Elektrix

Yeah, honestly, the more I watch Macross F Ep 1, the more I don't see it. Alto seems much more like a traditional hero character if anything, one who is only frustrated because he is limited, and can't fly like he wants. We actually see him smiling, and he doesn't seem angsty to me when he takes off and flies after the paper airplane he makes - he only gets upset again because he doesn't have room to fly. -Elektrix

I'd buy one.... Somehow I can't imagine it being any more pivotal to the plot than Guvava.

Would you recommend Macross fans check it out? I hadn't even heard of it before but I saw some ads for it (which seemed kind of high on the cheesecake factor), and saw a clip, but couldn't tell what to make of it. -Elektrix

I don't know, honestly I've never been so big on animation errors or just sloppy animation - frankly, some of the AnimeFriendliest episodes of Macross are still fine to me because I like the story, etc. For what it's worth, I didn't really notice either of the issues you mentioned while watching the show, especially since they were so brief.

As Zinjo mentioned, probably a codec issue. You might want to try this: http://www.cccp-project.net/ Pretty nice package with pretty much all the audio and video codecs you could ever need, plus the option to install a few media players. Or you can also just download ZoomPlayer: http://www.inmatrix.com/files/zoomplayer_download.shtml It also has the option to download most of the codecs/etc. you could ever need.

I think it is interesting that you see the attitude change start I think right when she has to appear in public for the press (a scene which still reminds me very much of Sharon Apple's appearance on Eden). I think perhaps she does have a very controlled public persona and a private one. Again, either way, I think it will be necessary to see more of her to really tell for sure; we do seem to see multiple aspects of her personality just in this first episode. The Sheryl at the very beginning, as you say, seems to be very different from what we see of her at the end.

Umm, where does this come from? Catherine has to specifically drag Sheryl off the stage - she clearly had wanted to keep singing. I'm not sure how you can blame her for not staying and singing when she is being dragged off stage (and that would have been reckless anyway; with the area being attacked, continuing to perform and maybe keeping people from evacuating would have been reckless). Also, I'm not totally clear on the translations. In the Shinsen subs, she says "This is a job for professionals. Get back, amateur." which I assume is closer to what she actually says (in the Seiyan subs, she just says something like "We'll let the professionals take care of it." It's a bit tough I think at this point to interpret exactly what she's saying. As Kelsain said, she could be including herself in the "professionals" that are responsible for handling this. She could also generally be acknowledging that this IS in fact a job for "professionals" (i.e. people who know what they are doing and are trained to do it). If anything, this would make her the opposite of someone like Basara - she doesn't think that there's anything she could do, and trusts the professionals on the ship to handle this issue, without her getting in the way. Either way, whatever her deal is (I just don't think we know enough about her yet), I think this is clearly an area of character growth for her that we might see throughout the series. If she is in fact a stuck up star and nothing more, I'm still not so sure how surprising that would be - I mean, she is different from a Minmei or even a Basara. She's much more like a typical idol star that people worship, and it's pretty natural that she would be a stuck up music star like many people we see in real life. But I suspect that if she is, it is an area where she will grow throughout the series. -Elektrix

I think maybe you have very high standards if Mylene and Ranka don't fit your "cute girl" requirements.... For what it's worth, I don't think Myung was intended to be cute (although I think in the flashbacks with her longer hair and a baseball cap, she was much closer).... and in Macross F, Sheryl and Catherine are probably intended more to be sexy than cute (although Sheryl can seemingly pull off cute when she wants to; like in her Macross Frontier Tour poster).

The length of the file (1:47) is the exact same length as the MP3 that someone here previously ripped from the 2 minute preview trailer.

Considering that Yoko Kanno is doing the soundtrack, I think it is safe to say that she composed that particular song.

I'm not saying there's anything specific to indicate that. But if I were to put myself in the mindset of the military in the Macross universe in 2059, I think it would be quite natural to think of trying to use Sheryl. We already know the military would consider this - especially with the Sound Force stuff from Macross 7. I have a hard time believing the military would just ignore the events of Macross 7 (not to mention how that relates to the events of the original Macross). Either way, I don't think Sheryl is specifically working for the military at this point. But I do think they must at least be thinking about how she could be utilized against this new enemy. -Elektrix

Love Rectangle maybe? I agree - if nothing else, the fact that Alto yells at Catherine seemed to remind me of some of Hikaru's arguments with Misa.

Trust me, do not put the poison stick in the beating hole. Just don't. -Elektrix

Mylene was only like 14/15 in Macross 7 - seemingly she would have seemed to be too young for Basara or Gamlin (although the M7 love triangle is decidedly odd any way you slice it). -Elektrix

Gotcha. I'm probably the exact opposite of you actually - I've found that I'm impressed by CGI that many other people tell me is really pretty terrible - for example, I really like the CGI in the Dynamite 7 openings - I think generally speaking, I am impressed by CGI with a fair amount of detail in it, so I liked the CGI engine stuff in the Dynamite 7 openings - and in Macross F, I am frankly impressed just by the little details on the valks, etc. -Elektrix

Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to imply you were knocking him for his opinions. I was more just making a general statement.

I think that's just one of those things - chrono's got his opinions about all aspects of the show - personally I don't agree with him, but I can't tell someone else that their opinions are wrong, because they're just that - opinions. It doesn't specifically matter to me if someone else watches it and thinks it is as bad as chrono makes it out to be - personally I was quite impressed with the same things he says that Macross fails at. I don't think I'd really need a detailed explanation as to why he thinks they were failures.

I was thinking that was supposed to be part of the San Francisco vibe.

If you're attending a concert, it will be interrupted by an attack (or at the very least you'll be hypnotized if its an AI performer).

Indeed. And I think it's always refreshing to have a hero who WANTS to pilot the mecha and fight. -Elektrix

How can you tell that Macross Frontier as a whole will be a verbatim retelling of the original Macross series? Just because the first episode plays out with many similarities (or at least to DYRL), I don't think we can tell much about what the overall series will be like/about.

Yeah...... "falling back in love" isn't really the way to put it, I don't think. More like maybe they put aside the sort of forced barrier between them and just ignore it, I guess.

I doubt that they are removing them wholesale; someone had to have flagged it.

I might be mis-remembering, but if I recall correctly, one of the sub-themes of Macross 7 was Max and Milia sort of "falling in love" again - if I recall how the arc worked, they were pretty much fighting and separated and getting divorced as the series opens. But by the end, they are teaming up again and fighting alongside each other, and I pretty much assumed it was implied they fell in love with each other again by the end.

Wow, those original subs were pretty bad then!