Macross Frontier ep 10
Wow, this episode gave me a lot to think about. Once again the series does the action/nonaction flip, and yes the art and animation are subpar, but I ended the episode liking and being interested in our main characters a lot more. I felt as if a whole lot more happened in this episode than the last three put together. BTW, all I know about Macross Zero I read in Wiki, so I just took those parts at face value.
First let’s get through the bad parts, of which there were quite a few. Case in point, the fight scene with the monster; I can see what they were trying to achieve with speed lines and angles and stuff, but this was just horribly executed. Note to ye ol’ studio: don’t do action scenes unless they are CG. Next, the monster itself was a really awful cartoony design. I also felt that the setup was very hard to swallow because it takes almost a year to make a movie even if you rush it, and of course that’s not the sense of time you get here.
On the other hand, personally those weren’t fatal problems. The art and animation I can forgive because a badly done action sequence doesn’t detract from all the character exposition that was brought in in this episode. The unrealistic nature of this plotline I just have to waive as a necessary evil.
So taking into account all that, well, I think I really liked this episode. Why? Because the characters are no longer 2-dimensional (it would be cruel to call them 1-dimensional as we did get some back story).
Alto isn’t a total ass or a whipping boy or the butt of jokes… He’s a decent guy who helps Ranka out, with some prodding and a bit of wriggling to save his pride (but, landing himself in even hotter water!).
Ranka’s been rather pathetic as of late, but here she gets a chance to show us that charisma and good nature that made us cheer for her in the first couple eps of the series. Spunky, bright, really cute when embarrassed, and a great singer when no one is looking, this is the heroine we want.
And Sheryl, finally Sheryl gets a chance to shine again. I’ve hated her childish-mixed-with-diva antics in the last few episodes and I was losing a large part of my interest in this show. Luckily we are treated to a fascinatingly complex character in these 24 minutes. Well, other people my see different, but that’s what she was to me. Her teasing of Alto is of course her natural way of showing interest and having fun, but her kiss with Alto reveals that 1) she actually does like Alto a lot, and 2) she is willing to sacrifice herself to push Ranka along.
I love the tug-of-war of desires in Sheryl that we are suddenly shown. Of the three, Sheryl is the one who probably thinks the deepest and widest, and hence is the most conflicted. That kiss was definitely no whimsical snatch of fun - that was absolute calculation to jerk Alto’s strings and also drive Ranka into a more aggressive stance concerning her career. Unfortunately, it had the unwanted, unexpected result of affecting Sheryl herself. Until now Alto’s been a game, a good fun game, easy to tease and get a rise out. This kiss changed that, and Sheryl can’t deceive herself anymore. The question is whether or not she can cope with managing her personal feelings for Alto while trying to keep Ranka’s interests in priority.
I’m not going to speculate on the Vajra or on the mysterious informant or on Brera. All that is just plot details and will be revealed in due time. So no wasting my brain CPU cycles on it ^^ Although I would take a guess and say that Brera is a survivor of a Vajra attack who’s been cyborg’d up. And Mao is now Doctor Mao who’s someone important. And Sheryl’s earrings are some kinda amplifier so she’s related?! Uh… wait, on second thought, scratch speculation :P
I will give kudos though to the creative episode formats. I like how they incorporate the ED here and there, and this time’s was also a very nice. It’s gimmicky but it shows that the studio and creators care about the show and want to do something special to make it memorable.
