Killer Robot

All cultural boundaries aside, and even musical ability aside, the Screamer has a great gimmick going, and that's something with proven ability to get people there and listening, especially in the era of a billion people doing YouTube song covers of varying quality. Besides, I don't think the Lion video would be nearly as fun without the makeup bit and the Screamer/Vader super combo action.

I don't know if I can call relations with the Zentradi really regressing simply because there hasn't been much view of there ever being perfect peace and harmony in integrating them with human culture. The second story arc of SDFM was all about how while many of them were happy to be civilians and many were having trouble adjusting. After that? Macross Plus had not a touch of the issue apart from Guld's pointy ears and anger management issues: one like me who started the series there just wouldn't understand what that whole alien assimilation thing was all about until seeing more. Macross 7 barely mentioned Zentradi: other than the ones that appeared once to play in the movie and the ones that appeared once to storm the Mayor's office to show how Protodeviln drive Zentradi insane, you could have watched it and never known there were any in the fleet apart from Milia and Exedol: maybe they were a small enough minority to simply not be an issue. Dynamite and Zolan? I don't know what to say about that other than wishing that an encounter with the first established alien race other than the Zentradi had been handled with more depth, rather than something I could have mistaken for another Earth colony had the people not had two-tone hair and furry arms. Maybe there are secondary materials I don't know much about, but I found the anime itself unuseful for world exploring. Then you come to Frontier, with hardcore culture addicts like Elmo, old-school soldiers like Temjin still harboring resentment of civilian rule, and people between like the cheerful giant farmers and loyalist soldiers like Klan, proud both of their heritage and their newfound culture. In addition, there seems to be an idea that Zentradi are still being converted, sometimes reluctantly, to join human society. It seems a natural development of the world that was left behind from the original series, and one prone to continuing racial tensions even with the gradual interbreeding. And the Vajra? Those are aliens which are actually alien: they're not derived from the same genetic stock as humans, they didn't possess human bodies, none of it: it's not clear whether either species could have learned the other could be communicated with any time soon, before Ranka really came to understand her power. As far as the idea of infighting and lust for power consuming people, that was a major point in the original series too: Frontier is just the first series that brings political drama of the postwar era to the forefront, as opposed to the more personal drama of Plus or 7's encounter with another out of control Protoculture bioweapon. Again, I think it makes Frontier a natural followup to the second story arc of SDFM: as someone else here put it, it's a series where humans are outgrowing the shadow of the Protoculture and having to face their own creations and their own wars. Of course, these often parallel what the Protoculture themselves fell to, but isn't facing the demons that slew the heroes of ancient times what an epic is about?

I more pictured Gubaba seeing Nanase on the side of a milk carton and going into a panic.

Meant to include this but forgot: the out of context lesbian rape attempt at least has some meaning now that I've seen the Mylene Beat manga that actually builds up both the character and the event as part of the plot. So I'm now much less baffled by its inclusion in Dynamite. Even if I still do find the offhanded nature of the anime's version and the "ha ha guess you learned a lesson, Mylene" resolution to be rather disturbing.

I really agree with most of these points. I spent much of the series waiting for Sheryl to be a shallow or lame presentation but she consistently surprised me by being the most three-dimensional in the cast, and the fanservice left me hesitant at first especially with the "otaku won't watch it if there's not enough loli" design principle. I wish more characters had development, but comparing it to 7 where everyone but Mylene and to a lesser extent Gamlin and Gigil were fun and colorful but entirely static characters I can't condemn it too badly. I wish there had been more villainous perspective like with past series, and while the story structure made it more difficult, I think more could have been done with the human conspiracy at least. As for the extended run thing: Frontier is doing quite well. Thing is, these days it's not ratings that decide it, especially in a late-night slot like Frontier ran in. Those were good but not amazing, as I understand. The main thing is that it's selling lots of CDs/BDs/DVDs/merchandise/etc, and that's only more recently become clear. So it couldn't really be a case like original Macross where they learned it was a big hit early enough in the run to have the second story arc ready to air the week after the first one ended. How much more we see, though, that depends on what Kawamori is still ready to do with the story before he really puts it away.

It's also worth noting that Hikaru took over two years to make up his mind, and only really did after one of the girls just about said, "It's your plane or me, boy." Then there's how the Isamu/Guld/Myung thing worked out. And Mylene took years and never went anywhere either. In comparison to past series, and with it an open question what more is to come from Frontier, I'd say Alto is doing all right. Further, I think it a bit of a misrepresentation to take the "You are both my wings" speech as being just a romantic decision or copout: it didn't read as "Let's just be friends" or as "Hey, how about a threesome?" but rather as "I'm not going to hurt one of you for the sake of the other." That had been a big thing in their recent lives, after all: both of the girls' lives had taken very dark twists since that birthday present incident, or the singoff in the hospital, and Alto was caught right in the middle of it. Ranka departed because she realized she was being used, because her connection to the Vajra meant that being used as a weapon against them left her feeling literally pained and wrong, and because she lept to conclusions about Alto's care for her. When she struck out to try to find a solution to the war, even before she knew she was falling into a trap she knew she would be leaving her home and appearing a traitor. Sheryl had death facing her and when she finally swallowed her pride in her own independence and got to have her dream of just a little time happily together with someone she loved, it was tainted because she could never know what place pity played in his decision to stay with her. And Alto? Just look to how he was stricken by Ozma's words about protecting the women important to him: he had women like that, and for all he could tell one was dying and all he could offer was comfort, and the other was inexplicably gone to join with the mindless and heartless monsters that had hurt and killed close friends and nearly destroyed Frontier, and he might have to kill her just to save everything else he knew. Alto seemed to feel about Frontier much as Sheryl did about Galaxy: a stifling and contemptible glass prison, but also his home that he would not allow to suffer. So this brings things to the final battle: Ranka made into a pawn of Grace, spending what she thought was her final strength in the last gamble to free Ranka. When that worked, and Grace made her counterattack, her time was over: the others might win or lose, but she was no more use to the battle and only in the way of the other two even in victory. That is where that speech finds its context, in the three admitting they could not succeed alone, that they cared about each other, and that this was no time or place for any to let another come to harm. Sheryl cared for Ranka despite intervening jealousy and did not want to see Alto truly alone, so she forbade him to kill her while there was any hope left; Ranka found Sheryl her inspiration and would not see her die in body or spirit, and Alto was not going to choose one as his love at the expense of crushing all relationship with the other. So it all ends, with the game still on but important differences in dynamics: Ranka is mature enough to know who she loves and compete for him, Sheryl can try for love with a future ahead of her and without worry of affection returned only for charity, and Alto having some breathing room to actually sort his heart out for the first time. He finally did what he couldn't when he fought Ozma, and now he has some hope for a peaceful rather than bittersweet resolution of the triangle. I can't really call that much of a copout.

You can get canned bread stateside now. Or at least Boston brown bread is sold that way. It's not the sort you'd make a sandwich of like that old C-ration stuff I've heard of: it's a sweeter, darker bread usually with raisins. Been a while, but I'd say it's like a muffin or something. I don't know about the Macross bread specifically, but Japanese canned bread in general seems to come in flavors like chocolate chip or fruit and nuts, so I imagine this is something similar in style. At least unlike brown bread it seems it's not baked in and to the shape of the can.

I never questioned that since the only similarity the situations had was "the alien is in the park." Milia had given up hope and surrendered to him before he decided to marry her, and further this happened after the initial defectors had illustrated that the Zentradi were fundamentally human and capable of wishing to coexist with humanity, and that his squadron commander and captain were in agreement and seeking to have them treated as peaceful defectors. As such, he went right to a superior officer to report his plans and who she was. Even leaving Barton out entirely, Sivil's discovery in the park came with none of these mitigating circumstances. No one had any reason to believe that she was presently less hostile to the fleet than she had been on her earlier rampages, and further no one had reason to believe that the Protodeviln saw or could see humans as anything other than a food source and source of mind-controlled lackeys. Even knowing Basara kept going and singing to her in secret to try to wake her up didn't indicate he had any idea she wasn't hostile, or that she wouldn't wake up only to immediately drain him and half the city of spiritia: Basara had spent the whole conflict so far singing at enemies who were actively hurting and killing people without remorse, even before it showed any actual effect on the enemy. Basara's idealism regarding the power of song was a known quantity to Max, and he acted in that incident as he had in previous ones: letting Basara do his thing, but not letting it stop him from doing his job as a military commander. Now, if Sivil had come before him or anyone else to say how she was ready to try to coexist peacefully with humanity and/or marry that ace pilot, I could call Max a hypocrite for imprisoning her anyway. Even if he had more openly joined in Barton's joy of finally having "one of those monsters" to dissect, or had Basara jailed for secretly harboring the enemy, I could have said something. As it is, the circumstances of SW1 that led to Max knowing that he could make peace with Milia simply had not happened in the current conflict, so I can't blame him for considering it to be a different situation.

I think Ozma would be upset if anyone started a Fire Bomber tribute band without him. (No, I don't have translation, but the gist seems simple enough.)

On the up side, that means if they made an Aimo/My Boyfriend's a Pilot/Planet Dance super remix it would totally encapsulate the Macross experience! Seriously, yeah. I would have ranked Aimo way higher if you'd asked me like three episodes in rather than now after it really wore me out.

That's about what I got out of it. It's not uncommon in anime sci-fi for this to be the case. I recall hearing similar creator comments about Trigun, for another example. Watching DYRL recently I was struck by how it opens with announcements in English right up until it shows major characters continuing in Japanese. I recalled the opening of Mel Brooks' version of To Be or Not to Be where it opens with Polish dialogue before a voice comes over the PA system announcing that for audience convenience, the rest of the movie will be in English. Everyone then switches seamlessly, mid musical number. So yes, I can totally buy that English is a widely used language in the Macross universe, and perhaps the official language of some fleets, of many official communications channels, etc. That said, it's clear a lot of other languages are in use, and given the push of preserving and promoting human culture I would imagine that daily use of other languages is encouraged just to foster keeping those varied cultural flavors: I certainly imagine Frontier's kabuki and enka scenes aren't all English language even if that's what most people are speaking in the street. In addition, surely the sophisticated translation technology gained from the Zentraedi can overcome many of the difficulties of sustaining a highly polylingual society. As for what language was spoken on Macross 7, I think Fire Bomber American suggests but doesn't settle it. It could mean 7 was Japanese speaking normally: on the other hand, I figure Fire Bomber's songs more come down to the language Basara liked writing in best, and it being different than the local norm might only help explain Fire Bomber's rocky start at home.

Episodes 18 and 23. For the Cinderella's Horn project, and for a medical report. It's a plugin for Adobe After Effects, and as near as I can guess from a quick look at the product page it was used for some of the background visual effects in the Lion OP animation at least. It might be used as placeholder text in other places but I don't recall for sure. Does she need a doctor, or an uninstaller?

I think it's mostly the red. Battle Frontier looked really menacing too, in a way that Battle 7 never did. Then again, Battle 7 just looked like it wanted to dance.

I'm torn: it's not a fair choice, just because Episode 25 is simply so climactic that my mind want to set it aside and choose between 11-14 instead. It's not without flaws, being a bit rushed, but it seemed to pace its content much better than I was expecting, such that even with so much happening I felt like I was watching an episode closer to double length than single. It drew me back to the "I can't believe so much just happened" of episode 27 of SDFM, and in a good way. Plus the mecha porn, the adrenaline, character decisions that seemed sudden but somehow fit the pace. Anime is a medium filled with disappointing final episodes and this was a big exception for me. So if I have to put 25 aside and pick another? I'd say 20: it has pivotal events on characters and setting, and sets up the shift to anger and desperation that carries the final part of the story. Also, the "Alto as war hero?" thread got me to examine claims that was the central role of the story after all; her final decision not to fade away in silence at a time when she had every reason to despair is what makes such an argument even plausible.

Can it fly into space to rescue Minmay?

Wow, you sold me there.

Nostalgia plays funny tricks on your head that way: the shovelware of decades past is easily forgotten, and all the gems from a period of several years stack together so it's easy to misremember them as being all simultaneous awesomeness. It's like comparing a classic rock station playlist with the playlist of a new rock station in August, 1982 or whenever. Combine that with not being so young and easily impressed any more, and it becomes an easy mistake to make. The 80s and 90s were horrific pits of derivative and uncreative anime and video games: just to have a frame of reference today you need to watch some of the forgettable trash rather than the few classics that have survived or were fun when you last saw them as a ten year old.

What got me was how according to displays Frontier uses US style social security numbers and postal addresses, not to mention the hospital climate control reads temperature in Fahrenheit. Of course, by this same logic Sheryl's illness was caused by an Adobe After Effects plugin, so this can be taken with a grain of salt.

Klan would have ranked a lot higher for me if her background and personal development hadn't been so overshadowed by the joke of her oscillating state of physical development. There was a lot of cool potential to explore the character of a Zentraedi soldier actually born and raised in human culture, but we only ever got glimpses so it never went far.

Younger than Alto and complaining about those green pilots that transferred on when they got to Earth. Then you have 7, where the pilot from the fleet's most elite squadron is 18 and the 14 year old drives a sports car, lives on her own, and becomes a pilot under more unusual circumstances. Relatedly, Milia comments that young people of the current generation are marrying earlier. Plus? Okay, so you have two older and seasoned pilots duking it out. Even in that exception, remember the YF-19's chief engineer was an obnoxious sixteen year old. So you come to Frontier with some still in the academy 16-17 year olds doing private military contracting. Do note that they're junior pilots, and the first two encountered are assigned to somewhat indirect combat roles in the form of sniping and drone-based recon: in theory, stuff that keeps you out of easy range. They're still in the academy, and this is odd enough that others comment on it. Why? I'm not sure. It might be that career advancement in more respectable military/civil piloting fields is much easier once you have your degree even with experience: real world careers can often be that way. By late series at least the greener NUNS pilots seem to be of similar age, though it's hard to know how much of this was due to needing warm bodies to fill cockpits as the war grew more desperate. Going to the big picture, the human race has been in a varying state of war, repopulation, and galactic expansion for the last 60 years. It's the sort of society where a lot of kids get pushed out the door young. I can see gripes about the high school scenes in particular, but complaining about sixteen year olds with careers, as fighter pilots or otherwise, is not complaining about Macross Frontier, but rather Macross as a franchise.

What happened to poor Elmo? First the government confiscates both of his top singing prospects, then they shut him out of this? A sad day for the Kridanik clan! Seriously though, I have to cast my vote with Sheryl. I kept watching for her to be the shallow manufactured diva initially hinted at, and she showed a sympathetic core and strict professionalism. I watched for jealous cruelty, and I got one incident that I still couldn't condemn. I watched for her to shatter under later hardships, but even if she didn't do it alone she never did. Maybe it's how I watched most for her to be a caricature that led me to find her the most real, I don't know, but she never disappointed.

Wait, Aimo isn't a new arrangement of Voices? Seriously, though, I liked Voices better, but I think part is not Aimo's fault so much as it getting so much playtime while being a similar feel to Voices, which also got a (relative) lot of playtime, so it felt derivative even early on. Though I agree, the vastly changed creepiness of the O.C. rewrite was pretty cool.

I didn't notice the mall hydras the first time through myself. For that matter, I it was also the second time that I realized what Sheryl's phone looked like, or the size of the weights she was lifting in her hotel room. On the other hand, I didn't notice Frontier seems to only be .75g either, so perhaps that explains some.

That's entirely where I am, yes. I haven't watched much genuinely new in years, and this brought me back. Admittedly, I was hesitant even then until someone showed me screenshots of the Folmo Mall, then I had to watch at least that far. In the end, I loved it, and went back and watched what I hadn't seen of older Macross, as well as a couple newer things like TTGL on recommendation. If it fit the 21st century standards as some define them, I might not have stuck with it. I also wonder, did the complaints about it not being up to modern standards include Bilrer's maid only appearing in one scene?

That's one of those things I didn't mind too much. It wasn't so bizarre and was an isolated incident. If Sheryl had gone perving on Nanase on a regular basis rather than messing with her head the once, or if she'd spent her time doing that to micronized Klan, I might have found it more offputting. As for Evangelion, I don't love it like I once did, and I still feel it had some negative effects too, but it was a very fresh and very influential take and I have to respect that, and the description of it being a much-needed shot in the arm to the genre was certainly apt. It was for mecha shows what The Matrix was for action movies: not as deep or complex as its biggest fans would help you believe, and spawning of many bad imitators, but still a real game-changing work and a great source of excitement to audiences. It also is relevant to Frontier criticism: the way that it changed how mecha shows are presented shows clearly in Frontier and differentiates it from SDFM and Macross 7 alike. Mostly a positive way, I think, bringing new tropes and more complex flavors to the franshise. Even if this does lead to people complaining Sheryl is just like Asuka or other such Evangelion comparisons I can't quite agree with.