Macross Frontier 22: Love triangle over, back to the war…
Oh Please Kawamori for the love of Misa please let Grace be the one who kills Leon.
At least that is what I hope it was… Well that was one episode that was firing on all cylinders, lots of plot progression all around and much to my elation my Alto-hime has finally given Sheryl an answer of sorts. Congratulations Sheryl you will have Kabuki-hime by you’re side until you can sing no more! Unfortunately with her condition being terminal as Sheryl is a long term carrier her seemingly last moments of her career will mean that she will die for the safety of the fleet. I salute her resolution and resolve to put volk and fatherland above her personal safety, and taking up the duties and responsibilities that traitor Ranka cast aside as if they were but trifling things. We will defeat the bugs and burn them out of their nests! So say we all!
Sort of new toys…they still look sexy though.
So it seems that Leon gets to be the fifth President of Frontier, but if Grace has anything to say about it will be one of the shortest presidencies in Frontier’s history. Since Leon had the gall to try and off Grace it is clear Leon is underestimating Grace and will be very shocked to see Grace roll up to his office in her VF-27 (possibly gold plated) and fuck up his office with an Itano Circus. At the very least it seems Grace is the most evil and dead sexy Cylon of the year, looks like Klein has some competition in the smexy female pilot category. Heck Grace grasping her hopes and dreams gives poor Alto-hime a good run too. The new fold quartz based weapons seem to be working and this time they are taking extra precautions to prevent the bugs from rapidly adapting. The modified VF-171, the VF-171EX is still a beautiful machine though still not as sexy as that VF-25. Nice to see how they are using SMS to train the rookies for the VF-171EXs, instead of just letting the rookies learn the hard way.
Hmmm… I still prefer the VF-25 hopefuly Alto-hime and Luca will get them back.
Sheryl starts singing again for free with the help of Elmo. Elmo doesn’t seem to mind as he now approves of Sheryl’s songs because there is love in her songs now. Mina, Monica, and Ram also approve of this new Sheryl. Their taste in music is about as good as how they look, god I love these girls. Klein is still mourning the loss of Mikhail and decides to tell Alto-hime the truth about Sheryl’s illness. Luca and Leon ask Sheryl to take Ranka’s place after explaining how after being terminally ill Sheryl’s songs have the power to create small fold waves, not nearly as powerful as Ranka’s but still better than nothing. While there is a cure for Sheryl’s illness, she is past that point and in the end decided to sing for the sake of Frontier which is still in ruins with its people still mourning the loss of the last Vajra attack.
The blue-haired alliance. Might as well be brother and sister.
Bobby finally finds Cathy and Ozma again and gets all teary eyed when he sees them. Ozma and Cathy tell Wilder, Bobby, and Canria how Leon orchestrated the assassination of Howard Glass and has by now destroyed all the evidence. Wilder was tipped off by Bilrer about the impending integration of NUNS with SMS. Canaria also informs Ozma about how Ranka has gone rogue and regained her memories. SMS is now at a crossroads try and do something or quietly go along with Leon’s integration plans. Wondering if they are doing the right thing Cathy sends out a call to arms of which we know nothing about to all of SMS. 70% of SMS soldaten answer including Mina, Ram, and Monica who has wedded her fate to that of Wilder. As for the other 30% they all have their reasons to stay behind.
Yakk Deculture! Ranka is Minmei, she even has a doll!
Sheryl gets back to her new home and shortly collapse in front of Alto-hime. Alto gets the call from Cathy but before he reads it he turns off his phone when Sheryl is awake again. Sheryl struggles to keep a brave face and conceal her illness thanking Alto-hime fore making her see that she must sing again. Under the full weight of his knowledge of Sheryl’s impeding fate hime begs Sheryl to stop for the sake of her health and to stop putting on a brave face. Sheryl insists that her songs are the only legacy she has left and is proof that she lived. Alto-hime relents and wipes off her tears reassuring Sheryl that he will be with her until the end. Sheryl admits that she is scared and asks Alto-hime to give her courage. Meanwhile Ranka and Brera find the Vajra homeworld where the once and future queen of the Vajra lives, much to the delight of Grace and her cabal.
Bobby loves them both. Cathy is so lucky to have a sister like that…
The Glass faction of SMS decides to become pirates and seize Macross Quarter and make off with all haste. NUNS along with Luca and Alto sortie off to stop them in their inferior VF-171EXs. Ozma is contemptuous of all of them and gives his reasons for being a pirate as the best way to protect the women he loves. Ozma then accuses Alto-hime of just going with the flow and attributes his stubbornness as the reason why he’s not running off with Quarter. Ozma says he’s not and adult but a man and asks Alto what his wings are for. After shooting each other in a charge Ozma remarks that Alto has improved. Fleeing the battle Ozma tells Alto that Ranka has chosen her path as has he, but asks where Alto will go. Despite a lot of Ozma’s big talk it was a good dogfight with Northern Cross blaring in the background.
Elmo is the Duke of Deculture.
First off I think I might be the only one who doesn’t approve of everything that Ozma says in the dogfight. I agree that Ozma is a man, but he is not an adult. In fact I think Ozma won’t be an adult until he fathers his own kids. One of the reasons why Ranka turned out the way she did was because he was not being an adult with her, nor is Ozma being much of an adult by proclaiming to be leaving Frontier to protect Cathy and Ranka. I say Ozma is about as thick as Alto-hime when it comes to knowing his wingmen. Ozma didn’t seem to understand that Mikhail’s death inflamed both Luca and Alto. I know that Ozma was busy and all but he could have at least tried to meet with both of them personally to try and address the issue, Mikhail was his wingmate too. Since Luca seemed utterly ignorant of what they were doing Cathy’s message must have been vague indeed. I think Alto has already chosen his path but unlike Ranka’s or Ozma’s he can’t protect Sheryl and has to watch her die while he is unable to save her no matter how much he flies. Had Alto been “going with the flow” he would have been there on Quarter after reading Cathy’s vague message, but instead hime mounted a sortie in an inferior fighter. The thing I agree with most in Ozma’s big talk is that Alto has improved, for an inferior pilot Alto did very well considering he was also flying the inferior Valkyrie when Ozma was aiming to kill. Alto at least has finally decided to do something for Sheryl even if Ozma is ignorant of it. I really want to know what the master plan is for Quarter now that they have left since it just reeks of self indulgence and self righteousness at a time when all of Frontier is under the hegemony of Leon. Ozma was not playing nice since he clearly shot at Luca for a kill. Whatever they have planned it better be good enough to excuse leaving everyone on Frontier to Leon’s machinations and actively trying to kill the pilots who are unaware of Leon’s treachery. At least the plan was good enough for Canaria to endanger her husband and child by becoming a pirate with Leon in charge. hopefully their plan will not be “ally with Ranka’s Vajra”, but rather identify which NUNS units are loyal to Leon and which aren’t before advancing to phase 2.
Sheryl has decided to defend the fatherland until death. Honor and Blood for the Northern Cross.
Hopefully Bilrer is playing his own games and did deliberately tip off Wilder about the integration of forces, hence the unofficial memo. Otherwise you have to feel sorry for the man he’s only every done good to help his crew and at least deserves some respect for giving those people a job and letting them run their own operation without much interference from him. I suspect that Bilrer will be having a little chat with both Luca and his favorite kabuki-hime. We know that Bilrer is aware of Grace so he’s probably wary of Leon as well. I don’t think we need a third maniac in the series, besides I hope Bilrer is more cautious given how Grace has proven as invincible as she is sexy. I can understand why Klein stayed behind to help Luca and Alto mourn the loss of Mikhail since their hatred has given them tunnel vision. I like how Klein wasn’t just weeping for herself but was also trying to take care of Alto and Sheryl to have them avoid her fate. Luca would never leave Nanase behind and resolved to stay and protect her going off on some vague message from Cathy wasn’t going to change that. Alto might have left, but he promised to be with Sheryl who decided to stay and sing until she dies for the people of Frontier. Out of everyone in SMS I think that until we see the master plan the boys and girls of Quarter have, that Klein acted the most like an adult.
For once I agree with Leon. Ranka how could you go off with Brera you filthy traitor?!
Poor Cathy has lost her dad but at least she still has her surrogate family in Bobby and their daughters Mina, Ram, and Monica. I like how Cathy is an adult about this and choose the time and place where she cries. The decision to ask 70% of SMS to mutiny for the sake of her father was a hard choice. In the end though even if they had good intentions, it won’t mean shit if taking down Leon means slaughtering the people who chose to stay and protect the Frontier Fleet. Again I hope their master plan is good since going after Ranka is pretty much a pipe dream since they have no idea where to look. Hopefully they are still taking input from Bilrer or Klein who can act as their eyes on Leon. If Ozma never grows up into and adult, then at least he has Cathy to be the adult for him, forever if need be.
Kabitzin just make banner for Ram, she likes snails, those are almost like slugs…
Not much on the Ranka front, but I do hope Ozma learns the truth about how his Ranka has been acting as of late so he can apologize like a man for spoiling her to the point that she would run off with Brera. Given how disingenuous Grace was about Brera leaving without her knowledge I highly suspect that given how Grace also found the Vajra homeworld that Brera is not acting entirely on his own. I bet Grace was the one who manipulated Ranka into leaving or at the very least bugged Brera and was able to see what he sees. Grace is just awesome, I hope this will be one of Kikuko Inoue’s most memorable roles for years to come. It’s hard to believe that the voice of Belldandy is the same one as the super evil Grace. Ms. Kikuko Inoue, you ma’am are awesome.
I am glad it hurts, traitor…maybe Brera will make it all better.
Sheryl has over awed me once again, she sang for charity and was content with that. Unlike Minmei who took food and money to support her Kaifun, Sheryl did the exact opposite. This is why I have taken a liking to Sheryl she has improved and has done everything right where Minmei fucked up. While Kurogane would have us all believe that Sheryl sings only for Alto this is false since Sheryl thought about the grieving people of Frontier before she thought of Alto-hime. Ranka sings for Alto, Sheryl sings for the poor citizens of Frontier in their darkest moment. Like I stated before I admire Sheryl’s resolve to put the people of Frontier before her own life. This is the exact opposite of the Sheryl we met in episode 1 where she cared only about Sheryl Nome. She wanted to tough it out herself and spare Alto-hime and every one else the ordeal of having to watch her waste away. Sheryl has every right to be scared at time when she has fully accepted the duties and consequences of being Ranka’s replacement for the fleet. I am glad Sheryl did not ask Alto-hime to stay with her because she was lonely she only asked for the courage to see things through to the very end. I am also glad that Elmo, Monica, Ram, and Mina also like her new songs. The scared little girl who Grace found on Galaxy has grown into a fine woman. Sheryl as she is now is the anti-thesis of Minmei, I just hope Alto-hime not only sees that but loves her all the more for it.
Poor Elmo can’t get a break from MIB for the last two clients…
I think that Alto-hime has made a decision, its by no means definitive, but given how in the post Canvas 2 world is Alto-hime might pull off a jerk move by leading Sheryl on only to get with Ranka in the end. I hope it won’t come to that since at this late in the game I want these plot threads resolved sooner and don’t want more love triangle stuff mucking things up or slowing things down since the action has really heated up now. Regardless of whether or not Sheryl and Alto-hime got intimate with one another is pretty much moot. All we know is that while hime was in there with Sheryl giving her “courage” it must have gotten really hot in there. Hot enough at least to take off his jacket… In any case I think it was as good as an answer as we are going to get from Alto-hime. Hime has decided to be with Sheryl and give her the courage to see things through. The tragic part is that other than that there isn’t much else hime can do for her. The parallel with his mother Miyo-sama is important because when Miyo-sama died Alto-hime probably had no idea that she was on the verge of death; hime’s life was forever altered by that tragedy and now the imminent loss of Sheryl will be a severe blow to Alto-hime. I don’t think that Alto wiped away Sheryl’s tears and hugged her out of a sense of pity, I think he did it because he cared that much for Sheryl. For most of the series hime has been really tolerant of Sheryl’s antics and teasing, when Sheryl was kicking herself Alto-hime wanted to revitalize her spirits, and now that hime knows that she isn’t going to live into old age hime showed the most emotion he ever has for the entire series.
Klein you should just adopt yourself into Alto-hime’s family that way you can help all of them sort their problems.
Alto-hime probably never did say good bye to his mother who kept things hidden from hime. Now that he knows that Sheryl is slowly wasting away I think Alto-hime is doing what he would have done for his mother. Alto doesn’t want Sheryl to die, her songs and the public be damned if they don’t get their idol, and that I think is the real indicator of how much Alto-hime cares. It was not the most perfect “I’ll be with you until the end” thing ever but it was for the most part genuine in the sense that there was something between them when they showed each other how vulnerable they really were for the first time. There was no pretension of strength or façade of nonchalance it was two people who confessed their fears and uncertainties to one another. Sheryl was afraid and lonely, and Alto did not want Sheryl to die. In his heart I think that hime has come to a decision. If Alto wanted to find Ranka then the opportunity to run off after her came and went with Quarter. It’s much more telling how Alto-hime did perceive Ranka’s flight with Brera as nothing less than a betrayal. Alto and Luca are out to kill Vajra and they seemed quite willing to bring Ranka back in chains if they had to so Nanase would never know how Ranka had betrayed them all for the bugs. Hime chose to stay behind because he wanted to honor his promise to Sheryl to be with her until the very end. Hime wasn’t screaming because Ozma was right, but probably because he wasn’t protecting much of anything by flying any more. Brera was better able to protect Ranka, Ozma was able to protect Cathy, Mikhail was able to protect Klein, but Alto cannot protect Sheryl no matter how many times he sorties. All three of them Ozma, Brera, and Mikhail were flying to protect the person they loved. Alto can’t even do that, so how much of a man is he when the person he cares about is dying and hime can’t do more than give Sheryl the courage to sing and die?
Your new life starts today Klein-sama.
Hopefully this is the end for the love triangle. Things can only move forward and go up I hope the ride Kawamori and his team have prepared for us is going to be full of win and awesome. Now I want to see Grace vs. Brera, Grace vs. Ozma, and Grace vs. Alto-hime, any of those will do Mr. Kawamori I just want to see Grace fly her VF-27 gracefully until the end. Here’s hoping Quarter has a sound plan and that Grace will have revenge on Leon. It would be funny of Grace assassinates Leon making the whole pirates on Quarter plan moot with Ozma looking like an idiot… In fact Mr. Kawamori and crew I give you free license to make that happen because Grace is just that awesome I don’t want credit I don’t want anything just do that and I will fork over money for your Bluray release in NA in what ever collector’s/limited edition thingie you plan on dropping here.
That she’s all Nanase’s would be a start.
Should have made Ranka Judas…
Not to mention run off with Brera…
Hime’s first reaction to Ranka.
I like simple.
In short kill Ai-kun.
That’s like joining the US Navy to study nuclear engineering…
Like every other college student.
Yeah and we all know who to thank for that…
Hey look there’s Capt. Wilder!
Well that peaked her interest.
Great job Elmo!
Sheryl’s in love, and got rid of Grace.
So say we all.
Can we change the “one of us dies part”?
I want to see AltoxSheryl because that would make Klein happy, and she deserves to be happy more than any one.
Leon tried to, trust me Cathy only an idiot would try and call of a marriage with you.
Cathy is so lucky ot have a sister like Bobby.
Except the ones involving Grace.
So did Bilrer tip them off? I hope so, given how duplicitous Leon is…
Let’s hope its not a spur of the moment thing.
Better than nothing, right?
Only you’ll be doing it for the Fleet.
We will be counting on you Sheryl to make sure this does not happen again.
Some day Sheryl this will be your home for good.
This how adults make decision we think about them before we do something stupid.
Good now all you have to decide is if the 4th Squadron is really in league with Leon or if they are just a bunch of rookies who follow around Sakura-hime…
Alto felt otherwise…
Never give in, never give up!
You have more than that I assure you…
Alto-hime leads the way!
…
She has but she wants to do more for volk and fatherland.
Beacsue Sheryl doesn’t want Alto to care out of pity.
You Sheryl Nome, and you will do great things.
A genuine laugh is so much better.
Well that was a 180… guess living a bit longer means that much to ya, hime?
Miyo-sama will protect you both…
Because you certainly can’t have kids…
Noe finds these tears of Sheryl to be True Tears.
Noe also wants to see hime cry True Tears.
Everyone who is that close to death is.
Not any more…
You better uphold that oath Atlo-hime.
Really to go after Ranka after making this oath would make you the biggest prick in the history of Macross.
It’s Sakura-hime and she loves you.
Alto-hime you better be there to wipe away her tears until her untimely death. For Men do not mak such oaths lightly.
Yes… courage.
Hime will, at least he better.
Oh just you two?
Oh there’s more…
That’s it?
Leon should have sent more…
Mina wink is okay…
Oh yes “ready for marriage” Monica is moe.
Okay kids play nice okay?
Cathy has such wonderful imoutos.
Klein stayed for her imoutos Alto-hime and Sheryl, along with that idiot Luca.
Klein respects what you are doing Ozma so don’t be a prick about it. Also make it fast.
Alto stayed for Sheryl, not that hime could do much for her…
Yes she did alright…
She chose to elope with Brera…good going Ozma.
Final destination Protoculture homeworld?
Leon should have sent more men…
Grace’s new ride.
I for one welcome our Cylon Grace Overlords.
Aww…such a shame Ranka made me dislike her som much later in life…
I know…how about kill Brera? Now that is a resolution!
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I really don’t understand why everyone is so emo about Ranka leaving the losers to join the winners.
Nothing to add, this is utterly biased.
This wasn’t even Ranka epsiode and you find the way to crticize her action as if it’s already over for her, she is a traitor and that’s all.
“Hopefully this is the end for the love triangle. Things can only move forward and go up I hope the ride Kawamori and his team have prepared for us is going to be full of win and awesome”
I look forward to see your post when Sheryl will know he stays with her out of pity and will let him go.
Emo about what?
Haha, I loved Wilder’s train of thoughts!
“Hurr… if we can’t be a private army, we’ll be pirates! Yarr me maties! We now set sail on the Quarter to plunder the mystical Protoculture home planet! Arrrr, and while we’re at it, we shall find that traitor Ranka and her brother and make them walk the plank! What say ye to that?” *met with loud applause from crew* Must of been a childhood dream come true for him hey?
Apart from that, I, for one, also liked the fact that Alto has finally committed himself to Sheryl in this episode. Seeing them both reveal their feelings felt absolutely wonderful. It was such a shame that a few minutes later, I was shocked and stunned to see Alto pilot that inferior VF-171. It was so strange and… so horribly wrong to see him pilot anything but his VF-25.
Mmm, the story’s almost over… I hope the show wraps up well.
Wah, I really want Luca to die. He just bugs me.
What a nice planet. Would be nice to settle down there, though there would be like the Vajra around, but if we followed Ranka’s footsteps we can live peacefully together. Yay more Ai-kuns and they would grow up and we can go into outspace. ^.^ ~of in another world
BIASED until the end my folks.. oh welp everyone is entitled to their own opinions..thanks very much
“Heck Grace grasping her hopes and dreams gives poor Alto-hime a good run too.”
IIRC, according to a member at http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php? its not her hopes and dreams, its Grace’s “despairs and nightmares.” LOLZ!!!!
“Ozma was not playing nice since he clearly shot at Luca for a kill.”
I wonder if Ozma’s missles did kill Luca would that actually add more tension to the show?
“Hime wasn’t screaming because Ozma was right, but probably because he wasn’t protecting much of anything by flying any more. Brera was better able to protect Ranka, Ozma was able to protect Cathy, Mikhail was able to protect Klein, but Alto cannot protect Sheryl no matter how many times he sorties. All three of them Ozma, Brera, and Mikhail were flying to protect the person they loved. Alto can’t even do that, so how much of a man is he when the person he cares about is dying and hime can’t do more than give Sheryl the courage to sing and die?”
I really like this theory/explanation about Alto’s frastrated scream in this episode.
Crusader, why aren’t you criticizing anyone from SMS for abandoning Frontier much like how you criticized Ranka earlier? To abandon the people knowing that there won’t be much defense to fend off the Vajras. This is supposed to be Frontier’s time of need and SMS did the same thing as Ranka did. Didn’t you see that wrong no matter what the reasons are?
“Noe finds these tears of Sheryl to be True Tears.”
lol! Noe <3 Your screencaps might be too pro-sheryl, but they still crack me up.
Whether Ranka did wrong is dependent on your personal view. However, my preference for Sheryl and the series’s emphasis on Ranka since episode 10(A lot of episodes, you know) has truly frustrated the Sheryl fan in me and let’s just say Sheryl’s comeback was something happy for me. And I hope Alto stays with Sheryl or I won’t forgive him.
Ranka’s reaction to this crisis may be irresponsible, immature or so on, but I think we should realise that different people react differently to a crisis and not everyone can display the kind of strength that Ranka didn’t have. Although it doesn’t make abandoning Frontier forgivable, there is no need to go too hard on Ranka.
GO, MACROSS PIRATES! RAID THE UNIVERSE OF ITS BOOTY!
That shot with Cathy crying on Bobby shoulder has now settled who the okaa-san (Bobby) and one-san (Cathy) are.
Also, I’m wondering what Bilrer’s planning as he and Leon are obviously not in cahoots. I’m guessing we’ll see Alto give Bilrer and his trains a visit again soon.
As expected Crusader has a better handle on why Alto was so frustrated at the end of the episode than most people do. Ozma pretty much said “I’m a man and I’m going to protect the woman I love and I have chosen this path”. He said this to the guy who just found out the woman he loves is dying which he can’t do a thing about it, dying just like his mother did. Of course he’s going to be frustrated, people seem to base this on being about Ranka because of the Ranka flash and Ozma’s dialogue but Ozma was using Ranka as an example of someone who found her path like himself. And Sheryl flashed before Ranka did prior to Alto’s scream.
This is so rife with bias it almost seems like he’s mocking Sheryl shippers.
I don’t have much to say, but you know this always completes my weekly Macross F experience, so thanks again! ^_^
alto is now confused…
ranka or sheryl?
I’d say, he should go for Klan.
Is it bad that I’m more concerned with who Alto ends up with than the whole Vajra deal?
I want to know what happened to the paper airplane made from origami paper that was next to Mio Sama’s photograph.
Don’t bother about who Alto will end up with. Ranka’s best case scenario is Sheryl dies and she “wins” by default. In that case, it’s going to be an Alto whose first choice sang herself to death because Ranka stepped out to Find Herself. It isn’t going to happen. Everybody has made all the choices there are to make, Ranka didn’t choose Princess and Princess didn’t choose Ranka.
I disliked Ranka for how she behaved. She didn´t get Alto then she´s all “oh I don´t want to sing anymore since I saw Alto hugging Sheryl”…
Now she´s taken a step forward making her a lot better and wanting to do things for herself. Brera is starting to recall his memories as well. Or atleast his body remembers his little sister.
Alto on the other hand is a freaking wuzz. Oh one girl who liked me ran away with someone else and now I´m all depressed and since I lost one potential “lover” I throw myself at the other when I find out she´s seriously ill.
Talk about rebounds…
About that planet, isn´t that the homeplanet for where Macross Zero was played? Since I remember that cloud formation from somewhere.
Doesn’t matter who Alto goes for, both Sheryl and Ranka will most likely wind up dead and Alto will wind up alone!
Hopefully, Alto will end up with Grace. win/win situation.
Evil Mastermind and Immortal Goddess all rolled into one.
Great Blog as always Crusader. I look forward every week to reading your take on the newest episodes. As usual, they’re pretty much spot on.
So SMS and Ranka are going to make peace with the Vajra, and come back and save Frontier, then be proclaimed Heroes. Give me a break. This whole thing is so illogical it makes me sick to think that they would end it with this poor cliche.
Whether or not Alto, Luca, and Klan made the correct decsision in the story writers’ eyes, they are the best protection the colony fleet has left, since the rest of SMS left. If Frontier was destroyed, SMS would deserve what they would get coming to them.
I can’t help but point out that since SMS are private contractors, they can’t really go AWOL. That’s the technical side. The practical side of the matter is that SMS leaving with Quarter (technically, private property) is probably one of the smartest things anyone has done in Frontier in quite a while.
Going by the information SMS seems to have (i.e. no sure info on Grace, etc.), the most sound conclusion Wilder and Ozma can produce is this: in a short time Macros will go under regardless of SMS’s presence. This is going by info SMS has because they don’t seem to be privy to the way (if there is one) Leon hopes to save Frontier.
That is one conclusion, the other is less certain, but more reassuring. Given that Vajra attacked seemingly without reason and from nowhere, given they seem to poses intelligence or at least they are controlled by one it might be possible to deal with Vajra with methods other then guns. Moreover, the SMS has observed an incredible number of odd things: fold bombs (one procured by Luca no less), rebellion by Zentradi marines, coup d’etat planned and carried out at exactly the time of Vajra attack, cover-up of Galaxy’s fate and existence of Antares squad, etc. All these odd things force ‘to look to the left’ to quote Wilder. Clearly, with Ozma and Cathy being on the ‘unofficial’ wanted list and given ease with which Leon would have any of the SMS killed, leaving Frontier was the only sensible option if the goal is to save Frontier i.e. to save at least some people from dying. Incidentally, none of the NUNS planes attacking Quarter were shown exploding and it was the NUNS (Luca) who fired first.
There is something to be said for lighting out just before the purges have a chance to begin, of course.
While your Macross entries have a high degree of truth to them, I can’t help but think that you’re being too hard on Ranka. I don’t think leaving the fleet was the best thing to do, but at least, unlike Alto, she knows what she’s doing and is sticking by it. I also think she will not be running to Hime’s arms anytime soon.
Alto is being more annoying than Ranka to me. He is way too indecisive for his own good.
As far as the love triangle goes, I hope you’re right. IMO, Sheryl’s been the most likely one to end up with Alto since episode 16.
i can see your point of view, but i think its biased and your being waaaaaaay to hard on ranka, and im not a Sheryl hater if thats what your thinkin.. yes, Ranka made a last minute decision but at least shes doin somethin on her own….. but i agree that alto is getting on my nerves…..he keeps swinging back and forth! MAKE UP YOUR MIND MAN!!! im startin to not care who he ends up with (do i really mean that?!? hmmmm)…personally im glad Ozma told alto off
*sigh* i miss cute little ranka…. it said in preview that stuff about her will be revealed and alto will finally make a choice, FINALLY! wonder if this “choice” will be any good…
as usual i cant wait for next episode
Crusader is not biased. Crusader was a Ranka fan in the first almost dozen episodes of the series(read his older blog entries on Frontier). It’s just that Ranka has pissed off the fandom except for a small minority. Time and time again, she’s been a disappointment to Macross Fans from around the world. She’s now getting beat by Klan Klan in popularity polls, with Sheryl having a 5:1 vote lead.
Alto will not be making a choice towards Ranka. There’s no way now. Even if Sheryl dies in the end, he will not be running into Ranka’s arms. He’s already made his choice as a adult, it’s just how he fights for that choice, that decides if he’s a true man or not.
Ozma deserves a good bitch slapping for his lame argument this episode. I almost wish Frontier would get wiped out, so they could angst over what a stupid decision they made.
I love how some people still go with the “Alto is an indecisive wuss” meme, even if he clearly chose this episode. Oh, well, some people cannot adjust their view in less than a weeks time, I guess…
And that Crusader as a soldier would take a betrayal like Rankas a bit harder is not too difficult to discern…
BTW, is Crusader German? He likes to use a lot of German terms and also spells them correctly… ^^
Hmm… I have really bad premonitions for Sheryl.
1 – Alto knows about the illness, so Sheryl cant be sure that is not pity like let’s say in “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”. Is not the best way of say that he love she.
2 – Alto never say, “I love you” or at least “I like you”. My japanese sucks, but I think that the subs are pretty acurate with the “I’ll be there. If you sing, I’ll be there beside you until that final moment.” and she dont say “love me tonight”, she say “please give me courage for keep singing” (is these platonic love because she is weak?). It look like an ambiguous answer, forced out by terminal illness and tears. Let’s face it, pass the last month or years with she is not like wasting the rest of Alto’s life, he can re-marry with another girl when Sheril dye, the guy is young and good looking. The longer that he dont say “I love you”, he dont lie. The anime team can closed the thing with a clear declaration and a pasionate kiss, more or less like the death of Mikhael, he was impaled side by side and ejected to the vacum of space with no air tank. But no, they chosed words and scenes that I cant say that I am so happy for Sheryl. Do a simple kiss need censorship? After saw Alto kissing both girls in the Zero movie chapter? If these is a victory moment or their prelude, it taste like just hot air to me.
3 – Interesting interpretations about Alto’s confusion in battle. Let’s check some lines from the subs, for the record let’s remember that Ozma have no idea about Sheril Illness:
1) Aren’t you the one who’s just flowing along?
The illness of Sheryl and stay with she.
2) On circusntances! On those momentary emotions!
Saying that he stay with she after he saw shes mask of strenght falling broken in the form of true tears to the futon.
3) Alto. Ranka chose her own path. I’ll choose my own path, as well. Where will you go?
They take dificult decisions, but they followed their hearts. (we can have a long debate about the moral and duty on these one)
All of these battle scenes with Sheryl singing “Norther Cross” ending theme, that is also the name of these chapter, I picked some lines:
…Wont’ anyone gently brush the outline of the void?…
…But I’m afraid I dont have an answer…
…I’ll cry if you arent’t here because it’s all meaningless…
…I wanted to hear your heart…
…Won’t anyone embrace me tightly with the sentiments of the dawn?…
…Called by it’s fate, the Northen Star is crying…
Sadly, I think that when Ozma confront Alto with words. Alto is not thinking about what side take in the rebellion or felling bad because he is impotent to protect Sheril from illness. He is confused because he still cant say clearly to Sheril that he love she. He feel like he stay in Frontier, because is the right thing to do, Sheril need him. The song reflect the situation of Sheril and set the mood, Alto’s reaction reflect the inner confusion that still boils inside. Maybe even the violent conflict of loyalties reflect also the romantic conflict of the relations. Some people find long and boring Ozma talking so much, or maybe they find these kind of details boring in a mecha battle or that all these emo stuff is just really cheap made. Ok, but I dont think that Sheril got a clear declaration of love and we cant sing victory. Alto final resolution, yeah boy, give to Sheril a clear declaration with a pasionate kiss for sealing away any doubt, I dont ask for anything more like fanservice and such.
A few comments:
1) It’s ‘piqued’, with regards to getting someone’s interest.
2) Bobby’s definitely the ship’s “Mom” with Cathy getting the “Big Sister” role to Wilder’s “Dad”.
3) SMS is indeed a private contractor, and Leon’s move to ‘nationalize’ their personnel and assets reminds me more of the ‘appropriations’ (read: forceful seizure of assets) that Latin American leaders like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro have engaged in, especially since SMS may have information about the assassination of the last lawfully elected president. They’re bound to the command structure, but they’re an independent organization… or were, until Leon moved to dissolve them so he could use them up as cannon fodder in order to keep the truth quiet; look at how he ‘dealt’ with Grace there. Luca’s joined Leon because he hates the Vajra, and wants them all dead, not caring that he’ll be helping a tyrant who is indirectly responsible for getting Nanase hurt through his scheming into power over the galaxy; that’s why he said his goals were greater when Luca thought that Mr. Bilrer just wanted to get a monopoly on space travel. It’s easier to run an empire when your troops have freedom of movement to any part of your domain, after all… especially if they can move faster than the enemy.
4) The NUNS shot to kill first; note Luca’s comment there after Ozma laughed off their demand to surrender: “That’s too bad, Lt. Commander.” Beyond that, soldiers DO have a duty to themselves and the army to not follow unlawfully given orders, which Leon has been issuing to other units (assassinating your own president, shooting civilians). Whether they jumped ship to follow Ranka, or just to escape to warn the NUNS HQ that the Frontier fleet had been coopted by anti-UN Spacy forces is beside the point in this case – they’re private citizens who don’t simply follow orders from above, as Wilder pointed out in his “We are privateers” speech.
5) Mr. Bilrer may be the Richard Branson of his era – he wants to transcend the limits of space in order to unite a galactic civilization, or so he says… and how he warned Wilder of the NUNS takeover may point to this. Whether Alto or anyone else will listen to him after this… we’ll see if Mr. Bilrer ends up being found shot dead by “Traitors to humanity” in the next episode or two. Leon seems to be moving in that direction anyways, with an emphasis on finding scapegoats to cover his own plans.
6) Grace is like a Cylon crossed with Major Kusanagi now – surprising depths in terms of her planning, cybernetic skills, and the ability to kill a hit squad by herself. She even has the purple hair and mocking manner of the Major. Mmmm… hot purple-haired cyborgs. Also, with a new monitor the VF-27 she was looking at appears to be one of the olive-colored ones that accompanied Brera into combat in the past.
7) Cathy’s message appeared to have been phrased in a way that made it vague enough that it wouldn’t be caught by any filtering software or would’ve kept anyone who got the message but refused to go along with the privateer attempt immune from prosecution. Especially given how Leon has used net-based blocking attempts in the past to manage info, the message probably HAD to be very vaguely phrased – something like “The president can’t be trusted, come to the Quarter and join us if you want to know more” might’ve passed muster… maybe. Either way, Luca doesn’t care about the truth anymore – he just wants the Vajra dead. Alto wanted to pilot and kill Vajra to protect Ranka to start, but now he’s running out of reasons to fly a VF – Ranka’s run off with Brera, Ozma and company are leaving because they don’t trust Leon, and Sheryl’s dying of the infection and is apparently past the point where she can be cured. So why is he flying now?
Last, but certainly not least, Grace’s breasts represent power and conquest. Either that, or they conceal massive-calibur firearms which explain how the soldiers got all those holes in them. God, I love her more than ever after this…. especially if she gets a chance to backstab Leon one more time.
Ah well – at least Ranka’s finally made a decision for once, and perhaps of her own accord. If it turns out that she’s only following Grace’s suggestion… massive disappointment will ensue.
Am I the only one that thinks chibi-Ranka is fugly as hell?
I won’t add more to the ranka hate/love debate, but I’ll just tell you this. This is my guess on how the series will end (tongue in cheek guys!).
Sherryl will die, Ranka become the Vajra Queen and make peace with humanity.
Alto will end with no one
. No, not even Klan. Klan is definitely going to die in the final battle.
And uh… of course alto will realize his poor choice… He will be SAKURA HIME: SPACE PIRATE!
GO SPACE PIRATES! ARR!
@Ubi
some how I don’t think Ranka is going to join Grace…
@Shinz
Smiling with Brera is a crime, Ranka can’t have both Alto-hime and Brera…besides we are seeing the consequences of Ranka’s treachery. Kind of hard to ignore the candle light vigils and the wall of lost souls even iwth loli-Ranka.
@justam
Pirates are cool. Alto-hime needs his VF-25 back, hopefully they will get it soon.
@Cherubium
Aside from the belt of hurricanes it looks like a decent enough place to live if the bugs are truly not hostile.
@etineski
Sure whatever just give me some positive Ranka development in the next episode where she thinks about her friend Nanase wand we can go back to being friendly with Ranka despite her crass dereliction of duty.
@grss1982
If Luca got killed then there could be no reconciliation.
Despair and nightmares eh? I like that…thanks editing now.
@ani_d
I geve my reasons one they got weapons that work again, two they seem to be thinking about this more indepth. Third they felt that drawing out and identifying NUNS units loyal to Leon is in their best interests in removing Leon rather than let’s go find the Vajra and return Ai-kun home. The difference here is that I can see that they are thinking and not just going off to abandoning the fleet. More likely they ware trying to lure out Leon’s faction and trash them before they take Leon out.
SMS had good better reasons and they gave the issue thought to the point that Canaria was willing to risk the lives of her son and husband to get rid of Leon. Every one made their own decision hence why 30% of SMS felt that is was better to say to help the people left behind. Ranka left for selfish reasons, SMS is doing this expressly for the most part to help the fleet by trying to get rid of Leon. SMS I can understand ans sympathize with Ranka not so much since she did not even question what she was doing.
@Sagittarius
Perhaps, but I still feel betrayed by Ranka since she is now Minmei in all but name now, there’s just not enough time for her to really grow up since Grace is now one the prowl and things are heating up on Frontier. Ranka was supposed to have been a better person after making it big the hard way but it seems that fame was still too strong a poison for Ranka. It would have been fine if Ranka at least though about the people she left behind, but such as not hte case, she seemed to eager to get along with Brera…I don’t like that so I won;t pretend that I do.
@Omisyth
You are a Pirate!
@d3v
Yeah I don’t think Bilrer has forgotten how Leon cast him aside. Hopefully Richard will set both Luca and Alto-hime straight.
@Westlo
Well they did cut to Sheryl before cutting to Ranka. It just doesn’t make much sense for Alto-hime to be raging about Ranka after passing up two chances to go and bring her back. Besides I don;t think Kawamori is out to make Alto-hime the worst male protagonist in Macross history by making him go back on his oath to Sheryl. Alto-hime has been backed into a corner if he loves Sheryl then he will be likable, if he gos after Ranka now he will be the biggest jerk in the whole franchise for years to come.
@Nellie
It’s called an opinion I am not here to retell the whole episode verbatim, go watch it yourself.
@forgottendiary
Thanks for reading.
@rollchan
Klein is going to be the onee-sama to Sheryl and Alto. Ending up with a Klein ending would be weird but it could happen…
@Blue
i don;t know but at this point I just want things to wrapped up nicely since we are now at the final run for this. It would be preferable if the love triangle is over and done with so that we can have Battle Frontier vs Battle Galaxy.
@vjean
They moved the photo, perhaps its a sign that things have changed since then? Maybe Alto-hime needs a new set of wings.
@jack
I just hope that its over now so we can have more Grace caressing her despair and nightmares…
@manga
I think Alto made a choice he didn’t go after Ranka twice when both chances came up and now he wants to bring her back not for himself but to prevent Nanase from discovering Ranka’s treachery. I think Alto-hime has made a choice but it isn’t one where he can really be a man about it. He chose to stay with Sheryl to the end, but watching her die as she sings her last few songs is not going to make hime more manly.
@Halcyon
We must bow before the Grace the Great, she is as deadly as she is sexy.
@JustinStrife
Yeah if Frontier bites it while Ozma and Quarter are away then they will be the assholes, but I doubt going after Ranka is part of their plans for the first phase, finding out which units are loyal to Leon is probably more important.
Scary thing is they could be riding on Vajra bugs at the end an d it would still be Macross…
@Deckard
They were technically drafted when Glass declared a state of emergency, which also meant that they could not disobey orders. We know that all of Leon’s orders are unlawful, but that will not excuse them if they kill a bunch of NUNS grunts who were ignorant of the assassination and were following orders. Cathy and Ozma have no proof the onus is on them to prove that Leon did it. NUNS can’t be expected to mutiny on the basis of one accusation without proof.
I don’t think that SMS is wrong for trying to oust leon I just hope that they have a good plan on how to get it done, they don’t know that the Vajra are friendly heck Ozma doesn’t knwo why the 117th Fleet was attacked in the first place. They know Leon is not to be trusted, and I hope that their plan to get rid of him is sound, otherwise killing a bunch of people on Frontier to remove on dictator and his coup plotters is rather inexcusable considering how there was no effort to warn the civilian population. If any civies get killed SMS will have to share some responsibility for it.
@jack
Well Grace can still purge Leon for his insolence. Grace thinks Leon will not have a long time sitting in that chair, and Grace is usually right…
@skull_fairy
I think Alto made a choice by staying on Frontier Ranka and Ozma are not longer tied to the Fleet, but Alto still is through Sheryl and his family. Packing up an leaving was possible for Ranka because she really didn’t care enough about the people she left, and Ozma could leave because Cathy and Ranka were not on Frontier anymore. Hence why Ozma asked Canaria if it was okay for her to leave with them since she left behind her kid and husband. Alto and Luca could not pack up and leave because they could not take the people they cared about with them and were not willing to risk them on some vague message by Cathy.
I am hard on Ranka because she has become Minmei when I had such high hopes for her after episode 12 since then it has been one disappointment after another. All I want from Ranka at this point is for even a little bit of regret and self reflection as to whether her choice was the right one.
@anime_lover
I loved Ranka after episode 12, but i can’t pretend to like Ranka when I really don’t because she failed me and became Minmei. For a Macross vet to become Minmei is the basest betrayal possible, if Ranka goes emo on me after finding out that Grace was using her then she will be beyond redemption. If Ranka at least showed some self reflection on whethe her decison to leave was the right one then I could forgive her, but right now playing nice with Brera is not making Ranka any more likable.
I think Ozma overstepped his bounds on this one Mikhail just died and he acts as if Luca and Alto-hime should just forget about it and go with him. For a squadron leader Ozma is pretty thick. He’s a man, but he’s no adult which is why Ranka ended up acting like a spoiled child later on.
@JustinStrife
i believed in Ranka until the debacle of 20 and 21 I think that it was this way for a lot of people who supported Ranka only to find that our expectations were too high for her. It’s sad really to see how basically she pissed on all her supporters by being Minmei. After that I don;t see how Ranka can fully redeem herslf unless she actually takes a swing at Grace.
@Magnus
I am no German though I have a great fondness for German military terms and history. I think that until Alto-hime flat out says it that he will always bee seen as indecisive. I think he has made a choice in staying with Sheryl until the end, if he wanted to go after Ranka that chance came and went twice…
@mareo
I don’t think Alto-hime is staying out of a sense of pity but because he really didn’t want Sheryl to die and realized how much of a jerk he was being to her the whole time. This is probably is about as straight an answer as we are going to get though…
@Haesslich
Well at least they know now tha t 4th Squadron might be in league with Leon, but I I am still hoping hey are made to look like fools when Grace offs Leon in her new VF-27 that way at least they will have accept that mutiny was never a good solution. I think that Luca has put Nanase on such high prioity that he will be the last to turn on Leon.
As for Bilrer I think that given how Grace and Leon are about as evil as they get that one more evil xantos gambit guy is not going to help any story wise. I hope Bilrer is one of the good guys even if he is a bit crazy, he did sort of tip off Wilder, and i doubt that Bilrer has forgotten how duplicitous Leon can be. I hope Bilrer is the one who will reunite SMS and provide the counter weight to Leon and Luca. Besides we need an eccentric Zentradi hero for the series. Given how Bilrer has kept every one but his favorite Kabiki-hime at a distance I think that Bilrer is at least a decent judge of charater. he still gave that blow hard Ozma a job so he can;t be all bad if he knows who to hire and who to fire.
The problem with trying to blast NUNS for following Leon is that the representatives approved of him and there was no evidence left of an assassination. Since Cathy and Ozma have no proof that is not grounds to mutiny for the rank and file. They have a responsibility to obey lawful orders but right now other than SMS no one knows that Leon offed President Glass. Perry-kun didn’t like Leon, but because there was no grounds on shich he could disobey he had to follow orders. What SMS needs to do is prove to every one that Leon is a traitor they cannot simply off him and expect the public and NUNS to treat them like heroes.
Conversely there is no point in getting rid of Leon if all of Frontier dies along with him whether by their guns or the Vajra’s. Hopefully SMS will accept the consequences if they kill too many people in order to reveal Leon as a traitor. If Canaria’s family dies in the process Ozma better man up and accept that he had a hand in their deaths.
I agree that right now Alto-hime has no reason left to fly unless revenge on Vajra is going to count. For the most part every Pilot flew because he has some one to protect, Alto isn’t protecting any one not even Sheryl by flying any more so he needs a new reason to fly. Hopefully either, Klein, Sheryl, or Bilrer will give hime a new reason to fly and be a man.
I still prefer addressing them as despair and nightmares for Grace, just as a play on Sheryl’s hopes and dreams. either way Grae has just been delivering ever since she was unmasked as the big bad. Is there anything Grace can;t do? i just hope she really turns eveil when she meets that traitor Brera and Ranka again. No doubt Grace will take joy in making Ranka cry at the horror of knowing that she helped the real villain of the series.
@Missali
To each his/her own I guess.
@Faris
Do what you want because a pirate is free you are a pirate.
http://piracyrules.ytmnd.com/
actually, i have a sneaky suspicion that poor Sheryl might kick the bucked dramatically in the last ep, and in an epilogue Alto would be shown having shacked up with Double-K and produced very large babies! blue-haired people unite!
I don’t think this episode definitively resolves anything so much as it explores the feelings between Sheryl and Alto.
For Alto’s part, the prospect of losing Sheryl hurt him deeply. To make things even more difficult, Sheryl refuses to simply stay at home and let him take care of her; the closest that she’ll let him get is to cheer her on from the sidelines.
Sheryl has resigned herself to her demise. From episode eighteen onward, she has tried to detach herself from Alto, because she doesn’t want to hurt him. At the same time, however, she still has feelings for him. That struggle was expressed in terms of her initial hesitation to return Alto’s hug; although she wanted to walk her path alone, she finds comfort in opening herself up to Alto and placing her trust in him.
While both characters have strong feelings for each other, at this point, they aren’t clearly defined. While this was never the focus of the interactions between Sheryl and Alto (in contrast with Ranka’s relationship with Alto, wherein the focal point of the relationship was the confession), this will need to be addressed for both pairings in order for the triangle to be resolved.
Although Sheryl has made a big step forward by showing that she’s willing to depend on Alto, she’s still keeping her distance, somewhat. She’s still in a position where she could very easily try to push Alto away, if she feels that she’s dragging him down. On Alto’s end, he needs to decide whether he’s willing to stay by her side as “just a friend”, as she set him up to be, or if he wants something more. How these issues are resolved will dictate the direction of their relationship.
Ozma may not be aware of Alto’s situation, but plot-wise, he serves to illustrate Alto’s dilemma to the viewers. There are two girls, both of whom are walking down their separate paths, and both of whom he cares about in his own way. While he may feel powerless to help either, he needs to step up his game if he wants to make a difference in both of their lives. The resolution of the triangle can come after that.
@LukerJay
They would make beautiful children together.
@Swampstorm
Well according toe hte spoilers Alto-hme will be cooking for a sick Sheryl so I think that this is the point of no return for the triangle. In order for Alto-hime to go back to Ranka he would:
1. Go with the flow that when Ozma mentioned Ranka
2. break his promise to Sheryl
3. basically leave Sheryl when she is dying and bravely trying to sing for the fleet, a role that was supposed to be Ranka’s
4. play nice with the bugs and forget that Mikhail was gutted by them before his very eyes.
Given these circumstances and how late it is for the series if Alto leaves Sheryl now he’s going to be the biggest prick to ever star in a Macross series. Hating Vajra was more important than keeping Ranka, and staying with Sheryl was more important than flying for the first time in the series. Its not so much that Alto-hime has not made a decision but that he has to voice it and decide exactly how he is going to help Sheryl. Alto did perceive Ranka’s flight with Brera as a betrayal, he’s still mad about it and resolved to kill more bugs instead of make nice with them like Ranka wanted. They made a big step in showing how scared and vulnerable they were to one another, Sheryl will let Alto be there for her in the next episode if the spoilers aren’t false.
I think that Ozma’s remark that Alto had improved takes on two dimensions one hime is a better pilot now and he didn’t go with the flow when he could have been racing after Ranka when she left and with SMS now that they are not taking orders. I think that while Alto-hime has made a decision to stay that just sitting there and watching Sheryl dies isn’t the bes hime can do. The problem with letting the triangle drag on at this point is that it will suck up time better used to resolve the remaining plot threads.
Crusader: What could they have done at this point? They would’ve likely met the same fate Grace nearly suffered, had they stayed, and nobody would’ve been able to stop Leon afterwards. They did not disobey any orders – as they had not been issued any except at the end, when Luca asked them to stand down and return because they had not been ordered to sortie. That was why Bilrer gave Captain Wilder a heads-up; so they could be prepared ahead of time to leave. Wilder gave everyone some data, and then let them make a decision, whereas Leon and company give everyone false data and then apparently try to kill anyone who doesn’t agree to go along.
Plus, since you’re in the Army, you remember basic training? Heard about how they handle sharpshooter training, perhaps? There WAS no way to shoot to disable, not at those speeds, and SMS certainly wasn’t trained to do so – you train to shoot at the center of mass, because shooting to disable usually means shooting to miss… or shooting bystanders by accident, or killing the subject of the shooting ANYWAYS due to shock and trauma. They were ready to engage, but didn’t attack until after fired upon by Luca, the latter’s comments indicating he was prepared to kill the SMS crew if they did not return to Frontier. You don’t fire missiles to disable a target – they’re meant solely to kill things, or render them combat-ineffective; at that point, SMS had only one response given their training and the lack of quarter given them by the 4th Squadron.
So how do you provide proof when the enemy controls the media more thoroughly than any modern American president can hope for and in a way that makes Soviet presidents green with envy? About the only thing they could do at this stage was to leave, and when fired upon with lethal intent had to return fire. I suspect if the SMS was really serious about killing people versus just delaying pursuit, the Fourth Squadron would’ve been shown with more casualties; Kawamori hasn’t shown any reluctance to show fighters blowing up onscreen… and we didn’t see that this time.
And how would they have been able to defend Frontier if they were all dead? At this stage, their deaths were all but inevitable given Leon knew that someone had information on what he’d done… and if he’d let them live, Grace might’ve used them against him in some manner. As for Alto, he’ll have to discover a new reason to fly… and that should take up a few minutes of the next episode, since all his previous excuses have been jettisoned out the airlock. Either he’s going to be going out there to kill Vajra, which should get Brera shooting at him to Ranka’s horrified disbelief… or he’ll find out he either flies because he wants to, or quits running away from his family.
Grace’ll find a way to scar Ranka, you can be sure of it – maybe she’ll use the ‘nice but evil’ technique that she finished off Sheryl with in 18.
Hello Crusader, I love how you make this reviews. Really make my day.
Just got two questions:
Where did you got that Alto was going to ran away to look for Ranka? I will also call him the greatest asshole in Macross History if he does that.
Second, think Richard or maybe Luka could give the YF-24 to Alto? At least he will have a better chance against a VF-25 or 27 than with a VF171.
@Haesslich
I understand their dilemma but now that they are out in the open drawing fire from NUNS grunts they better make it quick or more people are going to die as time drags on. I don’t entirely agree with mutiny as a means to an end because what it leads to is one coup after another. They can off Leon if they wanted to but that isn’t the point. They need to not only kill Leon they have to expose Leon. NUNS is in a bad place there are proably a few units that are loayl to Leon, but there are probably many more of the Rank and File who just want to protect the fleet and kill Vajra.
SMS isn’t completely in the right here what they did might have been neccessary but if they fail then they would only make Frontier lose more resources as Leon squanders them in pursuit. They didn’t bother to explain themselves clearly after they left dock to either Alto-hime or Luca. Right now SMS has set themselves in a position against Leon in a manner where a bunch of NUNS grunts and possibly a few civilians will die in the cross fire. I am not saying it was a bad decision, however it was a decision that can have weighty consequences should they fail. Ozma’s demeanor in the fight wasn’t reassuring that they are treating this as seriously as they should, they may be mercenaries, but there are consequences when you start firing off rounds without any real justification. Not once did they state that Leon was a traitor or Glass’s assassin. Right now since they have only confessed to being pirates they have set themselves up as traitors who robbed the fleet of much needed muscle in an uncertain time.
My concern is that this civil war they are fighting might end up critically weakening Frontier with Galaxy still out and about along with Grace. they made a decision, now I just worry that if it really was the right one to enter a shooting war with much of NUNS and Frontier in the crossfire as they deal with Leon. It’d be fine and dandy if Grace just offs Leon for his insolence making SMS and their efforts moot. Hopefully Bilrer will make sure that casualties will be light. I don’t trust a plan penned by the man-child Ozma, but I’d be more comfortable if Bilrer was the one making things happen and making sure things are under control.
In any case this plan of their had better work there’s just too much at stake for this to be a heat of the moment thing.
Grace will have much fun with Ranka…
@Czarina
Alto-hime did not go after Ranka not yet, and hopefully not ever given how leaving Sheryl high and dry at this point is going to be a dick move on his part.
Hopefully this Leon thing will blow over and Alto can get his VF-25 back.
First off I’ve gotta say that hubby-sama rocks and streaming this from his comp to the 360 so we could watch it on the 42 inch plasma kicked all kinds of ass! Definitely was nice to watch it from the couch and made reading those subtitles really easy!
Secondly, I don’t understand why Ranka-tards think just because we’ve been told Sheryl’s condition is terminal, that means its going to end up a Ranka/Alto pairing.
If he loves Sheryl and she dies, then it’ll end with Sheryl dead, Alto upset and Ranka on her own. He won’t just run into Ranka’s arms because Sheryl died, hime has more integrity than that, Miyo-sama raised him to be a good man!
He doesn’t stay with her and tell her he’ll be with her to the end out of pity, he says it because he CARES!
As for Ozma, if he KNEW Sheryl was dying and still said those words to Alto, then I’d be willing to call him an insensitive prick, but since he doesn’t I won’t.
Is Ozma even aware that Alto even has a relationship with Sheryl? From his point of view he’s probably only seen him around Ranka. In which case I can understand why Ozma is like what the hell are you doing? Figure out what you want and protect it.
Or maybe Ozma does indeed understand what is going on and his whole point was, what the hell are you doing out here when you should be down there with her! Since your wings are useless to the woman you want to protect get the hell out of here!
But I think not knowing what is going on with hime his speech was all about him trying to open up Alto’s eyes to the situation at hand. To quote Kakashi-sensei “see underneath the underneath”
I certainly don’t think he meant the speech to be taken in a douchebag kind of way considering he seems happy that Alto has improved.
I agree that does say a lot about Ozma’s leading style in that he should have more of an idea of what’s going on with his pilots. But I can also understand him not being up to date on the latest goings on in Alto’s life considering he’s been worried about his and Cathy’s neck for the last few eps.
I’m sure trying to stay under Leon’s radar was probably higher up on his priority list than Hime’s love life.
As for the not seeming to care about Mikhail, back in the 2nd episode they pretty much covered his attitude towards that with Gillams death. Mikhail died a heroes death and that’s good enough for them.
As for all the hate on SMS, yes after having been ranted about it by Hubby-sama I can see his point its kind of douchey to take the Quarter and leave all the citizens unprotected.
Also everyone assumes they are leaving to make nicey nice with the Varja. Maybe they are leaving to find Ranka and talk her into helping them exterminate the Varja!
None of know what exactly she said in her letter, none of us really know what went down 11 years previously. What they do know is that Leon killed the President to gain power and is somehow involved with all the destruction that has befallen the poor Frontier of late.
Given how little time the Frontier has, they probably can’t afford to sit and act like they don’t know whats going on with Leon until his plans reveal themselves.
I’m sure finding Ranka and maybe getting her help to defeat the Varja seems like a much quicker solution. That is if they find her quickly, I’m wondering just how do they know where to begin searching for her?
@D.J
For hime to go after Ranka, he would have to be a douche, and I don’t want my Alto-hime to be such a lout that would make Miyo-sama cry in heaven.
If Quarter were going off to find Ranka while the Fleet starves, I think that given how they are trying to lure out Leon and the forces loyal to him that Quarter is out to find out who their enemies are. Going after Ranka makes no sense they have no idea where to look and if they did it would be a dick move on their part. I hope Bilrer is the one doing the strategic planning since Ozma isn’t up to snuff.
They mad a very dangerous decision and more innocent people will die if they can;t make it work. Failure means weakening Frontier fatally.
dude… did alto change sheryls clothes when she fainted? =)
@tofu
Well…Oh that shy dog…
It’s not like he hasn’t seen hopes and dreams before, so maybe Sheryl won’t be mad…
Crusader: Ozma’s a grunt – he’s not the one doing planning. Captain Wilder and Mr. Bilrer, on the other hand… well, they’re the ones running things, and Ozma runs the fighter wing since he’s a pilot and nothing more. He’s definitely no Max Jenius, capable of fleet as well as squad command.
At this point, there aren’t many options – Frontier’s dead if Leon’s allowed to go on as El Presidente, as he doesn’t give a shit about the fate of the fleet or the millions he’s responsible for; all he wants is the galaxy under his control as Military Overlord. That’s why he allowed the attacks to take place in the first place, why he moved to contain information, why he had President Howard Glass assassinated, and why he conspired with Grace who certainly doesn’t have the best interests of anyone but her cartel in mind. SMS staying around and dying won’t do the Frontier much good either; everyone suffers once they’re gone since nobody’s alive to stop Leon and dead people can’t fight the enemy, whereas having the Quarter flee the fleet at least meant that Leon had to decide between chasing after SMS and getting himself blown up or letting them go alone while he doesn’t have to worry about fighting at home as it were. If they’d stuck around to battle Leon’s lackeys, that would’ve reduced the NUNS available pool of pilots and machines even more. Plus, the NUNS has those new missiles which means that they’re capable of fighting the Vajra without the SMS or the Macross Quarter around, especially with Battle 25 now in action.
Either way, people are going to get killed in this, whether they be killed by Leon or the Vajra. At least by running, the SMS privateers have allowed for the possibility that they’ll be able to rescue any survivors or return to fight the Vajra, whereas they’d be unable to do so after being executed by Leon for knowing too much. And given how he tried to off Grace BEFORE the Vajra were dead, you can bet he’s stupid enough to waste his forces fighting for scraps of power instead of defeating the real enemy. Or before he even has a way to control them, since Sheryl’s a property with a fast-approaching expiration date.
I’m starting to think the final battle will have Cathy telling Ozma to take the shot on Leon that will avenge Howard. Wouldn’t it be super-sneaky of Cathy if her email had instructed Alto, Klan Klein, and Luca to remain behind as sleeper agents? The Ozma speech suggests otherwise, but I think it’d be pretty cool if this was the case.
The painting of Ranka as some uber-angel was hilarious, as was Alto telling Luca that Nanase would be in the coma so long that by the time she woke up the Vajra would be defeated.
@Haesslich
If Leon lets them go on their merry way then it will be fine, but I suspect that Leon will want to get rid off all his enemies. I can’t see Leon just letting them off like that no doubt a couple of NUNS grunts will have to die in the process unless Bilrer moves quickly or Grace just offs Leon. Persoanlly I am hoping Grace kills Leon in her VF-27. That way at least we can get Alto-hime back in his VF-25 where hime belongs.Hopefully if quarter plays it right then Leon will be gone sooner rather than later.
I agree that there weren’t many options and it maybe one of the better options but it still is a dangerous game they are playing. I don’t think Quarter can go at it alone against the bugs or Grace alone, they will need Battle 25 intact if they want to save Frontier.
Here’s hoping that Leon will be dead soon.
@Kabitzin
Leon is not final boss material, Grace is…
Nanase will probably not be back in time to be of much help that or she wakes up to redeem Luca. Not sure how I feel about the painting though…other than wut?
So my hunch is right. Alto will be going to Sheryl after knowing her sickness, his emotions will be swayed d/t what happened to his mom resulting to a neglection of Ranka. Atleast Ranka gave up on him, even if abruptly, but is Alto really planning to let Ranka go like that? That’s the question. Personally, I see him going back to Ranka later on with how Ozma confronted him. Alto is really just flowing along. Be it with the current situation, be it his own emotions. He’s just flowing along, which explains why Ozma’s words got to him so bad.
Once Ranka hits a dead end, Alto will come running back to her. I have a strong hunch. It’s such cliche scenario, but I love it so. =P
@ricaryx
If Alto-hime leaves now then he will be flowing along with the BS Ozma told hime. After making that big of a promise to Sheryl the only way for Ranka to get Alto-hime is if hime turns into a grade A-jerk…
Going with the flow would have meant going after Ranka right then and there it didn’t happen then it probably won’t happen now that Leon and Grace are on the move
I’ve turned from hoping that Ranka and Alto-hime will get together to Sheryl and Alto-hime… I think that there is no amount of people that could have been sent after Grace to try and stop her… I mean she bloodly well set off a boom and escaped…
crusader@
Alto doesn’t have to let go of Sheryl. I see Sheryl herself letting Alto go later on.
Going after Ranka is moving away from the flow. It’s the harder way out. Being labeled a traitor by Frontier just to go after one girl? Totally out of the flow. Sheryl was the one beside Alto, so since she needs Alto on her side, Alto goes with the flow and stays with her. Ranka left with the vajra? What did Alto do? Went with the flow (that is to continue killing vajra to get her back somehow), and seemingly went on with his life in Frontier. He didn’t even wonder why Ranka did what she had to. He just “went with the flow”. Alto’s face at the end of the episode says it all. Going with the flow is/was not okay with him afterall despite of it being the only thing he’s been doing with/without his awareness. He knew Ozma was right, that’s why he was frustrated. Atleast that’s progress.
@Sovereignty
Grace is just that damn good.
@ricaryx
I disagree entirely going after Ranka just because of something Ozma said is going with the flow, leaving with Ranka after Mikhail was killed would be going with the flow. Mikhail’s death meant something if Alto had been doing as Ranka asked that would have been going with the flow. Going with Quarter when Ozma gave his speech would have been going with the flow of things. Alto-hime stayed. That was his decision even if it might not be the right one.
Forgetting about Mikhail’s death would have been going with the flow period, because Mikhail mattered to Alto he did not just go with Ranka to play nice with the bugs. Ranka said she left to return Ai-kun home, as far as Alto-hime is concerned she is a traitor.
We shall see if you can get your Canvas 2 ending, but I much rather have things end here and get more insight into Grace.
You know, way back when I called Grace another Major Motoko Kusanagi… and she’s rewarded me with sexy fanservice, and… well, she’s a cyborg hacker with a penchant for switching bodies and killing people in unexpected ways. And she shows it off. And she even has her giddy schoolgirl squeal to go with the evil laughter and sexy-yet-motherly voice.
I’m definitely in love. If she makes a noise of satisfied pleasure when she sees the Vajra world next ep, I’ll have to take a cold shower and pause the scene there.
Kawamori has delivered and how!
Hopefully we shall see much more of Grace’s talents…
@Crusader
“Ranka said she left to return Ai-kun home, as far as Alto-hime is concerned she is a traitor.”
Is that as far as Alto-hime is concerned or is that “as far as Crusader is concerned”? =) Ranka broke from the flow when she stopped fighting against the Vajra. Alto will be breaking FROM the flow also if he ignored what happened to Michael and started supporting Vajra and betrayed Frontier. How did going after Ranka meant going with the flow? ^^ It totally contradicted what Ozma told him. Luca even told SMS that the enemy was the Vajra, but SMS chose to ‘go away from the flow’.
Monica seemed to agree to being a pirate all because of her “school girl crush” for Capt. Wilder. (i like her btw) The rest of the bridge bunnies are just there because they’re just “curious”, so are the rest of the ‘curious’ unnamed SMS staff. Ranka’s reasons for leaving Frontier are heavier than theirs, and it has something to do with her own identity atleast (based on her letter to Ozma). So I think you’re just unnecessarily hating on ‘traitor’ Ranka because of your bias now.
Lastly, I also do think princess charming will come for Ranka at the finale. With how the way they set it up in this episode, Alto will heed Ozma’s words.
Sure if a Canvas 2 ending is what ya want then maybe it will happen. Still that would make my Alto-hime a jerk for leading Sheryl on like that and betraying Mikhail’s memory by playing with the bugs. Alto was visibly angry during that conversation with Luca. Ozma did not care about Mikhail that’s why he can talk big he neve saw Gilliam get juiced, he wasn’t there when Mikhail got skewered. If Alto forgets Mikhail then he will be faithless to his friends. Ozma left to protect Cathy and his own hide, Alto already gave his word to be with Sheryl leaving now makes hime a jerk plain and simple. If Alto-hime cannot uphold his oaths and honor the memory of the fallen then hime is base, I don’t think Hime will abandon the fleet at the mere suggestion of Ozma. hime could have left with them instead of fighting, but he did not he made a decision to go against Ozma’s flow.
Monica, Mina, and Ram left because they trusted Wilder, Booby, and Cathy. Ranka left because she wanted to take Ai-kun home and cast aside her burdens. Ultimately by leaving the goal of Quarter is to expose Leon so they aren’t traitors who fled the fleet to play with bugs. That’s the difference.
Besides I will never tolerate RankaxAlto-hime so long as that Brera is still around. I think you are being too tolerant of Brera and making out Ranka to be some ditz who gets two boys. Get rid of Brera then we can talk.
Or the SMS staff could be going along with them because they trust the judgment of their superior officers.
Meanwhile Ranka comes off as selfish because she left with seemingly no consideration for Frontier while the Quarter crew are at the very least going to take this chance to regroup to eventually move against Leon.
@Crusader
lol they’re siblings ^^
@d3v
Indeed at least the Crew of Quarter were not doing it for themselves, but for the fleet.
@ani_d
Tell that to Ranka, and Brera is still the Kaifun equivalent…
ani_d: Crushing a beverage container in one’s hand is NOT usually a sign that someone’s happy with a person or situation. Or at least, not in the real world where we’re dealing with humans; it’s usually a sign of frustration or anger, not joy or affection. Also note how Alto responded to Luca’s statements about Ranka ‘betraying’ them; he didn’t disagree or try to defend her actions, but instead just said “We just need to settle everything and bring Ranka back before Nanase wakes up.” And then he agrees with Luca about ‘beating the Vajra’ – he certainly doesn’t seem to think Ranka’s right in her convictions, or believe that she’s really anything but a fool who ran off to aid the enemy.
I still say Ranka’s more likely to rescue Alto than vice versa, at this stage; Alto is unlikely to come for her, except to arrest her… or shoot at her adopted friends, with her moving in between them and him maybe not caring anymore. It’s kinda hard to be affectionate for someone if you think they’re an irredeemable idiot, the way Alto’s actions and words suggest he’s considering Ranka.
@Haesslich
Indeed I think Alto-hime has not only fed his hate of Vajra he’s nurtured it to the point where he is disdainful of Ranka’s ideas of being friendly with the bugs. Killing more bugs certainly won’t make Ranka happy or be what she wanted.
If Ranka saves the Fleet then that would be some much needed positive character development, even better if Ranka can actually outwit Grace (but I doubt Grace can ever truly be dead…). I think that ultimately it will be the bugs who save Frontier from Galaxy otherwise there would be no basis for inter-species peace that Kawamori’s Macross is known for.
Macross Zero wasn’t exactly about inter-species peace: remembering that the UN Spacy were nuking Bird Man, until it decided along with Sara Nome to escape instead. We may end up with a situation where the Vajra just leave, and humanity goes out of its way to leave them alone. Macross 7 didn’t have inter-species peace with the Protodevlin either, IIRC.
I still say that Grace’s dreams represent Peace through Power and Conquest.
Well Macoss Zero was just odd overall and the UN did unite humanity in the end…sort of.
In Macross 7 (IIRC) Gigile and Sivil were awfully chummy Protodelvin blokes…they just made peace and left, but yeah there is always a helping hand for humanity and Zentradi. It be strange if Frontier had to save the bugs from Galaxy, they are hardly in a position to do so…
Well whatever she calls them I’d like to see them more often…
@Haesslich
Well, at the very least, an understanding between two warring species/races (to the point where hostilities between them end) has always been the theme of any Macross TV series.
I’m hoping if Ranka does save Frontier from Grace and Galaxy, they don’t really end up destroying Galaxy and we get another season – but not before Galaxy uses it’s Macross cannon to shoot Leon’s hair.
@Haesslich
So that’s what their called, and here I was thinking they were called Hopes and Dreams, just like Sheryl’s.
@d3v
Yeah peace has always been one of Kawamori’s beliefs. Though I’d be happy with the eventual mauling of Macross Galaxy, maybe they will start a conflict that will out live them like what Kamejin did. You know how Grace will be the founder of her own never ending conflict that will plague NUNS for years to come in the case of cyber humans.
@d3v, “but not before Galaxy uses it’s Macross cannon to shoot Leon’s hair.” Awesome, just awesome!
@Crusader, “I don’t think Hime will abandon the fleet at the mere suggestion of Ozma.”
And that is probably a testament to the fact that Ozma isn’t as good a leader as he should be SMS are following Wilder not Ozma. If Ozma was a better leader his team would follow him, the only one probably doing so is Canaria. Of course it was Cathy who sent the message out not Ozma
But up there in space Luca decides not to trust his commanding officer’s judgement. But then again Luca isn’t really thinking rationally right now, he’s very clouded by his feelings of anger and inadequacy over Nanase. Luca is going with the flow and acting off of his feelings. I wonder just how much Luca knows about the goings on of Leon, that he is aiding a man who helped hurt his beloved Nanase. Poor little Luca hasn’t really grown up much either, he’s still very naive.
No Ozma didn’t see “Gilliam get juiced or Mikhail” skewered but I don’t think that doesn’t mean he didn’t care about them. But I do find the distinct lack of anyone other than Klan outwardly showing that a little bit sad
Our Michel-kun deserved better even if he was an SMS pilot whose death would not be known to the public.
Ozma’s seen a lot of death and I think his view on it really was as he kind of stated in the beginning. If Mikhail died fighting for what he believed in then he died a good death, so he’s not going to sit around a mourn him when there are things that need doing. But yeah some acknowledgment about him would be nice…
Oh and yea Leon is no end boss. Grace is a magnificent Bastard. Leon (to quote hubby)is a Master of Douchery at best.
Well, at the very least, Mikhail got his own grave, unlike Gilliam who was recycled.
Here’s an interesting scan http://www.death-note.biz/up/img/23150.jpg from Animage showing Sheryl and Ranka dressed up quite interestingly.
I know people keeping saying Sheryl will let Alto go, but even if that happens that would still make him a grade A asshole for leaving her to die alone. I’m not sure she can’t pull another “who do you think I am?” when she’s on her death bed. I don’t think Sheryl will hold him back either, so I think whatever comes they will face together.
Personally speaking, Ranka can’t have everyone even if people think she deserves it. When she ran off with Brera she sealed her fate in losing Alto-hime. She has Ozma, Brera, all of the SMS, and Nanase who love her and protect her. I think it would be wrong to give her Alto-hime as well while Sheryl is dying and singing for the sake of the poor people of Frontier. I will be very disappointing if that happens.
Well, looking back at previous Macross series, there’s a tendency for whoever it is who saves the day/galaxy/etc. to lose in the love triangle.
@D.J
Ozma should understand what if felt like to lose a wingman for the first time. If he has forgotten then he is a fool that is faithless to his friends and comrades, just because you become jaded doesn’t mean you forget.
Luca and Alto-hime are showing exactly how they feel by killing more bugs and calling Ranka a traitor for siding with them. Ranka saw Mikhail, die and then she turns around and hugs Ai-kun. The way they regard her now with contempt and disdain speaks volumes of how much the cared about Mikhail.
@d3v
Cold comfort I am sure, though hopefully he had his tombstone next to his dear onee-san Jessica’s.
That settles it Ranka is Minmei and Sheryl is Basara. I know who to fully support now. LISTEN TO MY SONG!
@anne
yeah It’s not so much Sheryl cutting ties with hime but if hime leaves before fulfilling his promise then he’d be a douche. I am sure he’s not going to go back on it considering how much pride hime tossed aside for Sheryl’s sake.
Like d3v said there is a tendency for the savior of the Galaxy to end up alone. If Ranka can;t save the galaxy then she will be the most useless character in the series and the biggest disappointment.
@ d3v I don’t think people thought Sara had lost the love triangle.
She was out of the picture at the end but Shin loved her…
I think it will be the same for Ranka.
@shinz
Perhaps, but Macross Zero was pretty light on the triangle, and besides, Ranka isn’t Sara-class not yet anyway. She still has to deal with Grace.
Well, crusader, you have been pretty harsh with Ranka but the silhouette in episode 25 must be her
It’s still a spoiler but I ‘m ready, to bet here with you that she will be transformed into the super songtress we were waiting for…
Even thought you can’t help but hate her character now, she will enter in the story in being the character who evolved the most in a pretty short time !
Sure whatever, assuming Grace doesn’t destroy her first…sorry but Grace is going to get off one more hit on Ranka we shall see if Ranka can handle the awesome might of Valkyrie Pilot Grace.
That silhouette is none other than Basra, you will listen to his song.
LOL you don’t even have an ounce compassion, trust left for Ranka ?
We will see!
Dude it’s FUCKING GRACE, has she ever met her match?
Poor Ranka is going to be pretty down once she finds out Grace has been pulling Brera’s strings this whole time. Can’t see what Ranka can do to Grace, Grace has killed Leon’s personal hit squad, survived an MDE Bomb, and basically made Leon dance to her tune. You overestimate Ranka if you think that Ranka as she is now can do anything to Grace on her own…
I just read the post of Impz about the writing. Passion is the word !
I don’t want to suggest you anything but I’m not the only one who noticed your posts were less hilarious, even Sheryl people said it .
The hate you have for Ranka is your perfect right, but you will have less exchanges since people , already know your course of action .
What was the difference between your post and the other Ranka’s hater post, was your way of expressing your disagreement by irony. Which attenuated your, at that time, Ranka’s disappointement and made it into a well made parody of the episode,and most of all , of her character.
But now you are focusing so much in her bad points that it looks like you didn’t enjoy the show when watching the episode.
This is why this is not as enjoyable to read as before.
After you can blame me for whatever reason, being rude, mean, but I just wanted to say it because I have readed your post and your view of the show wasn’t like that, nor your post at the beginning
There was much less to laugh about this time and I hardly call pointing out the difference between what SMS just pulled and what Ranka did, out and out hate. I have never approved of Ranka getting cozy with Brera that will never change. i supported Ranka until recently and she has yet to redeem herself in my eyes. Unlike most people I do not forget those who spurn their duty and betray their commitments to the fleet.
I very much enjoyed how my Alto-hime saw Ranka’s leaving with Brerea as nothing short of betrayal, among other things…
Despite having a supremely stupid-looking haircut, Leon certainly does know how to give an epic speech. Give no quarter! Those bugs came looking for a fight– let us educate them as to the gravity of their mistake.
Hey, do you think the frog phone still receives calls out there?
@skoll
Sieg Frontier! So say we all!
We shall make the bugs pay for their crimes twice over…
@Kabitzin
If Ranka could call she’s been very callus not have given Ozma a call at this point. We know Grace is pulling Brera’s strings from this far out so may be the iSlug is up to it too.
Guys, I love all your comments. @Especially@:Ubi,Haesslich,Crusader,Swampstorm,mareo,Deckard,D.J ,Seifall;
There isn’t much I can add to what there has been written above.This episode gave me some satisfaction , I really enjoyed the plot twists and turns and for the first time I don’t care in Sheryl dies or lives and keeps Alto hime.
I’m curious if they will let Sheryl die or she will be saved at the last minute.That will be just too ‘WTF O.o’.I think she will die , Alto will become a lone wolf and Ranka will find her own reason to live a happy life.BUT !!!! looking back at the previous Macross series ,esspecially with love triangles, we can see that one of them dies and the other 2 live in joy for the rest of their days.SO, I can’t help but hope for an awsome ending.
I keep my position by Ranka’s side ,I love ambiguos characters and I hope she’ll turn out a great/shocking person (good, bad, evil it doesn’t matter).I have a favorite quote that I use on forums:
”As I walk in
The valley of Death
I fear no Evil couse
I’m the meanest (b*tch in the valley).” -Ranka if you changed teams this is for you (of course you’ll never be an evil ‘bip’,I’m shore you’ll save the day at the end).
i was wondering how many episodes is macross frontier gonna be? 25??
http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/301181/blonde_hair-blue_eyes-cosplay-long_hair-macross-ma
Well, the cosplayers have begun showing up.. and daaaaamn, that’s a fine-looking Sheryl.
Yeah, I think Ranka will redeem herself in the last few episodes. In a way I see her situation like Luke Skywalker’s.
Sheryl will probably die (wish it weren’t so, but I don’t see any way out of it now), but no, Alto and Ranka will not get together in the end. Oh well, at least the fleet will eventually be safe and the Earthlings and Vajra will live in harmony.
@ShadowCat
Only Guld died for reals in the love triangle in any Macross series to date, though Sheryl might go the way of Guld.
@tofu
So far spoilers have been released for 25 might go 28 but I have by doubts since it is already this late.
@Haesslich
Just wow…
@Andrew
Ranka will have to save the fleet somehow otherwise she will be damsel in distress de jour, a fate no one, not even me wants to see.
If Sheryl dies and Alto-hime goes over to Ranka at the drop of a hat that would be a really dick move on Alto’s part, I doubt it will happen. One day the bugs will be our friends or they just leave the Galaxy to humans and Zentradi.
@Crusader
(talking about few episodes ago) yeah I was right, Grace MKII has huge boobs.
I am on your side Crusader, I laughed when you said “that traitor ranka”. It is true, she did betray everyone and ran off to take aikun back to his people. Since she is selfish and only thinks about herself, she decided to take her pet back to her friends than to help the endangering frontier fleet. She didnt care about her brother, friends, fellow citizens. Good think Nanase is in a comma or else she would of killed herself.
Crusader, you have every right to go to the darkside of the force and rely on hate to write your posts.
IN my opinion as much as I hate to say it, I have a feeling that Shoji Kawamori will save Ranka at the very end and have her come out as a hero and ending the war of the Vajra. I pray and hope it doesnt happen and if it does atleast give Macross Frontier an OVA, Season 2, or Frontier the Movie so Ranka can redeem herself in time rather than rushed. Only sympathy I have for her is because I once was heartbroken and it sucked.
Aside from Ranka being redeemed in like 5 minutes in the next episode I am afraid of the protoculture being redemed also. Reason why I survived Macross 7 was because I wanted to know more of them. I really hope the redemption of the ancient civilization gets redeemed in another series. Please Kawamori I hope you do the right thing!!!!
Well, it’s more that if Ranka DOESN’T end up saving someone at the end of the series, then she’s basically not grown at all – she’s not acting at that point, just sitting back and waiting for things to be handed to her, wasting 25-26 episodes of potential development. A character in a drama who doesn’t change is either dead, or a dead-end side-character that everyone in the audience hates, pities, or finds boring… since the point of a drama is that people get into dramatic situations and respond to them by acting or reacting and changing in the process. Plus it’ll make Sheryl and Alto the heroes of the series, which puts Ranka in the proverbial fifth wheel position… and that’s no good to her either, as a character. Either she saves the fleet, Alto, or just someone else… otherwise if she’s standing there helplessly as Grace enacts her master plan, then she’s a lost cause.
Sheryl may die, but at least she’ll be a legend by the time she goes down – Minmei vanished with the Megaroad-01 and the other two members of the first love triangle; Sheryl will die as a heroine in a tragedy who sang with all her heart and overcame hardships in an effort to try to save millions.
Personally, I suspect that Ranka-as-Mary painting was painted BEFORE Ranka went over to the Vajra – probably during the period after 16 when they discovered her power as the Songstress of Hope. It’ll be telling if it was left behind on Frontier, and Alto runs across it later only to find it defaced. The way everyone onboard Frontier jumped up to cheer Sheryl seems to suggest that Ranka’s absence and the reasons for it are an open secret if not official government propaganda – the “Songstress of Hope” stopped singing and fled the fleet, which meant a new (or rather, an existing) singer had to step into her role as Frontier’s savior.
As for that cosplayer… “Yakk Deculture!”
http://adella.deviantart.com/gallery/ – mind you, this one’s not bad either. They even got an Ozma and Ranka in there.
Heck, there’s even German Sheryl cosplayers. Macross is spreading its wings. http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/119210/
Yeah, Crusader, I’m right there with you on the “peace with the bugs” thing. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times.
It’s pretty plain to see that Ranka’s betrayal is just a set-up for her “pulling a Macross” and getting the Vajra vs. Humanity business to stop while they go after the real threat. Naturally, she’ll bring them around by singing at them. Hey, this is a Macross TV series we’re talking about. The OVAs can get away with going off on tangents, but the TV series just wouldn’t be right without music bringing mortal enemies together. Like how you’d play Guitar Hero in your cockpit to convince a velociraptor and a viking to team up and defeat Vampire Hitler. (To anyone out there thinks that sounds ridiculous: You don’t know Macross.)
The whole “us or them” issue is a red herring that too many young folk viewers seem to be buying into. While a good bit of Ranka hate is tongue-in-cheek, there’s some actual frustration amongst some viewers about her actions. Perfectly reasonable, considering how many years have passed since the airing of the previous Macross TV series. But it’s still amusing. I honestly doubt that an anniversary commemoration broadcast like Frontier would betray its Macross roots by subverting the “music saves the galaxy” theme.
Grace said it herself–the Vajra’s not the real enemy, she is. And by golly, she’s a sexy, sexy enemy.
@Luke
Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
If Ranka can’t lift a finger against Grace then I think we are set for the five minute Ranka save. If Ranka tries to resist Grace then there is hope for her. Ranka better be the one to save the fleet otherwise her character will be long remembered as that useless character who nearly sent Frontier to the scrap heap or the Vajra dung pile.
@Haesslich
Yeah a overwhelming Grace victory over Ranka will probably make her the most useless Macross character to date. I hope she does something positive to cement her legacy after nearly killing the whole fleet in a single blow. Otherwise Ranka will be the new Kamejin the Ally Killer only this time it will be Ranka the Fleet Killer.
I am sure that just for stepping up even if by some chance Sheryl loses Alto-hime in the end (not that I think it likely) that Sheryl will be long remembered as the real heroine of the series for being the anti-Minmei and stepping up to the challenge. If Ranka is to be redeemed then at best she will be considered on par with DYRL Minmei. However I think that it will be Sheryl that will be celebrated as the woman who stared out as a haughty bitch and ended up the tragic songstress who sang until her dying breath to protect her people. Alto-hime will be a douche bag if he leaves her before she dies, a man unworthy of being the male lead in a Macross series. I trust without doubt that hime will make the right decision and honor his oath and uphold the honor of the Saotome name and Mako-cakes’ legacy.
Nanase probably painted that long before Ranka left with Brera and Ai-kun. It would be a shame if it were lost, if Nanse dies then Luca is going to town on that painting. by now I am sure Leon has done much to sell the idea of Ranka the traitor to the Fleet, not that he didn’t have much to work with. I doubt Leon will make it public knowledge that Sheryl is dying so its pretty much down to Alto-hime as her sole source of support for the hard times ahead. Hopefully what ever Alto-hime is cooking for her will make her feel better. (Any idea where I can see that picture? I know it exists somewhere…)
Cosplay is deculture.
@Dorian Cornelius Jasper
If Kawamori decides to kill the bugs that would be the biggest surprise of them all. I saw some of Macross 7 thus I know how crazy macross can get. I am still half expecting Basara to show up at any moment…
I think much of the rancor from macross vets is that Ranka basically became Minmei and all the old hatred we had for that Kaifun loving bint has come back to hit Ranka with a vengeance. It might not be entierly justified, but seeing as how Ranka despite the gentler demeanor did end up making more Minmei moves that Sheryl did…and Sheryl started out as the haughty bitchy Minmei type most of us hated.
Still Grace is now the saving grace for the plot to progress, she’s just so evil hoepfully she will be the last villian to die after trashing Ozma in her VF-27. That would be awesome…otherwise if Grace can’t fly she’d be much less menacing.
@crusader
oh yeah thats right I forgot about Kamujin responsible for the deaths of many zentran allies. Ranka is the ally killer!! many humans, zentran and vajra have died because of her and her song “aimo”
And no evil doesnt always triumph, just anyone who happens to live in a fleet called frontier or 117th research fleet gets screwed over.
@ Dorian Cornelius Jasper
There will be a lot of fighting. Many cannon fodder VF-25s and VF-171s will be lost fighting eachother and the vajra. Some VF-27s will go down too since they have the cannon fodder paint scheme. Island 1 will probably suffer another major direct hit. Many people will get sucked out into space like our hero Skull 2. Just as Battle Frontier is about to shoot its main cannon at SMS Macross Quarter, Ranka will start singing Aimo – club remix. The vajra will make some bug sounds that translate to “deculture!!!” and join SMS Macross Quarter to fight Leon aboard Battle Frontier. The Fighting at this point will get really intense, probably Ozma might get a heroes death or Brera. I am thinking Brera will die because he is more machine than human. As Alto is killing vajra left and right, Sherly will tell him her last wish. Alto will fly back to Battle frontier and into the changing room. Alto will give his last kubike performance on the bridge of Battle Frontier. The Vajra, Frontier Fleet, and even Grace will be so shocked that the fighting will end. After the performance alto will run off to a dieng sherly. Leon really upset that the fighting ended orders Battle Frontier to intensify the foward batteries but it will be too late. Grace VF-27 will plow right through the bridge killing Leon. Battle Frontier will crash into one of the moons orbiting the planet.
Maybe after realizing that thousands, probably millions of life forms (humans and vajra combined and any species caught in space battles) were lost because of her and a dieng slap from an ill Sherly will cause her to care about the galaxy just a tad more. Oh and I forgot to mention, a Macross Class ship always goes down at the end. Since the SMS Macross Quarter is on the good side, she will sink! Monica will have her final moments with Captain Wilder.
after the credits end in the last episode. a red VF-19kai will defold into the protoculture planet and we will see an older Basara upset that he arrived late and nobody heard his music.
@Luke: AWESOME!!! Just AWESOME!!!!
“Ozma should understand what if felt like to lose a wingman for the first time. If he has forgotten then he is a fool that is faithless to his friends and comrades, just because you become jaded doesn’t mean you forget.”
I totally agree, he should understand and if he’s become jaded to point where he has forgotten then he’d be nothing more than a soulless killing machine who cared about nothing.
That’s why I don’t think Ozma is past caring entirely, because he obviously isn’t an empty killing machine.
If he’s guilty of anything its of selfishness right now. His priority isn’t Alto or Luca its Cathy and Ranka.
I concede to you and Hubby-sama on this, no Ozma isn’t totally manly but he isn’t the biggest douche in this series either, Leon wins that title!
Good blog as always, Crusader. And agreed fully at Ranka as a “traitor”.
Though I have to wonder (now that synopsis for the next episodes are up), is Alto going to go back to Kabuki life? *Cough* I think I’m the minority who want him to perform as a kabuki actor in his VF ala Basara *Cough* Look at him, having more girly hips than any of the girls ( No, I’m not counting Grace. Hey, she is a cyborg! As much as I think that Grace is hawt, I prefer au naturale
). He must go back to his kabuki life if he ever had resolution *cough* I am waiting for the legendary Sakura-hime to go back to the stage.
It’s going to be a Sheryl ending now, it’s just a matter of whether Sheryl and Alto are alive or not. Would Ranka fans even want Ranka to be paired up with Alto if it takes Sheryl dying for that to happen? I mean sure you would be ecstatic when it happens since it proves all the naysayers wrong and it vindicates you but when you look back over it… it’s a pretty crappy way to win a triangle. Will be interesting too see certain peoples opinions from the RankaxAlto camp once their euphoria wears off… I know for sure I would be pissed off with that if I was a Ranka fan.
“Lastly, I also do think princess charming will come for Ranka at the finale. With how the way they set it up in this episode, Alto will heed Ozma’s words.”
You didn’t understand Ozma’s words
Here’s a hint Ranka was used as an example.. and that’s about it. Notice how Ozma went from “Protect Ranka” in episode 18 (which led alto to thinking that he wants to find his own path) to “Find your own path, like Ranka did, like I did”.
I also think in a way that Alto had decided on his path its just that he can’t do anything about it. Ozma’s words about being able to protect the women he loves in particular really stung Alto. This is an Alto who had to watch his mother die slowly and now has to go through the same thing with Sheryl. Ozma of course doesn’t know this…
Also for the people thinking Sheryl will give up on Alto unless Aya Endo is flat out lying in the latest Animedia interview, not going to happen.
Still calling Ranka a ‘traitor’?How can you betray something of wich you where never truely part of ?She just chose her path , in order to find the true meaning of her existance she has to find ‘herself’ first.So don’t you dare call her a traitor.Grrrrrr
)
).They might make an OVA or movie or something with more Ranka development (couse she’s slow) in order to put to rest the outraged Ranka fans, they better do it ! XD
@Luke that was great (both posts).
@Dorian Cornelius Jasper -Damn,you’re right
I don’t think that Ranka will fail because than all the episodes dedicated to her would be seriously wasted.And I don’t think she’ll turn out a villan even trough that would be an awsome twist (Revenge! and I love good ‘Dark side’ characters).
At the end of the series or season ,or what ever this is,the two heroine will stand tall (at the same hight
We don’t want her to be the best (we’ll leave that to Sheryl ),or to keep Alto-hime,just give Ranka some happy end.
@Luke
Alto-hime as the silhouetted figure on Battle Frontier who saves the day through the power of Sakura-hime Azuma bunsho? FUND IT. The Bugs will melt before the greatest oyama in the history of anime, not even Grace will be able to ignore hime. In the last act Alto-hime caresses Sheryl as Sakura-hime, Sheryl finds it so moe that she dies. Basara-sama can be the closing act whose music cures Sheryl while Cathy and Ozma make babies in Basara’s honor.
@D.J
Ozma put Cathy before his team…sad to say I cannot agree with this even if it is Cathy. It makes sense though Ozma was not really mentoring his pilots or doing much of anything for them for most of the series other than give orders. He could be inspiring, but he did not take care of those under his command. I would not be surprised if he actually got discharged from NUNS rather than leaving on his own accord.
@Nakki
Let us hope that in the end hime will given one last performance as part of the victory celebration.
@Westlo
Yeah as the episode count dries up the less likely there is a chance of RankaxAlto-hime happening in a satisfying manner that would not make my Alto-hime a jerk. I was willing to give hime away to Ranka, but she dallied far too long with Brera and then went emo in episode 20. As she is now I would not like to betroth my Alto-hime to such a little girl who still keeps that Kaifun equivalent around and that damned pet that tried to kill my Kabuki-hime. Sheryl and Alto-hime have been progressing more as characters together it be a shame to waste all of it considering how little effort Ranka actually put into her love for Pilot-hime. If Ranka gets Alto-hime in the last five minutes she will be mary sue. I just don;t see any real possibility of developing Ranka to a point on par with Sheryl in the time left, we still have to deal with Grace, Leon, and the Vajra issue. They would have to sacrifice most of that if they wanted to redeem Ranka, so I just don’t want it to happen now since I really want to know more about Grace adn the Vajra-Protoculture connection.
@ShadowCat
Ranka was part of the fleet for over a decade, and took on the role of Songstress of hope for the fleet. She abandoned her duty and the promises she made, that is treachery in its most base form. To say that Ranka was never part of Frontier is a lie, it was the people who made her a star and realized her dreams long before Grace stepped in. I care not that she had to find herself, she fled from the fallout in a cowardly manner. No Ranka did betray the fleet in order to find herself, you might think it justified because of pure intent but that hardly excuses leaving her job on some personal whim and leaving at a time when there were no other countermeasures to the Vajra menace. Ranka put herself before the safety of the fleet, she sold them out to find herself that’s what it essentially was.
Now Ranka has found Ai-kun’s home, but she has also led Grace there due to her poor choice of companions. Ranka will have much to answer for.
@Crusader
I will gladly take any donations to fund the episode. I really hope the series ends as crazy as my vision or even better.
If music can end wars and heal people. I am sure a performance from the greatest oyama will do what the protoculture were never able to do in 500,000 years!
@ShadowCat
Ranka will get her good ending.
Ranka and Aikun will walk off into the myst on the ruins of the protoculture city. Ozma and Kathy will be hugging as Ranka dissapears. The homage will be made to SDF Macross Episode 36. So Long 2059
@Nakki
Alto performing in the last episode will be the only logical weapon to use on the vajra aside from the MDE bomb. Recap episode 19 when the camera showed the crowds reaction. Imagine if Alto somehow was able to his VF-25 via Bluetooth and give the galaxy the performance of a lifetime and also show the true potential of the VF-25.
so you suggest that humanity’s greatest demonstration of culture will come not in the form of song but kabuki? subversive, i like! but… if hime-sama is doing the heroine, who gets the man role? *coughOzmacough*
@LurkerJay
The man role will be fulfilled by a miraculously cured (by the power of song energy) Sheryl who will fly in in full Fire Bomber gear (including a fire red VF-25) and she will then proceed to spirit Alto-hime away to parts unknown but not before teaching the Vajra the joy of yuri-goggles and making them join the Ai-Ai-Alto-hime club.
@Luke
Well it is the first time we had a lead like Alto-hime…
@LurkerJay
No Ozma has earned hime’s ire…
@d3v
That image of Sheryl cosplay as Basara must happen, indeed Sheryl will be wearing that for the final act on Battle Frontier.
“I for one welcome our Cylon Grace Overlords.”
All Hail Grace!!!
@Crusader:
actually, for sheer theatrical showmanship, why not Bobby? he has his GAR moments, ja? and a character like him can do with more airtime!
… Is it just me, or everyone here seems to have greater imagination than Kawamori regarding the ending? ^^;
Either way… *prays for Luke’s Scenario (even JUST PARTIALLY)and Basara cosplay Sheryl to happen* (Hell, they could do “Fufonfia” version of the ending, or maybe just DYRL Frontier version of Gender Bender.)
Alto’s Sakura-hime bunsho would, indeed, have greater effect on vajras than the happy-go-lucky Anata no Oto. Oh and also Sheryl. But I must crosses finger on Sheryl dies of “moe-ness” part. “Beautiful-ness” and “submissive-ness” would do better. And we do have seen the anime portrays hime-sama as the best girl physically.
… Minus the “hopes and dreams”.
@LurkerJay
But Bobby-okaasama is part of the Oh!-Oh!-Ozma club and not the Ai-Ai-Alto-hime.
Well, before she was a traitor of the humans, Ranka was a traitor for the Vajra.I guess you can’t make everybody happy.It’s the Vajra’s turn now to have some Ranka love.
“So say we all!”
Speaking of BSG, the wait is making me twitchy.
Found Yousei full LEAK:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4581634
TT_TT I don’t know which is more emotional, Azure Ether or Yousei now…
@EvilDevil
Grace is as terrible as the dawn as treacherous as the sea. All will love her and despair.
@Nakki
No Kawamori is by far more imaginative, we are merely asking for our scenarios, I am sure Kawamori will make it much better…
Sakura-hime is at least more awe inspiring than another rendition of Seikan Hikou and Northern Cross. The only other alternative is Lion. It would be a shame if we never see Alto-hime as an oyama even once in the series.
@d3v
Bobby has earned the right to be part of many camps…
@ZeusIrae
Assuming Grace doesn’t get to Ranka first…
But Bobby still wont beat up Basara cosplay Sheryl… Unless he comes in as Basara cosplay Bobby.
Yeah but can Bobby sing?
Somewhere in the net… I hear Ninjin song… In *cough*”passionate”*cough* voice… I wonder…?
Perhaps there may be Bobby’s version of “Ai Oboete Imasuka?” in the future?
Preview images for this weeks ep. are up at the official site.
http://www.macrossf.com/image/story/story_pic_23_01.jpg
http://www.macrossf.com/image/story/story_pic_23_02.jpg
http://www.macrossf.com/image/story/story_pic_23_03.jpg
Hmm, a intoxicated Sheryl is fine too.
@Nakki
Actually, I believe we can find Bobby singing the My Boyfriend is a Pilot and Triangler in addition to the Ninjin song on the net.
@Nakki
Okay now we need to hold auditions for the last concert on Battle Frontier.
@d3v
Well Sheryl seems awfully happy about something, and it also seems as if Leon and Bilrer are about to duke it out for posession of Alto-hime…
@Crusader
The way you word it (possession of Alto-hime) sounds almost dirty, then again, you can’t blame them for being as broken as record in the middle of a hurricane.
Also, since the Quarter and crew have gone pirate, does this mean that Leon will send Ninjas against them?
@d3v
Leon will be sending in ninja infiltration teams, but as to their future success…
They both saw Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho, it’s just that since Leon became pres he thinks that he can snatch Bilrer’s protege like that. Foolish Leon Bilrer is still capable of Zentradi battle rage.
@d3v
o_O
Wait a minute, I knew he sing “Watashi no Kare wa Pilot”, but… Triangler? JOY!
@Crusader
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/912/hime4kn2.jpg
I imagine this would be the Young Sakura-Hime?
@Nakki
My mistake, there’s no Bobby Triangler (there is however Bobby doing Nyan-nyan).
Anyway, to make up for the mistake, here are a few scans from the latest Newtype I believe.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/the_d3v/VF171EX.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h4/the_d3v/MinmayRanka.jpg
The second one kinda makes me wish Haruhiko Mikimoto illustrated the cast of Frontier.
Finally as much as I like how cute Alto-hime looks in that pic you posted, I believe that most of us are broken enough as it is.
@d3v
Aww… So no Bobby Triangler… I was hoping he would change the lyric into more… “awesome” to say at the least ^^’ But then again, Ninjin and Nyan-nyan sung by Bobby has scarred me to the core, so I would have die by combustion if Bobby ever sing “Diamond Crevasse” or “Ai Oboete Imasuka?”.
I’ve got my hand on the latest Newtype, but thanks for sharing them
As much as I like seeing cool mechas like VF-25 and VF-171X, I would have to refrain from commenting them as technology confuses me a great deal ^^;
Haruhiko-sensei is one of my all-time favourite illustrators. I believe his water-colour technique is on par with Hayao Miyazaki, be it the soft stroke or the gradiation technique. It’s a little disappointing, really, for him not to be able to participate in Frontier Project, but we must give a chance to the newbies, ne? And… You know, I have to wonder how Minmei in that scan is mistaken as Alto by some people… *snigger* I mean.. *points at Minmei’s middle area* and they still said “Alto pass as a drag queen”.
Hehe, we need to be broken more, so that Kawamori may hear our wish of getting Sakura-Hime one last performance^^ Anything for it.
I love Battle Frontier! if anyone has more pictures please send them this way!!
@Nakki
It must have been hime, I am sure of it.
Alto-hime is still prettier than most girls for two seasons running.
@d3v
I just saw the raw and Alto-hime got his own vic with complete with a Kakizaki!
Ranka kind of looks well like a cheap floozy. I guess Ranka isn’t built to be sexy.
We must celebrate our brokenness and pray for Sakura-hime to save the day.
@Luke
I am sure Kawamori will deliver on some hawt Battle Frontier action.
Well, it looks like I was right about Alto not feeling like rescuing Ranka – not when he talked about killing her instead, especially if she was with the Vajra (which, given that she’s now linked to the Vajra network, could be technically seen as ‘on their side’). This seems to settle the question of whether Alto sees Ranka as a traitor or not – he does, and enough to want her dead.
You know, Klein’s been on like four or five ‘dates’ with Alto, compared to Sheryl’s two and Ranka’s zero. If this was a dating sim, Klein would be ahead on ‘love’ points.
PS: Grace is in her business suit in cyberspace because that’s her avatar – she’s probably wearing her pilot suit ‘outside’.
Here’s a pic from ep. 23 showing us some hawt Meltran goodness.
http://img58.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ne01zt5.jpg
Personally, I’m waiting for proper subs since just about every fan who translates in the forums seems to be overly biased one way or another.
Indeed Alto-hime loves her so much that he will fire off a fold bomb to kill her out of his love. Still I am thinking that in choosing volk and fatherland that by extension means both Klan and Sheryl. Good to see that hime grew up and decided that volk an fatherland came before the lives of traitors such as Ranka. I applaud hime for deciding the since Ozma wants to be a man that hime had to be the adult along with Sheryl. Still it was awfully sweet to see Sheryl and Alto-hime playing hose. Too bad Ranka is going to wreck their home.
Ranka needs rescuing again after Ai-kun made off with her. Grace taisa was just awesome though, she made clear who was boss. Since Ranshe was a wet blanket I hope Ranka inherited some spine and courage from her father, because Grace will be taking off the gloves and there will be hell to pay.
@d3v
Oh those lovely meltrans so as that they will be single for a while.
I am sure we’ll get a clearer picture, but for now hime and Sheryl playing house was pretty adorable. Alto-hime is willing to kill Ranka so that will not change.
It’s funny that when Alto said he would kill Ranka, Alto/Ranka fans overjoyed at the words “love” only. The scene was meant to be ambiguous by all means. WTH, kill because love and “YEI!! ALTOXRANKA END!!”? I really don’t understand what happens in shippers mind.
Anyway, anyone got major DYRL vibes in ep 23? Why, oh why, Kawamori, you like to play with our feelings, by giving that dinner scene?!
Bah, Brera is the actual Ranka’s brother… Crusader, I plead you shalt change your elopment theory to something else, since it would be incest to look at it that way…
Also.. We need more Meltrans in Frontier!
@Haesselich
Try another analogy than dating sims games, since I played that kind of game and the guy that I date the most does not give me love confession at the end ^^;
@Nakki
Clearly they want to see Ranka fold bombed to get their ending.
Ranka found out just mere minutes before the ED she eloped with Brera-san who turned out to be Brera-nii. Just beacuse she realized that it was wrong does not change the fact that she did it. Personally I am hoping for and Ai-kunxRanka end. That little bug is sneaky he just snatched Ranka from right under Brera’s nose.
whoa… the return of the Other Meltran! the poor girl never gets enough screen-time, it almost made me feel like Pixie Squadron was put in for transient eye-candy and forgotten in favour of the awesomeness that is Double-K sama. *eagerly awaits subs*
Lurker: That’s Nene, the one who was hiding behind Chibi-Klein and nuzzling her hair while Mikhail beat Alto like a little girl.
Crusader: It looks like Alto’s promised to kill Ranka to protect his people, even though he’d joined SMS initially to protect her because he felt responsible for her since he saved her in Ep 1. I guess we know how he feels about her now – protectiveness doesn’t mean a relationship automatically, nor does it mean love unless you’re a stalker. If he’s talking about killing her without even trying to rescue her, the chances of a relationship are practically in the negative numbers.
It’s starting to look like Alto’s going to get his Normal End: “Goodbye Girl” instead of a Ranka “My Boyfriend’s A Pilot” or Sheryl “Do You Remember Love” ends.
@LurkerJay
Nene is back and she’s ready to kill some bugs.
@Haesslich
I see this development as being similar to that of Hikaru his priorities changed when he became and adult and so has Alto-hime. I cannot wait to see the next ep its going to be chock full of Valkyrie action. Hopefully Grace will take on a few fighters as well, personally I want her to tear Ozma a new one.
Since I will kill you isn’t the best way to declare one’s love for every one else beside Heero, I don;t think that lumping Ranka along with his bug enemies is some how indicative of love. You are right there is not talk of rescue no pretension of finding a third option, Ranka will die if she dares threaten the fleet.
I still hold out hope for Sheryl to be with Alto-hime since it would be such a waste since they have been developing it for so long. Watching them play house was sweet and nostalgic bringing back memories of Misa’s live in with Hikaru before that home wrecker Minmei showed up. I don’t think Alto-hime was staying with Sheryl out of obligation, but out of genuine concern. Hime was not willing to lose Sheryl then and he will protect Sheryl and every one on Frontier, Ranka be damned.
Ranka may have lost her chance at love long ago when she dithered, dallied, and broke, Sheryl still has a shot. Macross 7 was the odd ball in the franchise, and since Zero had a end pairing we might see it again. Still the old romantic in me still would like to see Sheryl and Alto-hime be together since they suit one another.
Ranka looks to be the perpetual damsel in distress and if Ranshe is any indication Ranka will grow up to be a wet blanket. Now for some reason I want to see an OVA special of Grace bullying Ranshe, it could be epic like Haruhi-sama and Mikuru, and it would make science fun again.
@Nakki
Yeah, it’s almost as if Kawamori is doing an extended “room scene” from DYRL with episode 23.
@Crusader
And they will say : “How tragic is it, for the one who he truly loves must die at his hand… DRAMA MACROSS!! EPIC END CONFIRMED!!” Sheesh, this is getting ridiculous. As much as I hate Ranka, she has only few deathflags, so I will not count her out even until the end.
As much as Ai-kunxRanka end seems plausible, I was rooting RankaxBrera from the deep shadow of my heart
The thing is because he was suspected to be his brother that I don’t actually fully consider that. Too bad this episode shot down any possibilities of RankaxBrera (I see some pro RankaxBrera cried for the lack of romantic pair fanart of them in the future).
@Haesselich
I guess we know how he feels about her now – protectiveness doesn’t mean a relationship automatically, nor does it mean love unless you’re a stalker. If he’s talking about killing her without even trying to rescue her, the chances of a relationship are practically in the negative numbers.
Try to tell that to the Ranka those slaves in RC, if they even reconsider protect =/= love, then pigs would fly. I really don’t like shippers who can’t even get even the most basic misconception be it Sheryl’s nor Ranka’s.
@d3v
And there are more homage from SDF… The playing house from Hikaru/Misa… Kakizaki… and Hikaru’s nod?
I found it kinda interesting that Alto was channeling Max back there quite a bit^^
@d3v
I hope Kawamori isn’t toying with us…we were kind of asking for it with the pineapple salad but not playing house.
@Nakki
I hope Kawamori does a Ranka Ai-kun end just to troll. Still the only EPIC END is if Alto-hime gives one last performance of Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho to end the war while fold bombing Ranka from Battle Frontier.
@Crusader
Still the only EPIC END is if Alto-hime gives one last performance of Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho to end the war while fold bombing Ranka from Battle Frontier.
Well said, especially the Sakura-Hime Azuma Bunshou end *still hoping for performance with all of my heart*. And like I said, Kawamori would not give Ranka death flag (AS MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT) since he is “Love and Peace” person, we know how Zentraedi and Protodevlin end don’t we? I get the feeling he would do the same with Ranka and vajras now…
On some another note, try to tone down the anger at Ranka on Episode 23 a bit (even if I do understand where it comes from). I missed your entertaining “Macross weekly Blog” which is full of the sarcastic yet funny comments with interesting takes on Macross scenes! Love your Blog as always
(Twiddles thumbs in waiting your blogging and theories)
Tch… Before I got flamed, I need to make an amendment to one of my post…
Kakizaki… and Hikaru’s nod?
How in the heck did I mix up Hikaru’s chat with CF squad and Kakizaki’s nod curse to the reverse? Geh, sorry for the double post Crusader… *plops down to bed*
I would love to see a spinoff being done for the SMS’ adventures as space pirates ala Vandread!
@Nakki
Other than the obligatory fold bomb joke…fine.
Well at least with the two new underlings that Alto-hime has just got if they survive perhaps its time to get Mina and Ram to start dating, Monica can;t be the only one with a significant other.
@Shin
After I get my Science with Grace and Ranshe spinoff where Grace bullies Ranshe.
I enjoyed 23, because its nice to see Hime speak with such conviction about something.
Not hawt Meltran but definitely cute, I can’t wait to see the finished version –> http://www.moeyo.com/2008/07/post_5583.html
http://www.hlj.com/product/MEG71167
I think this is the finished version you’re talking about?