Ragashingo

The priest from Freyja's village says of Hayate's dad: "Worry not. He never did any harm to our people." That's a BIG CHANGE from dropping a fold bomb on them or whatever. And I take it to mean Bogue's town and family did die in the war, but in a much different way. 

- It's pretty clear that it retconed some of Delta's original plot. The war with Windermere was lengthened. Hayate's dad never dropped the bomb. Etc. I thought most of these were good changes that largely swept some of Delta's dumb original story bits under the rug. And... no complaining about late story changes in the movie, please. This is Macross after all. AKA: Have you seen DYRL or the Frontier movies?! 

- I liked the long buildup before the fighting began. Getting to visit Freyja's hometown and get to know it's people and there way of life really worked for me. I thought it was sweet, wholesome, and a little tragic. Sure, we heard a bit about Windermere in the past, but I thought it was handled much better this time around. Freyja's grove of apple trees even got me a little teary eyed. 

- While I perhaps agree that none of the new Walkure songs caught my attention as much as their original set... I think some of that comes down to having not heard them over and over for years. I'll single out Freyja's/Walkure's rendition of ALIVE -Inori no Uta- as actually being pretty memorable. I'm not even close to having the lyrics down, yet, but I liked how it seemed to tie Freyja's limited life with her love for Hayate. 

- Same with Yami_Q_Ray's songs. Having only really heard them once so far I couldn't tell you much about them... but what lyrics I was able to absorb I liked. There was a fun sense of darkness and provocativeness to their songs that makes me want to go back and focus on the words. Yami_Q_Ray did sorta come out of nowhere... but when they linked it to the same virtual idol tech that powered Sharon Apple... I was both nostalgic and satisfied by the explanation. I consider them fun throwback enemies at this point. 

- I liked Walkure's opening concert on Windermere even if it was CG. The camera was maybe a bit too snappy, but there were a lot of cool movements and effects that I thought more than balanced things out. It looked like it was a fun show for the city spread out below and that Walkure went to some effort to include people up in the palace all the way down to those at street level at the bottom of the mountain.

- Interestingly, I liked the story and how they tied in Delta's characters. Freyja's mortality and rocky relationship with Hayate because of it. Mikumo's lingering regret at having been a Star Singer who was missed to hurt people. Kaname's sadness at having lost Messer. Yeah... you kinda have to read between the lines here and there and keep in mind that this movie is operating a bit in its own altered timeline... but I felt they actually, finally used Delta's characters well... for once. I even like what they did with Mirage. Instead of going head to head with Freyja for Hayate's affection, it seems her self-doubt caused her to hold back and root for her friends instead. 

- I was fairly happy with the combat. It's not my favorite Macross combat... not enough personal battles like in Zero or Plus... but thing were kept quick and dynamic for the most part. I do think someone needs to strategize and stagger the firing of Macross cannons. Maybe five 7 of 8 and leave one charged in reserve to catch the enemy off guard when they try to counterattack. 

- I was fairly pleased with how they played Freyja coming to terms with her mortality. They showed her anguish at not being able to sing. They showed her fear of dying. But they had her throw all that to the wind and make a decision to devote her entire life to being a Walkure. To sing and protect to the very end. I was actually quite struck by how the title of the movie became something of the driving force for Freyja and Walkure by final battle. I got a little misty eyed there. 

- I thought Freyja's death in Hayate's arms was maybe a bit too drawn out. The word association game they played was cute and a callback to their time in the orchard... but felt just a little out of place, too. I also kinda feel bad for Hayate to have lost his love when he's only what? 17? 18? Something like that?! Maybe he'll find another Windermere girl... or... Mirage is still available!

- Overall... I thought this was easily the best of Delta and the first of its works and the first one I ended up with a positive impression of. It wasn't 100% perfect. It kinda had to bend the existing timeline around to clean up some of Delta's original story stumbles. It pretty much straight up ignored the existence of Chuck Mustang. He was there but didn't do anything notable... and really neither did Makina or Reina (aside from Makina's annoying bit of fanservice). But... yeah, I liked the way everything was bundled together this time. I liked that violating the ban on AI tech in the form of a virtual idol (or 5) again came to bite the bad guys in the ass. The movie clicked with me as a true Macross property in a way none of the previous Delta stuff did.

With the way Mikumo was zapped at the end of her final solo I'm kinda worried that something very bad just happened to her. Doubly so with the end credits focusing solely on her. I highly doubt it is right, but my first impression was: "Did she just... die?!" Freyja and Hayate'a connection was pretty scary as well!