Kurogane's Anime Blog

Rewatched the episode. 4 times in fact. In HD glory. I can’t stop listening to the medley, god damn it.

You gotta admit, despite the inconclusiveness of the love triangle (god I feel so damn trolled), the mecha porn was good. Damn good. Especially with that medley. The part where Alto becomes so angry that he breaks his helmet was just awesome. “HITORI DAKARA KOSO! DAREKA WO! AISHETERUNDAAAAA!!!” At least Lion was used properly.

I wish they will put that medley as a track on the second OST. I might just be suckered enough in to buying it for the keeps.

Now, I just hope we get more details of the MacF movie. I guess details will be announced in the upcoming magazines. Will it be a true sequel or “historical movie”? God, if they do a sequel, I hope it’s not gonna be like this episode. I can’t take more of this trolling!

Finally, Sheryl’s (ﾉゝ∀･)~キラ☆ was just so awesome. So so so so awesome.

• Battle Frontier almost suffers a direct hit from a Vajra warship. Quarter bails them out at the last minute.
• Alto didn’t die because he escaped his unit and remote controlled it using his suit while hiding in the wreckage of a battleship. God damn it, we didn’t think of remote control! He further tells Quarter to shoot the giant Ranka which reveals it’s true form; Battle Galaxy.
• Leon gets arrested on assasinating President Glass when Cathy breaks it out.
• Grace interfaces with the Queen. Galaxy simultaneously launches multiple Ghosts to help counter the attack by Frontier and Quarter.
• Alto gets a special delivery from Klan (LOLI IN A VALKYRIE!!!); his VF-25. Empowered by both Sheryl and his VF-25, Alto rejoins the fight.
• Ozma: “TOTSUGEKI LOVE HEART!!!” ROFL
• Battle commences in full ferocity. Alto calls out to Ranka using the fold quartz earring.
• Grace finally controls the Queen and she uses it to gain full control on the Vajra and she sends Vajra attackers to Macross 11 (why only that ship?) and to Earth as well.
• Interesting tidbit: Tori no Hito from MacZero is actually Vajra as well?
• Under control by Grace, the Vajra launch a ferocious barrage to our heroes. Sheryl collapses in the attack and her hair turns grey.
• In midst of the despair, Ranka’s voice is heard. Brera, now finally freed from his slave system, tells her to sing her heart out. Ranka’s voice manage to reach the Vajra and they go back under her control.
• In fold-space, Ranka calls out to Sheryl. Sheryl says that her job is finished and Ranka slaps her (WTF!!!!). Ranka tells her to not to give up and Alto echoes the same thing. Ranka magically moves the V-type virii from her brain to her stomach, and Sheryl is revived.
• Ranka-Sheryl medley begins, with nearly all their songs making an appearance. Accompanied by this medley, Quarter punches a hole in Galaxy for Alto to rescue Ranka. Oh god, My Boyfriend is a Pilot -Sheryl ver.-!!
• Grace is pissed and targets Island 1 with the Queen’s main weapons. However, the Vajra form a shield and absorbs the blast, saving the humans.
• Ranka explains to Alto that the Vajra also have feelings, but they don’t understand why we fight each other so much so they tried to rescue/kidnap her in order to understand humans. Thanks to hers and Sheryl’s songs, the Vajra have finally understood us.
• Song medley continues. GOD DAMN IT STICK TO ONE DAMN SONG DAMMIT!!! Seriously it’s a bit distracting for them to change songs so much.
• Final counterattack: The Vajra open a hole in the Queen’s barrier, for Quarter and Battle Frontier to enter. Galaxy moves to cover it and they both take a direct hit from it’s main cannon. Canaria rushes forth and opens a chance for Quarter to destroy Galaxy’s weapon using a MACROSS ATTACK! and Frontier finishes it off.
• Alto and Brera cooperate together (mmm fanservice!) and they both take out the Queen’s head where Grace is at. Thankfully, Brera explains that the Vajra think with their guts than their head, so the queen will be fine. Alto finishes Grace off using Micheal’s favourite gun.
• The queen begins to sing Aimo. Ranka further explains that the song is actually mating song which is used when the Vajra meet with others of their kind from other galaxies every few hundred million years.
• Bilrer’s true intentions: to meet Lynn Minmei again. LOL. Kawamori is such a bloody tease.
• Show ends with Alto flying in the skies of the Vajra planet, while Ranka and Sheryl look at him. Ranka declares love-war on Sheryl and she accepts graciously with a “KIRA~!” pose ROFL! The ending theme is Triangler duet by Sheryl and Ranka. Alto Harem End(?)

The ending is so… inconclusive. Worst type of end in my opinion dammit. Urge to kill Kawamori seriously rising. It’s never revealed who Alto chooses and everyone just manages to survive and land happily on the planet. I just feel like my feelings have all been trampled over and thrown away like a used dirt rag. Oh man, I was at least expecting some deaths.

Anyways, there’s still the just-announced Macross Frontier movie as well. I guess it’s probably a retelling of the series or even maybe an DYRL-style “historical movie”. But I hope it continues the story instead. I need more Alto x Sheryl!!!

P.S. WE ALL HAVE BEEN TROLLED HAVEN’T WE? HAVEN’T WE?!!!! *breaks down in a corner and cries*

• More 111th Fleet flashbacks. Ranka definitely summoned the Vajra that attacked the fleet. Grace is terribly injured in the attack which results in her hatred of the Vajra.
• Ozma returns back to the wreckage of the 111th fleet to retrieve back the surviving research data. They find out about Grace’s paper on the combination of implants + Vajra’s zero-time fold network, surmising that it will solve the communication lags but whoever controls the root node will control the galaxy if everyone is implanted. Ozma and the rest decide to not let it happen.
• Sheryl is confirmed to be Mao Nome’s grand-daughter, from the surviving personal letters Cathy finds in the wreckage.
• Frontier warps out near the Vajra planet. Operation details are relayed to all forces. The plan is to break through the Vajra encirclement then drop Island 1 and the remaining Islands on to land while the military takes care of the Queen (the big-eye shaped formation) at the same time.
• Before the operation begins, Alto visits Sheryl to promise her that he’ll return from the battle and he states to her that he finally realises that people cannot fly alone. Sheryl gives Alto a very passionate kiss. Alto tries to reply, but Sheryl stops him, saying that if he says it now, she won’t be able to sing anymore. Sheryl tells him to save Ranka and sends him off with her remaining earring (oh noes!!!).
• The battle commences. Sheryl begins with “Iteza Gogo Kyuji Don’t Be Late”. The Frontier forces have the upper hand at the beginning.
• Leon orders the Islands to be dropped to the planet as they have the upper hand. Slave Brera makes Ranka sing to reorganize the scattered Vajra forces, most ironically using “Ai Oboeteimasuka” as the catalyst. Grace comes face-to-face with the true Vajra Queen while this happens.
• The Frontier forces sustain much losses. Alto is angered by Ranka’s action. Brera emerges to face him off, telling him to lay his hands off her younger sister. Alto loses the first round and Klan takes over, but Brera dispatches her as well.
• Alto returns back in to the fight, but Brera lands a perfect hit on his unit. It spirals away and explodes. Sheryl goes “ALTOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”
• Next episode preview: No footage of the show, instead it’s replaced with someone flipping away at a collage of the happier scenes of the series of the three leads. The narration sounds very… “final”.

And so, the penultimate episode of MacF ends with a terrible cliffhanger. I sure didn’t expect Alto to explode up so nicely, especially after he promises Sheryl he’ll definitely be back and technically confessed to her already.

Speaking of that part, that was definitely the scene I have been waiting for all this time to happen, Alto strongly confessing his feelings for Sheryl right before the final battle begins. It’s a bit predictable, but damn, I am thoroughly satisfied with that.

Also, it’s finally confirmed that Sheryl is a true Nome, and she is Mao’s grand-daughter. Of course, that also leaves the question of how she ended up in the trash alleys of Galaxy unanswered.

Well, another week wait for the finale, and that’ll wrap up one of the signature shows of this year. Please please please please please please let Sheryl live. And I hope she also has a new song too. I suspect we’ll just probably get a duet of Aimo, maybe Lion too though.

No screencaps for this post for now, due to hardware limitations. Need to upgrade the clunker in this house.

• Alto makes dinner for Sheryl, and she drinks herself drunk, enjoying being indulged by Alto.
• Grace’s intention is shown in a Ranka flashback. She wants to combine her cybernetic implants with the Vajra’s zero-time fold wave communications.
• Ranka and Brera face a “welcoming committee” from the Vajra. Her song manages to keep them at bay for a while, but not for long.
• Ranka inevitably gets kidnapped by Ai-kun turned bad. She also finally recalls who Brera is… her brother. Brera tries to save her, but Grace shows up and turns him off in to Slave mode.
• Alto is given the lowdown by Leon and Bilrer on the true nature of the Vajra and what Ranka is; she is a human conceived to coexist with the V-type virus, therefore she shares the same fold-wave network as the Vajra, which makes her a sort of beacon for them, and with the Vajra looking to destroy humans, not very good for them.
• Following that, a hospital visit reveals Sheryl isn’t taking her medication to make her fold-wave powers stronger. Alto bumps in to his brother and sick father at the hospital, and his brother tells him to come back to his true path, to become an actor, rather than continue killing as a soldier. This rattles Alto further.
• Alto and Klan have a conversation with each other, focusing on Ranka. Alto reveals that all the things he did from the time he chose to enlist, was mainly to protect Ranka. But now, with the fate of the millions living in Frontier in the balance, if he has to kill her, then he will. Klan wonders if that’s his “love”.
• Sheryl overhears the conversation as well, shedding a tear as she confirms what she’s realized all this while. As Frontier prepares for a fold-leap to the Vajra planet, Sheryl launches a paper airplane that ominously drops to the ground after a moment of flight.
• Next episode preview: Grand battle between Vajra and NUNS, while Sheryl sings on a stage reminiscent of the climatic battle in DYRL.

Man, the dinner between Alto and Sheryl was such a fun yet sad scene at the same time, with the spectre of Sheryl’s fatal illness between them. Things revealed in this episode make me suspect that Grace intentionally caused the infection in Sheryl, probably in continuation of her research after losing the key that was Ranka. Ironically, the power has only manifested itself, albeit with deadly consequences, leaving her obstacles with a future key to fight against the Vajra. I guess Sheryl’s death is looking more and more likelier, especially with that ominous paper airplane scene and the episode preview for “Final Frontier”.

Alto is thankfully less irritating already, and with the show having only 2 episodes left, he’d better not be. The dinner scene gained back some brownie points for me, while revelations of his cooking skills really makes him more feminine. He still seems lost as to what his “true path” is, but for now he’s made a choice to protect Frontier even at the cost of Ranka, and we’ll see if he’ll be able to do that if it comes down to it.

Revelations about Ranka mainly confirmed much that has already speculated, and the only surprise for me was Brera being her brother. Grace is coming along as the evil mastermind fairly well. Evil Inoue Kikuko is truly evil. Her research, however, sounds pretty interesting. Zero-time communications over light years? That’s truly a dream come true.

Since I was bored and had some free time, I decided to rip out the version of Diamond Crevasse played in episode 20 and Ao no Ether in episode 21. You can download them from the links below:

• Diamond Crevasse (Episode 20)
• Ao no Ether (Episode 21)

In my opinion, the version of Diamond Crevasse played in episode 20 has been the best one yet on the show so far, and the poignancy of song is enhanced even more when it’s played as the send-off for Micheal ;A;. The song actually sounds BETTER taken from the episode. I do hope we get a clean version as well in the upcoming OST or perhaps in another CD.

Ao no Ether is also another solid song from Megumi Nakajima, and it really is a nice, slow, meaningful and melancholic song that represents Ranka’s feelings towards Alto.

Needless to say, these two songs really complement each other when put in a looping playlist. Only for me perhaps, but oh well :P.

No.
… just, no.
NO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kyon-ko was still acceptable, but this.. THIS, this is just, travesty. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING is sacred anymore. Goddammit!

P.S. Karura is bloody awesome. Rewatching the Utawarerumono 1080p rips now. I never did properly finished that show.

P.S. 2: Okay, shota versions are fine I guess.

Yes! New Sheryl song finally! God, I’m pretty sick of Ranka getting all the attention already, although I grudgingly admit that the new Ranka songs are good too. Still, it’s finally good to hear a new song from Sheryl.

The new song is titled 「Yousei」 or “Fairy”, and the song sounds very melancholic, with lyrics mirroring Sheryl’s experiences, and showing a more softer side of Sheryl. In short, I love it.

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Hell yeah, I love KyoAni and Lucky Star. Konata Nome 4TW!

Would Kagamin be a nice Klan, though? I guess Tsukasa could do Ranka and Miyuki as Nanase, LOL.

EDIT: Well, even the innards are practically the same!

Just as planned.

You gotta admit, Leon’s actually doing a better job than Howard at this President thingy.

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I could not resist posting this one up. Seriously.

Credits to my photoshop boy, Shin.

I hope I don’t get a Russian Spetsnaz team coming through my window tomorrow. And Kirov blimps (Iyn). And Boris/Natasha or Apoc tanks in my backyard (Shin).

P.S. If you don’t see me posting anything, know that I did it FOR THE LULZ!