Take a look at any Macross soundtrack and you'll almost always find the songs sung within the show itself.
There are also tons of albums that collect nothing but those in-show songs.
For Macross 7, Fire Bomber's album made headlines because it actually charted on Oricon, despite being the work of a band that only exists inside the anime.
This time we're looking at its successor: 'Macross F VOCAL COLLECTION Nyantama♀,' an album packed with the songs sung within Macross F.
The truly incredible thing about this album is that the music is fully backed and composed by Yoko Kanno, a woman you could say flipped the history of anime scoring on its head.
When you think of Yoko Kanno, you think of 'Cowboy Bebop,' along with 'Turn A Gundam,' 'Aquarion,' and 'The Vision of Escaflowne.'
And then there's 'Macross Plus,' the OVA project that was running concurrently with Macross 7.
On top of that, she's known for providing the early songs of Maaya Sakamoto. I myself am a huge fan of Maaya Sakamoto's early work, and it was through her that I discovered the genius that is Yoko Kanno.
Now, let me explain Macross F in a nutshell. In short, it's a love triangle story. The protagonist, Alto Saotome, is a pilot of a Valkyrie (a robot that transforms into a fighter jet). As his heart wavers between Ranka Lee, who dreams of becoming a wholesome idol singer, and Sheryl Nome, a Western-pop diva with overwhelming charisma, he gets swept up in a war against invaders from deep space.
Since the whole story revolves around which of the two, Ranka Lee or Sheryl Nome, will win Alto Saotome's heart, almost all the in-show songs belong to those two.
Sheryl Nome is the more popular of the two overall, and because she's established as a full-fledged diva from the start, she gets more songs early on. 'Diamond Crevasse,' 'Sagittarius 9pm Don't Be Late,' and so on. Many of them are difficult numbers that an amateur would struggle to belt out.
But Ranka Lee gradually becomes a star too, taking on every kind of job from CM jingles to whatever else, until she scores a massive hit with the song 'Seikan Hikou (Interstellar Flight).' (That's the one with the cute 'Kira!' sparkle moment between phrases.)
But of course this album, 'Macross F VOCAL COLLECTION Nyantama♀,' has all of those plus plenty of other songs too.
One of the fun ones is 'The Song of S.M.S. Platoon ~ That Girl Is an Alien,' sung by the S.M.S. crew themselves, naturally.
There's even a grand enka song with a space theme called 'Uchu Kyodai Sen (Space Brother Ship).' This one is performed by 'Kiichiro Tokugawa'—does he have some connection to Tokugawa Ieyasu? That part's a mystery.
Well then, let's give 'Uchu Kyodai Sen' a listen.
And this 'Macross F VOCAL COLLECTION Nyantama♀' also features a menu item called 'Nyan Nyan Special Service Medley (Extra Large).' It's a grand medley where Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee sing together, clocking in at a whopping 12:24.
Another highlight has to be 'Triangler (fight on stage),' the original theme song with Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee singing together. When two girls duet, I think it gets every bit as hype as Lion.
Quoted from the official site https://x.com/macrossD
