Swampstorm

Don't pilots have to break formation at some point when they encounter enemies? GAR is about personality, not looks. As long as he goes out and achieves whatever he sets his mind to without moaning about the consequences, then he's hit the mark. Sheryl's outGARing him for now, though.

It's easy enough to get a bigshot manager after you become famous. I doubt that Grace went around to every orphaned girl that she saw with a teddy bear in hand to offer them careers. As Ranka's discovering now, the hard part is getting that first big break. And yes, I am suggesting that Nanase has a crush on Alto. Her reaction to Sheryl's question was fairly unambiguous; much moreso even than Ranka when Mikhail asked Ranka the same question a few scenes earlier. Nothing says that you can't go after both. The thing is that there was nothing in Sheryl's tone that was condescending to begin with. The outburst comes from her reaction to Sheryl's image, rather than through listening to what she has to say. Furthermore, Sheryl's popularity in school and her relationship with Alto are a completely different issue, so the sudden shift in topic suggests that these points are more central to what upset Nanase. Also, don't forget that it was Nanase who seemed the most interested in eavesdropping in on the conversation between Alto and Sheryl. Remember that Ranka herself hasn't decided that she wants a romantic relationship with Alto yet, so it's entirely possible that the reason why Nanase outwardly pushes so forcefully for the relationship is because it acts as an outlet for her own unrequited feelings for Alto. The issue of Nanase being caught off guard doesn't contradict this idea. If her defenses are down, isn't she more likely to show her feelings rather than conceal them? It's easy to shrug off something that is completely baseless. Sheryl couldn't possibly have thrown Nanase off balance were there not a ring of truth to what she said. But it's entirely possible that Nanase didn't recognize this herself; note that she drops the issue and doesn't revisit it even after recovering. There's no point in getting worked up at Nanase over it, though. This is just human nature. As part of Sheryl's journey to find love and friendship, she's going to have to learn to deal with people misunderstanding her and isolating her due to her status. Ordeals like this are every bit as important to Sheryl's story as overcoming obstacles on the path to fame is to Ranka's.

I think the purpose of that part of the scene had more to imply an interest on Nanase's part towards Alto. Her reaction was emotional, which probably made it more difficult to rationally weigh the benefits that such an offer would have for Ranka. Everyone has their jealous moments. Regardless, Sheryl waited for Ranka's answer, though not Nanase; the final decision strikes me as something that Ranka wanted. Furthermore, given that Sheryl's own ascent to stardom took place without the support of any family or friends, it looked like Sheryl respected Ranka all the more for saying it. It's the right choice on Ranka's part, too. If it comes too easily or too quickly, then she won't have a chance to grow. The carrot gig is nothing for her to look down on; that's her chance to build up her skills for the real thing.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but isn't the eyecatch image this episode the exact same as the drawing that Ozma was throwing darts at about 16 minutes into episode four?

One of the things that people have to overcome (well, I did, at least) is our perceptions of people who are richer and more famous than ourselves. It's always easier to think the worst of someone who has it all to start with, so even the slightest mistep on Sheryl's part can easily have a large negative impact on her character. Furthermore, since we didn't get to witness Sheryl's rise to success, we have no idea of all the difficulties that we went through to reach her current position, in the same way we would, say Alto or Ranka. I'm wondering if there are any cultural differences in the way a North American audience percieves stardom as opposed to a Japanese audience. In North America at least, it seems that fame seems intimately linked with scandal. That's yet another obstacle to overcome, it's hard to see admirable traits in someone whom you would normally feel inclined to scoff at. Linked to this is also the racy holographic outfits; while Sheryl isn't actually wearing them, I suspect it might still subconciously create some turmoil in someone fixated on a fairytale like ideal of "innocence" in romance, even though it doesn't directly contradict it. His distant behaviour stems at least in part from his desire to rely only on himself. There's an important scene at the end of episode 3 where he declares "I want to live by my own means. When I die I'll be alone." Similarily, when he's trapped with Ranka and Sheryl earlier that same episode, he seems frustrated by his inability to do anything (or possibly protect the people with him, seeing as that bit of introspection was triggered by Sheryl's remark that Alto should be more supportive). While I don't understand the origin of his desire for self-reliance, I suspect that is the reason for his 'tsun' rather than a lack of concern for the people around him. I wonder if Sheryl is particularly good at maintaining that image consistantly, though. As Ranka points out at the end of episode 2, Sheryl tends to say more than she should during interviews, which seems to be confirmed in the press conference in episode 6. She's mostly good at maintaining her cool, but once she gets swept up in her enthusiasm for something, she really becomes reckless. That's not to say that she isn't extremely good at maintaining her image in general, just that, perhaps she isn't quite as careful as she should be? Emotionally... it's really difficult to gauge what's going on with Sheryl. One of the reasons that it took me so long to come around to liking her is that she recovers much too quickly for me to read her, and adapts any emotional outburst or slip to bring it back under control, rather than taking it back or covering it up. To make matters more complicated, where the future path for Ranka and Alto's respective character growth is fairly clearly laid out, Sheryl's is not. There are so many different directions in which the writers can potentially take her character that could just as easily elevate or destroy her character. Some of her more ambiguous comments from earlier still worry me at the possibility that she could turn out to be someone that I'll regret liking, but honestly, I just give up. Even if her character does take a turn for a worse, she's still one of the most entertaining and well-written characters that I've seen in a long time. Might as well just ride out the storm and see what happens. I wasn't really sure what exactly was happening with the laundry, but did she put the entire detergent box in the machine? I don't know about that. One of the reasons that we don't see consistant interaction between Ranka and Alto yet is because they haven't gotten the chance to really know each other yet. Alto had a much better understanding of Sheryl after their first date, which in turn initiated further interactions. But that initial "icebreaker" was needed to get things moving. All you need is some sort of reason to throw Alto and Ranka together for a while and they'll probably start hanging out with each other a lot more. While Ranka's job situation is tough because of the interference that she's been going, part of it is in the attitude; she needs to throw herself into her singing, regardless of the situation. As Mikhail points out in episode 5, Ranka needs the resolve to sing even when there is nobody there to listen to her. While she may have appeared to meet his challenge in that episode, in reality, she did not; in drawing support from Alto's paper airplane, she is still not truly singing under conditions where it feels like there is nobody there to listen to her. That's why when faced with the same challenge a second time in the mall, she suddenly feels shy. The real changes will most likely start once she learns first and foremost to believe in herself, rather than believing in Alto who believes in her. That is, assuming that she isn't willing to kick logic to the curb the way Sheryl does, of course.

It'll come easily enough once they deal with Leon's meddling. She didn't have too much trouble getting the TV debut aside from that. It's just one of those cases of "persist until you win". It's fairly obvious that Ranka will win the popularity that she yearns for by the time the show is through, so there's nothing really to worry about. Alto doesn't strike me as self-absorbed. While it does look like he doesn't want to be distracted from piloting by the constant troubles that seem to plague him (Sheryl ), he doesn't seem like the sort of guy who's willing to let people around him get hurt. But he's tsundere through and through, so it's only natural that he'd show it in sparks (i.e.when they need him the most). While they do look out for her, I don't think that has much to do with her friendship with Alto. The guys seem mainly interested in getting the latest scoop to tease Alto with, and Nanase looks like she's gunning for Alto herself. One thing that struck me as interesting is that while much of the school seems enamoured with Sheryl's stardom, there do seem to be those who resent her for it. There's the shot of two girls shooting daggers at the washroom, and Nanase's reaction as well. Until people start to see the real Sheryl, she's bound to continue to be isolated, as she always has. You have to remember that while Ranka has her own posse to always back her up, there's always going to be something of a wall between Sheryl and almost everyone else (exception of Alto, who doesn't acknowledge her stardom to begin with), no matter how hard she tries. Sheryl is extremely strong, but everyone needs support. One thing that I noticed both through Sheryl's talk with Alto before her last concert and the earlier episodes is that she seems to have grown up too fast; had I not known otherwise, I would have guessed that she was in her mid to late twenties given only the first few episodes. It's only through these interactions with Alto that she's been able to act her own age and have some fun (which was vital in making her so likable). I think that part of her future development as a character will depend on how successful she is in bridging the gap between herself and the others. (In a sense, it's the same problem as Ranka, from a different angle; Ranka needs to overcome her insecurities to understand that she's not being left out by Alto and her brother, and Sheryl needs to dispel the myths about her public persona to avoid feeling left out by Alto and his circle of friends.) I think the Eva comparison was mainly just a consequence of this episode, as part of the whole "high school hijinks" routine. The whole "master-slave" comedy duo wasn't nearly as evident during the date episode, for example. While Sheryl is supremely confident, the twist to her character comes from the fact that she's appealing even when she succeeds! Despite the sheer stupidity of jumping off the school roof, there was something utterly charming in her expression as she caught those panties. She set her mind on it, and she got it, regardless of the cost or how silly she looked. The reason: her confidence doesn't come from what other people think; it comes from her own belief in herself. And that's something that I can respect.