Sheryl–Kiss in The Galaxy and The Sixth Stage of Grief

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.