This post serves as the culmination of the episodic feature series on Macross Frontier here on We Remember Love.

What would constitute a ‘Frontier?’ The answers should be at least relative to the Macross Franchise.

• Appeal to a new generation of fans.
• New plot direction.
• New world-building elements.
• New animation/production methods.
• New elements (characters or character types/mecha and related technology/weapons).

This post will attempt too answer this question, and will serve to communicate my thoughts on the show and what it means in the larger context of the Macross franchise…

…or at least what it all means to me, a pre-Robotech Macross lifelong fan (not that I wasn’t a fan of Robotech during its time). So how does Frontier do at opening frontiers?

It is rather underwhelming. I’m sure there are grey areas that make the ‘no’ answers a bit problematic, but it is very lack of slam dunks that make it underwhelming. Mind you this is not a review of the show. I’m not here to tell you if it is good or bad. To save you the time, in no uncertain terms: watch the show.

What follows is a more involved look at what I think the show did and didn’t do. Feel free to skip to the postscript and comments, if you feel you want to discuss my findings above, especially if Macross Frontier is the first or only Macross show you’ve seen so far.

But if you can, do read on, and feel my charging heart of love for the show and the franchise.

Macross Frontier Refined in communicating certain themes, and featuring certain elements.

Ecological conservation, IN SPACE

When do the gun-toting, love-confessing characters take time to smell the flowers, literally or figuratively? Rarely. But Shoji Kawamori’s realms of Mayan or Zola are places where characters can go to feel a “comfortable wind” against their faces. And that translates to us.

Even if the “save the whales” thing is a little silly, tell me you didn’t desperately clench your teeth when Mayan Island came under attack by missile-spamming Valkyries. Sometimes it’s best to show a message, not tell it, and though it might still get preachy, the impact of the no-nukes/pacifist message is stronger for being visually presented.

–otou-san, on the ecological themes of Macross.

Otou-san rarely gives Frontier credit, but among the shows he mentioned it satisfies the near-literal pausing to smell the flowers. The show put in a commendable effort in world-building, standing on the shoulders of Gundam’s space colony work. This is delightfully showcased in epsode 05, where Alto and Sheryl go out on a ‘date’ and thereby get to explore the Frontier Colony itself.

But Frontier doesn’t stop at ecotourism, the fragile balance is highlighted through the consequences of warfare (ep 15). In lieu of humans as collateral damage in war as well as the psychological fallout of such (a theme explored often enough in media), Frontier spotlights the ecological impact. This time, it’s no parable about keeping a natural environment pure (as in the case of say, Macross Dynamite 7, Macross Zero, or the film Avatar); the environment is entirely constructed by humans.

Something we fashion with our own hands is something we are responsible for. Interestingly, part of the conflict involves how the Vajra are viewed as ecological rivals to be exterminated and their home world to be wrested from them within the context of natural selection, as the Vajra did cause critical damage to the artificial human ecosystem of the Frontier Colony.

Minmay as character (iterations from the archetype)

Ranka and Sheryl are versions of Lynn Minmay of SDFM, and play very similar roles. The original Macross love triangle became a competition between an ‘ordinary’ woman vs. a pop idol. Misa was the heroine of the story, but Minmay was undoubtedly the star of the whole show. Isamu Alva Dyson became the overwhelming favorite vs. Guld Goa Bowman in Macross Plus, and Basara is indeed the star of Macross 7 even if Gamlin Kizaki was the most admirable hero.

This time, there will be TWO stars in the story, and Macross Frontier was very successful in making this happen. However, it remained consistent in how one of the characters ended up being less mature, a loser, or was left holding the retard stick, relative to the other. Minmay, Guld, Basara, and now Ranka are perfect examples of this. While Basara wasn’t competing, and Ranka’s loss was bailed out by the narrative – both happily swung the retard stick (like Minmay before them).

Sheryl on the other hand, is a revelation. Sheryl had the career dedication of Misa, the courage and resolve of Gamlin, and the sexual dangerousness of Isamu. When the narrative needed a hero, Sheryl stepped up. If she needed to confront her demons, she did so using her own powers. She never needed to be slapped (had she known she could be cured, do people actually believe she’d be depressed?), which is why Ranka slapping her in the finale is one of the worse missteps sacrificed in the altar of narrative symmetry.

Sheryl also shares some characteristics with Millya Fallnya Jenius, haughty but capable; tsun-tsun but dere-dere. Both aren’t just lovable, they are admirable.

Zentraedi Integration

The New UN Spacy continues to be portrayed as a degenerate xenophobic organization, now with more internal corruption! This is not a new thing by all means, as the arrogance in how the SDF Macross was refused to disembark its civilian population in the original series attests, which continued to farcical proportions in the ‘unaired’ episode part of Macross 7 Encore: Fleet of the Strongest Women. In that episode, Earth command disregards the actions of 7’s commanding officer and insists that Exsedol Folmo open fire with Battle 7’s main gun at the rogue Meltran fleet even if it compromises the work and the lives of both military and civilian commanding officers of the fleet/colony.

In Frontier we see the Zentraedi part of the colony become the first choice for scuttling during the crisis situation (ep 21). Grace thought less than nothing of the Zentraedi garrison in Gallia IV when she detonated a Dimension Eater on the planet. I like this broad-level depiction of the troubles with integration, because on the individual level, it’s very positive.

Elmo Kirdanik represents the ‘anything can happen here’ ethos of democratic capitalism, that a wholly militarized society cannot accomodate. He discovers Ranka and becomes her agent, loses her to big business/big government, but bounces back with Sheryl – only more awesome for doing philanthropic work. On the other hand, we also have Richard Bilrer, owner of the SMS. To date, he is the most successful known Zentraedi, who went beyond mere integration because he is so rich that he can ‘afford’ to have Howard Hughes types of eccentricities.

It is Bilrer who nurtures a benevolent and progressive use for the fold crystals (uniting the galaxy; ep 16), in turn nuanced by a covert goal of finding Minmay again, who is lost with the first expeditionary fleet.

Taking a Step Backward

Critical lens towards the idol industry/phenomenon

From the rather subversive approach in SDFM, where the seedy underbelly of the idol industry is portrayed – and the innocent perfection of the idol celebrity is turned on its head, we have a very optimistic and somewhat naive portrayal of the same. Not completely optimistic and naive, after all Sheryl for all her belief in her own powers is a manufactured idol, created by Grace.

Ranka’s story is far more friendly despite how she was undermined by Grace (and Leon) eventually. In any case, there is a simplistic dichotomy: Grace is technology-enhanced, manufactured, artificial, and evil; Elmo represents being natural, valuing effort, love and culture, and (therefore) good. Compare this to SDFM’s Minmay wherein the flaws (evils, imperfections) existed within the industry itself, and in the idol herself.

The technology and artifice as evil, as manifested by a pop idol is duly portrayed in dark and effective ways via Sharon Apple (vs. Myung Fang-Lone) in 1994’s Macross Plus.

Variable Damage

As far as I can tell, Macross as a franchise has fared best when it came to consistency of weapons damage, something that bugs the hell out of me (especially in Gundam, whose beam spam in its alternate continuities is/are deuxes ex machinas in themselves; but also in UC – contrast the nuke in Stardust Memory vs. those in Char’s Counterattack). I credit this to Macross’ avoidance of beam weapons in lieu of kinetic or explosive ones.

But even when Macross uses it (e.g. Macross grade cannons), I’m not certain it’s free of suspicion. But when the reaction weapon damage (loose equivalents with nuclear missiles) started getting dodgy: Alto’s damage is far greater and covers vast amounts of space, while NUNS personnel need several to destroy one Vajra carrier (ep 14). This blows.

Limitations not overcome

There are many interesting things within Macross Frontier. The more attention I pay, the richer the rewards. This show has shown me an ability to be dark and cruel (ep 20), painstaking with its world-building (eps 03, 15), a renewed (or newfound) interest in strategy and tactics (eps 07, 16, 24), and an ability to forward and complete many plot threads at once (eps 09, 20).

I am fairly confident, in my review of related commentary on the show, that very few (if any at all) took note of the above. Why? This is due to two kinds of superficialities.

The first kind is the color palette. It’s too bright and flashy. Never mind the events that take place within the Macross Frontier Colony, but the space battles. ed Strictly in the context of use of colors related to special effects (lasers, contrails, booster flames), if Mobile Suit Gundam is the equivalent of the Tim Burton Batman movies, and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (along with is the equivalent of the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman films, then Macross Frontier would be the Joel Schumacher edition. Seriously, there’s so much neon.

What this does is take the grimness out of the violence. It makes the life and death part of battles out of the forefront, replacing it with excitement and visual spectacle. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and this is common to most contemporary robot shows (Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Gundam 00). However, there is a cost. It costs the shows dramatic gravitas.

I have high expectations for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn to overcome this ‘handicap,’ as I expect narratives set in the Universal Century continuity of the Gundam franchise to keep the tradition of portraying war as serious business; graphically violent, beyond an unambitious visual spectacle, despite its use of the flashy effects I’m resigned to expect from something like Gundam 00.

If there is a show/franchise that overcomes this, it’s Neon Genesis Evangelion. The animation in Rebuild can get bright colors, but the effect is weird and alien – and in keeping with its unnerving effect, as opposed to the rather cheerful fighting in Macross Frontier (in the context of colors).

The second kind is the narrative focus.

From “the word of God:”

[it depicts] a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles

–Kawamori Shoji (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Series Staff. Macross Official Website. Series Section. 04-09-09)

The series creator was talking about the originating narrative at this point, but there is no reason to think that Macross Frontier is any different. This isn’t Legend of the Galactic Heroes wherein you find love stories amidst a narrative of war; here the love story is paramount. The war narrative is background, the robot battles are fanservice. The many wonderful details and touches I’ve discovered blogging this show sit at the back of the bus. They’re like Easter Eggs for fans willing to hunt for them.

The cost is how these are obscured from casual and non-partisan viewers. I don’t blame people from missing out on the environmental disaster as an essay of dread in a nifty piece of ecological world-building (as reported by Leon in episode 15). The flashy recap episode dynamics highlighted by Sheryl in concert (‘Welcome to My Fanclub’s Night), then the Sheryl vs. Ranka sing-off for Alto’s love will make people forget just about anything else in an episode.

This I think, is representative of the issue. The original series, particularly the Robotech incarnation somehow made viewers think that Macross isn’t so much about a love triangle; that the love triangle (and pop music – especially in the Robotech version of the Macross saga) are sub-plots to an alien vs. human space war. The expectations were then set for future installments. It is no surprise how fans introduced to the franchise (and perhaps to anime in general) via Robotech reject Macross 7, and Macross Frontier; which are shows that are actually more consistent with the silliness of the core conceit of the franchise.

…and this is why the TV series fails…

It fails due to the ambiguity of the love triangle resolution, for all its importance over all other narratives and elements in the show. As much as I want to take the textual evidence in episodes 23-24 in favor of Sheryl x Alto, the withholding of the declarations of love and terms of engagement, then the whole business of Ranka and Sheryl being Alto’s “wings,” then Ranka’s promise to Sheryl that she will do her best to fight her for Alto, then ultimately, Alto’s seeming indifference to both of them relative to the resolution of his own dream to fly free in a natural atmosphere… the triangle remains intact in a state of romantic tension.

The narrative actually forced the re-introduction of the romantic tension at the very end precisely when it was supposed to conclude it, rendering a lot of the build-up (towards Alto x Sheryl) impotent.

Why? Or at least, what does this tell me? Ranka is nothing without the triangle. Ranka as a character cannot stand on her own narrative. Sheryl lives, and is free to love. Alto has his Sky, and Sheryl waiting for him. Ranka has reconstruction – the rehabilitation of her relationship with the Frontier population (she is branded as a traitor), the connection with the Vajra… all are interesting narratives and in my mind very necessary ones to complete the characterization of Ranka. But no, the overarching narrative doesn’t see past her as a point in the love triangle. She is nothing without it, so it seems.

Ranka is the character whose story till has legs. Alto got his sky, Sheryl is no longer dying from the V-Type disease. They can now make babies like the Jeniuses. Ranka has a redemption story all in front of her, and yet instead it won’t happen unless in the context of the re-balanced love triangle. What would be ideal in my mind if the story would continue, is for Ranka to move on and be the focal point of a new love triangle involving new characters – more like Myung and less like Mylene.

And finally, my personal stand

Despite what would seem to be damning observations and conclusions, Macross Frontier will forever be awesome to me.

I cannot experience Macross Frontier outside my own context. I am a lifelong fan of Macross, having loved it as long as it has been in existence (28 years now). I’ve seen all the animated installments, canon and otherwise. After my initial disappointment with Macross Zero (now reversed), this show was my long-awaited gift. After watching Frontier for the nth time in the service of this blogging endeavor, I’ve never failed to enjoy myself with it. It reminded me why I love Macross so much, and why I love anime so much.

It introduced me to a character as remarkable as Sheryl, the Perfect Version Minmay (but it should go without saying that to me, Minmay will never be replaced) and a character as irrationally adorable as Ranka. It gave me an amazing musical score that reminded me of how much I love Kanno Yoko, who also gave me an improbable abundance of pop songs that are I find so improbably catchy. It made me remember love, and is the inspiration for this blog and my pursuit of this hobby.

Postscript

Alto is better for Sheryl as a man, as he is better for Ranka as a brother. Sure, Brera beats him there, but Alto never wins against Brera, ever.

Further Reading

Extensive discussion (mostly c/o Magnus) regarding the resolution of the love triangle [->]

Macross Frontier actually won the film/TV category of Japan’s Nebula Awards (Imagine that!) [->]

Reviews! Positive: Crusader, Martin

Reviews! Not as positive: psgels, Kabitzin, otou-san

I didn’t want to speculate on the film version, already shown last year; but here’s a review (11-15%suki 03/10/2010)

Why retell the same story? Why do it in a theatrical release? Excluding economic reasons, I generally welcome retellings for the assumption that the material will look better. Why do I like animation as a mode of narration? It’s because I love illustrations passionately. Any new presentation, implying an improvement in animation (whether detail or frame rate), I’m all for it.

This is especially true for action, especially robot action shows. This material would benefit greatly from increased budgets, time, and effort. The TV series may show a few scenes incredible on their own, but many within the shows only tell us of their potential that, will be fully realized with the help of time and money.

My accounting of robot anime is far from comprehensive, but off the top of my mind I present this abridged list (these works at least are those I’ve personally viewed):

It’s a list of my favorite franchises! This doesn’t make me an authority on these in any way; this only means that I have a lot of personal feeling invested in these shows and I want to at least begin to put together some writing about them as a tradition.

For now, I’ll talk about Macross Frontier: The False Songstress.

I think a more informed or definitive opinion should be given after I see the next film, but who knows when I’ll be able to see that. However, I think there’s a lot to appreciate and discuss about this release.

Context For the Retelling

Unlike Macross: Do You Remember Love? I am unaware if there is any attempt at all for an in-universe attempt to integrate the continuities. What we have here is really an alternative retelling of the story. The same characters are present, but different things happen to them.

In DYRL? the integration is that it is a film that was shown to the people after the events during the great space war. It is a historical biopic of the characters involved. That said, it becomes rather silly in how radical some of the changes are. It could be rationalized as a desire for privacy in some cases. Even if one uses the expedience of a tighter script, so much ‘factual’ error exists.

I am under the impression (I cannot verify this with certainty), that franchise creator Kawamori Shoji intends to integrate both continuities in a way that whenever certain conflicts exist, neither the TV series nor the film enjoys automatic canon status. I will someday attempt to present the canon continuity (i.e. the Armstice between Zentraedi and Humans is dated September 11, 2009 as provided by DYRL? but the circumstances involved are entirely from SDFM).

Did the characters play themselves? (I find this funny) I think at the very least only Minmay can play herself. I will attribute both Ai oboete imasu ka? and Tenshi no enogu to her. But, these aren’t the songs performed during the final battle against the Bodolle Zer fleet. Confused yet? Yes, it can get really confusing.

For Macross Frontier, I think that the film versions will enjoy no particular privilege in the canon, but like DYRL?, we will be invited to consider certain elements or plotlines and integrate them. We may consider the arguably more interesting Macross Galaxy conspiracy in The False Songstress (hereinafter TFS) as canon, while retaining the TV series history of Michel, Klan (who doesn’t study at Mihoshi), and the existence of Nanase (and the SMS Pixie Squadron).

I would certainly prefer Ranka’s career build-up in TFS, with that rather awesome montage parallel to Alto’s SMS training montage. BUT, I will be upset if the Tori no hito movie (and Ranka’s big debut there) is removed from the canon. I appreciate the new expression of Alto’s obsession for the sky – he wants gravity, a thing to overcome, to experience a freedom from something. I prefer the Ozma who punched Alto for the cheek of demanding he be let into the SMS, but I prefer the SMS in TFS who acted like an actual private military service by being actually contracted by Sheryl using her credit card (SUPER AWESOME).

Most particularly, TFS represents a new start for Ranka, a chance to re-characterize and avoid all the fail in the TV series. Ranka was my biggest disappointment then, TFS gives her a great start. This Ranka fan is very happy right now. As for the shipping, I stand by how I prefer Alto x Sheryl. I want a clear resolution to the triangle. Without which, I think this whole exercise would be a failure, despite the many good things it already did.

A Tradition of Mixed Bags

You’ll notice that my approach to Macross is very different from how I approach the other shows and franchises, in that I actively attempt to integrate the continuities whereas in others it’s a clear dichotomy. It’s really because my being a fan of the Macross franchise makes me behave differently. Instead of having the material audition for my appreciation or devotion, my devotion for the material makes me find the best way to enjoy myself with them.

I may feel this way for some other shows or franchises, but it’s nowhere as intense or as frequent as I do for Macross. I then accept that I am not a reliable filter for dispassionate evaluation of quality for Macross shows. Nonetheless, I try my best for my writing to be useful.

Can this integrating approach work for other franchises? I suppose it can, depending on the nature of the divergence between the source and the retelling. For example, I can accept the montage in the beginning of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann Hen as canon. I’ll be most happy to because it adds a lot without conflicting with anything. But I won’t accept how every single surviving member of the Gurren-dan got Tengen Toppa versions of their mecha in the final battle, and that there was this beyond absurd robot at the end of that fight. No, they are gratuities of the most unnecessary kind.

Do I recommend this approach? Only if you think it will add to your enjoyment.

Parting Shots

Space does not have a top or a bottom.

Am I a man? Am I a woman? I couldn’t tell who I really am anymore.

Alto, oh you☆

Sheryl. So awesome. Seriously. All time favorite characters kind of seriously. But shouldn’t be allowed to sing Aimo in her R & B style. It sounds hideous. Ranka almost had a GAR moment, but the film reminds us that she’s there for the moé so that’s ok. We have Sheryl for the aggression. The vajra look even more awesome. The new capital ship designs kick ass. We also see a lot more urban fighting, and lots of dead civilians. Does this make the show grimmer or darker? No, not really; I think it’s better for it anyway.

One thing is for sure, I can’t wait for Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye.

There are still many things from Macross Frontier: The False Songstress that I want to explore after writing the previous post and the hideously titled essay, a SoundDiamond Force production on T. H. A. T. Anime Blog, which covered meta subjects as well as generalities regarding the movie. I take the opportunity here to explore one of the finer details in the film.

Ranka and Alto have little in common at the beginning of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress, and this starting point isn’t too rich a mine to delve into. However, after the initial introductions, the first Vajra attack, and the date with Sheryl, both characters apply themselves to the things they aspire to become: Alto a fighter pilot for the SMS, and Ranka a pop idol.

The work they both put in is presented as something we should care about, and to a degree we do, because they are presented as a path filled with early humiliations, even if they inexorably lead to later success. Furthermore, they are presented with a view to entertain, and do so humorously.

This is achieved by showing a musical montage of the different activities they undertake: Alto going through the paces of soldier training, Ranka paying her dues doing odd promotional jobs.

Alto does his boot camp sequence: Judo (Canaria pwns him), firearms (Ozma kicks his ass), and combat simulator (Michel hacks the difficulty settings). Alto is never shown to succeed in any way, in between Ranka’s forays in entertainment obscurity.

Ranka does the Skip Beat! route minus the burning passion for revenge and minus a top-notch talent management agency. This gets her odd jobs selling Starlight Natto and 7-Color Carrots, then being an idol at a construction site (LOL she’s dumb enough not to get why she’s made to wear a bikini), then doing a promo for Macross PlaMo in Deep Akiba, Super Dimension Chinese Restaurant Nyan Nyan CM (of course), A daruma craft seminar (WTF), and finally a limited release CM for a convenience store.

As Executive Otaku noted, this was an exceptional scene. I’ll go further. The scene is where the their parallel trajectories meet. Even during the TV series the love dimension of this side of the triangle is one-sided from Ranka, so it’s been her despite her own busy schedule who’s been messaging Alto. She makes a show of moping as Alto, Michel, and Luca go out into the street. I think it’s noteworthy that Alto still has to be told that he had better follow Ranka and make it up to her.

That said, this isn’t to say that he’s the same with Sheryl. Alto’s the kind of person oblivious to his own beauty as well as being disinterested in girls, as well as being retarded about love. When he does a show of denying anything going on between him and Sheryl, he’s actually more concerned how Ranka (or anyone else) may get the wrong idea. As far as he’s concerned nothing is going on with anyone.

Ranka makes her way inside the convenience store, which seems like an odd plays to get away to when you’re supposedly evading a bishonen princess. But it’s a trap, and this was her way to share with Alto any of the work she’s done. Without Nanase (who doesn’t exist in this film), Alto is her only friend. It’s an endearing little moment, wonderfully presented with the points of view we get to view the scene from, the timing of the sequences, and the performance of the actors. And as soon as we think any progress can happen in this side of the triangle,

SHERYL, appears on the LCD, announcing her ‘Revenge’ concert.

MACROSS CHEESE, is the best cheese. No wait, this is pretty much the modus operandi of Macross Frontier, though slightly different from how the TV series does it:

Instead, it does set romance in motion but whenever momentum does build up it resents the triangle in romantic tension. The cost of which is that Alto becomes passive. He doesn’t get to act like a teenage boy who actually wants to have sex with women (Michel). But since it’s the girls putting the moves on him, Alto has to have some intense preoccupation with something else that prevents him from seeing something galactically significant:

The two hottest females in the colony are throwing themselves at him.

Without these conceits for Alto, the triangle will be resolved immediately. He’ll pick one, or reject both, but definitely after doing at least one of them. My money’s on the Galactic Fairy.

Macross Frontier: The False Songstress was my most awaited thing in all anime since even before I started We Remember Love. When I finally saw it, I exploded with fanjoy and awesome. It’s the thing that was destined to make me happy, and in many ways it did.

In terms of blogging, it allowed me to write, for the first time, posts on fresh Macross media, something I’ve obviously wanted to do, and took me more than two years to finally get to do. The second post yielded the most voluminous discussion this blog has ever seen.

However, I’ve since rewatched the film many times, as is my wont. And like Macross: Do You Remember Love? before it, I’ve lost much of the affinity for the film while my love for the series from which they emerged grows and grows. I’ve stopped preferring moments in the film over those in the TV series, except for that one thing the series didn’t do:

Sheryl contracts the SMS using her credit card to save the Macross Galaxy Fleet.

/puts on Welcome to My Fanclub’s Night

Alto was reaching out to her. He still can’t say if she’s a spy or not, but he accessed her feelings and memories through her fold crystal earring, and found a girl who felt alone despite her strength. He told her that she didn’t have to feel alone.

Ozma and Cathy pop out from the shadows, accusing both Sheryl and Grace O’Connor of being spies. Grace counters by saying that the Macross Galaxy Fleet is under a large-scale Vajra attack and the Macros Frontier Fleet command is choosing to ignore it and hide the news, in clear violation of treaties, that Frontier was trying to reach the Vajra homeworld first and monopolize its resources. Cathy validates this by accessing official communiqués.

Sheryl asks Ozma how much it would cost to hire the Strategic Military Services force. One hundred twenty million credits, for the deployment of the basic weaponry of the SMS. Optional weaponry will be charged separately.

Sheryl throws her Vega Black Credit Card like a ninja star at Ozma. If that weren’t enough, she’d pledge the revenue of her next album to cover the expenses. Ozma smiles. The Galactic Fairy becomes the Goddess of War.

Grace smiles (just as planned). Alto stakes his life on this mission, on the strength of her credit. She lets him keep the earring a bit more.

Obviously the film accomplishes more than just give me this moment, but it is iconic. Sheryl as the Goddess of War becomes one of my favorite characters in all of anime. There’s of course the battle in the end where she actually fulfills the promise of this moment, but sometimes, the moment of the promise – that point where there is nothing but possibility, is what burns brightest in my memory.

Years later, I imagine when I remember love for this film, this is the moment that’ll get me to watch again (and again).

What’s your favorite moment in Macross Frontier: The False Songstress?

I will first enumerate the stages of grief (Kübler-Ross model), care of Wikipedia. The stages, popularly known by the acronym DABDA, include:

1. Denial — “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening, not to me.”
   Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of possessions and individuals that will be left behind after death.
2. Anger — “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; ‘”Who is to blame?”
   Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
3. Bargaining — “I’ll do anything for a few more years.”; “I will give my life savings if…”
   The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the individual is saying, “I understand I will die, but if I could just do something to buy more time…”
4. Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die… What’s the point?”; “I miss my loved one, why go on?”
   During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person to disconnect from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
   In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with her/his mortality or that of a loved one.

Why? It’s because I have to accept that my ideas of continuity and canon simply do not hold in the Macross franchise. I went from stages 1 through 4 in my post when I discussed how every Macross show, film, manga, or book, is an ‘official’ in-universe TV show, film, manga, or book, the way we accept Macross: Do You Remember Love? to be. There is no singular, official, canon version of the story involving any of the characters in the wars they were part of. Macross The First, by Mikimoto Haruhiko effectively changes the meet cute moments between Hikaru and Minmay, and Minmay is fanserviced to the high heavens having 2 costume changes during the first Zentraedi attack. It’s a rather silly way to accept all this grievous acts against my sensibilities of canon and continuity, but that’s Minmay for you.

Mind you, I’m not complaining about the changes, only that they’re not the real story. They’re as true as the Christopher Nolan films are to the Batman narrative as a whole. So this manga, Sheryl—Kiss of the Galaxy comes up with a story involving the characters and events depicted in the Macross Frontier sub-franchise, but from the orientation of Sheryl . The ‘changes’ are, well, LOL

Sheryl debuts her single Pink Monsoon on a Music Station-esque TV show. She originally was slated to wear a lolita-type costume, but a rival lolita-type idol ripped it apart. Sheryl came up with this costume THREADING TOGETHER ALL THOSE SCRAPS, in something like LESS THAN 5 MINUTES or something. Baby Pink Monsoon!

That song took some time to grow on me, but soon became part of my regular Macross playlist. The second change that had me falling off my bed:

Alto BRIGHTSLAPS Sheryl, within hours of just meeting her. Sure, she was pulling a Minmay, but still. Of course, this makes her fall in love with him harder. ROFLMAO. Next: RANKA HAS POWERS OVER ANIMALS AND TREES!

I wish I can make this shit up. Kawamori is included as a main collaborator in this manga. This is not without precedent, given that Sara Nome’s singing can lift rocks and cause all sorts of magic things in Macross Zero, but she did that while singing naked! Sheryl is totally playing Shin Kudo’s role here… and I’ll stop now.

BUT I CAN’T. I’ve gone beyond acceptance. I’m laughing out loud because this is just so funny, intentional or not. The whole Miss Macross Frontier scene got change. The Miranda Melin character is gone… and some bitches saw it fit to sabotage Ranka’s performance. Why would they feel threatened? The fuck do I know! Also, SINGING AIMO IN A SWIMSUIT ROFLMAOOOOO!

I don’t know how many chapters this manga will run, and I don’t really care that much. But I will definitely read this. If you’re affected by all this deviation from “the story” in any way, let me know in the comments. If you’re grieving, what stage are you in? The sixth stage is the best: LOL. It’s where I want you to join me.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

This post will be the first I’ll make on this film, and relatedly, Macross Frontier as a sub-franchise and Macross as a franchise as a whole. I’m not hung up on destiny, but I find it entertaining to imagine how the destiny of Macross Frontier is intertwined with that of We Remember Love. The first post here is to get the obvious out of the way: We loved this film and here are the moments that blew us away:

[SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY]

3. Remembering Love For Gundam (and Eureka SeveN) “Big Wednesday”

When the Macross Quarter made its desperate run into the atmosphere of the Vajra home world, it had to deal with the danger of atmospheric entry which has not been a significant obstacle in a Macross narrative since Macross Plus and even then the hazard involved more of the static satellite defenses Isamu had to fly through. This however, was a big deal in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and in Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack.

In Z the AEUG invasion force headed for Jaburo from space was attacked by the Titans during atmospheric entry. The mobile suits had to use ballutes, devices to reduce atmospheric friction to survive. Macross Frontier referenced not only this, but the Axis asteroid falling to earth in Char’s Counterattack when the Macross Quarter used the asteroid in orbit as a ballute, Z Gundam style both as a shield against atmospheric friction but also against enemy fire.

BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE.

In Gundam, mobile suits are generally unable to fly within the Earth’s Atmosphere. In Z Gundam this was mitigated by the use of what amounted to as rocket-propelled flying surfboards. This was not cool. It looked rather dumb. 2 decades later Eureka SeveN did away with the rocket propulsion and used some in-universe energy source for robots to surf the skies as if they were surfing waves in the ocean. THE MACROSS QUARTER DID EXACTLY THIS USING WHAT’S LEFT OF THE ASTROID AFTER RE-ENTRY.

NOT QUITE DONE YET.

For good measure, after taking damage even in the cockpit, Capt. Jeffrey Wilder earned his place in GARHALLA by whipping out the “emergency controls” of the Macross Quarter which constituted of a naval vessel’s helm straight out of Mobile Suit Gundam’s The White Base. CAPS-INDUCING AWESOMENESS.

2. Inverting Space War I: The NUNS are the Invasion Forces firing down on an Earth-like Planet

So Many Macross Class ships all at once, firing the final shot. This inverts the Zentraedi Bodolle Zer extermination/genocidal attack on Miclones in the first Space War. This time it’s the humans doing the firing which is some delicious irony. But this is already the bonus, the real substance of this moment for me is seeing all these Macross ships. It’s an invasionary fleet made of Macross-Class ships (even if they’re the quarter-sized variety).

I didn’t even think of ever wanting to see anything like this in my lifetime. BUT HERE IT IS. Sure, Macross II Lovers Again had a fleet of Macross Cannons but that’s kind of LOL. This is different, this is unilaterally awesome. This is like an large idol group made of Minmays, Rankas, Mylenes, & Sheryls.

Speaking of which:

1. LOVELY BOMBER

I know Kawamori is retarded for San Francisco, and Frontier City is basically parts of Tokyo, parts of San Francisco, and a tropical beach recreational district a la Singapore’s Sentosa. But Alcatraz? LOL. How many years has the Frontier fleet been in exploration to require such a facility. And how many years has the facility been in operation to be this run-down? Never mind, Macross Frontier never let logic get in the way in presenting a spectacle and it’s not about to start now.

Ranka wasn’t a big star yet, and thus she required a gimmick. Thus, taking the thematic cue from episode 12 of the TV series the film proceeded to reference Macross 7’s Fire Bomber in all its tacky, cheesy, rock ‘n roll glory. Why would people want to go to a concert of an unknown band held guerilla style in a still active prison is beyond me, OH WAIT, THEY’RE ALL INMATES… but yeah that attitude towards logic thing sure is handy! It was awesome, there was a battle too, and oh my god the Fire Bomber costumes of Michel & Klan!

BONUS: ISAMU

Yes, that’s an antique YF-19 folding out to invade an Earth-like planet once again, piloted by no one else but my main man Isamu Alva Dyson. His name and the seiyuu is in the credits (I’d recognize that “YUHOOO” anywhere). Yeah, it’s really him. In Macross 7 (and Dynamite 7) we still see a fair number of Space War I relics in operation, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to see a well-maintained perfection in Variable Fighter design make an appearance.

Isamu really came out of nowhere, the last cameo I’d expect really, but it makes sense in how Alto’s last ride was in a YF-29, the swept-forward wings of goodbye.

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa [you are reading this]
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come. For now, let’s talk about our most favorite moments from the film.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

This post will be the second of six I’ll make on this film, and relatedly, Macross Frontier as a sub-franchise and Macross as a franchise as a whole. I’m not hung up on destiny, but I find it entertaining to imagine how the destiny of Macross Frontier is intertwined with that of We Remember Love. Now, the second discussion calls for a comparison with another show we love: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

One of the very first notions I asserted here on We Remember Love is this:

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is to Super Robot Anime as is Macross Frontier is to Real Robot Anime.

I compared the two TV Series based on their um, cavalier attitude towards logic, if and when it got in the way of presenting a spectacle. The finales of both TV series presented spectacles that went beyond what the entirety of the robot anime tradition had offered. I had certainly not seen anything like those before.

Now they are worth comparing again because both series followed up by offering two-part feature films based on the story presented by the respective series. I had seen all of these, and both provide contrasting results.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Gurren-Hen and Lagann Hen are failures wherein Macross Frontier Itsuwari no Utahime and Sayonara no Tsubasa are triumphs.

Why? How did this happen?

First, in the case of TTGL, what it had was a self-contained and already amazing TV series that achieved everything it set out to do. As far as I’m concerned it is as near perfect a super robot anime can get. It remembered so much love for all these things I loved as a fan of anime and honored these by making such a great, uplifting spectacle of itself.

The movies were executed as compilation narratives, which then resulted in removing, glossing over, and minimizing many smaller things that made TTGL feel whole and complete. Having removed this value, how then can it compensate the viewer who is already a fan?

It improved the animation, but with rather limited results. The stylized nature of Imaishi’s work possesses a rare genius in that it looks good with a TV anime budget, and something that neither more money and time contribute to making such a dramatic difference. Thus, they just made more of the same over-the-top stuff, STUFFED ON TOP of what’s already beyond the impossible. This was no good for me at all.

I did like the time-skip montage that portrayed the reconstruction of Teppelin into Kamina City, and the whole hacking sequence using Lord Genome’s sprite, but everyone getting their own Tengen Toppa mecha? Not so much. Making something twice bigger than the final robot in the TV series? Not cool, especially if all it was, is a bright green Kamina that slapped on the name SUPER Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Instead of being impressive, it felt cheap.

Both film versions cheapened the experience of provided by Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann the TV series. Sorairo Days suddenly playing while the final speeches were being delivered in episode 27 is one of my favorite moments in anime, period. The finale in the film made the final fight way, waaay too long. The final fist fight was unwanted overkill.

Nothing of substance was added, and many things of value was lost.

Itsuwari no Utahime was good, but it didn’t rock my world. It changed a few things, but these changes felt more like compromises to tell a concise story. There were no doubt awesome moments, but it wasn’t going to make me prefer the film to the TV series by any stretch. This all changed with Sayonara no Tsubasa.

The second film serves to wrap up the whole Frontier sub-franchise. It would give a finale that leaves far less things to question. On the minds of many fans, was the resolution of the love triangle. This film resolved it with finality. No more questions, no more speculation. Alto picked Sheryl after he turned Ranka down. Gentle, apologetic, considerate, but crystal clear: Sheryl won the love triangle.

I don’t want to get into the other plot details, but I do think that this compressed telling made for a clearer conflict, and a cleaner if just as complicated presentation of villainy. Sure it was plot-twisty, and involved heel-face turns galore, but it was satisfying because the spectacle was worth it, not that the spectacle wasn’t already out of this world in the TV series. This is about something else.

Compared to TTGL, Macross Frontier had several problems with telling and resolving its story. Some more problematic than others. Most notable of course is the resolution of the love triangle. It was never clear. Now it is. What I’m saying here is that the Macross Frontier films have an easier time adding value to the fans of the franchise because the value of the TV series leaves a lot of room for improvement. There is very little in TTGL that I would change, and what the movies changed were not satisfying enough, and disappointing in other ways.

The Macross Frontier films were successful in the way the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam trilogy of movies were intended to be. The cavalier attitude towards canon that the whole Macross franchise has will prevent the utter meaninglessness the Z Gundam movies befalling it. The Z Gundam films are non-canon, and thereby eliminates all good reason to view them, which puts to waste the noble effort of erasing Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam from the official canon.

Thus, there may be a pattern, or some kind of rule-of-thumb that governs film adaptations of anime series. The Mobile Suit Gundam Original Movie Trilogy is more like a compilation movie than a re-imagining like Macross: Do You Remember Love? but what it did, was to remove all distracting and compromising elements in the TV series of Mobile Suit Gundam in addition to adding new animation (and improving the animation from the TV show) such that the value added is beyond welcome. The first of the two Space Runaway Ideon movies, A Contact, was criticized for its compression of the TV series narrative, but the second film, Be Invoked, added something so remarkable that it is a classic all on its own, influencing such works as Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion.

The pattern is maintained in the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. The first film was incredibly faithful to the beginning episodes of the TV series, the second film we start to see fundamental changes, new characters, and hints on how the future films will go differently from the rest of the TV series and even End of Evangelion. Like with Macross Frontier, not everyone was satisfied with how the TV series ended, as remarkable the whole thing was.

I don’t presume that I can predict future quality in the film adaptations to come, but I think the idea of revisionary/rebuilding/additive films in relation to TV series with acknowledged problems having more value, than film adaptations of TV series that have much fewer problems… has merit.

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF [you are reading this]
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

Macross Frontier the TV series needed to do only one thing right. Sure we wanted it to do many things very well (and in a lot of cases, it really did), but there was one necessary thing: to tell a competent love story set against the backdrop of great battles. It tried to, but I, among many consider the resolution of a love triangle an important marker of what would make for a competent love story. Macross Frontier did not resolve its love triangle.

Sheryl partisans disagreed, invoking para-text and all sorts of speculation but well, they’re Sheryl shippers. I wanted a Sheryl x Alto resolution, and I do believe it did end up that way. But as far as the TV show is concerned, it was not clear. It was not explicit. “You are both my wings” is not a statement of romantic love for one Sheryl Nome.

Well, not anymore. The Wings of Goodbye were on the literal level, the swept-forward wings of  of the sexy as fuck YF-29. On the metaphorical level, these are the wings that gave Alto the very desire for the sky itself, the desire for flight. It was first given to him by none other than Sheryl herself, as a child after watching the Kabuki performance in Macross Galaxy.

At the very end of the battle for the Vajra home world, Sheryl gave it to him again, Alto finally remembers love. She gave it back with her singing (backed by Ranka) that shook the galaxy, and with these wings Alto was able to take the song to the very heart of the Vajra, making them believe in humanity, and trust them with their home world.

Good bugs, these Vajra. Why they wouldn’t rather just spare the lives of the human invaders after taking back their home world because of the humans not being total genocidal xenophobes is beyond me. But Macross isn’t really the strongest proponents of xenodiversity. Just look at Macross Frontier’s Alcatraz with its almost wholly Zentraedi inmate population! (It’s okay to have a Ranka concert with loli Klan in Mylene cosplay on bass in Alcatraz and show an huge crowd of lolicons and pedophiles because they’re aliens and already in jail LOLOLOL Let’s make culture LOLOLOL).

I digress.

This doesn’t save the Vajra from all the quantum cannon fire from the Mini-Macrosses, but rather this saves the humans from future Vajra retaliation, provided that the humans become good stewards of the home world they were evicted from.

What’s important to note about this is how this final resolution is built on Alto and Sheryl’s love story. Sheryl gave Alto the desire for flight – his defining character trait, and Alto in turn gave Sheryl the motivation to shake the galaxy by singing on stage – her defining character trait. Ranka gets her motivation for performing from both of them, she is an effect of both, and the cause of neither. Her winning the triangle makes little sense.

Her role is to bear witness to their double sacrifice, to the love that was realized at the perfect moment, and one that saved humanity. She played her role in bringing her idol back to health, so she can wake up when he comes back. This was more than Minmay ever did. This is a good way to end Ranka’s story as a “loser” of the love triangle.

Thinking this through, I realize that as a love story this surpasses Misa’s, Hikaru’s and Minmay’s in terms of romantic idealization. The SDF Macross love triangle is awesome for the delicious levels of fail from the three protagonists, the Macross Frontier films made sure that the protagonists are heroes, even if it meant they became less interesting characters as a consequence. But this is for another post, and another discussion.

Yes, it’s the same scene, really.

To go back to the triangle, it was made explicit in the best way: Ranka confesses. This is the good stuff right here. She was the one who put herself at risk. She lost, but this is what saves her. Minmay’s confession was done in the depths of a downward spiral in SDFM, and a little less so in DYRL? Ranka confessed from a position of high self-confidence (not because she thought Sheryl was dead and out of the picture LOL); what I mean here is that she knew she loved him and this was the right time to tell him. No wishy-washy shit.

The wishy-washy shit are all with Alto and Sheryl. Sheryl didn’t confess to Alto. Sure it’s because she thought she didn’t deserve to take him from Ranka because 1) She’s dying, and 2) the only way she’ll survive is either turn into the borg mass of Galaxy citizens, or wait for these Galaxy villains to harvest Ranka’s body parts for her. Alto didn’t confess to Sheryl because, well, he’s a male anime lead.

They come together in the end due to the force of destiny. First girl wins. Fans are indulged. The hands of the gods are moved. Forgive me if I sound sarcastic, I’m not complaining about the resolution. I love it, but I’m not blind to its weaknesses. After all, love isn’t the adulation of perfection. It’s the wholehearted acceptance of things beyond all faults. This doesn’t diminish my love for the TV Series, non-closure and all. This just gives me more to love.

Here is a great take on things,

I really liked this movie for basically effectively pulling off the What if scenario that I’ve always seen brought up by Ranka fans in the forums, especially after the head script writer outright said that it was Sheryl who won in the tv series.(he had more power than Kawamori in the tv series–the novels also refer to her as the woman that Alto loves), and he only took it out because he felt that there were too much problems with Alto’s character to let him choose. This movie was basically answered for us, what if the roles were reversed, what if it was Sheryl who was the traitor, and Ranka was responsible, independent, more mature, more considerate, didn’t make her life revolve around a person she just met and barely knew, knew Alto longer, and spent more time with him; would Alto love Ranka then, would Sheryl make the same mistakes that Ranka did? This movie answered those questions with a resounding no.

Sheryl didn’t make the same choices as Ranka, she didn’t keep vital information to herself,

This is why this movie worked it was a role reversal what if scenarios and altered the characters accordingly so that they could make it work.

–Chan (from the comments)

Love stories set against the backdrop of great battles montage:

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle [you are reading this]
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

The film version of the narrative did not only change key events from the TV series, it made big changes in the characters. In general, the changes are well-received and I personally am okay with them. I do have considerations and other thoughts though. By all means the three I mention here aren’t the only characters that have noteworthy changes, but these three are who I’ll focus on.

Grace O’Connor

Grace ended up being very sympathetic and I accept these changes wholeheartedly. I do think, however that it happened suddenly and so close to the end and entirely due to a convenient contrivance: a physical module that controls her everything. Thoughts? Emotions? How does this work?

Her real self is trapped and imprisoned, a witness to her own manipulative actions. Can we say that her talent, creativity, and original thoughts are accessed wholesale by the Galactic villains via a physical implant?

How does one retain sanity after performing so many evil acts that are against one’s character? What is Sheryl’s relationship with this evil Grace? Sheryl truly went along with the Galaxy plot not questioning how Grace turned into this evil conspirator? Or, did she knew how something is up with the implants?

The film doesn’t bother with these complexities. What it wanted to do is for Sheryl and Grace to remember love also because it feels better that way. It feels good to imagine May’n & Kanno Yoko role play their relationship as they compose Sheryl’s music together.

Grace was consistently tender towards Sheryl in the film unlike her callous and bitch treatment of her in the series. It’s not too much of a stretch to think of this tenderness as a desirable trait that the Galactic villains want to keep. Brera had some of this towards Ranka but I don’t know how well thought-out this mind control business is. Leon got a reaction from Grace when he said that the Galaxy villains sold her out to keep their lives. Is this acting? I doubt it. I just don’t think the whole dynamic is well done at all. In any case I don’t mind too much.

Macross Frontier went for what feels good and POOF magic rehab. Evil technology can’t stop true friends from remembering love. And while they’re at it, they made her go out like a hero saving Sheryl firing a rifle while mutilated and perhaps more importantly, naked as fuck. That’s our Grace O’Connor alright.

Alto Saotome

I’ve come to realize that Alto isn’t a popular character through my discussions with the very passionate fans who are also readers of WRL. I always liked the guy, finding him to be a nuanced take on the lead pilot hero type.

He wanted to fly more than anything (Ichijou, Dyson)
He was good at flying, but not necessarily fighting.
He didn’t mind having to fight though he’d rather not.
He was prepared to kill friends. (unlike Kira who freaked at killing enemies)
Gets shot down, loses his mecha in Phyrric wins. (Chirico Cuvie)
Isn’t the best pilot in the narrative. (Ichijou)
Does not out-pilot nor beat his rival in any way.

No one is quite like Alto and I love him for it. What changed in the film is he no longer has anti-Alien conversations (no more “there’s only space for one of our species in the galaxy thoughts”); a lot of his angry shouting is removed (especially towards Michel, who is completely a non-rival in any form now); he behaves a lot nicer to the girls; and how the acting he did as an Oyama went beyond something Michel teased him for into him questioning his gender identity. This is dumb.

It’s dumb not because it is out of character (and it is out of character since he equates female gender with femininity), but because it isn’t even actually gay. A homosexual Alto would explain his disinterest in the 2 idols. But he is asexual instead and/or relatable in terms of being a “too pure-pure boy.” This is relevant to Macross Frontier and not a judgment against people like Alto because this is a love story set against the backdrop of great battles.

Alto isn’t a loverboy. He’s the object being wooed. He doesn’t have any romance in him. Hikaru was a jerk and a douchebag but it is certain that he is into the women in his life. Alto, no.

It took the force of destiny to resolve Frontier’s love triangle. Alto never had to work for anything. When Alto chose the sky over the girls in the TV series, that was at least consistent with his character, his being (although he did give out some pity sex to a dying Sheryl, because she kind of reminded him of his dead mom LOL).

In the movies his flying obsession is diluted by this gender issue, which substituted the primacy of his running away from the familial destiny of Kabuki as with the TV series. In the films he’s very much at peace about leaving the family business.

THIS is what makes Alto more likable? SERIOUSLY? Don’t get me wrong I like film Alto just fine as I adore Sayonara no Tsubasa so much. But photoshopping Alto this way isn’t exactly “ideal” to me.

Ranka Lee

The most significant character with the most significant changes is Ranka, the third protagonist and the locus of much divisiveness during the TV series run. While Mylene Jenius is younger and portrayed in an equally if not more childish way, Macross 7 didn’t air in the internet age where opinions rage and blow like storms. Ranka appeared at the very height of moé being thought of a differentiator (as a value proposition) in a mainstream work. After Frontier (and Code Geass R2), moé is pretty mainstream and it’s no big deal to find elements of it in new mainstream works.

As such, I imagine, some older and more conservative (LOLOLOL) Macross fans did not welcome Ranka as a lead character. Add to this the inexperience of creators in integrating such a character in a more central role (Mylene wasn’t central to prevailing over the Protodevlin) and problems ensued. Some of the changes in the film can be read in this context.

Taller (better suited for symmetrical docking, albeit this fanservice never happened)
Responsible
Independent
Considerate
Didn’t make her life revolve around a person she just met and barely knew
Broke down less
A clearer relationship with her Vajra “heritage”
Wasn’t manipulated, and if people tried, she’d probably overcome them

Yes, the above list implies that the opposite was true for Ranka in the TV series (shorter, irresponsible, dependent, inconsiderate, made her life revolve around the guy she barely knew whose surname was, broke down more, “part” Vajra, and got played like an instrument). What was taken away from her worked out very well in my view:

Queen of the Vajra status (how that worked anyway is real dicey to me)
Goddess-mode powers (Vajra command, healing the V-type sickness)
Extreme/dramatized effects of the dissociative amnesia

All in all, especially considering how she manned-up (more than Alto ever did when it came to these things) and confessed to him knowing how doomed she is; how she went to work with her friends, in the context of a team to rescue Sheryl and save the day instead of going to the Vajra and warn them to stop the humans who are about to attack (don’t harm them of course! use your cannons to shoot lasers of love!); how she’s able to talk back to Alto; and ultimately with her role after the resolution of the triangle, Ranka’s had a major change for the better. By this I mean her character is much more ideal and heroic.

I do think she’s a lot less interesting however. Don’t get me wrong. I will be very clear here. I like photoshopped Ranka. I love this film and she’s a big, big part of what makes it work. The changes in her makes haters whine less, which is okay.

But I loved it that she was this idiot traitor. I love it how the TV series presented things in that: this is what happens when you pin your hopes to a moéblob. Granted, Macross Frontier is NOT Infinite Ryvius but man oh man Ranka’s role to play was perfect in my mind. It was a concentrated and more high-stakes level of Minmay failure (post-Space War I). I loved it how she failed so hard, and so often, and so utterly. This was genius.

BUT, instead of redemption through epiphany, Ranka was just given goddess powers and magicked her way into saving the day (and Sheryl too). This is what I hated about how the series handled her character. Instead of acknowledging how she left her people when they needed her there, and then promptly got herself captured and used as a superweapon against the humans; she gets rescued and gets to lecture everyone about the Vajra.

So if I had to choose, I’d pick photoshopped Ranka because a lot of what enraged me about her has to do with utter lack of follow-through and consistency. Movie Ranka is at least consistent throughout.

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHJK Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace [you are reading this]
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

We also are, rightly or wrongly, continuity fanboys. We like our coherence, consistently, and symmetry. This is why Kawamori’s cavalier attitude towards canon is a curse upon our houses. We like looking back, remembering love for a single narrative continuity. This is impossible for the Macross franchise. We accept that it’s the way it is. But it doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it as fans.

In the future, we may (if our finances and powers permit) edit our best ever version of the Macross Frontier continuity drawing from as much media we can get hold of. For now, here is the version (minus chronological time stamps) I’m starting from.

• Alto & Sheryl meet as kids in Macross Galaxy (destiny)
• Alto & Ranka are long-time friends w/ the rest
• Sheryl’s tour touches down in Macross Frontier
• TV Series version of Alto’s hubris causing trouble with “Don’t be Late”Vajra’s first attack
• Movie version Sheryl not rescued by Alto outside (not escaping via limousine)
• Alto gets Gilliam killed, guilt ensuesSheryl tries to get earring back, meets Ranka (trolls her with Diamond Crevasse)
• Alto tries to get into SMS, gets punched
• Training montage for Alto
• Ranka tries for Miss Macross, Alto’s training culminates with Klan duel
• Star Date, Ranka gets discovered at Folmo mall
• Ranka pays duesSheryl is suspected of espionage, Galaxy gets attacked
• Sheryl hires SMS
• Battle to rescue Galaxy turns bad, Vajra attack Frontier
• Ranka sings with Sheryl to save Frontier
• Ranka does movie: Bird Human
• Ranka concert at Atlantic Dome
• Operation Diamond Crevasse initiated by Galaxy & Grace; foiled by Leon

The rest unfolds how The Wings of Goodbye unfold. I care less about the order of the events, what is important here is the content. What I clearly don’t want included are:

• Alto’s soliloquys, especially about gender identity
• Alto dive-bombing Sheryl during her concert on-purpose (TV version is king)
• Ozma practically begging Alto to join the SMS
• High School Fucking Queen
• Ranka x Brera
• Alto’s dead mother oedipal thing with Sheryl
• Ranka’s goddess Vajra queen stuff

The wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, thing about The Wings of Goodbye is how it changed the TV series’ treatment of the power of song. It went from the Macross 7 TV-style magic sound force dynamic, to a communication dynamic more like Macross Dynamite 7. Mechafetish likened it more to the Space War I cultural stuff, but no. That’s quite a stretch. The singing was to reach the heart of the Vajra, which is a lot more like Basara singing Angel Voice to the Great Space Whale.

Things that will have to go, but I’ll definitely miss:

• The extended Diamond Crevasse scene at the end of episode 06 “Bye-Bye Sheryl”; truly epic stuff re mission preparation
• Friendly Fire (ep 09 – maybe there’s a special side story for Klan that can accommodate this)
• The idol sing-off at the hospital WHAT ‘BOUT MY STAR Oh my lord one of my most favorite moments in anime period

I suppose it’s just the idol sing-off that really can’t be accommodated anymore as it directly conflicts with the events in the narrative I choose. Sigh. Can’t pick ‘em all. How about you, what would you keep, what would you leave out if you had to have an official continuity?

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon [you are reading this]
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come.

It’s not even close. Don’t even start with gimmick-goddesses like Haruhi and Madoka. Just don’t. This isn’t Saimoé, this isn’t Saiwoman. It’s no tournament. It’s unnecessary and redundant. Utena Tenjou, Takaya Noriko, L’alc Melk Mal, Beneej Spoor, Lafiel Abriel, Talho Yuki, Alicia Florence, Dianna Sorel, Kihel Heim, Katsuragi Misato, you’re all okay but no, Sheryl has you beat in big ways. I’ll explain.

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

[SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY]

I’ll keep it simple, Sheryl has:

The heroism/valor of Katsuragi Misato.

In the face of death, she chose to save Ranka. Knowing she’d die, she didn’t even want to keep Alto to herself.

The imperious haughtiness (and Goddess of Battle awesomeness) of Beneej Spoor.

She put her money to good use and hired the SMS as her personal militia.

The hotness (all her own)

The vulnerable tsundere type charm of Asuka Langley Shikinami/Suzumiya Haruhi, but with actual decisive and non-sissy dere.

She makes no bones trying (and failing) to peel apples for her man. In the TV series she gave him the gift of an atmosphere to fly in. The scale is unfair, but that’s how it is. Suck it Senjougahara.

A weakness like Minmay’s.

It’s handled quite interestingly in both the TV Series and in Sayonara no Tsubasa. In both cases however she asked Alto to give up flying. But in the film, it was something that is almost hers to ask back – given how it was her who granted the very idea of flight to Alto. Unlike Minmay though, her request isn’t as selfish. Minmay wanted to ground Hikaru to keep for herself. Sheryl wanted to keep Alto alive.

The wilful determination of any of your retarded shounen heroes, without actually being retarded, e.g. Basara Nekki

The shounen trope is “I WANT TO BE THE GREATEST,” and the story plays itself out from there. In Sheryl’s case this was a revelation from her past. After all, by the time we meet her she was already the Galactic Fairy. Basara wanted to move the mountain and the galaxy. He did, by making Gepelnitch the Galaxy-eating Protodevlin listen to his song. Sheryl did the same, with Ranka and Alto’s help.

A discography like no other anime idol (Thank you May’n & Kanno Yoko)

I can think of at least 6 other examples that would’ve served to prove the same point, but I like May’n’s little dances here. Also props to Aya Endo for her amazing work acting out Sheryl.

To wrap things up, here are revealing snapshots:

When faced with that moment that inspires her to meet her destiny, she doesn’t face it meekly. She told Alto exactly how she felt about his performance, then swore to become better than he ever will be, to sing on a stage in a way to shake the very galaxy!

The moment she says this she is but a child, so she covers the loli base (LOLOLOL) that you lolicons and/or moéfags may think of fielding one of your pet characters in this conversation. No, they still don’t belong and no, even if they did, they’ll still lose.

Now, does everything Sheryl do end up being better than anything every other female character does? No. That’s not what I’m saying. She is not a Goddess of War the way Spoor is, nor does she have the same awesome lines Spoor has (that is better than anyone’s ever). Sheryl doesn’t pwn fools like Kusanagi Motoko nor Levy Two-Hands. She doesn’t pilot like Millya. She can’t out-moé moéblobs, and not even Ranka. Her character design is so inconsistent that she sometimes gets monstrous boobs that are just ugh. That’s not the point. The point is, no one has the concentration of so many awesome things as Sheryl does, and she has the ‘right’ kind of fail that makes her interesting.

Mechafetish brings my attention to this scene:

At this point she knows she’s a goner, and she chooses to die on her own terms, on stage where she can shake the galaxy. GAR. She uses up her life force to reach the Vajra with her feelings and it’s THIS kind of sacrifice that can move any sentience. This allows her to stand with Basara Nekki among the most epic bards in anime history.

Some are of the view that Sheryl was “nerfed” in this film. I disagree. This is only talk relative to the apparent ascendance of Ranka. I indulge some of these ideas, but ultimately she did much here together with Ranka. They made such a great singing partnership. She’s not the “photoshopped” Ranka of the movies that took away ALL her fail, and rendered her a lot less interesting as a result. She isn’t the complete mess Minmay was either. Her overpowering will is balanced by her off-putting haughtiness (for some of us though, her haughtiness is really, really hot). Her fail just makes her moé LOL.

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime [you are reading this]

I wrote a series of 6 posts on the final Macross Frontier film and realized too late that I had said nothing about it as robot anime.

Sure, the Macross franchise is built on love stories set against the backdrop of great battles. However, it is easy to forget that its creator is primarily a mechanical designer than he is a writer and director of anime. Arguably he is far better as a mechanical designer than he is an animator, writer, and director. Not many people get to make Macross at the onset of adulthood. At 22 many people are still just starting on their major subjects at university. I only had a year of lecturing at university under my belt at the time.

But let me present a macro view of the mecha anime aspects of the Macross franchise in terms of how it features in the narrative.

Warning: Incredibly huge image for this chart

The chart I made lists the broad contributions each installment makes into the robot anime tradition. By no means is the chart comprehensive, but I wanted to present something to organize my observations. Ultimately these are: transforming robots in grand scale, and with a lot of technical depth (and by this I don’t mean scientific plausibility; I just mean as a franchise it really gets into the transforming mecha); and the aircraft dogfight aesthetic of combat.

It distinguishes itself by what it doesn’t do:

• Tell stories of “I want to be the best fighter ever.”
• The “heroes” aren’t about I want to defeat the bad guys with my skill and power, and with my incredible super machine.
• Tell stories of schooling the enemies about JUSTICE and PEACE.

Instead it has a lot of singing and love triangles. The love story is at the foreground, scored by the all the singing, which is interwoven with the battles that form the backdrop. Despite all this, the franchise is blessed with more interesting and superior mecha concepts and design from more dedicated real robot anime.

Macross’ Regulds, Quadlunn-raus, Destroids, and Glaugs may fail to be as interesting or compelling as the Mobile Suits of the Gundam franchise, the Armored Troopers of the VOTOMS franchise, Evangelion units, Heavy Metals from L-Gaim, Mortar Headds from the Five Star Stories, and the like… BUT, Macross units have a justification for their sizes!

The Zentraedi are a giant alien race, who use powered armor and mecha that aren’t conspicuously sized relative to their own humanoid proportions. But them being a giant alien race prompted the humans to consider infantry scenarios wherein the human machine must contend with. Thus, giant humanoid robots!

And THEN, Macross has the Variable Fighters, easily the most interesting and most influential innovation on the mass-produced military real robot concept. It’s not just the imaginative leap of having two forms, but having three! Furthermore, the variability extends to the multiple modular configurations that can be affixed to the base unit (FAST, Strike, Super, etc.) – something Gundam would also adapt (for the Jegans, as an example – see Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn). The Variable Fighter concept is indeed the hands-down best thing to happen to military mass-produced mecha, even if only to consider the examples being followed by ground-based units like the mecha in Guilty Crown, the engagement suit in Sacred SeveN, and the various units in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. Macross has in this concept, out-Gundamed Gundam.

Macross Frontier builds on this tradition by covering many bases:

Hand-to-hand Battloid vs. Monster Battles

This took more from Evangelion than anything else, especially with the use of the “Progressive” Knife as a standard Battloid weapon. The Gundams prefer the use of duelist weapons like the saber, or the Gundam Hammer (LOL, a spiked ball on a chain), primarily because mobile suits engage in one vs. one duels in the open, while the Battloid only has the dagger as an emergency CQB measure.

Otherwise, it has its smaller guns as more effective point-blank responses and in the very first close encounter with a large type Vajra soldier Ozma’s Armored VF-25 demonstrates this. Acknowledging the reach disadvantage he suffered vs. the giant insectoid, he transforms to Gerwalk and fires at the Vajra with top-mounted guns at point-blank range then executes a tackle powered by extra boosters to create distance, so he can rain missiles without giving up position on the ground. Badass use of the VF, especially considering this is happening at a much higher speed than mobile suit duels in Gundam.

One vs. Many Battle Scenarios

The VFs ever since the first Space War had to contend with numerical disadvantages. It’s not much different dealing with the Vajra swarms, with various levels of shielding and imperviousness. The Vajra rely on structural shielding for defense instead of flying skill. As such they do not have an easy time evading the missile barrages of the VFs. Still, given the speeds at which the battles transpire the Vajra are quicker opponents that Zentraedi in Regulds, or mobile suits from the Gundam franchise for that matter. This makes the VF one of the most powerful and cost-effective units.

A different fire support unit is introduced in the form of a sniping specialized VF. It doesn’t seem to be a complete prototype given how Jessica Blanc was a known sniper VF pilot, but definitely a new variant in the way mecha combat is conducted in Macross. I personally find this refreshing as opposed to the semi-automatic rifles used in the VF-171 Nightmare Plus and the ubiquitus Gundam beam rifle. It is incredibly difficult to shoot accurately at fast moving targets while moving very quickly yourself. Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn episode 02 did very well to keep the Unicorn Gundam stationary while it attempted to rifle the fast-moving Sinanju. You will never find this kind of verisimilitude in most AU Gundam shows.

Semi-automatic beam weapons are useful as fire support or for targeting capital ships. I am very pleased at how Brera Sterne’s VF-27 Lucifer never used his large beam weapon against other VFs in dogfights. The show knows he wouldn’t hit, despite his cyborg enhancements that make him more than an equivalent to a Gundam Newtype in combat situations. He used his beam weapon when he attacked the Vajra Frontier, exactly what such a weapon is good for: capital ships.

The Macross (by extension UN SPACY) on Offense

The SDF-1 primarily fought a defensive war. It took part in exactly TWO offensive operations (and the second was a BIG one), but still it was pretty reactionary. In Macross Frontier we see an offensive rescue operation, a planetary assault operation, and in both the TV series and the films — Macross vs. Macross operations. Macross Frontier is insane when it comes to this. As amazing Sayonara no Tsubasa’s final battle is (with its fleet of Macross Quarter ships), the TV series had a slugfest between two battle class Macross ships. Galaxy and Frontier truly fought point-blank and toe-to-toe. Unfuckingbelievable.

The Dogfights

Macross Frontier knows that the best fight will be between top-of-the-line machines. In the TV series it was very clear how Brera’s VF-27 Lucifer had all sorts of disadvantages over the VF-27 Messiah. All of Alto’s incredible human talent could not keep up with Brera’s cyborg implants that also allowed him to withstand the Gs the Lucifer put on him as it pulled improbable feats of maneuverability.

In The Wings of Farewell Alto got to pilot a prototype YF-29 against Brera and it was short, but good. YF-29 vs. VF-27 Lucifer with 3 AIF-9V Ghost Fighter slaves… it hardly seems fair, given how the YF-29s supposed enhancements are anti-Vajra in nature. The more powerful weaponry doesn’t make for a direct solution against the maneuverability of the Lucifer.

One of the things I truly enjoyed about the Sinanju vs. Unicorn battle in Unicorn 02 is how Sinanju’s speed gave the Unicorn fits and depleted its beam cannon. That was one of the best mecha duels I’ve ever seen. One thing remarkable about the very short dogfight between Alto & Brera is how they easily fired more ordnance at each other while flying and dodging at higher speeds.

It’s one thing to dodge a single shot beam firing at less than semi-automatic rates, but it’s another thing to dodge multiple weapons firing at the same time while evading guided missiles fired in groups of eight plus. This is the kind of fighting you get from a Macross anime. Sure the Gundam fight was drawn out and intense and was the centerpiece of a great episode, while this dogfight is basically fanservice as a backdrop to the culminating love story. But it’s faster, if not as intense; it requires higher levels of skill, without Newtype abilities. If you slow it down, if you break it down, Full Frontal will gouge his eyes out.

And how’s this for innovation: Alto detaches modular parts of his YF-29, which is par for the course in Macross as a counter-measure for the Itano circus; only that, the detached part is a missile pod itself that launches its own circus… a missile pod funnel if you will, in Gundam fashion only improvised in an awesome way.  This is how he takes out the third of the AIF-9Vs (making him easily thrice the pilot Guld Goa Bowman was, or that the YF-29 is thrice the VF the YF-21 was).

Of course, this being Macross, the fight isn’t quite resolved in a straightforward way: that is, by the prowess of the mecha or the pilot. Vajra “rescue” Alto from Brera who eventually breaks free from the mind-control of the Galaxy villains and destroys the same by attacking the command center of Battle Frontier. It remembers that no human, in any VF, can overcome the the ability and technological advantages enjoyed by Brera and the Lucifer.

Alto on the other hand gets to save the day with piloting by doing his “kabuki dance” aerial show over and around the Battle Frontier/Vajra Queen combination. The combination of these two acts free the Queen who then listens to Sheryl and Ranka’s song, and bears witness to Alto’s dance, and accepts the feelings of the humans – choosing to leave their home planet for them (and taking Alto with her – fair trade? Ask Sheryl).

Certain things held that I’m happy with:

• Fighting many vs. 1 is difficult, no matter how high-spec one’s machine is.
• High specifications (VF-27 Lucifer) doesn’t translate to invincibility vs. conventional weapons.
• Capital ships are vulnerable to attack craft (VF-27 vs. Battle Frontier).
• There is a minimum of shouting over the tactical net while fighting. No actual conversations (let alone debates) transpired.

The bottom line is, that unlike really good Gundam mobile suit battles, Macross fights and especially here in Frontier are very quick and end quickly. The Gundam Unicorn way is drawn out and long… and I love it for being such. Here in Macross you get, most of the time, a very well-thought out fight that ends as quickly as it starts. It is ironically, much like the samurai duels (only messier with lots of ordnance) that Gundam more overtly goes for. The pressure is really intense for the pilots, though you won’t really feel it because of the excitement of the idol concert playing over the fight.

Still, Houkago Overflow playing while the Macross Quarter surfs into the atmosphere evading anti-air batteries and intercepting Vajra is one of the best things ever.

[Moment the Ninth: Roboworld Trolled Into An Heroism (Redline)]

The ambiguity is put to rest about the resolution of Macross Frontier’s infamous love triangle. This alone is enough to make it one of the moments of the year. But there’s something to be said about how it happened. I’m not talking about the actual plot mechanics, but rather the spectacle of it. The resolution of the triangle all happened during the course of the greatest Macross song ever sung. Yes, greater than Ai oboete imasu ka? You heard me. That song is iconic and obviously I remember love for it. But I say in terms of musical composition, power, and vocal performance, Sayonara no Tsubasa ~ The End of Triangle owns it hands down. You’d think Kanno Yoko won’t ever top Lion, this song makes Lion look like a kitten. VALKYRIAAAAAA~

Every time you doubt they exist a Galactic Fairy dies.
From their bowels they emit their magic~
The center from which a singer gathers power
That folds the very dimensions.

This is farewell to love .
Remember it, remember how the secret
Rose to the surface of thought and straight into the heart
While falling through the Sky,

Breaking the asymmetrical geometry
Of this flimsy little triangle;
Behind which great battles claim their dead.
The Princess and Fairy refuse the summons

Though they disappear from the narrative…
Leaving us with the last fairy standing
Love unreturned,
But we listen to her song.

One of the things I find both infuriating, yet fascinating is the amount of hate that exists for Ranka Lee, a fictional character from the recently concluded Macros Frontier saga. The informal measure (as this is not a scholarly exercise, despite the academic-sounding title) I’m using is how defensive commenters have been in the Macross Frontier posts I’ve been publishing the past two years.

I’m not even exaggerating too much when I say that almost every Macross Frontier post I publish becomes a Ranka Lee apology thread. This is interesting because you don’t actually find hate posts or comments towards her here in We Remember Love; after all, we actually do remember love. Why would the comments sections then be such an attraction for Ranka Lee apologists? Fans I’d understand, to celebrate the character and such – but instead we have something quite different.

A theory I have is that it is precisely how I don’t go out of my way to hate on Ranka, and this tack is followed by commenters who are otherwise not her fans. In other words, the people who the blog posts here attract can be divided into two broad groups:

1. Ranka moderates/non-haters (who are Sheryl fans)
2. Rankafags

The Ranka apologists find themselves, no, put themselves in life or death debates against people who shouldn’t be their mortal adversaries. To me, this is fascinating. I’d think of this as an isolated case unique to this blog (as I don’t frequent other fora aside from twitter), but I began to see the pattern re-emerge in another anime blog currently publishing about Macross Frontier TV. In my conversations with the blog’s author I sought to explain this dynamic, which led to me organizing my thoughts in blog post form. Here I will map out the factors which contribute to the nexus of hate that exists for Ranka Lee.

Important: before any of you Rankafags tl;dr this post and launch another campaign of whining in the comments, the purpose of the genealogy isn’t to justify the hate. Let me repeat, IT IS NOT MY PURPOSE TO JUSTIFY THE HATE. This post is to share the dynamics of this phenomenon to outsiders looking in and wondering how come Macross Frontier articles have threads with over 200 posts while nobody pays attention to the Cowboy Bebop features. In this post I will also state how I truly feel about Ranka as a character in my beloved of all media franchises, Macross. OPEN RANKA!

The Legacy of Minmay

The source of all the love that Macross Frontier  remembers is the Space War I sub-franchise, containing three animated works: 1) Super Dimension Fortress Macross, 2) Macross: Do You Remember Love? and 3) Macross Flashback 2012. Despite wildly conflicting events, a narrative can be pieced together from all three. It presented the core offering of Macross: A love story set against the backdrop of great battles. Its dominant elements being:

1. A singing idol
2. A love triangle
3. Transforming robots

The characters involved are Ichijo Hikaru (the lead, a pilot jock); Hayase Misa (the heroine, a military commander); and Lynn Minmay (the star idol). Macross is notable in that it presented Minmay the way it did during the rise of the idol in Japanese popular culture in the early 1980’s. These idols were public images of perfection. Minmay was blatantly portrayed as flawed, and far from perfect. This is significant.

In the West, an entire generation of anime fans found a gateway show in Robotech, and I have little doubt that the most beloved part of the long, cobbled-together narrative is what’s called the “Macross Saga.” If the Minmay in SDFM is flawed, and manifest all kinds of behaviors that fans of idols will find distasteful, are acts of betrayal (yeah idol otaku are weird), and annoying; the Robotech presentation, abetted by a truly atrocious “acting” performance in the dub, made Lynn Minmay one of the most hated characters in all animation.

In the film adaptation, Macross: Do You Remember Love? there are changes in the presentation of Minmay (mostly a result of the abridged love story) that many haters responded well to. Much of the behavior near the end of the TV series are excised, leaving her with a truly majestic, star-making turn as an ending to the Space War, then leading her into her ride into the sunset (which was fully expressed in Macross Flashback 2012). As a result, Minmay became the banner-bearer of the franchise and is one of the symbols of its enduring popularity.

In Macross Frontier, instead of pitting an idol singer vs. a soldier, a bold idea was put forth: make the triangle be a battle between TWO idols. To distinguish the two, they would take on different styles 1) the rock star/diva type, and the 2) kawaii/moé type. As character templates, given that Macross Frontier is the 25th Anniversary work and the first TV series in 15 years, the idols would both be references to Minmay.

Sheryl Nome would be based on the already famous at the onset-Minmay, as she was in DYRL?, while Ranka is then based on the star-in-the-making-Minmay of SDFM, including participating in Miss Macross (Frontier), as well as covering songs like “My Boyfriend is a Pilot” and “Ai oboete imasu ka?” Minmay herself is a kawaii-type idol herself, making the similarities appear stronger with Ranka, while those with Sheryl much subtler. Thus:

Ranka inherited Minmay’s legacy of hate, while Sheryl inherited mostly her Legacy of glory and adulation.

Early on, Sheryl fans are loath to even hear Sheryl comparisons with Minmay. The hatred for her runs very, very deep. Ranka, on the other hand bore the brunt of the Minmay comparisons immediately. This is only the beginning of her (or rather her fans’) woes.

Lolimoé Has Its Own Legacy of Hate

Rightly or wrongly, the late 00s saw the rise of the lolimoé character appeal and the otaku who ate all of it up. To many non-otaku, this reminded them too much of creepy, sexually deviant (pedophilia) fanservice. For many it was one thing to sexualize young girls who were becoming women and only happened to be young, but it was another thing to sexualize them precisely because they were not yet women, because they were as young as they were and looked younger (the better).

A narrative of anime “selling out” to such repulsive kinds of otaku emerged. Many of the anime fans who got into anime in the 1990s and into its seemingly widespread preoccupation with science fiction (and mecha) titles bought into this narrative in a big way. Many of these fans are oblivious to the fact that mecha anime directly contributed to the loli(pedo) part of this phenomenon in the 1980s in the form of Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam with the force of a thousand utterances of “onii-chan~” (yes, the tilde is fucking included and yes, Purupurupurupuru is 10 years old, and yes, they made 12 of them, and yes they were shown naked).

It is also interesting to note how Robotech, with its radically abridged discography for Minmay the kawaii and proto-moé elements in her character were pretty much muted. Thus, Robotech (and therefore Macross) pretty much served as the Gundam franchise for its fans, that is – the  definitive military robot anime.

Thus when Ranka, all of 156 centimeters (5’1”) emerged doing her nyan-nyan dance after tripping and falling and being scolded at work and getting wet all cute and clumsy, there were Macross fans who outright dismissed Macross Frontier then and there. The franchise had sold out to the filthy otaku lolicons, never mind the language and cultural subversive subtext in the original series (made in a less permissive era) – with its presentation of the Zentraedi as analogies for idol otaku, complete with a “lolicon trio” (Warera, Rori, and Konda’s names conjoin into “Warerarorikon” or “we are lolicons”). Not that this would make much of a difference, since most of these viewers hated Minmay anyway. Thus:

Ranka who has lolimoé appeal, and her fans, inherited a legacy of hate.

Rightly or wrongly, male viewers who became fans of Ranka were lumped together with otaku associated with child molesters.

The Lynn Kaifun Clusterfuck

Even as Minmay has a galaxy of haters, she is not universally hated. As mentioned, she endures as one of the symbols of Macross and its popularity (especially in Japan where hardly anyone talks about Misa). Lynn Kaifun however, is universally hated. Rightfully so because this guy is a fucking douche. Nobody, and I mean nobody likes this guy and if you are a dude and say you do like this jerk, you are dead to me. Seal yourself in a coffin and listen to Fire Bomber English until your flesh withers to dust.

Ahem.

Lynn Kaifun is Minmay’s first cousin, who then becomes her boyfriend, her co-star, her manager and generally makes Hikaru’s life (and everyone watching) miserable. Minmay in SDFM is retarded for this creep. Even worse, he behaves in the most annoying self-righteous way possible. A “pacifist” who does nothing but whine and cast aspersions against anyone in the military. He is, however a powerful martial artist and possesses his own powerful charisma within the narrative. It is legal to hate on this guy in all parts of the galaxy.

In Macross Frontier it should come with no surprise to anyone that not only is there a close relative to one of the idols (a bona fide onii-chan this time) who takes part in her management but also interferes in her (barely existent) relationship with the lead pilot. Brera Sterne is Ranka Lee’s onii-chan, and he is the Kaifun of Macross Frontier. Thus,

Ranka Lee inherits a legacy of hate, still associated with Minmay.

But it doesn’t end there! Oh god it doesn’t. If Lynn Kaifun is a douchey pacifist but has god-tier kung-fu, Brera Sterne is a cyborg soldier that is superior to a human pilot in every conceivable way. Even worse, he pilots the VF-27 Lucifer, a superior variable fighter to the banner bird of the series, the VF-25 Messiah. We know this because Alto had to upgrade to the YF-29 Durendal in The Wings of Farewell film, in his duel with Brera.

In the TV series though, Brera Sterne was unbeatable. There was no way he could be bested in his superior VF-27 and could take on multiple SMS pilots at will. This invincibility on and off the cockpit evokes one of the most hated characters in mecha anime ever, the peace-loving Jesus of the Gundam franchise: Kira Yamato of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, not only one of the most popular recent characters and sub-franchises of Gundam ever, but also held to be some of the very worst anime of all time. Kira Yamato isn’t called Jesus only because of his insufferable faux-pacifism, and his hijacking of the (fucktastically awful putrid) plot of the sequel; but precisely because he is adorned with the Plot Armor of God.

The hatred for this character within the Gundam fandom is such, that in a completely unrelated show: Sengoku Basara Season Two, the voice actor of Kira Yamato plays one of the leads – Sanada Yukimura. This isn’t a big deal in itself, but Yukimura is at one point served by a retainer voiced by Furuya Tohru, the actor who played Amuro Ray himself from Mobile Suit Gundam. The contextual meta-injustice of this unhappy coincidence caused much gnashing of teeth. Hoshi Souichirou who plays Kira Yamato, also plays Brera Sterne. Thus,

Ranka inherits an incredible legacy of hate, from well-beyond the Macross franchise.

It gets even worse with how Ranka’s trademark pose involves the very name of this most-loathed of characters.

In this post I won’t even talk about the hate caused by some of her personal decisions in the show, or hate caused by “Die for our ship.” These factors are well-within the context of the show and do not require further examination from me. Doing so will just bait the Rankafags and reopen stupid arguments already thwarted.

Remembering Love For Ranka

It is easy to root for Ranka. She is the underdog in the story. This is a big part of her appeal, that dovetails with the moé elements that she manifests. She’s the little girl with a big dream, a big heart, and a big crush on the lead character. This is also her death as an appealing character for me.

I may indulge rooting for underdogs (especially when my home team is the underdog), but I don’t go watch a sporting event looking for underdogs to root for. Underdogs ruin game balance. This is why I have no interest in NCAA “March Madness” basketball. It’s a bunch of kids playing at a low “amateur” (LOL) level where the draw is in watching “Cinderella stories” where the underdogs topple the big dogs in a single-elimination format.

Give me the NBA’s best of seven, grueling series involving the best athletes on the planet. This format weeds out the weak. It guarantees that only the strongest and the very best fight it out. Do I really want to watch some no-name play out of his mind and catch Roger Federer on a bad day? Fuck that. I want Federer playing Djokovic. I want Nadal playing for his life against Djokovic. I want Anderson Silva fighting Georges St. Pierre. I want the very best fighting the strongest.

I don’t want a Cinderella story, even if it were Super Dimensional. Besides, the Cinderella story isn’t even an underdog story. She was pretty, and had fairies and talking animals backing her. Her enemies were ugly and their power over her was circumstantial. She was an underdog only in that it wasn’t a fair fight. She was the Goliath and she stomped down on the “Davids” with her glass slipper.

Alto is a former star of the stage, a genius actor, who is on his second career as a genius pilot. Sheryl is the Galactic Fairy, who vowed to shake the very galaxy with her song. Ranka… just wants to be a singer, to follow her idol Sheryl, and she sure likes this guy because he’s so pretty and was nice to her, saving her from aliens and wet clothes.

It is an asymmetrical triangle. You have Sheryl and Alto supportive of Ranka, because she isn’t at their level. She was a nobody. Her strengths and talents needed their intervention to manifest, made known, etc. Compared to the two, she is a child. Alto and Sheryl play at romance while Ranka pursues a crush. Sheryl teases Alto, Ranka pursues him in her stumbling, unsure way.

She’s stumbling and unsure because she can’t be made into a sure-footed, silver-tongued, man-getter. It doesn’t fit with her character and depreciates her moé appeal. It’s the cage of her overall character design. It’s a trap.

Do I really want to watch Alto, the fierce and vain Princess of the skies in his VF-25 “fall” for Ranka’s harmless cuteness? Is this entertaining? It makes far more sense for him(e) to become enchanted by the fairy’s spell. She’s dangerous. He lives for it. Done, now let’s go find some other dude who wants to protect his little sister (and maybe make her his waifu). Ranka has TWO: I laughed out loud when Michel referred to Ozma as the “Siscon Captain,” and I already explained Jesus Brera. In The Wings of Farewell the two even had a battle of the onii-chans (which was kind of fail because both were wearing Kira’s Plot Armor of God).

No, I don’t really think either are suitable suitors for Ranka. I just think she’s a poor fit in the triangle she’s put in. If you Rankafags think of what just wrote constitutes as “hate” then just go away and never come back. Only someone who truly loves Ranka can write this post.

Ranka however, is inevitable. This is a perfectly logical version of Minmay in 2059 (2008). Macross Frontier knows this very well. One of the brilliant things that The Wings of Farewell film does is to clearly delineate the different Ranka fandoms, manifest in her two concerts. The first concert featured the 虹色・クマクマ number, and the audience is primarily composed of girls, enjoying their cute girly things. The concert had a magical girl theme and Ranka herself did her own transformation sequence. She turned the audience’s everyday clothes into ball gowns and gave them magic teddy bears. The manifestation of the appeal lives in Sheryl’s reaction herself. This is excellent.

Then, the second concert… my most favorite moment in the film: let us look beyond the Fire Bomber reference and you’ll see this as a crude and perfect throwback to Minmay, but even more vicious. If one part of Ranka’s fandom is comprised of girly girls, then the other part is made up of the kimoi otaku, represented by none other the Zentraedi – yes, Macross Frontier remembers them still! The whole concert legitimizes this in its backhanded way because its held inside Alcatraz and the audience are all prisoners. It makes it “okay” to like Ranka this way because all these pedophiles are already in jail. This is awesome and delicious. Macross spits on its fans in epic fashion.

More on this later.

If Minmay had “Ai oboete imasu ka?” which was subverted in the TV series by making Ranka the false “final boss.” Then Ranka had her legitimate moment as the songstress of battle when she sang “Houkago Overflow.” No one can take this away from her. This song is the score, and the perfect one at that, for “Big Wednesday,” and when the bridge of the song played in stark, near-acapella – it was that very moment when the Macross Quarter stood up and used the asteroid fragment as a surfboard in the sky. This was all you Ranka, all you.

In the resolution of the triangle in The Wings of Farewell, Ranka was dealt Minmay’s hand to play. It was the perfect ending for her. Why? When Minmay lost the Hikaru sweepstakes, she had no other recourse but rediscover her song, re-start her career. This fulfills the idol otaku narrative. The idol belongs to no single man. By remaining single, singing, and married to her being an idol, she belongs to her fans. This is also key to Minmay’s enduring popularity. She became Macross, and she belonged to all of us. Ranka is left with the same choice. She has her songs, and Macross Frontier is more than content to not fill out her future with love, because she will always be loved by those claim her.

Sheryl may be the most awesome female anime character ever made, but Macross Frontier in my mind will always be represented by Ranka. An interesting thing plays out in the Macross Frontier live concerts: it is Nakajima Megumi who acts as the master of ceremonies. It is partly because May’n isn’t the speaking voice of Sheryl that Mamegu has to carry the concert. She plays the whole thing entirely in character, while May’n remains May’n and Aya Endo (who had a bigger role to play in the Christmas concert) could not – with good reason, take over the show.

Thus, Ranka in the live concerts is more assertive, and overall has the biggest personality in the cast. Mamegu’s on-stage Ranka performance is even far more effective and winsome, and is definitely far more preferable than any animated version than Ranka. She puts Alto, and everyone else, in their place. This is almost impossible to imagine in the anime. But it’s real, in the flesh, in the fleeting 3D space that is the opposite of why we watch Macross.

This post is twice as long as I planned, but my love overflows.

Pssst ghostlighting, don’t you have it backwards?

Do I, really?

Of course, strictly speaking Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospaeda all existed prior to Robotech and it was the work of Carl Macek and Harmony Gold that synthesized and repurposed the above anime into a syndicated cartoon that introduced many viewers around the world to Japanese anime.

It must follow then that anything Robotech is derivative from its source material – at least in animated form, in the original syndicated run. The subsequent Sentinels as well as the now non-canon novelization introduced a lot of elements that fleshed out and unified the whole universe and narrative. I make it no secret that I am a huge fan of this novelization and have read the books many times over. I am re-reading them at the moment which then makes me remember all these things I found interesting in it, that I also started finding in subsequent Macross shows since the 1990s.

DISCLAIMER: I am not concluding that the creators of Macross read the Robotech novels and were subsequently influenced by them. No. The furthest I go is to note the uncanny similarities in Macross post-Robotech, that allows me to put together a makeshift “tradition” as it were.

This post will also serve as a jump-off point for a post series remembering love for Robotech – as it served, for a time, as the locus of my love for Macross.

A Brief History of the Robotech Narrative

This is not canon, but I don’t care, because Macross itself has a very cavalier attitude towards canon.

The Robotech story is that of a galactic or universal endeavor to evolve. There is an alien super-entity named Haydon (who manifests itself in the form of a technological planet) who, for all intents and purposes is seeking immortality/godhood. The key to this is the mystical energy source called the Protoculture. The Protoculture allows Robotechnology to run, and beyond this powers the “Shapings” of the universe, and/or the races/species in it.

The launching point of this is the planet Optera, home of the insect-like Invid. These are a peaceful species, who consume a form of Protoculture as distilled from the “Flower of Life” – vegetation native to Optera. The tragedy begins when the humanoid scientist Zor discovers this in Optera… he and the Queen basically fall in love, as the Queen assumes human form and shows him the possibilities of The Shapings.

Zor however, is under the authority of a ultraconservative Tirolian government faction. Protoculture was seen as a military asset. Zor was used to develop Robotechnology. The Tirolians became the Robotech Masters and launched a war of conquest against the Invid for their Flowers. The Zentraedi became the genetically developed super soldiers of the Robotech Masters. A bitter war ensued after the Invid, feeling betrayed by Zor, militarized themselves and fought back ruthlessly and mercilessly.

Zor, with much regret developed the Super Dimensional Fortress which then held the LAST Protoculture Matrix (energy refinery) and sent it to Earth away from the Robotech Masters, until it crashed on Macross Island. Zor dies, but the Robotech Masters continued to clone him in their attempts to reproduce his intelligence to make Protoculture Matrices. The Zentraedi are sent to find the SDF, and thus find it on Earth which leads to the Macross story we know.

After the great war with the Zentraedi, the Robotech Defense Forces form the Robotech Expeditionary Force to sue for peace with the Robotech Masters in Tirol. On their way there, the Masters arrive on Earth and wage the second Robotech War. The Robotech Defense Forces prevail, but are spent. The Invid invade finally, and the Third Robotech War was mostly the Invid taking over the Earth. This war ended when the REF returns from deep space (a part of them anyway) much improved and powerful and attacks the Invid, whose Queen triggers The Shapings and leaves the Earth in an evolutionary blast – all her race in the form of a galactic phoenix.

This is what Haydon wants to replicate for himself. And the REF led by Admiral Lisa and Rick Hunter confront this entity in the last showdown.

Far out right? You don’t know half of it. This post isn’t so much a discussion on the above (much less about its merits or lack thereof), but rather on the similarities of the elements that are involved in the above and those found in the Macross franchise. Let us begin.

The Invid and the Vajra

1. Insect Mecha

The Invid are Genesis Climber Mospaeda’s “Inbit.” These are amoeba-like organisms that somehow mechanized themselves and invaded the Earth. In Robotech they are peaceful inhabitants of Optera, whose Flowers of Life are key to not only the aforementioned evolutionary Shapings, but to Robotechnology itself. The evolutionary path, is unsurprisingly anthropomorphic. The machines with Robotechnology transform into human forms.

Compare these to the Vajra, also an insect-like, matriarchal species that have powerful mechanized soldiery. They too, live on a planet with valuable raw materials exploitable by would-be galactic imperialists with a bent on mechanized evolution (the shadow board of directors from Macross Galaxy).

Relevance/Significance: High

2. Super Dimensional Powers

The Invid’s Protoculture, is key to the ability to execute Hyperspace Folds. This is what enables galactic conquest and is why the Tirolians wanted it so badly, styling themselves as Robotech Masters. The evolutionary properties of Protoculture, is why Haydon wants The Shapings to transpire and Zor is part of his manipulations to trigger it.

Compare these to the Vajra, who has Fold Quartz, instead of Flowers of Life, but for almost all intents and purposes this is the same thing, split up into different elements. The Vajra themselves use the fold quarts and other fold-related biological elements to form a fold network that connects them with other Vajra colonies within and perhaps outside the galaxy. The name alone “fold quartz” implies the power to cross spacetime. This is the Macross equivalent to Robotech’s take on Protoculture.

Relevance/Significance: Very High

3. Queen and the Human Male

Zor is sometimes referred to have “seduced” the Invid Queen, which led to the sharing of the vision of The Shapings, which then led to the discovery of humanoids of the Protoculture. In any case, they had a meeting of the minds, at the very least. One account states (Robotech Wikia):

At night time, the expedition went to sleep but Zor was compelled by a psychic voice into the surface where he made contact with the guiding intelligence of the Invid; the Regess who took on a Tirolian female based form that was pleasing to his eyes. They later engaged in a telepathic communion where he shared all aspects of his society with her and she shared with him her knowledge of the Flower of Life. The next morning, he would be awakened by his colleagues and take samples of the Flower of Life with him back to Tirol.

This is less seduction than it is cultural exchange.

Now, take the finale of Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa. Saotome Alto did an aerial kabuki dance using his YF-29 Durendal to do what exactly? He wanted to communicate with the appropriately upset Vajra Queen that humans are kind of ok. The result of this exchange is the Vajra entrust their home world to the humans of the Frontier Colony fleet. The Queen takes Alto with her during her hyperspace fold.

If Alto’s kabuki dancing could “seduce” a loli Sheryl, it is not unreasonable to imagine something similar going on with the Vajra Queen, who could’ve sang Aimo (the Vajra mating song) not only in response to VALKYRIAAAAA~ but specifically to Alto who’s been trying to reach the Vajra’s hearts throughout the battle.

The Vajra Queen, given her powers, didn’t really have to take Alto away with her. She in her time-stopping awesomeness could’ve left Alto with Sheryl and left the triangle in an unspeakably awkward state (Alto can’t have Sheryl and Ranka just got rejected by him and they’re stuck together LOLOLOL). But no, the Queen took Alto. He made such a good impression that pretty much results in this transaction:

HEY HUMANS, YOU CAN KEEP THE PLANET. I GET TO KEEP DELICIOUS ALTO.

I bet you nobody thought of it this way. I can see it because I know Robotech’s Zor x Invid Queen was the precedent. Alto x Vajra Queen is now very possible.

Relevance/Significance: Low; Plausibility: Very Low; Entertainment Value: Stupendously High

The Macross Galaxy Shadow Council and The Robotech Masters

The Robotech Masters by the time of the Second Robotech War are a desperate, dying race because Tirol was overrun by the Invid, and that their Protoculture reserves are running out. They communicate and manage things telepathically and are routinely organized in groups of three. They run a clone army that are managed via cosmic instruments and music (Musica, Octavia, Allegra). They have cloned Zor – their original agent to put one over the Invid in order to retrieve his lost intelligence and memories.

The Macross Galaxy Shadow Council is a barely human, dying race who have lost their bodies and their home (Macross Galaxy) after the Vajra attacked it (using the movies chronology and events). They too communicate telepathically (technology-driven, just as the Robotech Masters). They send their clone body/cyborg soldier and scientist Grace O’Connor to get the Vajra to yield their secrets so they can control the galaxy via the fold network and the fold crystals. She would use a songstress to put one over the Vajra.

These aren’t really very strong similarities beyond how they read on paper, however I saw this in Macross Frontier: The Wings of Farewell:

You can hear three distinct voices from the shadow council. Now compare it with the Robotech Masters’ Triumverate pods:

I could no longer ignore the similarities. If this isn’t exactly Macross remembering love for Robotech, then there’s something else going on. Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross has nothing to do with Genesis Climber Mospaeda but Robotech makes the link between both both obvious and relevant, at least in the novels. It makes more sense to trace the tradition through Robotech than the Super Dimensional series, where Mospaeda isn’t even a part of.

Relevance/Significance: Moderate

The Battle Finale

The ending of The Wings of Farewell, involving the arrival of the UN Spacy and SMS Support Fleets and firing from space, is less remembering love for SDF Macross as I originally thought, but rather for Genesis Climber Mospaeda, or rather more interestingly Robotech and how the Third Robotech War ended.

The Robotech Expeditionary Force arrived from deep space to liberate the Invid infested Earth and laid siege upon Reflex Point, their home base. This resulted in the Invid Queen taking all her race and folding out in an evolutionary Phoenix of light outside the known Galaxy.

In The Wings of Farewell, the arrival of the SMS Support Fleet with its many Macross Quarter class ships as well as the UN Spacy fleet resulted in the planetary bombardment and extermination of many Vajra units. The final concentrated Quantum Cannon attack (not to mention all the reaction weapons from the other ships, carriers, and König Monsters) led to the Vajra Queen (in Battle Frontier form) fold out of the planet taking all her Vajra with her.

Similarly, Haydon IV the planet transformed into a giant version of the Macross in the Robotech: The End of the Circle Finale. Robotech anticipated and predated Macross Frontier in using a giant Macross ship as the final boss way back in 1989 – which then precedes Macross Plus in using the SDF Macross itself as some kind of Final boss for Isamu’s YF-19.

Relevance/Significance: Moderate

Other Notes:

The Veritech Fighters (VTs) are controlled not only via the pedals and sticks, but also via neural connections in the helmets. Robotech christened these “Thinking Caps,” building upon the science fiction of Macross. I may be wrong but I think this is no longer canon in Robotech. Well, Harmony Gold sucks. Interestingly enough, in Macross Plus, the YF-21 piloted by Guld Goa Bowman uses a fancy neural helmet to control the then state of the art mecha.

Haydon, the would-be galaxy eater god-entity, is pretty much Geppelnitch of the Protodevlin. No. I’m just kidding.

Not So Crazy Anymore, Aren’t I?

No, don’t answer that. Seriously though, the similarities are uncanny. While it is perfectly reasonable for Macross Frontier to be more influenced by Southern Cross and Mospaeda, I don’t really see why get so much material from these two works in particular. Why not Super DimensionCentury Orguss? These are all Big West productions along with SDFM. Why only from the shows that Robotech localized and Repurposed? Well, it really makes sense after one reads the novels – which are quite obscure and aren’t even canon. But did anyone think somebody wouldn’t notice?

And that somebody is me, who is probably one of the most uh, Catholic Macross fan. I really, really like almost everything related to Macross. No, I couldn’t really watch The Sentinels original anime production, and could not watch more than 15 minutes of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. Still, I love Robotech in my own way, and especially the novels. I will do a special blog post series on the novels, at least the Macross Saga part of the works.

Let me just leave this here:

I know, I I know. It’s not exactly VALKYRIAAAAAA~ But may all of you find it in your hearts to forgive me.

This post serves as the culmination of the episodic feature series on Macross Frontier here on We Remember Love.

What would constitute a ‘Frontier?’ The answers should be at least relative to the Macross Franchise.

• Appeal to a new generation of fans.
• New plot direction.
• New world-building elements.
• New animation/production methods.
• New elements (characters or character types/mecha and related technology/weapons).

This post will attempt too answer this question, and will serve to communicate my thoughts on the show and what it means in the larger context of the Macross franchise…

…or at least what it all means to me, a pre-Robotech Macross lifelong fan (not that I wasn’t a fan of Robotech during its time). So how does Frontier do at opening frontiers?

It is rather underwhelming. I’m sure there are grey areas that make the ‘no’ answers a bit problematic, but it is very lack of slam dunks that make it underwhelming. Mind you this is not a review of the show. I’m not here to tell you if it is good or bad. To save you the time, in no uncertain terms: watch the show.

What follows is a more involved look at what I think the show did and didn’t do. Feel free to skip to the postscript and comments, if you feel you want to discuss my findings above, especially if Macross Frontier is the first or only Macross show you’ve seen so far.

But if you can, do read on, and feel my charging heart of love for the show and the franchise.

Macross Frontier Refined in communicating certain themes, and featuring certain elements.

Ecological conservation, IN SPACE

When do the gun-toting, love-confessing characters take time to smell the flowers, literally or figuratively? Rarely. But Shoji Kawamori’s realms of Mayan or Zola are places where characters can go to feel a “comfortable wind” against their faces. And that translates to us.

Even if the “save the whales” thing is a little silly, tell me you didn’t desperately clench your teeth when Mayan Island came under attack by missile-spamming Valkyries. Sometimes it’s best to show a message, not tell it, and though it might still get preachy, the impact of the no-nukes/pacifist message is stronger for being visually presented.

–otou-san, on the ecological themes of Macross.

Otou-san rarely gives Frontier credit, but among the shows he mentioned it satisfies the near-literal pausing to smell the flowers. The show put in a commendable effort in world-building, standing on the shoulders of Gundam’s space colony work. This is delightfully showcased in epsode 05, where Alto and Sheryl go out on a ‘date’ and thereby get to explore the Frontier Colony itself.

But Frontier doesn’t stop at ecotourism, the fragile balance is highlighted through the consequences of warfare (ep 15). In lieu of humans as collateral damage in war as well as the psychological fallout of such (a theme explored often enough in media), Frontier spotlights the ecological impact. This time, it’s no parable about keeping a natural environment pure (as in the case of say, Macross Dynamite 7, Macross Zero, or the film Avatar); the environment is entirely constructed by humans.

Something we fashion with our own hands is something we are responsible for. Interestingly, part of the conflict involves how the Vajra are viewed as ecological rivals to be exterminated and their home world to be wrested from them within the context of natural selection, as the Vajra did cause critical damage to the artificial human ecosystem of the Frontier Colony.

Minmay as character (iterations from the archetype)

Ranka and Sheryl are versions of Lynn Minmay of SDFM, and play very similar roles. The original Macross love triangle became a competition between an ‘ordinary’ woman vs. a pop idol. Misa was the heroine of the story, but Minmay was undoubtedly the star of the whole show. Isamu Alva Dyson became the overwhelming favorite vs. Guld Goa Bowman in Macross Plus, and Basara is indeed the star of Macross 7 even if Gamlin Kizaki was the most admirable hero.

This time, there will be TWO stars in the story, and Macross Frontier was very successful in making this happen. However, it remained consistent in how one of the characters ended up being less mature, a loser, or was left holding the retard stick, relative to the other. Minmay, Guld, Basara, and now Ranka are perfect examples of this. While Basara wasn’t competing, and Ranka’s loss was bailed out by the narrative – both happily swung the retard stick (like Minmay before them).

Sheryl on the other hand, is a revelation. Sheryl had the career dedication of Misa, the courage and resolve of Gamlin, and the sexual dangerousness of Isamu. When the narrative needed a hero, Sheryl stepped up. If she needed to confront her demons, she did so using her own powers. She never needed to be slapped (had she known she could be cured, do people actually believe she’d be depressed?), which is why Ranka slapping her in the finale is one of the worse missteps sacrificed in the altar of narrative symmetry.

Sheryl also shares some characteristics with Millya Fallnya Jenius, haughty but capable; tsun-tsun but dere-dere. Both aren’t just lovable, they are admirable.

Zentraedi Integration

The New UN Spacy continues to be portrayed as a degenerate xenophobic organization, now with more internal corruption! This is not a new thing by all means, as the arrogance in how the SDF Macross was refused to disembark its civilian population in the original series attests, which continued to farcical proportions in the ‘unaired’ episode part of Macross 7 Encore: Fleet of the Strongest Women. In that episode, Earth command disregards the actions of 7’s commanding officer and insists that Exsedol Folmo open fire with Battle 7’s main gun at the rogue Meltran fleet even if it compromises the work and the lives of both military and civilian commanding officers of the fleet/colony.

In Frontier we see the Zentraedi part of the colony become the first choice for scuttling during the crisis situation (ep 21). Grace thought less than nothing of the Zentraedi garrison in Gallia IV when she detonated a Dimension Eater on the planet. I like this broad-level depiction of the troubles with integration, because on the individual level, it’s very positive.

Elmo Kirdanik represents the ‘anything can happen here’ ethos of democratic capitalism, that a wholly militarized society cannot accomodate. He discovers Ranka and becomes her agent, loses her to big business/big government, but bounces back with Sheryl – only more awesome for doing philanthropic work. On the other hand, we also have Richard Bilrer, owner of the SMS. To date, he is the most successful known Zentraedi, who went beyond mere integration because he is so rich that he can ‘afford’ to have Howard Hughes types of eccentricities.

It is Bilrer who nurtures a benevolent and progressive use for the fold crystals (uniting the galaxy; ep 16), in turn nuanced by a covert goal of finding Minmay again, who is lost with the first expeditionary fleet.

Taking a Step Backward

Critical lens towards the idol industry/phenomenon

From the rather subversive approach in SDFM, where the seedy underbelly of the idol industry is portrayed – and the innocent perfection of the idol celebrity is turned on its head, we have a very optimistic and somewhat naive portrayal of the same. Not completely optimistic and naive, after all Sheryl for all her belief in her own powers is a manufactured idol, created by Grace.

Ranka’s story is far more friendly despite how she was undermined by Grace (and Leon) eventually. In any case, there is a simplistic dichotomy: Grace is technology-enhanced, manufactured, artificial, and evil; Elmo represents being natural, valuing effort, love and culture, and (therefore) good. Compare this to SDFM’s Minmay wherein the flaws (evils, imperfections) existed within the industry itself, and in the idol herself.

The technology and artifice as evil, as manifested by a pop idol is duly portrayed in dark and effective ways via Sharon Apple (vs. Myung Fang-Lone) in 1994’s Macross Plus.

Variable Damage

As far as I can tell, Macross as a franchise has fared best when it came to consistency of weapons damage, something that bugs the hell out of me (especially in Gundam, whose beam spam in its alternate continuities is/are deuxes ex machinas in themselves; but also in UC – contrast the nuke in Stardust Memory vs. those in Char’s Counterattack). I credit this to Macross’ avoidance of beam weapons in lieu of kinetic or explosive ones.

But even when Macross uses it (e.g. Macross grade cannons), I’m not certain it’s free of suspicion. But when the reaction weapon damage (loose equivalents with nuclear missiles) started getting dodgy: Alto’s damage is far greater and covers vast amounts of space, while NUNS personnel need several to destroy one Vajra carrier (ep 14). This blows.

Limitations not overcome

There are many interesting things within Macross Frontier. The more attention I pay, the richer the rewards. This show has shown me an ability to be dark and cruel (ep 20), painstaking with its world-building (eps 03, 15), a renewed (or newfound) interest in strategy and tactics (eps 07, 16, 24), and an ability to forward and complete many plot threads at once (eps 09, 20).

I am fairly confident, in my review of related commentary on the show, that very few (if any at all) took note of the above. Why? This is due to two kinds of superficialities.

The first kind is the color palette. It’s too bright and flashy. Never mind the events that take place within the Macross Frontier Colony, but the space battles. ed Strictly in the context of use of colors related to special effects (lasers, contrails, booster flames), if Mobile Suit Gundam is the equivalent of the Tim Burton Batman movies, and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (along with is the equivalent of the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman films, then Macross Frontier would be the Joel Schumacher edition. Seriously, there’s so much neon.

What this does is take the grimness out of the violence. It makes the life and death part of battles out of the forefront, replacing it with excitement and visual spectacle. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and this is common to most contemporary robot shows (Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Gundam 00). However, there is a cost. It costs the shows dramatic gravitas.

I have high expectations for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn to overcome this ‘handicap,’ as I expect narratives set in the Universal Century continuity of the Gundam franchise to keep the tradition of portraying war as serious business; graphically violent, beyond an unambitious visual spectacle, despite its use of the flashy effects I’m resigned to expect from something like Gundam 00.

If there is a show/franchise that overcomes this, it’s Neon Genesis Evangelion. The animation in Rebuild can get bright colors, but the effect is weird and alien – and in keeping with its unnerving effect, as opposed to the rather cheerful fighting in Macross Frontier (in the context of colors).

The second kind is the narrative focus.

From “the word of God:”

[it depicts] a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles

–Kawamori Shoji (The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Series Staff. Macross Official Website. Series Section. 04-09-09)

The series creator was talking about the originating narrative at this point, but there is no reason to think that Macross Frontier is any different. This isn’t Legend of the Galactic Heroes wherein you find love stories amidst a narrative of war; here the love story is paramount. The war narrative is background, the robot battles are fanservice. The many wonderful details and touches I’ve discovered blogging this show sit at the back of the bus. They’re like Easter Eggs for fans willing to hunt for them.

The cost is how these are obscured from casual and non-partisan viewers. I don’t blame people from missing out on the environmental disaster as an essay of dread in a nifty piece of ecological world-building (as reported by Leon in episode 15). The flashy recap episode dynamics highlighted by Sheryl in concert (‘Welcome to My Fanclub’s Night), then the Sheryl vs. Ranka sing-off for Alto’s love will make people forget just about anything else in an episode.

This I think, is representative of the issue. The original series, particularly the Robotech incarnation somehow made viewers think that Macross isn’t so much about a love triangle; that the love triangle (and pop music – especially in the Robotech version of the Macross saga) are sub-plots to an alien vs. human space war. The expectations were then set for future installments. It is no surprise how fans introduced to the franchise (and perhaps to anime in general) via Robotech reject Macross 7, and Macross Frontier; which are shows that are actually more consistent with the silliness of the core conceit of the franchise.

…and this is why the TV series fails…

It fails due to the ambiguity of the love triangle resolution, for all its importance over all other narratives and elements in the show. As much as I want to take the textual evidence in episodes 23-24 in favor of Sheryl x Alto, the withholding of the declarations of love and terms of engagement, then the whole business of Ranka and Sheryl being Alto’s “wings,” then Ranka’s promise to Sheryl that she will do her best to fight her for Alto, then ultimately, Alto’s seeming indifference to both of them relative to the resolution of his own dream to fly free in a natural atmosphere… the triangle remains intact in a state of romantic tension.

The narrative actually forced the re-introduction of the romantic tension at the very end precisely when it was supposed to conclude it, rendering a lot of the build-up (towards Alto x Sheryl) impotent.

Why? Or at least, what does this tell me? Ranka is nothing without the triangle. Ranka as a character cannot stand on her own narrative. Sheryl lives, and is free to love. Alto has his Sky, and Sheryl waiting for him. Ranka has reconstruction – the rehabilitation of her relationship with the Frontier population (she is branded as a traitor), the connection with the Vajra… all are interesting narratives and in my mind very necessary ones to complete the characterization of Ranka. But no, the overarching narrative doesn’t see past her as a point in the love triangle. She is nothing without it, so it seems.

Ranka is the character whose story till has legs. Alto got his sky, Sheryl is no longer dying from the V-Type disease. They can now make babies like the Jeniuses. Ranka has a redemption story all in front of her, and yet instead it won’t happen unless in the context of the re-balanced love triangle. What would be ideal in my mind if the story would continue, is for Ranka to move on and be the focal point of a new love triangle involving new characters – more like Myung and less like Mylene.

And finally, my personal stand

Despite what would seem to be damning observations and conclusions, Macross Frontier will forever be awesome to me.

I cannot experience Macross Frontier outside my own context. I am a lifelong fan of Macross, having loved it as long as it has been in existence (28 years now). I’ve seen all the animated installments, canon and otherwise. After my initial disappointment with Macross Zero (now reversed), this show was my long-awaited gift. After watching Frontier for the nth time in the service of this blogging endeavor, I’ve never failed to enjoy myself with it. It reminded me why I love Macross so much, and why I love anime so much.

It introduced me to a character as remarkable as Sheryl, the Perfect Version Minmay (but it should go without saying that to me, Minmay will never be replaced) and a character as irrationally adorable as Ranka. It gave me an amazing musical score that reminded me of how much I love Kanno Yoko, who also gave me an improbable abundance of pop songs that are I find so improbably catchy. It made me remember love, and is the inspiration for this blog and my pursuit of this hobby.

Postscript

Alto is better for Sheryl as a man, as he is better for Ranka as a brother. Sure, Brera beats him there, but Alto never wins against Brera, ever.

Further Reading

Extensive discussion (mostly c/o Magnus) regarding the resolution of the love triangle [->]

Macross Frontier actually won the film/TV category of Japan’s Nebula Awards (Imagine that!) [->]

Reviews! Positive: Crusader, Martin

Reviews! Not as positive: psgels, Kabitzin, otou-san

I didn’t want to speculate on the film version, already shown last year; but here’s a review (11-15%suki 03/10/2010)

Why retell the same story? Why do it in a theatrical release? Excluding economic reasons, I generally welcome retellings for the assumption that the material will look better. Why do I like animation as a mode of narration? It’s because I love illustrations passionately. Any new presentation, implying an improvement in animation (whether detail or frame rate), I’m all for it.

This is especially true for action, especially robot action shows. This material would benefit greatly from increased budgets, time, and effort. The TV series may show a few scenes incredible on their own, but many within the shows only tell us of their potential that, will be fully realized with the help of time and money.

My accounting of robot anime is far from comprehensive, but off the top of my mind I present this abridged list (these works at least are those I’ve personally viewed):

It’s a list of my favorite franchises! This doesn’t make me an authority on these in any way; this only means that I have a lot of personal feeling invested in these shows and I want to at least begin to put together some writing about them as a tradition.

For now, I’ll talk about Macross Frontier: The False Songstress.

I think a more informed or definitive opinion should be given after I see the next film, but who knows when I’ll be able to see that. However, I think there’s a lot to appreciate and discuss about this release.

Context For the Retelling

Unlike Macross: Do You Remember Love? I am unaware if there is any attempt at all for an in-universe attempt to integrate the continuities. What we have here is really an alternative retelling of the story. The same characters are present, but different things happen to them.

In DYRL? the integration is that it is a film that was shown to the people after the events during the great space war. It is a historical biopic of the characters involved. That said, it becomes rather silly in how radical some of the changes are. It could be rationalized as a desire for privacy in some cases. Even if one uses the expedience of a tighter script, so much ‘factual’ error exists.

I am under the impression (I cannot verify this with certainty), that franchise creator Kawamori Shoji intends to integrate both continuities in a way that whenever certain conflicts exist, neither the TV series nor the film enjoys automatic canon status. I will someday attempt to present the canon continuity (i.e. the Armstice between Zentraedi and Humans is dated September 11, 2009 as provided by DYRL? but the circumstances involved are entirely from SDFM).

Did the characters play themselves? (I find this funny) I think at the very least only Minmay can play herself. I will attribute both Ai oboete imasu ka? and Tenshi no enogu to her. But, these aren’t the songs performed during the final battle against the Bodolle Zer fleet. Confused yet? Yes, it can get really confusing.

For Macross Frontier, I think that the film versions will enjoy no particular privilege in the canon, but like DYRL?, we will be invited to consider certain elements or plotlines and integrate them. We may consider the arguably more interesting Macross Galaxy conspiracy in The False Songstress (hereinafter TFS) as canon, while retaining the TV series history of Michel, Klan (who doesn’t study at Mihoshi), and the existence of Nanase (and the SMS Pixie Squadron).

I would certainly prefer Ranka’s career build-up in TFS, with that rather awesome montage parallel to Alto’s SMS training montage. BUT, I will be upset if the Tori no hito movie (and Ranka’s big debut there) is removed from the canon. I appreciate the new expression of Alto’s obsession for the sky – he wants gravity, a thing to overcome, to experience a freedom from something. I prefer the Ozma who punched Alto for the cheek of demanding he be let into the SMS, but I prefer the SMS in TFS who acted like an actual private military service by being actually contracted by Sheryl using her credit card (SUPER AWESOME).

Most particularly, TFS represents a new start for Ranka, a chance to re-characterize and avoid all the fail in the TV series. Ranka was my biggest disappointment then, TFS gives her a great start. This Ranka fan is very happy right now. As for the shipping, I stand by how I prefer Alto x Sheryl. I want a clear resolution to the triangle. Without which, I think this whole exercise would be a failure, despite the many good things it already did.

A Tradition of Mixed Bags

You’ll notice that my approach to Macross is very different from how I approach the other shows and franchises, in that I actively attempt to integrate the continuities whereas in others it’s a clear dichotomy. It’s really because my being a fan of the Macross franchise makes me behave differently. Instead of having the material audition for my appreciation or devotion, my devotion for the material makes me find the best way to enjoy myself with them.

I may feel this way for some other shows or franchises, but it’s nowhere as intense or as frequent as I do for Macross. I then accept that I am not a reliable filter for dispassionate evaluation of quality for Macross shows. Nonetheless, I try my best for my writing to be useful.

Can this integrating approach work for other franchises? I suppose it can, depending on the nature of the divergence between the source and the retelling. For example, I can accept the montage in the beginning of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann Hen as canon. I’ll be most happy to because it adds a lot without conflicting with anything. But I won’t accept how every single surviving member of the Gurren-dan got Tengen Toppa versions of their mecha in the final battle, and that there was this beyond absurd robot at the end of that fight. No, they are gratuities of the most unnecessary kind.

Do I recommend this approach? Only if you think it will add to your enjoyment.

Parting Shots

Space does not have a top or a bottom.

Am I a man? Am I a woman? I couldn’t tell who I really am anymore.

Alto, oh you☆

Sheryl. So awesome. Seriously. All time favorite characters kind of seriously. But shouldn’t be allowed to sing Aimo in her R & B style. It sounds hideous. Ranka almost had a GAR moment, but the film reminds us that she’s there for the moé so that’s ok. We have Sheryl for the aggression. The vajra look even more awesome. The new capital ship designs kick ass. We also see a lot more urban fighting, and lots of dead civilians. Does this make the show grimmer or darker? No, not really; I think it’s better for it anyway.

One thing is for sure, I can’t wait for Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye.

There are still many things from Macross Frontier: The False Songstress that I want to explore after writing the previous post and the hideously titled essay, a SoundDiamond Force production on T. H. A. T. Anime Blog, which covered meta subjects as well as generalities regarding the movie. I take the opportunity here to explore one of the finer details in the film.

Ranka and Alto have little in common at the beginning of Macross Frontier: The False Songstress, and this starting point isn’t too rich a mine to delve into. However, after the initial introductions, the first Vajra attack, and the date with Sheryl, both characters apply themselves to the things they aspire to become: Alto a fighter pilot for the SMS, and Ranka a pop idol.

The work they both put in is presented as something we should care about, and to a degree we do, because they are presented as a path filled with early humiliations, even if they inexorably lead to later success. Furthermore, they are presented with a view to entertain, and do so humorously.

This is achieved by showing a musical montage of the different activities they undertake: Alto going through the paces of soldier training, Ranka paying her dues doing odd promotional jobs.

Alto does his boot camp sequence: Judo (Canaria pwns him), firearms (Ozma kicks his ass), and combat simulator (Michel hacks the difficulty settings). Alto is never shown to succeed in any way, in between Ranka’s forays in entertainment obscurity.

Ranka does the Skip Beat! route minus the burning passion for revenge and minus a top-notch talent management agency. This gets her odd jobs selling Starlight Natto and 7-Color Carrots, then being an idol at a construction site (LOL she’s dumb enough not to get why she’s made to wear a bikini), then doing a promo for Macross PlaMo in Deep Akiba, Super Dimension Chinese Restaurant Nyan Nyan CM (of course), A daruma craft seminar (WTF), and finally a limited release CM for a convenience store.

As Executive Otaku noted, this was an exceptional scene. I’ll go further. The scene is where the their parallel trajectories meet. Even during the TV series the love dimension of this side of the triangle is one-sided from Ranka, so it’s been her despite her own busy schedule who’s been messaging Alto. She makes a show of moping as Alto, Michel, and Luca go out into the street. I think it’s noteworthy that Alto still has to be told that he had better follow Ranka and make it up to her.

That said, this isn’t to say that he’s the same with Sheryl. Alto’s the kind of person oblivious to his own beauty as well as being disinterested in girls, as well as being retarded about love. When he does a show of denying anything going on between him and Sheryl, he’s actually more concerned how Ranka (or anyone else) may get the wrong idea. As far as he’s concerned nothing is going on with anyone.

Ranka makes her way inside the convenience store, which seems like an odd plays to get away to when you’re supposedly evading a bishonen princess. But it’s a trap, and this was her way to share with Alto any of the work she’s done. Without Nanase (who doesn’t exist in this film), Alto is her only friend. It’s an endearing little moment, wonderfully presented with the points of view we get to view the scene from, the timing of the sequences, and the performance of the actors. And as soon as we think any progress can happen in this side of the triangle,

SHERYL, appears on the LCD, announcing her ‘Revenge’ concert.

MACROSS CHEESE, is the best cheese. No wait, this is pretty much the modus operandi of Macross Frontier, though slightly different from how the TV series does it:

Instead, it does set romance in motion but whenever momentum does build up it resents the triangle in romantic tension. The cost of which is that Alto becomes passive. He doesn’t get to act like a teenage boy who actually wants to have sex with women (Michel). But since it’s the girls putting the moves on him, Alto has to have some intense preoccupation with something else that prevents him from seeing something galactically significant:

The two hottest females in the colony are throwing themselves at him.

Without these conceits for Alto, the triangle will be resolved immediately. He’ll pick one, or reject both, but definitely after doing at least one of them. My money’s on the Galactic Fairy.

Macross Frontier: The False Songstress was my most awaited thing in all anime since even before I started We Remember Love. When I finally saw it, I exploded with fanjoy and awesome. It’s the thing that was destined to make me happy, and in many ways it did.

In terms of blogging, it allowed me to write, for the first time, posts on fresh Macross media, something I’ve obviously wanted to do, and took me more than two years to finally get to do. The second post yielded the most voluminous discussion this blog has ever seen.

However, I’ve since rewatched the film many times, as is my wont. And like Macross: Do You Remember Love? before it, I’ve lost much of the affinity for the film while my love for the series from which they emerged grows and grows. I’ve stopped preferring moments in the film over those in the TV series, except for that one thing the series didn’t do:

Sheryl contracts the SMS using her credit card to save the Macross Galaxy Fleet.

/puts on Welcome to My Fanclub’s Night

Alto was reaching out to her. He still can’t say if she’s a spy or not, but he accessed her feelings and memories through her fold crystal earring, and found a girl who felt alone despite her strength. He told her that she didn’t have to feel alone.

Ozma and Cathy pop out from the shadows, accusing both Sheryl and Grace O’Connor of being spies. Grace counters by saying that the Macross Galaxy Fleet is under a large-scale Vajra attack and the Macros Frontier Fleet command is choosing to ignore it and hide the news, in clear violation of treaties, that Frontier was trying to reach the Vajra homeworld first and monopolize its resources. Cathy validates this by accessing official communiqués.

Sheryl asks Ozma how much it would cost to hire the Strategic Military Services force. One hundred twenty million credits, for the deployment of the basic weaponry of the SMS. Optional weaponry will be charged separately.

Sheryl throws her Vega Black Credit Card like a ninja star at Ozma. If that weren’t enough, she’d pledge the revenue of her next album to cover the expenses. Ozma smiles. The Galactic Fairy becomes the Goddess of War.

Grace smiles (just as planned). Alto stakes his life on this mission, on the strength of her credit. She lets him keep the earring a bit more.

Obviously the film accomplishes more than just give me this moment, but it is iconic. Sheryl as the Goddess of War becomes one of my favorite characters in all of anime. There’s of course the battle in the end where she actually fulfills the promise of this moment, but sometimes, the moment of the promise – that point where there is nothing but possibility, is what burns brightest in my memory.

Years later, I imagine when I remember love for this film, this is the moment that’ll get me to watch again (and again).

What’s your favorite moment in Macross Frontier: The False Songstress?

I will first enumerate the stages of grief (Kübler-Ross model), care of Wikipedia. The stages, popularly known by the acronym DABDA, include:

1. Denial — “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening, not to me.”
   Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of possessions and individuals that will be left behind after death.
2. Anger — “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; ‘”Who is to blame?”
   Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy.
3. Bargaining — “I’ll do anything for a few more years.”; “I will give my life savings if…”
   The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the individual is saying, “I understand I will die, but if I could just do something to buy more time…”
4. Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die… What’s the point?”; “I miss my loved one, why go on?”
   During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person to disconnect from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer up an individual who is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.
5. Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
   In this last stage, the individual begins to come to terms with her/his mortality or that of a loved one.

Why? It’s because I have to accept that my ideas of continuity and canon simply do not hold in the Macross franchise. I went from stages 1 through 4 in my post when I discussed how every Macross show, film, manga, or book, is an ‘official’ in-universe TV show, film, manga, or book, the way we accept Macross: Do You Remember Love? to be. There is no singular, official, canon version of the story involving any of the characters in the wars they were part of. Macross The First, by Mikimoto Haruhiko effectively changes the meet cute moments between Hikaru and Minmay, and Minmay is fanserviced to the high heavens having 2 costume changes during the first Zentraedi attack. It’s a rather silly way to accept all this grievous acts against my sensibilities of canon and continuity, but that’s Minmay for you.

Mind you, I’m not complaining about the changes, only that they’re not the real story. They’re as true as the Christopher Nolan films are to the Batman narrative as a whole. So this manga, Sheryl—Kiss of the Galaxy comes up with a story involving the characters and events depicted in the Macross Frontier sub-franchise, but from the orientation of Sheryl . The ‘changes’ are, well, LOL

Sheryl debuts her single Pink Monsoon on a Music Station-esque TV show. She originally was slated to wear a lolita-type costume, but a rival lolita-type idol ripped it apart. Sheryl came up with this costume THREADING TOGETHER ALL THOSE SCRAPS, in something like LESS THAN 5 MINUTES or something. Baby Pink Monsoon!

That song took some time to grow on me, but soon became part of my regular Macross playlist. The second change that had me falling off my bed:

Alto BRIGHTSLAPS Sheryl, within hours of just meeting her. Sure, she was pulling a Minmay, but still. Of course, this makes her fall in love with him harder. ROFLMAO. Next: RANKA HAS POWERS OVER ANIMALS AND TREES!

I wish I can make this shit up. Kawamori is included as a main collaborator in this manga. This is not without precedent, given that Sara Nome’s singing can lift rocks and cause all sorts of magic things in Macross Zero, but she did that while singing naked! Sheryl is totally playing Shin Kudo’s role here… and I’ll stop now.

BUT I CAN’T. I’ve gone beyond acceptance. I’m laughing out loud because this is just so funny, intentional or not. The whole Miss Macross Frontier scene got change. The Miranda Melin character is gone… and some bitches saw it fit to sabotage Ranka’s performance. Why would they feel threatened? The fuck do I know! Also, SINGING AIMO IN A SWIMSUIT ROFLMAOOOOO!

I don’t know how many chapters this manga will run, and I don’t really care that much. But I will definitely read this. If you’re affected by all this deviation from “the story” in any way, let me know in the comments. If you’re grieving, what stage are you in? The sixth stage is the best: LOL. It’s where I want you to join me.