Kurogane’s Anime Blog

After some persuasion, and superhuman patience on Ozma’s behalf, Ranka finally gets signed on for a production company. Things aren’t looking too good for the others though, as the bad news of Galaxy’s attack by the Vajra arrives on Frontier, made worse by the 5 day delay due fold faults. President Glass decides to make public of the Vajra threat, and decides to launch a search and rescue operation with the S.M.S doing the dirty work.

Sheryl is saddened to hear the news as well, but being the professional she is, she continues on with her concert. Simultaneously, the S.M.S prepares to depart for Galaxy as well. Alto, who has found Sheryl’s missing earrings, decides to return it to her personally before her concert, and before he leaves for Galaxy. Sheryl tells him the story behind the earrings, a keepsake and only memory of her mother and that they’re a good luck charm to her, revealing that she hates Galaxy as she was an orphan. Sheryl lends her earring to Alto, and makes him promise to return it, which Alto gladly accepts before her heads out under the S.M.S mothership.

Good episode, but didn’t really contribute much to the main plot. Quite a ton of homages though. Glass gets assigned to the S.M.S as the combat operations officer, completing the bridge crew requirement. The captain is rather more mischievous though, XD. The S.M.S mother ship bears a lot of resemblance to the original Macross as well. Luckily enough, no pineapple salads were served or mentioned… yet.

Quite some nice development on the Sheryl x Alto front though, with some really cute scenes between those two, sharing some of their private thoughts. Surprised to hear that Sheryl is an orphan though, I guess that explains her strong-willed personality. Dere-dere Alto was cute too and made a nice match for tsun-tsun Sheryl. I can almost see it as yuri. Almost. Especially since they can’t seem to help themselves from jabbing in the fact of Alto’s… androgyny.

The concert part near the end of the episode was really nicely done, with Diamond Crevasse masterfully used to accompany the launching of the S.M.S mothership and also after the development between Sheryl and Alto as well. Looks like the real action will be starting next week though.

Dere~ dere~ Alto-hime~~

Current Progress: 19 out of 36

1. Best prison escape plan ever: “When the guard comes to feed us, we’ll kiss and shock him so we can run out.” Very handy idea to use if I ever get taken captive with a hawt chick.
2. Misa needs to stop styling her hair. She actually looks pretty when her hair is let down. GOD DAMN YOU 1980′S HAIRSTYLES!
3. Meltrandi appear and Milia is a damn fine specimen of her race. I think I know why the Meltrandi are win. They have better hairstyles.
4. Oh those Zentradi spies are kinda LOL. Must be really a trip of their lives sneaking on the ship and experiencing “culture”.
5. Lynn Minmay…. /me facepalms. I’m reminded of Sumire (Renji’s mother) saying in ef; “Passion is a downhill road, while love is an uphill road.” Rather true in Hikaru’s case, don’t you think?
6. Lynn Kaifun… read otou-san’s comment below.
7. Episode 17 “Phantasm”…. wtf was this episode about? Hikaru sure has weird dreams.
8. Roy Focker’s death was…. really wasted, don’t you think? If he had went to the hospital first… sigh, a damn waste.
9. Well, Lynn’s not totally a bimbo it seems. Her little speech at episode 20 was really nice, if I may say so, as not only it shows how celeb power can be used for good, but also that she does have her heart at the right places, even if she may act really stupid at times.

Comment replies (might as well do it here all at once)

Nanatsuya:

100 Rules of Anime: #17 - Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability- Minmei is a bimbo.

Oh yes, the right word to describe here I guess.

Xellos-_^:

DYRL, while a great movie really cut out a lot of Minmay’s character development and if you get a chance got hunt down the Macross 2012 Flashback music video. The music alone is more then worth it not mention a few scenes where it brings closure to the characters.

Don’t worry, I’m getting nearly everything Macross. First balanced comment I’ve heard about DYRL, btw. Everyone else just keeps saying it’s the best movie ever made.

Nemo_N:

I don’t think Lynn Minmay is the ideal woman of that time but rather a portrayal of a girl idealized by fans and guys who fall for her looks. I mean, she LOOKS like the ideal girl of those times, so great and pure and perfect in the outside, while in fact she is, IMO, a bitch.

Mmh, I wonder if this is the root of my bias against Sheryl…

Bitch is a rather strong word to use again her. For me, she’s still a “bimbo”. And Sheryl is totally different from Minmay, really.

otou-san:

And speaking of that and Minmay, “Watashi No Kare Wa Pilot” will get reeeeeally old pretty soon. But I don’t think she’s the bitch that everyone makes her out to be. I think one of the things that made it so revolutionary as a show was the sophistication of the characters — Minmay is young, confused, just wants to sing, etc. etc. Wait till Kaifun shows up. What a hippie a-hole.

All the Minmay haters projecting onto Sheryl should remember how things went down, and take note of who works in a Chinese restaurant in the current series.

You’re right. Barely 5 more episodes in, and I’m bloody sick of it already. Ranka’s version was better. Kaifun was just plain annoying. And yes… Sheryl’s definitely not the one working in a Chinese restaurant this time. Take note of that.

Xellos-_^:

And who is currently a officer in the army and not a idol >_>

Which is.. Catherine Glass. Imagine.. imagine.. hey, it’s actually quite possible, isn’t it? If Alto-hime and her get kidnapped by the Vajra……

Do not read if you are still on 56k(LOL) or if you aren’t a fan of Sheryl or if you’re a trap-blogger who fanatically loves any young girls with green hair.

Shit, even the sponsor advertisement is showing the sheer win of Sheryl.

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Picture sourced from Heisei Democracy.

Seeing this poster over at Heisei Democracy’s post, this really cements Alto’s androgyny. I remember the last time a male character (technically) was in Megami was OtoBoku’s Mizuho, and we all know what that did to us…

I wonder if Alto-hime is going to tsun-tsun over it or dere-dere over it. Either way, he loves it, I guess.

On a side note, Diamond Crevasse’s single got leaked. Gabriela Robin.com is such cocktease by putting up the samples. Already procured 「射手座☆午後九時 Don’t be late」, now looking for 「ダイアモンド クレバス」.

Megane Sheryl!

Sheryl loves her little pranks~

Sheryl is love, pure love.

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That “motteike” song she sings in the first episode is stuck in my head. O~single, when art thou released?

I’m kinda late in jumping in to the bandwagon for blogging Macross Frontier, but I’ve been actually following it since episode 1 aired. So far, I can say it’s the show I’m most impressed with in this season, whether it is for the musical emphasis with some truly great songs already used, or for the beautiful production quality, or for the cast of instantly likable and some quirky characters. God I loved Ranka’s “nyan~ nyan~” enactment. That thing sure got stuck in my head as well.

I’m also impressed with how they manage to tie it in to the Macross universe, yet not connect it so tightly that first time viewers, like myself, are lost in it. This is really my first time watching a Macross series, so I’m glad I’m not so bogged down in not knowing anything at all about the previous Macross shows.

In terms of star power, Yuuichi Nakamura is doing a good job, and his name seems to be rising pretty well, after his big break as Tomoya in CLANNAD. I still get flashes of Tomoya when he speaks as Alto though, there’s a certain “emo”-ness in Alto that reminds me of Tomoya as well, although in Alto’s case, he’s more towards looking like a girl than being able to smoothly deal with them, haha. Alto-hime for the win!(?)

Aya Endo’s Sheryl Nome is pretty awesome too, especially when I only remember her for Miyuki in Lucky Star. There’s even seiyuu jokes made out of it already, LOL. Initially coming off as a “bitchy” type, I’ve slowly warmed up to her as she shows her various sides, especially in episode 3 when she encourages Ranka to go for her dreams. Her songs are all generally awesome, and Yoko Kanno is definitely win. God, I can’t wait for the singles >.<

Megumi Nakajima’s debut as Ranka Lee also deserves mention, and although her performance is still rather rough around the edges, she’s doing a good job. Her singing voice is pretty decent too, Aimo being quite a good, dreamy listen. Looking forward to see how she performs in the Miss Macross Frontier competition XD. I’m kinda interested in her cellphone/communicator too. It’s like…. o.0?