DeeBot

Personally, I like the evil Alto look. It makes me think Sheryl must have brainwashed him, since... nah, I won't go there.

I almost missed that.

I've been pushing the "Sheryl will die!" theory sorta jokingly, but it occurred to me there is sorta a precedent for this in Macross, with the final shot in SDFM being Misa's hand closing a photo album. (Well, I always assumed it was Misa's, at least.) Flashback 2012 also had this sort of ambiguity, although that was a pretty stylized endeavor overall. Somehow, though, I don't think that ending would work in this day and age. I always thought it was a beautiful way to close out the series, but it really feels like it belongs to another era. It's a bit too sentimental, I suppose, and I guess physical photo albums are as old-fashioned as phonograph records now to today's generation.

Well, I think that's sorta been true of Frontier as a whole. The pacing's been pretty fast, with a lot of rapid cutting, even episodes that don't move the plot anywhere. This hasn't been a series that spends a lot of time dwelling on, say, a shot of the WTF-1. I wish they'd linger more on some scenes, but I guess that's the reality of storytelling in the television medium. This does worry me a little bit when it comes to episodes 24 and 25. I'm afraid they're going to blow their production budget on the mecha pr0n, like they've done twice already back in episodes 7 and 14. I mean, this is the finale and all. However, long action sequences eat up exposition time. I'm convinced we'll get all the answers, but maybe not in as much detail as I'd like. Then again, I always thought they did a wonderful job combining plot and action back in episode 27 of SDFM, so maybe it's not completely impossible.

Though it should probably be pointed out that it's been "caught" about five times at least in this thread alone.

While I was hoping that this would be a more character-driven episode, the plot revelations really came fast and furious. I can't wait for a sub so I can find out what they were. Anyway, I think they're set up nicely for the final two episodes; anything could happen, at this point. Overall, not an episode I'd watch more than a couple times, probably, but it serves its purpose. I was borderline positive on this one.

On a side note, I'm glad to see the speculation about the panned out. That's a pretty cool concept to work with, I think.

How about a series set 500,000 years ago, during the heyday of the Stellar Republic?

I'm 10% sure Sheryl's already dead. The final episode will reveal this was all a flashback!

*squint, squint* Ah, so you can.

Oh, how easily we forget that long stretch when the forums were rife with speculation about when Ranka would finally get her big break... Minmay definitely got the world handed to her on a silver platter. Ranka, not so much. I think the problem may partly be that young children are boring in general, at least to certain kinds of people. The characters in Frontier, Ranka in particular, are still growing up to be interesting adults.

Why it's going to be AxR: Ranka is the Vajra queen. Alto and Ranka will hook up to bring interplanetary harmony between the species. Sheryl will accept this, because she's Sheryl Nome. The next day, she'll fall in love with Alto's adopted brother. Brera and Grace will also pair up. Because Grace is just a hurt little mad scientist, deep down inside, and just needs someone to love her. Captain Wilder and Monica will get it on, obviously. They're the Max and Milia of this series. Nanase will be revealed as a lesbian... not that we all didn't know already. Luca will storm off in frustration, if he hasn't be Kakizaki'd already, and go play with his high tech toys. Michel will make a miraculous final appearance. Klan will be overjoyed, let go of all her hate, and personally put a macro-sized bullet in Leon's head. Ozma and Cathy will have another fight, right before making out passionately. Did I leave anyone out? Good, you can get started writing the shipping fic on everything I missed.

Roy was given a top secret, experimental High Energy-Reflecting Object shield during his days as a test pilot. He later passed it on to Hikaru. Which explains how Roy got pineapple saladed, and Hikaru survived the series. That is, until he bequeathed the shield to a moody young boy right before departing for the center of the galaxy...

Something amazing, I guess.

I'm not sure if she's loyal to either side at this point. Maybe just doing her own thing. She did take Michel's loss pretty hard. It might be a bit soon to ask her to make a decision like this. Heck, does she even know yet what decision Luca and Alto ultimately made? Even Ozma seemed unsure right up to the moment SMS left dock. I'm leaning toward dreamweaver13's interpretation personally. And the final arc was pretty obviously tacked on. The story and love triangle were essentially resolved, and then they drag it out for another 10 or so episodes. You can see all the seams where they had to abruptly backtrack to make it all work, mostly by making Hikaru a bigger idiot than usual. I still have to roll my eyes a little every time they stab a reset button in the post-climax episodes. If the original series had ended at episode 27, nothing of storytelling value would have been lost. Hikaru would still have ended up with Misa, Space War I would have ended, Minmay would have her own separate path, etc. I thought the extra episodes were great (they're some of my favorites, though Kawamori apparently disagrees), but in terms of story, they add very little. The story basically goes in a big circle while we get some more character development and exposition. In an ideal world, they wouldn't have tacked on those episodes. They would have always been planned for, neither cut or added back in. With Macross now being an established quantity, there's much less risk of episode counts being modified mid-series. They certainly haven't done anything like those post-climax episodes again, at least not as part of the main series. To reiterate my original point, I don't think they're saving anything for a season 2. Frontier's story will be complete at the end of episode 25. They might do a spin-off or encore-style OAV (I might even wager that it's likely), but I believe the dramatic tension among the current cast will be resolved, leaving nothing to drive a second series. You'd be starting from scratch, at which point you might as well call it something else. They're not going to drag out the current plot lines for another 13 or 25 episodes just to explain every last unresolved question, or satisfy the fans who just want more Frontier, no matter what. Personally, I thought M7 dragged on way too long. Frontier isn't nearly so monster-of-the-week. It's budget is probably sky-high compared to M7, too; all that CGI can't be cheap. They need to keep the story short and sweet, by necessity; they really try to cram as much as they can in each episode, all without moving forward very much.

Excellent point. Still, they might mark the occasion somehow.

I'd actually be rather disappointed if they cleared a second season just because they had too many loose ends lying around. Macross has always been a one season story for me, scripted into one coherent whole. I wouldn't object too loudly if they did an OAV exploring some kind of side plot, similar to what Macross 7 got, but I'd be disappointed if there was a full second season of Frontier, unless they had planned to push for one all along. I expect the series may end somewhat open-ended, as usual, but the 1-25 story arc seems self-contained to me (at least from what we know so far ). I'd be at a loss for how you could extend it without cheapening it, unless you switched the focus to different characters, and then it wouldn't really be so much a second season in the usual sense.

With the real final episode summary out, I feel confident in predicting that Finally, a bit of random speculation: Maybe Luca's on Battle Frontier during the final episode, when the Macross Quarter surely blows it up, with Leon on it, and Grace caught in the blast.

That was the spirit in which the comment was intended. I still like Zero quite a bit, I just thought I'd throw out a differing opinion before this becomes a Zero dogfight lovefest.

I know at least Gubaba's stopped reading the news thread because it's too spoilerrific (good thing, too; kresphy just posted the official summaries for the last 3 episodes), but I thought this scan was too awesome not to spread around: BOMBAA!!!

Han shot first.

I vote neither. I think, in the end, Alto's feelings for either of them just aren't that deep. He's content to just be friends.

I have to take exception to this, although I suppose it depends on how you judge "best damn fighter pilot." In the time frame of the original series, I think Hikaru certainly displayed more leadership talent than Max. And yes, we know Hikaru was a gifted pilot from his air circus days, and definitely competent enough to be Skull 1. Still, I don't think he was the "best ever." Moreover, I think that's sorta missing the point of the Hikaru-Max dynamic. Hikaru didn't need to be the greatest fighter pilot ever; he could willingly let Max have that role. He was a big enough person that he didn't let himself get too hung up on the fact that he wasn't the biggest hotshot after all. When he saw a superior talent, he recognized it and gave it space to thrive. This is all part of him being a true leader, what qualified him for the command seat instead of Max or anyone else. If you try to insist that he was a better fighter pilot than Max, but was just too busy to show it, I think you end up diminishing both of their characters. Moreover, I just don't think the series supports that conclusion.