guyxxed

I really can't see one of the main triangle dying. That's just not a Macross thing to do.

I actually see some romance going on between Hayate/Freyja, what with the way they seem to care for defending each other, and with the emotional (and Fold) motivation they provide for each other. I don't see it yet with Hayate/Mirage but we are only at episode 8. There was nothing going on for Hikaru/Misa by SDFM episode 8, while there was rather much (even if confused) Hikaru/Minmay. And yet we know how that ended.

I definitely see friendship, but neither seems actually romantically attracted to each other yet. Granted, that's actually a much more realistic way for a relationship to begin and is much healthier than the usual puppy love longing that we normally get. And I dont mind this path, either, it's kind of nice to have the romantic tension dialed down. Less high school hijinks and more mature of a story line.

Sorry for the double post, but something else I wanted to mention is that the 'triangle' so far has had pretty much zero romantic intent in it, at least that I can see. While there's definitely some strong bonding going on in both directions, it so far feels much more like partnerships than romance. Both Hayate-Freyja and Hayate-Mirage are coming across more as buddy movie friendships than as contenders for coupling. Anyone else feeling that, or am I just blind?

Hmmm, wonder if he's referring to Isamu? Hayate may be Isamu's son, or perhaps someone as gifted a pilot with the same cavalier attitude as Isamu.

I hope not. I like the interpretation that Hayate's flying just reminds Arad of someone. I'd much prefer that to Hayate being the son/descendant of someone significant. I've never liked the 'special snowflake' school of storytelling and would rather he just be a normal everyday person who is discovering his natural talents.

I'll admit, his pendant would seem to indicate that I'll be disappointed, but a guy can still hope.

It's highly likely that the Aerial Knights have their own carrier. I mean, we actually see their fleet over Vordor.

Twice now (episodes 3 and 6, I think), when the knights were told to retreat, they were instructed to "return to the Branch". That could just be fancy 'wind' talk, but I've assumed that it is the name of their carrier or base ship.

Many of the early Frontier magazines and charcter books have environmental art in them and the Junya Ishigaki Works book has design sketches of the quarter, the Vajra and various other Frontier art he worked on http://www.ebooksart.com/2013/04/junya-ishigaki-works-robo-no-ishi.html.

Cool, thank you!

They've made several mentions of HQ in previous episodes as being someplace else, with Mikumo, Kaneme and Arad getting instructions and info from them. That's also apparently where Lady M is based.

As absurd as it is who else could they really send? Alpha and Beta squadron were all wiped out so they're out of the question. The mechanics? Chaos is a very very small organization. They really don't have much manpower.

Chaos at Ragna may be a small operation (though big enough to command a whole carrier, so not too small), but Chaos isn't just the Ragna division. Just like SMS, there are other branches with other resources.

Regardless, protagonist action trumps realism, so here we are, I'm just hoping that the fact we got in-universe acknowledgement of the goofiness means that the creators will give us some justifications as we go.

A lot of what Roid has said publicly doesn't hold up, but I think that might be the point. His actual aim and thoughts haven't been shown yet (I'm speculating) and we'll see at some point that this is all a cover for a bigger plan.

On a different note, with all the lampshade hanging the characters were doing on the absurdities of the plot, I wonder if their mission is also cover for something bigger. Hayate outright states how dumb it is to send pilots on an infiltration mission, Arad all but laughed when he gave them the assignment, and their orders are basically "Run around and learn stuff". In the middle of all this, Mikumo keeps wandering off and doing her own thing with much more advanced tech and techniques than the others are using. It's possible that this is the creators just winking at us and saying "Just go with it", or it's maybe subtle hints that this is actually Mikumo's mission and that she's there for something very specific while the others are being used as distraction knowing that they're going to mess up. All complete speculation, but I would love for something like that to be true.

I wonder if maybe the reason that the end theme and Ikenai Borderline are the standouts are because they're the only songs so far with a (more or less) singular voice. Both songs are fairly well tailored to their singers and carry forth their personalities, which is really what made Frontier's songs memorable: that each song was a clear reflection of the characters. The rest of the Walkure songs are kind of an averaged out blend that don't highlight any of the singers, so the end up feeling bland. Maybe what Delta's music needs is a few more solos.

I feel that of all the Aerial Knights, Bogue seems to be taking this war the most personally. I wonder if he has some bone of his own to pick with NUNS.

I think it's that he's among the youngest and has something to prove. Youth is always the most idealistic. And nationalistic.

I don't know, I'm not crazy about that concept design either. Looks too much like other things (Battle designs in storm attacker and Zentraidi in cruiser).

I do like the Elysion design, though I really wish it didn't have that giant triangle on it's head. Looks like a coat hanger TV antenna.

Maybe, but it's a really interesting discussion. Like Mazinger, I'm surprised at what you guys said, for exactly the reasons you just brought up. I'm seeing more and more anime in production, and it is, if anything, having a resurgence in the US. It's still definitely a niche, but it's a much more public and noticeable niche these days. Otakon (Baltimore/DC based anime and manga convention) is one of the biggest cons each year, with attendance numbers rivaling the auto show here.

Maybe it's just the mainstreaming of nerd culture in general here, and eventually there will be a backlash that pushes it all back to the margins someday, but in the meanwhile I hope anime continues to get enough support to thrive. Too much good content!

There's no elevators though. It seems to me that they come out from the rear hangar area similar to the Uraga or Battle Class, the only issue being that part of the deck is disconnected somewhat from the angled decks.

This popped out at me as well. They definitely don't come up on elevators, we were clearly shown last episode and in the load out sequence of this episode that the Delta valks are all kept in the central hangar on the main deck. There's no path for the launch cradles to get down to the angled decks.

For that matter, anyone else annoyed that the cradles weren't also catapults? There are clear channels down the runways for catapults, but when the squad was ready for launch, the cradles just released them and they flew off on their own power. Why not just lift them out on booms DYRL style, if that's the case?

Sorry, nitpick over...

Makes sense, it's definitely the catchiest of the songs so far. Ikenai Borderline is good, but mostly because it's so different from any other Macross songs. The ED is the only one that consistently sticks with me.

He appears to have two "C" shaped plates, one on each side towards the back of his skull. Which actually makes me wonder: are Zentradi with prosthetics able to macronize/micronize? Presumably, the cloning process they use to switch body types isn't able to replicate non-organic components (hence why they're always naked when they do it), so did he get his implants after being made small? And does that mean he can't be made big again?

Good point on Roid, it's true he's never shown direct worry about casualties himself. He mentioned it this episode, but only in passing along the concerns of Heinz. I'm with you on this one.

I'm looking forward to finding out the details about the fold fault. A lot hinges on whether the scar and fault were self inflicted or not, and also on whether whatever happened was done in self defense or as an act of aggression/hubris.

It would be interesting if the Windermerian campaign was to gather control of the ruins in order to combat a greater threat, and it's just their superiority/inferiority complex that's preventing them from telling anyone else about it. Or maybe the time factor compels them to act this way rather than try to convince others. Pure speculation, but something along those lines would tie into the Macross trope of redeemable villains much better than the (mostly) bloodthirsty war mongers we've mostly been shown so far.

There was some talk in the episode 6 thread about the Arad-Kanme-Messer triangle that I'm going to pull over to here.

Just wanted to say that I don't see anything in the way of romantic feelings between Kaname and Messer. Episode 3 kind of hinted in that direction, but everything since has seemed much more as though she's just doing the same as Arad and trying to get him to open up. Both Kaname and Arad have the 'older sibling' feeling towards the rest of the group, and I think it's just honest concern that we're seeing. They both know something from Messer's past and seem to be trying to help him work past it. I might feel differently if Kaname ever seemed put out by Messer's rejections, but she seems to take them all in stride with no hurt pride or disappointment.

Now, whether there are any romantic feelings between Arad and Kaname is another thing. The bridge bunnies pointed out that there should be, but all I've seen there are two co-workers that know each other very well and have bonded because of it. Like partners more than a couple. Maybe they're just keeping it quiet, but honestly I'd kind of like to see a pair in Macross that wasn't torn by UST and unrequited feelings.

Just my opinion, FWIW.

I really liked the 'load out' scene showing the swapping out of mission packs and addition of boosters and armor. All of these things have been 'known' before but Delta seems to be going out of its way to give us actual scenes of the nuts and bolts of stuff. Like the discussion about recordings versus live performances a few episodes ago, the rescue hatch on the 171 in the same episode, and now the start to finish load out and launch sequence here. While not strictly necessary from a story point of view, it's really cool to see for a mech head like me!

With the preview for next episode asking the Delta Platoon to investigate Voldor and the protoculture ruins, it makes me wonder if Windermere's objective isn't actually control of the sector. I wonder if the war and the 'kicking out of NUNS' is actually just a cover for a bigger purpose involving control of all the ruins. The fact that neither Heinz nor Roid seem too keen on destroying their enemies and focusing on data gathering instead of domination makes me think they have a different aim. The scar may imply an experiment gone wrong or a desperate measure enacted that's had lasting consequences. I wonder if that's why Windermere is snow covered? Planet freezing over as a result of whatever happened?

With how Makina seems to take the initiative on tech stuff, it's almost as if she's equal to the crew chief or something.

I agree, and I think that's pretty cool. I would love it if they actually are in charge of the mechanical crews.

On Mikumo, it's clear that there are some interesting things happening with Chaos HQ. I'll be very interested to see how long they string that along before giving us more detail on what that relationship is and who's in charge there.

I really do like that the women aren't JUST idol singers, but rather full team members with multiple roles to play within the Delta Platoon. Makina and Reina aren't playing around with tech stuff, they practically lead the ground support crews. Kaname has been shown to have more value on the strategic/operational side than on the singing stage. Mikumo has only been shown talking to the sky outside of her singing role, but there's obviously more to be learned there, and she seems to have a direct line to HQ, which hints at greater capabilities.

In short, I like that these are all strong characters with multiple talents and values to the plot, not just one dimensional idols.

Just wanted to pop in to say a big thank you to the whole Speakerpodcast crew. I really appreciate all the time and effort you guys put into these. The cultural and historical context you guys bring to the subject, along with the very clear sense of fun you all have, makes for a really enjoyable listen. Thanks!

I'm definitely seeing a "heroic sacrifice" in the team's future, and Messer and Kaname would be my first picks for the one to go. I could definitely see Kaname jumping into the line of fire to stop a possessed Messer, that feels like a Macross thing to do.

On a different note, take a look at the screenshot below from the first episode. On the VF-1, the intakes essentially became the hips when in battroid mode and swiveled along with the legs. On the VF-31, it appears that the intakes stay mostly stationary and that the hip joint stays in the accordion section used in gerwalk mode. There's some logic to that, I suppose, but it looks a little odd and requires some rather magical bendiness of that joint. I don't recall the VF-25s from Frontier being like this (I haven't looked, but I believe the intakes were the hips on that model), have other Valkyrie's had this type of hip arrangement or is this new on the 31's?