Wow! I never expected to, but I find myself liking Macross Frontier more and more with each episode. I really enjoyed this week’s – it was funny and well-paced and made our main characters even more likable. While it paid homage to several plot points in the original Macross, it didn’t follow them (as I had been dreading). The action remained cool, and the music was great. I laughed through the whole first half, and I grinned a lot through the second, then placed the ED theme on repeat, so I guess that means I’m officially a fan now :)
Summary
The episode opens with a new title sequence explaining that humans had expanded into the galaxy as part of the Human Space Emigration Project, thanks to fold technology. I was glad for this new edit, because it would have been rather painful to see footage of Breetai grabbing Minmei for another 25 eps.
So after the OP (the chorus of which is slowly growing on me), we return to our favourite three musketeers. The Vajra have returned from their little nap under one of the colony ships and a red one, flying through space, has homed in on Ranka. Or Sheryl. Or maybe the two of them together >:) Ozma is there, though, and engages in a little hand to hand. Unfortunately for Ozma, SMS can’t send him backup because they haven’t received launch permission from the running-around-like-a-headless-chicken President. It’s up to Michel and Luca to help out. Luca can’t get a clear shot on the grappling twosome, but Michel, god that he is, launches an anchoring rope to a ship surface, clamps himself on, and fires a perfect blast from his godly pulse rifle right through the head of the baddie woo!!
Alto notices Michel though, and starts getting all childish male pride about how Michel is so good and he’s so useless in his current state. In the meantime, Ozma has relaxed… but in fact the Vajra hasn’t been finished! It whaps him a good one and fires a bunch of rounds. Ozma is hit and his cockpit sparks up, glass flies, and blood flows. In my head, I chant, “Don’t Fokker me now, I’ll kill the writers if they cheese us with a goddamn Fokker!”
The Vajra then bashes the glass canopy of the colony, and to Alto’s shock and Sheryl’s dismay it starts cracking. Alto, smart boy, spots an emergency shelter, grabs Ranka, breaks the hatch and jumps in with Sheryl close behind. I like how Sheryl tugs down her skirt before taking the plunge with a shriek ^^
While Ozma and co. are in pursuit of the Vajra, Alto and co. find themselves sealed in in the shelter. Alto angsts that Michel saved them. Ranka finds that her hands just won’t let go of Alto’s shirt. He gets pissed. But Ranka screws up her willpower, goes “Yosh!” and finally lets go. BTW, this part really made me like Ranka; she’s a strong little one, she is! Sheryl watches all this with a critical eye and tells off Alto’s attitude with a, “Can’t you even tell a couple of terrified girls ‘I’ll take care of you!’”
This off course makes Princess Alto huff and puff more. “Shuddup! If I could I would!” He bangs the wall in frustration, making Ranka jump. (This was a cute touch too! Nice details!) Sheryl’s expression is like, jeez what a loser, and she says they should just get out of the shelter, for everyone’s mental sanity. (heh!)
But it turns out they can’t, because it’s a fully sealed shelter. As the battle rages outside, with the NUNs finally getting into the fray, it starts getting hot in the shelter. Sheryl takes off her coat, but right at that moment a blast jolts the colony and Sheryl falls onto Alto as the lights go out. Sheryl gets off of Alto, but then the lights come on to reveal with a shot of Sheryl’s back… that Sheryl’s top has fallen down and the girl ain’t wearing no bra! ^o^ Ranka gets a brilliant eyeful which she’s decent enough to be embarassed about, but poor Alto with Sheryl’s chest right in front of his face, the dude has sheer terror in his eyes! (This is one guy with a great sense for when he’s about to die a painful death!)
Sheryl grins wickedly, then decks him with a 4 megaton slap! Woo!
“You saw me naked, so count yourself as getting off cheap!”
Alto, in indignant anger, fires back, “Whatever, you show off a whole lot on stage too!”, to which Sheryl looks adorably embarrassed.
“That’s different! Being in private isn’t like in public! Don’t give me that pervy look! Hentai!”
The two start arguing and calling each other names. Ranka tries to interrupt them by asking if they are hungry, and offers her Nyan-nyan delivery of delicious tuna buns. Which, when she pops open her box, just happen to look a lot like a pair of breasts! Poor Ranka! The girl gets no relief and it’s obvious she’s wishing she could just die right there, but then Sheryl and Alto start laughing and the tension is broken. Sheryl smiles at Ranka’s crestfallen face and tells her she’s adorable.
Scene cuts to Grace and Cathy. Sheryl’s gone out alone and in this mess there isn’t any manpower to do a search. Luckily, Grace has way to track Sheryl with (illegal!) implant technology.
Back in to shelter, Alto’s attempts to open the lock aren’t successful. Sheryl remarks that she gets restless if she has to depend on others for her own destiny. Ranka is worried for the safety of the SMS people, which sets Alto off thinking about piloting and his helplessness. (This guy has some serious self-esteem issues.) Back to Sheryl, she notices that the air is getting stuffy, and a wailing siren confirms that air circulation has been cut off. They only have 15 minutes left! Sheryl tells Alto to do something about it, but he says it’s easier said than done – he would have done something by now if he could have!
This only prompts Sheryl to take matters into her own hands. Alto tells her to stop, because it’s a vacuum outside. Sheryl replies, “So you think we should just give up and wait for suffocation? Sorry but I’m not giving up. Everyone says I’m a lucky woman. I think I’ve worked to deserve that luck. That’s the reason why I can be Sheryl Nome.” She starts climbing up the ladder to open the hatch while adding, “That’s how you grab hold of your fate!”
To which a voice outside replies, “That’s correct!” and the hatch opens to reveal Grace and the rescue team. :)
So the trio make it out, and Sheryl prepares to get into her ride to leave, but not before she warns Alto not to broadcast that visual data over the net. “If you do, I’ll socially and physically massacre you myself.”
She stops, then turns around with a little smile. “Well, just for tonight, you can have it as a memory to do with as you like.”
Alto and Ranka blush prolifically at this insinuation, and Sheryl continues with, “Baaka, do you really think I’d let you?”
Alto begins to fire back, but Sheryl cuts him off by talking to Ranka. “Ranka-chan, do you like singing? If you do, you should be more forward with your feelings.” She pulls her closer and whispers in her ear, “Your chance is right in front of you.” Then she bids her farewell by saying, as she did when she sang with Ranka, “I don’t do this for people very often.”
Okay, that’s it for my favourite part. The rest of the episode focuses on the aftermath of Ranka finding out that Ozma has been piloting in secret. Ozma has been hurt but not fatally, and in the hospital hetells Alto that Ranka is an orphan with no memory of her past due to trauma when her family was killed. The end shows our two protagonists making a decision for their own fates – Alto makes up his mind to join SMS when he hears Ranka’s singing, and Ranka decides to make a try for a singing career when Alto, in his rather indirect show of support, tells Ranka she’d never make it as long as she remained negative. Our other protagonist, Sheryl, curses when she realizes she has to see Saotome Alto, again, to get back her earring! :D
Thoughts
I really liked Ranka’s song. Her VA is a good singer and the song itself is haunting and emotional. Sheryl is turning out to be really nice and authentic in her support of Ranka, and I hope their relationship continues. I think I’d stop watching if the writers threw in a twist where Sheryl starts resenting Ranka because they fight over Alto or because their careers clash.
I also looked up the character designer for the series, and it turns out to be (a) a woman, and (b) someone who’s done mostly only ero-game up till now. That’s kinda interesting, because these designs are old-school without being old-fashioned. I think the Sheryl design is one of my favourites in recent years. The hair is great! And I love the blue of her eyes…
As I’m waiting for the new episode of Macross Frontier, I thought I might write up another timely topic.
Shoujo Sect, a yuri manga featuring page after page of highly explicit smex with various and varied female characters in highschool, will be adapted to a three-part OVA. The first part is scheduled to be released on 7/25.
*spoilers below for plot* (hey, it wasn’t a total PWP!)
I usually hate LFB prOn yuri – actually make that LFB everything – but I have a soft spot for Shoujo Sect. I love the art, the characters are strong-willed and hence interesting, and most of all I love how the main characters get together and we see that they live happily ever after. To be honest, if not for that last chapter, this would be but a pretty but forgettable foray into +18 manga territory, but goddammit, Shinobu and Momoko are too cute. Maybe I’m just a romantic sucker to think that 12-year long crushes deserve a happy ending…
*end spoilers*
Actually I’m not that interested in seeing the OVA. The manga was good not because of all the highly! explicit! yuri! smex! but because Kurogane Ken is a very good manga artist who can draw a sentimental story in really good panel layout. He can also draw highly! explicit! yuri! smex! scenes in really good panel layout, too, but that’s really not the point. No. Really.
A brief Google revealed a few video’s on YouTube, which have convinced me of the sheer godliness of Japanese otaku. AMV’s were an American anime phenomenon in the 90’s, but some Japanese have elevated this to another art form in and of itself.
So it is with much pleasure that I present, Shoujo Sect MADs.
Before I post my comments on ep 2, I’d just like to get this off my chest please.
Sheryl!
Okay, now that that’s outta the way…
I liked this episode quite a bit. It was well done, pacing and story-wise, the characters managed to stay likable, and for the old-timers like me there were plenty of Macross references, maybe too much as I thought the Captain Gloval lookalike was a bit too heavy-handed. But that would be a nitpick because the rest of the tributes were really fun in and of themselves.
The first part where Alto saves Ranka was really nice choreography and direction. Coolness points for leap-into-space bit, where I was literally holding my own breath! I was mildly amused that Alto did the Hikaru accidental-chest-grab, and I thought Michel as a sniper was brilliant. The guy looks so much better in a helmet… I yelled “Prog Knife!” at the screen when Ozma jumped into action. And I thought Ranka was cute when she said she was quarter Zentradi, so help me -_-
Won’t get into the point but suffice to say Sheryl and Ranka together seem to generate some kinda Vajra attraction field. Blood testing might be a Zero tie-up, but I’m not really that interested in speculating.
Ah hell, fine. I admit it! The only reason I’m watching this anime is because of Her! I’m even starting to love her voice, especially when she’s looking for her earring, and when she tells grace she’s gone out. Aishiteiru♪
The parts where she interacts with Ranka are great. Ranka is cute, and Sheryl turns out to be pretty nice after all by complimenting her, and then joining her in the song. Ah, that was my favourite part of the episode! I gotta say, I can’t wait to see more Sheryl in episode 3.
BTW, Ranka’s VA has really improved in this ep. And I like her singing better than Sheryl’s too, a cappella anyway. Or was that part done by Sheryl’s VA and not the actual singer May’n?
I’ve been following, and quite enjoying, AT-X’s anniversary production Mnemosyne. It’s been billed as edgy, violent, gory, with copious amounts of nudity and S&M and sex. Eh, well yes to a certain degree, but not really bad at all I thought.
It’s true that the show is gratuitous – sex, blood, nudity, fetishism, violent death and nekkid women getting it on, more than you’d see on TV anime these days, and with the conspicuous absence of OVAs (*cough* ICE *cough*) it could be considered one of the more adult-oriented anime.
Bah, pish tosh. This is simply entertainment. There might be cause for complaint if it was truly exploitative, but you see, it’s all really rather tastefully done. Reminds me that anime also has its role in this sort of genre, unabashedly. I guess what I’m getting at is, this is quality entertainment, and fun.
I wondered why people might feel that this anime was a bit much. Then I realized that, possibly, these people never grew up with stuff like Akira and Ninja Scroll, which were staple fare when I was in college. Those two, and several other anime, were brutal. I actually felt queasy watching them, but watch them I did because they were considered the best of their genre. But I never enjoyed them, because victims were simply that, victims. They died horrible deaths or suffered terrible violations. And the hero went his merry way to fight the good fight. Mnemosyne is good because the victims are strong people who fought back, and beat the baddies. I love that kind of show.
Hmm, I wonder if this post will start getting a whole bunch of hits from Google… :P
So, I’ve seen episode 2 of Macross Frontier. And it was good. But before writing my thoughts, I’d love to take a little trip down memory lane…
After the Deculture Edition, I absolutely had to see the original Ai, Oboeteimasu ka. Luckily YouTube hosts about a gadzillion versions. Although I’ve only seen the movie like twice (though once was on a huge projection with great speakers), it still struck me right in my chest like a glimpse of a long gone precious love. This sequence was so epic I had tears in my eyes at the end. “I love you so…”
Then I decided to look at some Macross Plus. Although it was a huge deal when it first came out, with great animation and awesome songs and stunning creativity, I just never got into it. I found the Guld/Isamu rivalry distasteful; Guld was the most sympathetic character and it was just too pitiful and painful to watch him. So I hardly remember the ending.
But I wanted to see Sharon Apple again, and that’s how I stumbled on this music video. It’s an edit of the entire series with Information High, and it could be the best AMV I’ve seen! I didn’t cry at the end of this one, but it left me in awe, far deeper than the original. Guld!! You were the best man ever.
Okay, I’m done with the hack and slashing for the time being. I’m using a slightly modified version of Bob’s Silver Light theme. I think it’s more readable now, but the whole site still feels too bright. Hurts my eyes >_<
Might go in later and do some serious mutilation with the colour scheme. Also need to organize my About page with all my links and shit. But for now I guess I’ll just enjoy my new Sheryl title pic, heheh.
After more than 3 years of enduring spam comments (and amassing close to 15,000 spam in my moderation queue despite turning off comments), I have upgraded to 2.5. T’was a lengthy process complicated by the mistake of not reading the “Detailed upgrading instructions” and thereby trying to (fatally) upgrade from 1.2.2 to 2.5. But after some sql surgery and restoration and following the instructions to do a 2-step upgrade, Tabibito is back! Stronger! Faster! Uglier! :D
Changing the theme will have to wait a bit. It took me nearly 4 hours to get everything settled down. The first upgrade and panicked restoration happened after I woke up, without any lunch. I now know a whole lot more about MySql :P But all’s well that ends well, and I am feeling pretty satisfied with myself. Especially since this upgrade solves both my spam problem and the bug of having my posts show up in reverse order.
I’ve just futzed around a little with the new interface, and I have to say WordPress is one sweet piece of work. I did user interfaces for a living, not so long ago, but even in my glory days I would never have dreamt of implementing some of the nifty AJAX stuff they have. Because I would’ve been afraid of getting lynched by the developers, you know.
All in all, a very productive, if somewhat stressful, Sunday.
Okay, I’m officially on the obsession train for Sheryl. Got that song in my head, ooh!
I really like the song, and Sheryl is too way cool! I mean, her mike is a whip handle, heheh.
And I love her hair! It’s any colour she wants it to be!
Ka, kawaii O_o
I just watched the Deculture Edition, and while it skimps on Sheryl/Alto, it is IMHO the superior cut of the two. The battle scenes are better, more coherent, and I liked the nice touch at the beginning with the boys as they did a tribute to the opening of Macross Plus.
Hmm, funny with all the good anime I’ve been watching recently, like Shion no Ou and Baccano!, that I would feel the urge to write up on the first episode of something I didn’t really like that much.
Macross… I can’t believe it’s been 25 years. I saw the original on Thai TV when I was a wee kid (that particular ep had Khyron, I think), bought the metal die-cast VF with the green booster pack armour plate stuff, collected illustrations off the Thai comic books, got head over heels again several years later with Robotech… It was soap opera, it was epic struggle, it was death and rebirth and falling in love and out of love. I may never have loved an anime as much as I loved Robotech. I had the entire Macross arc on tape minus two eps which were victim of power failure, and oh how I cried when I missed them. I watched each episode over and over; my only focus in life was speeding time up so the next broadcast would arrive sooner.
Would it be a surprise to say I cared little for Macross Plus? And that I dismissed Macross 7 as soon as I saw the flying guitars in space? And that Macross Zero was but a tiny blip on my subconscious? You see, Macross was great because it was the story of humanity against the worst of odds, everything hinging on efforts of heroes who were flawed but utterly heroic. At the age of 11, it captured my heart like no other story. 6 years later, the story was grown up but the characters sucked. A few years after that, the story was probably epic, but it was too kiddish for the me of that time.
Which brings us to Macross Frontier. I had just heard of it when I was surfing blogs for new Spring anime to watch. I grabbed it because hashihime said it was enjoyable, and I stopped watching after the OP, because it was too happy j-pop and felt like highschool hijinks in space.
Then Cinnamon Ass wrote that the OP was by Kanno/Maaya. And so I decided I had to rewatch, since I musta missed someone special there in some time warp of insanity.
So… the verdict is…
Nope, still don’t like the OP. The rest of the ep was okay. Too much CG in everyday anime scenes, making the whole thing feel like a throwback to the old days of unnatural crappy looking anime-when-they-just-started-using-CG. I did think the CG for the mechs was cool, but unfortunately it was a bit too many fast fast cuts to actually feel like good action direction. Main female character Lanca was ho-hum, not too annoying but not too interesting, and honestly how can it come to the point when you are grateful that the heroine isn’t as irritating as you feared she would be?! Main male character Altoh looks kinda cool but he reminds me of hmmm twenty-odd other slightly dour male leads, eh?
So, this brings me to the personal highlight of this series so far, Sheryl. Oh yes, she’s a first-class bitch. But boy is she a really good looking first-class bitch ^_- Who whips ass with her professional “the show must go on, even when the fuckup fucks up” attitude. And, I really like her songs and costumes. In fact, I give the writers kudos for pretty creative futuristic concert as far as these things go in anime. Sheryl! Sheryl! That hair rocks man.
Oh, and the new VF-25s were sweet. I sooo miss these planes. I only wish we got more decent action, longer shots of the mechs and stuff. And gimme the Zentran! Where are they!!
You know what would make this series like double its value in my book? If they had kept the Ai Oboeteimasu Ka remix from the preview ep for the actual series ED. I checked it out just now on YouTube and it gave me the shivers, it did.
Watching Mnemosyne now. Just saw the third ep, as a matter of fact. It’s not quality anime, but I like it. Gee, I wonder why :D
Great character design (before moe, as some other blogger put it), guts & glory, and lotsa gratuitous yuri minus moe. Me like. Good mindless brainfood for the anime-starved. Escapism.
Leaving Japan soon. It’s been a good three years, even with the bad. I think I found people with whom I will always be great friends (if not emotionally intimate friends, and therein lies perhaps a great secret to happiness), and I reaffirmed friendships which I had previously. I also met someone who hurt me like no other, and who continues to be a source of unbelievable emotional pain, but I guess it’s all part of life balance, or whatever.
In any case, this chapter of my life is closed. Time to say goodbye, and toss out the bad. There will always be good anime, somewhere. And good friends.
