Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 6 - READ 1st POST

[Einherjar]

The ending song should be replaced if the tone of the series gets a lot more serious. It's okay by itself, but it could become more upsetting to use later on.

[hachi]

I like the ED and Ikenai Borderline. But over-all music is meh. I've been spoiled by Macross Frontier and Kanno.

[azrael]

Guess we'll find out if or when they do a 2nd OP and ED.

I think the problem is we haven't had songs where we have a good mix and balance of their voices. The OP is OK. Passable but needs work. Ikenai Borderline is, let's face it, all Mikumo (JUNNA). The ED is all Freyja (Minori Suzuki). I haven't heard a song that blends all the voices well.

[Saruta]

Actually it seems to me that the OP does balance out the voices. It's growing on me after that real life video (though I can't say I liked the choreography, at least the voices now have faces and one does see the interplay of all five). Still, definitely not on the Kanno level.

Ikenai Borderline is catchy but I don't see its relationship with the story, other than "Mikumo is cool".

(Which makes much more of an impression when one knows JUNNA recorded it at age 14. I'd kinda want to listen to more of JUNNA and she can hold her own on video too - wonder what she's like in concert. For now, person-wise, JUNNA seems to be the main "discovery" of the show, though the role was, as I understand, originally reserved for Minori Suzuki - or perhaps the idea was "making a new star in a Macross is getting old, let's make TWO new stars this time around"?)

[d3v]

What's up with the rank designations that the Aerial Knights are using? When Hermann was talking to the redshirt, he referred to him as as "Shoki" instead of Shoi and, then Redshirt-kun refers to Hermann as "Taiki" instead of Taii.

[RedWolf]

What's up with the rank designations that the Aerial Knights are using? When Hermann was talking to the redshirt, he referred to him as as "Shoki" instead of Shoi and, then Redshirt-kun refers to Hermann as "Taiki" instead of Taii.

Maybe to show their dialect or military lingo is different? gg interpreted it like German rankings.

Uroh said Da meaning yes in Russian. Indicating a Russian influence on Windermere. And he is riding on a SV. If the Newtype spoilers from 2ch is anything ex-AUN scientists helped Windermere develop its variable fighter technology.

[d3v]

Maybe to show their dialect or military lingo is different? gg interpreted it like German rankings.

True, but gg does get the ranks wrong. They're still labeling Hayate as a Sergeant (Gunso) when he should be a Warrant Officer (Juni).

[Graham]

Yeah it quite surprised me when Herman was referred to by the German rank Hauptmann (Captain) in the subtitles.

[d3v]

Back to the subject of loadouts, at 15:43, we can see Bogue's beam gun get shot out of his hand by a shot from Hayate. Looking at it closely, it seems that Hayate shot him with his 31's own beam gunpod. This is supported by the fact that the shot has the same sound as the beam gunshot from Mirage later in the same episode.

Yeah it quite surprised me when Herman was referred to by the German rank Hauptmann (Captain) in the subtitles.

Perhaps they should have referred to him as Kapitan (and Redshirt-kun as Leytenant) instead since they already used the Russian "da" in the show.

Edited May 13, 2016 by d3v

[Product9]

He was in training to be a pilot. The show never really established how much stick time he'd had before climbing into a Messiah.

Maybe he spent time in simulators I would speculate, but in the show it seemed it was his first time in a real Valk when he jumped in one to save Ranka. He seemed nervous at first.

He was an Ex-Gear pilot, which was something he took seriously. Conversely, Hayate didn't take anything seriously.

Also remember Alto took his training seriously as well, where Hayate was blowing off classes he didn't like.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Product9

[Seto Kaiba]

What's up with the rank designations that the Aerial Knights are using? When Hermann was talking to the redshirt, he referred to him as as "Shoki" instead of Shoi and, then Redshirt-kun refers to Hermann as "Taiki" instead of Taii.

An excellent question to be sure... because the only shoki that's a rank/title that's leaping to mind means "Secretary". (Yes, that kind.)

They're an organized knighthood, so they may be using some title related to training rather than a military rank... I'm looking into that now.

EDIT: Poss. a variation on "Novice" and "Expert/Master"?

Maybe to show their dialect or military lingo is different? gg interpreted it like German rankings.

Uroh said Da meaning yes in Russian. Indicating a Russian influence on Windermere. And he is riding on a SV. If the Newtype spoilers from 2ch is anything ex-AUN scientists helped Windermere develop its variable fighter technology.

That's still a great big "If", mate... their ranks sure as heck aren't Russian.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Seto Kaiba

[azrael]

They're an organized knighthood, so they may be using some title related to training rather than a military rank... I'm looking into that now.

Yeah, somehow I'm thinking we're getting the translation of the Aerial Knights ranking wrong. They should be following a knighthood, so-to-speak. The way Bogue calls out to Keith, I'm getting the feeling he's calling him "Sir Keith" (something-Keith-sama, which would be something-Lord/Master/elder Keith, but you get the idea).

[d3v]

Yeah, somehow I'm thinking we're getting the translation of the Aerial Knights ranking wrong. They should be following a knighthood, so-to-speak. The way Bogue calls out to Keith, I'm getting the feeling he's calling him "Sir Keith" (something-Keith-sama, which would be something-Lord/Master/elder Keith, but you get the idea).

They're literally addressing him as the White Knight - "Shiro Kishi-sama". The problem is that it translates weirdly into "sir white knight" if you try to translate the "-sama" honorific. Of course, you could try "Lord White Knight" but "lord" itself is a different word.

Edited May 13, 2016 by d3v

[kajnrig]

"Sir" signifies knighthood, so perhaps "Sir White"?

[azrael]

They're literally addressing him as the White Knight - "Shiro Kishi-sama". The problem is that it translates weirdly into "sir white knight" if you try to translate the "-sama" honorific. Of course, you could try "Lord White Knight" but "lord" itself is a different word.

OK, my aging ears are only partially bad. Good to know. Still, the ranking structure of the Aerial Knights probably deserves a revisit when more info comes out.

[josue]

It's her rune that makes it great. The song is chock full of rune-y goodness.

Well today is 2nd on the Oricon daily chart, 4th on the Music Station ranking (they showed the MV so it got air time on prime tv) and it is the top song on the japanese iTunes store.

[UN Spacy]

Well today is 2nd on the Oricon daily chart, 4th on the Music Station ranking (they showed the MV so it got air time on prime tv) and it is the top song on the japanese iTunes store.

That's great news...also noticed the single was #1 at AmiAmi and AmazonJapan.

[sharky]

I agree that music is the weakest point of Delta until now and I also only remember the catchy Giri giri ai of Ikenai Borderline and Bokura no Senjou (Insert song ep 03).

As for why people says that the ending have a Mac7 vibe is more related to what we see in the animation (real footage mixed with animation), rather than the songs being similar.

I can visualize Chie Kajiura singing the ending song to Delta, as I think the upbeat tempo and tone of the song fits in well along with the M7 ending song, Dakedo Baby. It's my speculation that, perhaps, they wanted to do an ending credits similar to M7 and they wanted a song that had a similar upbeat feel. Of course the Delta song has a more contemporary sound. That's to be expected. I guess what I'm saying is that in a way, to me, it seems like a natural progression of the M7 sound 20 years later with regard to their more J-Pop songs as opposed to the M7 J-Rock songs. At least, this particular song (the extended version on the single). Not any of the other Delta songs of course.

Edited May 14, 2016 by sharky

[guyxxed]

I wonder if maybe the reason that the end theme and Ikenai Borderline are the standouts are because they're the only songs so far with a (more or less) singular voice. Both songs are fairly well tailored to their singers and carry forth their personalities, which is really what made Frontier's songs memorable: that each song was a clear reflection of the characters. The rest of the Walkure songs are kind of an averaged out blend that don't highlight any of the singers, so the end up feeling bland. Maybe what Delta's music needs is a few more solos.

[sharky]

I wonder if maybe the reason that the end theme and Ikenai Borderline are the standouts are because they're the only songs so far with a (more or less) singular voice. Both songs are fairly well tailored to their singers and carry forth their personalities, which is really what made Frontier's songs memorable: that each song was a clear reflection of the characters. The rest of the Walkure songs are kind of an averaged out blend that don't highlight any of the singers, so the end up feeling bland. Maybe what Delta's music needs is a few more solos.

Yup. I like the dynamic of the group as far as the story itself, but the songs with the entire group are kind of meh to me. I hope that changes in the future.

I know with Frontier there was a point where I didn't think they were going to top my favorites. Then the movies came out.

Edited May 14, 2016 by sharky

[Graham]

Back to the subject of loadouts, at 15:43, we can see Bogue's beam gun get shot out of his hand by a shot from Hayate. Looking at it closely, it seems that Hayate shot him with his 31's own beam gunpod. This is supported by the fact that the shot has the same sound as the beam gunshot from Mirage later in the same episode.

Also back to the subject of loadouts..........this is going to be a somewhat long and rambling post,,,,,,,Hahaha!

Starting at 10:41 when we see Hayate's VF-31J being loaded with the Projection Pod, it's quite interesting to look at the Pod loading elevator behind his VF-31J.

3 pods can be seen stored on the pod loading elevator:

1. The top-most pod looks like the folded radome from Chuck's VF-31E. Does this imply I wonder that the radome can be installed on any VF-31 and it is not specific to Chuck's VF-31E?
2. The middle pod, which I'm presuming is the standard Charger Pod, clearly has a beam-gunpod installed on it's ventral (bottom) surface.
3. The bottom pod which should be the Projection Pod about to be loaded into Hayate's VF-31J is also shown with a beam-gunpod installed on it's ventral (bottom) surface. (see my notes on the attached screencap).

I wonder do all the VF-31's share a single weapon pod loading elevator, or whether each VF-31 has their own individual pod loading elevator? If I had to guess, I'd say it's more likely that each VF-31 has their own individual pod loading elevator.

When we see Arad's VF-31S launching at 12:01 with the Projection Pod already in the deployed (open) position, we also can clearly see the beam-gunpod on the underside of his VF-31S (see attached screencaps).

What this implies to me is that when the projection pod is in hangar storage, it has the beam-gunpod attached, however, once the Projection Pod is installed on a VF-31, the beam-gunpod is somehow offloaded from the Projection Pod and attached directly to the VF-31 or more like attached somehow to the Super Packs instead.

Also interesting to me and what makes me think this launch scene is not a simple animation error is the fact that the muzzle of the beam-gunpod is clearly visible, compared to when the beam-gunpod is attached to the standard charger pod on a non-Super Pack equipped VF-31 in fighter mode, the muzzle of the gunpod is usually blocked by the fight mode groin piece, preventing it from being fired in fighter mode unless the Charger Pod is deployed. Hence the wing-root (arm) cannons have to be used in standard fighter mode as the beam-gunpod is blocked.

Here with Super Packs attached, with the Gerwalk joint 1-click down, this slightly lowers beam-gunpod, clearing the muzzle from any obstruction.

Of course none of this explains why when Arad is using his knives in Battroid mode, no trace of the beam-gun pod can be seen anywhere That I am chalking up to an animation error.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see later if a Projection Pod is released for the transforming toys and models how the issue of the beam-gunpod mounting is handled.

[Scyla]

Great screencaps. Now I'm curious how the speaker pod transforms (if it transforms at all). Maybe it is a space only add-on that doesn't need to be transformed. Or it folds down around a strut that also holds the beam gun-pod in place. Maybe the VF-31 will look much more like the Armored Messiah when the projector pod is folded up.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Scyla

[d3v]

Great screencaps. Now I'm curious how the speaker pod transforms (if it transforms at all). Maybe it is a space only add-on that doesn't need to be transformed. Or it folds down around a strut that also holds the beam gun-pod in place. Maybe the VF-31 will look much more like the Armored Messiah when the projector pod is folded up.

You clearly see the speaker pods transforming in that same episode.

• The top-most pod looks like the folded radome from Chuck's VF-31E. Does this imply I wonder that the radome can be installed on any VF-31 and it is not specific to Chuck's VF-31E?

I wonder about this myself. Actually, I wonder about the actual purpose of giving each member of Delta a different 31 variant. Arad somewhat makes sense since commander variants are a standard thing in Macross, however you'd think the rest of the team would get the same variant (except maybe Chuck). Edited May 17, 2016 by d3v

[Scyla]

You clearly see the speaker pods transforming in that same episode

I stand corrected. Guess I have to watch the episode again.

[Graham]

Yeah, the transformation sequence for the Projection Pod is clearly shown when they are on Aether's deck, before they launch. Slow it down and watch, it's quite clever really. Can't wait to see it implemented for the DX.

[Scyla]

Watched episode 6 again and you are right about the transforming speaker pods. Missed them completely the fist time around.

[grss1982]

I'd love to see Mylene again, but Lady M is obviously Doctor Chiba.

I really like that they aren't just leaving Mirage's family as a namedrop. It would've been so easy to make her a Jenius for the name recognition and then just leave it at that, but they decided to go into how the name affects Mirage, the burden of her family's reputation.

Her grandparents are literally living legends, her aunt can rock the skies without even having proper flight controls, and Mirage is... decent, but not exceptional. She knows she isn't living up to her heritage, she knows everyone around her knows, and it is eating away at her inside.

...

Actually, I wonder if that's why she's out in the boonies with Delta squadron now instead of still with the spacey . Did she leave to escape her legacy?

Because let's be honest here. The ragnans didn't fight Space War 1. Max and Millia may as well just be characters in a story. When she goes out on Ragna, Mirage is just Mirage. In the spacey, she was never going to be more than "the Jenius' disappointment of a granddaughter", whether it was fair or not. Out there, far from Earth, she can be herself, succeed or fail on her own merit. She won't be held up to an impossibly high standard.

I'm going to re-watch this episode but any idea who the male voice is? The one in Mirage's monologue about her not meeting the standards of the Jenius name.

[Master Dex]

I think it was meant to just be something she overheard, either from someone in the Spacey or at Chaos.

[JB0]

That's my assumption too. It's just a representative voice from some point in the past, not a specific person. It is possible it isn't even a real person, just Mirage's personification of a sentiment she is sure exists(because with family like that, it would be stranger if she WASN'T being compared to them).

[Seto Kaiba]

I think it was meant to just be something she overheard, either from someone in the Spacey or at Chaos.

Almost certainly during her brief tenure at the New UN Spacy.

[d3v]

Could be the reason why she left.

Also, the Aether techs have no problem hyping her up in her fight against Hayate.