Taking place one year before the events of the original Macross series, Macross Zero chronicles the final days of the war between the U.N. Spacy and anti-U.N. factions. After being shot down by the anti-U.N.'s newest fighter plane, ace pilot Shin Kudo finds himself on the remote island of Mayan, where technology is almost non-existent. While Shin stays on the island to heal his wounds, the tranquility of the island is shattered by a battle that involves the UN's newest fighter - the VF-0.
Episodes
Episode 1
The Ocean, The Wind, And...
December 21, 200230m8.0
Having come off second-best in his first battle with an Anti Alliance transforming fighter, Shin awakes to find himself stranded on an island, Mayan. Stuck with them while his wounds heal & while he tries to find a way to signal his base, he strikes up a friendship with island girl Mao, and an understanding of sorts with Mao's older sister, Sara.
Episode 2
The Stars on the Earth
May 23, 200331m7.5
The Alliance have developed their own transforming fighter, the VF-0 (or 'Zero'). It first sees action in the skies above Mayan, placing the lives of Mao & the other islanders at risk but giving Shin his opportunity to return.
Episode 3
Blue and Desperate Battle
December 1, 200330m8.0
Shin discovers that Sara and Mao have strange abilities connected to the island. Tension between Sara and Aries intensifies when Sara's mentor was the same professor that drew blood from her at a younger age. Meanwhile, Mao brings Shin into the ocean to show him the island's "secret treasure" - a large fragment of the ancient relic known as "AFOS." There, Shin learns more about adapting to different environments by observing a school of flying fish and a flock of birds that also swim. But Mayan and the ocean surrounding it once again become a war zone when anti-U.N. forces attack the Asuka II fleet and the island in hopes of taking away the heavily-guarded AFOS. Shin and Edgar - aboard their VF-0D - must protect the AFOS fragment discovered by Mao from the invading forces.
Episode 4
Jungle
May 28, 200431m8.0
After crash-landing, Shin finds a priestess in the Mayan jungle. Although they both are captured and tortured, they manage to escape but they are relentlessly chased by their enemies.
Episode 5
Birdman
October 22, 200434m8.5
In the South Pacific, two military forces prepare to fight a nuclear war. In desperation, Shin and Sara decide to sacrifice themselves . . . in order to protect the Mayan people.