Choujikuu Kidan Setan Kurosu, known in English as The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, was the third Japanese Sci-Fimecha anime series released under the "Super Dimension" moniker by the sponsor Big West. It aired weekly from April 15, 1984 until September 30, 1984.
The three titles share some of the same creators and staff, and MACROSS is referenced by character cameos and inside references by the latter two series. However, the basic stories are unrelated. Southern Cross was the least successful of the 'Super Dimensional' banner and was actually canceled due to low ratings, forcing the scriptwriters to hastily conclude the anime. The series lasted for 23 episodes.
Unlike the other two series, The Southern Cross was created and produced almost entirely by Tatsunoko with mechanical designs by its sister studio Ammonite (Ogawa Hiroshi, Ohkura Hirotoshi and Ono Takashi). The characters of the show were designed by Kogawa Tomonori, Kitazume Hiroyuki and Sonoda Miyo.
Most of the animation of The Southern Cross (with edited content and revised dialogue) was adapted outside Japan for the second part of ROBOTECH, following The Macross Saga, and preceding The New Generation. In this form, it is frequently referred to as Robotech Masters (as it was titled in the comic book adaptation released by Comico) or also The Masters Saga.
