Saruta

And yes, things are loading up on the "secret backgrounds" part.

Though strangely not with Freyja - she appears to be just a Windermere commoner girl. There are no references to powerful parents or anything like that.

But Mikumo's secret is still out there, and how there's "he would be proud" about Hayate too. And if this "he" was alive, wouldn't it be "he will be proud when he hears about it"? So this is about someone deceased?

Isamu was alive in 2059 but, of course, could have hit the bucket in the meantime. Yet this somehow does not seem so simple. Besides, Isamu would not have a fold quartz heirloom?

Positive.

My strongest reaction was to JUNNA singing in perfect English. She is seriously competing for awesomeness with her own character.

And yeah two new Walkure songs, though one was introduced in the previous episode. Cover singing is no new feat for Macross (being at the heart of M7), but introducing a new song through a cover, followed up by the actual lead singer, is a first, I think?

The triangle has just got skewed in the Freyja direction with that fold resonance, but this is definitely not over yet.

They played the father-family drama for all it's worth, and did that really well, with Freyja reacting to the impact and starting to overpower even Heinz. Song-based overpowering is also nothing new, but Basara just did that on his own, while Freyja had to react to something.

Roid seems to be a bit smug about it all. It seems that he might have his own plans, not exactly what the other Knights think?

And yes, the story seems to be establishing itself as a successor, specifically, to M7 - though I seriously doubt they'll go as far as running 49 episodes again; but Walkure following Fire Bomber with a big set of its own albums is basically a certainty now. And perhaps the quantity of new songs is also a wink at the oldtime fans - "okay, okay, we know we made a mistake with the repetitions in M7, here, we'll do it right this time!"

#TeamJUNNA and the songs are somewhat growing on me because of her sheer power, even though I would not call the music itself anything special. I would definitely like to know more about her. I started a thread and hoped the resident gurus could fill in from the stories in the Japanese media but no luck for now.

I still want JUNNA/Mikumo to sing with Fukuyama/Basara and somehow I think she would enjoy it. (I mean, he's a classic badass rocker, and she just had to be a music fan, and quite possibly a Macross fan, from the very youth to become as cool as that). Whether in-story or in-concert. And it absolutely could happen in-story because nobody established Basara is dead, and he would just be middle-age by this time.

And now (ep she sang in perfect English, too.

Got this on the Russian grapevine. Apparently from a Japanese TV broadcast?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAOa0j6Ak7Q

Would appreciate if those who understand Japanese could comment on what they are talking about. Also JUNNA SMILES!

(Sorry, I repeatedly tried to embed the video but failed)

More like he started a cobra, went too far and stalled out into a flat spin and got lucky enough to level out almost immediately.

So this is actually a fail? looks pretty epic for a fail, but I know nothing of aviation...

This gif is apparently made from a real life video. It has a Pugachev's cobra (I think) at the start - then a very spectacular move out of it, very looking very Delta-ish (which is why the maker embellished it a wee bit). I'd appreciate explanation what this actually is.

There are space catgirls. And everything is better with catgirls!

This is a thread about the very impressive singer who made a powerful recording, Ikenai Borderline, at age 14. And who continues to show her strength most every Delta episode.

The voice of Mikumo. The never-smiling-face, according to some commentators on this site. JUNNA.

Long and prosperous may her career be. (And this thread tracking it, perhaps).

I hope people who understand Japanese / are in Japan can add the necessary information.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/03/21/15-year-old-junna-joins-macross-delta-as-singing-voice-of-mikumo-guynemer

So the Protoculture WAS the Protocatture?

Perhaps they actually were cats who kept humanoids as pets and Zentradi were their equivalent of pit bull terriers, while they made pet breeds on Earth, Zola etc?

(Oh, yes, and Scarfish is a spy?)

I do somewhat share JB0's feelings re DYRL and power of song, though my main gripe with DYRL is actually what they did with Misa. I mean, come on, Misa, a trained, experienced military officer with a will of iron, grabbing a pilot's joystick from behind? I just can't believe this, whatever the stress she is under. In SDFM she was under no less stress when captured by the Zentradi, yet she stood her ground on a table under the eyes of giants.

A question is bugging me since Episode 6.

The VF-31 can fold on its own. (The VF-1 can't, as far as I understand, but the VF-1 in Delta is just a training mecha).

So, when Mirage was being cornered, why could she not just fold away?

The difference with Mikumo is that the force fields she uses are obviously from the micro drones and not from Anima Spiritia.

They are, but they would not be enough. She would get, at least, a severe concussion if all she had were these force fields. She was basically unscathed,and within a few minutes, she was singing.

And then in Episode 4 she was expecting an attack and the drones were down. She told the other Walkure members to get down. And then she intentionally stood up.

Yes. She is.

That would totally make sense from a timeline perspective, too.

As far as I can understand JB0, he likes the original concept of Zentradi being swayed by contact with human culture in general, with Minmay acting as a focus of attention.

Then in DYRL, things were changed. Now Minmay was not just an element of human culture - she was singing some specific Protoculture song that triggered something pre-existing in Zentradi.

And since then, song is usually linked to some kind of energy or waves and makes an impact that way - rather than through the beauty of culture.

I think the two ways are sort of linked/balanced in the Macross world, with Basara being a strong rock singer (I don't think the word J-Pop should apply to M7, J-Rock should, despite absence of links to Visual Kei which is the most visible side of J-Rock). He does not *just* do things by "anima spiritia" and in fact does not seem to care much about that aspect - as far as *he* is concerned it's about music and emotion, and the space whale story of Dynamite it does appear to be about that?

Also in Frontier, Ranka's impact on rogue Zentradi on Gallia 4 does not seem to have anything to do with fold waves, this is pure culture at work (unlike stuff that goes on later with the Vajra, who are far too un-human to understand human culture. but they get the fold wave angle).

Delta does not seem to have the culture angle all that much as yet, with Walkure being a group specifically selected for fold reception levels as opposed to music quality. (Just realized this gives an inworld explanation to the drop of music "impact strength" after Kanno left). Moreover Episode 7 seems to show very specifically that, unlike Basara's times, cover singing does not do anything; it's the girls, not the music. The "culture impact" part only exists off-screen, as the original motive for Freyja's escape.

But everything might yet change later in the series...

My memory's a bit rusty, but I think Basara was able to protect himself from one of Grabil's blasts. He was also able to shield himself as Gigile lost control & destroyed Rax.

And Mikumo survived an Itano Circus with a small force field. And stood up, after telling the others to get down, in the middle of an attack.

Is she the daughter of Basara and Sivil, or something?

Hmm... So the people with highest fold receptor levels in the universe are Basara and Mikumo?

(Given that Basara is alive by Delta era, but unless he was killed or "left this world" in some way, he should be alive. He is not from Windermere and aged 43).

Basara will turn it into an epic duet and get Gepelwhatshisname singing even faster. Mountains will finally move, Mylene will be annoyed, and Galactic peace will be achieved.

Bombaa!

Basara will turn it into an epic duet and get Gepelwhatshisname singing even faster. Mountains will finally move, Mylene will be annoyed, and Galactic peace will be achieved.

Bombaa!

...and now I want to hear the duet of Basara and Mikimo.

Judging by Frontier experience, this might be coming a few years down the line, given both Yoshiki Fukyama and JUNNA remain all right?

(But it would be better if it were to happen faster so that teenage!JUNNA can get the maximum thrill out of it. She so deserves it).

So, umineko AND a planet of cat people in the same cluster.

Was there a Protocatture, after all?

Neutral vote.

I did like the hacking animation, actually. It takes a "very Macross" approach do it with song, dance (of pacmans this time) and cuteness. Ahd sneer coolness. Of a lesbian couple, too.

I also liked the cat part in general. I mean, everything is better with catgirls. And, cat puns.

And the sudden drama - with reversal of Basara's tricks. People (and Protodeviln, and Zolans) covering Basara tended to do well, but this kittengirl sadly failed when she tried to cover Walkure (though, was this a Walkure song at all?)

And character development. And Mikumo, And the "binary poison" nature of Var.

But...

The part I disliked is that it's very hard to suspend disbelief here. Mainly because the makeup of the mission is just improbable. Come on, sending someone with a cat allergy on a mission to a cat planet? This can actually end up with an anaphylactic shock and a dead pilot, hey, Arad!

Freyja's personality too, though she might actually be a better fit than she seems; she is bad at spying, but she might naturally behave closely to the way catgirls behave. Note how she caught the smell of the apples - exactly as one expects a cat to do, and the trader was not surprised at all when he said "you have a good nose".

And, yes, an idol group. What if they were to encounter a Walkure fan who would recognize one or more of them?

On the other hand, IF this was all a ruse, if the operation was intended as a cover for the true one (which would be a one-woman Mikumo job, probably), then making it bound to be detected sounds different. If this turns out to be the case I might have to review that neutral vote.

No fansubs yet. I was too impatient to watch the raw but I do notice there is a cute new song at the start.

Looks like they are making up for reduced quality of music (compared to Kanno in Frontier) with sheer quantity.

Thanks for the photo! So it seems confirmed that SK/Macross decided to make TWO new stars this time around? Making just one got too old , it happened since like 1982?

#TeamJUNNA

Actually it seems to me that the OP does balance out the voices. It's growing on me after that real life video (though I can't say I liked the choreography, at least the voices now have faces and one does see the interplay of all five). Still, definitely not on the Kanno level.

Ikenai Borderline is catchy but I don't see its relationship with the story, other than "Mikumo is cool".

(Which makes much more of an impression when one knows JUNNA recorded it at age 14. I'd kinda want to listen to more of JUNNA and she can hold her own on video too - wonder what she's like in concert. For now, person-wise, JUNNA seems to be the main "discovery" of the show, though the role was, as I understand, originally reserved for Minori Suzuki - or perhaps the idea was "making a new star in a Macross is getting old, let's make TWO new stars this time around"?)

We probably won't know about MakiReina for sure until some time later, but I do hope it is vlarified within the series (or at least by a Kawamori quip).

And I do agree about both Messer and Mikumo doing exactly what Hayate and Freyja need to get going.

Also, "Messer" is very much a reference to Focker to anyone mildly familiar with WW2, so I wonder if Messer is going to die... or to repeat Ozma's feat of being a Focker reference and surviving.

What about #teamHayateScarfish?

But wait, then Freyja and Mirage would be left to... each other?

The "yuri option in main triangle" worked fine in Frontier (especially in the movies, where Sheryl and Ranka seem to care for each other more than for that kabuki guy) but here, the two girls don't even bother to exchange many words. Also, funnily the Frontier triangle symbol was equilateral, the Delta one isn't?

Well, Mikumo for goddess (self-proclaimed, too? well goddess anyway), but Makina for waifu.

The music, in my view, seems "meh" - not bad, just "another anime track" - and now I understand how cool Kanno is in Frontier. I did criticize her before but now I see much better.

I hoped they would try Yuki Kajiura next but they didn't. And anyway Yuki Kajiura would certainly not fit this story, she would fit another contemplative philosophical thing like Zero - but Zero was just a short OVA series and it feels dragged out even at that size, this concept probably would not work for a full TV series.