I think of Macross Plus as a bit of a mess with pristine work that turned people like Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno into major names paired with a story that makes an atrocious choice that firebombs the entire work. I have a spoiler review of the OVA if you want me taking a bat to that particular hornet's nest. The movie, while paring down some of the more impressive mood sequences, also heavily cuts the tender scenes that are pretty gross in hindsight. Also, if you're like me, reducing the scenes showing Isamu as a reckless, loose cannon is a plus; even if they'retechnically impressive, they bog down the first two parts of the OVA when the idea is grasped fairly early on.

It's the best presentation of a flawed work. It still has the ending that is an explosion of rushed and confused emotions, and there's still THAT PLOT TWIST, but it doesn't linger on its drawbacks nearly as much to make me able to appreciate the marvelous things it does accomplish.

Finally, Lucy MacMillan, you did nothing to deserve all of this, and none of them deserve you.