| Episode 12 Sheryl and Alto arrive at Galia 4 for her concert, but her fever progressed to the point she collapses and is hospitalized. A rift pre-exist within the 33rd Zentradi Fleet along the lines of the "human friendly" and war traditionalists. It's a tad too far fetched for me, but over the disappointment of the canceled concert open mutiny with military arms breaks out among them. Michel transports Ranka to the planet in an high speed experimental ship provided by the technology corporation Luca's family owns. Ranka holds a replacement concert (which takes 1/3 of the episode) and saves the day. Overall, there still are those weird plot conveniences. Why a regular military unit goes into mutiny over an idol, and why a bunch of rookie pilot teens are given high end experimental military equipment. I've watched a lot of space opera, ranging from ultra-realism (Planetes, Moonlight Mile) over melodramatic (LotGH, Crest of the Stars) to outright silly and comedic (Kiddy Grade). The 1982 Macross had some far fetched story elements, but by tendency leans toward serious, had a theme (anti-war) and mostly realistic military and physics. At least it's consistent within it's world, which is my definition for "realism". Macross F is not consistent to the same degree, and has massive tonal shifts. I've not seen this writing style in this extreme form before, and it confuses me. However, it's consistent in it's inconsistency and the world's lore is diligently built and followed. It's the teen wish fullfilment power fantasies which give me the headache. This is not specific to this show, though. The episode is fairly straight, develops the plot into the inevitable encounter with the aliens and into space. Looking forward to that 2nd half. |
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| Episode 13. We get a bit of romantic tension between Alto and Ranka before the varja story begins in earnest. They discover the 11th fleets ruins, the ship that Ranka and family were originally on board and was thought to have been destroyed. Looks like it's a research ship and has varja remains on board. Grace has been manipulating events, with Leon, and using harmonica guy (Ranka's lost brother pretty much confirmed from that shaded photo) as her puppet. Grace appears to have connections to LAI, Luca's family tech business and the varja. I wonder if the varja are human created hybrids using alien tech they discovered and intended as pilotless fighting machines? But then why do we see a varja queen (much like the queen alien from film of same name) and varja mothership, they look like a distinct race? Ranka has some connection or importance to the varja (maybe she and Grace have some varja dna allowing them to communicate directly with the varja) and they kidnap her and then fold out followed by Michael and Sheryl with Alto not far behind. Grace detonates a fold on the planet destroying it and attracting the attention of the varja, also killing herself i think. |
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| Episode 11 A good episode, one that forces Alto to face a decision between his two love interests (Sheryl and Ranka) and his father, who just so happens to be ailing and, therefore, presents the threat of his mortality (though it is nothing serious, apparently). Essentially, in more specifics, it's a choice between Sheryl, who is on a diplomatic mission that requires an escort and is not feeling great, Ranka, whose career is going through rapid development but wants to stay connected to her friends and wish him a happy birthday, and his taking over his father's legacy. I buy that the first two are a real choice, but the last one really hasn't been built up all that much. There's always been a sense that Alto regrets what he left behind, but it's never been explained sufficiently to give us either the impression that he really would choose to drop his piloting if given the opportunity or that his father (who we've only seen as rather hostile towards him) would truly be willing to forgive him if he came back. Even focusing on the first two, it seems like it's more than just picking between the two women in his life. Sheryl represents a duty, whereas Ranka just really wants to say happy birthday and give him the rocket cookies that she made. It doesn't feel so much like he made a choice between them as a choice to pursue the mission that was on the table vs. meeting a friend in the park. It's symbolic, sure, but not really all that meaningful, and episode 12 largely undercuts that. We do get a bit on the Zentradi as well in terms of their animosity to humans, which is some nice build-up to a coming conflict. Episode 12 Whereas I enjoyed the previous episode, I can't say I loved this one. It has some great action set pieces and including a strong aerial battle framed with some solid music from Ranka, but it does a couple of things to undercut prior tension or just move too fast with others. We were really only introduced to the issues with the Zentradi last episode, yet we immediately get into a power grab from the separatists in this episode, and it just doesn't feel like we've got a good grasp of why they're doing this yet. Maybe I just missed something, but the frustrations I've seen so far really don't give me a good idea of why they'd rebel violently and say that the universe isn't big enough for both the Zentradi and humans. There's history here, and while we've heard bits and pieces of it, I don't think there's enough to justify this kind of escalation yet. I suppose this whole plot point of using song to bring an end to conflict is something that spans further into Macross as a whole, who I can't speak to whether this makes sense in the broader scheme of things. What I can say, however, is that the sudden appearance of a ship that can go through these fold faults is a little frustrating. I don't mind having humans develop the tech to get around this problem, but presumably, it's something they've been facing for a while and they conveniently just happened to figure it out now. There is the immediate threat of these Vajra coming through the faults, but it just seems too rapid given that that was a majorly important technological advantage they had over humans. Not anymore, I guess. Couple that with the fact that Ranka's arrival essentially dispels any concern over Alto having chosen to go with Sheryl (because he can now have his rocket cookies and eat them, too) and it just takes all the dramatic tension out of the last episode, since we haven't returned to the difficulties posed by him not returning to his father's side. Anyway, like @23feanor said, I'm intrigued by the importance of that little green pet. I suspect it is quite important, but we haven't seen why just yet. The episode ends with something forcibly grounding their plane as Alto and Ranka fly over the beautiful landscape, which was presumably the result of her singing, though we don't have the information to understand why that is just yet. There's also a clear bit of tension from Sheryl, who collapsed from illness and probably has some resentment towards Ranka for being the voice that saved the day in this case. That should lead to some interesting development for her, since she has been supportive of Ranka up to now. |
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| Episode 13 Alto and Ranka take a flight over the exotic planet Galia 4 when they suddenly crash due to ship malfunction. They first enjoy the tropical paradise but soon discover a Macross class shipwreck, the "Global". Ranka somehow seems connected to the ship and soon is abducted by the Vajra, waking up inside the ship in an egg hatching area next to what seems to be a Varja Queen Bee. Alto, Michel and Sheryl set out to rescue Ranka who really is the #1 damsel in distress of the show. Grace enters full villain mode. She commands the purple fighter's pilot Brera Sterne aka Mr. Harmonica. He's likely Ranka's lost onii-chan, as he appears in her dream and he says he has a strange wish to protect her - they clearly have a shared past. Grace also is connected to the military-industrial complex corporation owned by Luca's family somehow, at least her equipment prominently displays their logo. She communicates with the Varja, who control the Global wreck about Ranka's fate. Then she detonates a mega-weapon called "dimension eater", powerful enough to destroy the whole planet. Her outspoken goal is chaos, killing Sheryl and the Zentradi soldiers. She seems to commit suicide doing so, and reveals her nature as android. Overall, shit finally hits the fan and the protagonists clash with the aliens, catalyzed by Grace's amok run. After 12 episodes of fan service: Huston we have a story! Impressive images too and a lot of interesting questions raised. Best episode so far. |
inimMay 31, 2022 2:26 PM
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| Episode 14. The varja fleet makes contact with the Frontier fleet and the attack begins, panic ensues in the city. I wonder what Leon's plan is in all this, he's a high ranking govt official, why help in a plan with Grace that will alert the varja to his fleet possibly leading to his death, unless he has a means of escape or control over the varja? The commander looks like a cross between Global from the original Macross and Nemo from Nadia. I wonder if Rank's Aimo Aimo song is made up or maybe Italian (there are some Japanese lines in there as well)? The lady with purple hair that wakes up in a medical cylinder is the actual Grace I bet, she was merely controlling the android version of herself. So Ranka has some control and connection to the Varja queen and I guess that Leon and Grace are hoping to draw the varja out using Ranka as bait. Do a few actual humanoid varja control all the fighting machines? The OST for the battles is pretty damn good. |
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| Episode 14 Almost the full episode is a large scale and visually fantastic space battle between humans and Vajra. Ranka is at the center of it all, on board of the Vajra mothership. She has a vision of her mother and recalls an early childhood memory song (Aimo) which seems to have a profound effect on the aliens. It's the same song Brera Sterne played on the harmonica before. The effect is strong enopugh to halt the Varja from attacking Alto and Sterne, who both try to rescue her from the alien ship. Sterne beats alto at it, and the two end up together in the cliff hanger. We see a number of side characters and their role in the battle, @23feanor has a good summary already. I think his theory about Grace's 2nd coming and remote control abilities are spot on. Other characters we see are Sheryl and her clumsy attempt to pilot a mecha. And yay, the bridge bunnies are back:) Overall, I didn't understand half of what the episode showed but I still was visually impressed. Plenty of stuff to be explained in the coming episodes. 23feanor said: Aimo is Japanese proper I think, at least there is no hint of an artificial language on the fandom page. What is true is that Italian is the Indo-European language phonetically most similar to Japanese (sic!). The consonant-vowel structure of the JP mora have a high lexical similarity to Italian.I wonder if Rank's Aimo Aimo song is made up or maybe Italian (there are some Japanese lines in there as well)? |
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| Episode 15 Breather episode after all the heavy space action. Sheryl is still hospitalized. Alto and Ranka visit her and the love triangle ends up with a idol duet for Alto. Grace is back as expected and explaining her conspiracy from the off. Q-1 as she calls Ranka seems to be an unexpected find on board of the Macross Frontier, everything else (location, Sheryl, sociopolitical setting on this particular ship) is hand picked. Alto is promoted in military rank and has a meeting with the SMS company owner, a Zentradi. Ranka is summoned by the government in the form of Leon, and has Grace and Brera Sterne assigned as her contacts by him. She's told her music affects the Varja officially and has a role now. Overall, a lighter but well done episode with focus on love triangle and idol. Why not, it was well done. |
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| Episode 15. The intro reveals Grace was a passenger (more likely a researcher or research subject) from the Global Macross from the 117th Fleet that went missing. Guessing she has a grudge about the varja being used as test subjects, rightly so. Grace reawakens in another body and seems to have a hive mind with her all set on revenge and war against humans and the frontier fleet. I've just remembered who I think Sheryl might look like irl, Shakira, but with blue/purple eyes ofc. The voices talking over the montage of Sheryl make it sound like they aren't the Varja themselves, but they used the Varja to attack the fleets. So who are they, the original creators from Macross Zero maybe (birdmen)? Grace is clearly drugging and manipulating Sheryl, but how and why, maybe Sheryl isn't completely human? One fact I do find hard to believe is that after a major attack on the frontier fleet that everyone would go back to normal life so quickly and more importantly for the story and that Ranka would be such huge news. Surely people would be terrified and things would take time to go back to normal, people wouldn't be concerned with their favourite idol, or a new rising idol at a time like this. Macross original showed the aftermath of attacks quite well and the upheaval they caused. Finally a bit of cheesy love triangle moments and singing, although the singing is always good. |
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| Episode 16 In a nutshell: Ranka is weaponized and her Minmay grade (fold) sonic effect successfully tested on real world Vajra. She's meanwhile under control of the conspiracy trio Grace (her new manager replacing Elmo), Leon (aka Grima Wormtongue) and Brera Sterne (her watchmanbody guard). Sheryl instinctively feels she's sidelined and locked up, so she escapes the hospital and (more plot convenience/magic) ends up on board of the ship overseeing the weapon experiment with Ranka. I start to get used to the show's logic by now. Overall, a long overdue episode where military-industrial complex and government act like professionals. The genre moves into mildly paranoid thriller territory which I really welcome. Another above average episode in a row, the show finally starts to connect to me. |
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| Gonna keep this set short, looks like you guys have covered a lot of the details. In general, this set of episodes is the "it was my plan all along!" episodes, staring Grace and Harmonica emo dude. They've been behind a lot of shit, and now we're going to learn just how much control they have had. Episode 13 Ranka's in the wrong place at the wrong time, gets kidnapped and put in an egg. Grace blows up half the planet to give it what for, but our heroes escape by either flying real fast (Alto) or following the Vajra ships on their way to the fleet (Sheryl and Michael). Ranka heads after them in her egg, which is housed in a giant ship. Episode 14 Huge space battle as Frontier comes into contact with the Vajra fleet. Grace is still alive because she was actually in a tube the whole time. The president of Frontier authorizes use of these really powerful bombs that... I guess are space nukes? It's unclear why this will be the inciting incident for war, but he gets warned about it and does it anyway. Alto screams while blowing up the giant alien in Ranka's ship and Harmonica dude saves her in her glowing green egg. The tide of the battle turns and Vajra gets stomped. Episode 15 ...but it was all a clever ruse! For you see, Grace and Harmonica dude actually tried to get this whole battle going and were using Sheryl the whole time to orchestrate events. No one else knows anything about this. Ranka flashes some people in her hospital gown, sings a duet with Sheryl after putting on some clothes, and she and Alto have important meetings with important people. A good set of episodes indeed. It's nice to see some consistency from the show in terms of direction, though this being a turning point for the show, we'll see if it can keep it up. |
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| Episode 16. Birler tells Alto that the Varja are the children of the proto culture, maybe their remote weapons controlled telepathically? As @inim said Ranka's singing is weaponised, Sheryl somehow makes it on board to observe. Grace becomes Ranka's new manager and Brera acts like a protective older brother, without knowing why. |
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| Episode 17. Great intro song during Ozma's pineapple cake moment. Macross F has some great accompanying music. So Cathy and Ozma are onto Grace and Leon, but don't yet know their objective, apart from the fact it involves Ranka. Michel is starting to suspect that Grace has been intentionally drugging Sheryl and without her meds she's unwell (I would initially have thought opioids but this is Japan so likely not). Fold quartz, made in a Varja's body is the material that allows them to jump through folds easily. I love these space battles with music, this time it's Ozma and Cathy who are the focus with background rock. Good episode, the conspiracies deepen and the fighting intensifies, as does the personal drama. |
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| Episode 17 Pushes forward the story (counter-conspiracy) and Varja exposition / backstory (evolution). This takes place in the proven visual counter-cut montage of an idol concert (Ranka's first finally!) and a space battle Ozma almost does the heroic sacrifice in. Regarding the counter-conspiracy, officer Cathy (the president's daughter) conspiratorially meets with Ozma and frames Leon. She has grown suspicious of his activity, the presence of illegal android implants on the station and more. Michael meets Klan to ask her about a friend with expertise in evolutionary biology. In a side note, I have to out myself as a big fan of Klan's performance as loli tsundere role. The scene was pure bliss. And finally in the cliff hanger Sheryl confronts Grace, clearly the face of the conspiracy, along the "we have to talk about a few things" threat. Regarding the evolutionary biology of the Varja we learn many bits and pieces. Most importantly, they form a hive mind and share their experiences. When defeated by a weapon the full collective evolves rapidly to counter it. The example shown is the ability to shed their skin after it has been burnt by the rocket barrage (aka Itano circus) attack. It literally became useless one battle after it's massive success. We also learn about "fold quartz", kind of the magic core of each Varja of which Grace and Leon have a rich collection. I don't think it's a coincidence that the gems Sheryl's ear rings look exactly the same, which is underlined by visual story telling. When fold quartz is discussed, there's an unusual asymmetric picture framing with her earring as the center. Overall, no complaints from my side anymore. The story is in full development, it's mature and complex. Just keep going with the good episodes. |
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| Episode 18 Sees the downfall of Sheryl and meteoric rise of Ranka on both battle field and idol stage. The episode continues the scene where Sheryl confronts Grace about her past. Grace explains she literally "made" Shery. She picked her up in the slum, and had complex surgery on her. Given Grace and Mr. Harmonica are androids, did she turn Sheryl into one too? After this Grace helped Sheryl with her idol career as we know it. Team Klan and Michael do archive research and find out that Grace is more than she seems, she worked as researcher in the team of Dr. Mao Nome. The show again brings up this name, but without confirming it's the same person we know as the younger Mayan sister from Macross Zero. Mao was 11 in 1999, so she would be in her 60s when the photo we see was taken, which visually would fit. Hair color also fits. Grace is pictured next to her and hasn't aged a day since - supporting the android theory. I expect major revelations here soon, about the social and family relations of Grace, Mao and Sheryl. Something is there. Grace then tells Sheryl that her disease is real and lethal, and that she'll die soon. Klan and Michael learn about the V-Type virus infection, which MAo's team worked on. It's nature isn't explained, just that it can't be healed but only suppressed. Sheryl deems the shocking news credible and runs off into the pouring rain of the nightly city, in best Blade Runner style. She's desperate and feels old and used, and soon collapses. She's picked up by a stranger whom she sees Alto in but that may be just her imagination. Meanwhile Ranka embraces her status as weapon. The continued and increasing Vajra attacks cause the Frontier's political and military leadership to attempt a long range escape jump of nearly 1000 light years. To this end, resources are rationed. At the scheduled jump date, a massive attack prevents execution and the humans are losing big time. Ranka goes into the battle and with her song creates the diversion needed for the fleet to escape. Overall, Sheryl's plot both story wise and visually turns into Blade Runner-ish cyberpunk. Do android idols sing of electric sheep? Ranka is at the peak of her Cinderella arc, literally the saving millions from certain death. Please throw in a little darkness for her as well Mr. Writer. |
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| Episode 18. We learn about Sheryl's humble origins and she appears in a different light and now the underdog. Ozma mentions that some of Ranka's memories are simulated, so it's not just amnesia but over writing her childhood memories (maybe being Varja queen/princess)? So Grace has been manipulating Sheryl with a v-virus (varja virus?) and keeping her from fully recovering. Turns out Grace was one of Doctor Mao's students (from Macross Zero and the girl Ranka played in the film) on the 117th fleet. More intrigue and lots going on. The fleet uses a new weapon, wipes out the varja, after Ranka helps keep them off with her singing, and then commences a fleet wide long distance fold jump. However, it looks like there's a hidden varja nest underneath one of the ships. Sheryl gets picked up by Alo's brother, did she mistake Alto's brother for Alto then? Is Sheryl going to be as hostage by his dad, or to persuade him to return? |
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| Episode 19 It's mating season on the Frontier, the episode visits and develops all relations and potential couples. My favorite one remains the Max & Milla memorial one, Michael and Klan. They have a date as a "reward" for her help in research. In another scene she overhears Michael's statement that he only dates women he doesn't care for because he's afraid of relations. I think she understands that in the right way and understands he avoids her because he has true feelings. In a later scene the two are sitting under a tree, I really hope it worked now. Then there's the wallflower couple Luca and Nanase with shy development. I'd say Nanase is a really hot meganeko, same model as Tsubasa Hanekawa. Cathy breaks up with her fiance Leon because nobody loves a traitor. She gets closer to Ozma over their shared counter-conspiracy instead. And finally the amnesiac siblings Ranka and Brera remember their shared past, vaguely and emotionally only. Not a romantic couple, but still a couple of sorts. The main attraction is of course the love triangle. Alto keeps sending mixed messages to Ranka and Sheryl. On the one hand he sneaks into Sheryl's hideout and is shocked to learn she'll not sing anymore. On the other hand he puts the arrow in the flight figure of a heart for Ranka. Yet, the whole circle of friends seems to work together to force a decision. Michael has a long "whom do you love" talk with Alto, and Brera does the same for Ranka. Klan's contribution is to find a frustrated Sheryl watching Ranka's concert from afar, take her and bring her to Alto (whom Michael already had mangled). Sheryl and Alto embrace, and this is how Ranka finds them when she rushed to Alto for her own confession. And here we also have the cliff hanger. Story wise, Ranka's pet Ai-kun turns out to be a larval Varja and he spawns offspring. Even after Grace and Leon's conspiracy is brought to the light it's ongoing. A hit man targets the president with a sniper rifle and we see the trigger pulled. The "next episode" preview is all doom and gloom, it seems the victory parade was premature and the worst is yet to come. Overall, emotional and romantic cleanup to make room for a dramatic and action loaded finale. The show found it's narrative style and keeps winning me over more with each episode. I'm almost ready to pretend the first cour never happened. |
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| Episode 19. I'm not going to add much to @inim's summary except to say that the romance in Macross F has been handled well, even better than Macross I'd venture to say. I think Alto will end up with Ranka but I'm not sure, whereas I was very sure about Hikaru x Minmay x Misa in Macross and how they would end up. Also good to get some insight into Michel, he's worried about getting attached to someone so flirts with every woman he meets, understandable and something pilots and those on the frontline often do. |
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| Episode 20 Shit hits the fan and the mood drops from budding romance and victory parade to all out pain and suffering. Simultaneously the Vajra launch a massive attack and Leon's coup succeeds. Leon murders President Glass and as 2nd in command will likely succeed him. Ranka's Aino Aino fails to calm the raging Vajra. And as if this wasn't enough, Michael (baka!) fails to confess his love to a very demanding Klan asking for it, she kisses him and minutes later he's killed saving her. High speed tragedy with Klan butt naked in both her forms, what is not to love about it (other than that best couple is no more). But there's hope too, Sheryl acts like a professional and sings for a group of injured refugees. And Grace toggles Brera's obedience android mode, turning him into her emotionless tool. The baddies win on all fronts. The Vajra close range kills remind me a bit of Verhoeven's Starship Troopers insectoid carnage. It's ok to steal from such a masterpiece I guess. Overall the episode was fairly predictable (except Michael) from the last minutes of the previous episode, it felt like a long from cut of it. So after the emotional reset of last episode there's a military and societal reset as well. Battlestar Galactica vibes of sorts. Now anything can happen. |
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| Keep falling behind, so rather than provide specific reviews, I'll just give a few standout things about these episodes. This is becoming a more multifaceted conflict, and I appreciate that. The usage of Ranka as a means to throw the Vajra off was long hinted, but seeing it actually play out in a craft with her likeness painted on it in a bikini is just next level. Her brother clearly recognizes that she's becoming just another weapon, and despite his own attachments to the fight, this is truly his nightmare. He's spent so much time trying to keep her away from combat, and now she is in the thick of it, partly by her own choice. It's literally and figuratively breaking him. Not the biggest fan of his fake out death in the theater (really, he didn't go get treated before going to his sister's concert?), but it's pretty well handled besides that. Sheryl's story has become a major focal point. We're still only scratching the surface of why she was involved in all this plotting, but we're slowly building out what is going on with her. She's picked up at the end by Alto's "brother," which will bring him into direct conflict with his father, a plot point I'm rather tentative about. At this point, we're dealing with a conflict that threatens every life on board the Frontier. Even if Alto is conflicted about his past, it's hard to see how those concerns compare with the present ones. And speaking of present concerns, the Vajra are becoming a bit more fascinating with each episode. They're living organisms so, of course, they evolve. And like the Borg from Star Trek, they gain knowledge as a group and can use that knowledge to overcome the enemy's weaponry. I'm not super fond of the fact that they overcame these super powerful bombs that the president was so hesitant to use (nor about how quickly their use faded into the background - they were initially lending a lot of weight to that choice, but now it seems like an afterthought), but I am fond of where we're going with it, since it means that the humans are constantly working against a ticking clock of sorts and are now heavily reliant on Ranka's singing, putting her directly in harm's way in multiple fights. Good stuff overall, even if a few parts get to me. I'm finishing episode 19 tonight, plan to catch up through 21 tomorrow. |
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| Episode 20. I have to say that I like almost every one of Ranka's song, "About my Star" and "My Heart goes Thump Thump Thump (do-kun do-kun do-kun)" are both so catchy, pure J-pop, love it. Both added to my youtube anime songs playlist. I was thinking on the love triangle last night and my statement about Ranka being the one I wanted to end up with Alto. I've come to realise that my choice of Ranka for Alto is not the choice I would make if I were in his shoes. As an older teenager/young 20's guy, I would have chosen the older, more mature, sexy Sheryl every time. Now I've grown up a bit I value the sweeter, more straight forward and kind Ranka (substance over style kind of thing) and I guess we all project our current values for what we think would be a good match onto a character. I've warmed up to Sheryl now, her facade seems to have broken down a bit and she lets Alto see the real her, something that often brings people together. I think it's a bit more clear from the opening exchange when Ranka comes upon Sheryl and Alto embracing where Alto's feeling lie, and it's not with Ranka. If he did like Ranka he would have run after her sooner saying "it's not what you think", but he didn't, he hesitated wanting to remain with Sheryl. Powerful interaction between Michel and Klan, was not expecting him to die after she told him she loved him. Farewell Michel. I think the romance has been better written in Frontier, however the character types in Macross elicited a greater emotional response from me. In original Macross I was 100% team Misa and couldn't stand Minmay being so wishy washy and messing Hikaru around, drove me mad. But the actual romance, build up tension etc wasn't the best, it took ages to get going. Macross Frontier has done a much better job with the love triangle. I like that Sheryl and Ranka have a nice connection through singing and seem to respect each other. |
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| Episode 21 "Ranka Lee, Our Lord and Savior" is followed by 8,313,734 people on Galaxygram. Thinking about it, she fits the genetically "chosen one" pattern neatly. She's got human and Zentradi blood and a special connection (details pending) to the Vajra race. And she does great things. She helps to lure thousands of enemies into the range of a nuclear device equivalent WMD, and fends off the Vajra attack. She refuses to sing for Leon intuitively. And she defends Ai-kun, who before her eyes has transformed into an adult Varja. She does great sacrifice herself: her brother is MIA and she waves sayonara to her love Alto. Then accompanied by Ai-kun and Arch-Android Brera goes for full rapture. She ascends and breaks trough the fake glass ceiling sky of the Frontier (nice metaphor) in search of Ai-kun's brethen in endless space. If this is not messiah grade, what is? Down on Frontier's earth simulation Leon stirs "us or them" style hatred against the Vajra by exploiting the losses many of the citizen suffered. Grace for whatever reason approves of and is impressed by Ranka's actions and quest for planet Ai-kun. And a flabbergasted Alto is left behind as her witness and future prophet. Ramen. Overall, that was a lot of melodrama per minute but I really enjoyed it. Go, Puella Ranka Magica! |
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| Episode 21. As @inim mentioned already that was a pretty melodramatic episode. Leon takes over as president, Island 3 is vaporised and Ranka learns that Ai-kun is a varja and shines some light on her connection with the varja. Ranka asks Alto to leave with her but he is too overwhelmed by the presence of a varja that he's speechless. Ranka tell Alto she loved him, past tense, and leaves with Brera. The second half of frontier has been much better, all these great songs and never ending amazing fight scenes with seamless cgi. |
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| Episode 22 Leon's successful coup and the future of the Frontier fleet with it's 10 million population changes everybody's life. Bobby finds Ozma and Cathy, who expose Leon's ruthless intrigue. Grace is killed by Leon's storm troopers after a "there can be only one tyrant" disclaimer. She returns by the end of the episode in a tight body suit, death means nothing to this android lady. The SMS is to be merged into the regular military, and based on those two game changing pieces of information the cast splits into two camps. The Macross Quarter bridge crew along with Bobby and the Captain along with 70% of the SMS decide to desert and leave the fleet in search of Ranka. Some key pilots decide to switch into the regular NUNS forces - most prominently Alto, Luca and Clan. Their first task is to attack the deserters, which leads to some serious inner conflicts about loyalty in Alto. Sheryl is diagnosed to have a V-Type virus infection in it's final, terminal state. The disease reached her brain but that also means her singing can emit fold waves (Aino Aino) at a significantly lower power than Ranka's, but still it has an effect on Vajra. Alto visits her at home and swears to stay with her until the bitter end, and PG-13 conforming sex metaphors are pulled. Sheryl sings in support of Leon on TV. Ranka's religious status is underlined by one shot in which she's posing in a Mother Mary pose, drawn by Nanase who is in coma still. Ranka, Brera and Ai-kun found the latter's home planet, a blue marble with three moons pretty similar to Earth. She has the same crimson glow around her than her brother. Grace seems to be watching their space walk near the planet. The show's end is neigh and human-zentrad-ity is split into two factions. Ranka is about to fearlessly go where no non-insectoid has gone before and meet Ai-kun's extended family. Firepower in the form of the deserted Macross Quarter is on it's way to there. I'm ready for a furious space battle and Ranka's divine idol show for the Vajra. Visual and narrative quality keeps rising by the episode, my expectations are high. |
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| Episode 22. Luca is a looking a bit older and less like shota bait than he was at the beginning of the series. Ranka has been branded a traitor for leaving, although I'm sure Leon and Grace know of her true connection to the varja, well Grace definitely does. Sheryl's infection will allow her to influence the varja just like Ranka, a bit convenient. I guess they will sing together to defeat the varja in the finale. There's no doubt now where Alto's affections lie, with Sheryl, his decision has been made. Sheryl has changed a lot from the bratty, entitled (but hard working) tsundere we first met. Sheryl telling Alto to "give me courage" with the camera panning away whilst they are both on a futon at night, reminds of the moment Utena says to Akio "what is eternal love" in ep 33, leaving it up to the audience to fill in the blanks. Basically inferring sex without specifically showing or saying anything. Maybe Sheryl and Alto didn't sleep together (and given she's unwell and an idol they probably didn't but any normal teenagers would have undoubtably done so in such an emotional embrace with the fate of the world in the balance and seeking comfort and solace in each other. So the SMS guys take the Macross Quarter and leave. Not sure why Ozma didn't simply tell Luca and Alto about Leon killing the president, pretty sure they would've understood. Maybe they made the decision not to tell them so they wouldn't become involved. I like the Ozma and Cathy pairing, they go well together. Guess Alto is feeling guilty because of his feelings for Sheryl, making him feel like he's abandoned Ranka. If he leaves to look for Ranka Sheryl might die whilst he's gone. Some good tension here. |
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| Episode 23. So Alto and Sheryl are a de facto couple and playing house (maybe they did sleep together, or at least shared an off screen kiss in the last episode). Ranka and Brera make it to the Varja home planet whilst Ranka remembers more of her past. Ranka's origin and connection to the varja are illuminated. Her mother infected her womb when pregnant giving Ranka the ability to communicate with the telepathic varja, also killing her mother in the same way as Sheryl is unwell. Ranka serves as a interpreter for both races. Ranka and Brera learn they are siblings. Grace arrives in another android form. Not quite sure what happened towards the end with Alto telling Kaln he'd have to kill Ranka if she became a weapon of the Varja, but somehow it gets interpreted by Klan and Sheryl who's listening close by as a confession of love for Ranka? I thought Alto was fairly clear when he said he's always wanted to protect Ranka, out of a brotherly or friendly love I assumed, but not romantic. That's how I understood what he said anyway. The fleet preps for a fold to the varja home planet, to take it for themselves. Leon calls it a holy war. Our final encounter is set. |
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| Finally have some time to catch up with my thoughts on these episodes. Got a number of them to get through, so super short thoughts. Episode 19 Love triangle comes to a head, we find out that Ranka's pet is a Vajra larva, the President is set to be sniped, and Klan and Michael are going through some tension. It's bringing a lot of what has been set up to some kind of climax, though that remains to be seen in the next episode. Episode 20 The assassination attempt goes awry as the ship is attacked by the Vajra, both from within and without. Everyone starts fighting back, but Ranka's song isn't working (it seems to be having the opposite effect, probably due to her emotional state when she's singing, as she believes that Alto and Sheryl are a thing). Klan, Michael and Alto fight with some of the Vajra, Klan confesses her love to Michael, and he promptly dies. Sheryl finds her voice singing no longer as a pop star, but as someone who is trying to help people in their time of need. Brera struggles to help Ranka, but as a cyborg, is largely kept under control. Episode 21 Leon kills the president then takes over. Some kind of nuclear device is used to kill off a lot of the external Vajra using Ranka as bait (never really paid off that they put her in danger since it never really looks like she's in danger, but whatever) while Klan goes all "you killed my love!" on the smaller Vajra inside. Ranka leaves with Brera, who has regained control of himself, to go to the Vajra home world with her pet while Alto screams her name after her. Episode 22 Ranka's treated as a traitor while Sheryl largely takes her place as the hope for humanity, given that the infection in her brain gives her similar powers to Ranka's. Bobby, Ozma and Cathy are reunited and return to the Macross, and the vast majority of them decide to desert with their giant mech and smaller ships in tow. Alto gives chase with others, but they can't stop them before they fold on out of there, leaving Alto to ponder what he's doing and why. Oh, and Grace gets killed, though it's unclear whether this is her actual body. Episode 23 Ranka and Brera make it to the Vajra home world and she gets kidnapped by her pet while learning more about her past, finally recognizing that Brera is her brother. Grace arrives on the scene. Alto's struggling with his identity and choices, though again, his brother appearing just doesn't have a lot of weight with me. An identity crisis seems really unimportant right now, even if it does cut to the core of why Alto is doing all this in the first place, which I think is a worthwhile consideration. It's Sheryl's turn to find out that Alto has feelings for Ranka. There is this interesting point made during the episode about how Ranka will be used. Her initial purpose (if you can call it that) was to function as a go-between for the Vajra and humans, but the humans (or at least Leon) appear to believe that their effectively the Borg, trying to assimilate humans into their hive mind. Ranka clearly believes she can do some good, but Alto is prepared to kill her out of concern for humans as a whole. Then there's whatever Grace is doing in all this, which appears to have more to do with utilizing the network that the Vajra have to pull off some nefarious scheme. |
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| Episode 23 Terra 2.0 e..., everybody and their dog are headed for the Vajra planet. Ranka is tken to it's surface in Ai-kuns good hands, Brera in Grace's not quite so good ones. Both the SMS deserters on the Quarter and Leon's Frontier fleet detect fold waves caused by Ranka's song for Terra 2.0, and head there too. Leon's goal is to genocide, Quarter's is just vaguely "protect Ranka". The core of the episode is Ranka's (and her biological brother Brera, confirmed by Grace) backstory. So she resonates with the Vajra because her mother suffered from the V-type virus during pregnancy. At that time she was researching the Varja together with pre-androidized Grace and there's a scene where they argue about the research goal. Grace seems to want to combine android implants with the hive mind mechanism of the Vajra. Alto and Sheryl grow even closer, she now even can accept that part of his love is shared with Ranka. As usual @23feanor did summarize the emotional situation well already. Overall, I hate to repeat myself: everything comes together, writing and visuals are good, the finale is neigh and well prepared. |
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| On the ending to ep 23, I guess that makes more sense, that Sheryl is now certain that Alto does have some feelings for Ranka (whether platonic or romantic not sure), but looking back on their interactions it seems that the romantic element has been all Ranka to me. Episode 24. We see the beginning of the story when the varja first attack the 117th Exploration Fleet. Grace wants to create a galactic fold telepathic communication network similar to the one the varja use, applying fold quartz tech and bio implants. A hive mind for humans using androids as body doubles. An ambitious idea. The love triangle is finally put to rest as Alto tells Sheryl that he can't fly alone and will return to her after the fight. Then they kiss, again. I actually think they suit each other more than Alto and Ranka, which seemed a bit one sided. Sheryl has grown and thawed out a lot (ice queen defrosted I read in a comment recently). By the end of this show I liked both Ranka and Sheryl, can't say the same about bloody Minmay. That was a pretty epic space battle for the penultimate episode. Ranka and Sheryl's songs going up against each other, humans trying to land on the planet, Grace trying to take on the varja queen and supplant her. Then Alto gets shot down, will this break through to Ranka who is being used by Grace like her brother Brera. Looking forward to the finale! The second part of this show has been really good, already cemented an 8/10 for me. I think i may slightly like the original Macross story more, but the audio visuals in Macross F have been stunning, especially the battle montages with Ranka/Sheryl singing. Romance has been good too, not often I like both love interests in a love triangle equally, although they didn't start that way. Writers did well making Sheryl more personable. |
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| Episode 24/25 I just lump the last two episodes together as a short movie length finale. While there is a brief cliff hanger it's a continuous story. And I have to confess to complicated a battle to summarize it I'm lazy. So let's look just at the factions and outcome, more details are e.g. here. The boss villain is Grace, and her evil plan is to place herself at the center of a galaxy wide faster than light communication and control network. This technology is based half on her implants, half on fold quartz magic she learnt from the Varja. It would effectively make her god of the galaxy, with mind control over every living bein in it. She had tricked Leon and the military brass of the Macross Galaxy fleet into her conspiracy but didn't reveal the true intention. Both Leon and the Galaxy captain are arrested. On the good guy side we have some forth and back because Grace mind controls Ranka and her brother for some time. Sheryl temporarily breaks down under depression after Alto's seeming death in battle. But one by one they join forces to ultimately defeat Grace, breaking the mind control Grace had over the Varja Queen. This gives room to a number of nice Ranka x Sheryl duet versions of the show's best songs. The Varja Queen herself then is singing Aimo Aimo, the inter-galactical mating call of the Varja. As a result the Varja do a heroic sacrifice to protect the human fleet, and then ascend to the ether to make room for the planetary colonists. Probably on their way to the nearest inter-galactic swinger party. The surviving humans land on lush green Terra 2.0 and plan to make it their new home. All couples get together, including Ozma x Cathy and Luca x Nanase. While Alto seems to favor Sheryl, I wouldn't exclude the "open relationship" option for the three of them. Overall, furious animation, psychedelic art design and good versions of many of the ear worm songs the show offers. This show wasn't cheap to make and the money was well spent. Like @23feanor I've enjoyed the original show more because it has a natural and almost amateurish feel compared to this designer drug. It's a top tier designer drug making Heisenberg proud, but still. I didn't like the extensive self-quotation and referencing, which has little use outside pandering franchise fans. E.g. they could have just left the shameless plug that is the "Macross Zero" episode out without a loss. There are a few nods I enjoyed nevertheless, e.g. the ED of episode 24 with the book (which resembles the original show's ED very closely). The 2nd half of "Frontier" alone woule be an 8/10 but with the flaws and the fact I want to express to have liked the 1982 version better I settle at 7/10. So my tag note verdict in < 256 chars is: The Gurren Laggan of the Macross franchise. Has a weaker, fan pandering 1st but fantastic 2nd half. Succeeds to modernize many elements of the 1982 classic, such as multiple romances, catchy J-pop and insane mecha action. Can be watched stand alone. (7/10) |
inimJun 11, 2022 12:49 PM
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| Episodes 24 and 25 Not planning on a summary this time, just thoughts. Because I'm doing this out of order and it's the first thing I thought of: anyone notice that Episode 25 is the first time they included visible nipples on characters? Grace kinda has them, but both Ranka and Sheryl have them in their single-color ethereal forms while singing. Just odd that they chose to do that here. In terms of general thoughts about the ending, I liked it, though Grace didn't end up being much more than a conniving villain looking to wrest power and destroy a lot. That's fine, it's just not very interesting. It's also not clear what Leon's endgame was. I guess assassinate president, take his place, found a new home planet on Planet Vajra, ???, profit? He probably believed he would get away with the whole assassination thing, but it's not like this is a great time to take control of the humans in Frontier in the first place, and he had to know that Planet Vajra wouldn't go down easy, meaning that he would be hanging onto a few shreds of humanity at best. Just, you know, didn't feel like a good time to do all this, and he always risked his plan coming apart for any number of reasons. On the hero side, I'm not the biggest fan of the whole "you're both my wings" decision by Alto. I get that it's meant to unite Sheryl and Ranka in the end, which is what the series had been building up to, but it feels like a copout to avoid having Alto make a decision. Maybe they just really thought they could extend this further and keep this love triangle going, but it was kinda frustrating to me. Still, those are really my only complaints. The final battle was a spectacle with great singing and the extended duet really worked in its favor. Maybe a bit too sweet of an ending given that everyone from the main cast survived and Nanase comes out of her coma, but that's fine. I don't mind a super sweet ending. As for the series as a whole, I think I'm pretty aligned with @inim. Later parts of the series get a high 7 for me, early parts get a mid to low 6, so that balances out to a low 7. The production values were superb and the series definitely works for someone like me who has no background in Macross whatsoever, even if it means I missed a whole lot of references (thanks @cipheron for the insights, it helps quite a bit). It's not quite as over the top or thematically rich as Gurren Lagann, but the comparison is apt given the vastly expanding sizes of mechs and their weapons towards the end and the choreography of its fights is excellent. |
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| Episode 25. @whiteflame55 you're right, at 21.02 there were clear nipples showing on Grace, Ranka and Sheryl, must be a blu-ray rip we're watching that had slightly uncensored moments. That was a pretty packed chaotic finale. Not sure about leaving the love triangle open, but it kind of works. Personally i think that although Alto has feelings for both of them, he is clearly more smitten with Sheryl. Also from comments I read the love triangle is finally resolved in the films, and may have been left open deliberately to encourage fans to watch the films. I've added the first film to my ptw list for a future watch, still need to see Macross DYRL before that. Loved the mix of songs and action although it felt like a lot to absorb at points, almost too much going on, maybe stretching the final out over another episode would have been better. Despite the school settings and otaku pandering (understandable given when it was made and the rise of harem rom-com's and LN adaptions) in the first half, I thought the mix of songs (so many great songs in this show, Dokun Dokun Doukn one was my favourite) and seamless action was a spectacle the like of which I can't remember seeing before in another space anime (older cell animated space battles yes, but not with such good cgi mixed with 2D animation, Sheryl's dancing on stage looks as amazing as the battle). No stand out characters, although I liked most of the main and secondary cast. Agree with @whiteflame55, they left Alto's whole father thing out in the end, it was never really given time to explore. Also agree @inim why did they have the Macross Zero film episode, I thought we'd be getting more about the proto culture themselves, it turns out all Grace said in the final episode was that the varja were the only race the proto culture (bIrdmen) feared with their ability to communicate and travel across the galaxy effortlessly with fold quartz. Romance was pretty good although it felt like they built up Sheryl and Alto only to have a non ending on Alto's decision for the sake of a future film. Just made a low 8/10 for me. Enjoyed this a lot, Macross F is what I envisioned a modern Macross show to be like. As usual thanks @inim @whiteflame55 and @cipheron for all your input. Onto Casshern Sins tomorrow! |
23feanorJun 12, 2022 3:27 AM
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