Basara Nekki

[azrael]

Are you 2 done? If not, take it to PM.

[Reïvaj]

How about wall agree that Guld was the only kamikaze pilot to not return

Yeah, I agree with that. Guld's the only one.

[ff95gj]

How about wall agree that Guld was the only kamikaze pilot to not return

And Kinryu too I would say. Although it is totally understandable that he is so forgettable.

[Reïvaj]

And Kinryu too I would say. Although it is totally understandable that he is so forgettable.

Very true, I had completely forgotten him!

[Keith]

An epic moment that wouldn't have been possible without Basara.

[Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX]

Wouldn't have been possible without proto devlin either ...

[Reïvaj]

Don't forget Mr. Kawamori either.

[VF-15 Banshee]

Seems the poll is almost even so people are still pretty divided on Basara.

How about this: Basara is cool even Sheryl wants to sing with him.

Edited October 8, 2011 by VF-15 Banshee

[VFTF1]

Seems the poll is almost even so people are still pretty divided on Basara.

How about this: Basara is cool even Sheryl wants to sing with him.

No, the poll is just distorted. If you add those who "like" Bassara to those who want to have his love child, Bassara clearly has more positive ratings ("like" and "want his love child" are both affirmations) than he does negatives.

The poll is biased against Basara

And...my two cents on the kamikaze thing:

Insofar as I cann tell, almost NONE of the Macross pilots were Kamikaze except Guild and (maybe) Kinru. Kamikaze is flying into the enemy/running into the enemy with the INTENTION of giving up your life/commiting suicide for the purpose of killing/damaging the enemy as well.

Most Macross pilots, like most soldiers DO RISK their lives - but they don't go into battle for the express purpose of getting killed to achieve their strategic or tactical goals.

Basara certainly did not fly into battle as a kamikaze - and neither did Hikaru, Shin, Alto or almost anybody else. Guild - as far as I can tell - did for sure. He decided it was the only way to beat the ghost and give Isamu the opening to save Myung. Kinriu...i am not sure...I don't think he definitively intended on dying - but he was pretty clearly ready to give up his life to save Macross 7. I think that maybe if he could have someone escaped while achieving his goal - he would have...

Anyways - it's all beside the point. Basarra never cared about the military or strategic ramifications of his actions anyways. He didn't think in those terms because military terms bread eternal conflict.

Basarra wanted to think of the Macross colonies as primarily missions of Culture. He realized that it was ultimately Lyn Minmey who saved Earth and not armed force. He viewed all of the Macross colony vessels as primarily becons of culture for the universe.

Pete

Pete

[Reïvaj]

I fully agree.

[VF-18S Hornet]

Cof cof* Just one: Why does M7 sucks so much????

Seriously Basara is a really cool character 'til he opens his mouth. (to talk of course. I actually like some fire bomber tunes)The only one more annoying than him is Mylene and the cousin itt's bastard child she calls gubaba.

Pheeeew! I lost my breath, wait I am typing not talking.

Maybe you were talking while you were typing, FYI you know

[mikeszekely]

The best characters are dynamic. They start at point A, and are affected by the events of the story. They learn, they grow, and they change, reaching point B.

Basara is a lousy character. He's static beyond belief. He starts the story with an extreme notion of pacifism that he forces on everyone around him. He selfishly risks his life and the lives of others to prove his ideal by singing at enemy attackers, convinced that music will connect them in an emotional or spiritual way that will magically make everyone lay down their weapons and be friends.

A dynamic character would grow from that. Maybe he'd learn that not every enemy can be reasoned with. Maybe he'd learn that some things are worth fighting for. Maybe he'd learn that different cultures have different ideas about music. Maybe he'd even learn to communicate with an alien mind via music, only to find that they have nothing in common.

Instead, not only does Basara remain basically the same at the end of the story as when they started, his idealism is totally vindicated, because they happened to be fighting the one enemy in the universe that could learn to make it's own food from Basara's music.

[Actar]

The best characters are dynamic. They start at point A, and are affected by the events of the story. They learn...

That's definitely one way to see it. However, you can also say that Basara is an extremely strong and passionate character who holds fast to his beliefs and doesn't let anyone tell him otherwise.

[Radd]

I still enjoy the show, and Basara as a character, but I can understand why so many don't and why the show tends to divide Macross fans.

A part of the problem is that Basara's ideals aren't necessarily so limited that they would only work in the very specific circumstances set up by the story, it's just that the way the story ultimately developed makes it seem that way. Setting it up so that the resolution was "Hey, we can make our food from singing!" kinda actually works against selling the themes Basara represents by making it too convenient in a way that, magically resolves the source of the conflict, the Protodevlin's need for life energy as their food to survive. Basara's driving conviction being, of course, that if we just listen to each other we can work things out.

I do like how people react to Basara throughout the show, I felt that worked very strongly to the show, and Basara as a character's favour, but ultimately it was overshadowed by the resolution in the final episodes.

Like, they could have done so much more with the way everyone reacts to Basara, and Basara developing not necessarily his core convictions, but his approach to reaching people throughout the story.

They also could have done more with the resolution to make it less "hey, we can make food from Basara's song" to "hey, these humans can help us make our own food rather than being our food!" and altered the way "spiritua" was presented, from "magical" energy source to something more believable. All without changing the core themes and principles of the show.

[Keith]

Common misconception: Basara doesn't believe that fighting is necessary at all. Basara openly admits that there are those who need to fight. He doesn't smack the gunpods out of anyones hands, and he doesn't block any allied misisle attacks. He never goes into Macross cannon firing range yelling "you musn't kill anybody."

What Basara does do is jump right in with the fighters and uses music competatively. The other teams may fight, but Sound Force sings, etc. In-fact the only person Basara ever stops from using deadly force is Mylene. As a member of Fire Bomber, and later a member of Sound Force, "she" is not allowed to use force.

You guys act like Basara took out the freakin' gunship.

[Renato]

he doesn't block any allied misisle attacks.

He did in "The Galaxy is Calling Me", punctuating his action with the line, "missiles are stupid".

[Keith]

Missile are stupid, and useless against Natter Valgo, especially in a civilian area.

Edited November 1, 2011 by Keith

[ff95gj]

That's definitely one way to see it. However, you can also say that Basara is an extremely strong and passionate character who holds fast to his beliefs and doesn't let anyone tell him otherwise.

According to my literature knowledge, the protogonast is almost always dynamic - and for a good reason.

Changes are what make a story interesting. You see character develops and solves problem by adapting.

If we are using a car racing video game as analog; "dynamic" means you turn and drift a lot to create new records for every lap.

M7 is a broad, straight racing track for Basara to ride. Or worse yet, wherever Basara steers towards, the road winds in that direction. He keeps doing the same thing, and it all works out for him somehow.

[JB0]

Or worse yet, wherever Basara steers towards, the road winds in that direction. He keeps doing the same thing, and it all works out for him somehow.

Basara is a NASCAR driver?

[sketchley]

Basara is a NASCAR driver?

Listen to my tire squeal!

[Keith]

Again, get over it. Basaara is right all along, it's damn near everyone else who has to go for the ride of discovery.

[VF5SS]

Isn't some inexplicable coincidence involving music the driving force behind almost every Macross?

Yeah Basara does charge in to the thick of things a lot but I don't fault him for having Justy Ueki Tyler or Chirico Cuvie levels of luck.

[Reïvaj]

Episode 09: Angel Night. Snapshot 01:47

[ff95gj]

Episode 09: Angel Night. Snapshot 01:47

I didn't know she is so wise.

[Gian]

I like Basara, and Sheryl, they have similar personalities.

I love the fact that they just want to sing with all their hearts even fighting a lot of troubles and misfortunate events.

[shiroth]

If you wanted to see Basara develop more, then it should have had more songs.

& of course, i voted a yes. I love the guy, though wouldn't go as far as to have his babies.

[JB0]

Again, get over it. Basaara is right all along, it's damn near everyone else who has to go for the ride of discovery.

And it would be a far more interesting show if the spotlight was on their ride of discovery instead of Basara's aural force of nature.

I am still amused by the repeated torture of Gamlin at the hands/vocal cords of Basara, though.

[d3v]

Basara is an awesome artist, but as a person, he's a bit of a prick.

Off course, just like the whole series itself, Basara is hurt by the fact that M7 went on for as long as it did. Had we not had to sit through that many eps with him being who he was, he might not have been as annoying.

P.S.

On the other hand though, there is the theory that he's basically a deconstruction of the 90's hot-blooded shounen hero and how rather annoying the archetype actually is.

P.P.S.

BOMBAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

[Gubaba]

P.S.

On the other hand though, there is the theory that he's basically a deconstruction of the 90's hot-blooded shounen hero and how rather annoying the archetype actually is.

Sorry to nit-pick, but I really hate it when the word "deconstruction" is misused in that way. Deconstruction is a method of READING texts, not WRITING or CREATING them.

[Reïvaj]

While I think you're basically right, I also think the use of the word “deconstruction” has evolved to mean the opposite as well, e.g. the construction of something that can be read by observing its constitutive parts separately, as was the 90´s architectural style Deconstructivism.

Having said that, I don’t think there isn’t any deconstruction regarding Basara because he’s showed in a very one dimensional way along the whole show.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Reïvaj

[Killer Robot]

"Deconstruction" is a term that's been also applied to the writing of genre fiction in particular since before Macross 7 was even made. That said, Macross 7 was very much played straight, and Basara was expected to be taken as an straight-up hero if of an unusual mold, rather than written to call the traditional foundations of the heroic archetype into question.

[Keith]

I don't get where some of you are saying "Basara is a prick." He's not pissing in anyones cereal, or badmouthing anyone in general. He teases Mylene, but that's more in a sibling way than anything. Basara is no more a prick than Isamu, Roy, or Michel.

[JB0]

Roy, Isamu, and Micheal had some degree of character development and backstory, too. And only Isamu was a lead character.

[Castel]

Do you love or hate Basara and if so... why?

No love, no hate.

Macross 7 never happened.

That kind of thing...

...NEVER happened.

NEVER I SAY !!

[Zinjo]

But suddenly singing can solve every problem. It projected beams, behaved as a shield, it chased away monsters. It simply worked with every crisis. Then Basara became a hero. (If you replace Basara with an iPod, it may also work.)

I would personally pay for THAT reboot with my own money..

Though I would be the first to say Basara is not a real character, but more a force of nature akin to a plot device that other character's grow "around". He really doesn't fit any common measure of a lead character because there is zero personal growth.

He is also a very provocative character, that is evident by the passionate opposition or support of the character every time he is brought up around here...

Edited November 9, 2011 by Zinjo