Macross Δ (Delta) - Mission 26 -Finale - READ 1st POST

[jenius]

I'm totally on board. I much preferred Frontier to 7 or Delta and I'd say Delta and 7 have the similar sins. 7 has predictable repetition though where Delta has exposition. 

[BlackRose]

I wasn't impressed.  This show didn't end, it just stopped.

There was no closure.  Keith and Roid and Qasim are all dead but Heinz and the Aerial Knights are still around and were barely involved in the actual plan, so they didn't learn anything from their defeat.

All the garbage about Lady M and Megaroad-01 and the Protoculture was a big unanswered mess.

Xaos didn't win.  Windermere got stabbed in the back, then took its toys and went home.  The whole series was like a bad Macross 7 fanfic with the Jamming Birds as the heroes instead of Sound Force.

[jenius]

I didn't think there was much discussion about Lady M nor did I think she was discussed in a way that led me to believe there would be a big reveal. The head of SMS wasn't quite as far behind the veil but he was another character that got nearly no attention but left hints like he should get more. I felt the MegaRoad 01 thing was just a wink to the old fans, especially how it comes out as a rumor from someone we're not sure we trust. I'd say that arms dealer is also a major weakness of the plot overall as he's a little too convenient at couple crucial points. We know the Windermereans don't trust outsiders but here's a guy with the keys to the kingdom with full faith going around selling them out. 

What were the big unanswered questions about Protoculture? I thought that was the one thing that Delta actually did wrap up. 

Definitely agree about the ending being very 'meh' as it concerned the Windermere cast. I really didn't get Lloyd at all. He's moving too slow... then he's literally a back stabber... then he's found out and its shrugged off... it just didn't feel like it flowed well. Also, was Keith in love with Lloyd/Roid? 

[Vepariga]

wow, I havent been here for a while and the new forum layout kinda threw me off at first lol looks great.

 

Anyways, I REALLY tried to get into Delta, I loved the first few episodes but as it progressed it got worse imo. I think the pop group was handled abit too much as it got way too magical girl and not really about any legit focus on story that made me care about it. The final episode was just a explosion of close ups and colours i sat back and thought "even frontier wasnt this full on"

 

shame really, but it sells I guess. The Valk fan in me was disappointed in Delta,Designs and action were great but not nearly enough shown.

[network19]

2016 was one disappointment after another. Here's hoping they never revisit this story again.

[Zx31]

Having zero nostalgia for Macross as I've only just now watched each series within the last 3 months (I've been marathoning a LOT of Macross), I think Delta is best and most refined of any of the series to date. The characters are almost universally likeable (except for you, Bogue), the emotional relationships between characters are handled like mature adults, and the small conflicts aren't drawn out unreasonably long for the sake of extending the plot. I've highly enjoyed every series up through Delta, but there are definitely flaws in each. Delta is no exception, but I found more to like here than any of the shows prior.

[Graham]

The main flaw with Delta in my opinion was that there was almost no mecha and mecha action at all during episodes 14 to 25. That's an unacceptable long time to not feature any mecha action

I can accept an episode or two out of a 26 episode series not having any mecha action, but 12 consecutive episodes with no mecha combat is just unacceptable.

I'm not even asking or expecting episodes full of action but at least give us 3 to 5 minutes of mecha per 20 minute episode.

Prevous Macross series have for the most part managed to balance the mecha, combat, singing and character moments rather well in the past. With Delta it was like the script writer(s) didn't have any idea what to do with the mecha after episode 13.

 

[Nazareno2012]

1 hour ago, Graham said:

The main flaw with Delta in my opinion was that there was almost no mecha and mecha action at all during episodes 14 to 25. That's an unacceptable long time to not feature any mecha action

I can accept an episode or two out of a 26 episode series not having any mecha action, but 12 consecutive episodes with no mecha combat is just unacceptable.

For the record there was some mecha action in Episode 22 and Episode 24, but your point about the lack of mecha action in Delta still stands.

[Archer]

I am late to this thread (and Delta as a whole), but I just finished watching the series. 

To preface this, Macross Frontier was one of my favorite shows of all time. I think it did an incredible job of telling a story, while developing a very tight cast of characters each with their own motivations and beliefs. Moreover, the mecha aspect of it was also very well done (I don't think the VF-31 has anything on how awesome and modular the VF-25, and its variants, were). 

On the other hand, Delta really let me down. I'll admit, I was already incredibly biased against the show due to it's emphasis on singing rather than military combat (as you might guess, I am also not a big fan of Macross 7). However, the first half of the show showed promise (up until around Episode 13, following Messer's death). However, after that, I felt like the show really lose direction and started to forget a lot of its own plot points. Things like the "Immelman dance" were kind of forgotten, while I felt like elements such as Hayate's dad were shoe-horned in as Deus Ex Machina to push what plot there was. 

Lastly, the love triangle wasn't nearly as well done as Frontier in my opinion. I really felt like it could go either way in Frontier as both Sheryl and Ranka were equally developed, but Delta really focused a bit too much on Freya imho. 

I suppose I'm just ranting at this point, and obviously nothing I've said is new to this thread. Just wanted to express my disappointment, as I was really hoping for a show of similar quality to Macross Frontier. Hopefully they'll be able to redeem themselves with the next series. With how many risks other popular series are taking (IBO as a stark departure from typical Gundam, and all the more successful for it, for example), I'm hoping to see a more gritty macross in line with Zero or Plus in the future. 

[technoblue]

I watched the final blu-ray yesterday. I'm still digesting the series as a whole, but I now understand the criticism of the story. Personally, I was hoping that Macross Delta would improve on the AKB0048 formula (since Kawamori was involved in both productions). In the beginning, it seemed to be headed in that direction, but then it became more of a Macross II (read DYRL-light) story for the second half. One could argue that AKB0048 was simply an echo of Macross Frontier with more idols. What I find unfortunate is that Delta didn't own any of its Macross heritage like it should have done. 

But don't get me wrong, when compared with other general anime releases Delta is good.  As a Macross show it is just okay.

I would rank it as the weakest Macross show that I've seen to date.

The highlights are the Valkyrie designs, and the first 13 episodes, which benefited from consistent production values and the idea that we were seeing events play out within a living, organic universe. Windermere's terror attacks using the Wind Song and the Var syndrome to disrupt neighboring planets. Things started to go sideways after the halfway point, though. For me it was a slow downhill slide that gained momentum for the last three discs, and totally wiped out in the last episode (which tends to be frantic, but for Delta was frantic and confusing to me).

As Archer noted, the Valkyrie dancing is left on the cutting room floor after Hayate learns to "fly" properly. It is established as an important part of his character, and yet it gets thrown out with no explanation. Instead, Hayate was turned into Messer 2.0. It's almost as if the wrong pilot was shot down mid-season. And now that I think of it...that would have been an interesting plot twist: to get comfortable with Hayate center stage, only to see him taken out of the picture and have Messer become the main hero character and overcome his obstacles. It would have been a reverse of what Macross usually plays at with the main pilots--something thematically different. Oh well.

It was obvious that the antagonists needed to be fleshed out more, given the complex story of intrigue and missed cultural opportunities that Delta was trying to convey. The whole Windermere/NUNS conflict with Xaos caught dead center trying to protect the individual worlds of the Globular Cluster actually makes for an interesting pitch. Unfortunately, the way the story was told, things slowed down often when the action should have been keeping most of the audience interested. Specifically,

• NUNS gets a random anime bad "captain" instead of a proper plot to drive the reason for getting involved with the protoculture ruins. I don't think we ever learn why NUNS was interested in the ruins either, other than to outright blow them up for no reason. I mean, you expect NUNS to show up and help Xaos defend against the Var attacks, but why take out technology that they might be able to use? That was confusing. If there was a reason for NUNS to be afraid of the tech, then it would have helped to see it. I mean, even Macross 7 let the audience see the Protodevlin and how they were messing with that fleet (even if some fans weren't into the mech designs).
• Windermere gets a generic anime revenge plot for hating all Earthlings and NUNS allies, and Roid turns into another generic anime caricature. That was disappointing. There are a few moments where it appeared like they were trying to get the story back on track and give it some depth, though: I'm thinking of the trial with young Lord Heinz, when it seemed like Heinz was actually listening to those on trial, and weighing his options. Or, when Hayate and Freya meet Kassim during one of the Xaos/Walkure stealth missions and Kassim and Freya get to talking about everyday Windermereian culture.
• Everyone got that dumb merchant to explain their story. The merchant was lazy storytelling personified. Pure rubbish.

And that doesn't even get into what happened to Mikumo's character, or the emotional dodge with Chuck's sister, but I'll leave it at that. 

Edited April 1, 2017 by technoblue

[Ghostbear0]

Maybe the movies can be Delta 3M and tell the story of Mikumo, Mirage, and Lady M.

[Sildani]

Yeah, it can tape over all the plot holes!!

 

 

 

Yep, I kill me. 

[Seto Kaiba]

8 hours ago, Sildani said:

Yeah, it can tape over all the plot holes!!

That's a tall order... if we're trying to dream up a thirteenth labor for Hercules, that'd make the short list for sure.

I'm not sure there's enough tape in the world for a task of that magnitude.

[jenius]

On 4/1/2017 at 9:49 AM, technoblue said:

I watched the final blu-ray yesterday. I'm still digesting the series as a whole, but I now understand the criticism of the story. Personally, I was hoping that Macross Delta would improve on the AKB0048 formula (since Kawamori was involved in both productions). In the beginning, it seemed to be headed in that direction, but then it became more of a Macross II (read DYRL-light) story for the second half. One could argue that AKB0048 was simply an echo of Macross Frontier with more idols. What I find unfortunate is that Delta didn't own any of its Macross heritage like it should have done. 

But don't get me wrong, when compared with other general anime releases Delta is good.  As a Macross show it is just okay.

I would rank it as the weakest Macross show that I've seen to date.

The highlights are the Valkyrie designs, and the first 13 episodes, which benefited from consistent production values and the idea that we were seeing events play out within a living, organic universe. Windermere's terror attacks using the Wind Song and the Var syndrome to disrupt neighboring planets. Things started to go sideways after the halfway point, though. For me it was a slow downhill slide that gained momentum for the last three discs, and totally wiped out in the last episode (which tends to be frantic, but for Delta was frantic and confusing to me).

As Archer noted, the Valkyrie dancing is left on the cutting room floor after Hayate learns to "fly" properly. It is established as an important part of his character, and yet it gets thrown out with no explanation. Instead, Hayate was turned into Messer 2.0. It's almost as if the wrong pilot was shot down mid-season. And now that I think of it...that would have been an interesting plot twist: to get comfortable with Hayate center stage, only to see him taken out of the picture and have Messer become the main hero character and overcome his obstacles. It would have been a reverse of what Macross usually plays at with the main pilots--something thematically different. Oh well.

It was obvious that the antagonists needed to be fleshed out more, given the complex story of intrigue and missed cultural opportunities that Delta was trying to convey. The whole Windermere/NUNS conflict with Xaos caught dead center trying to protect the individual worlds of the Globular Cluster actually makes for an interesting pitch. Unfortunately, the way the story was told, things slowed down often when the action should have been keeping most of the audience interested. Specifically,

• NUNS gets a random anime bad "captain" instead of a proper plot to drive the reason for getting involved with the protoculture ruins. I don't think we ever learn why NUNS was interested in the ruins either, other than to outright blow them up for no reason. I mean, you expect NUNS to show up and help Xaos defend against the Var attacks, but why take out technology that they might be able to use? That was confusing. If there was a reason for NUNS to be afraid of the tech, then it would have helped to see it. I mean, even Macross 7 let the audience see the Protodevlin and how they were messing with that fleet (even if some fans weren't into the mech designs).
• Windermere gets a generic anime revenge plot for hating all Earthlings and NUNS allies, and Roid turns into another generic anime caricature. That was disappointing. There are a few moments where it appeared like they were trying to get the story back on track and give it some depth, though: I'm thinking of the trial with young Lord Heinz, when it seemed like Heinz was actually listening to those on trial, and weighing his options. Or, when Hayate and Freya meet Kassim during one of the Xaos/Walkure stealth missions and Kassim and Freya get to talking about everyday Windermereian culture.
• Everyone got that dumb merchant to explain their story. The merchant was lazy storytelling personified. Pure rubbish.

And that doesn't even get into what happened to Mikumo's character, or the emotional dodge with Chuck's sister, but I'll leave it at that. 

I really enjoyed this analysis. When I finished Delta I was surprised that I didn't walk away from it thinking "I wish I had my time back". I wasn't thrilled with it but I didn't feel ripped off or anything. There were lots of individual gripes that would pop to mind and I think you've hit all of them and some more. 

[Mommar]

12 hours ago, jenius said:

I really enjoyed this analysis. When I finished Delta I was surprised that I didn't walk away from it thinking "I wish I had my time back". I wasn't thrilled with it but I didn't feel ripped off or anything. There were lots of individual gripes that would pop to mind and I think you've hit all of them and some more. 

I agree.  It's odd, there were so many issues but somehow despite that I was kinda okay with it and I don't have a good explanation why.  And I really do think a pair of movies could straighten the story out.

[Chronocidal]

It was a pretty good series up through the halfway point, but I think by the time the last episode aired, everyone's expectations had dropped so low that any ending at all was seen as a positive thing.

I mean, space tentacles notwithstanding, I think the last episode had more mecha action than the previous 4 or 5 episodes combined.  That had to help somewhat.

[Sandman]

39 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

 

I mean, space tentacles notwithstanding, I think the last episode had more mecha action than the previous 4 or 5 episodes combined.  That had to help somewhat.

Yeah but that's not saying much. The last two episodes of frontier probably had more than delta's back 13 episodes. The last episode needed to be more special and not so much of a hack. Reminds me of gundam seed destiny's final episode.

[technoblue]

Delta had a lot of promise, for sure. And that promise is what hooked me with the early episodes.

I was really hoping that we would see various armor packs and a clever implementation of the multipurpose container on the VF-31. I was also hoping to see some variety with Walkure's holographic, high-tech costumes. They could have taken it as far as Frontier and Plus did with the entertainment, but Delta felt tamer in some respects.

If they do give us some Macross Delta OVAs, then I wouldn't mind if they gave us an improved retelling of the TV plot as well as something to wrap up loose ends. I also wouldn't mind two new movies just to take the story somewhere completely different (sort of like the Macross 7 specials/OVAs).

 

[Thom]

Okay, I think I am the last person to this party!

I was watching the series when it first came out, but ended up not finishing it near the latter half. Now (what 4 years later!?) I finally sat down and watched it on youtube. And that's because I started watching the old Frontier episodes. Old?! Frontier is now twelve years old!!?! A youtuber mentioned watching it when he was six, and I now feel so damn old!

Overall impression, it was good. But it could have been better. From the first episode, there was a far lighter feeling in comparison to Frontier. Frontier was heavy from the moment it started. It just had more of a feeling of weight to it. Delta came off as more of a teeny-bopper anime, which in some ways is fitting seeing how the main cast are teenagers. But then again, so were the main cast of Frontier, and the maturity of the characters didn't come in until far later.

I liked Windemere and their connections to the Protoculture. I think other than Zero, this was the deepest we delved into their mythos, and I liked that Mikuma was in essence a Protculture Priestess. I wish they had tapped that sooner. And the show did have its share of likable characters with their own intricate little plots. I loved Reina! And really wished Mirage had far more of a part in the whole thing. But that may be because I was hoping she and Hayate would end up together...

But where it let me down most was the ending. The final battle was just suddenly there and happening, and though I liked the tug of war and Heinz ordering his Knights to fight with Xaos in order to save the galaxy, it was just too 'Frontier.' Roid was Grace O'Connor. Mikuma was Ranka Lee, including a super-sized hologram. The main objective was to create a fold network, merging all of the human race into one mind with Grace - I mean - Windermere in overall control... It was a recycled plot which was its worse failing.

The songs also weren't that memorable. There are a few that stand-out, but only a few, and that might be because there were so many singers. and not many of the songs felt personalized. I definitely prefer single singers rather than a group format.

Not bad overall, but not a worthy successor to Frontier or the OG Macross.

I'll have to set aside some time to watch the movies.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Thom

[deathzealot]

Shrug. I didn't see this thread earlier or I would have posted what I think about Delta over a year ago when I first watched the series. However, I did not see this thread and while I have posted elsewhere on what I think about the series I haven't put it into one large post like this one will be. So here we go.

Cough.

Okay. Delta first came out around the time I was still going to my local community college and I remember I had finally managed to watch both of the Frontier movies trying to watch them for around a year or so. I wasn't all that impressed with what I heard about the story of the series therefore I turned my attention to other fandoms. Since that was the time that I was really getting back into Gundam. Over the years since then I heard more about the series through clips posted on Youtube or through posts on forums like Spacebattles but it was only during late last year when I was preparing for writing for that years National Novel Writing Month that I buckled down and watched the series in its entirely.

I was quite surprised to find that I did kind of enjoy the series more then I thought I would. While I did see that bit of magical girl in the series as some people mentioned it did not really turn me off since in my adulthood I have been more interested in Magical Girl anime then I was during my teenage years. So it actually made some things interesting for me. Though I should mention that looking back after rewatching the entire Frontier Series I can see that all of that so called magical girlness in the series is actually technology shown a couple of times during Frontier. Still it did not turn me away from watching the series. I actually liked the overall story and I liked the new Valkyries more then I liked the hero Valkyrie of Frontier the Messiah. Maybe it was because much of the fighting for Delta is on planets instead of the blackness of space but I loved the new Valkyries. I also liked the idea of the bad guys also having Valkyries themselves which was quite interesting. I also liked the Macross Elysion more then I did the Macross Quarter from Frontier. It reminded me more of the original SDF-1 then any other Macross series ship. I admit there were some things I did not like about the series as it went on, like Hayate refusing to wear a helmet or again not having any focus on the background Valkyrie pilots, but I got over that in time. 

After starting on the second cour of the series I was kind of leery for I had heard from some posts I have read that is were the story of the series starts going downhill. However, as I watched the second half of the series I found that I actually liked it. It wasn't good as the first half I admit but it wasn't all out bad in my mind. It had its pitfalls I admit but it was quite interesting. I kind of wish they expanded on the whole being out in space thing and having more refugees from the Cluster showing up over time but it was interesting. I also wanted them to expand a bit more on the Voldorians and their own resistance against Windermere a bit more. Still I did like this second half the series and I all out enjoyed the final battle for it was quite interesting in my mind.

That said. As I mentioned there were plenty of stuff I really did not like about the series and some stuff I wished this focused more on, like a small amount more focus on the grunts of Xaos and NUNS, a bit more focus not on Xaos but the rest of the Cluster. You get the idea. With that said though I think that they used the time they had wisely. I really wished they had the series longer which would have allowed them to explore a bit more of these issues I had.

Alright that is about it for this post. I hope I managed to get at one person to watch the series, but I do admit that it is not for everyone.

[jenius]

I just wrapped up watching mecha action clips of Zero and it bums me out. I'm not a huge fan of Zero but the mecha action was sooooo good. There's tension, there's the feeling of physics and high stakes. Then you watch Delta and woof... what a tremendous step backwards. Now you could say "look, the tech is way better by then, so they don't have to worry about physics anymore" but there should still be some tension... and it seems like showing the same difficulties with physics with the implication that they're doing things 10x faster and harder than they were in the zero timeframe would be a better way of handling that. Then you throw flying, singing, non-combatants into the fray and it all just feels kinda... silly... not intense at all. Like, instead of sitting on the edge of your seat going "whoa" you're leaning back in your chair sucking soda through a straw and maybe bobbing your head to the music. Macross7 again. I guess that's why I liked Frontier so much, it felt like a nice balance of "whoa" and "bob your head to the music" while Delta leaned a little too hard into the "bob your head to the music." 

Curious to see where Macross can go in the future... I feel like they've pretty much done everything they can with music and musicians. I know it exists more as a music commercial than anything else at this point so it's just hard to imagine how many meals they can make from the same three ingredients. 

[Seto Kaiba]

19 minutes ago, jenius said:

I just wrapped up watching mecha action clips of Zero and it bums me out. I'm not a huge fan of Zero but the mecha action was sooooo good. There's tension, there's the feeling of physics and high stakes. Then you watch Delta and woof... what a tremendous step backwards. Now you could say "look, the tech is way better by then, so they don't have to worry about physics anymore" but there should still be some tension... and it seems like showing the same difficulties with physics with the implication that they're doing things 10x faster and harder than they were in the zero timeframe would be a better way of handling that.

TBH, I don't think the advancements in in-universe technology have anything to do with it.

It's just unimaginative choreography.  Macross Zero put the VFs front and center, and tried to show off what you could do with one.  Consequently, it had a lot of variety in its combat scenes and they were very intense because the pilots were trying everything against each other.  You had all kinds of air combat maneuvers torn from the real world and some that are only possible in fiction.  Macross Delta wasn't anywhere near as interested in the VFs and the actual war story they were trying to tell, so choreographed combat sequences lacked variety in the name of keeping them easy to animate.  There was very little transforming done and the only maneuver used was "The Scissors", over and over again because it's easy to animate.  The lack of variety and the need to not get dark meant that there wasn't much in the way of stakes.  It was more like a tokusatsu show, with brightly-colored fighters engaging in bloodless violence before both sides retreat with no harm done to anyone but mooks.  It doesn't really offer much in the way of tension.

If you were feeling really charitable, you could maybe attribute the unimaginative combat choreography to the inexperience of Windermere's untested pilots and the poor quality of the very remote Brisingr Alliance NUNS and the private pilots drawn from it.

 

 

[slide]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

>SNIP< There was very little transforming done and the only maneuver used was "The Scissors", over and over again because it's easy to animate.>SNIP<

If you were feeling really charitable, you could maybe attribute the unimaginative combat choreography to the inexperience of Windermere's untested pilots and the poor quality of the very remote Brisingr Alliance NUNS and the private pilots drawn from it.

That bears-out, having played DCS, Warthunder, and IL-2's various offerings online against real humans: 

Dogfights seem to end up one of two ways if they go on long enough: Scissors of some description [usually on the deck] or Turn-rate fights [also usually on the deck]. 

Both these scenarios typically end with someone panicking and pulling into the vertical, in a desperate attempt to change the geometry of the fight, which just means they are setting themselves up in front of the other guy's gunsight...

Many Combat-sim pilots do [and more should] know better, but that's almost always how it goes if it devolves into "goin' in for guns" on the other guy because you're Winchester.

 

So yea, unfortunately the writers are well within reason to use that excuse, in my experience.

[Mommar]

3 hours ago, slide said:

That bears-out, having played DCS, Warthunder, and IL-2's various offerings online against real humans: 

Dogfights seem to end up one of two ways if they go on long enough: Scissors of some description [usually on the deck] or Turn-rate fights [also usually on the deck]. 

Both these scenarios typically end with someone panicking and pulling into the vertical, in a desperate attempt to change the geometry of the fight, which just means they are setting themselves up in front of the other guy's gunsight...

Many Combat-sim pilots do [and more should] know better, but that's almost always how it goes if it devolves into "goin' in for guns" on the other guy because you're Winchester.

 

So yea, unfortunately the writers are well within reason to use that excuse, in my experience.

That would be true if they were piloting fighters exclusively.  But in this case they all have two other modes to make use of.  It was just lazy writing/easier to animate.

[Bolt]

DYRL/SDFM, M+, Zero, and some Frontier carried weight. 
Maybe some balance can still be achieved. It's been reported that Kawamori san has many concepts and ideas in the vault..

[slide]

7 hours ago, Mommar said:

That would be true if they were piloting fighters exclusively.  But in this case they all have two other modes to make use of.  It was just lazy writing/easier to animate.

You're correct, but I was simply referring to the over-use of the scissors maneuver

 

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

DYRL/SDFM, M+, Zero, and some Frontier carried weight. 
Maybe some balance can still be achieved. It's been reported that Kawamori san has many concepts and ideas in the vault..

As long as we're being told a war-story, not an Idol-group commercial merely SET in a war-story there is potential.

 

I mean, break-dancing in a Battroid even had potential, and they just simply wasted it in Delta

Edited December 14, 2020 by slide

[Bolt]

The way you put that, and the current trend ... I'm worried. And yes, i know Macross isn't being made for me..

[Nemus]

guys, last night I finished watching Macross Delta. All in all I liked it.
However, I believe that the story has too much content focused on the walkure and existential dramas of the protagonists, to the detriment of the aerial combat scenes... which are what I wanted to see Macross for.

I was very sorry about this, the battles between Messer and the White Knight were epic, I really liked them a lot.

Macross Delta has taken the Game of Thrones habit.......well, if there are strong and charismatic characters..........they die.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, Nemus said:

guys, last night I finished watching Macross Delta. All in all I liked it.
However, I believe that the story has too much content focused on the walkure and existential dramas of the protagonists, to the detriment of the aerial combat scenes... which are what I wanted to see Macross for.

I was very sorry about this, the battles between Messer and the White Knight were epic, I really liked them a lot.

Yeah, Macross Delta did lean very heavily towards the music side of Macross's three pillars.

The combat choreography definitely was lackluster by Macross's normally very high standards.  It was criticized pretty harshly here and elsewhere for many dogfights forgetting the VFs could transform and for only using one maneuver: "the Scissors".  

 

6 hours ago, Nemus said:

Macross Delta has taken the Game of Thrones habit.......well, if there are strong and charismatic characters..........they die.

Hm... I'm not sure how much I can properly explain without spoiling other Macross titles for you.

It's more like very specific roles and character archetypes in Macross come with a built-in death flag... to the extent that some of them are running jokes to the fans, and at least one is a running joke to the characters themselves.