According to story creator Shoji Kawamori,[1] it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war.

[2][3] Macross also created one of the first anime idols Lynn Minmay, turning her voice actress Mari Iijima[1][4] into an instant celebrity, and launching her musical career.

During the launch ceremony, a space war fleet from an alien race of humanoid giants arrives into the solar system and identifies the Macross as a former battleship used by their enemies, the Supervision Army.

Since the fold systems have vanished after the jump, the Macross is forced to make its way back to Earth by conventional power.

After escaping, Hikaru and the others report their findings to their superiors, who have trouble accepting the reasons behind the Zentradi attacks as well as the huge forces the aliens possess.

After Boddole Zer is killed and his armada defeated, the surviving humans and their Zentradi allies begin rebuilding Earth.

Two years after the end of the first Space War the transition into the Human ways becomes difficult to some Zentradi who cannot stand the idea of a pacified life.

Moments before the final Zentradi attack, Misa Hayase tells Hikaru Ichijyo of her feelings for him and her decision to leave to space in a colonization mission to preserve human culture across the galaxy.

After a long emotional conflict Hikaru finally decides to be with Misa and join the colonization mission, but the two remain good friends with Minmay in the end.

The series title uses the name of the main spacecraft (which is usually shortened to Macross as it is Earth's first Super Dimension Fortress).

[6] However, the director of Big West, one of the later sponsors of the project, was a fan of Shakespeare and wanted the series and the spacecraft to be named Macbeth (Makubesu (マクベス)).

Big West, an advertising agency looking to branch out into animation sponsorship, approached Studio Nue about the project and agreed to sponsor it.

[7][10] Even then, Big West found that the show was going to run more expensive than it had bargained for, and to secure more money, entered into a partnership with animation studio Tatsunoko Production[10] which included international distribution (what would culminate in the creation of the "Robotech" adaptation a few years later).

[2][9] AnimeFriend and Star Pro are infamously notorious among fans of the show for having brought in very spotty, off-model and continuity error-laden animation work.

There were plans for a splashy ending to the series, one that would have shown major characters Misa Hayase and Hikaru Ichijo blasting off in the colonization ship SDF-2 Megaroad-01, but the sequence was scrapped due to lack of time and budget.

In 1985, Harmony Gold, without permission from Studio Neu or Big West, edited and rewrote the series with The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada, collectively releasing them as Robotech, to syndicate on weekday television and to promote a Revell model line.

In 1999, Harmony Gold asserted it had exclusive rights to the "distribution of the Macross television series and the right to create and authorize the sale of merchandise based on such series" outside Japan, and began sending cease-and-desist letters to import toy dealers, temporarily barring Macross-related merchandise from North America.

In 2003 Madman Entertainment released a six-disc PAL format version of this edition entitled Macross Ultimate Collection.

This is the first uncut, unedited English dub for Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and featured Mari Iijima returning to reprise the role of Lynn Minmay.

Years later Bandai released The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 3D shooting game in October 2003 in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 console.

Voiced by Mari Iijima, Minmay was the first fictional idol singer to garner major real-world success, with the theme song "Do You Remember Love?"

[33] This was later further explored in Macross Plus with the virtual idol Sharon Apple, an artificial intelligence (AI) computer program who takes the form of an intergalactic pop star,[34] and in Macross 7 with the virtual band Fire Bomber who became a commercial success and spawned multiple CDs released in Japan.

According to Kawamori, "Many people pointed out that later films like Top Gun copied that idea and setting, as well as including the combination of many songs and fighters too.

"[30] For the video game Devil May Cry 4, motion and voice actor Reuben Langdon was told to be cockier than his younger persona, albeit more mature.

Despite the staff's concerns for the difficulties of such a portrayal, Langdon had no issues after choosing Roy Focker from The Super Dimension Fortress Macross as his character model and noting he had almost the same age as Dante during the production of the game.