DeeBot

Huh? It looks to me like they had to remove both her eyes, just leaving slits. Maybe they'll make an exception for her and allow her to get bionic ones to replace them.

Wait... I've got it! The False Idol is Grace, and she's been dressing up in those skanky costumes to ruin Sheryl's reputation! I'm sorry, I can't keep going with a straight face.

Makes me kinda wonder if they're going to try and play up Nanase's role as Ranka's costume designer, which never really seemed to pay out in the TV series. I can just imagine the Valkyrie Girl suit being her idea.

I guess Alto would know if the holograms are true to life or not.

I just noticed this after Roy's comment about slurmtiness (pffy, language filter) made me take a closer look... are those sticks of dynamite underneath her skirt? I gather they're functional, although I have no idea whether they're fireworks or actual explosives. (Explosion once again, eh?) Also, Sheryl doesn't dress like a stripper because a stripper actually needs something to take off.

Maybe Alto's daydreaming and Michel's bringing him down to Earth with a crash.

You know... this just occurred to me, but if Ranka is getting a Segway, does this mean I can stop complaining about her running everywhere (and being perpetually late)? Now she can coast everywhere... and be late.

I'm pretty sure at least some of that was tongue in cheek. At least... I hope it was. He made a lot of good points, too, about culture being corrupted since Space War I times into just a commercial enterprise... although I would have put the date that started right back to the concerts held in post-apocalyptic Earth, under Kaifun's management. Also, the briefer way of saying what you were saying is "TL;DR".

It looks like they did something about the polygonal micro-missiles, too... for those of you that might still be griping about that. With regards to the poster, I'm usually initially turned off by how they seem to be progressively drawing Sheryl slurmtier and slurmtier*... but then I realize that we're talking about "Sheryl, Sheryl Nome." It was probably her idea. Who am I to complain? *Apparently, my original word choice isn't allowed.

If you get right down to it, there's nothing terribly realistic about trying to control a humanoid robot thingie with a joystick or two, foot pedals, and a lot of buttons. I mean, not that you couldn't make it work, but surely you could come up with a better human interface than that.

I was waiting to see if anyone else was going to mention this, but... was Sheryl holding a gun? I guess maybe if she was redoing her recruitment video...

See, and I always thought it was just about robot-airplanes IN SPACE blowing stuff up.

With regards to the whole birthday gift incident: I think you can legitimately read it in different ways. It really depends on your read of the characters, at that particular point of the story. There probably isn't much use arguing it too much, there just isn't enough evidence to firmly say one way or another. I agree that it's a possibility, but as you said, it's never really hinted at. There's never a time where Ranka or Sheryl seem to go, "Oh, hey! We totally knew each other when we were two." I think it's likely that Sheryl's parents kept her on Galaxy, rather than taking her out to some research fleet that they had no business being other than to visit Mao. (And I'm not sure how likely that was.) I have been really intrigued by this whole mentor dynamic you mentioned, though, and I had some recent thoughts on that point, too. I think Ranka might have reminded Sheryl a lot of herself at an early stage of her career (strange as it sounds to claim that Ranka is anything like Sheryl), which is why Sheryl goes out of her way to encourage her. In particular, I think back to the Folmo Mall incident, where Ranka makes her debut. Near the end, Sheryl is looking on approvingly, then gets her determined face and mutters something along the lines of, "They make it all by themselves." I always found that moment hard to read. Was Sheryl recognizing a competitive threat from Ranka, and steeling herself to stay on top? Honestly, I think no. Again, Sheryl was planning on leaving for Galaxy again, and it doesn't really jive with the dialogue anyway. Instead, I think Sheryl was thinking back to her own rise to stardom. She takes a lot of pride in her self-image of being a self-made woman. While she offers Ranka advice and help, she mostly urges Ranka to make it on her own, by her own efforts. (I also had the interesting thought that perhaps Sheryl's initial launch to stardom came in a Miss Macross competition, which would be why she encourages Ranka to go down that route. Of course, I find it hard to believe that Sheryl would have lost such a competition... it's equally likely she never participated, though, and just rose to the top of the charts over time. Or she wouldn't have been suited to the interview parts of such a competition. I can just imagine her chewing out some poor judge with less than beauty pageant decorum...) Of course, we find out later that Grace was instrumental in manufacturing Sheryl's success, so this raises some interesting questions about whether her expression was simply reflecting back on the hard road she had to her current success, or whether she's always harbored some doubts about the legitimacy of her success. (She just seems so certain all the time, though... I don't know if she really had any doubts. But maybe she's compensating. That sounds almost probable, actually, although maybe she'd just be compensating for her childhood misery.) What I think is really intriguing about all this is how the whole "you can make it on your own!" philosophy is basically rejected by the overall arc of the story. By the end, all three main characters have realized that no, you can't. When Sheryl reboots her career, she certainly doesn't try to do it alone again--she seems quite accepting of Elmo's help, for example. Ranka's attempt to end the war by herself doesn't work--despite feeling personally responsible, it's not a problem she can solve alone. At the climax, Alto shouts out something along the lines of, "Because we're alone... we love!" I take this to be a message that because humans are individuals, we need the support of other human beings all the more.

Yeah, I wasn't really happy with how that particular point came out, although I'm pleased the most important part (about the key contributions made by Ohnogi, naturally--no, I'm talking about the friendship angle) doesn't seem very controversial. I'm pretty busy these days, so I either have to get my thoughts down as quickly as I can, or not do it at all. Had to go with what I had, basically. I still don't think either one is fully aware of how deep the other's feelings go, though. They're certainly aware that they're not the only ones seeking Alto's attention, but it's really hard to tell how serious the threat is. I think most of the blame for this can be put on Alto--he just so unreadable, especially when it comes to romantic matters. You can give him a big kiss on the lips, and he'll just sorta look at you funny until you make up some lame excuse to salvage your pride. (Ahem.) With that sort of reaction, I think you could easily tell yourself that there's nothing going on with the other girl. Or equally, that he's completely uninterested in you. Plenty of girls swoon over <insert random hunky male idol here>, but that doesn't mean they're part of a love triangle, if you get my drift. I just get the impression that they spend a lot more time trying to get Alto's attention at all, rather than competing with each other. Maybe if Alto were a little more responsive, there'd be more to fight over. The girls do seem to really pour it on whenever they manage to crack his stoic facade. First off, thanks for expanding on my point, KR. Some good insights there; I liked how you tied Alto's friendships with the girls into an overall picture of a friendship triangle. Now then, I expected this particular incident to come up. I've never really bought into the whole idea that Sheryl did it purposefully to stymie Ranka, which if true, would have been a pretty jerky thing to do. But I think it's certainly open to debate. Just from the way I read the characters, Sheryl always comes off as more impulsive and reckless than calculating (she has Grace for that, after all). She pretty much never manages to make a plan that doesn't backfire on her in some way (although sometimes it backfires pleasantly). She makes her way through life by vigorously pressing forward without looking back or ahead. She's very much a person who lives in the moment. Looking at the way the events played out, Sheryl was already feeling under the weather at the time. She instantly perceives that the ticket Ranka secures is for Alto, but she really doesn't seem to care that much about it. I'm not sure if this is because she was feeling ill, putting up a front, or just was feeling ill-disposed towards Alto at the time (I personally lean towards a mix of the first and last), but she doesn't do anything to discourage Ranka from her plans. (At this point, Ranka is wondering about Sheryl's attitude towards Alto, and is about to ask her when Sheryl faints. The Queen has an awful lot of dramatically-timed fainting spells, but I guess you can't blame her for the virus and Plotonium infusions.) Later, when Sheryl thinks of her great idea, all she wants to do is meet Alto in their special place, and spring it on him in her usual exuberant way. Once again, she's let herself get carried away, without really thinking about the consequences. Of course, there's never a scene where she goes "Oops, I totally cut Ranka off!" or "Mwahaha, take that, little girl!", but I think that just tends to lend credence to the whole idea that it never crossed her mind. It's hard to believe anyone can really make it through life with that little forethought, but she is Sheryl Nome.

I find it interesting how much time ships spend not folding. Apparently, it's really, really energy intensive. (Although the Vajra seem to treat folding like rolling out of bed. I guess that makes sense, considering their exotic use of fold space.) It seems odd to think of an nearly-instantaneous (assuming no fold faults) means of travel that requires you to sit on your hands for long periods of time while you're charging up for the next jump. If you were an inhabitant of a colony ship, most of your life would be spent outside of fold, but most of the distance covered would be in fold. And what's the effective velocity if you can cover a few tens of light years in a jump, but only every few weeks/months/years? Of course, I suppose it's always possible there's a lot of short hop folding that goes on that we don't see... because fold space is boring. But it seems like the amount of work that goes into folding the whole fleet would argue against that. Also: Where does all the energy come from, anyway? Most of space is empty. I can only assume they gather up interstellar hydrogen to use in fusion reactors. It would explain why it seems to take so darn long...

After something like nine months since the finale, and my umpteenth run-through of the whole series, I think I've finally, finally figured out what the **** happened... at least to my personal satisfaction. (Obviously, you can never satisfy everyone on something like this.) Anyway, before someone jumps in with partisan commentary, let me lay out my thesis first: The final episode resolves the triangle conflict... between Sheryl and Ranka. Alto? Yeah, he's still pretty much as indecisive as ever. The final scene teases us with the idea that, well, maybe he's going to choose in just one more second, but after repeated viewing, I think it's at most symbolic, at worst a troll, and that any resolution of the love triangle would have taken multiple episodes-worth of time to fully play out--weeks, months, even years. Just look at how long the SDFM triangle took to play out (years in-universe), and in the final scenes, Sheryl and Ranka seem to be preparing for an extended courtship. So in short, while I think he's become much more open and accepting about his romantic feelings (represented by him finally acknowledging that he can't be such a loner), he's still just as undecided about who, if anyone, he should choose. He's no longer acting clueless, but the decision is still as hard as ever. That elephant temporarily disposed of, back to what I find intriguing. The one thing that's always really struck (and puzzled) me about the Frontier triangle is how well Sheryl and Ranka get along--even admire each other. (Something I wish their partisans would emulate.) Ranka's always been a big fan of Sheryl's, of course, and Sheryl takes an immediate liking to Ranka that only grows over time. They never seem jealous of each other's successes. True, Ranka initially seems stymied by Sheryl's omnipresence (such as when her variety show appearance got canceled), but she never blames Sheryl (quite correctly) of any intentional malice. (Besides, Leon seems to have his fingers all over this stuff.) And sure, Sheryl at one point seems distraught over why her voice can't reach the Vajra, while Ranka's can--but her ire is directed at her personal failing, not at Ranka. It's her inability to "I'm Sheryl Nome!" her way to reaching the Vajra that really bothers her--I get the feeling at times that, idol though she may be, there's also a little Basara in there. She really is quite passionate about being a singer, and being a singer in the Macross universe really means something. Singers in the Macross universe are more important than the newest and shiniest weapons--they're the keepers of culture, the most powerful force in the universe. So their professional rivalry doesn't seem to be any great source of conflict--they like each other personally, and there's no reason to believe why they can't both be successful. Outside factors (*cough* Grace *cough*) seem to be a bigger influence on their professional fortunes than direct competition. Heck, maybe they'll decide to form a duet and crush all comers. Which just leaves... the love triangle. My hypothesis: Sheryl and Ranka don't realize there's a love triangle until the very end. They get to be close runner-ups in the cluelessness prize to Alto. "Preposterous!" I can already hear you saying. Well, yes, the love triangle is obvious to us, pretty much from the very beginning, but is it that obvious to them? I'd argue no. Think about all those times Ranka was on the verge of asking Sheryl or Alto about the nature of their relationship, and conveniently got interrupted. Think about all those times Sheryl refuses to admit she has any special feelings for Alto, or even seems to be taken by surprise by particularly strong ones. Think about how little (at least intentional) sabotage goes on between the two. Think about how near the end, each is convinced that Alto is really in love with the other one. These aren't the behaviors of women vigorously pursuing victory over a rival in a contest of the heart. They're the acts of women who probably believe they've already lost, or never had a chance, or are desperately afraid to take the risk, who love almost in spite of themselves. I'm pretty sure if Ranka had known for sure that Sheryl and Alto were an item, she would have stopped pursuing him. Likewise, I get the impression Sheryl doesn't want to come between Ranka and Alto--at first, she doesn't even think she'll see them again, but will be whisked off back to Galaxy--but she can't control her own heart: What begins as innocent flirtation gets out of her control. The triangle is missing a side. The real conflict, then, is that they both like Alto romantically, but they also both like each other as friends. What they end up struggling with is how to reconcile those two seemingly-contradictory relationships. The answer that comes in the final episode? It's not as much of a contradiction as it seems. By the time they reach the final few scenes, all three have become incredibly close, after sharing so much hardship together. When the two women simultaneously call out to Alto, they both look momentarily guilty, feeling ashamed to be in love with someone her close friend is also in love with. And then, very classily, they turn to each other and agree that it's OK to have a friendly rivalry. Just because they're now competitors in both song and love doesn't mean they have to give up being friends. Whoever prevails in the end, their friendship will survive that. And so ultimately, it doesn't really matter who Alto chooses. Nobody loses. Not really. All three will always be close to each other. It's their three-way friendship that's truly important, not the romantic conflict. Roll credits.

Also, it's really creepy to watch Ranka sing Aimo and the Vajra reacting, knowing what it means now. I'm watching E21 at the moment, and I'm just getting shivers from the battle's climactic scene that I didn't get on the first viewings.

Epic burn, Gubaba. You're one of my favorite Macross fans.

It's a nice sentiment, although you always have to be careful about how you take the canonicity of materials like this. Still, some good stuff!

Well, it's been a year and a couple months since Frontier began its regular run, so I obviously had to watch my favorite episodes again... and then my second favorite episodes... and then my third favorite... well, let's just say I don't have anything left to watch again. Anyway, watching these episodes again, everything just keeps making so much more sense. (Along with parts that are cringe-worthy, with plot lines that aren't assembled that well. I don't want to rehash that old thread where we went through pointing all the little hints and clues out, though. Although it was kinda prophetic that Michel predicted that being around Alto was going to get him killed... didn't pick up on that until the most recent time through.) So anyway, the (in?)famous episode 12. I got to the part where Alto snuck out and was preparing to make off with his VF-25, when the Zentradi (obviously, in retrospect, tipped off by Grace) put a stop to his little plan. The first few times I saw this, I always figured Alto was just being a hothead again. He'd get in his VF-25, take on all the insurgents at once, and save everybody (or die trying... but he's got plot armor). He certainly wasn't just going to run away to save his own skin, he's not the type, so what else was there? Well... then it hit me. He'd decided to escape after Sheryl told him how she wanted to give him the gift of flying in a real sky. It suddenly dawned on me that, maybe Alto wasn't going to try and save everybody, but just one person in particular, to make her wish come true... Kinda romantic, in an irresponsible sort of way. (Although one could argue it was his duty to protect her alone, even if that meant sacrificing the others.) Guess we'll never know, but I thought it was a fun possibility.

I wonder if that's because she's the oldest of the three. Late growth spurt? (Personally, I think it's just artistic license, but who knows. Maybe someone with the official measurements could shed some light on this?)

I haven't advanced my marathon (if you can call such a leisure pace a marathon ) to episode 12, but I recalled two more things. First, apparently Leon (or maybe it was Cathy) gets a report about how Ranka was exposed to the V-type virus (well, I don't thnk they called it that in so many words, but it's clear what they mean) during the attack on Frontier. Since we know she already has the virus, and her blood samples weren't apparently meddled with like Grace did with Sheryl's later, it seems like they detected the virus that was there already. Interesting. Leon didn't seem to think it was important to follow up on, though--perhaps he already knew about Ranka's past. Just how much does he know at this point? It's fairly clear he doesn't meet Grace until episode 10. (Sorry this is all a bit hazy, I'm trying to recall this from memory. I really should go back and watch. ) Second, about Cathy's past. We know she was a runner-up in Miss Macross some time ago (shades of wondering why Misa didn't compete ). She says she chose not to pursue that career, rather than not being good enough for it. I think this should be taken at face value, rather than just a vain denial of reality. I think her father may have played a role in her choosing not to become a celebrity--it's implied that Cathy is used to following orders when she gets dispatched to the Quarter, and her early persona certainly seems to fit that image. She only becomes more rebellious and independent later, as she begins investigating the conspiracy.

Up to episode 11. Noticed a few things here and there in earlier episodes, but a couple of things jumped out at me this episode that I didn't catch before. First, the exact moment Sheryl decides on Alto's birthday present is after she collapses and is talking to Grace. She mentions how they still haven't settled on security for the trip to Gallia-4. That's when she lights up with an idea--she obviously just thought of asking Alto to be her escort. This also clearly establishes that Sheryl didn't think of this until after she ran into Ranka. Second, Ranka gets the recipe for the cookies from Nanase--it's the first time she's ever used that recipe. We're led to believe that Ranka is a decent cook, I think, so the bitterness may be all Nanase's fault--maybe Nanase isn't as good a cook as she is an artist. A few things I'm pretty sure were mentioned before, but I only really noticed this time: Hydras all over the Folmo mall in episode 5. Zentradi seem to treat them like pet cats. That the hydra population would then be culled... it'd be like exterminating all the pet dogs/cats in a city, because of a rabies outbreak. People would probably be upset. It really gets me thinking about the threads of racism in Frontier. We see a bit of it in SDF:M (understandably), relatively little of it in Macross 7 (where the Zentradi seem fully integrated), but it seems to be a very conscious element in Frontier. I have to keep wondering if it's laying the groundwork for something, or maybe Kawamori's just making a commentary on xenophobia in Japanese society. Klan mentions in episode 9, and again in episode 11, about how her (and Nene's) ancestors were part of the Zentradi that sided with humanity at the very beginning (Britai's cultured fleet, pretty much). The 33rd Marines are from the part of the Zentradi that only sided with humanity after the war, because they didn't have a choice (Kamjin and his ilk, presumably). I wonder why she doesn't include Raramia in that; maybe she's not as close to her as she is to Nene. Klan and Nene are probably very good friends, Raramia might just be someone who fills out the squadron. Episode 9, we definitely see the first indications of Brera's physical form within the virtual cockpit. It's much briefer than the look we get later, but you can definitely make out the outlines of his helmet and such when he gets shot at by Klan. Interesting combat sequence in episode 9: It goes by so fast, but Brera shoots down all of Alto's missile swarm. However, the explosions leave a smoke screen so thick that Alto is able to punch through and take out Brera's leg by surprise. Rather clever on Alto's part, if intentional, or even improvised. Rewatching these episodes, I feel like I'm getting a handle on Alto's character. His basic personality is that he's a loner; the only person he ever seemed close to was his mother. He doesn't really have any friends as of the start of the series, even though everyone seems to know and like him. He's that inexplicably popular guy that would rather just be left alone. He only starts changing his loner tendencies once Ranka (and then Sheryl) arrive in his life and start shaking things up. A lot of his awkwardness makes sense when viewed through this lens. The arc of his character development in the series is all about learning to rely on others (not flying alone).

Basara's a committed pacifist. It takes a lot of guts to stick to that position, even in the worst of situations--it's easy to be a pacifist when everything is going great and everyone is getting along. I think a lot of viewers who are turned off by Basara and Macross 7 get frustrated by situations where violence seems to be an easy answer to the problems facing the protagonists. The thing is, it only seems to be an easy answer.

I always figured it was just because he saw something out the window that made him think, after she mentioned how she'd never gotten much exposure to the bio-plant ships, "She's got to see this!" I think it's telling that the first place they visit is a hippocow farm, not the mall. I think that was more of an accident.