Duke Togo

I think the 2D animation in Frontier is on par with say, Gurren Lagann, but clearly is not up to the quality of shows like Eureka Seven, Planetes, and Mushi-shi. It lacks even the consistency of quality of Haruhi Suzumiya. And while it has some character designs that I think are rather well done (Ranka, Sheryl, Alto, for instance), it also has some totally amateurish designs like Mikhail, Luca, and Leon. As a complete visual package, its nowhere close to Zero. However, I think its been exceptionally well directed, and the CG work is rather good. The show is just flat out good, but I for one am a little disappointed that the standard if quality on the 2D animation isn't something being pushed for a franchise like Macross.

I will say this, though, I think the show is very well directed. I also think the CG work is solid.

I disagree, I have to say I've been a bit disappointed, but I probably don't watch as many series as you guys do.

She thinks Alto has her earring, and .

ANother question between the Gattai subs and the AiA I-Z release: is Ranka the "only survivor" of the 117th Research Fleet, or "one of the only"?

Perhaps we should start our own subtitle project here. Take what's released, cross reference them all, make corrections we feel are necessary, and release a master sub file for the membership.

Hence the request for the sub files.

I was going to curse you, because I had already stayed up late to watch the AiA release, but then I saw your note about Tuesday. Can't wait, thanks again.

I really liked the AiA I-Z release. I think maybe its their best work out of the 4 episodes. Alto with a "h" still confuses me a bit, though. I'm still not convinced that there aren't places where stuff is being left out, but having read the manga and seen one sub release already, I felt that everything was gotten across to the viewer. I do have one complaint, though. I've fallen in love with "fold dislocation". I request it be used for all future references of the incident. Oh yeah, we ever going to see any sub files from you guys?

So do the Gattai subs.

Just a thought (and perhaps this was covered), but KK is a child when miclonized, as result of a genetic defect. She didn't start out small as a small child, she started out big. She's Zentradi, 100%.

See! This is what I was talking about!

You can find it in the usual places. There are several releases of 1.01 now, including the full DVD.

But are you watching it on a HDTV? It doesn't look anywhere near as bad on a standard set.

The big SMS tower seems to be in a fairly public location. Its behind Sheryl in episode 3 while she is looking for Alto and runs into Ranka.

I'm not getting that. She was very young at the time, and while the translation could be wrong here, it does come across that she was "one of the survivors", and not the only one (this could be wrong, though). The UN has admitted that these people were killed, they are not hiding that fact. If they were so intent on keeping her quiet, I don't think she'd have been allowed on the ship, and leave her running lose as some student and waitress.

I don't see that, at all. It played no role in SDF Macross, Plus, and arguably Zero. Its a concept that is heavily tied into what the Protodeviln were. Zinjo had a good post on this: While Frontier seems to be paying homage to Macross of the past, we can't assume the story follows as well. Mikhail is in the blue fighter, but he's not the ace of the show, Alto is. Sheryl is the big singing star, not Ranka. Are we all assuming Luca and Ozma are going to die? Alto is going to end up with Ranka, and not Sheryl? We just don't know.

What I wanna know is, just what happens in a "fold dislocation"?

I think a big clue is the incident after Alto rescues her, and she screams, causing the Varja to bug out. They reacted, and that was not singing. Right now I am tentatively going with emotion, the reasoning being that the singing produces a higher state of certain emotions in these particular individuals, which attracts them. Ranka screaming in that scene was probably had a good amount of shock and confusion behind it, which caused the Varja to bug out. Hell, we don't even know if there is anything special about Ranka at all, besides the fact that she's had previous contact with the Varja (and the UN seems to know there is some effect on individuals who have had contact with the Varja, or they wouldn't be doing the blood testing). Sheryl, on the other hand, may be the one who is truly "special" going into it. But really, we won't know anything for sure until we actually see it. Would could all be way, way off base. WAFO

Which means they are both dead, which isn't such a bad thing. But no, as discussed before, people need to stop equating Macross Frontier with Macross 7. Its a new series, a new story. I'm still not even convinced its the singing that is attracting the Varja.

2. To her, or to something about her? I'll go with the latter (until further notice). 3. Eh, you're looking at it cockeyed. There is more to the Varja than Kawamori and Co have shown us, for sure. 4. This is made clear in episode 4, the UN covered up the attack on the research fleet, calling it "fold dislocation".

The HD remaster is very grainy.

It was my understanding that the differences were cosmetic, but I haven't read alot on the subject.

Yeah, see, that doesn't work for me. We don't actually know its the singing itself they are drawn to. Also, they allowed Sheryl to come on board to close out her 3 month tour, and she seems to attract them as well. So they think its OK that Sheryl attracts them, but not Ranka? We don't even know if Ranka was amongst the top runners up. Out of all of the likely scenarios, the one that was the most plausible for me was that Leon did it because of Ozma's past relationship with Kathy. I am going to stick with that until I have more information to go on. Leon could be a big fat cheat, too, and has been nailing the chick who won.

Well, on my monitor, the aspect ratio is off on the IZ rip.