Gubaba

Oh well...at least kresphy managed to liven up an otherwise dull Sunday...

Well, he IS a cyborg...maybe he excretes them. Me, I'm still trying to figure out how he plays them through is helmet...

I guess your definition of "a main character" is different from mine. I should have mentioned President Glass, but that still, by my estimate, ratchets up the main character body count to two. Either way, I still call BS on kresphy's "spoiler" (just like everyone else has).

One main character has been killed so far (No, Raramia doesn't count. Neither does the 33rd battalion), so I'm not sure what you mean by "body count." I doubt the ending will be unreservedly happy and blissful, I doubt it will be as bleak as "everybody dies. The end." (And yes, I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but kresphy didn't put the spoiler tags on his post when he first put it up. )

Yes, but that's about the only similarity, and even there, the type of intelligence is different. (And anyway, don't almost ALL sci-fi giant bugs have a hive mind? What's next, "Watch Them much, Shoji?" )

To be honest, I hadn't heard that part of the story either, but that's not unusual. Old Kabuki plays are almost never performed in their entirety any more. For example, I saw a performance at the Kabukiza Theatre last year which ran more than two hours, and the program noted that what we were watching was the end of the final scene of Act Eight (of a Ten Act play). If the end of a scene takes two and a half hours, how long is a scene? And how many scenes per act? Admittedly, the story moved slowly, but not THAT slowly... Hence, probably there are famous scenes that most people know, but other parts of the plot might be rather obscure.

FIXED!

I'm not sure it's meant as a commentary on the plot of Frontier...I figured that they picked Sakurahime because it's an EXTREMELY demanding and difficult part to perform, requiring VAST changes in the protrayal of the character throughout the play. Any actor who attempts the role has to grasp a very elusive and protean character, and it's unusual that one so young would be able to perform the part to great acclaim. It could very well be that Alto is a genius of Kabuki...no wonder his brother wants him back.

An interesting discussion started up in the Ranka Lee - Innocent naive teenager or Evil war criminal about the Mayan myth of the Birdman and the Fishman, and what it meant. Which I found odd, because I thought that the myth really wasn't that complicated. Going back to episodes one and two of Zero, though, made me realize that there's a lot more in the myth than I recalled, and that it's really pretty strange. Now, first off, there must be a lot of truth in it, or else A) it wouldn't take up so much of Zero episode 2's time, and B) they went through all the trouble to demonstrate that the Mayan people have some advanced scientific knowledge in the guise of legends (specifically, Sara talking about blood containing "two snakes entangled together," a clear reference to DNA). So here's the myth: A long time ago, when the world was at its beginning, there was the sea and the wind. At that time, man was a fish. One day, the Birdman, who traveled between the stars, came across the sea. Before the great wings of the Birdman, man said in awe and fear, “You can fly, but you do not know the depths of the sea. What a sad and pitiful being you must be,” he laughed. The angry Birdman then cut the man’s tail and fin. From those wounds, legs grew, and the first man, Rooy Kamu, was born. Rooy Kamu went on a journey by ship. At that time, there was no land yet. Thirsty Rooy Kamu cried sorrowfully, “What an unfortunate man I am. I am full of thirst, yet I have no spring to quench it.” And so, the Birdman dropped a sea-turtle’s shell. The sea turtle’s shell hit a rock and shattered. And so, that shell became the island of Maya, and the splinters of the shell became the surrounding islands. Rooy Kamu stepped onto the island and cried sorrowfully, “What an unfortunate man I am. I have to live alone in such a place. I have no wife to share my joy and sorrow.” And so the Birdman descended and cut his own neck. The blood flowing from his neck took the form of a human and became the woman Rooy Waka. Rooy Kamu and Rooy Waka married and had many children. Then Rooy Waka, who have given birth to many children, went home to the other side of the sea, to beyond the stars. “Oh, come back, my wife.” To which the Birdman replied, “Oh, my husband, Rooy Kamu. The day I shall return is the day the reign of heaven will crumble. On that day, the Song of Destruction will echo throughout this world.” Now, the Bridman is of course the Protoculture, and the Fishman is life on earth before any creature had crawled out of the sea. The Protoculture worked on the genes of earth life and made something that would eventually become humankind. Similarly, the Birdman's blood would be a reference to the Alpha blood carried by Sara and Mao (and apparently Sheryl). But as for the rest of the myth...Huh? Is Rooy Kamu's journey by ship a reference to anything? What's the significance of Mayan being formed by a turtle shell? (When I first saw Zero, I figured that meant that Mayan was actually a spaceship, which would allow the inhabitants to leave before the Zentradi arrived. I thought it was a stupid idea, though, and I'm glad I was wrong.) And the Birdman leaving...? Sure, the Protoculture left earth, but the Birdman didn't. And if the woman formed by the Birdman's blood is the one who leaves, why is it the Birdman that says to fear his return? Of course, I'm sure I'm reading too much into this...it's a myth, and thus is meant to have the air of something transmitted orally for many, many generations, and a lot of weird and extraneous things get stuck, barnacle-like, to mythology. But just in case, I'm wondering if anyone else has any ideas.

Damn, stray, you're making me want to rewatch the entire series with your points in mind just to make sure it all fits! Off the cuff, there's a lot of truth in what you say. I think that clearly, Alto felt a strong attachment to Ranka that was more than brotherly (for all of those who say they never got to know each other better, or that Ranka never asked Alto anything about himself, I would point to the furious amount of texting in the early episodes...although, of course, we weren't privy to what most of their conversations were). I especially like your point about them falling in love with each other's potential...which of course is what a lot of high-school-age love is based around. There is deifnitely more of a sense of competition about Sheryl and Alto for most of the show, as though Sheryl is trying to get his emotional mask to break before hers does. But there's also a lot of respect and consideration mixed in as well. Hmm...I was already planning to rewatch the series late next week...maybe I'll start a little earlier.

Ah, now I see her...thanks! Man who do you think DREW the picture?

I didn't even realize it was in Macross Design Works! I just thought it was something Hasegawa cooked up as a model... Either way, the answer is no. It wasn't in Zero.

Erm...you DO realize I was joking, don't you? Since the earrings were added to Macross Zero, someone asked what Kawamori was going to change when I other series came out on Blu-Ray...so I obligied with an answer.

And spam Macrossworld with their complaint for the next six months, at the very least.

I'm not sure how to respond to that... Jokingly, I'd say, "Of course...if he knows quality when he sees it!" More seriously, I'd say, "C'mon, does liking a female Froniter character automatically mean that you want to see Alto hook up with her? I think not." Either way, I should probably cut Alto out of my avatar...seems to be giving people the wrong impression.

No offense intended...I mean, it's a beautiful picture and all, but I've gotta wonder...where are Myung and/or Sharon?

Well, I have to hand it to you...your conviction is strong. Seems to go somewhat beyond the relam of rationality to me, but what do I know?

*sigh*

Agreed. It seems to me that only those who wanted to create new reasons for why Ranka is supremely awful thought that she was being selfish by leaving.

A lot of background music from both II and Plus gets used as well. Primarily, "Scooper" gets played whenever there's a City 7 broadcast. The speakers on the farm ship playing "classical" music where actually playing Plus music ("Up in the air," I believe...).

Hang out with? Yes. Go shopping with? DEFINITELY. Ride on the Macross Quarter with? Of course (after having taken some Dramaine, that is). Be a life partner to? That's a different story...

TV Hikaru, most definitely... To repeat with other posters have said, with some added emphasis: ¡¡¡TWO YEARS!!! (Of course, "The Lost Two Years" tries to gloss this over by having Hikaru go to the Moon Base for a lot of this time, but I ain't completely buying that...unless he had a fling with some hot Moon Base girl who we've never seen. I suppose it's a possibility...)

And something tells me you'd take Bobby over Ranka...or do you not hate her quite THAT much?

Whaddya y'all wanna bet that "Yousei" is the song Sheryl was inspired to write in episode 5...?

I think that it DOES get better, but don't expect it to get super-serious and chock full o' mecha. It flirts with superseriousness AND mecha battles on occasion, but primarily, it remains a rather goofy show about a band.