DeeBot

Why are people still waiting for the culture shock? That already happened in the last episode: Ranka sang Ai Oboete Imasuka, then the fleet got a face full of beam spam and blew up while everyone was wondering what the heck she was doing. I think it's going to be Sara, come to take her grand-niece away from all the pain. And then she'll blow everyone up with her finger.

Ranka's going to die by giving up her corporeal body (which is probably sitting on a slab somewhere in Grace's lab anyway), ascending into the Vajra consciousness, and becoming the new queen, who makes peace with humanity.

I usually watch the episodes multiple times, starting with the live stream, then the first HD raw, then finally the first sub (and eventually, maybe another sub or two), but I'm with Sergorn--for the final episode, I'm going to wait for the first sub. It should only be a few days later, anyway. Until then, when episode 25 airs, I'm staying away from the forums.

Oddly enough, that may not be as outlandish as it sounds. At least according to the gg subs, Bilrer was muttering something about time and space and cause and effect being jumbled up by the monkeying around with fold physics that's going on in Frontier. I wouldn't be too surprised if time travel ultimately became involved.

Vajra and humans are pretty different from hydras. Hydras are beasts who act on instinct; they're not intelligent. Individual Vajra aren't intelligent at all (or are they?). Humans are intelligent. If you've got V-type germs trying to take over the nervous system of an unthinking but individualistic creature, perhaps it just goes crazy. There's something to note, though. The crazy hydra has red eyes. The vicious Vajra also have red eyes. Maybe Sheryl's going to get red eyes now, too, seeing as how Alto "died" and that's going to drive her insane? And then do something murderous... like kill Leon. Anyway, the madness stage seems to require that the disease advance to a fairly late stage. It probably advances faster in hydra because of the simpler nervous system, and it's probably nearly instantaneous in normal Vajra. Ranshe and Sheryl were shown at just the "oooh my tummy hurts" stage, and Ranka's a special case, as was stressed in the last few episodes. (Besides, maybe she's a little mad, too. ) Wait a minute... Michel was stabbed by a Vajra... in the guts! And there were lots of bodily fluids spraying around! Michel might still be alive, in a the-Vajra-turned-me-into-a-zombie-of-the-collective sort of way! But... will Klan still love him?!?

Actually, it's been stated that the V-type disease is curable at any stage before it infects the brain. So keeping anyone from finding out until Sheryl reached that stage would have been very useful... for somebody. Not sure how it'd be useful for Grace, once she had Ranka. But then that's about when Grace kicked Sheryl to the curb, isn't it? Or she might have just been vindictive, and really wanted Sheryl dead.

...Ranka thought she was done in Macross Frontier? :D (She even did it first.) Once again, analogies fail us, and we're back to speculating without a clue in the wind. Incidentally, shouldn't we hate Sheryl now because she isn't woman enough to think about the people of Frontier when Alto (appears to) die, and cries out his name and stops singing instead? Next thing you know, she'll be working for the bad guys (Leon) and betraying humanity... I don't have an iron in the "Ranka or Sheryl?" question, but I think it's a bit premature to say that there's only one possible resolution. Ranka hating is definitely way overblown. I think Sheryl is a more likely choice, but Kawamori could get away with twisting it to Ranka without necessarily having it be completely wrong. Granted, he'd have to do it pretty carefully. Also, I think there's a very plausible non-partisan answer for why Alto was objecting to Sheryl trying to push him away. If he's really just acting a role to spare her before her demise, then he certainly would rush to try and reassure Sheryl that he hasn't been lying to her the whole time. Even if he has. In the end, as hard as it might seem to fathom, I think Alto probably has strong feelings for both girls. His choice in the love triangle (if it's still up to him) may ultimately come down to practical considerations, similar to how Hikaru ended up choosing Misa in the TV series (which I still think was pretty heartless; the DYRL version was much more romantic).

I always thought that was supposed to be annoying song. Minmay's songs gradually go from being rather light-hearted pop drivel to more emotional pieces as her career progresses, and she lives life and has more heartbreaks.

I think it'll be resolved by Alto running to Ranka, now that he knows Brera is just her brother. Mwahahahaha!

Yeah, the Vajra queen seems to have 4 atrophied wing-like things in the wide shot, and then when we get up close it's almost like there's a head underneath that helmet-like thing. Creepy. (Also, when Grace plunges down into the heart of the Vajra complex, it seems like she's going through electronic walls, not real ones. She's in virtual mode, and the walls that dissolve fizzle like typical fictional electronic walls do. So it seems like she's hacking down to the queen, rather than flying down.) I'm sure Battle Frontier would dearly like to Macross Cannon the queen. Not sure if it would work (wouldn't this be a dandy time for the Vajra to develop a defense?), or if Battle Frontier is going to have more important targets to aim at. Also... anyone catch the bit where Alto basically calls the VF-171EX a makeshift piece of junk? Nothing compared to the VF-25...

I get the feeling that Island-1's situation is really, really desperate. Hence the rush to get it planetside ASAP, while the military cuts a path. As for the Vajra beam spam... there are a lot more Vajra than hoomies. At least, I'm assuming so.

gg sub is out.

Meh, I think you're right. Guess it's back to the drawing board. The battle updates, though... my original theory was that Alto had planned this without telling anyone else. Or maybe very few people. But the coloring issue throws too much doubt on the whole thing, although I suppose it's still possible that a paint job was done at the last minute. But that's sorta reaching. Darn. EDIT: I've inspected the footage more closely, and it's quite plausible, even probable that, after all, the hangar scene was just of Luca's recon VF-171 and drones. Combined with the color differences, there's no basis for my theory left. With the speed and colored lighting, I must have completely overlooked it. I took some screenshots, though, so I figured I'd might as well still post them. Luca's birds (probably): http://i33.tinypic.com/1zxr6vq.jpg Hero green: http://i37.tinypic.com/25tvygn.jpg Hero red: http://i38.tinypic.com/2w1yst0.jpg This starts smoking: http://i37.tinypic.com/2e22vbl.jpg Going down! http://i35.tinypic.com/jpa62r.jpg One long smoke trail... http://i34.tinypic.com/28tuc09.jpg So where did he go? http://i36.tinypic.com/314rmmq.jpg Charging back (in hero red): http://i37.tinypic.com/2mdgbxk.jpg Wait for it... http://i35.tinypic.com/2v0myhf.jpg Ouch! http://i38.tinypic.com/2hhgia8.jpg

It's certainly the most plausible rumor I've heard in a while, but considering the source, I think it's completely fake. If they get it right, it'll be by coincidence, not because they've got an inside track.

Wow... just wow. After having a day too busy to watch, I was going over a HQ raw, to see if I could spot anything new in the higher res. And I was just floored by what I figured out. I'm going to put it up in spoiler tags, just in case you don't want to read it, but it has to do with Alto's fate. The thing that really surprises me is that they'd give it away like that.

The math works out, at least. Mao + Bilrer = 1/2 Zentran daughter/son. Marries non-Zentran, has Ranka = 1/4 Zentran.

You know... it just occurred to me that we keep thinking of the Vajra in the plural. But really, there is only one Vajra (a she, maybe?). Maybe that's who Bilra wants to meet: Ms. Vajra. Because she's just so magnificent. If you think of the Vajra in the singular, the defense of what seems to be their homeworld takes on a whole new dimension, too. If you take out the queen, the Vajra effectively cease to exist (since they apparently have this central node holding it all together), just like a bullet to the brain would do a human individual. If you were the only one of your kind, I think you'd fight even harder to survive, too.

Well actually, Grace herself may be being manipulated by the Galaxy executive even as we speak... she's crazy, right? She might be too focused on her final goal to realize that her bosses are preparing to stab her in the back. I'm sorta rooting for Grace, if it comes to that. So that really would just leave Quarter, then.

I have to say, if there's one thing Frontier really hit a home run on in comparison to previous Macross series, it has to be the range and quality and integration of the musical elements.

Well, yes, but wouldn't it be "R.I.P." not "R.I.P"? Notice the lack of the final dot. I don't think those two "dots" in the middle are periods at all, they're just the bottom serifs on the "I." Otherwise, it would be more like, "R.T.P" and that doesn't make any sense; note that it's drawn in by hand in block letters, rather roughly. I'm pretty sure it's just a sound effect, no death flag hints. Trust me, I would have loved if it were true (maybe she dies of heartbreak in the first seconds of episode 25! how angsty!), but an impartial analysis leads me to believe that the bottom serif on the "I" is just rather thin. What was that comment about everyone looking better in this episode? I have to hand it to them, though, they managed to make Leon even uglier than usual. Keeping in mind that everyone on Galaxy already has implants (except Sheryl, apparently), perhaps they're under mind control. Note we don't see anyone on the ship's crew. Heck, wouldn't it be weird if everyone on Galaxy had gone "beyond" the need for physical bodies, and there's nothing inside that ship except computer cores and spare bodies for when they need to get up and walk about, or greet company? Well, Alto was at least conscious. If he didn't like it, he could've slapped her. I assume you meant Bilrer here. If Mao's daughter really is illegitimate... Never really got the vibe Dr. Mao was married, but who knows? Maybe her daughter/son wasn't even biologically related to Mao. That wouldn't explain the blood type issue, though, unless she adopted some orphan from the Mayan island (there were probably plenty) with the same blood type as her. Either that, or maybe her family's just really proud of the Nome name, and decided to stick with it. Family name conventions are subject to individual choice, after all.

She's also been taken off the respirator, which has to be a good sign. Unless Luca just murdered her before he kissed her. Violence is love!

Ya know, he did seem to have an easier time of getting Nanase's attention when he had those pink cheeks. As for the ethical implications of Luca stealing a kiss: I think we can all agree that it would be horribly unethical in real life, at least under normal circumstances. I'm willing to give Luca a by, though; I just wanted to mention it because it seemed like it'd gotten completely overlooked.

Well, of course she will. They'll have a DYRL-style "and then the fighting ended..." sequence, where peace and love and harmony will reign among all sides, and everyone will have a well-deserved break. About then, bright sunlight will filter into Nanase's room when Island One lands on the Vajra planet, the shell coming up for the final time, and her eyes will open into a beautiful new world. Then she'll realize Luca kissed her while she was sleeping, and one of two things will happen.

Yeah... but the thing is, she never even seemed to show a hint of romantic interest of him. It smacks to me of him making off with something he couldn't get without her being unconscious.

Hey wolfx, thanks for the bit of quick translation work. Those guys seriously need to get better bridge lighting. This seems like one of the highest rated episodes here in a while; it took a while even for the single negative vote to filter in, and it's the only one so far. Here's hoping Frontier ends on a high note. Thing is, it didn't seem like Ranka was coming to any realizations any time soon... seems like she didn't even notice that Alto might have just been killed off by her cyborg brother. Meh, I figured they were just recycling footage to keep the budget down. There was so much new stuff in this episode, though, you can probably forgive them for that. A little. I kinda wish they'd animated more death sequences now, so they could mix it up a bit more. Maybe Sheryl will hop into a VF-171EX and take the fight to the enemy personally. That would be pure win, but I doubt it'll happen; the purpose of her flight school time seems restricted to that one plot element when they were returning from fold, and there's no way a neophyte like her could survive out there. I wouldn't rule out a mutiny, though. Most of the brass (Perry in particular) doesn't really seem to like Leon, they just need an excuse to knock him over the head and stick in a closet until the fighting's over. SMS intervening might prompt that. Nothing. They'll have to lock her mind away and keep an eye on her permanently. Incidentally... anyone else incredibly uncomfortable when Luca is kissing a comatose Nanase right on the lips? If he'd kissed her on the cheek or forehead, it would have been sweet. Instead, he just got creepier.