Macross Frontier ep 3
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…
