In Macross In the
original Macross anime the Zentradi were created as a
spacefaring race of giant humanoid
proxy warriors by the first advanced humanoid civilization in the galaxy, the humanoid
Protoculture, 497,500 years ago. They contributed greatly to the expansion of the Protoculture Civilization's sphere of influence and the creation of an "Interstellar Republic" (akin to a
galactic empire) that controlled most of the Milky Way. 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. 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), Many integrated into each other's population where many families became a mix of both Human and Zentradi individuals. 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 animated television 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 a
reflex. During the third 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.
Meltlandi In the
Macross setting, Meltlandi or Meltlan is the term for female Zentradi, a giant humanoid alien warrior race segregated by gender. In the first
Macross animated TV series, the female Zentradi collaborated with the male Zentradi in Space War I against the Humans, but the two genders were segregated into separate fleets to prevent direct interaction. The segregated fleets shared the same ship types (with different color schemes), but employed different armor and vehicle complements. The movie also introduced the term "Meltlan" as the term for "female" in the Zentradi language (a language created for the movie). The corresponding term in the Zentradi language for "male" is "Zentran". The later series
Macross 7, incorporated the term "Meltlan" in its dialogue to refer to female Zentradi. The liner notes for the series explained the term was popularized among Humans by a 2031 movie depicting Space War I. Probably the best known female Zentradi is
Milia Fallyna Jenius, the most renowned Zentradi pilot that the humans have encountered. The spelling and pronunciation of these terms is difficult to interpret, as the Japanese language uses a series of characters that split the difference, phonetically, between the English letters "L" and "R", and thus can be transliterated as either.
In Robotech In the American adaptation of the series (
Harmony Gold, 1985) the Zentraedi were originally a genetically engineered race of giant clones that served the people of the habitable moon Tirol from their inhospitable mother planet Fantoma. In time, the ruling leaders of Tirol became the Robotech Masters, and the Zentraedi were transformed from miners to soldiers for the Masters' galactic empire. The traits and behaviors of the Robotech Zentraedi are substantially the same as those of their Macross counterparts. However, although segregation by gender remains a central premise, the word "Zentraedi" refers equally to males and females in Robotech, with no use of the word "Meltrandi" occurring. Additionally, in Robotech continuity, the near-totality of Zentraedi in existence is found between Dolza's Main Fleet of 4.8 million warships destroyed by the SDF-1, the unified forces of Breetai and Azonia that fight alongside the SDF-1, and one additional substantive fleet led by Commander Reno and tasked with protecting the Robotech Factory Satellite. With the defeat of both Dolza and Reno, and enormous losses suffered by the allied forces in the course of their campaigns, very few of a race that once numbered into billions are known to remain alive by the end of Robotech's Macross Saga—a significant difference from the Macross continuity, where thousands of fleets on par with Dolza's said to exist. ==Reception==