been given a chance to fly a bleeding edge, transforming fighter jets for a private military company with a contract to fulfill. Meanwhile, Freyja's learning that the Idol life isn't all glitz and glamor either. It's a lot of hard work with things often doing their damndest to break you down. The pair's struggles eventually culminate in an amazing dogfight. At the end of episode three, a pulse-pounding tune punctuates that battle.

The quartet of episodes wraps up with Freyja's debut concert, which is heightened by the return of dancing robots and many of those charming character moments I mentioned. However, this bit of fun is cut off when mysterious enemy combatants from the first episode return to make their intentions known. While we don't see too much of them in these episodes, Windermere and the Aerial Knights serve as a wonderful counterpoint to Ragna and the Delta Fight. Their presence leads to a nuanced discussion of colonialism from the viewpoint of the colonized.

On the technical side of things, Macross Delta is visually stunning. There are moments where characters in the background look a little mushy, but that's something you're most likely used to if you're watching a regular “week-to-week” anime series. I'm fond of Chisato Mita's character designs; she does a fantastic job balancing out the design philosophy introduced in Macross Frontier while harkening back to the original series' sensibilities. I was especially struck by the inkbrush-like quality of the edges around the character's eyes, which reminded me quite a bit of Haruhiko Mikimoto's artwork.

Macross's shift to 3D mechanical animation has been occasionally divisive over the years, but Satelight has refined its craft to a fine point with Delta and its films. The dogfights throughout these opening episodes have the right balance of weight and speed behind them, not zooming by at a blistering pace like Frontier's fighters tended to. The occasional composite seam was the only issue that caught my eye during the screening. You could easily see where the CG was integrated into the shot; however, that might have just been a quirk of a TV episode being presented on the big screen. It wasn't nearly as noticeable during my rewatch at home.

Lastly, the voice cast of Delta comes out of the gate swinging with memorable and charming performances that will stick in your mind at least for a little while. However, the real earworm is the wide collection of rocking jams courtesy of Walküre. While being fun songs in their own right, these tunes do so much to punctuate every moment they're used. The art of music as a punctuation mark is one of my absolute favorite things in media.

Coming out of the screening and my rewatch at home, I was convinced these Macross Delta episodes are a wonderful introduction to Macross as a whole. The excitement in the room between longtime and new fans was palpable during the screening. Even if they didn't know much about this storied franchise, some found themselves wanting to dive deep into further adventures of Walküre and the Delta Flight. This was something that Shōji Kawamori and Hidetaka Tenjin appeared to be thrilled by when they emerged from the back of the screening room. Kawamori was especially ecstatic to see the crowd's reaction even though Macross Delta is now “a few years old,” as he said.

I'm excited for the day that Nozomi Entertainment's Macross Delta set is ready to go so new viewers can get a taste of this series I love so much without the need to attend a special screening or pick up an expensive Japanese Blu-ray set. I recommend checking out these episodes if you're looking for a fun time; I know I had one.