Okay, in two weeks, I have gone from Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur to Layang Layang (East Malaysia) to Penang (West Malaysia) to Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo to Toronto. Me is tired. And jet lagged. The things I do for friends and family…
To cut a long story short, I loved ep 6 of Macross Frontier. It had all the elements that I look forward to in anime – great art, great direction, and great sense of storytelling with both humour and plot advancement. Lots of little touches here and there that show off the scriptwriter’s experience. A bit old style perhaps, but just the way I liked it. Not that I thought ep 5 was horrible or anything; dating antics are a necessary part of the Macross universe, and it was really fun to see the Zentradi suburb with all the giant cow-hippoes and panties ^^. But that felt like the creators kinda goofing off and inserting fan service (valid of course) under the guise of character and relationship development.
Summary and Thoughts
This episode starts with an explanation of the fold system. I like this gimmick of beginning each episode with new bits of Macross background, which helps both newcomers and old fans by setting common ground. Then, before the opening, the story picks up with Ranka’s storyline. The hippy Zentradi from the previous episode is a small producer convinced Ranka’s voice is the best thing since, well, Minmay. And so he goes to “receive” Ranka from Ozma in a hilarious parallel to asking for a girl’s hand in marriage. And Ozma, with probably on of the funniest constipated expressions, agrees. Then we see a scene of Sheryl rehearsing for her farewell concert. Sheryl! <3
After the opening, we have Alto and co. Alto has found Sheryl’s earring (thank god, I was afraid this plot point would amount to nothing more than a reason for Sheryl to be thrown together with Alto). Alto’s little date with Sheryl is now common knowledge thanks to Michel’s rather public teasing. Alto, in the grand tradition of anime males tying their own nooses, tells Ranka that he was alone in Zentradi town when he saw her singing. Way to go, Alto. Plus, you gave her a ticket to Sheryl’s concert, strike two. BTW, I thought this was a really nicely done scene with nice writing and pacing.
In the meantime, the governor of Frontier has decided to tell the public of the Vajra, due to overwhelming evidence and the fact that Galaxy may have gotten wiped, and Frontier has to help. Sheryl, too, has received word of the attack on Galaxy, and is understandably upset.
The announcement of the Vajra attack is made immediately, and SMS are scrambled. Ranka, watching the news alone in her apartment, realizes that Ozma let her join the agency because he knows he has to go fight and can’t righteously deny Ranka her will while blatantly breaking his own promise to her.
Alto is being his usual moping self, but when he sees Sheryl television interview, in which she expresses her gratitude for Frontier’s decision to help Galaxy (elegantly shooting down a reporter who suggests that it may be detrimental to Frontier to attract the attention of the Vajra by doing so) and then vehemently asserts her conviction to perform and return home to Galaxy, Alto acts.
He runs to her the concert hall and forces his way backstage, where Sheryl is feeling nerves before her concert. He’s rather cute in his embarrassment as he hands Sheryl’s lost earring back. This proceeds to a quiet moment between the two, as Sheryl opens up and explains that the earring is a memory of her mother, a mother whose face she can’t remember. She asks Alto if he likes this ship, and he answers that he hates it, because it has no sky. Their conversation is interrupted by a call from Michel to Alto telling him to get the hell back to base for their coming battle. Alto tries to hand the earring over, but Sheryl tells him to keep it – it is a good luck charm. She then confesses that she hates Galaxy and gets depressed, but then Alto breaks the mood by telling her he can’t deal with her in that mood, then runs off by saying he’ll take her lucky charm. “I’m just lending it! You’d better be back to return it!” shouts Sheryl after him.
While this is happening, the SMS battleship launches, with Cathy aboard. She has been assigned to be the military liaison on this mission. Hmm, shades of Misa, anyone? The scouting team detects multiple defolds – the Galaxy fleet with some rather undesirable hitchhikers…
Thus we enter the final sequence of the episode, which really put the finishing touches on the whole build-up. As the soldiers get ready of war, Sheryl begins her concert, and sings her song of good-bye in a send-off of love. It’s cheezy and cliche and the art and animation were a little wonky with Sheryl, but maybe because I love this song “Diamond Crevasse”, I was soooo into this last part. Especially when it blended right into the ED. This is what makes me love anime, year after year, decade after decade.
More thoughts
I loved Sheryl in this episode. Her strength is moving, and more so now that we have a glimpse of her back story. And I like Alto and everything he does, despite his little faux pas in hiding his date with Sheryl from Ranka. He’s a good guy with good intentions and he’s not an annoying brat, thank god.
After rewatching, I realized I love Sheryl’s voice. This is not the same as her singing, which is done by someone else. I like her voice itself, it’s kinda hard to explain but it’s grown up and very attractive. On the other hand, I’m not much for Ranka’s voice acting, but I think she’s got a great singing voice.
Based upon the previous episode, one could conjecture that a Sheryl-Ranka rivalry is a-brewing. I say, based on the opening, that they will join to form the ultimate song of triumph ^^
I watch Mnemosyne just for entertainment’s sake and don’t give it much thought once an episode is over, but to my surprise I really like ep 4. The reason is, pure and simple, Mimi – Mimi and the change in the relationship between her and Rin. For the first three episodes, she’s been a rather one-dimensional character, what with Rin taking center stage and Kouki being the human foil; Mimi’s the sidekick with a taste for vodka and a rather forward way of displaying affection towards Rin. We’ve seen Rin and Mimi as colleagues in a dangerous line of work. They’ve been together a long time, and they care a lot about each other. We know Mimi flirts a lot with Rin and Rin takes it in stride; in episode three, their interactions indicate that they are in a relationship.
In this episode, however, 14 years or so have changed things. Mimi still teases Rin, but she doesn’t flirt with her. More tellingly, when Mimi decides to go to the information dealer, it becomes a point of tension. Rin prods Mimi by saying she thought Mimi didn’t quite like the woman. Mimi responds indignantly that of course she does not, but Rin says, somewhat teasingly, that it seems Mimi has been using her more than Rin herself, lately. Mimi then becomes defensive, telling Rin to make sure to turn off the gas and lock the door. Rin then mentions casually that perhaps she will take Teruki to her home (there is no indication that Rin and Mimi live together), to which Mimi looks shocked and upset. Rin but smiles kindly and says, “It’s all right.”
Now, I may just be reading too much into this, but to me it appears that Rin and Mimi are no longer together, and it’s an issue that’s been eating at them for a while. Perhaps Kouki’s death hit hard, or maybe it was the passing of time… More likely, I think it was Mimi who fell in love with Rin, back then, and Rin reciprocated but was never fully in love with Mimi; rather, she had always loved that mysterious bearded man, or angel as the case may have it. And Mimi’s heart got broken, and the relationship was no more because Rin couldn’t love Mimi like Mimi loved Rin.
And Rin knew this, and so she been trying to let Mimi go for several years now. When she said, “Maybe I’ll take Teruki home with me”, it was her implicit permission for Mimi to go to someone else. When she said, “It’s all right”, she meant that she didn’t want Mimi to continue trying to stay in love with her, that it was all right to start having feelings for that woman.
Some people might argue that Mimi doesn’t enjoy her “payments” with the woman. I’d say that may have been true in 2011, but it’s no longer so in 2025. In 2011, Mimi did it for Rin. In 2025, she did it for a boy in trouble. Admitted, Kouki’s son, but still, obviously she’s been buying information for more than a few cases before then already. Look at their interaction in bed. The woman teases Mimi, and Mimi’s reaction isn’t terribly hateful or resentful. When the talk turns serious, Mimi sounds somewhat melancholic. Would it be too much to read that the woman may hold affection for Mimi, and Mimi, while loathe to admit it, does as well? I see the last scene from the episode, where Mimi walks off with a lone suitcase and Genta, as someone in deep pain when the woman she loves ie Rin has failed to return. But I can imagine Mimi burying the tears inside and stoically showing up on the information dealer’s door, so that she would at least have someone to hold her.
Anyway, that’s my take on this episode. How utterly depressing. But now I am a Mimi fan ;-)
Although, dammit, Rin looks too damn good when she tells Teruki they are going out, and she says, “Ii toko! <3″
When I updated WordPress, I also installed the stats plugin. After a couple weeks it’s interesting to see that my most-read posts are about Mai-Hime, specifically Shizuru and Natsuki. I guess it’s not surprising, since Mai-Hime was in and of itself a highly popular show, and Shizuru and Natsuki garner much attention from the fanbase. That said, I am glad that others find this as fascinating a couple as I did.
When I finished Mai-Hime I was most unhappy with the happy-go-lucky, no-consequences ending portrayed. It was just too pat, because a whole lot of shit happened between Shizuru and Natsuki that doesn’t just go away because you killed each other out of love then came back to defeat the bad guy.
But I left it at that, because well after all is said and done it’s just a Sunrise TV series.
Then the other day, I came across a fanfic. This was a ShizNat fanfic, but it dared to go where no other fanfic writer had gone, and that was to write the aftermath of the Carnival for Shizuru and Natsuki. Shizuru’s guilt and fear and tenuous sanity. Natsuki’s courage and trauma and confusion. And how these two could ever, ever hope to bridge the gap in trust and friendship left by Shizuru’s horrendous betrayal and hideous crime of murder.
This fic is called Windows of the Soul and it is on FanFiction.Net. Read it, please. It is an amazingly good story. It’s still incomplete, but the author updates quickly in and volume, such that in 4 months we have over 310,000 words describing in detail, from Natsuki and Shizuru’s POV, what it could have been like to hold on to your most important person.
After Mai-Hime ended, I wanted, more than anything else, a realistic portrayal of Shizuru and Natsuki. So I am amazed and extremely happy to discover that sometimes we do get what we wish for ;)
I type this post up as I’m listening to the Sheryl Nome single. God, Diamond Crevasse is such an amazing song… A great and deep feeling wells up in my heart as I hear the first lines. In comparison, I think the full version of Don’t Be Late suffers, but mainly because it has no visual of Sheryl to accompany the music >8-) No, I am harsh, I like this song too. But it is Diamond Crevasse which makes me sit and close my eyes and let the song wash over.
Okay, enough of Sheryl. Ep 4 focused on Ranka and Alto, which is to be expected as this showcases how they take on the new challenges they set their minds to in the last ep. No summary this time as I’m behind and want to get my thoughts on this ep down pronto so I can proceed with watching ep 5.
Thoughts
I liked this ep well enough. On the minus side, there were some throwbacks to the original Macross, such as the scene of Alto in the VF, rising up and launching just like the OP of Macross, which made me cringe in their blatantness. Also some of the art and animation in the with Ranka and the other contestants getting ready for the pageant were just absolutely horrid. And to be honest, I really didn’t like chibi Kulan Kulan >_<
On the plus side, Alto’s training fight was really cool. I loved the way Kulan Kulan shot the Vajra, and Alto grabbed the gun and shot it again; nice choreography on the sequence. I liked the humour too – I laughed at the boobies joke, at Alto getting razzed by Michel, at the victory pose. I thought how Ranka and Sheryl interacted was great, when Sheryl found Ranka depressed before the competition.
Of course, I was also very glad that Ranka did not win. It would’ve been too much of a deus ex machina if she did. Rather, having Ranka lose gives her more room to grow as a character and allows us to look forward to what sort of role she will play as the Vajra invasion unfolds. Oh, and the fact that her song wasn’t “Ai Oboeteimasu Ka” nor the old Zentradi song was key as well. I was afraid they would waste all the good stuff at the beginning, but really, the writers do show a decent maturity.
And dudes… finally… Zentradi! Too bad she has defective genes ^^;;;;;;
So all in all, not bad. Without Sheryl, I’d have to vote on the good fight sequences in this one :D
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 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.
I’m sitting in a ryokan in Nagano, which against all odds has wireless internet. I am reading Erica’s post on maximizing anime enjoyment and it got me thinking, because after god knows how many years, I still love anime and I love it in different ways.
Some people burn out on anime because, as discussed in Erica’s post, they fell hard for their first anime and couldn’t find something which brought the same “hit” after that. I suppose I should count myself among the lucky, for while I have anime from childhood which I fell absolutely utterly in love with, I don’t actively search for anime which will blow me away. So while I may be disappointed, I am not upset if I watch 3 eps of something and it just don’t do it for me. But, I still sometimes find something really special… and I guess I am most grateful for that.
I just finished Seirei no Moribito on a total marathon. I didn’t fall in love with it, but I thought it was an amazingly good anime (just like GitS SAC). For once, there was no character I hated, I could find not fault with the logic of the story, the storytelling and pacing itself was wonderful (for a marathoner, at least), and I had tears in my ears at the climax. It was so realistic I felt I was partaking of a great piece of fantasy literature. It’s the way I feel about good TV shows, I guess.
When I younger, much younger, I was obsessed with Robotech (for Lisa and Rick, perhaps), Dragonball (for utter coolness), Lodoss (for the sheer gorgeousness of the chara designs), Sailor Moon (for Rei, oh, Rei and her long black hair and red skirt and high heels). Then there were the anime which I did not obsess over the characters but loved nonetheless for making my heart overflow, like the Miyu OVAs which had the most incredible music and atmosphere and such pathos, and Laputa during which I cried. Lately I find I don’t obsess much anymore, with the exception of Natsuki and Shizuru, but I still meet anime that make me oh so glad I spent 6 or 12 hours of my life staring at pretty moving colours on a screen.
And for that, I am very, very grateful. Because anime will always bring me a sense of wonder that TV shows won’t. I guess I just like anime.
Which bring me to, what’s good lately?
Kurau Phantom Memory – great characters and story, a good “grownup” anime
Seirei no Moribito – wonderfully crafted
…
hmm, guess that’s about it ^^;; I watched a lot of stuff but they didn’t quite make the pick. Most of it was yuri of some kind or another, but I won’t watch something just because it’s yuri if the story or storytelling puts me off. I have a list of stuff I haven’t given much of a chance, so I guess I’ll work on those now.
It’s a real shame that Simoun is a commercial flop, because it’s the sort of anime they really should make more of. It’s not plot-driven (there is, however, passage of time and events, set in the background) but rather tells a story of a group of girls and how they react to being part of a war. While not wholly realistic, there’s something very humanistic about their fears and insecurities and hopes and wants and petty fights and time-spanning dreams.
Unfortunately, you get none of that from the first episode. Some people have labeled the first episode of Simoun as one of the worst first episodes in anime. Well, if you consider where the anime went from there, I’m inclined to agree.
I’ll admit, like most other people who checked it out when it first came out, raw, no less, I did so because it was billed as the new yuri anime of the season. The problem was that 1) even knowing Japanese, I had no freakin’ idea what was happening, 2) the kissing was over the top, 3) too many characters, and 4) no like chara designs!
Well, the last is a matter of personal taste, but I think, rewatching this on DVD, overall this episode suffered from being just too radical. For instance, it begins with huge mechanistic airships in stormy weather, bringing to mind Miyazaki anime like Laputa. It opens with a narrative by a female voice, telling us of the dissatisfaction a country has against the Holy Land which holds magical Simoun that they refuse to give up the secrets of. The voice is actually a he, a soldier who is part of a massive invasion force to the Holy Land, so that they may take the secrets of Simoun for the betterment of their country.
Then you switch to the Holy Land, a beautiful clean country where girls are priestesses who fly magical chariots of God. We are introduced to a bunch of girls who are ostensibly the main characters of the show. There are also a bunch of old men and women, all who speak in female voices. An explanation is given of Ri Maajon, which is the act of drawing lines in the sky with Simoun as prayers to Tempus Spatium (God). Our Simoun troupe see the invasion force, and use their Ri Maajon with destructive effectiveness against the hundreds of enemy fliers. But the numbers are too much, and so Neviril and Amuria perform the greatest of all, and as yet untested, Ri Maajon – the Emerald Ri Maajon. They seem to succeed, until Neviril sees an enemy soldier right in front of her and loses her nerve. There is a massive explosion, and while Neviril and her Simoun limp out of the hole in the sky, Amuria’s cockpit is a wrangled mess.
Then we learn that the fight has caused several other losses, and two surviving priestesses have decided to “head to the spring” and choose their sex. Two new characters arrive, and one is to be the main character for the series, judging from the opening. But by this time, you’re already lost…
I think the idea of having half the episode narrated from the point of view of the enemy soldier a very interesting idea. I think this failed because it didn’t give the episode much room to establish who you, the viewer, were supposed to watch. Then, the whole female voice thing just threw me for a total loop – very disconcerting. Then you had characters being introduced, and then characters dying off just as quickly. Unfortunately, you are not explicitly told that Amuria died, just that Neviril had lost her Pal (partner), and so much of the distress is a mystery. Oh yes, and before I forget, you get about 50 million new bits of vocab thrown at us, not to mention a very complicated setting for the political and social setup of this world. Plus the bizarre physiology involved. And then more characters on top. All in 25 mins.
I know the production team tried really hard, but this was a perfect example of too much, too fast.
On the other hand, if you watch the entire series then go back and see this ep, it’s quite amazing how well thought out the world is. They put a lot of work in to developing a completely different reality, and while much of it was never explicitly revealed in the course of the show, the thoroughness shows through.
So, basically a very good show that is killed by its own too-ambitious debut. Ah well.
BTW, did I mention that the music is weird too? It’s absolutely great stuff, but I for one had not even dreamt of using a waltz for an aerial dogfight before seeing this, and that threw me too.
What can I say… I’m just really glad they made this anime. One Simoun for every 10 ero-game adaptations… that’d be a nice balance.
Some are rather questionable… but the relationship chart rocks! Some nice screens caps too, if you can dig through all the hentai fanart. Although, some of the more squicky loli stuff actually comes from the (female) character designer. I feel shades of Takada Akemi…
