magnuskn

Errr... yeah, I guess about *every* fan of Sheryl would complain that she would get her awesome personality merged with whiny "Save me!" Ranka. I mean, really. Only a complete and utter moron would like that. And that is exactly why some people need it spelled out in big neon letters... and others don´t. They left it *somewhat* ambiguos by never stating it outright, but all the hints, all the signs are there to point to Alto having chosen Sheryl. Ranka removed herself from the competition in ep 21 and the only thing that prevented Sheryl from closing the deal was herself still thinking that Alto stayed with her because of pity. Still, while I liked the last episode good enough on all other terms, Alto not outright stating his ultimate choice at the end is a let-down. Not because I think he may not have chosen Sheryl, but because they had made an awesome build-up for it just last episode with Sheryl sending him off, and they chose not to cash in on it. But then again I think that *someone* decided on a last-minute rewrite of the final minutes. The rather poor animation quality ( compared to much of the rest of the episode ) is a big clue, IMO. I mean, why exactly do the last few minutes of the show look so much worse than the earlier parts of the episode or even the whole episode before that ( Look at the big Sheryl/Alto scene in ep 24 and compare to the end of 25. I mean, WTF? )? Doesn´t make much sense, because you´d think they would want to go out looking the best they can, not rather "meh" in comparison. I guess a bigger milking of the Frontier franchise seemed more important than a proper resolution.

I was right about Ranka curing Sheryl with magic hax. I was right about Alto surviving. I was right about Sheryl being a descendant of either Mao or Ranshe. I wasn´t right, though, about an Sheryl X Alto being a sure thing. But I guess I just underestimated the desire of Kawamori to make sequels. Oh, well, off to wait for the movie, which hopefully isn´t a retelling, but a sequel. And also off to hoping that so many people in Japan are pissed at the non-resolution, that they force Kawamori to end it in the right way. The Sheryl X Alto way.

Thanks for the help! And keep up the excellent work you all do at gg.

I´ll probably do so for this episode, if only because CBC really put massive amounts of Japanese writing into this particular episode. The re-timing will be a bitch, however. ^^

I´ll have to look into what is coreavc, then. ^^ And you couldn´t use, say, Zero Raws, instead of the CBC broadcast? They don´t have the Japanese writing in them. Not criticising, just asking.

Was I the only one for whom the .mkv of the episode 24 gg release was partially corrupted in the second half? If others had the same problem, I hope the guys at gg do another release with a better file ( which hopefully doesn´t include those annoying Kanji which CBC put into this episode. ^^ ).

Yeah, seems like it. Still, a possible second season could well lead into that racism thing.

Could you provide a link to their site?

I rather hope so. ^^

Eh, the last set of spoilers ( which weren´t from the magazines ) were false, so I hope this turns out to be the same. Still, not a nice way to end the evening here.

For once I´d wish Kresphy would tell us from where he got the spoilers, instead of vanishing off into the ether. Well, no matter. Unless Kawamori wants to kill the Macross franchise dead, dead, dead, these spoilers are probably fake.

Ackem says no to your interpretation and he speaks the language. I trust in him. ^^

Let´s just say that some stories of what Alto actually said are.... exaggerated.

No, not controversial... I´m just friendly debating your point. And to me, that point which you cite with "Ozma = Roy = Dead... oh, wait" does apply to Sheryls situation in the fullest. We´ve been told so many times now that she´ll die, there is no cure, etc... so I see a clear path to her surviving, especially with the now revealed connection between her disease and Rankas glowing stomach. And her surviving would not come out of nowhere, exactly due to the foreshadowing that we got in regard to that connection.

Well, it was Sarah in the end, Mao was never really in the running, IMO. And for Escaflowne, it was pretty also clear to me that it would be Van. We´ll have to agree to disagree on the Alto X Ranka path, I think that the ZOMG moments you mentioned didn´t break the logic of the plot. They were just dramatic visuals, which played with the imagination of the audience, but flowed all logically along in the storyline. Yeah, well.. Escaflownes ending left me pissed for days, because I wanted Hitomi to *stay* with Van, instead of returning to Earth. So I know that Kawamori does do bittersweet endings and doesn´t always please the audience. Macross Zeros ending also isn´t exactly a happy one. As for Escaflownes ending, it is of course always possible for Hitomi to return to Vans planet, so it wasn´t all that bad. I just wanted those two to stay together. <sniff> But in the end, it´s not so bad an ending. While things have gotten quite dramatic due to the imminent end, the show doesn´t hesitate to show its more lighthearted side when it can. The general feeling of the show doesn´t point to a negative end. Macross Zero was far less lighthearted, so that bittersweet ending didn´t feel out of place.

Yeah, pretty much. A normal medical cure has already been ruled out, so we need some Magic Hax by this time. But as you said, Ranka is the definite connection. We know that the bugs she has in her stomach are similar ( in looks at least ) to the bugs Sheryl has in her blood. So a connection has been established, and I see it as the definite way to Sheryls cure. It´ll probably also serve as the final instance of Ranka letting go of Alto, so I see it in a favourable light in all ways for the narrative.

Then again the death flags they have been waving have been a bit *too* strongly. It´s really all "Sheryl is gonna die ZOMG, DESPAIR!" and, well, while having her die while heroically singing on a burning Battle Frontier would speak well of her character, it would be too overwrought for a series that even now still tries to be lighthearted as much as it can.

I think we should see it in the context of two things. a.) Is Kawamori someone who frequently does "Gotcha!" endings? b.) How solidly and logically were the *other* plots of Macross Frontier developed? If the other plot was done solidly, logically building up on itself, why then should the romance be resolved illogically, á la Canvas 2? As I have seen it, Kawamori is a solid storyteller. So I fear little that he´ll give us what I consider as the illogical ending. He may still do the tragic one, however, but I hope he isn´t as cruel.

I won´t even try to deny that I view things Sheryl-favoured, but I also try to look at the situation based on prior relationship dynamics, the storyline and characterization. I think I can definitely say that at this point that an Alto X Ranka romantic relationship lacks any real foundation in what so far has happened on the show. It would need something incredibly drastic by this point to make work, because of the dearth of real interaction between the two of them. At least a time-jump and a great lot of handwaving, maybe if Sheryl dies of her disease. Sheryl X Alto, however, has been steadily built up over the whole season. Yeah, their big moment could have been more romantic, but in light of how Sheryls own story has developed during the season, some light-hearted romance would feel out of place at this time, as sad as that is.

Why do you assume we don´t want you to talk about what you see. We only want you to justify your opinions, we certainly do ours. I would say by this time it would be an absolute out-of-nowhere development to give us Alto X Ranka. There has been zero romantic tension between the two of them ( note: the two of them, not one-sided Ranka stuff ), but we had that amazing Sheryl X Alto scene last episode... At this time, Alto X Ranka would be utterly unbelievable. Their romantic development has been phenomenally one-sided, and it was not from Altos side. Sheryl X Alto, however, has been solidly developed over the entire season. I would have wished it to be a more lighthearted relationship, like in the earlier episodes, but as Sheryls storyline has developed, it could scarcely come to anything else than what we have at the moment. Which is not to say that I don´t endorse their relationship wholesale, but I´d wish the both of them would get a break from all the misery afflicting them at the moment.

It did get one. Well, now with you, it got two.

Ah, she has her good sides, she has her bad sides. Her bad sides were just much more prominent lately. And she doesn´t hold a light to Sheryl, of course.

Thus seems to be the power of lolicon in Japan... but Sheryl already is giving as good as gets, even there!

As far as I know, she has catched up in Japan as well.