JustinStrife

She really didn't do this episode any favors.

#1 Max. He was hax through and through considering he didn't have the best eyesight, his body wasn't that strong, and he had some of the least amount of training of any of the pilots before he got the 'genius' tag from Roy. But he beat Milia, and was racking up an insane kill count during the series, and being able to put on a Zentraidi uniform while piloting his Valkyrie was crazy. He gets the championship crown. #2 Milia. She was the best of the best for the Zentraidi and the 2nd best for the good guys so it's only fitting she stays here. #3 Isamu. Come on, the guy takes a VF-11 and freaking owns everything, then dodges those high maneuverability missiles while sporting a booster. Not to mention mastering the very temperamental YF-19(which is the sexiest Valkyrie alive), was beating Guld on all the test scores, was evenly matched with Guld and the YF21 even though Isamu wasn't out for blood on Guld like Guld was on him, and was able to survive Ghost without all the mental wave crap the YF-21 was sporting. He is in the top 3 without a doubt. #4 Roy Fokker. Yes, he's still the freaking man after all these years. Sexing the women, drinking while shooting down the enemy, he rocks. Not to mention he's gotten to mentor Shin and Hikaru both. The guy is a legend as the original Skull 001. #5 Hikaru. Survived many battles, including a Battloid vs Breetai fight among other things. He wasn't the best, and I don't think he beat Roy or Max, but he made his own legend as the next Skull Leader, and warmed Misa's heart. Not to mention saving Minmei in the 2nd episode of the original series, while having absolutely no training in a fighter, let alone the new VF-1. Would love to see him in the VF-4 in more than a quick shot from Macross Flashback 2012. I didn't put Basara or Guld on there, because well Guld was hooked up mentally with his YF-21 and never actually had to do any real piloting. The Yf-21 was essentially HAX. We'll never know what his skill could have been since he only grabbed the flight controls once. Basara, well he can't pilot Gerwalk mode, isn't that great in fighter mode, and absolutely sucked in the VF-1. Not to mention the lameness of Macross 7, and the absolutely over-used footage of VF-11's getting torched while launching every freaking episode. Couldn't they spice it up a bit? I'm sticking with the top 5, as it starts getting more difficult as time goes on.

I love your avatar too. Klan Klan is my second favorite character in Macross Frontier. I got teary eyed seeing her in Michel's cockpit clutching his helmet and staring at the picture he had of her. :( He first spoke with Misa over the intercom when he was still in his aerobatic craft. He saw Minmei after that when he was chit-chatting with Roy, but didn't speak to her. He then spoke to Misa again in the VF-1D before 'rescuing' Minmei. Alto first saw Sheryl backstage when he was with Michel and Luca. They got kicked out and had to dress up outside, where he ran into Ranka for the first time. Then of course, the concert scene with Sheryl, then rescuing Ranka with the VF-25. Some reversals, but some similarities if you look at them closely.

Hikaru talked to Misa on the radio first, met Minmei in person. Alto sees Sheryl(who smiles at the stunt boys) then talks to Ranka. Try again? Macross is not your typical anime

I edited my post. I didn't mean for that to be put out there but I was getting frustrated. -sigh- You'll notice that my last edit was 5 minutes before your reply, and doesn't have that line in there. So as insulting as I seem to you, you could have at least noticed my edit instead of quoting me after I'd already fixed it, for whatever reason you had. I know you're a big Nanase supporter, but your arguments have been putting you in the Ranka camp so it's easy to lump you in there with people like shanz. You haven't answered any of my questions, as has no one else, so we'll see if anyone can sometime before the next episode airs. Though I'm not holding my breath.

I'm making perfect sense. We've been given 20 episodes for those memories to hit Ranka and do something with her character. So far we've gotten little snips of memories, with no realizations from her at all. The closest to a realization of anything that we've gotten, was that Brera sure seems like a brother to her. Even the 'revelation' inside the Vajra ship where she communicates with the Vajra Queen and sees her mother singing Aimo, has been all but forgotten by her since then. It's like trying to stick flies to regular paper, when there's no glue. Nothing sticks with her. The writers either intentionally have stunk up her character growth, or they have screwed up that growth by mistake. The only way she is going to change and grow up now, is to give up on chasing her dream of Alto and learn to live for others. All the other good guys have been doing things for everyone else. She's the only one that does things 'for Alto', but it's really for herself and not even for him. Michael's been looking after Luca, Alto, Sheryl, Ranka, and Klan Klan. Alto's been looking after Sheryl and Ranka. Sheryl's been looking after Alto, Ranka, her fans, Galaxy, Nanase, everyone. Ozma's been looking after Ranka, Cathy, Alto, SMS, Frontier, etc. Ranka is the only one who doesn't see the existence of other peoples' feelings, thoughts, goals, etc. /facepalm As I've said before, where has Ranka tried to make any effort to have a meaningful conversation with Alto? Where does she try to get to know him? Why are none of you Ranka supporters answering these simple questions? Why are you so easily accepting, of a girl who's got the emotional level of an 8 year old, getting into a relationship with a guy who acts like he's twice her age? When is Ranka going to grow up? When? Episode 21 is 2 days away, and much of that focus is going to be on Klan Klan massacring bugs like no other, and the only preview picture of Ranka and Alto, once again has her fawning over him like some high school crush over the All-Star Quarterback. The majority of Macross romance, has always been on a more adult theme. The kiddy High School romance shows you see on TV every season, pale in comparison to the depth that you see in SDFM, Macross: DYRL, Macross Plus, Macross Zero, Macross II, and Macross: Frontier. It's not about the 'first girl' winning, or about the cutest girl winning, or the childhood friend winning, or any of that. It's about the one who connects with the main character the best.

You are in a minority. Take a look at this poll for a clear example. Take a look at the earlier polls done as the series started, and progressed. Sheryl had 50% of the votes, then 58%, now almost 80%. Notice a pattern? People are becoming more and more confident in predicting the romantic path this series is taking. Some of us saw it from Episode 1 on. Alto has saved both Ranka and Sheryl many times. Both girls fell in love with Alto. Alto has supported both girls. Alto's also gone on a date with Sheryl in episode 5, or did you forget? I've watched many anime in my 28 years. When I say many, I say well over a thousand. I'm also a HUGE sucker for romance anime. My top 10 lists 8 of them with romance as a major piece. Macross does things a little bit different from your usual series, where the childhood friend wins most times. What most of these had in common, was the winner was very much a tsundere, who was also career driven, and had a wall of ice that needed to be melted by the main character. Ranka has no such shell. She's very much like Minmei in her immature, naive view of the world. Sheryl is by far the deeper character emotionally, and like Hikaru with Misa, Shin with Mao, Hibiki with Silvi, the interactions between Alto and Sheryl are very, very telling. You can bring up Romance anime all you want, but Macross does things a bit differently, and is not as shallow.

Yeah that's really been bothering her. Considering Brera has attached himself to her hip since episode what, 15, she's really spent much time pondering it. I said five scenes, you've given me one. Keep going.

Tell me when it's bothered her outside of finding out Ozma was a pilot again in episode 3? Show me where it's been bothering her beyond the occasional dream while she sleeps, but wakes up perfectly normal? Show me where she's thought about it more than 5 scenes in 20 episodes? Show me where she hasn't the loving support of EVERYONE around her since episode 1. Good luck.

http://that.animeblogger.net/2008/08/24/ma...n-to-your-song/ Shanz read this blog, then read all the comments. Hell, go to all the major blogs on the internet for Macross Frontier, as well as all of the forums, and you'll see that this show has been dissected to the lowest common denominator. As Crusader from his blog says, Ranka's been given far too many handouts. She hasn't had one major disappointment yet. She's so completely overdo for one, it's pathetic. Like all of the characters before her, in the Macross Universe, Ranka is going to need to grow up...

Take a look at how Alto acted in Ranka's room several episodes ago. She drops a hint about them being alone and 'not to try anything funny -wink wink-' and he doesn't even flinch just goes about making his paper airplanes. Episode 13's been the only time he's shown any real attraction to her, where as he's shown attraction to Sheryl off and on throughout the show. They reach each other on far deeper levels. When has Ranka ever asked Alto about his past? When has Ranka ever gotten Alto to talk about his past? When has Ranka, ever gotten Alto to say more than words of advice? 99% of their conversations are about her. As for Alto not minding caring for Ranka, yeah I wouldn't mind treating her like a kid sister either. Notice how in episode 20, when she ran away from him and Sheryl, he didn't chase after her? He didn't even take a step forward. When he was trying to get her to sing to stop the Vajra, he didn't make up any excuses about why he was holding Sheryl. Look at the previews for episode 21 where Ranka is blushing and looking at Alto. Notice anything? He's just built his 10,000th paper airplane, and is getting ready to launch it into the sky. He's not looking at her. She's always looking at him, but in these kind of moments, what does he do? He goes and builds another airplane. Where is the interaction shanz? When is Ranka going to steal Alto's attention in a way that she hasn't outside of episode 13? That episode happened 2 months ago. We're on the home stretch and who's the only one Alto's been going to? To pull a Ranka ending now, is to make some of the most unbelievable story writing(read bullshit writing), you'll ever see in anime. Worse than Canvas 2 in many regards. Ranka's stayed stagnent for 20 episodes, yet all of a sudden, she's going to age 5-10 years mentally, and be the person she should have been by now? It's a little late, and a dollar short. Check the spoilers for the next 3 episodes and see if you're still confident...

There's some major flaws with your logic. The most obvious one is, Sheryl has always worried about her fans, Alto, Galaxy, everybody, over herself. She has always put others before her. Ranka on the other hand, has always put herself, or Alto above everything else. Case in point, episode 12 during the Galia IV arc where she never once showed concern for Sheryl or anyone else on the entire planet except Alto. #2, she never showed concern for her best friend Nanase after she was hurt, and could only comment about how warm Alto's hand was, before thinking of Brera in a past memory. Ranka hasn't learned anything yet. She hasn't grown up yet. She's still a mental midget. Until she grows up, she has no chance of winning the love triangle. You can't have an adult and a child in a love love relationship. It doesn't work. You need two adults. Another thing, only 3 people knew Sheryl is dying. Grace, Michael, and Klan Klan. Grace is the main bad guy, Michael is dead, and Klan Klan is about to go apeshit on all that is Vajra with deathflags abound. That leaves Sheryl with... Who exactly to help her? Since Ranka interrupted and went all emo, Sheryl is no way going to tell Alto about her illness, and will choose to carry the burden alone. As well as carrying the burden of the peoples' despair. So then who will carry Sheryl? The people? The ones who toss her aside on a moment's notice when a new Heroine comes to town? No, Sheryl needs Alto's support more than Ranka's. Ranka has been using Alto as an emotional crutch since almost day one. She's shown no ability to do things on her own without it involving him somehow. Very, very unhealthy. Ranka will never grow out of being a child, until she learns to give him some distance, and show she can stand on her own two feet without him. Unfortuntely, we're past episode 20 now, and time is about out. I'm leaning on a bittersweet ending at this point. Alto finds out about Sheryl dying after they become a couple, and there is no cure for her, so they spend what time they have left together, while Ranka runs off into the sunset with the Vajra and Brera in tow. Or something of a similar variation to that.

How would Ranka be better for him? She knows nothing about him, she doesn't challenge him intellectually or emotionally at all, of all the girls in the entire show, she's the one least ready for a real relationship, she's been using Alto as a crutch, and looks nothing more than a school girl crushing on the Quarterback because he said some words to her. She's nice, she's sweet, she's naive, etc, etc, but is she really better for someone like Alto? Does he need a damsel in distress, who constantly needs his encouragement and words of advice to decide anything?

Sheryl FTW Is there really any other choices at this point? + =

That's true, but you're in denial if you don't think Ranka looks and acts 12, even though she's suppose to be 16. Even Mao in Macross Zero looked older and more mature than Ranka does.

I still haven't gotten used to Northern Cross yet. DC is still my favorite ED song.

I think you're the only one assuming she went to check on Sheryl.

Michael is already spoken for. There's a greater chance of Ranka hooking up with her brother Brera, than of Michael and Sheryl hooking up. And Ranka really pissed me off in episode 12 how she didn't even mention Sheryl after she flew in and saved the day. What a bitch.

My vote was for Sheryl. I didn't get to see the de-culture episode until last month, so I didn't have the 5 months to dislike her as a character as alot of other people did. However, as a fan of anime for over 20+ years, I've gotten tired of all the moe characters that have won over the years. Being that I'm almost 30, I do like the more mature acting females(alot of the games I play, I go for the nurses/teachers/sempais first). The fact that Sheryl makes an effort to know things about Alto, and try and relate to him in someway, are golden scenes for me. Ranka unfortunately, is too engrossed in herself to make that kind of impression at this point in the story. Nanase and Klein Klein are a close 2-3 for me.

My vote went to Episode 5. I love the interaction between Alto and Sheryl, so it's no surprise really. After that, I'd have to give it up to the last 5 minutes of episode 6, the first five minutes of episode 2, and bits and pieces of 8 and 10 for the obvious Sheryl x Alto fun. 7 really wasn't a big hit for me as much as I thought. Outside of Macross Quarter's scene, and Sheryl x Ranka singing with Alto going nuts to save Luca, it was a dud IMO. I love picking out all the old Macross pieces though from the earlier series/movies. It's a real treat for this 23+ year Robotech/Macross fan(first saw Robotech at 5 years old lol )