Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 1 - READ 1st POST

[Dio]

Just gonna say, despite the differences from previous series and individual elements that I would neither expect nor include in a Macross series if I were writing it from scratch, Delta still feels like Macross to me. It's the intangible X-factor that, were I to try to define it in detail, I would quickly find contradictions to shoot it down.

To put it another way, there are pieces of every Macross that I have to overlook in order to accept them. If a one-time magical girl sequence (that may well be tongue-in-cheek) and a Valkyrie-riding singer (who may get some context in upcoming episodes) is all I have to gloss over when I look back on this series, I will be quite happy.

[Zinjo]

I pulled up some JP macross blogs and twitter... the japanese feedback in regards to AKB-similarity is pretty funny

==================

AKB0048の3期が始まったかと思ったwww

I thought the 3rd season of AKB started lol

マクロスの放送時間だと思ってたらAKB0048だったんだが。

It was time to watch macross but I was seeing AKB

歌姫が戦うせいで、すごくAKBっぽい

っていうか、今の河森がやりたいのがああいうことなのかな？

Battling Songstresses, totally AKB-like. Is this the direction Kawamori wants to go?

むしろ、女だけのマクロスは見てみたいな

ただ、AKBみたいにするのは勘弁な

Like really? It's like all girly girl macross. Making it like AKB48...Gimme a break.

AKB0048を思い出すなあ。

やっぱヒロインは2人位がちょうどいいです。多すぎると覚えられない←

Reminds me of AKB0048. Two heroines are prolly the best. If there are too many it's hard to remember

AKBをパワーアップした感じ

It's like AKB got a power up

なんでAKBの画像があるの？

Why am I seeing AKB?

アニメのAKBみたい

マクロスっぽくない

This cartoon is more AKB. Not macross-y

これAKB0048ってやつだろ？

This is an AKB thing right?

マクロスじゃないとしても、逆にAKBっぽくって珍しさもない

It's not macross, it's more AKB and not so special

なんでAKB0048混ざってんの

Why they mixing AKB0048 (with macross) ?

とりあえずAKB0048みたいにはなってほしくない。

For the time being I dont' want this becoming AKB0048

Funny and rather revealing how similar many Japanese fans are to Western fans in their Macross expectations. Time will tell i guess...

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

Welcome to Walkure World.
Welcome!
My Heart… feel your Love.
Welcome to Walkure World.

のぼせてScreaming! もう止まれないの!
「S」「O」「S」アガるサイレン
恋! ハレイション THE WAR

目覚めれば動き出す物語(My Own Story)
いつもと何か違う朝 まぶたこすった
発射直前 スリー トゥー
ワンピースをひるがえしたら
みなぎる YA! 倍速エンジン
ぶつかって 銀河級
ドキュッ! とブッ込み デ・カルチャー!
面舵 全開! 火をつけるわ

カンジてDiving! もう戻れないの!
「S」「O」「S」燃えるシグナル
恋! Chainging THE WORLD

めくるめくような色彩
感情のTYPHOONが私をさらう
のぼせてScreaming! もう止まれないの!

Love Love! Melody of Love
Love Love! Melody of Love
Love Love! Melody of Love

星たちの瞬きがささやくわ
I hear their voices saying “Feel your Love”.
繰り返しだった日常が今まぶしくって
私を綺麗にしていく
確率は銀河級 キミがブっ込む デ・カルチャー!
取舵 いっぱい! 火がついたわ

溺れてFloating! もう夢じゃないの!
「S」「O」「S」! 回るパノラマ
恋! Shaking THE WIND

ここはまるで Cosmic ワンダーランド
ありきたりな毎日も（プリズミック輝いて）
世界にキミがいるだけで こんなにも胸が躍る
こんなにもキミに…

のぼせてScreaming! もう止まれないの!
「S」「O」「S」響いて
恋がハレイション THE WAR

きっと さあ もっと
もっと さあ ぎゅっと
ぎゅっと ねえ そっと
そっと ねえ きっと
きっと さあ もっと（もっと）
もっと さあ ぎゅっと（ぎゅっと）
ぎゅっと ねえ そっと（そっと）
そっと ねえ きっと
きっと さあ もっと
もっと さあ ぎゅっと
ぎゅっと ねえ そっと

ほらね もっと ぐっと 君に刺され…

Welcome to Walkure World.

見つめあって恋をして 無我夢中で追いかけて
だけどもっと知りたくてメラメラしてる
願うほど謎は増え 思うほど熱になる
だからもっととびこむの未開の世界
恋とか夢とか誰でも信じるけど
そこそこ攻めなきゃつまんないよ
ギリギリeye いけないボーダーライン
難易度Gでも全て壊してみせる
ギリギリmind さらなるGへと
意識は溶ける 体は制御不能
いっちゃうかもね

ふざけあった友達と求めあったあの時と
また会える日のためにキラキラしてる
光るほど影は出来 燃えるほどhighになる
走るほど見えてくる あぶないライン
自由も平和も望めば生まれるけど
モタモタしてたら腐っちゃうよ
ギリギリeye あぶないボーダーレース
非常識だね まだ加速しているよ
ギリギリmind
限界点なら塗り替えていい
破壊と再生から私は出来る

ギリギリeye いけないボーダーライン
難易度Gでも全て壊してみせる
ギリギリmind さらなるGへと
意識は溶ける 体は制御不能
いっちゃうかもね

ギリギリeye いけないボーダーライン
燃え尽きながらまだ輝いてみせる
ギリギリmind あなたのために
未来のために何度砕け散っても

愛することで生まれ変わる
愛されたくて生きて帰る

[Zinjo]

You guys are nuts if you think this show isn't going to be serious and play its setting straight. Even M7, the previous pariah for the grity-type Macross fan, doesn't forget its universe is serious and has consequences it had character growth and serious themes. I say this as a person who does think the power of music kinda got a bit to sci-fi-magical and out of hand in some ways. If Delta is tripping you in ways 7, Zero, or even Frontier didn't...I think you're in denial about what you've really liked about the series.

SDFM's run started from (and maintained) a pretty lighthearted and silly place compared to its mecha/space opera contemporaries and I think it managed to have more depth of character than most of them.

Frankly I've found some of the shows that use silly premises and settings to be some of the more serious emotional shows I've seen. Mawaru Penguidrum comes to mind, totally ridiculous, but really damn serious too. Or, perhaps with more in common to Macross, Martian Successor Nadessico (which I've mostly felt is Macross's closest cousin, rather than Gundam).

There is no reason to believe Delta doesn't fall in line with that concept. Nearly all Kawamori shows do to some extent. It's been one episode - a city/place is getting attacked, some dude gets in a VF and tries to save the day to some degree. This is par for the course in all of the Macross TV shows so far.

You make some valid points, but I think M7 had far less character growth than it could have and a disproportionate focus on music which makes it the pariah of choice for me. Delta, was entertaining and it is true that the current market trends are driving the content, the first episode sometimes went over the top, but we'll be able to better judge our perceptions after we've seen several more episodes.

[kajnrig]

Edit: heck, i totally forgot to mention that our idol was used as a weapon of psychological warfare.

Speaking of, one thing I do miss from the original SDFM is the theme of cultural exchange, and music as its symbol. Like, the entire series can be condensed into that final scene in DYRL not because the protagonists' enemies are fanboying (and fangirling, lest we forget the Meltlandi) over pop music, but because that pop music exposes them to new emotions, feelings, experiences. And all this comes as a revelation, as does the realization that there exists other options for dealing with this than what has been the norm for ages (ie snuffing it out).

In almost all the productions that come afterward, they largely reduce music back to existing singularly for entertainment's sake. Sure, each entry puts their own twist on music, but it never again becomes about exchange across civilizations.

Part of that, I think, has to do with the Zentraedi/Meltlandi being human in every way but name only. They're superficially aliens, but when it comes down to it, SDFM is entirely about human conflict. It's not like M+ where the ethics of AI are involved, or 7 with space whales, or Frontier with bugs (or 0 with... was it another Vajra queen?). The above quote is kind of ironic, because it seems to me that only in the newer shows has music explicitly become a form of psychological warfare; the original show was much less deliberate about using it to knowingly affect enemies. They certainly didn't use M2/Frontier-style tactics.

But seriously, I'm sitting here watching Britai defect and save the Macross from utter destruction and there are literal tears in my eyes because yeah it's cheesy as hell but they make it WORK damn it!

[David Hingtgen]

There's a difference between "silly and fun" and "just plain stupid/unbelievable".

[joscasle]

There's a difference between "silly and fun" and "just plain stupid/unbelievable".

Best post!!!!!

[Lorindor]

David Hingtgen nailed it

Edited April 8, 2016 by Lorindor

[PrimumMobile]

A Macross series having balance of silliness and seriousness is a completeley subjective matter. Also I appreciate Macross in its ability to reinvent itself in every iteration. You dont want your franchise to contain tired tropes over and over lest you become like Gundam. Despite a few exceptions most Gundam shows feature the same exact conflict with different window dressing.

Edited April 8, 2016 by PrimumMobile

[Seto Kaiba]

In almost all the productions that come afterward, they largely reduce music back to existing singularly for entertainment's sake. Sure, each entry puts their own twist on music, but it never again becomes about exchange across civilizations.

... the only ones I can think of that actually do that are Macross Plus, Macross Flashback 2012, and Macross FB7. Macross II went with more or less the exact same approach as Macross: Do You Remember Love? (just from both sides), Macross 7 and Macross Frontier played with the theme of music's ability to sway or communicate emotion, and if my earlier guesses prove out Delta is also following in the 7/Frontier model. Based on what's been established previously WRT song and higher-dimension effects, I think the Var syndrome is the consequence of using fold song to communicate purely negative/destructive emotions rather than the positive ones typically found in the songs of any given Macross series. (Like Rezső Seress and László Jávor's song "Gloomy Sunday", the song urban legends allege caused a series of suicides among its listeners in the 1930's.)

Of all of them to date, Macross Plus is the only original one where music is purely for entertainment's sake and doesn't have direct relevance to the plot.

[...] (or 0 with... was it another Vajra queen?). [...]

An ancient Protoculture bio-technological weapon left behind on Earth to wipe humanity out if we tried to leave the planet before we settled our internal differences.

The above quote is kind of ironic, because it seems to me that only in the newer shows has music explicitly become a form of psychological warfare; the original show was much less deliberate about using it to knowingly affect enemies. They certainly didn't use M2/Frontier-style tactics.

Well, yes... that's because the UN Forces had no inkling that Earth's culture could be employed as a psychological weapon until the 26th episode ("The Messenger"), when Exsedol told them as much. They didn't use those tactics earlier because they didn't know.

There's a difference between "silly and fun" and "just plain stupid/unbelievable".

A subjective difference, yes.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Seto Kaiba

[Duke Togo]

A Macross series having balance of silliness and seriousness is a completeley subjective matter. Also I appreciate Macross in its ability to reinvent itself in every iteration. You dont want your franchise to contain tired tropes over and over lest you become like Gundam. Despite a few exceptions most Gundam shows feature the same exact conflict with different window dressing.

And is the most popular anime of all time and known world wide. Just sayin'.

[PrimumMobile]

Gundam most popular anime? Hardly, also Gundam production comitees tend to want to stay safe with status quo space vs earth, psychics and mask men even when some shows didnt need it(Gundam 00 S2)

[kajnrig]

... the only ones I can think of that actually do that are Macross Plus, Macross Flashback 2012, and Macross FB7. Macross II went with more or less the exact same approach as Macross: Do You Remember Love? (just from both sides), Macross 7 and Macross Frontier played with the theme of music's ability to sway or communicate emotion, and if my earlier guesses prove out Delta is also following in the 7/Frontier model. Based on what's been established previously WRT song and higher-dimension effects, I think the Var syndrome is the consequence of using fold song to communicate purely negative/destructive emotions rather than the positive ones typically found in the songs of any given Macross series. (Like Rezső Seress and László Jávor's song "Gloomy Sunday", the song urban legends allege caused a series of suicides among its listeners in the 1930's.)

Of all of them to date, Macross Plus is the only original one where music is purely for entertainment's sake and doesn't have direct relevance to the plot.

They all have plot relevance, for sure, but they aren't a treatise on cultural drift, if you get my meaning. Music in SDFM has a tenuous connection with Protoculture, which was by and large presented (or at least in my head-canon) as just a sort of nebulous idyllic yesteryear (they were known to have existed, but mostly are treated as an intergalactic equivalent to "the good ol' days"), but other than that, music's power was intrinsic to music. Hm... Put another way, people liked music for music's sake, not because of its military applications or ability to regenerate spiritia or whatnot. The power of song isn't nearly as literal as it would later become, and so it has to appeal more directly to emotion.

This is, of course, assuming that my years-old memory of SDFM still serves me well. It very well might be completely off base now. I never did much like the Protoculture subplot, anyway, and always did my best to ignore it altogether.

An ancient Protoculture bio-technological weapon left behind on Earth to wipe humanity out if we tried to leave the planet before we settled our internal differences.

Is... Is that really, actually what it is? That's... well, I suppose I can't say too much. My memories of Zero are almost as faint as my memories of SDFM.

[Duke Togo]

Gundam most popular anime? Hardly

I find that hard to believe

[Karaoke Ninja]

And is the most popular anime of all time and known world wide. Just sayin'.

Gundam is only popular because of the models and less the actual show. Take Iron Blooded Orphans for example, the show itself is complete trash but the models are selling very well.

[Seto Kaiba]

They all have plot relevance, for sure, but they aren't a treatise on cultural drift, if you get my meaning. Music in SDFM has a tenuous connection with Protoculture, which was by and large presented (or at least in my head-canon) as just a sort of nebulous idyllic yesteryear (they were known to have existed, but mostly are treated as an intergalactic equivalent to "the good ol' days"), but other than that, music's power was intrinsic to music.

The original Macross wasn't really a treatise on cultural drift either... what affected the Zentradi so deeply wasn't music, it was the culture shock of encountering emotions and aspects of life that their society's strictly military mindset hadn't equipped them to process. The ancient Protoculture forbade the Zentradi to have culture to preserve their effectiveness as soldiers, so constructive and social activities like art, music, dancing, romance, etc. were a complete mind-screw which they had no frame of reference to understand. The ensuing confusion gradually gave way to fascination, which left them unwilling to destroy the Macross when the time came. There wasn't any intrinsic power in music itself, it was that the Zentradi weren't equipped to understand music or the concepts and emotions the music was communicating. The Zentradi were just as thrown by seeing a man and a woman kiss.

The connection between the ancient Protoculture and music wasn't drawn until Do You Remember Love?, and only then because the "Fragment of culture" the Boddole Zer main fleet had preserved was the sheet music for a song. All the same, the power wasn't in the music itself... it was the emotional and cultural content that was the "active ingredient".

The Protoculture itself wasn't presented as an idyllic yesteryear so much as an enigmatic alien race who created the Zentradi and were simply no longer around... and DYRL? revised them into a race of neglectful precursors who ended up in a literal war of the sexes after their advanced science took love out of their society's day-to-day life.

Music in Macross has always been about the ability to communicate with each other... it's the emotional content that has always counted and, later, what had the real power. Basara and Mylene's anima spiritia abilities depended on their emotional state. Likewise, Sheryl and Ranka's songs varied in effect based on what the singer was feeling. I'm betting Freyja's strong reaction to Walkure's songs is her picking up on their emotional content, and her detectable response is her own emotions influencing her biological fold waves as she sings.

Is... Is that really, actually what it is? That's... well, I suppose I can't say too much. My memories of Zero are almost as faint as my memories of SDFM.

Yep, that's what the Birdman/AFOS was. It actually has a little back-and-forth with Sara after it's activated where it asks about the state of human affairs, before concluding that humanity needs to be destroyed so it won't repeat the Protoculture's mistakes.

[Duke Togo]

Gundam is only popular because of the models and less the actual show. Take Iron Blooded Orphans for example, the show itself is complete trash but the models are selling very well.

They've been making Gundam anime for almost 40 years. It's pretty much a cultural icon at this point. I'm not speaking to the quality of every production, but what's bigger than Gundam? It's like the Star Wars of anime.

Full disclosure: I've never seen Gundam

Note: this is OT and probably better left for discussion elsewhere. Maybe PMs.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Duke Togo

[kajnrig]

Spoiler tags because it's a long-ish post.

what affected the Zentradi so deeply wasn't music, it was the culture shock of encountering emotions and aspects of life that their society's strictly military mindset hadn't equipped them to process.

Right, what I said originally was that the thing from SDFM I missed was "the theme of cultural exchange, and music as its symbol." I may have honed in on music, but only because it encompasses everything else.

The ancient Protoculture forbade the Zentradi to have culture to preserve their effectiveness as soldiers, so constructive and social activities like art, music, dancing, romance, etc. were a complete mind-screw which they had no frame of reference to understand. The ensuing confusion gradually gave way to fascination, which left them unwilling to destroy the Macross when the time came. There wasn't any intrinsic power in music itself, it was that the Zentradi weren't equipped to understand music or the concepts and emotions the music was communicating. The Zentradi were just as thrown by seeing a man and a woman kiss.

...

All the same, the power wasn't in the music itself... it was the emotional and cultural content that was the "active ingredient".

Right, again my point. (Well, not so much the Protoculture bit but the Zentraedi reacting to a different culture.) Music in SDFM didn't have literal powers the way it would in later series; it worked on appeal to emotions (in the same way that other cultural indulgence did).

The Protoculture itself wasn't presented as an idyllic yesteryear so much as an enigmatic alien race who created the Zentradi and were simply no longer around... and DYRL? revised them into a race of neglectful precursors who ended up in a literal war of the sexes after their advanced science took love out of their society's day-to-day life.

Perhaps "idyllic yesteryear" wasn't the best choice of words. Chalk it up to intentionally dismissing them, but I was always under the impression that the Protoculture was a utopic intergalactic civilization for a time, before ultimately fading away from memory. The Zentraedi inherited their war-like tendencies, and humanity inherited their capacity for a diversity of emotions. They were literally a proto-culture, a prototype culture from which humans and Zentraedi would derive.

But I concede the point. Clearly I didn't pay enough attention to them (or the Macross mythos in general) as I could have.

Bringing this back to Delta a bit, it irks me (and I had the same issue with Frontier, too) that there isn't a clearer distinction between Walkure's "performance meant for battle" and "performance meant for entertainment." Not enough that I can't handwave it, but the fact that Walkure aren't actively leading people away from the battle and in fact are putting them at greater risk by holding an impromptu concert in the middle of the square, complete with lights and colors and their very own synchronized flight squadron, strains at my suspension of disbelief. Their concert, and people's reactions to it, all of that implies that there's very little actual danger in that opening battle despite how dire the show makes it out to be.

But blah. First episode and all. Still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Anyway. Wall of text over and done with.

[RedWolf]

Zero came after M7 and I agree that no direct correlation to "song energy" is made, though "Anima Spiritia" was less a quantifiable phenomena than it was a descriptor for those who possessed the natural ability to harness what I can only "now" consider might be "fold song" or super dimensional communication. In M0 most of the phenomena appeared to be directly related to the presence of the AFOS and the technology it possessed. Now if the AFOS is of the same generation of bio-weaponry tech that created the EVIL series, it possessed very advanced abilities and tech tha to the human eye would certainly appear very much like magic...

Macross has a consistent internal mechanics.

Not until Macross Frontier came with Macross Chronicle explaining it is all consistent. Sara powers include healing and regenerative properties like Basara's Song Energy. Song Energy is a type of Fold Wave. Song Energy and Spiritia come from the same subspace where all life is connected. Presumably Biological Fold waves is the Spiritia of a person.

The entry on Shrine maidens state that only a few has Space Time Resonance ability among humans as they lost it due to the Protoculture's genetic manipulation.

Turns out Shrine Maiden's purpose was maintenance of the Bird Human.

That could be an interesting idea. The negative side to Anima Spiritia first introduced in M7.

We already did with Sara Nome. In her despair she was about to sing the Song of Death. Coincidentally in Macross II the Song of Death by Emulator cause Zentradi to commit kamikaze attacks.

What makes Protoculture advanced bio weapons indestructible is their regenerative functions. With the Protodevlin they suck out Spiritia or Biological Fold Waves from their victims to regenerate. The Bird Human regenerates with the Song Energy provided by its pilot. The pilot should have Space-Time Resonance ability to do it.

On another note in Macross 7 and Macross 30 Zentradi go berserk being near Protodevlin/Evil Series. So a possible connection.

Edited April 9, 2016 by RedWolf

[squaresphere]

So finally was able to get through all the post in this thread and I wanted to through out a few cents of my own.

1. For Delta watcher who haven't watched all of M7 what was shown is not even remotely close to the level of hamminess we know Kawamori is capable of.
2. Those Delta watchers who saw the new years preview when it came out, we've and have months to really dig into what was shown and draw theoretical lines from the battlefield scene to plausible links to existing macross tech with some advancements.

Based on these two things you're going to get massively different reactions to the ep. I know I was one of the folks that watched the NY preview when it came out and was VERY resistant to the craziness of having magical shoujo idols on the battlefield. However, after WEEKS or rewatches and discussion online I came around to the plausibility of everything being explainable in universe from a practical point of view.

I think is VERY ok for people to have a bad vibe feel from the ep. Just give them time and let the show do the convincing. Heck it might not be their cup of tea.

Something I wrote on reddit about 3 months ago when I came around to Delta's idea of idols

The thing about Macross as a franchise is that Kawamori is a lot more subtle than people realize. He often has a sub meaning behind his use of music and the idol industry.

From what I saw it looks like MΔ will be exploring a few of the interesting concepts that Frontier brought up. Most importantly how the singing (Spiritia, for my M7 brethren) coming from people that have an ability to project into the fold network would affect Protoculture biologics. This is semi linked to Ranka in MF causing the bugs to riot when her pain singing caused the vajra to go berserk.

Yes seem to be a bit Macross 2 in there.

What really interesting if you dig a bit is the whole concept of Wulkure and the Delta platoon.

Wulkure - at first glance looks like a typical idol group with a shoujo maho feel but look at their actions. They're controlling the "show" remote drones to put up defensive fields to protect folks. They're obviously covering gaps in defense and very aware the danger they're in. Occasionally you hear bits of dialogue about fold reactions and power levels, so they're also very aware of their tactical situations. I personally feel like this could be a "what if the bridge bunnies from a macross show had singing powers and were deployed to save the day?"

Delta Platoon - They are highly skilled. What was interesting was when they were fighting the Zentradi it looked like they were trying to disable them as opposed to killing them. Letting Wulkure cleanse them of the VARS. The "dance" formations we see probably has to do a lot with giving the singers a protective formation but might as well dance to really fold in the experience that it's a show.

On the enemies - Right off the bat, these guy are directly after Wulkure or some reason. Culture clash? That's the one thing I've been wanting Kawamori to tackle. Sometimes, people just don't like your music NOW WHAT? Oh and just in case you missed it, Freyja is probably from the same planet of the attackers. How do I know that? The color shape that grows from their hair.

All in all, I think judging just off of one eps would be pretty premature at this point.

At the end of the day, it's completely alright to have differing opinions espeically when there's so little to officially go on. To that end I say lets all just hang back, chill and see there Kawamori's crazy ride takes us.

Edited April 9, 2016 by squaresphere

[Einherjar]

Dat vintage grit.

Don't make me pull the knife fight out!

Edited April 9, 2016 by Einherjar

[Seto Kaiba]

Music in SDFM didn't have literal powers the way it would in later series; it worked on appeal to emotions (in the same way that other cultural indulgence did).

Funnily enough, later Macross works actually suggest that's not entirely the case. Specifically, that even old recordings of Minmay's songs produced measurable amounts of song energy... a Chiba unit rating of around 10,000. (Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 12A)

Perhaps "idyllic yesteryear" wasn't the best choice of words. Chalk it up to intentionally dismissing them, but I was always under the impression that the Protoculture was a utopic intergalactic civilization for a time, before ultimately fading away from memory. The Zentraedi inherited their war-like tendencies, and humanity inherited their capacity for a diversity of emotions. They were literally a proto-culture, a prototype culture from which humans and Zentraedi would derive.

Actually, that's not quite the case. The explanation Exsedol gives of the relief carving of the Protoculture's history in the ruins found on Lux in Macross 7 indicates that the Protoculture's civilization was never Utopian. They were as divided a people as humanity for almost all of their history, and only really united when they were facing extinction at the hands of the Protodeviln and their legions of brainwashed soldiers (the Supervision Army). The Zentradi didn't have to inherit any warlike tendencies from the Protoculture, they were created specifically as living weapons for proxy warfare... meaning they were engineered for war so the ancient Protoculture's people wouldn't have to do any of the fighting and dying themselves.

Bringing this back to Delta a bit, it irks me (and I had the same issue with Frontier, too) that there isn't a clearer distinction between Walkure's "performance meant for battle" and "performance meant for entertainment." Not enough that I can't handwave it, but the fact that Walkure aren't actively leading people away from the battle and in fact are putting them at greater risk by holding an impromptu concert in the middle of the square, complete with lights and colors and their very own synchronized flight squadron, strains at my suspension of disbelief. Their concert, and people's reactions to it, all of that implies that there's very little actual danger in that opening battle despite how dire the show makes it out to be.

That's a fair point. I'm torn between two potential explanations:

• The New UN Forces were so badly mauled trying to contain the Zentradi marines who'd been driven berserk by the Var syndrome outbreak that they were unable to coordinate an effective evacuation.

• The small crowd seen in the vicinity of Walkure's operations are the people who weren't able to evacuate in time, and stopped fleeing in the general direction of "Away" because they concluded that the next safest place to be was next to someone capable of neutralizing the Var lethally or otherwise. (That said someone has a portable barrier system able to protect a crowd probably didn't hurt their feelings any either.)

We already did with Sara Nome. In her despair she was about to sing the Song of Death. Coincidentally in Macross II the Song of Death by Emulator cause Zentradi to commit kamikaze attacks.

's not quite the same. Per Ken'ichi Yatagai (Macross II's producer), the songs sung by the Mardook's song priestesses function like combat drugs for their brainwashed Zentradi troops. The various songs manipulate the Zentradi's fighting instincts and aggression levels, from "neutral" right up the scale to "Doom comic book". There's no implication of higher-dimension power involved... it's just the result of their Zentradi soldiers' mental conditioning.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Seto Kaiba

[Duke Togo]

Dat vintage grit.

Don't make me pull the knife fight out!

Touch screens? Nope, trackballs!

[Primus1X]

So is "Mission <number>" going to be the format of all episodes like "Session <number>" in Cowboy Bebop and "Phase <number>" in Gundam SEED?

Does this mean the real title of episode 1 is simply "Prologue on the Battlefield" with "Mission" just being used to indicate the episode number?

[JB0]

Touch screens? Nope, trackballs!

If it was good enough for a Missile Command cabinet, it's good enough for a life-saving barrier!

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

GIRIGIRI EYE IKENAI BORDERLINE! ♫♫♪

[anime52k8]

There's a difference between "silly and fun" and "just plain stupid/unbelievable".

I don't see how any of this is silly or stupid, I take female idol groups VERY seriously.

[Einherjar]

Kawamori, what have you done?

[Primus1X]

Kawamori, what have you done?

Stayin' true to Macross's gangsta roots duh

Man, Mr. Lingerie does not hold back, a huh

Hi-ka-ru, not rick, he's a true pimp

And if your girl starts acting up...

...then your BURN her friend

Edited April 9, 2016 by Primus1X

[ManhattanProject972]

Kawamori, what have you done?

They're obviously Walkure fans.

[JB0]

Mikumo just be gangsta like that.

[d3v]

Kawamori, what have you done?

Mikumo be west side 'til she die. Edited April 10, 2016 by d3v

[Seto Kaiba]

Mikumo be west side 'til she die.

I said it before and I'll say it again... Walkure ain't nuthin' ta f*** with.

[seti88]

What has kawamori done? Am not sure really...

[areaseven]

Finally got around to watching the fansub. The storyline makes more sense now.

To the casual Macross fan, Macross Δ feels like a retread of Macross Frontier, but it's got a lot of potential. The Aerial Knights are a fresh change from what we've seen in previous titles. It's great to see Hayate's capabilities as a Valkyrie pilot; can't wait to see more backstory on him. Freyja has a lot of Ranka Lee in her, but I'm sure we'll be seeing huge differences throughout the series.

Overall, it's good to see the Macross franchise back in full force. Now to wait for translations for episode 2.