Macross Frontier Episode Guide 11: Missing Birthday
Ranka’s career has finally kicked into high gear after her prominent role in the Bird Human movie. Elmo has her racing from job to job with little time to rest in between. But Ranka is upbeat about it all, even saying that every new day is like a day come true. But, even with how busy she is, she is keeping Alto’s upcoming birthday in mind.
Sheryl, on the other hand, has seen her workload slow somewhat in recent weeks, but she has an upcoming rare job that she is gearing up for. It seems that the Zentradi on Gallia 4 have become restless and have either strongly requested or outright demanded entertainment or else they will mutiny.
Cathy and Ozma are looking into some of the strange happenings that have been going on lately. These include Sheryl’s trip to Gallia 4, the plague that infected the hydras, the unknown purple Valkyrie, and more. We also learn that Ozma really did not like that Ranka starred in Bird Human!
Back at Mihoshi Academy, Ranka and the others look up information on Gallia 4 but are interrupted when Alto’s “brother” Yasaburō arrives. At a restaurant nearby, Yasaburō congratulates Alto on acting again but then informs him that his father is ill. Yasaburō then offers Alto a birthday present…
We rejoin Ranka in some sort of mall or shopping center and learn that she has gotten Elmo to secure her two physical tickets to her upcoming live show. Sheryl happens to be there as well and indicates that she knows exactly why Ranka wanted the tickets. Ranka and Sheryl talk a little about Alto’s upcoming birthday, but then Sheryl becomes dizzy and drops her coffee. A little later, Grace performs a scan on Sheryl and lets her know that she is suffering from a worsening fever. She suggests Sheryl rest, but Sheryl is determined to perform at Gallia 4. Grace notes that she should have never told Sheryl that there might be survivors of the Galaxy fleet there.
Leon is still in communication with his informant who lets him know that Sheryl is for sure going to attempt her concert. The informat also thanks Leon for some large item he obtained from LAI, the advanced research company that Luca is one of the heirs of. It seems that someone is keeping a very close watch on Sheryl…
Meanwhile, Cathy talks to Klan about the 33rd Naval Fleet stationed at Gallia 4. The way they demand entertainment irks Klan pretty badly and she comments that they are a disgrace to the warrior spirit of the Zentradi.
Later, Ranka and Nanase have a phone conversation about Alto’s upcoming birthday. Nanase urges Ranka to call Alto and to meet up with him soon as she has observed Alto and Sheryl together a lot lately. Ranka hesitates and considers her relationship with Alto but ultimately takes Nanase’s advice and gives Alto a call. Unfortunately, she just gets his voicemail, but she still leaves him a nice message to meet her at Griffith Park so she can give him a present.
Alto, however is still stewing about the offer Yasaburō made to him and ends up in the observation area near the Macross Quarter where Ranka and Sheryl once sang together in Episode 3. Alto contemplates the present his brother offered him. In a flashback we see that if Alto will apologize to his father, Yasaburō has gotten assurances that Alto’s father will accept him back into the family. This news does not please Alto, but Yasaburō makes the point that even while upset, Alto is acting more upset that he really is.
Sheryl then arrives and thanks Alto for waiting for him. She goads him a bit about still wearing his school uniform and he returns the favor by criticism her somewhat revealing outfit. Sheryl, however wins the argument by noting that unlike Alto’s chest, hers can provide people with hopes and dreams. Alto wants to know why Sheryl called to meet him. It turns out that Sheryl, like Yasaburō and Ranka, wants to offer Alto a birthday present. She gets his attention by knowingly asks him if he wants to fly in a truly endless sky.
Alto now has a decision to make. Three people have offered him tempting birthday presents, but all three are mutually exclusive. And he has to choose. We cut to Ranka running to meet Alto at the observatory only to see that it is Michael, not Alto, who is waiting there for her. Michael relays Alto’s apologies and we then learn that Alto has chosen to escort Sheryl to Gallia 4 where he will get to finally fly in the atmosphere of a planet.
Sheryl, now onboard her starliner, thanks Alto for coming with her. In the seat across the isle, however, we seem to learn that it is Grace who has been Leon’s informant all along. And that they have something big planned. Brera appears to be heading to Gallia 4 as well.
Finally, we see a disappointed Ranka at Griffith Observatory as she is comforted by that strange green creature. She holds up one of the airplane shaped cookies she baked for Alto. She takes a bit of it and exclaims “It’s bitter…” which just about sums up her attempts at pleasing Alto. 🙁
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Ranka’s hurried day as she finally gets to live her dream of being an accomplished actress / singer. It was nice to see that her starring role in Bird Human really did lead her to much more success.
- Ranka’s worries over her and Sheryl’s relationship with Alto as she sit in her dressing room. It felt very natural for Ranka to debate with herself over what she should do.
- Alto waiting for Sheryl outside the Macross Quarter. It’s the second time the two of them have been in that spot and had something consequential happen. It’s also just a really cool spot with an impressive view of the SMS fighters launching.
Episode Impressions:
I found myself writing a lot less about this episode than I did the previous one, but I don’t think this episode is bad in any way. We get a good look at some of the relationships between Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl and more insight into why Alto ran away from his life as an actor. And it’s all good stuff. I like this episode because it shows that not everything in Frontier needs to be hurried, or a space battle, or a wacky nostalgic film shoot for it to be impactful. This was a character-centric episode and I think it accomplished a fair bit being what it was.
On the other hand, this was also a setup episode where plot points are being moved into place, but really not a ton happens in the meantime. Not only does it split the party, it seems that Leon and Grace (of all people!) have plans that are close to coming about. So, it is a slower episode, but I think that’s ok as long as the setups lead to new excitement down the road.
This episode’s title and general theme are references to the SDF Macross episode “Longest Birthday”. In that episode, it is pilot Hikaru, who is busy as a Valkyrie pilot and team leader, who is hard pressed to find the time to wish Lynn Minmay a happy birthday.
I think the big key moment that comes out of this episode, aside from Alto and Sheryl leaving Frontier to journey to Gallia 4, is the reveal that it is Grace who has been working with Leon as an informant and who has been the handler for Brera Stern this whole time. Brera hasn’t actually done any permanent harm to any good guys, but his and Grace’s real mission is, as yet, very unclear. And there’s a big new question now: Why is Grace acting as Sheryl’s quiet, demure manager while also arranging plots that involve cyborg Valkyrie pilots and the top aide to the president of the Frontier fleet?
Moment to Moment Notes:
0:10 – While Sheryl’s advertisements are still around the Island 1 city, Ranka is now on Nyan Nyan ads and has prominent placement along side Sheryl. The Bird Human movie really raised Ranka’s popularity it seems!
3:15 – Ranka’s busy schedule mirrors Lynn Minmay’s rushed schedule in SDF Macross. It remains to be seen if Ranka will feel as equally burnt out as Minmay did at after a while.
7:18 – It sounds like fold faults don’t affect the amount of time it feels like you take to go from point a to point b, but they do affect how much time passes for everyone else while you travel. In this case, what will feel like a day’s flight will take something like a week for those back on Frontier.
10:39 – Now we see that Grace has thermal vision. What can’t she do?!
12:15 – The large Zentradi ship is a mobile fortress of the like that was only seen in Do You Remember Love?.
11:31 – The only person that could have confirmed that Sheryl was going to Gallia 4 would be Grace, wouldn’t it? What is going on? Note that Leon is holding that purple crystal he was given at the restaurant a little while back…
17:20 – “I’m Sheryl” is almost the equivalent of “Because I’m Batman.”
18:17 – So, Alto has three birthday choices in front of him. And all of them are mutually exclusive. That’s got to be tough.
19:22 – Well, that’s gotta be a little be heartbreaking for Ranka. But, Alto has expressed his desire to fly in a real sky since the beginning and he doesn’t seem to want anything to do with his family, so maybe his choice was the obvious one?
19:35 – The concept of the Fold Booster seems to have originated with Do You Remember Love?. Development of prototype fold boosters happened in both Macross Plus and Macross 7 with varying degrees of success. It looks like a similar technology is being used by the Frontier fleet.
20:51 – Oh boy! It sure seems like Grace is conspiring with Leon over something. There have been hints that it was her before, but this seems like outright confirmation that the two are plotting together!
22:19 – “It’s bitter!” Aww. That sorta sums up the entire episode from Ranka’s point of view. 🙁
22:22 – “Cat Diary” is probably my favorite song that Ranka sings. We see it here in the end credits and it features in an even more beautiful scene near the end of the next episode.
22:37 – This picture of Ranka baking Alto’s cookies is so cute!
Next Episode: Fastest Delivery
Whoa! I expected this next episode to be a new Sheryl concert, but here we’re seeing what looks like Alto battling Kamjin Kravshera, a prominent villain who died in SDF Macross. This will prove to be interesting!
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 10: Legend of Zero
This episode opens on a familiar sight for long time Macross fans. We are back on Mayan Island with Sara Nome, Shin Kudo, and Mao Nome… excerpt, they don’t quite look the same as they did when they helped U.N. forces save the world more than fifty years before Frontier’s present day. Shin looks a little different this time around, Sara’s hair is orange instead black, and Mao’s hair is green instead of purple. A closer look reveals that we’re not seeing the real Shin, and that Sara and Mao are being played by Miranda Meilin and Ranka Lee! We cut to a movie theater where Ranka is watching a movie version of Macross Zero that the Frontier fleet has apparently produced.
We skip to a few weeks earlier and see that the Frontier fleet is gearing up for the production of a movie called “Bird Human” based on the actual events that happened some fifty years prior. We learn that Ranka is going to be in the film, but as a background character credited only as “Mayan Girl A”. Despite that, Ranka is excited to be a part of the movie. When she reaches the shooting location, an island on one of Frontier’s smaller pill-shaped ships, she is surprised to find most of the SMS crew members are present at the filming. Apparently, SMS is lending its Valkyries as stand-ins for the prototype VF-0 fighters that the U.N. forces fielded back then.
Ranka soon comes across Miranda Meilin who warns her not to ruin her movie. Sheryl is also present, since her songs are going to be used in the film. Miranda flocks to Sheryl’s side in an attempt to introduce herself, but Sheryl sidesteps the Miss Macross winner in order to speak to Ranka. She is glad to see Ranka continuing to advance her career. Ranka is so happy to have Sheryl’s praise that she doesn’t even notice Alto standing nearby until Sheryl points him out. Embarrassingly, the movie’s director who Sheryl had just been talking to recognizes Alto from his Kabuki days where he played a popular princess. The director has his assistant beg Alto to be in the movie, much to Alto’s dismay.
A little later, we see that the actor playing Shin has refused to do the movie’s big underwater scene because it’s not a part of his contract. Alto agrees to be the actor’s stunt double as a favor to Ranka, after Elmo gets the director to agree to give Ranka a bigger part if Alto could be convinced to play a role, any role, in the movie. It seems that Alto was so well known that he still carries a significant amount of weight and influence in the acting world!
Sheryl, Ranka, and Luca have a conversation off to the side where Sheryl informs Ranka about Alto’s past popularity. Sad that she is the last to know about Alto’s past, Ranka hikes off on her own to a scenic spot up on the island’s cliffs. There, she sings Aimo to comfort herself and is unknowingly spotted by the director who had earlier gone off to fish while the dispute with Shin’s actor was worked out.
Elsewhere, we see Leon having a meeting with a strange informant who gives him new information on Purple 1 and the Vajra. In return, the mysterious informant seems to want more purple crystals that look a lot like the main portion of Sheryl’s earrings.
Back at Ranka’s scenic cliff, a large, bulked up Hydra approaches and attacks. Alto, who was nearby looking for Ranka, comes to her aid, but they are both knocked down by the Hydra. It charges them, but suddenly the pilot of Purple 1 jumps in the way and protects Ranka and Alto by intercepting the Hydra’s bite with his arm. He fends off the Hydra by ultimately cutting it in half after a tense fight. We find out that this pilot is a cyborg named Brera Stern before he quickly leaves.
Alto carries Ranka back to the mock Mayan village where Elmo is waiting for Ranka with “ultra super big news.” Apparently, the director liked her and her song so much that he wants her to play Mao in the place of an actress that the rogue Hydra either injured or killed. Even more excitingly, the director also wants to use Aimo as Sara and Mao’s legendary song of the wind! At first, Alto is thrilled for Ranka, but then he remembers that he signed on to do the underwater stunt work… which includes a kissing scene with the actress playing Mao… which will now be Ranka!
Despite the great opportunity it would be to play Mao, Ranka does not immediately accept the offer. She can’t get over the acting advice Alto gave her earlier. That to act, she needs to really understand and become the character she is playing. Ranka admits to Bobby that she does not understand the crush Mao had on Shin, or what Mao felt as she watched her older sister fall in love with Shin. Bobby takes pity on Ranka, noting that it’s obvious that she has never really fallen in love before.
Further up the beach, Sheryl teases Alto about his upcoming kissing scene with Ranka. Alto says he is ready to play the scene, but he feels bad for Ranka because it is a much bigger and tougher decision for her. Besides, Alto says, a kiss is not a big deal. But then Sheryl surprises him by surging forward and giving him a long kiss. Afterwards, Alto is stunned and can hardly put two words together until Sheryl breaks out into laughter. Her kiss was mostly just her putting on an act to prove to Alto that maybe kisses weren’t as meaningless to him as he claimed.
Down on the beach, Ranka is shocked to see Sheryl and Alto’s kiss, but at the same time, she finally understands the jealousy that Mao felt back then. Newly determined, Ranka marches over to the director and accepts his offer to become Mao.
Alto and Ranka perform the underwater scene and the kiss. We are also treated to the end of the movie where Ranka, playing Mao, sings Aimo in order to catch Shin’s damaged Valkyrie and send him racing towards the stars after Sara who had been whisked away moments before by the movie’s titular alien doomsday weapon. (Go watch Macross Zero to see that happen.)
Back in the movie theater, we see that Ranka has been attending the debut of “Bird Human”. After Miranda Meilin takes her bow as the film’s lead actress, the spotlights light up Ranka in the front row of the audience. Sheryl is there encouraging Ranka to stand and then the director himself, who never once spoke a word out loud during the movie’s filming, personally offers his hand to Ranka. He leads her up onto the stage and tells her out loud that even though she was an unknown before, now her legend is about to begin!
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Every scene that is taken from Macross Zero. This episode was such a nostalgia trip! I especially liked that even the commercial break graphic was a scene from the shoot of “Bird Human” instead of a piece of random Frontier character art like it normally is.
- Ranka’s long period of indecision on the beach. Her fears and lack of understanding about Mao’s feelings are a really well done character moment.
- The scene where Ranka is led triumphantly on stage by the director after the film’s debut. It is such a powerful scene, and it looks like it will be a big, life changing moment for Ranka.
Episode Impressions:
Where to even start? We’ve already gotten some pretty direct callbacks to past Macross works in Macross Frontier, but this episode blows them all away! For those who haven’t seen Macross Zero, this episode literally paints Frontier characters into some of its key scenes. Things like most of the background artwork and even some of the background characters are literally untouched and look exactly like they did in Macross Zero. And that’s awesome. Macross Zero was made about six years before Macross Frontier and has excellent writing and animation. It’s the only other work in the Macross franchise that I whole heartedly endorse. (Though Macross Plus is pretty good too!)
Even more awesome is the way Frontier uses the story of Sara, Mao, and Shin to enhance our understanding of Sheryl, Ranka, and Alto. The way Sheryl teases Alto but also is respectful of his decision to stop acting is very insightful on Sheryl’s part. Then there’s the way Alto puts aside his grievances with his family and his past in order to help out Ranka. Knowing what we know about Alto and his tendency to jump to anger whenever anyone mentions his family or acting career, what he did was very significant on his part. And then Ranka, of course, looks like she is about to become a major star! I know I listed it above, but that final scene where she gets asked on stage is one of my favorite scenes in all of Macross Frontier. The music and that final shot are just perfect.
In addition to all that, this episodes also manages to give a name and a bit of motivation to the mysterious pilot of Purple 1. It’s interesting that his decision to save Ranka and Alto is frowned upon by his mysterious handler.
This episode heavily references the Macross Zero miniseries that came out a few years before Macross Frontier. The episode, in fact, sees characters from Macross Frontier create an in-universe movie that largely follows the plot of Macross Zero. This is not unheard of in the Macross universe. In Macross 7, that show’s characters take part in a production called “The Lynn Minmay Story” where they recreate some of the moments of Space War 1, and the movie “Do You Remember Love?” is, at one point, shown to be playing in theaters within the City 7 colony ship.
On a more meta note, multiple works in the Macross franchise come back and modify previous shows. SDF Macross and Do You Remember Love? are one example where the latter was a reworked version of the former. Macross Frontier and its two movies diverge greatly in their plots, as well. The creator and director of Macross, Shōji Kawamori, has said in multiple interviews over the years that no one version of each story is more true than the next. It’s more like there are multiple points of view of the same events where all versions are assumed to have at least some significant amount of truth to them. Even when they appear mutually exclusive. That said, Do You Remember Love?’s story seems to have largely supplanted SDF Macross’ in terms of what is often referenced in shows like Macross Frontier and Macross Delta. Things like ship designs and references to the events that ended Space War 1 tend to reflect the Do You Remember Love?’s version of things.
The brief scene where Ozma notes how it is a twist of fate that Ranka ended up playing the role of “Dr. Mao” will be important later. I believe this is the first we’ve ever heard of Mao being called Dr. Mao. In Macross Zero she was just a young, curious, energetic teenager.
Moment to Moment Notes:
0:01 – Right away, this artwork and these scenes should be familiar to anyone who watched Macross Zero. The scene of the pilot pointing a stick at the priestess is nearly a shot for shot, line for line recreation of a scene from Macross Zero, but with characters from Macross Frontier playing the various historical roles. Many scenes in this episode come directly from Macross Zero with new characters from Frontier being painted over the original animation.
1:01 – Ranka makes a pretty convincing Mao Nome! Miranda Meilin, who earlier won the title of Miss Macross, is a slightly less convincing version of Sara.
2:41 – Last we saw of Shin Kudo, the lead character in Macross Zero, he was whisked off to the stars by the songs of Mao Nome. Maybe he didn’t go as far as he seemed and later came back and wrote a biography? If so… what happened to Sara?
5:18 – The confidential message that popped up on Leon’s terminal was from “G”.
5:42 – It is fun seeing a recreation of Mayan Island. What’s more interesting, though, is that the island within one of Frontier’s pill-shaped ships doesn’t look like a temporary prop for the movie. It looks more like that ship was built with an island heavily influenced by the original Mayan Island that existed on earth over fifty years earlier.
6:31 – The director (sitting in the background) looks suspiciously like a bearded Macross creator/director Shōji Kawamori.
8:03 – Remember, in some forms of Kabuki, all roles, including the female roles, were played by boys. Perhaps that is part of what Alto is trying to get away from.
9:53 – Kadun were some sort of monsters / negative spirits that the people of Mayan Island believed in and were something Sara Nome was trying to defend her people against.
11:48 – We’ve seen one of these Hydra’s before in passing. There was one looking much more like a tame house cat sitting on the lap of a full size Zentradi in Folmo mall back during episode 5.
11:53 – Even the little commercial break segments are set in-universe for this episode. This one depicts Dr. Aries making landfall on Mayan Island for the first time.
14:20 – This sure seems to be the pilot of the Purple One Valkyrie. And he is a cyborg? Remember the pre-episode voice over a while back talking about how the Macross Galaxy fleet specialized in advanced technologies like brain implants and cybernetics? Could these things be related?
15:41 – I like that Elmo’s signature thing now seems to be shouting at Ranka about the latest big news he has for her.
17:54 – In Do You Remember Love?, Lynn Minmay used a similar tactic to show Hikaru that kisses are not necessarily serious or meaningful when actors are involved.
19:41 – This, too, is a shot for shot paint over of a scene from Macross Zero. Also, the water sounds as Alto and Ranka dive beneath the surface are really good.
20:32 – This is the first we’ve heard of Mao being called Dr. Mao. This will come back up in a later episode.
20:38 – Again, this sequence of Shin’s Valkyrie being saved is directly from Macross Zero, with the exception that Ranka doesn’t let her song powers slip, so she doesn’t drop it into the water like Mao did back in Macross Zero’s version.
Next Episode: Missing Birthday
If I had to guess, this episode will be about Ranka trying to cope with her newfound stardom and her lack of free time to hang out with Alto and the others.
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 09: Friendly Fire
We open to a very interesting scene. Alto appears to have grappled the purple Valkyrie and is holding it steady in order for Michael to snipe it. Michael, though, seems to be having a hard time committing to the shot. And in between them is Klan in her badly damaged Queadluun that appears to have its legs and arm ripped off and its front hatch blown away so we can see her exposed to space in her spacesuit!
After the opening, we cut back a few hours or days to a Sheryl promotional shoot that is annoying Alto by taking up his precious flying time. Michael, being the flirt that he always is, begins hitting on Grace who appears unsure how to handle it until Michael tell her his name. She stiffens up and then tells Michael that she is sorry for what happened to his sister. This surprises Michael and knocks him straight out of his flirtations. Later, on a mission, Alto is nagging on some of Michael’s recent decisions, but Michael is still caught up on Grace’s words about his sister.
When a Vajra attacks a transport that Alto, Michael, and Luca are flying escort for, the three fall back into their normal roles. Alto closes in to attack, Luca flies recon, and Michael sets up to snipe the enemy once Alto immobilizes it. Except this time, instead of being cool and confident, Michael still has Grace’s words about his sister ringing in his ears. He get preoccupied just for a moment and fires his shot too late. Instead of nailing the Vajra, he clips Alto’s Valkyrie instead. The two were already arguing with each other, and now, Alto straight up accuse Michael of hitting hitting him on purpose.
Back on Frontier, a meeting of military officials is taking place. They have discovered a Vajra nest ahead of Frontier’s planned route and organize a raiding party to destroy it before the Vajra can again attack the Frontier fleet. But, unknown to everyone at the meeting, Grace is watching in via the cameras on their laptops. She seems to be taking her hacking of government lines a lot farther than she first did back during episode 2.
After returning from their escort mission, Michael and Alto trade blows after Alto continues to demand answers about why Michael missed his shot. While patching up Alto after the fight, Canaria, SMS’s doctor, notes that like Alto, Michael has his own demons to fight and his own reasons for joining SMS. We cut to Michael outside the fleet in his Valkyrie practicing sniper shots. With every shot he takes we see a brief flashback of traumatic times in his past. A graveyard and him and his sister as little more than children standing in front of their parent’s grave. A still young Michael chasing after his sister after she had joined the military. His sister in trouble and on trial in a court room. And finally, his sister bleeding and possibly dead in a chair with what appear to be one or more gunshot wounds. Clearly, something very bad happened to her!
When Michael goes to reload his sniper rifle he notices that Klan in her large form has come out in a spacesuit to talk to him. He is annoyed that she is there and teases her about the physical immaturity of her smaller form to which she pulls back and slaps the heck out of his Valkyrie before angrily pushing off into space leaving Michael to himself once more.
We get a brief, amusing scene of Alto talking on the phone with Sheryl. Later, while Alto is inspecting the damage to his Valkyrie, Klan approaches him in order to talk about what is bothering Michael.
Elsewhere, Ranka is handing out physical copies of her first original song “Cat Diary” at a fancy street side booth. Elmo is nearby with Bobby, Macross Quarter’s pilot, who apparently helped design the booth. Bobby wonders why Ranka is being promoted in such a low tech fashion. Elmo replies that all of the normal, high tech things they’ve tried like websites have gotten hacked almost immediately. Across the way, Ranka spots that mysterious Valkyrie pilot once more, but he takes a call and quickly disappears from view.
Back in space, SMS appears to be leading that raiding force designated to clear out the Vajra nest. Alto and Michael are still at odds with each other, but Ozma pairs them together anyway to try and force them to get over it. We also see the mysterious Valkyrie pilot launch from Frontier and get orders under the callsign “Purple 1.” He is assigned to destroy the nest as well, but is also given orders to prevent SMS from retrieving any Vajra samples. The voice addressing him is female and sounds somewhat familiar.
Klan spots the Vajra nesting in an abandoned N.U.N.S. warship and SMS moves to attack. Before they can fully engage, Purple 1 swoops in and shoots down most of the defending Vajra before engaging Klan in combat. It’s almost as if he is toying with her. Klan puts up a good fight and very nearly takes out the purple Valkyrie but an unluckily blocked shot from her heavy cannon saves the enemy Valkyrie. Purple 1 reengages Klan and nearly takes her out before Alto and Michael can intervene.
As usual, Alto charges in to close quarters combat while Michael sets up to snipe. Like with the Vajra earlier, Alto manages to pin the purple Valkyrie. He lets Michael know he knows what happened to Michael’s sister and he urges Michael to surpass his sister and carry on her legacy of never missing a shot. We flash back to Klan telling Alto about what happened to Jessica. Apparently she had been having an affair with her superior officer but on the day he called off their affair she slipped up and accidentally killed him in a bout of friendly fire. She was court marshaled for it, but took her own life before a verdict could be delivered.
We’re back to the start of the episode now, and Michale is finally able to line up a good shot. He scores a near direct hit on the purple Valkyrie which flees, but not before accomplishing its mission of destroying the Vajra nest. Back on Frontier, Michael pays respects to his sister at her grave, then he and Alto set aside their differences and head to class as friends thanks to Klan’s intervention.
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Michael and Klan’s encounter outside of Frontier while Michael is practicing sniping. That his crass teasing of Klan is met with the mother of all giant slaps is just awesome. It’s also apparent in that scene that some of what Michael said about being with Klan got to her a bit. Maybe she actually has some feelings for him that she is not easily able to act on? The tears coming from her eyes as she pushed away certainly seems to back that up.
Alto’s brief phone call with Sheryl. Alto gets in a couple of good zingers as he makes light of Sheryl not having attended much school before. I got an even bigger laugh when she asks him if her promotion as a Valkyrie pilot taking up arms for her homeland would have impact to which he replies with something like “Yeah… for its stupidity.” The best part is Sheryl takes his comment in stride. She doesn’t quite agree with him in a “fair enough” manner, but she also doesn’t argue the point much, either.
- Klan and Alto’s battles with Purple 1. Klan almost gets in a good, clever shot and we see that Alto has improved a lot from his training days when Klan could easily fight him to a standstill. Alto even manages to shoot off one of Purple 1’s legs using the smoke from his missile barrage to cover his attack!
Episode Impressions:
This episode was a nice return to form. Ranka didn’t get a whole lot of screen time, but the conflict between Alto and Michael had some real weight behind it once we were finally told what happened. Also, Alto and Michael have been bickering quite a bit over the last few episodes. I’m hopeful they’ll tone it down now thanks to Michael working this out of his system.
It’s nice that the mystery of the purple Valkyrie is being revealed fairly quickly. I was a little afraid it and its pilot would remain in the shadows for several more episodes, but we’ve already seem some limited part of his objectives and have even heard the person sending him orders. That voice sounded a bit like Grace to me, but I don’t think there’s any real way to confirm that yet.
Finally, the combat was really good once again. There were a couple of reused shots, but most of it was new animation that was easy to follow and that looked really impressive.
Grace appears to be increasingly brazen in her hacking of Frontier’s military channels. She seems demure when interacting with everyone in real life, but is now listening in on private military meetings while in her digital space? Does she have a split personality? Or, is she putting up a timid front to everyone while secretly being far more sinister than we’ve realized up until this point?
Someone is giving Purple 1 orders, and Grace is one of the few people who knew of SMS’s mission thanks to her spying. The voice ordering Purple 1 even sounds like Grace. If it really is her, then she’s been involved a lot more heavily in things than we’ve been lead to believe so far given that Purple 1 first appeared back in episode 7.
At the same time, it seems like someone is trying to prevent Ranka from becoming widely known. It could be Grace again, given all her hacking, but we’ve also seen Leon take a oddly high amount of interest in Ranka. Could the Frontier government itself, through Leon’s actions, be the one hacking Ranka’s Internet sites? Or, maybe it’s Grace working to keep Sheryl as the top galactic idol?
Moment to Moment Notes:
6:50 – What is Sheryl’s manager doing watching in on (hacking into?) a meeting of the Macross Frontier government? It’s one thing to watch live military operations, but another to spy on a government?! Or is it? Did we all give Grace a pass because her previous hackings all the way back to episode 2 were in support of Sheryl?
7:57 – It’s funny that a fearsome Zentradi warrior like the pink-haired Nene Rora would hide behind Klan during Alto and Michael’s fight.
8:16 – Here we see Klan transitioning from her small size to her large size. I don’t think we ever hear much about the energy requirements or limitations of this process. It was mentioned in SDF Macross that part of the agreement between humanity and the newly cultured Zentradi after the war ended is that they would have free access to these kinds of facilities.
11:47 – There is a famous full on slap that occurs in Do You Remember Love? when Hikaru is trying to convince Lynn Minmay to stop thinking solely of herself and sing for the sake of saving humanity. Frontier, likewise, has at least three big notable slaps with this being the first of them.
12:29 – “Yeah, for its stupidity.” I love Alto for his straightforwardness here. The light verbal sparing between Sheryl and Alto is kinda fun in that they can both talk to each other openly instead of having to hide behind their public roles.
14:16 – I think Ranka’s sites being hacked has something to do with Leon taking an odd interest in her. Government interference maybe? But why? Or could it be Grace? It’s not like she isn’t hacking everything else in sight…
15:38 – So “Purple 1” is based at Frontier and is getting orders to interfere with official military operations?
Once again, it’s somewhat hard to tell what’s going on based on the scenes alone, but the name and narration gives everything way. It appears that the Frontier fleet is shooting a movie recreation of Macross Zero, the previous entry in the Macross franchise that, in real life, first debuted about six years before Macross Frontier. This should be good! (Or terrible! We’ll see!)
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 08: High School Queen
Ranka has been scouted and hired by a promotions company, but that doesn’t mean life is suddenly easy for her. Right now, it looks like she is stuck doing small gigs in malls. She sings one song at Folmo mall about carrots, but it looks like most people ignore her. Even Ranka realizes that her first jobs aren’t very glamorous, so she doesn’t really want to reveal to Alto the kind of work she is doing. It’s even a little sad that her big hope for the day is being a guest on a variety show that evening.
Still, some things are going well for Ranka. Elmo comes running up with big news. Ranka successfully passed her tests and has been admitted to Mihoshi Academy. She meets up with Alto and the others and actually cheers up when Michael notes that she’ll be the life of the party during her first day of classes… but then Galatic Fairy Sheryl Nome shows up, much to Ranka’s dismay. The rest of the school, the male portion at least, is beyond delighted, however.
With the fate of the Galaxy fleet somewhere between unknown and almost certainly destroyed, Sheryl has no place to go home to. She has come to Mihoshi as a visitor for the day, but the implication seems to be that she’ll be staying more permanently if things work out. Sheryl uses the fact that Alto failed to return her earring to her as leverage to force him to show her around the school. She picks flying with Ex-Gear as the first thing she wishes to do.
Operating Ex-Gear proves to be a bit harder than Sheryl anticipated. One common operating test is to try and pick up an egg without breaking it, something that Sheryl utterly fails at. As they wash up in the showers, Sheryl talks to Ranka about how her singing is going. Ranka tries to be optimistic even while Sheryl says she just leaves all her scheduling to Grace. Sheryl then offers Ranka a spot on an upcoming tv show, but once they are out of the showers and in the school’s laundry area, Ranka politely turns Sheryl down. It seems Ranka wants to achieve her success on her own.
Just then, a strange green creature that Ranka spotted earlier in the day inadvertently hops out the door with Sheryl’s underwear wrapped around it. Undeterred, Sheryl wraps her dress tight around herself and goes after the creature. Various hijinks ensue as Sheryl attempts to nab the creature. Eventually, she steals Luca’s Ex-Gear and jumps off the school’s roof in an effort to catch the creature. But Sheryl forgot to strap into her gear! Fortunately, Alto is there to catch her at the last second. Sheryl enjoys the terrific view of the sunset while in Alto’s arms and demands he keep flying her around since he lost her earring in the battle.
Meanwhile, Ranka is on her way to her tv shoot only to get a call from her manager telling her that her show was cancelled and that the one Sheryl mentioned earlier is taking its place. Saddened, Ranka returns to the Griffith Observatory hill where she encounters the small green creature again. She sings Aimo to herself to cheer herself up, only to hear someone play the same tune on a harmonica near the statue behind her. When she turns to see who it is, we see that it’s the pilot of the purple Valkyrie. The episode ends with Sheryl officially joining the pilot program at Mihoshi Academy.
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- The scene where Ranka gets the news that her tv appearance has been cancelled is pretty disheartening. Especially as she looks up to see all the Sheryl Nome signs floating around the buildings above her. All episode, Sheryl has been stealing her thunder, and now it has happened again.
- I did find it kinda amusing how Sheryl just tossed the entire box of detergent into the washing machine…
Episode Impressions:
To say this is not my favorite episode is to put it mildly. What I think must have happened is the Frontier staff thought we needed some humor after the two or three tense episodes that came before. What we got though was just way to wacky for my tastes.
Also, even though Sheryl didn’t really mean to do so, she basically ruined Ranka’s day and kept upstaging her at every turn. I can’t point to any vindictiveness, or jealousy, or ill intent on Sheryl’s part, but she did have a notable lack of awareness of what her presence would do to those around her.
In the end, while I think this episode was meant to be fun, I’d probably rate it as my least favorite Macross Frontier episode. I’d much rather go back to the subtle relationship clashes or the intense space battles we had been getting before.
I think the one real key moment to keep in mind from this episode is that Leon is still keeping close track of Ranka and that he knows about the existence of the purple Valkyrie.
0:24 – This is a scene from Macross Zero where the UN forces find the lower portion of the Bird Human bioweapon.
2:09 – These phone calls between Alto and Ranka are reminiscent of the calls between Hikaru and Lynn Minmay back in SDF Macross. Those two also shared several phone calls (though not on cellphones, everything was still wired phones and phone booths in Macross’ version of 2009!) and multiple missed calls from each other like Alto and Ranka do in this series.
2:56 – Remember, Alto was in the performing arts program up until he transferred to the pilot program when he entered high school. Cathy mentioned that when she first brought him in for questioning during the second episode.
7:04 – As expected from last episode, the fact that the Galaxy’s escort ships folded in without the rest of the Galaxy fleet still seems to be a very big deal. Right now, the rest of the Galaxy fleet is missing and perhaps even destroyed. Remember, that dire S.O.S. broadcast was already five days old when the Frontier fleet received it.
22:06 – Believe it or not, Sheryl will get the chance to be a pilot sooner or later!
The preview for the next episode looks intense. Apparently Michael is hiding some sort of secret and it involves a badly injured or possibly dead woman! Also, was that Alto with a bloody lip?
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 07: First Attack
We start this episode with a confirmation of what we’ve already learned through comments made by Sheryl and her assistant Grace. That the Macross Galaxy fleet was more heavily specialized in cybernetics that the Frontier fleet is.
As we get into this episode, Macross Quarter and several support ships defold into the area of space that two of the Galaxy’s remaining warships are trapped in. Apparently the Vajra have been chasing them and neither ship has been able to escape on its own. One small twist to the Quarter’s mission is revealed when Cathy says that even though their first priority is to rescue survivors from the Galaxy, collecting combat data on the Vajra’s forces has a similar if not greater priority. And that this order comes straight from Frontier’s President.
As the Macross Quarter proceeds into battle, Sheryl is still onstage performing in her live concert. Despite her best efforts, knowledge of the desperate situation her home fleet is in gets to Sheryl emotionally multiple times during her performance. Perhaps she hated the Galaxy as a child, but she is clearly deeply worried about it in the present day. During a brief intermission, Grace updates Sheryl on how the distant battle is unfolding, going so far to show Sheryl near real time footage that she has somehow managed to hack into.
Twelve light years away, the SMS and NUNS forces are doing well. Ozma is proving once again that he is an excellent pilot. Michael takes up his role as a sniper. Luca flies a situational awareness / data collection role while his Ghost fighters support him, and Alto does his best to keep up with the others. We also get to see Canaria land her König Monster on one of the fleeing Galaxy ships. Her barrage of reactive warheads lights up space clearing the way for the SMS forces to get closer to the main battle.
Coming back from her intermission, Sheryl is again visibly troubled by the knowledge of what is going on. This time, she very nearly breaks down and is at the point of tears when she somehow hears Ranka in the crowd. It seems that there is more to this than just Sheryl hearing Ranka’s voice or spotting her in the distance. The two seem to have some sort of connection to each other, a connection that lets Ranka encourage Sheryl to keep singing.
Back at the battle, a large Vajra warship folds in and takes out one of the remaining Galaxy ships with one powerful shot. Luca, wanting to collect as much information as possible, strays too close and his fighter is captured by a red Vajra and is pulled into the Vajra warship. As Sheryl and Ranka being to sing “Infinity”, Alto charges into the heart of the battle and forces his way into the Vajra warship. Inside he finds Luca’s fighter entangled, but before he can rescue Luca, multiple smaller yellow Vajra engage him from several different directions. Just as it appears one of the Vajra has Alto pinned, Sheryl’s earring sparkles and the song that Sheryl and Ranka are singing echoes throughout the Vajra ship. Alto, and the pilot of a strange, as yet unknown purple Valkyrie that followed Alto inside, both notice the singing before Alto is forced to eject right before his fighter is destroyed.
Nearby, the crew of the Macross Quarter devises a plan. The Vajra ship is powerful but slow to react. Captain Wilder tells his crew to show it why the Macross Quarter was given the Macross designation despite being only 1/4th the size of a regular Macross-class warship. The Macross Quarter speeds into the fray transforming from its regular flight mode as it dodges an attack from the Vajra warship by hiding behind a nearby asteroid. The Macross Quarter then forces open the Vajra warship allowing Alto to pilot Luca’s fighter to safety before the Macross Quarter obliterates the Vajra ship with a single powerful shot from its Macross Cannon.
Back on Frontier, Sheryl ends her concert by thanking her cheering fans as Ranka wears a satisfied smile. The episode ends back with Alto thinking about the purple Valkyrie that nearly doomed his efforts to save Luca. We then see that mysterious pilot accompanied by two similar Valkyries in the Fold. The pilot takes the harmonica that is hanging around his neck and ends the episode by playing the first few notes of Ranka’s Aimo!
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Sheryl’s concert. All of it. From the intense effort she put into her songs to the moments of weakness she showed as she tried to remained unaffected by the events happening around her.
- The space battle. All of it. From Ozma’s “Macross Missile Massacre” to Alto’s eventual impressive showing as he charged in to rescue Luca.
- The combination of the two. Sheryl’s songs backing the fast paced action worked very well. Even more so when it seemed apparent that Sheryl and Ranka’s singing was somehow being relayed through Sheryl’s earring.
Episode Impressions:
Another spectacular episode! Perhaps Frontier’s best yet. It was mainly spit into the two parts of the battle and the concert, and it was so well done. The concert and Sheryl’s singing served to add an extra layer of excitement to the space battles.
And the battles themselves were great. It’s almost like if you watched Macross Plus and Macross Zero you would have learned the “combat language” of Macross. Things like using the three modes of a Valkyrie to adapt to each combat situation. Or switching modes to dodge enemy fire, attack the enemy, or shoot down enemy missiles. And now, Frontier makes use of that language at full speed to make a battle that was very fast paced but felt completely at home in the Macross universe.
We also end on a bit of a mysterious note that seems to say that while the big battle is over, we still have more story to come.
Once again, we see Grace managing to get unprecedented access to Frontier’s systems. Being able to display near real time footage of an ongoing battle must take some extreme hacking skills. Not to mention that it has got to be all kinds of illegal. Not that Sheryl cared.
The connections being made through Sheryl’s earrings. First between Ranka and Sheryl at the concert. And later between Ranka, Sheryl, and Alto twelve light years away at the space battle. Each time a connection was made one of the earrings would sparkle. It’s very obvious the final time it happens just before Alto’s fighter is destroyed since we cut from Sheryl’s earring directly to the one Alto borrowed and both are sparkling the same way.
That purple Valkyrie, its similar escorts, and the fact that the pilot seems to know “Aimo” all feels mysterious but also very important.
Moment to Moment Notes:
0:30 – There’s a better look at the Galaxy fleet’s main ship. I think this ship might actually be Battle Galaxy and that the rest of the Galaxy fleet has been destroyed by this point.
5:10 – Ozma referring to Alto as a hatchling has got to be a callback to Roy Focker calling the new pilots under his command hatchlings in Macross Zero
5:19 – Planet Dance is the name of one of the main songs the Macross 7 band Fire Bomber sings. Ozma loves Fire Bomber’s music and will often use their song titles as formation names.
7:05 – The Konig Monster type battleroid is first seen in SDF Macross and one of them plays a small but critical role in Macross Zero when it fires nukes at the fully active Bird Human.
12:31 – Lynn Minmay once had a similar heartfelt on-stage speech during “Do You Remember Love?” where she is saying goodbye to the ship she has spent the last few days performing for.
14:08 – This is the first new song we’ve heard on Macross Frontier since the ones Sheryl sang in her opening concert. It is called “Infinity”
15:28 – Alto jettisoning his Super Pack and using it as a decoy for the enemy missiles is very similar to what Shin Kudo did as he approached the Bird Human at the end of Macross Zero.
17:25 – In SDF Macross, the Macross only transformed because it’s main gun was damaged and rearranging the geometry of the ship was the only way to reconnect the guns to the main reactor. It was not a planned process, and it heavily disrupted the civilian city built within the Macross as spaces were outright crushed as the Macross changed its shape. By Macross 7, all Macross class battleships are made to transform and we see that carries over into Macross Frontier as well.
18:02 – The Macross Quarter is literally a Macross-class ship that is a quarter of the size of ships like the original Macross or Macross 7’s Battle 7. It is a faster, more mobile ship yet still carries some significant fraction of a Macross-class ship’s firepower.
18:25 – I may be mistaken, but I think this might be the first time in Macross history that we’ve seen a Macross-class ship fire it’s smaller battleship-style guns. The ships from each show have, of course, fired their respective Macross Cannons, but I can’t remember ever really seeing the smaller turrets firing. Damage to a turret was announced one time in SDF Macross, so we can assume the guns were being used but not shown for animation/budgetary reasons.
19:05 – Yes, Alto and this unknown Valkyrie pilot really are hearing echoes of Sheryl and Ranka singing at Sheryl’s concert 12 lightyears away. Somehow, the songs are being transmitted by Sheryl’s earrings.
22:34 – This pilot knows the tune to Ranka’s Aimo? That seems very significant.
Next Episode: High School Queen
Not a lot can be gleaned from this preview. We’re told that Ranka transfers to Alto’s school and we see some shots of Sheryl wearing Ex-Gear, but it’s kinda anyone’s guess as to what is really going on!
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 06: Bye Bye Sheryl
It turns out that the purple-haired man that approached Ranka near the end of Star Date is someone named Elmo Kridanik and is the head of a promotion company called Vector Promotions. Thanks to her singing in the Zentradi mall, Ranka has gotten her first big break and has been scouted! All that’s left to do is to get her brother’s permission, which Ozma gives in the most overly dramatic fashion possible.
To celebrate, Ranka, Nanase, Michael, Luca, and Alto head to a fancy outdoor cafe. Ranka is a bit embarrassed, but all her friends are so excited and supportive of her… except Alto who is his usual reserved self. But even he agrees to cheer Ranka on after getting harsh glares from the others. Ranka tells Alto that she would have told him first, but that she didn’t want to interrupt him. Alto smiles and notes that interrupting him had never stopped her before. He even tells her he was at the mall and heard her singing, but then Ranka asks him what he was doing there, and in a misguided effort to protect Ranka’s feelings, Alto lies to her about being at the mall alone. To make matters worse he even hands her a ticket to Sheryl’s next concert as a congratulations for being scouted. It’s all Ranka can do to say a disappointed thank you to Alto given she saw him there with Sheryl that day.
Meanwhile, news of the Vajra attack on the Macross Galaxy fleet is spreading. Frontier’s President, Howard Glass, makes a startling public announcement revealing the Galaxy’s distress call and that he will be sending reinforcements to the Galaxy fleet. At nearly the same time, Grace relays the terrible news to a distraught Sheryl who was, only moments before, happily preparing for her goodbye concert.
Back at the cafe, Michael receives a call from Ozma telling him that all of SMS is now under Exemption Clause B which basically has them conscripted as soldiers during a state of emergency. Alto, Michael, and Luca are required to return to SMS headquarters at once to await orders. That night, Ozma promises Ranka that even though a war is coming, he won’t let himself or the others die.
At SMS headquarters, Alto catches a replay of a press conferences Sheryl attended earlier that day. An initially stone faced Sheryl voices her faith in her home fleet and thanks the people of Frontier for agreeing to come to the Galaxy’s aid. When a reporter notes that he believes her upcoming live concert will be canceled, we see a bit of Sheryl’s fiesty side as she grabs his microphone and pulls the tv camera closer to herself and then defiantly states her intention to have her goodbye concert before returning to her home fleet. Alto remembers something and rushes off despite orders to stay put.
Elsewhere, at SMS headquarters, we see that what had previously just appeared to be a military base that the SMS launched out of is in fact a small warship or carrier that is making preparations to be a part of the fleet that will be sent to rescue the Galaxy. Unexpectedly, Cathy shows up on Leon’s orders. She is meant to provide assistance to the SMS as a liaison to the New U.N. Spacy. It’s a job she seems somewhat uncomfortable with. The SMS crew doesn’t seem to like it any more than she does.
Soon, we find out where Alto ran off to. Apparently, he previously found Sheryl’s earring and has now rushed off to deliver it to her before anything else happens. The two of them share a candid conversation in which Sheryl confides in Alto that while she put on a strong face during her earlier interview, her childhood growing up on the Galaxy was not a happy one. She lost both her parents when she was young and seems to have lived as an orphan for some significant amount of time after that. Alto is taken aback by Sheryl’s candidness, then states that he is going to borrow her lucky earring to help him in the battle to come. Sheryl agrees, telling him it is only a loan and that she expects it safely back once the battle is finished.
The episode ends with Alto and the other SMS members launching on what we finally learn isn’t a fixed headquarters or even a normal carrier. This whole time, the SMS has been based out of some sort of Macross-class warship. We are treated to a beautiful scene of Sheryl singing in a long blue dress while the “Macross Quarter” completes its launch sequence.
Specific Scenes I Loved:
Elmo begging Ozma to let him promote Ranka’s singing career. It’s almost like a suitor asking a father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. And Ozma’s reaction is so over the top that Ranka gets this “…are you kidding me?!” kind of deadpan expression on her face as her brother finally agrees to her singing career.
The sad, awkward interaction between Alto and Ranka as she tried to delicately pry into what he was doing with Sheryl at the mall and he makes his unfortunate, misguided attempt to not ruin her day by lying to her about being there alone. There’s a level of conflicting intentions and emotions between Alto and Ranka in that scene that is absolutely heartbreaking.
The way Ranka reacts by gripping onto Alto during President Glass’ announcement. It is highly reminiscent of the way she was unable to let got of him back when they were forced into the emergency shelter during the second Vajra attack.
The interactions between Alto and Sheryl when Alto brings her back her earring. Sheryl’s admission that she hated the Galaxy, at least when she was a child, shows a new level of trust between Alto and herself. Alto’s slightly playful dismissive reaction continues their streak of toying with and annoying each other. Sheryl allowing him to take her earring shows that the two of them really do understand and possibly even care for each other in some way.
Episode Impressions:
Wow! If any of the previous episodes were good, then this one was utterly fantastic. This episode is all about personalities and budding relationships and misunderstandings.
Ranka’s joy and hardship at being scouted only to then learn that her brother and friends will soon be going off to battle is such an interesting mood swing for her. And the way her feelings are unintentionally hurt by Alto at the cafe shows a maturity of writing that not many shows possess. It’s not easy to write a character who is trying to be kind but in the process does the exact wrong thing.
Likewise, Sheryl’s interview is great as well. The way Sheryl goes from almost dispassionate and in a state of shock to defiant and encouraging is just so good and really shows her range of character.
Then there’s Alto and Sheryl’s conversation that again shows how these two characters can have their personalities clang and clash but still recognize that the other has good intentions. Alto had better take good care of that earring, though, if he knows what’s good for him!
Finally Sheryl’s emotional, heartfelt rendition of “Diamond Crevasse” paired with the absolutely gorgeous blue visuals and interleaved with the Macross Quarter’s departure is such a perfect example of what makes the Macross franchise special.
Though it’s a little hard to be sure of the exact timing, it sure seems as if Grace got news of the Vajra attack on the Galaxy fleet at the same time or possibly even before President Glass did. At the very least, it certainly appears that Sheryl got the terrible news before President Glass made his announcement.
We’ve gotten a few glimpses of what appears to be Battle Frontier, the Frontier Fleet’s primarily Macross-class vessel docked at the front of Island 1 similar to how Battle 7 was docked at the front of City 7 in Macross 7. That would make the “Macross Quarter” a second Macross-class ship assigned to the Frontier fleet. That the SMS has full run of a Macross-class ship is a big deal. We have never seen more than one Macross-class ship attached to a single fleet in any Macross series before.
That the Macross Galaxy’s distress signal was so dire but is also around five days old is not a good sign. Neither is the fact that the only ships from the Galaxy fleet we’ve seen escape the battle so far are a lone fighter and a badly damaged warship. It may already be too late for the Galaxy’s civilian ships!
Moment to Moment Notes:
This episode’s title is possibly a reference to Episode 7 of the SDF Macross which was titled Bye-Bye Mars. The episodes don’t have much more than a title in common, however.
0:00 – We get a quick look at Space Folding, Macross’ version of faster than light travel. With it, ships can travel between the stars, but there are two issues with Space Fold technology. First, is the existence of Fold Faults that add a great deal of travel time causing folds that should take hours to take days instead. Fold Faults are a new twist that has only been mentioned as of Macross Frontier. Second, is that the energy requirements of a fold skyrocket the further you want your jump to be. This precludes traveling quickly across the galaxy. The larger a ship you try to fold, the more those energy requirements increase as well.
0:37 – Elmo, the director of Vector Promotions, uses minmay@vectorpromotions.co.fr as his email address. Minmay, of course, refers to Lynn Minmay from SDF Macross. Note that he is the same person (with the green glasses) who was sitting behind Alto at the Miss Macross contest. Likely, he was attempting to scout new talent for his company.
4:50 – When I hear someone suggest that they make an enemy listen to a song I get immediate flashbacks of Basara from Macross 7 singing away at the top of his lungs while everyone around him is being blow out of the sky. That said, songs and singers have played a major role in actually ending conflicts across almost every interaction of the Macross series so far. In Macross, singing at the enemy is sometimes a perfectly valid strategy!
5:04 – Looks like the Frontier Fleet invested heavily in Microsoft Surface Big Ass Tables… Search YouTube for the original Microsoft Surface table ad and then go find the hilarious parody of it and you’ll see what I mean.
7:06 – That drawing has some cool theming with the spoon and salt shaker.
9:03 – There are a lot of explosions and friendly ships crowding the view, but note that the Macross Galaxy does not appear to have a domed city ship and is instead a big self-contained ship. This would be consistent with what Sheryl said in the previous episode and why she is so impressed by the Frontier fleet. Either that, or the ship we are looking at is simply Battle Galaxy, the Galaxy fleet’s Macross-class ship…
12:25 – I love how confident Sheryl gets in this moment. It is possible that given the previous scene between Leon and Cathy that this last reporter is a plant who asked a provocative question intentionally to get Sheryl to give a heated, patriotic response.
13:50 – By Cathrine Glass being assigned to the Macross Quarter she will now essentially serve the same role that Misa Hayase occupied in SDF Macross.
14:33 – Again, we see that Sheryl might not really be the bossy jerk she appeared to be in the first couple of episodes.
15:21 – Note that at least a couple of these Deneb-class ships were seen defending the Macross Galaxy during that distress call earlier. It is not a good sign that they are here now without the main Galaxy ship.
18:49 – What Cathy says to Ozma about avoiding private conversations is almost exactly the same thing that Claudia LeSalle, a bridge officer on the original Macross, said to protagonist Valkyrie pilot Hikaru early in SDF Macross. Both Cathy and Claudia were relaying orders to the fighter squadrons and both were getting talk back from their pilots. So, that was a fun little callback there.
It looks like Ranka finally arrives at Sheryl’s concert and that we’re going to get some combat set to music. There looks to be a Vajra warship we haven’t seen before, so maybe the Macross Quarter will make is power known.
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 05: Star Date
Ranka has been suspended from her all girls school following her participation in the Miss Macross contest, and worse, she has her brother angry at her for not asking permission to enter the contest in the first place. Normally, Ranka might have passively followed Ozma’s instructions, but this time she takes a stand and runs out on him in tears.
Meanwhile, Alto is stuck being dragged around Island 1 by Sheryl as she forces him to help her search for her missing earring. Along the way, Sheryl manages to grab ahold of Alto’s SMS identification badge. She promises she will only give it back if he continues to show her around. The two of them sightsee around the city and we learn a little more about Sheryl and the Macross Galaxy fleet that she calls home. Apparently, many of the people who live on Galaxy have cybernetic enhancements and brain implants. But not Sheryl. She tells Alto that being all natural is one of her selling points.
Elsewhere, Leon is convening everyone he can find with knowledge of the Vajra which leads to Cathy arriving at Ozma’s apartment in order to escort him to the joint meeting. During the car ride, Ozma phones other SMS crew members asking them to help track down Ranka, to which Cathy muses aloud that maybe she and Ozma would still be together if he’d shown as much attention to her.
Michael happens to stumble upon Ranka, but she refuses to be led home. Instead, she vents her frustration at him then crosses a busy street to get away leaving Michael no choice but to follow her.
Alto and Sheryl wind up in one of Island 1’s dome tram / observation stations high above the city where they continue sightseeing. To Alto, Frontier is nothing special, but to Sheryl, who spent most of her life on Galaxy which is a far more closed off ship that uses chemical reactions instead of a wide open environment to maintain life support, Frontier is a wonder. Sheryl also notes that she appreciates that Alto doesn’t treat her differently from anyone else just because she is Sheryl Nome.
Finally getting a more adventuresome spirit, Alto takes Sheryl over to Island 3 where they catch a glimpse of some full size Zentradi taking care of some hippo-cows before the two of them head over to a nearby Zentradi-sized mall where they happen to meet up with Klan in her fullsize form. Ranka and Michael also arrive at the mall by chance where Michael challenges Ranka to put herself out and sing in front of people who haven’t come to a beauty pageant expecting her. He thinks she will chicken out and come to her senses, but instead Ranka gathers her courage and puts on a stunning performance singing “What About My Star” to the cheers of the mall crowd.
Also on Island 3, Ozma, Cathy, and others are listening to a presentation being given by Leon in a research facility. It seems the Frontier military has captured a Vajra and has been studying it. The Vajra has no brain, so one theory is that they are remote controlled bioweapons. During Ranka’s song, the seemingly deceased Vajra comes back to life and has to be destroyed before it breaks out of its containment tank.
As the day draws to a close, Sheryl thanks Alto for a good time and returns his SMS badge before giving him a kiss on the cheek. Alto, in turn, promises to locate Sheryl’s missing earring and return it to her before she heads back to the Galaxy at the end of her time on Frontier. Unknown to the two of them, Ranka and Michael are observing them from across the mall. But before Ranka can say anything, she is approached by someone who wants to talk to her about her musical performance.
The episode ends as a recon Valkyrie from Macross Galaxy folds in near to the Frontier fleet with an urgent call for assistance. Apparently the Galaxy fleet has come under heavy attack by Vajra and is in dire need of reinforcement!
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- That little moment where Alto is on the phone and Sheryl is in the background trying to gently catch a butterfly is the cutest bit of animation ever.
- The look that Sheryl gives Alto when she declares that being all natural is one of her selling points.
- Alto and Sheryl looking out over Island 1 from the observation dome. Alto is jaded, but I’m with Sheryl. Frontier is a beautiful place!
- Ranka’s performance of “What About My Star” and the way some random musicians join in with her during the middle of her song.
Episode Impressions:
This episode was part backstory and part magic. It was great hearing a little more about Sheryl and the place she came from. It was also great to see Ranka continuing to assert herself. Not only did she successfully defy Ozma, she even managed to put on a little show for herself while overcoming her fear and shyness.
Sheryl and Alto continue to be great together. They still quarrel and lock horns from time to time, but you can also tell that they are beginning to appreciate each other in subtle ways. Alto is realizing that Sheryl is more than just a superficial idol, while Sheryl seems to have found someone she can actually be herself around. The two’s exchange at the end of the episode where Sheryl thanks Alto and he promises to bring Sheryl her earring seems like a genuine moment of understanding and friendship on both their parts.
And boy, this episode was pretty. From the high up views of Frontier’s Island 1, to the extensive street level detail that filled every frame as Sheryl pulled Alto around the city, to Folmo Mall’s impressive sense of scale as humans and full-sized Zentradi filled the same spaces was all very impressive.
And, wow, that little cliffhanger at the end. It seems like things are about to get real with the Vajra.
Sheryl’s descriptions of the Macross Galaxy fleet are all important. It is apparently a place where cybernetics are widespread and a place far less beautiful than the city and agricultural ships of the Frontier fleet.
That the Vajra aren’t piloted and also aren’t necessarily independently controlled also seems like it will be important going forward.
The purple-haired man that comes running up the Ranka at the end of the episode was present at the Miss Macross contest and will play a minor role going forward.
Moment to Moment Notes:
1:06 – Ranka throws several things at her brother, including a dressed in pink Lynn Minmay doll. One of these dolls played a surprisingly large roll at pacifying the Zentradi attacking the earth during Space War 1.
3:31 – Right before Alto’s phone starts buzzing, Sheryl gets a good look at his ID badge. She probably stole it around this point, and it is, in fact, missing in the next few scenes until she reveals that she has it!
4:09 – Ranka’s phone isn’t really alive. It’s just cute and expressive. It looks like a hard squeeze turns it off.
5:36 – So… Cathy and Ozma were in a past relationship?
7:06 – Sheryl chasing after the butterfly is such a cute bit of animation!
8:45 – I like the look at the city… but that “Pipe Dreams” smoke shop is pretty weird!
8:58 – This is the 2nd time that the subject of implants has been brought up. Sheryl thinks of them as common on the Galaxy.
10:06 – It’s neat to get a closer look at the skyway cars and tubes that we’ve seen sparkling in the distance the past few episodes. The observation dome is pretty cool, as well!
10:17 – …and Frontier’s Island 1 is huge and beautiful!
10:39- I like the explanation for Sheryl’s excitement. Macross Galaxy sounds like it was more of a sterile environment. Far less atmosphere and agriculture and more repeating decks of housing, perhaps? She calls it a closed system chemical plant. So… maybe Frontier regulates things with biological processes and open air environments while Galaxy did so with closed loop chemical reactions?
11:18 – The repetitive animation loop that Sheryl and Alto go through when they get on the car is a bit annoying, but I think Sheryl’s little backwards step / turn makes up for it. It’s only a few frames of animation, but it’s a good few frames.
12:23 – Yep, Zentradi at their full size are roughly as big as the robot mode of Valkyrie fighters! Most choose to be human size for companionship and practicality, but some percentage stayed big.
12:50 – Folmo Mall was named after Exsedol Folmo, the Zentradi advisor in SDF Macross who played a major role in helping Humanity and the Zentradi find a peaceful end to Space War 1.
13:26 – Sheryl having fun at the mall is a little bit like the date that Hiraku and Lynn Minmay went on in the “Do You Remember Love?” movie. A pilot and a star sorta in their own little world, at least for a short time.
15:41 – So the Vajra might not be a naturally occurring life form, but may instead be bio-weapons??
17:19 – Alto’s paper airplanes keep flying really well! Is it artistic license or does Frontiers’ .75G gravity help with that??
17:56 – I like this song from Ranka. It’s a mostly unplugged version of a Sheryl song, but she sorta makes it her own. It’s fun when the musicians nearby just randomly join in with her.
18:41 – Did that Vajra react to Ranka’s song??
21:46 – *Whistles…*
22:06 – Oh… I guess the main plot has decided to show up…
Looks like we aren’t going straight into combat next episode. Instead, we see the purple-haired man appear to speak up for Ranka. Sheryl and Alto look to spend some more time together. And there’s a beautiful moment of Sheryl singing. Maybe we get to see her next concert?
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 04: Miss Macross
With the events of the Vajra attack largely behind them, Alto and Ranka start down their paths of pursuing their dreams. As the episode opens, Ranka learns that she has been accepted as a contestant in the upcoming Miss Macross Frontier contest. Even though she is still a little timid and has some minor self-image issues, Ranka still moves forward and does her best. A key bit of encouragement from Sheryl while she is wallowing in self doubt helps Ranka push her fears aside and leads her to putting on an impressive performance at the competition.
Meanwhile, Alto is busy training to join the SMS. He keeps up with Ranka as best he can via phone calls and text messages, but for the most part, Alto’s days are packed full of training, instruction, and the occasional bit of hazing. Oh, and he still has to go to his normal classes.
Finally, Ranka’s big day arrives and Alto is there in the audience to lend his support. But, of course, that’s when he is interrupted by a call from SMS and he is forced to duck out of the theater to take part in his final combat training test. On the way out, Alto catches a glimpse of his father. When asked, the senior Saotome denies knowing his own son. Angered at this, Alto rushes off to his training session ready to rush through it so he can get back to lending his support to Ranka.
At this point, the episode takes a delightfully Macross turn as Ranka chooses to sing “Watashi no Kare wa Pilot” (My Boyfriend is a pilot) for the talent portion of the Miss Macross contest. The song is wonderfully timed to Alto fighting a mock battle against a group of Zentradi in Queadluuns who are known as SMS’ “Pixie Squadron.” Alto performs well, but his mock battle is cut short when a real Vajra folds in and attacks. Working together with Pixie Squadron’s leader, Alto successfully destroys the Vajra, though his Valkyrie takes some heavy damage in the process.
The episodes ends with SMS renting out the Nyan Nyan restaurant that Ranka works at. We find out that Pixie Squadron’s well endowed leader, Klan Klan, reverts to the apparent age of a young teenage girl when she shrinks down to human size. Klan chases Michael around the restaurant in revenge for his teasing her while Alto and Ranka share a moment. Ranka, who we find out lost the Miss Macross contest, declares the whole thing futile, but Alto reminds her that her whole point of stepping out wasn’t to win but to let people know she existed.
Alto heads to school the next morning after a long night of partying only to be tripped up by a dangerously cheerful Sheryl Nome. “Hi.” She says with a smile and a wave that lets Alto know he is in big trouble!
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Alto’s amusing training montage. He had it rough with Ozma and Michael as his primary instructors!
- That blink and you missed it moment where Alto and Klan’s engine contrails form a heart shape just as Ranka is singing about the same thing.
- That moment where Klan is flailing away at Michael but he is holding her back with one finger.
Episode Impressions:
I like this episode. Like Episode 2, it references back to the history of the Macross universe and does so in a respectful, exciting kind of way. The updated “My Boyfriend is a Pilot” song and the inclusion of the Zentradi fighting units is a pretty big nostalgia boost. And the combat continues to be well animated.
I also like that moment in the end where Alto taps Ranka on the head with his paper airplane. Maybe Ranka forgot a little bit why she stepped out of her comfort zone in the first place, but Alto remembered and did a nice thing in reminding her to cheer her up.
Like this episode, episode 9 of SDF Macross was titled “Miss Macross”. That’s about as direct of a callback as you can get!
The brief moment where Alto and his father regard each other seems important. It looks like Alto’s father still sees his son as a kabuki actor which greatly angers Alto.
Ranka did well at the Miss Macross contest. No, she didn’t win, but it looks like she placed pretty high seeing that she was on stage as the winner was announced. Failing to win the contest won’t skyrocket Ranka to fame and fortune, but it is a small step on her way forward.
Moment to Moment Notes:
0:33 – That single songstress referenced here would be Lynn Minmay, one of the main characters of SDF Macross.
4:12 – I find the typing interface on Ranka’s soft cellphone to be super interesting. But, then again, we’re so far removed from things like T9 typing mode on old cellphones that maybe what she was doing wasn’t too crazy from a show that came out more than a decade ago?
4:16 – I like that teacher. He doesn’t send you to detention if you fall asleep in class, he just wacks you in the back of the head to wake you up. 😛
4:29 – I’m not sure kicking someone at the gun range for missing a shot is entirely safe…
4:36 – Heh. Lead Macross protagonists seem to lose at martial arts fairly often. Shin Kudo, during his training on the Valkyrie V-0, got beat pretty good by a tall woman from the army in Macross Zero.
5:55 – Miss Macross is a long tradition dating back to Space War 1 where the refugees who were sucked along with the original Macross’ unplanned space fold set up a city inside the ship. They were becoming restless as the Macross made its way from Pluto back to Earth, so one of the things they did to pass the time was hold a sort of beauty / talent competition called Miss Macross. Some fifty years later it looks like the various Macross fleets are still holding a similar version of that original contest.
7:49 – Zentradi Queadluuns were the main “fighter” unit opposing the good guys in “Do You Remember Love?”. They are closer to space capable power armor than fighter planes, though, since full size Zentradi are roughly as big as a Valkyrie. Female piloted Queadluuns (the Zentradi fleets did not mix male and females back during Space War 1) were especially dangerous. That quick view of three of them and that eager smile sure implies that they still are!
10:39 – It appears there is bad blood between Alto and his father. Maybe that’s why Alto gets so worked up about it any time someone mentions Kabuki.
13:38 – The person sitting behind Alto’s empty seat shows back up in future episodes.
14:50 – “My Boyfriend is a pilot” is one of the main songs that Lynn Minmay sang in SDF Macross. It helped end the war with the Zentradi, which is why it is referred to as a famous song. The original was a good bit less upbeat. I like the Ranka / Frontier version better.
15:20 – I love the heart shape space contrails that go along with the song. (It’s real quick! Keep your eyes open or you’ll miss it!)
16:44 – Ah, ok… so that’s why some in the Frontier fleet keep referring to knowing about the Vajra…
18:39 – Leon is still oddly interested in Ranka. Did he say something about her to the judges?
18:55 – Miranda Meilin is a reference to a very minor in-universe movie star named Jamis Meilin who participated in the original Miss Macross contest 50ish years before. Miranda, who does show up at least once more in Macross Frontier, is thought to be her granddaughter. In the Miss Macross episode of SDF Macross, some character notes that Jamis is far too well known to be participating and should have been made a guest judge, so it’s fun to see that Sheryl, who is of course very well known, actually is a guest judge for this contest.
20:27 – Even in the original series, Zentradi could change from their large size to human size. Klan Klan is the only example I know of where the change seems to affect their apparent age. The micronizing / macronizing works via a sorta tube-like set of tanks and takes a few minutes.
20:44 – Too much silliness turns me away from things (well, most of the time) but I like the animation of Klan flailing away at Michael here.
22:22 “Hi.” Oh boy…
It looks like Sheryl and Alto sightsee on Frontier together and somehow come across Ranka and Michael. We’re told that the three main characters meet up at an unlikely location. I wonder where that is?
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 03: On Your Marks
Once again, we open with some action, but this episode quickly transitions to laying out character histories and motivations. The Vajra that surprised our main trio pulls back an arm to attack but is stopped when Ozma, Michael, and Luca intervene. Michael manages to snipe the Vajra’s head, but that’s not enough. The Vajra breaks free and damages the dome near Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl forcing them to seek safety in a nearby emergency shelter.
Alto and Sheryl butt heads in the cramped shelter while Ranka does her best to separate the two. Something that is made all the harder when the battle outside sends the three toppling to the ground and causes Sheryl to have an accidental wardrobe malfunction. Sheryl’s assistant Grace uses her cybernetic implant to access Frontier’s network and locate our trapped trio allowing Cathy to come to their rescue before the air in the shelter is used up.
Out in space, Ozma and the others eventually defeat the remaining Vajra, but Ozma took some fire during the battle and passes out due to his injuries. Unfortunately, Ranka gets a good look at her wounded brother as Michael and Luca carry his Valkyrie back in to safety. Later, in Ozma’s hospital room, Alto learns the truth about Ranka. She narrowly survived a Vajra attack eleven years ago, but all her actual relatives, her parents, and her siblings were not so fortunate. Ozma, who was a Valkyrie pilot in the military at that time, took in young Ranka as his little sister. Alto demands to join Ozma and the others as a fighter pilot in the SMS in order to fight the Vajra and is given 24 hours to carefully consider if he’s really up for risking his life in battle.
Meanwhile, Lead Presidential Aide Leon Mishima is surprised to find Ranka’s file among the list of civilians who came in contact with the Vajra. Elsewhere, Sheryl realizes that she will have to track Alto down again because in all the excitement she forgot all about her missing earring.
Lost in thought about the important decisions he has to make, Alto winds up at the Frontier’s recreation of Griffith Observatory where he encounters Ranka singing a special tune. The two get to chatting and Ranka reveals the fears she experienced when she thought she might die in the emergency shelter. Alto offers her encouragement then listens to her song. As the episode ends, Alto formally accepts a position as a fighter pilot with SMS while Ranka takes both Alto’s and Sheryl’s recent encouragements to heart and applies to participate in Frontier’s upcoming Miss Macross competition.
Specific Scenes I Loved:
- Alto and Sheryl’s argument in the emergency shelter. It seems that almost everyone defers to Sheryl’s every whim, yet Alto isn’t afraid to call her out for her behavior.
- Alto and Ranka’s encounter at Griffith Observatory. It’s funny when Alto admits that he gets called mean a lot. Still, his roundabout encouragement to Ranka is thoughtful and sincere.
- I found Ranka’s song beautiful and that one profile shot of her is nicely animated.
Episode Impressions:
This episode was neat because it moved away from the guns blazing action and actually started taking a peak at character motivations. Alto has gained a desire to fight and protect after getting a taste for it during his initial encounter with the Vajra. Ranka admitted her fear of dying and being forgotten and has apparently moved to act on her wish to tell everyone she is alive by participating in the upcoming Miss Macross contest. It’s a very humanizing moment for Ranka and makes her stand out as more of a well rounded character where she has mostly just been a clumsy girl or one panicked in the face of danger up until now.
Once again, we also get to see different shades of Sheryl. In the shelter she is almost aggressively confident. Then, once she and the others are rescued, she is both able to make light of her embarrassing accident, and she goes out of her way to encourage Ranka to chase after her dreams. Sheryl’s personality seems so far away from the rude, demanding person she was during the first episode that I almost wonder if we the audience weren’t being intentionally misled about her personality so as to reveal her deeper layers later on.
The episode manages to pack in some of Ozma’s and Ranka’s past and a little bit of political/government intrigue, as well, when Leon is startled/surprised by finding Ranka’s file among those who came in contact with the Vajra. All in all, a heck of a lot happens in a mere 23 minutes all without feeling particularly rushed or out of place. Fancy battle scenes are great and all, but character moments like the ones were got here are just as important, if not more so.
Alto’s down to earth treatment of Sheryl is something to take note of and will continue to be an important part of the way the two of them interact.
Sheryl’s encouragement and support of Ranka will also continue to be a fairly major thing going forward.
Grace’s fairly subdued offer to use her cybernetic implant is something to pay attention to and will become more important as the story moves forward.
Moment to Moment Notes:
4:25 – It’s neat that the Frontier has designated shelters in case of some sort of major catastrophe that causes a loss of pressure.
7:05 – So, Alto is one of the few people who’s not going to fawn over Sheryl.
8:15 – Grace has some sort of wired computer implant? Something that might normally be considered illegal on Frontier? Later on, we’ll learn a little bit more about the difference between the Frontier fleet and other fleets like the Galaxy fleet that Sheryl and Grace come from.
10:21 – Interesting that Sheryl even assumes that Alto would have optical data of… her. Cybernetic implants must be a lot more common on Galaxy. (That will be confirmed later on, it’s just worth noting that even Sheryl is not used to the lack of implants among normal Frontier citizens.)
11:35 – I like the reverse angle reflection of Ranka in the glass and the way she bumps into it while running forward after seeing her brother injured.
13:30 – I don’t quite understand the scale of the Vajra attacking that ship. Is the ship small like a shuttle? Is that Vajra like 10x bigger than normal?
17:42 – Griffith Observatory is, of course, a real place. Island 1 apparently has replicas of multiple earth landmarks. Landmarks that likely no longer exist in the Macross universe since the Zentradi fleet that attacked earth leveled most everything with their large scale orbital bombardment back 50+ years ago in 2009.
19:34 – I really like that profile shot of Ranka singing Aimo. There’s an innocence and realism there that is really neat. The first few words of the song “Aimo” are not Japanese. They are from another in-universe language that will be revealed later.
20:01 – That wide shot of the observatory, city, and lake is really pretty!
Seeing Ranka in a swimsuit is a pretty heavy callback to Lynn Minmay in her swimsuit during the original Miss Macross pageant in SDF Macross. We also see Alto engaging with Zentradi Queadluuns. It will be one hell of a callback to SDF Macross if Alto is so preoccupied trying to watch Ranka’s performance while on patrol that he somehow manages to get ambushed by a group of warlike Zentradi!
Macross Frontier Episode Guide 02: Hard Chase
After the previous episode’s cliffhanger, we pick up the action once more as Alto, Ranka’s brother Ozma, and Alto’s friend Michael battle against the Vajra that have invaded Island 1. Alto proves to be a surprisingly skilled pilot as he manages to keep Ranka safe even as the two of them face a variety of dangerous situations beyond even the attacking Vajra. Back on the ground after the battle concludes, Ranka attempts to express her thanks, but Alto is more concerned with the gruesome scene he witnessed earlier.
The next day, as life for most of the residents of Island 1 slowly begins to return to normal, Alto is instead whisked aways from his school classroom by Lieutenant Glass for blood tests and questioning over his part in the battle. Just as it appears Alto will have no choice but to join the military, Ozma appears to pull him out of the fire. Ozma brings Alto back to SMS headquarters as the various SMS crew members want to hear how Giliam died. Alto doesn’t get the chance to relate that story, however, as a few Vajra that hid on the underside of one of the ships in the Frontier fleet make themselves known and begin a new attack.
Meanwhile, as all this has been occurring, Ranka too had to have some health tests due to her close contact with the Vajra. On her way back home, Ranka gets flagged down by a disguised Sheryl. The famous idol has become lost on Island 1 as she searches for one of her earrings that fell when Alto caught her during her concert the previous day. Sheryl lets Ranka lead her around the city until nightfall where the two of them watch as Valkyries launch from SMS headquarters. In a very poignant moment, Sheryl finally reveals her true identity to an awestruck Ranka. Just then, Alto stumbles across the two girls both of whom are looking to talk to him, but before Ranka gets the chance to express her thanks and before Sheryl gets to ask about her earring, a flight of Vajra begin their attack nearby!
Specific Scenes I Loved:
Alto and Ranka reaching for each other in midair. This scene is highly reminiscent of a scene from SDF Macross and was a huge bit of nostalgia when it occurred. It was also just beautifully animated!
- Ozma punching Alto when the later all but demanded to be given a military Valkyrie to fly when the Vajra reengaged the Frontier fleet. Sure, Alto seems to be a pretty good pilot, but as far as we know he has not had any formal combat training so it just makes sense that military veteran Ozma would have him thrown out rather than handing the skilled amateur the keys to a powerful weapon of war.
- Sheryl and Ranka’s time together. Sure, Sheryl spends most of that time fishing compliments out of her unaware fan, but she pays Ranka some compliments as well. The moment that Sheryl joins in with Ranka’s singing is just a spectacular, emotional scene. The look on Ranka’s face and the tears in her eyes as she realizes she’s just spent much of the afternoon with her hero is so, so good.
Episode Impressions:
This episode was somehow maybe even more exciting than the series opener! The first half of the episode is exhilarating. Alto’s piloting within the confines of the city streets was spectacular. It was also nice how the episode did a good job of highlighting some of the aftermath of the Vajra attack. That Alto was affected by Giliam’s gruesome death instead of just having that moment forgotten was a great touch of storytelling.
The second half of the episode slowed down a good bit, but the shift from fast paced combat to character moments was well done. Ozma seems pretty practical and level-headed about things even if he is keeping his real job a secret from his sister. That Cathy (Lieutenant Glass) and Ozma seem to know each other seems like it might prove interesting. It was nice seeing Sheryl out on her own. She was a good deal less haughty and reserved once she got away from her handler and escorts. She does maybe bask in Ranka’s admirations a bit too long, though. But that final scene where she reveals her identity made whatever else she’d done worth it.
It’s also nice to see an enemy that is kinda smart. Instead of straight up retreating, the Vajra managed to hide themselves and relaunched their attack. We still don’t know what they’re after, though. We haven’t even seen anything from the Vajra’s point of view yet. Maybe that will change next episode. In both SDF Macross and Macross 7 we saw a lot from the enemy’s point of view, so, if nothing else, it’s interesting we haven’t gotten that yet in Frontier.
Take note of the way the primary red Vajra seemed to look away from Ozma and be distracted directly after Ranka did her scream in the cockpit with Alto. It was almost like the Vajra was either distracted or maybe even concerned for Ranka.
Sheryl’s missing earring may seem like a small distraction, but it will drive a fair amount of plot and interaction over the next few episodes and is not just a one episode ploy that will instantly be forgotten.
Moment To Moment Notes:
0:46 -The view of things outside of Island 1’s dome is pretty neat.
4:16 – Picking up the girl and running away is another one of those tropes that happens a few times across Macross shows. This time, it is a pretty direct homage to similar events in SDF Macross.
4:22 – With a couple of notable exceptions (for instance, in Macross Plus) Valkyries have always been directly controlled by their pilots. I can’t ever recall talk of neural implants or the like. It would seem impossibly hard to pilot a giant robot that is also sometimes an airplane with just hand and foot controls… but whatever. It looks cool!
4:46 – I feel really sorry for that guy in the car! 😛
5:14 – At first I was wondering how much Alto was going to owe for blasting out a couple of hundred windows on that building… but then the Vajra slammed completely through it and crashed out through the roof… so, never mind.
5:25 – Having the arms shot off a Valkyrie and having to catch a girl is also something of a Macross trope. Again, this scene is a close homage to the original SDF Macross. Back then, Hikaru flew downward and scooped a plummeting Lynn Minmay into the cockpit of his borrowed fighter. So… similar scene here in Frontier, but opposite direction of movement. The animation here in Frontier is really good.
7:45 – Those Vajra sure are tough. And sure, gun pods and missiles don’t tend to kill them, but a charged knife does? Heh. Why not?!
8:31 – There was an instance in the original Macross where a Zentradi commander was blown out into space, but instead of dying, he walked along the outside of his ship and reengaged the good guys’ Valkyries after making his way back inside of an airlock. Though most Zentradi are several generations removed, their ancestor were specifically designed for combat. Apparently, that included some resilience to vacuum. That’s what Alto means when he says Ranka is tougher than she looks thanks to her Zentradi heritage.
8:45 – If it seems like Ranka’s hair sometimes moves on its own… that’s because it does. Apparently it has something to do with being part Zentradi. We haven’t seen this type of movable hair before in Macross…
14:43 – The music Ozma is listening to is “Totsugeki Love Heart” (Charge Love Heart) by Fire Bomber, the band who stared in Macross 7.
15:47 – I like that Sheryl’s cell phone has a holographic “talking” indicator when she speaks. Also, look closely at her replay of the concert and you’ll see her earring go flying off towards Alto. That’s why she is so interested in finding him!
16:24 – Look closely at what’s on that crate. In the lower left, among Gilliam’s things, is Sheryl’s earring.
16:45 – Sheryl dressing in big sunglasses and a floppy hat so as to conceal her identity is similar to what Lynn Minmay did so she could sneak away from her life as an idol and spend an afternoon with Hikaru in SDF Macross.
16:50 – These roaming vending machines have been the bane of people’s existence since the original Macross! They’re always interrupting conversations or bothering people. 😛
18:23 – Female officers on the bridge of Macross class ships is a long held (anime) tradition. They are affectionately referred to as “bridge bunnies” by Macross fans. Over the course of each Macross show, the various bridge bunnies have gotten sometimes more and sometimes less individual character development. Frontier’s get about as much attention as any. They have names and even personalities, but will rarely be seen off their bridge.
Looks like we’ll see some more combat next episode. Also, looks like we’ll get to see Ranka sing but it’s unclear if that brief glimpse was in the current day or part of a flashback. The most interesting part to me was where Alto stomps on the “in case of emergency” button and he, Sheryl, and a possibly injured Ranka jump down into something. An emergency shelter to protect them from the Vajra attack, maybe?