Zentradi - in Macross

In Macross

In the original Macross Japanese anime series (Big West/Studio Nue, 1982) the Zentradi were created as a spacefaring race of giant humanoid proxy warriors by the first civilization in the galaxy, the Protoculture, 497,500 years ago. They contributed greatly to the expansion of the Protoculture Civilization's sphere of influence and the creation of a Protoculture Stellar Republic that controlled most of our galaxy.

As war broke out with The Supervision Army centuries later, the Zentradi entered into combat with their fearsomely powerful force of millions of space warships and mecha produced in thousands of huge automated factories scattered across the galaxy and legions of expendable giant clone troops. After the end of the war with the Supervision Army, the Zentradi fleets travelled the galaxy in search of Supervision Army survivors until they encountered the human race, an event that caused Space War I (2009–2010).

In order to better maintain control of the Zentradi, the Protoculture trained them only in the limited mix of skills which were necessary for the soldier's particular role in the Zentradi military. It seems that no Zentradi were trained in the repair and maintenance of their equipment, making them dependent on easily controlled supply stations and factory asteroids. The Zentradi were also segregated so that males and females could not mix, which might lead to love and/or natural procreation. Male Zentradi are also called "Zentran", which means "male" in the Zentradi language. Also, Female Zentradi are called Meltrandi, the word "Meltran" meaning "female" as well. Finally, the Zentradi were forbidden culture, and were instilled with orders to never interfere with culture-bearing planets and civilizations, again apparently to suppress independent thought and keep an iron loyalty in all the Zentradi forces.

The downfall of the Zentradi nomadic warrior civilization came during Space War I (2009), when the technologically inferior but culturally and spiritually superior "Miclones" (humans) were able to reach the buried emotions of the Zentradi through terrestrial culture and humane actions, especially music and acts of love and kindness.

After 2012, the Zentradi are estimated to have 1000-2000 fleets of sizes similar to the 4.8-million-ship Boddole Zer Main Fleet in Space War I. However, the UN government of allied Humans and Zentradi became the reigning hegemony in near-Earth galactic space.

The average Zentradi are ten times the size of Earth Humans, but some of them use ancient miniaturizing cloning technology known as the micronization process (マイクローン化, maikurōn-ka?) to coexist with humanity. Many integrated into each other's population where many families became a mix of both Human and Zentradi individuals.

Before the Zentradi and modern Humans made contact, the average Zentradi had the equivalent intelligence of Human primary school children. Since their exposure to Human society and knowledge, their potential intelligence and learning capacity has been shown to be higher.

In the first Macross TV series it was revealed that Commander Type Zentradi are bigger, stronger and more intelligent than the rest, while some are even able to survive in the vacuum of space for limited amounts of time. This makes it possible for them to endure hand-to-hand combat against human mecha like the VF-1 Valkyrie.

In the original Macross TV series the Zentradi possessed a fictional alien alphabet which was developed by Kazutaka Miyatake of the Studio Nue staff but their dialogue was automatically translated into Japanese language. However, in the Macross: Do You Remember Love? animated film the Zentradi were actually shown speaking a fictional extraterrestrial language (that also was developed for the movie by the Studio Nue production staff) as subtitles were provided for the audience.

The Zentradi alphabet from the original Macross TV series and the spoken form of the Zentradi language from the Macross: Do You Remember Love? film appeared again in the Macross 7: Encore OVA and the Macross Frontier T.V. animated series. Both the fictional Zentradi language and its alphabet have been used in several video games that take place in the Macross universe.

In Macross 7 (2045), the Zentradi are noted to be especially fearful towards other alien creatures known as the Protodeviln to the point of it being an instinctive reflex.

During the latest Macross TV series, Macross Frontier (2059), the Zentradi are shown to live among humans in both macronized (giant) and micronized (human sized) form in the outer space colonies. This includes having Zentradi sized buildings and facilities, including shopping malls with similarly sized products. They also seem to change sizes at will using the cloning technology described before. In the new series, some Zentradi-Human hybrids also share the ability to have their hair move on its own according to their feelings, as well as having an above-average resistance to space vacuum.

Notable Zentradi/Meltrandi:

Notable Zentradi-Human Hybrids: