Zentradi

Key takeaways

Zentradi belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zentradi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zentradi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Zentradi (ゼントラーディ人, Zentorādi-jin) are a fictional alien race of militaristic giants. They are antagonists in the Macross franchise and its Robotech adaptation. It is transliterated as "Zentradi", "Zjentohlauedy", "Zentrady", and "Zentraedi" for the Japanese Macross series, with the "Zentraedi" spelling being the one most used commonly in the English-dubbed Robotech adaptation. The Robotech novels and comics added the occasional spelling "T'sentraeti". In both the Macross and Robotech settings, humans and Zentradi are capable of interbreeding. Physically, most of them also resemble humans with pointy ears, though some have unique skin and hair colors. Prior to their first encounter with the human race, all members of the Zentradi race were artificially created through cloning.

Conception and development The idea of extraterrestrial humanoid enemies was first conceived by Shōji Kawamori, inspired by the trend of militaristic alien antagonists from previous science fiction shows like Space Battleship Yamato (1974). After the Studio Nue staff developed the final concept of what would become the Zentradi giant warrior race, artists Kazutaka Miyatake and Kawamori himself were in charge of designing the enemies' alphabet, machines and ships, while Haruhiko Mikimoto developed the Zentradi uniforms and the different alien characters.

Appearances

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. 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 "Micronians" (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 five 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, only needing to be intelligent enough to perform their assigned tasks. 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 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.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zentradi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zentradi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zentradi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zentradi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zentradi

In research: Zentradi appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zentradi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zentradi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fictional clones, Fictional giants, Fictional warrior races, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zentradi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Zentradi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zentradi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zentradi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zentradi in simple terms?

The Zentradi (ゼントラーディ人, Zentorādi-jin) are a fictional alien race of militaristic giants. They are antagonists in the Macross franchise and its Robotech adaptation.

Why does Zentradi matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zentradi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zentradi.