Macross

[Oihan]

I finally finished the entire series a couple nights ago. I must say the original is so much better than Robotech's "The Macross Saga," like everyone tends to say. I felt more moved watching the original than I did TMS. The scene in "Bye-Bye Mars" where Misa find's Riber's room is so much more emotional than it is in TMS. Macross just blows R:TMS away in that aspect...and in every other aspect as well for that matter...in my opinion. Anyway...I digress.

About nine minutes and four seconds (09:04) into the episode is where I thought the episode started to get good.... 10 mins and 20 seconds into the episode, where Misa tells Hikaru of the "Space Emigration Project," I felt the episode couldn't get any better. 25 seconds later, "Violin of Tears" starts playing (I love that musical piece!) and I started to get the chills.... It wasn't until I was 10 mins and 58 seconds into the episode where I just melted for the rest of the scene (for lack of better words).... It's where Hikaru goes after Misa and Minmay tries to stop Hikaru.... I think the whole 3 minute scene was the best part of the whole episode.... After 11 minutes and 30 seconds into the episode...I just think the episode took a nose dive. I don't feel convinced enough that Hikaru chose Misa over Minmay. It leaves me thinking "who the hell did he really choose in the end?" You don't see him say "I love you" back to Misa...and the best we get is "a girl like Minmay can't be tied down to a guy like me" as an explanation as to why he isn't going after Minmay.... I mean...what the hell? There's nothing really there to suggest his feelings for Misa. The only clue that I feel 's given to me, about his feelings for Misa, is when he ends up running after Misa and Minmay begs him not to. ...I just think the episode ended poorly and I just wish they didn't end the series like that. ...Anyway, I'm done ranting.

Edit: Edited for some grammar...I'm sure there are more grammatical mistakes in there though.

Edited February 20, 2005 by Oihan

[Die, Alien Scum!]

The best thing about SDF Macross episode 36 is that there's no episodes 37 through 85 cannibalized and bastardized from other anime series.

[eugimon]

I think part of it is that for most asian cultures, such big declarations of love and emotion is pretty much frowned updn. that hiakru chose to leave minmay behind would have been enough of a declaration for misa...

having said that, I think even the creators of SDF Macross felt the same way.. since DYRL makes the choice much more clear and is again reinforced in flashback2012.

I think also to an extent... it wasn't that hikaru didn't love minmay.. perhaps even loved her more, but that he realized that in chosing to love minmay, he couldn't be true to himself and his calling... that Misa was a better fit for him, someone with whome he would find a better long term relationship. Minmay is Hikaru's first love... Misa is a more mature and fullfilling kind of love.

[Oihan]

I think part of it is that for most asian cultures, such big declarations of love and emotion is pretty much frowned updn. that hiakru chose to leave minmay behind would have been enough of a declaration for misa...

having said that, I think even the creators of SDF Macross felt the same way.. since DYRL makes the choice much more clear and is again reinforced in flashback2012.

I think also to an extent... it wasn't that hikaru didn't love minmay.. perhaps even loved her more, but that he realized that in chosing to love minmay, he couldn't be true to himself and his calling... that Misa was a better fit for him, someone with whome he would find a better long term relationship. Minmay is Hikaru's first love... Misa is a more mature and fullfilling kind of love.

I've seen DYRL and Flashback....I know what happens there. I just wish it was made clearer in the last episode, as to what his real feelings are for Misa. And I'm sure the footage we've all seen is the same...so I know that Hikaru loves Minmay.... It's just I don't think he professed his true feelings enough for Misa in that last episode.... But you've answered that with Asian culture, which I did not know of.

Edit: Had to add a few parts of speech to my sentences.

Edited February 21, 2005 by Oihan

[JB0]

I think part of it is that for most asian cultures, such big declarations of love and emotion is pretty much frowned updn. that hiakru chose to leave minmay behind would have been enough of a declaration for misa...

having said that, I think even the creators of SDF Macross felt the same way.. since DYRL makes the choice much more clear and is again reinforced in flashback2012.

I think also to an extent... it wasn't that hikaru didn't love minmay.. perhaps even loved her more, but that he realized that in chosing to love minmay, he couldn't be true to himself and his calling... that Misa was a better fit for him, someone with whome he would find a better long term relationship. Minmay is Hikaru's first love... Misa is a more mature and fullfilling kind of love.

I've seen DYRL and Flashback....I know what happens there. I just wish it was made clearer in the last episode. And I'm sure the footage we've all seen is the same...so I know that Hikaru loves Minmay.... It's just I don't think he professed his true feelings enough in that last episode.... But you've answered that with Asian culture, which I did not know of.

Anyways, the events of that last episode, with Minmay trying to get him to quit flying and such, made it clear to Hikaru that he and Minmay lived in diffrent worlds, like he said before the end of Space War 1.

It's a running thread through the entire series, Minmay and Hikaru diverging apart.

At first they're just 2 teenagers thrown into a strange new situation.

Later Hikaru becomes a fighter pilot and Minmay becomes a star, and they drift apart untill there's just no longer any common ground*.

The Minmay from the beginning of the story never would've asked Hikaru to stop flying. She understood what it meant to him.

*Not that that stopped Max and Millia, but who knows WHAT those 2 were thinking.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

Yeah it got to a point where minmay wanted to quit her carreer as a singer just so Hikaru and her could live in peace away from the war, and her fame which was getting to a point where she couldn't stand having no privacy and being busy 24/7 all the time which was depressing her. Especially considering after the holocaust there were FAR more important things and no luxurious living - it would kind of be like the people on Survivor who are all cranky and tired and hungry and overworked. The pop idol would still be famous but how can you sing happy songs if you are not really feeling happy and the world was gone?

I think in the end when Kamjin was going to blow up the remaining humans and destroy SDF1 (which was one of the last non-"damaged-beyond-repair" advanced piece of tech the humans had left - with kamjins ship taking ages to repair before being able to finally get flying again) it sent a strong enough message that Hikaru had a much more important duty to consider seeing as him and and misa need to protect the culture that minmay brings to the zentradi (and also hope to the people living in a war ravaged world).

Minmay then realised herself how important service to others was and when the sdf1 rose into the air 1 last time, (with everyone cheering from the bomb shelters, I guess that was the point she must have changed her mind about settling down to a quiet life and seeing what this protecting cultue thing is all about and how Hikaru has changed and matured.

Yeah Hikaru loved minmay, but ever since the time they were stranded together under the sdf1 you got the feeling he was mainly attracted to her looks, (they are just kids) and as you get older you tend to break up with people for reasons that are not superficial. Like: are your interest matched together? Real life is not like the movies where you just kiss and declare your indying passion forever. I thought minmay behaved too melodramatically towards Hikaru in the part where she thought they were going to die together, and then after the rescue her attitude changed, making Hikaru feel as if he was used and that Minmay only acted intimately towards him for that brief period just because he was the only one there, not because she really loved HIM. (remember how suddenly happy she was being lifted out of there?)

In some ways the Hikaru you see in the series illustrates the "WHY?" he picked Misa over Minmay, much better than the movie does - which just has him saying he chose Misa but gives no reason: Maybe Hikaru banged her when they were stranded in the PC ruins on earth and he got further involved than he did with minmay?

I mentioned in another thread that if it weren't for claudia helping to unleash the vulnerable feminine side (the part that was hidden) of Misa, the story would be totally different and Hikaru would have assumed Misa hated his guts. I don't think he realised that Misa was being mean to him half the time only because she was actually jealous of minmay and wanted him for herself.

OT:

Also I thought it was really funny the way they handled post-sw I events in robotech's "robotech II: Sentinels" where minmay is STILL depressed about "Rick" choosing Misa/Lisa over her at the wedding. lol If anyone has the robotech dvd with the sentinels episodes, then watching this can be a good alternate universe retelling of what could have happened when they left on megaroad.

Edited February 21, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[JB0]

I think that Hikaru and Minmay COULD have made it work at first.

But between misunderstandings that neither side ever attempted to clear up and the ever-busier shedules of a rising star and a military pilot protecting a city essentially under siege, what bond they had forged in those 2 weeks alone in the ship's basement was stretched thinner and thinner.

They weren't just friends when they were rescued, they only became just friends later as their own problems, schedules, and misinterpreted events pulled them away from each other.

When you don't see each other for months at a time, and when you DO see them they're doing something like kissing their half-cousin, it tends to put a damper on the relationship.

At the end they were still friends, but there just wasn't a strong enough bond for a stronger relationship than that.