Macross Frontier Episode 9 Talkback Thread *READ 1st Post*

[d3v]

It's not ridiculous at all when you remember how the Vajra in episode one destroys a fully powered crusier (that isn't just a derelict) with one shot from it's gun. Strangely, it never fires this gun again or do the same ridiculous damage.

It did twice in episode 4, one shot missed Alto and Klan and grazed the wreck they were on, the second barely missed Klan (right before Alto owns it with the dead Zentraedi's gun).

[taksraven]

It's not ridiculous at all when you remember how the Vajra in episode one destroys a fully powered crusier (that isn't just a derelict) with one shot from it's gun. Strangely, it never fires this gun again or do the same ridiculous damage.

Already noted, the Vajra have NEVER been as deadly as what they were in the first episode. (Yes, I know that the SMS and others are better at fighting them now, etc.)

Actually, I was pretty happy with how they appeared in the latest episode, but I did think it was weird the way the red one chickened out after Mikhail missed him. Just a bit odd.

Taksraven

[Keith]

Not weird at all of the Vajra turn out to be pilotted mecha, especially since pilot skills vary.

[d3v]

Actually, from what we've seen, the big red Vajra's main advantage is that regular rounds don't seem to penetrate their outer shell meaning it either takes energy weapons of a boatload of missiles.

[foolworm]

Good heavens... What the heck is that sleazy agent doing with Ranka?

Selling carrots in a Zentradi shopping mall? Handing out tissues on the streets in a bikini?

She should dump him right away and get a better manager - she deserves no less!

I seriously considered voting negative simply because of that second-rate tramp, he pissed me off so much.

Other than that... Meh, Gundam-esque angst and the usual shipping, although Klan slapping Mikhail's Valkyrie was funny.

Edited May 31, 2008 by foolworm

[d3v]

Good heavens... What the heck is that sleazy agent doing with Ranka?

Selling carrots in a Zentradi shopping mall? Handing out tissues on the streets in a bikini?

She should dump him right away and get a better manager - she deserves no less!

I seriously considered voting negative simply because of that second-rate tramp, he pissed me off so much.

But without him, we wouldn't have witnessed Bobby being GAR again!

[RichterX]

Good heavens... What the heck is that sleazy agent doing with Ranka?

Selling carrots in a Zentradi shopping mall? Handing out tissues on the streets in a bikini?

She should dump him right away and get a better manager - she deserves no less!

I seriously considered voting negative simply because of that second-rate tramp, he pissed me off so much.

Other than that... Meh, Gundam-esque angst and the usual shipping, although Klan slapping Mikhail's Valkyrie was funny.

Well you have to consider that pretty much any big publicity that they have tried has been blocked by Leon and probably any other agency would not go with Ranka for the same reason.

[junior]

In episode 4 when the Vajra arrived, it announced its presence by blowing a massive chunk out of the wrecked Zentraedi warship that Alto and Clan Clan had been standing on. From the look of things, it basically vaporized roughly a quarter of the wrecked hull. The big gun seems to still work fine.

It's just that the Vajra haven't had the opportunity to use it on the appropriate kind of target since then. Fighters don't sit still the way that capital ships do, and as a result it's probably hard to use the cannon on them at full power.

Brera's casual destruction of the nest as he fled emphasized to me something that I mentioned earlier - i.e. that he could have destroyed the nest at any time if he'd wanted to (particularly if he'd done so before he attacked Clan Clan, since she would have initially assumed he was friendly and hesitated in attacking him), but instead chose to "play" with the SMS pilots for some unknown reason.

After watching the GG sub, something caught my attention during Sheryl's conversation with Alto. Sheryl mentions to Alto that she wanted to try going to school just once. When Alto calls attention to this statement, she clarifies it by saying that she meant attending school on Frontier.

Slip of the tongue on her part? Or did she genuinely just mean Frontier? And what about her background would make her afraid to admit that she didn't attend a school on Galaxy?

[foolworm]

Meh, Bobby would have done the job regardless of whoever the agent was. He looks like the smooth, greasy type - remember how he talked his way into persuading Ozuma to let Ranka go ahead? I tell you, behind the bumbling personality is a real double-dealing lowlife crook, but then again there's plenty of show to go, so I might change my mind about him.

If there's anything I've learned from Macross, show managers are not to be trusted - anywhere, anytime.

[taksraven]

Good heavens... What the heck is that sleazy agent doing with Ranka?

Selling carrots in a Zentradi shopping mall? Handing out tissues on the streets in a bikini?

She should dump him right away and get a better manager - she deserves no less!

I seriously considered voting negative simply because of that second-rate tramp, he pissed me off so much.

Other than that... Meh, Gundam-esque angst and the usual shipping, although Klan slapping Mikhail's Valkyrie was funny.

You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Well since there does not seem to be any sort of "Macross Idol" (apart from Miss Macross, which was clearly about more than singing (.) (.) ), there would be few easy ways for singers to kickstart their careers. Actually if you talked to most people in the entertainment industry today you would probably find that unless you have "connections" or "relations" in the industry already, it is VERY hard to get started.

* Ever wonder how Mr Scary Christian Slater got into the industry? Ask his mother, Mary Jo Slater, who is one of the top casting agents in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jo_Slater

* Ever wonder how nutjobs like Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez got into the industry, ask their father, Martin.

* Ever wonder how ugly cows who can't act like Tori Spelling get into the industry, just ask her father Aaron Spelling, a major TV producer. (Ok, its pretty tough to ask him about it these days.)

* Ever wonder how Ok looking blocks of wood like Angelina Jolie got started, ask her father, Jon Voight.

And so on, and so on.........

Taksraven

[taksraven]

Slip of the tongue on her part? Or did she genuinely just mean Frontier? And what about her background would make her afraid to admit that she didn't attend a school on Galaxy?

Well, she IS clearly literate, so she has had some sort of education. Maybe home-schooling, or self taught?

Taksraven

[Kronnang Dunn]

After watching that commercial about Sheryl I'm in the boat that she climbs into a vf-25 later in the series. Although I think SK is going to try to redeem himself some and make her a pilot not a flying concert.

Redeem? AFAIK Macross 7 was quite the success in Japan...

Doesn't anyone else find it suspicious that the nest was on a Guantanamo class carrier?

Yes, yes I do. But I bet it was from the 117th.

U mean this ship? So the nest was in a N.U.N.S. Carrier... Interesting... The plot thickens...

Edited May 31, 2008 by Kronnang Dunn

[Suzuran]

I'm sad to see Gattai go on the subs. GG are speedsubbers and the translation was kind of bad.

When they were talking about how water was scarce, instead of saying that the Vajra was the cause of scarcity, they said the Vajra was the source of POVERTY? Huh?

And you think you know enough Japanese to judge subs? Don't think so.

He says 窮乏 which means poverty.

[ComicKaze]

And you think you know enough Japanese to judge subs? Don't think so.

He says 窮乏 which means poverty.

You're right, I don't know enough Japanese but direct transliterations in many cases don't make much sense in the overall context.

"But... In a drawn-out battle, all kinds of resources, especially water, become short in supply. The issue with the Vajra is not the only problem we have. As I have been saying, the Vajra are responsible for the poverty."

That really makes no sense at all to me. Are they trying to say that Vajra are causing a scarcity in resources or perhaps 窮乏 is referring to the Vajra being responsible for a current economic recession??? BTW, watching that scene again let me catch Sheryl's manager watching the meeting which I didn't notice before. Cool!

Edited May 31, 2008 by ComicKaze

[ComicKaze]

Redeem? AFAIK Macross 7 was quite the success in Japan...

U mean this ship? So the nest was in a N.U.N.S. Carrier... Interesting... The plot thickens...

Sounds more and more like Aliens everyday. NUNS or the government or perhaps even some military/industrial capitalist company is experimenting with aliens and they break out.

Edited May 31, 2008 by ComicKaze

[d3v]

Sounds more and more like Aliens everyday. NUNS or the government or perhaps even some military/industrial capitalist company is experimenting with aliens and they break out.

Yes, I've been getting the same vibe from the past few episodes. All signs right now are pointing towards the Galaxy (or perhaps their corporate backers). At the same time, I believe that, sleazy as he is, Leon is as much in the dark as we are.

Edited May 31, 2008 by d3v

[Suzuran]

Poverty doesn't just refer to scarce in money but generally.

Now that you mention that scene, can we assume that Grace is kind of related to Vajra? Maybe she is a Vajra herself.

[badboy00z]

The 27 is sick. Transforms just like the 25.

[info600]

Oh, I forgot. The other bit of the episode I really liked was Alto's flashback sepia image of his father beating him up. That backstory needs to be explored some more (and I'm sure it will be). Child abuse, as disgusting as it is, can lead to some conflicts of Shakespearean proportions. It also makes the story more grounded in the real world. And very dark too. There was sooooooooooo much going on in this episode.

with Klan Klan and Michel's back story starting back from a nasty remark from K.K. (lazy me) in ep.7, i wouldn't surprised that they continue to slide in more material for more back stories

...

as for the overall plot...jsut wow...if it's THAT simple to extrapolate information like that for a guess this far out...

Edited May 31, 2008 by info600

[Vegas]

sounds like grace was the one who gave orders to brera to destroy the nest

[Kronnang Dunn]

sounds like grace was the one who gave orders to brera to destroy the nest

Yes!!!

Poverty doesn't just refer to scarce in money but generally.

Now that you mention that scene, can we assume that Grace is kind of related to Vajra? Maybe she is a Vajra herself.

No way. She is a cyborg. Brera is a cyborg. I still think she is the one pulling Brera's strings and maybe she talked about Michael's sister on purpose. What faction they belong to is beyond me, but judging by their methods must be the bad guys... (end-justify-the-means types... the worst ones...). AFAIK they must have come from Galaxy... (Grace is from Galaxy and the VF-27 has Galaxy NUNS logos on it).

The Vajra are living weapons... and perhaps an experiment/research on some creations of the Protoculture by NUNS that went horribly wrong...

I used to believe they were PC controlled, but now I think that... while the Vajra were indeed created by PC, they are now being used or experimented upon by NUNS or some other party (Corporates? Weyland Yutani? SMS? Anti-NUNS? endless possibilities...).

Edited May 31, 2008 by Kronnang Dunn

[grss1982]

uhmmmmm...anybody tried the Chihiro subs?

Never heard of thi group before.

ALSO....Is gg taking over Gattai in subbing Macross Frontier episodes?

[junior]

At the same time, I believe that, sleazy as he is, Leon is as much in the dark as we are.

Leon knows something about Ranka, though. And he had a reason to cover up the VF-27 that we're not aware of. So I'm pretty confident that he does know more than we do.

He's also probably plotting with Mr. Bilrer, and it's possible that Leon only knows the bare minimum (i.e. just a little more than we do) and Bilrer is the one with all of the real information.

Well, she IS clearly literate, so she has had some sort of education. Maybe home-schooling, or self taught?

But then why deny it? That's the puzzling thing. Alto already knows that she had a screwed up childhood. So if she really did manage to get through growing up on Galaxy without going to school, then why deny it? If it was a slip of the tongue, then there has to be something about when she was growing up that she'd rather not have Alto know. And that begs the question, "Why?"

[Duke Togo]

Sounds more and more like Aliens everyday. NUNS or the government or perhaps even some military/industrial capitalist company is experimenting with aliens and they break out.

Weiland Yutani for the win!

[d3v]

Leon knows something about Ranka, though. And he had a reason to cover up the VF-27 that we're not aware of. So I'm pretty confident that he does know more than we do.

Yet he still seems a bit in the dark about the whole thing and I've a feeling that he's not totally aware of Brera or of Grace spying on them.

[ma2ha3]

Remember the first Vajra's main cannon destroyed an entire crusier with one shot in episode 1 (and then mysteriously was never that powerful again)

yeah that was what piss me off too

plot canon

totally untrue and unrealistic.

i think grace is a varja spy, so is ranka and brera

but since ranka memory was affected, so she did not work for varja, but once she recover her memory, she will remember her mission.

[madeyoulook]

anybody else dislike michael? Seems like an a-hole/d-bag mixed into one to me

So I did not enjoy this michael centric episode

It was nice to see Brera in action though and Sheryl doing yoga or whatever that was

[Shun]

Redeem? AFAIK Macross 7 was quite the success in Japan...

Problem is many people here don't like M7, so just let them go on with their imagination that M7 is considered crappy by everybody.

[Shun]

anybody else dislike michael? Seems like an a-hole/d-bag mixed into one to me

So I did not enjoy this michael centric episode

It was nice to see Brera in action though and Sheryl doing yoga or whatever that was

Michel was putting up a strong front, including being a flirt and a bully, to hide his troubled mind.

On the other hand, i'm getting sick of Alto's temper - he flares up so easily, and always picking a fight with Michel (and usually end up losing ) and in fact everyone else, so much anger in him... he'll make a very strong sith

but i guess it must be due to his past and relationship with his father, but still, i'd like to see him cut down on his anger.

[Bill C.]

Usually, though--if you're the hotheaded young hero--it either takes the love of a good woman or a devastating loss to make you calm down...

[Duke Togo]

i think grace is a varja spy, so is ranka and brera

Yeah, I don't quite get that. I am curious as to what your thinking is on the subject. The "triangle" in Macross hasn't only been a romantic one, we generally have three parties that are, in some sense, against each other, but in the end two of them unite to defeat the third. In Macross F, I see this as the Frontier, the Galaxy, and the Vajra. But this is only my opinion, how are you seeing this?

[nemesis_trooper]

we will not be talking about it, if the maker of this anime target audience are wholesome kids, but actually young adult to old adult.

they put all these things in, so we talk about it. green squirrel in fresh panties, sheryl nude in concert, sheryl half naked in emergency shelter, klan klan huge knockers after conversion and shower in school with blur glass to trigger the imagination.

yeah that bathing scene/fresh panties-chase got me into a whole lotta difficulty that day...the long suffering gf was convinced i was watching hentai (which was a fair enough mistake to make given that episode had no mecha innit!!!).

[ma2ha3]

yeah that bathing scene/fresh panties-chase got me into a whole lotta difficulty that day...the long suffering gf was convinced i was watching hentai (which was a fair enough mistake to make given that episode had no mecha innit!!!).

In japan it is perfectly normal for adult and older adult to watch hentai. On film, tv, newspaper and magazine.

so tell your gf to give you a break.

[ma2ha3]

Yeah, I don't quite get that. I am curious as to what your thinking is on the subject. The "triangle" in Macross hasn't only been a romantic one, we generally have three parties that are, in some sense, against each other, but in the end two of them unite to defeat the third. In Macross F, I see this as the Frontier, the Galaxy, and the Vajra. But this is only my opinion, how are you seeing this?

varja want to look for ranka

ranka have something in her tummy, bright and large

ranka have memory problem, only remember a song

brera is interested in her, brera play the same song, brera working for grace

grace spy on president and battle with varja

these 3 therefore is a link to VARJA.

[ackem]

But then why deny it? That's the puzzling thing. Alto already knows that she had a screwed up childhood. So if she really did manage to get through growing up on Galaxy without going to school, then why deny it? If it was a slip of the tongue, then there has to be something about when she was growing up that she'd rather not have Alto know. And that begs the question, "Why?"

She may have grown up as an urchin in one of the Galaxy slums so she could be keeping her history secret as part of the "Sheryl" image. She's pretty intelligent so it wouldn't be surprising if she had a condensed education once she was scouted.