macross 7 ending

[mylene's fan]

what's everyone's thoughts and feelings on how the series wrapped up....?

[Mr March]

Funny you should ask. Just finished the series last week and wrapped up all the movies/ovas/leftovers this week. My thoughts and feelings on how the series wrapped up? In a word: awful. But there sure is some cool mecha. Any more than that will have to wait until later

[kanedaestes]

wait there was an ending? last i remembered it was like the protodevlin just stopped caring. sure they learned to make their own spiritia but it still sucked. It was like um okay our bad we are going home now, no big ending. It's the sopranos of the macross series lol.

[Keith]

I Loved it. The perfect culmination of the story. Basara moves his mountain, the PD don't destroy the galaxy, & accoustic Totsugeki Love Heart!

[Radd]

I thought it was a great ending. There were certainly some things I thought were mishandled, but those had less to do with the ending than how certain characters had been presented during the course of the series. Docker, Physicaa, and Kinryu all should have had a much bigger presence in the show, which would have made the ending all the more satisfying. Aside from Gigil, I think the writers also missed a lot of opportunities with the Protodevlin, which also restrained how good the series overall could be, but all things considered I loved the ending, from the moment Gamlin marched into the hospital, to the final notes fading out in the end song, I can watch that over and over again.

To me, a lot of the anime I watch seems to fall flat at the end, but I thought the end of M7 was one of it's high points, along with Gigil's death and the Operation Stargazer episodes, where all of the best parts of the show came together really well.

[Roy Focker]

Great in terms of character development. Look a Sivil's story. Starts off a crazy wild demon vampire sucking fairy witch and in the end she finds that she has the power to save her people. Seeing that she has the power gives the rest of the Protodevlin hope as well.

Poor in terms of humans and Zentran saving the day on their own with high power excitement and action.

[Exsedol]

There's a reason Encore and Dynamite were created Still no real closure of an ending though

Edited November 23, 2007 by Exsedol

[eugimon]

The show ended the only way it could, a didactic and pedantic rehashing of the same theme hammered into us over and over in every episode, every arc for the whole damn show with all the subtlety of a hammer to the back of the head.

Having said that, for an M7 episode, it was pretty cool. Basara singing his little heart out, some cool valkyrie violence

[Ginrai]

The only thing that bugged me was that they didn't really resolve the love triangle.

[VF5SS]

The fangirls know how it ended.

[Keith]

Kawamori always leaves wide open unresolved endings. Probably always will.

[Radd]

Actually, I was pretty happy with how the love story was handled. Like much about the series, it seemed very unusual for an anime.

[Valkyrie addict]

didn't like it

Macross 7 TV:

- Gepelnitch snatch Ivano's body, does he/she really needs it on the other galaxy? seems like a puny body, what happened to the Macross 5 and Megaroad 11 crew and mecha?? did the PD leave them? took them? what gives?

-one thing I dislike about the series was the inmortality of its characters...Gamlin crashes head on and doesn't even end up with a broken bone? Docker's VF-19 is destroyed but he's seen getting rescued on the salvage VF-19 wreckage at the credits, Dr Chiba knew that pilots drained of it's spiritia came back with music, why the hell didn't anyone realize they had to sing to Basara....Basara's VF-19 kai is destroyed by Gepelnitch and for a split second he's left in the air before Syvil arrives but yet, his cloth isn't torn? I mean, he received a shockwave that completely decimated a Mecha that can take up a direct missile hit but that shockwave doesn't even gives him a cut on the arm? but yet Kinryu, Physica and Dockers wingmen just died like that so easily?? as well as insignificance of their death, instead of 11 episodes of Basara singing planet dance like an idiot they could've at least used those episodes for character developement

- No love triangle resolved, why the hell would you prepare a love triangle and not solved it? seems pointless, might as well just based the show 100% around Basara and not have Mylene or Gamlin say a word, and still end up the same, would had saved a lot of production money

- Why didn't UN Spacy send reinforcement ever to the Macross 7 fleet??

7 Dynamite:

- 3 Lost meaningless episodes?? WTF????

7 The Galaxy is calling me:

- 4 words: indestructibles singing space whales... C'MON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

- what the fart did Gamlin and Mylene were meant to do in this OVA? Mylene just flew like an idiot on her ugly VF-11 MAXL, Gamlin just flew and walked looking for Basara like a retard and just fired a few shots on his inmensely superior VF-22S...and still, in the end, no love triangle unresolved, and why did they had to have a characted that looks the same as mylene, maybe they could've saved the budget on redrawing and rehiring the voices of Gamlin and Mylene and designed a new character, seriously

no offence to anyone, I know this show has it's fans, but for me, it's one of the most stupid anime I've seen

[Sumdumgai]

I liked Elma, even if she did seem like she was high on something or was a couple cans short of a six pack.

[mylene's fan]

how do people come up with basara liking mylene???

i don't think he likes her romantically. i just rewatched the last 2 eps and she didn't say to gamlin she wouldnt marry him,she only stated to him after he admitted that he was jealous that she cares so much about him, that yeah, she has strong feelings for both...

and well, in dynamite they still seem like they're casually dating as he gives her flowers at 2 or 3 performances...who said her feelings for basara was even romantic *he was on his death bed*? maybe, she just needs more time to fall in love with gamlin b/f she'll marry him...gamlin's obviously okay with letting her have more time to develop stronger feelings for him.

(((also want to point out that he didn't even think he was coming back alive))

[Ginrai]

Basara is a rock star. Rock stars don't love the hos.

[terry the lone wolf]

One word, MEH!!!!!!!!!!!This is one of the many reasons M7 will always be inferior to SDF MACROSS(maybe even ROBOTECH). No resolution to the Mylene/Basara/Gamlin triangle or even Max & Millia's story(just keep being the fighting exes plot going; that got old 13 episodes in). Juvenile story with plenty of ecchi jokes(Mylene's a dime piece! I get it ok!!!!).

[Keith]

Psst, Macross didn't have a resolution either, sure Misa & Hikaru "did" definatively end up together, damn near everything else was left open. The same is true for Plus. Kawamori doesn't do finite endings, and I respect his decision in doing so.

[jenius]

The unresolved love triangle didn't bother me so much. I don't really believe a love triangle even existed. It was just a bunch of unreturned love going on. Gamlin loved Mylene, Mylene loved Basara, Basara loved... his music. Mylene honestly has more familial love for Gamlin and she's torn because she knows Gamlin and some others want her to do more with it. At least with Minmay we knew she honestly wanted Hikaru in a romantic way.

The original SDF Macross definitely tied up many more loose ends than M7 and in fewer episodes but wasn't much of that due to tacking on the reconstruction episodes? If it ended at the rain of death I'd feel they were both equal.

[Morpheus]

I didn't like the ending since nobody dies....well except for those two protodevil that was sucked by Gepelnitch and they destroy Battle 7 .

I want Tomino to redo the ending

[Graham]

I've got no problem with the ending of M7 and I'm actually glad many threads were left unresolved. Much like real life, not everything gets wrapped up all nice and tidely all at once.

Graham

[Graham]

The fangirls know how it ended.

Heh, I like that pic and could probably see it happening, but not until after quite a few years when Mylene has had a chance to mature a bit.

Graham

[Keith]

I've got no problem with the ending of M7 and I'm actually glad many threads were left unresolved. Much like real life, not everything gets wrapped up all nice and tidely all at once.

Graham

Exactly. The only remaining M7 thread I'd like to see wrapped, is how the remodeled Battle 7 turned out. Max definately seemed quite bummed he had to sacrifice his ship.

[eugimon]

I've got no problem with the ending of M7 and I'm actually glad many threads were left unresolved. Much like real life, not everything gets wrapped up all nice and tidely all at once.

Graham

meh, it's a show about song weapons, transforming space planes and ancient space monsters, why interject real life at the end?

[Radd]

Why interject real life at all? Why not have the human characters flying around under their own power, and breathing in space, and reading minds! Saying that because some aspects of the show are unrealistic makes it unnecessary for any realism whatsoever has never been a good argument, and there are entire books on storytelling explaining why.

Besides, I'd say there was a certain element of realism in the character development throughout the entire M7 series, particularly in the way people around Basara responded to him as a character. Real world reactions of people on this very forum pretty well mirrored the in-show reactions of many characters, across the spectrum. Gamlin's slow growth as a character throughout the series, and the relationship between Basara, Mylene, and Gamlin I'd also say fall into that, and were pretty consistent throughout the series So it wasn't really something that popped up just at the end.

[Seven]

Who really cares about resolving a love triangle when you have a overbearing naggy jailbait, uninteresting predictable military bore, and a self absorbed jerk.

Yeah, I'm generalizing since Misa could be just as overbearing and naggy, Minmay was bubble-headed and selfish, and Hikaru just plain indecisive and spineless at times.

While the series as a whole doesn't rate high in my book, at least the ending ramped it up a little. Hearing Ivane Gepernitch and Sivil sing was like listening to nails scratching on chalkboard though. What's up with Gepernitch taking the human body and leaving its real body on ice?

[Radd]

What's up with Gepernitch taking the human body and leaving its real body on ice?

You mean reverting to a more human form? You do realize that the Protodevlin had no real bodies, right?

[eugimon]

Why interject real life at all? Why not have the human characters flying around under their own power, and breathing in space, and reading minds! Saying that because some aspects of the show are unrealistic makes it unnecessary for any realism whatsoever has never been a good argument, and there are entire books on storytelling explaining why.

Besides, I'd say there was a certain element of realism in the character development throughout the entire M7 series, particularly in the way people around Basara responded to him as a character. Real world reactions of people on this very forum pretty well mirrored the in-show reactions of many characters, across the spectrum. Gamlin's slow growth as a character throughout the series, and the relationship between Basara, Mylene, and Gamlin I'd also say fall into that, and were pretty consistent throughout the series So it wasn't really something that popped up just at the end.

well, when you spend the entire series setting up love triangles and other plot elements and just drop them at the end, it tends to feel kinda hollow. Imagine if at the end of the SW trilogy, lucas just dropped the vader as luke's dad plot line. Had luke keep talking about saving dad, but at the end it was never resolved. Realistic, sure, good story-telling? No.

[Radd]

That's a pretty poor analogy. Vader being Luke's dad was pretty central to the theme of the Star Wars trilogy from moment it was introduced. The love triangle in M7 didn't have any real impact on the central themes of the story at all. Suddenly dropping the Luke's Dad theme, or simply ignoring it at the end, would have been inconsistent with the characters as they were written and the story buildup throughout the movie series, whereas the way the love triangle in M7 is entirely consistent with those characters, and the way the series progressed it was never a given that the love triangle must be "resolved". That idea comes entirely from expectations and cliches so common in other shows.

[eugimon]

That's a pretty poor analogy. Vader being Luke's dad was pretty central to the theme of the Star Wars trilogy from moment it was introduced. The love triangle in M7 didn't have any real impact on the central themes of the story at all. Suddenly dropping the Luke's Dad theme, or simply ignoring it at the end, would have been inconsistent with the characters as they were written and the story buildup throughout the movie series, whereas the way the love triangle in M7 is entirely consistent with those characters, and the way the series progressed it was never a given that the love triangle must be "resolved". That idea comes entirely from expectations and cliches so common in other shows.

redeeming vader became the focal point of the movies after the prequels, but until then, it was the B plot to the "save the galaxy from tyranny" plot. Which makes it a damn good analogy to M7. M7's main plot was about saving the galaxy/defeating space monster. The recurring side plot was the love triangle, which was just dropped. Even "C" plots like Max and Miria got a nod.

M7, was not a "slice of life" type show, it wasn't a never-ending show, the characters in the love triangle weren't even defined by their relationships as in shows like seinfeld of ranma 1/2. Not resolving the love triangle doesn't show us anything about the characters nor do the characters grow out of it in any way. Basara is still self absorbed, as far as we knew gamlin still was a pedophile and mylene was still hung up on the two. Resolving story arcs is not a "cliche".

Again, that might be realistic to real life, but it wasn't consistent with the genre and it still doesn't make for good story-telling.

[Radd]

I doubt we're going to see eye to eye on this. Redeeming Vader wasn't exactly a tertiary thread to the Star Wars story until the prequels came about, it was a pretty central goal for Luke "There's good in him, I can feel it" Skywalker throughout Jedi. Whereas Mylene's love life coming to a nicely wrapped up conclusion was not at all necessary. No, the "redeeming Vader" aspect is much more closely analogous to Basara attempting to get people to understand his beliefs, or Gigil attempting to wake the sleeping Sivil.

In fact, I'd argue that Gamlin's actions and feelings at the end of the show, with how the love triangle remains unresolved, do, in fact, show us something about him and how he's grown as a character. Others have mentioned that in M7 threads in the past.

Also, resolving a love triangle is only one way to end a story arc, having the female lead decide she doesn't necessarily need to run to the arms of one or the other is another way to end a story arc (and I'd also argue that shows us something about her own character), and simply because it's uncommon in anime doesn't mean it's a poor way to do it. I'd also say it's less uncommon a way to end a story arc outside of anime, and that yes, anime does tend to have a very cliche way of handling romance.

[eugimon]

I doubt we're going to see eye to eye on this. Redeeming Vader wasn't exactly a tertiary thread to the Star Wars story until the prequels came about, it was a pretty central goal for Luke "There's good in him, I can feel it" Skywalker throughout Jedi. Whereas Mylene's love life coming to a nicely wrapped up conclusion was not at all necessary. No, the "redeeming Vader" aspect is much more closely analogous to Basara attempting to get people to understand his beliefs, or Gigil attempting to wake the sleeping Sivil.

In fact, I'd argue that Gamlin's actions and feelings at the end of the show, with how the love triangle remains unresolved, do, in fact, show us something about him and how he's grown as a character. Others have mentioned that in M7 threads in the past.

Also, resolving a love triangle is only one way to end a story arc, having the female lead decide she doesn't necessarily need to run to the arms of one or the other is another way to end a story arc (and I'd also argue that shows us something about her own character), and simply because it's uncommon in anime doesn't mean it's a poor way to do it. I'd also say it's less uncommon a way to end a story arc outside of anime, and that yes, anime does tend to have a very cliche way of handling romance.

Redeeming vader doesn't even come around until jedi. In a new hope, there's no mention of it, vader is just a bad guy. In ESB, vader is still a bad guy but revealed to be daddy, but nobody, including luke says anything about redeeming him. It's not until RoJ does redeem vader become important for luke, so it wasn't central to the story at all, until the prequels made it all about vader.

And I'll agree that Dynamite gives us resolution on the gamlin storyline, one I'm perfectly happy with. But if we look at JUST M7, that whole stoy line is just dropped. It's not that we get a resolution that isn't fan favorite or one that makes us shiny inside. And mylene doesn't choose herslef (which is fine), she doesn't choose not to choose (which is a cough out but still acceptable), it's just ignored. In other shows/movies where romantic threads aren't resolved, there's usually a reason for it. IE, the story is about the main character getting to the place where he/she is ready for love or what not. It's up to the viewer to imagine the eventual outcome. If M7 is attempting to do this, it does it very poorly.... again, M7 resolves the A and C plots, but doesn't even give a nod to the major B plot that ran through the entire story from start to finish.

anyways, I agree we're not going to agree on this anytime soon, so last post on this subject from me.

[mylene's fan]

ummm....again...some people pointed out that mylene didn't choose one or the other but she can't exactly choose basara if he's not in love with her....

besides, she and gamlin seem to be continuing to date in M7 (or am i alone in this?)

-erinn

[Exsedol]

Psst, Macross didn't have a resolution either, sure Misa & Hikaru "did" definatively end up together, damn near everything else was left open. The same is true for Plus. Kawamori doesn't do finite endings, and I respect his decision in doing so.

Umm Macross had a resolution. They wrapped up the love triangle and explained what they needed to do next in like a 15 minute bout of "Stfu and grow up minmay". Then the book closed. That is an ending.

[Zinjo]

You mean reverting to a more human form? You do realize that the Protodevlin had no real bodies, right?

That always puzzled me, how could he continue to be some sort of doomsday weapon if he didn't have his EVIL series body?

Same with Gigile! How could he destory a planet without his EVIL Series body?