One of the most interesting things that Macross did was its presentation of its pop idols. Iijima Mari, the seiyuu and singing voice of Lynn Minmay of Super Dimension Fortress Macross was part of the first emergence of the phenomenon of the pop idol in Japanese culture. I think the character Minmay became such a star in anime because she coincided with the idol phenomenon. However, the idol during this period is characterized by immaculate purity (chaste wholesomeness). To me they seem to represent the fantasies of their male fans, and are held up to be people to be emulated by females.
Only that Macross presented Minmay as completely flawed. Very cute and winsome as an idol is supposed to, but also shallow, petty, and egotistical. The idol in Japanese culture is supposed to be loved, and her combination of attributes are manufactured to take loving her for granted. The Macross idol, Minmay actually needs love because she won’t survive (or be a useful person in society) without it, and equally important is how challenging she would be to love. It would actually take work, effort, patience, and you know, actual love.
Macross was plugging into the idol phenomenon and at the same time giving a critical account of it. This is pretty edgy for a silly robot show in the early 1980s wouldn’t you say? This post explores the foibles of the latest incarnations of the Macross singing idol near the end of their narratives.
Sheryl Fails at Using Chopsticks: an Historic Dinner
The dinner is a take on the Christmas dinner in SDF Macross episode 34 “Romanesque,” wherein Minmay prepared Hikaru dinner on their second night together. Sheryl had just spent the night in the Saotome mansion with Alto, who has elected to hide this relationship from the public and his fellow pilots. Sheryl teases him about having anything to hide about them. The narrative is coy, but there is no conclusive evidence that says they are together, or that Alto has picked her over Ranka.
Similarly, Hikaru had made no such decision at that point in time, one episode away from the finale in a 3-cour show! The difference here is that Alto does the cooking. What is telling is how Sheryl told Alto, “You can’t go back ok? Don’t ever… Leave me.”
Why did Sheryl do this? Here are two approaches:
The Watsonian approach is rather problematic to put together. I can only say that she’s at her wits end, on her last days, propped up only by Alto’s attentions. This is Sheryl giving up on life, giving up on her future. She’s just cashing her chips at this point, quitting while she’s ahead.
The Doylist approach tells us this scene is a contrivance to maintain the conceit that Sheryl (and Ranka) are versions of SDFM’s Minmay. However, Sheryl is the Macross: Do You Remember Love? version of Minmay while Ranka is the SDFM version. This scene only exists in SDFM, so the writing staff rather trip over themselves maintaining the conceit.
In SDFM, Minmay is extreme. She says she gives up singing, then insists that Hikaru give up flying altogether. I believe that the future that this represented, where Hikaru sees a denial of both their identities and aspirations and having to reinvent themselves with no clue of how to do so, sealed the deal with his choice to go with Misa. It seems cynical, but I doubt that at this point Hikaru had a lot of love in his heart (more like blood in his penis). Misa would not only let him fly, but encourage him through his military career. It was no contest.
Sheryl didn’t exactly demand any of this, because her request was ambiguous – made while drunk, sleepy, and sick (dying). Don’t go back where? Never leave me for what? It isn’t clear, but for fans who paid attention to Minmay and Hikaru in SDFM, the implications are obvious. Very interestingly, Alto said “Okay.”
Why? Because as far as he’s concerned, Ranka left him, left the colony, and left the human race. Leon would later paint the picture that Ranka is the foothold by which the Vajra will destroy them all. While Alto would remain conflicted, it didn’t make saying ‘yes’ to Sheryl more difficult.
Ranka Lies: She Claims to Have Never Failed
Ranka says to Brera that the Vajra will listen to her song, that “It hasn’t failed me before.” Either Ranka is dissociative amnesia all over again (unlikely because the episode begins with her remembering more things about Ranshe, Brera, and Grace), Ranka is ridiculously stupid, or that Ranka is lying. In episode 20 Alto convinced her to make the Vajra listen to her song (to pacify them) and Sheryl even slapped her when she wouldn’t agree to do so. The whole thing failed, and the Vajra only became more violent, leading to the near destruction of the colony and countless deaths.
Why would she claim that it has never failed?
The Doylist answer would be “because the writers forgot.” I find this unlikely, and just as lazy in terms of reasoning as the accusation of laziness it presents. The care in ensuring the reference and thematic unity of the idols as versions of Minmay rules out mere laziness as far as I’m concerned.
That said, there seems to be no satisfying Watsonian answer. Why would Ranka say something so obviously mistaken? Also, it’s rather telling how Ranka never asked Brera who he was, what his relationship with Grace is, who Grace is – beyond a artiste manager who has elite pilots at her disposal. She never bothered to wonder. This obliviousness is telling (some of this applies to Sheryl as well, but I credit Grace for hiding this actively from her protégé). This all results in not only Ranka failing at her ill-conceived personal mission to communicate with the Vajra, but also to her falling into Grace’s trap.
It’s hard to elevate Grace as a schemer of talent when her victims are as dumb as Ranka.
And the episode ends with a nice segue to Alto, and his own crisis of purpose. The orders are to fight Ranka, If it comes down to having to kill her, can he do it? Alto said he would. This too, is love, or at least that’s how Klan Klan takes it. Sheryl eavesdrops, and she gets it too. Did she feel that she suddenly lost to Ranka, because Alto loves Ranka enough to kill her? She resolves to do something, and that something is what she said she won’t do anymore (though she already broke this vow). She’ll sing, to fight Ranka, so maybe Alto won’t have to kill her.
Ranka, fulfilling the role of the SDFM Minmay, was Alto’s reason for joining the S.M.S., just as Minmay was the reason Hikaru joined the UN Spacy, albeit Ranka didn’t pressure Alto as Minmay did Hikaru. The episode brings us back to the roles played, ringing a little like destiny, and wholly the conceit of a show that exists too to remember love.
This question I ask of you who have only seen Frontier prior to any other Macross shows: did the behavior of the protagonists make sense for you up to this point?
To answer that question at the end, the actions of the characters did make sense to me when I watched Frontier prior to any other series. Ranka was certainly dumb, but not so stupid that she couldn’t be callous and selfish. If she was just a dumb character I might not hate her as much as I do, but she knew enough to understand that people were counting on her but decided to run off in a pity-storm when Alto started falling for Sheryl. And her callousness just rose over time, from her refusal to sing at the memorial service to eventually refusing to sing to try and defend the fleet. And she had the gall to come back at the end like everything was normal and delude herself that she still had a shot at Alto. I suppose Sheryl’s restraint in humoring her in that final moment of the show can be commended, but I’d rather have seen Sheryl crush her by laying out the facts. Going out in a total defeat like Minmay did would have been healthier for her, as after the initial shock she would be free of her delusions and could then begin the process of learning from her mistakes and growing as a person.
Sheryl also seemed to be acting logically to me, going after Alto because she interested him but then when her disease caused things to ‘get real’ she realigned her priorities and by that point had genuinely fallen for Alto as someone more than a passing interest. She had to reevaluate all the important parts of her life and had a crisis of faith in her singing, but once she took the time to actually think about Alto she never wavered in that regard.
And then Alto had his initial crush on Ranka but then started to understand that Sheryl was a person of more substance. And then when Ranka turned her back on the fleet Alto rightfully concluded that she was an enemy. But not an ordinary one, a traitor to boot, hence his declaration that he would kill her. I didn’t see it at all as some sort of love for her, just intense emotion directed at her. He declared that he would kill her in line with his ‘only room for one of us’ epiphany after shooting down the leader of the Zentradi base uprising. If anything it was vengeance that he felt, a strong, personal desire to destroy the person who had betrayed him as well as the fleet. Not at all love in my opinion, but then again your definition of what constitutes love often baffles me
So that’s how I interpreted it. And while it may just be due to my watching of Frontier first, after watching SDF Macross and the rest of the canon that information didn’t really alter or change my interpretation of the characters in Frontier. I could see some of the lineage and influence from their predecessors, but only as a bit of framing for the characters. I don’t see it as fulfilling a role in a sort of destiny in the Battlestar Galactica “all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again” sense, I just view it as a collection of information and influences that helped to shape the characters but only comprised a small portion of their core being.
[change "she interested him" to "he interested her" in the start of the second paragraph, then delete this comment. Got my pronouns mixed up. Thanks. BTW, have you thought about installing a comments plugin that lets commenters edit their comments?]
Unfortunately plugins are not available for WordPress.com blogs. There may be a widget for it someday, but at present I apologize for the inconvenience.
I mean the characters in Frontier play out their roles not at all in terms of some destiny construct, but more like a mythic path in some ways, and more like ‘masked villains in Gundam’ in others.
It’s part throwback and remembering love, and part following the template, and in part attempting to improve on perceived missteps. I can’t say where intention meets success, but I think Sheryl surprised everyone, and Ranka surprised everyone in a bad way.
I do find fans and viewers a little comical (at times a lot) for feeling genuine hatred and contempt for characters making bad decisions. In the case of Macross, I felt that Ranka acted very ordinarily as a teenager with problems, while Sheryl acted extraordinarily mature. Remember Minmay accepting defeat with dignity is an 18-year old who had lost a lot already, witnessed the destruction of her home world, was captured and interrogated by giants at least twice, and suffered her own share of disappointments and humiliations over three years; most of which as a professional. Ranka just turned 16, a career that was maybe three months old, was having her first puppy love, and had all this alien amnesia shit going on, and was being weaponized at first by scary government people (Grace and Leon, to Minmay’s Global and Exsedol) and even by her friends Sheryl and Alto. While I wanted her to behave exemplary, I really don’t see the point of hating on her.
What’s more annoying to me is that as a character constructed for a narrative, she was a gamble that failed. Her childishness felt premeditated as an appeal to moe, and in a narrative like Macross, it didn’t quite work.
I felt a characterization like hers would’ve felt more at home in a show like Genesis of Aquarion (another Kawamori/Satelite show) where she could’ve passed for a layered joke among other caricatures. I also feel that Luca and Nanase could’ve come straight from the Aquarion cast.
As for Alto, I never thought of him as being truly attracted to Ranka. It never rang true for me at all. When it came to shipping it was a no-brainer for me. Ranka and Alto didn’t have a lot of chemistry at all.
As for love, let me put it this way. When I read people talk about how much they love X and Y show, to me it feels very conditional. The love they feel is like a reward they give to a show in exchange for pleasuring them. If the show is a one-shot, there’s not much to talk about. But if the show is a franchise like Gundam and Macross, you can really see the difference.
(I understand that I may be alone in this)
I love Macross, and love it unconditionally. There’s nothing it can do in the future that will change this. I will watch and somehow enjoy anything it puts out. My love for the franchise stands apart from my critical appreciation for it. The latter can happen and it does, but I will always be happy with it from a fan point of view.
This is profoundly different from the fans who value their critical identity first and far above all other things. They are loath to be identified with a bad show. So when the franchise comes up with something they don’t like, they will act betrayed etc etc. This played out in the Macross fandom with Macross 7 and Frontier.
I don’t think this is categorically bad, mind you. I am the same with Gundam. I’m just saying that my love for Macross is different from most people when they talk about loving a show, or a character. It’s not so much about ‘earning’ points from me. It’s all about me finding ways to do something for the franchise in my own special way.
In the context of Alto and Ranka, the love in question as spoken of by Klan is that of ‘not letting the loved one to fail further, to cause more harm;’ he’d be ready to kill her when the time came because he does care for her that much. It would be more like me, if I were to count myself as your friend to explicitly request that “if I download and watch the ZZ Gundam BD rips, please fucking kill me.”
“I really don’t see the point of hating on her.”
But it’s fuuuun! In seriousness it actually is enjoyable to hate on a character, it draws me into the world of the show more if I have strong feelings (good or bad) about the characters. I judge the characters and love or hate them by their actions because part of what draws me into a show and makes it great for me is if it can cause me to react as if I lived in that fictional world. And if I were part of the Frontier fleet and had to suffer the consequences of what she did her age and immaturity would be so small a mitigating circumstance as to be effectively nonexistant. Frontier wasn’t my favorite of the franchise, but it did make me care strongly about what was going on, and that’s a key factor in enjoying fiction for me.
“the love in question as spoken of by Klan is that of ‘not letting the loved one to fail further, to cause more harm.”
I’d agree, but from a different point of view. That might have been part of the subconscious equation going on in Alto’s head, but I think that at least half, if not the majority of Alto’s strong feelings when he made that declaration came from a personal sense of betrayal and shame. By having been her friend and by being the trigger that made her betray the fleet I think he wanted to kill her to stop her from further harming the fleet because he felt in part responsible for it. Not in a direct way, but since she was a friend I think he almost felt a collective responsibility and thus shame for her actions by association. The people around him didn’t take it out on him that he was friends with Ranka in the past, but I think that their attempts to be understanding, like Klan’s comment, probably just made him feel more embarrassed and ashamed of knowing her. In addition to neutralizing the threat she represented, his desire to kill her was also an attempt to clear his own name and take (misplaced) responsibility for her.
LOL this is you sublimating your own feelings towards Ranka more than it is Alto’s. I give him far more credit than you do. Anything to add coals to the flame of fun amirite?
I get you man, I like taking sides too, only that I don’t seem to take it as seriously or play it as intensely. In the end these are characters playing roles in fiction so even Kaifun ‘had to be’ the way he is.
Still I find it unnerving to see an entire civilian population turning on a juvenile, no matter how justified. What I want to see (as I’ve mentioned long ago here though I’ve given up on some of the opinions there since blogging Frontier this way) is a future story line wherein Ranka accounts for all she’s done, without shortcuts and retconning.
While I have my opinion of Ranka, I don’t feel that I put words in the mouth of (or more accurately, thoughts in the mind of) Alto by forming that theory of his reaction. I thought Ranka was a fun side character at first, but I don’t really have the feelings of betrayal to sublimate onto Alto since she wasn’t a favorite character or greatly important to me. I had switched the to Sheryl camp long before Ranka’s desertion. The betrayal I lift from the series comes from sympathizing with Alto. It’s perfectly natural and I do not believe that it belittles him as a character to think that way about his reaction. I think it gives him more credit as a complex individual than to ascribe his feelings toward Ranka at that point as some sort of wires-crossed love. He might be stubborn, but he’s a smart enough character to not get the two confused.
It boggles me how you could have perceived her as a side character when compared to Sheryl’s first encounter with Alto, she gets the “meet cute” trope. This should indicate that she is a primary love interest.
I can acknowledge that Alto could have those feelings too, but I seriously doubt if they were primary. Having that into the mix would make the case for further complexity in Alto’s characterization.
Since I was ignorant of exactly how important singing was to the Macross franchise when I first watched Frontier, I tended to treat both Ranka and Sheryl as side characters until it was established that Ranka had military uses. (I went into the series knowing that music was a part of the franchise, but I had assumed that it was more spectacle than actual, functional tool.) For me early on the show was all about Alto and the other SMS characters, with the love interest and singing parts being the sidestory to everything else, kind of like how Nina Purpleton was a sidestory to the larger events of 0083 (well, until she intervened in the end by turning traitor.) Coming from a Gundam background, I placed much more emphasis on the military story and considered everything else to be secondary until Frontier really shoved the Macross tropes in your face. And by that time I had already started disliking Ranka.
Watching Frontier the second time around it was a lot clearer what Macross is about, so I had lost that initial division between the SMS/military main story and the homefront/love sidestory. I saw things as Macross tropes and conventions instead of sidestories and ways to draw in more viewers (not that they weren’t also the latter.)
Gotcha. I suppose it would be how I’d treat Marina Ismail when I first saw Gundam 00, and Shirley in Code Geass, side characters in both cases.
But following this logic, Misa Hayase (suppose she wasn’t part of the triangle) and Sumeragi Lee Noriega wouldn’t be side characters. What do you think?
Those two characters would be part of the main story grouping, but I wouldn’t think of them as main in terms of their roles. Both of them acted in a support fashion to the war story instead of being fighters themselves, so they would belong to the main group but have side roles. When I watched Frontier (and some other shows) I grouped things on two levels and then the characters by their contribution to the level. So they would be main-side characters.
Early on in Frontier I saw Ranka as being a side-main, in that she belonged to the side story and was thus of less importance to how I was watching the show, but was central within that lower level of narrative. The show certainly gave her emphasis when she was introduced, but I thought of her as a side character because at that point she wasn’t involved in the primary (to me) story of conflict. The love triangle at the start of Frontier, at least to a Macross newbie, seemed fairly insignificant. At that time I just figured that it would be a sidestory for the characters, a way to see them develop and compete, but not a central part of what the show was about. Kind of like how the love stories played out in Gundam or Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Not that I didn’t DDAAAAWWWW and enjoy the best ones of those, but they felt more like a way of rounding out the characters involved and as a break from the action instead of the focus like they are in Macross.
I suppose I’m not as organized as you when watching these cartoons!
I see the logic in it, gotcha. But yeah, Macross is supposedly about the love story first, and a robot action show next. That is its calling card. I suppose Escaflowne is the same, but I dunno about Aquarion.
To me the characterization made a whole lot of sense at this point, even more so (at least for Sheryl) after I heard the audio drama CDs. Many consider Grace to be a hardcore Magnificent Bitch. However this is mostly because of Sheryl whom she had raised, up quite lovingly in fact the audio drama CD there is a track of Sheryl when she after she does her first successful live concert, in which after wards Grace apparently brings her out for dinner. During said Dinner Sheryl asks Grace if she can sleep in the same bed as her, which Grace used to do when Sheryl was suffering because of the medical treatment she underwent as a child. After I listened to that drama CD track and watched the episode it made Sheryl’s behavior make a whole lot more sense. Before I listened to the drama CD though I just took it as a moment of weakness where Sheryl was showing that she trusted Alto enough to lower her emotional barriers around him, and showing him her vulnerable side. That in itself was something that Misa had also done around this time to Hikaru.
In the case I didn’t understand what he was talking about until I put the entire scene in context. Alto before hand had hated Frontier, he hated its fake sky, and the dull life he lead while living there. It is because of this why Alto could not find it within himself to fight to protect a place that he hated, but he believed that in order to become a pilot he needed something to protect, so he used Ranka. Through Ranka he was able to fulfill that necessary prerequisite needed to become a pilot, and he was okay with that. However like he stated in episode 23, his feelings Frontier began to change. It was in same place that he hated with a passion, he found traits to love and admire, traits that he never got a chance to see before. Alto began to love Frontier, he loved his home. He no longer Ranka as an excuse to fly anymore, he found his own. I think that after Alto realized how much he loved his home he realized that he didn’t want to lose it. To him Ranka who was his friend, who was the whole reason why he decided to join SMS in the first place and yet was stated by Leon as a enemy who wanted to destroy the home that he loved and learned to cherish and respect was not as important was his home. You can see as much in his speech in this episode about how his view on Frontier has changed. Once I re-watched the scene I realized how foolish it would be for anyone who had heard the the full conversation to think Alto meant that he may be in love with Ranka (kinda knocking on myself because I thought that on first view). To me it didn’t as though neither Alto was indecisive at all instead it was just the opposite. Alto had made up his mind.
When I first say this episode I really expected for something bad to happen to Ranka in other words I expected for her song to fail just like it did in episode 21. To me Ranka was already at an all time low and her selective amnesia was earning her any points.
As for your question I actually saw Robotech first and Macross II Lover’s Again (which isn’t a part of the Macross Universe) but I don’t know if that counts. However, when I watched the SDF my view on Ranka was that she was worse that SDF Minmei, who for all of her childishness was very responsible when handling the duties she accepted. I saw more of Sheryl her to be honest, Ranka just seemed to have more of a superficial connection to Minmei. It didn’t help matters that Minmei at the end of the series learned her lesson and once she realized that Hikaru wasn’t infatuated with her anymore she walked away and moved on with her life. It certainly didbn’t help matters that Minmei was more mature than Ranka, and also much more playful, but still acted her age. Strangely enough I actually like SDF Minmei better than DYRL Minmei.
I just wanted to add this in but normally if a girl likes a guy and that guy knows that she likes him, if he returns her feelings then he won’t just pretend not to notice that she feels that way about him, or her affection to be bothersome. In fact if a guy does that then its usually a sign that he’s just not interested in her. Alto in this episode admitted to Klan Klan that he knew that Ranka had a crush on him and yet chose to ignore it, cause he couldn’t be bothered.
I really appreciate your reading of Alto here. Very well done. Just when I think there’s no more to get out of him (and I can feel that way sometimes after watching this show so many times) I discover something else about him that I think is very important.
I agree that Ranka is far worse than Minmay in terms of behavior, and really got the short end of the writing stick. The concept for her, as you stated in your comments from the previous episode’s discussion is that she was constructed to play up the childishness appeal. It turned out to be a bad gamble and most people’s affinity for Ranka is very superficial.
Mine (being a Ranka fan) is something I can only call meta-moe; I feel the need not so much to apologize for and/or protect her, but rather appreciate her as a character despite all the problems.
Lastly, as I’ve stated in my response above to Executive Otaku, I don’t think Alto and Ranka have any chemistry at all. Frankly I find a character like her very difficult to pair anyone with.
I think another part of Alto’s personality that is important for understanding him is that Alto played a women for most of his life on stage. It is because of this why Alto may be more in tune with a woman’s thoughts and feelings than any other man and I also think that he may resent that fact, but at the same time it may be one of the reasons why Alto never fell into the same category as his other friends in regards. When I was re-watching the series I began to notice that Alto didn’t fawn over Ranka like his other friends did (though Mikhail and Luca later on stop doing this). He was also seemed as though he made more of an effort to be distant from her, and would never seek her out on his own unless she was in some kind of trouble. Alto just wasn’t taken in by Ranka’s moe personality, although you get more of a sense of this in the MF novels which are all from Alto’s point of view. So in a way Alto’s desire to become the exemplary presentation of a macho male pilot may come from his desire to get be rid of his past and for differing himself from his home. Later on though Alto no longer cares about this anymore, and his resentment over who he is disappears. Alto never says whats on his mind instead he tends to let his actions and body language speak for him, and I think that that is the key to understanding his character. I think that he and Sheryl actually have this in common as she is also the type of person who lets actions for her, and that is part of their chemistry. Sheryl also never says that she loves Alto instead she shows that loves him. Though no one tends to catch this on their first viewing so your not the only one.
I think that their belief that Ranka would be popular with fans for being moe, shows that Kawamori himself may have banked on more people being like some of the Ranka fans you described. He might have expected for them to simply like her “because she’s moe” he may have also given some personality traits to appeal more to females as well, however both targets ended up disliking her (2chan had a lot of Ranka hate threads after the airing of episode 21). SDF Minmei herself was not as popular of Misa during its original airing either, it was not until DYRL that Minmei became popular with fans, although in Ranka’s case its already too late and fans are not as forgiving now. I think what makes Ranka stand out as childish among the other character whom we tend to forget are her peers, is because they are all so much more mature than her. This holds especially true if you try to compare her to Luca(looks like a shouta but is a part of a long line of engineers and is studying to become one himself, also joins with Leon in order to protect Nanase whom is both his childhood friend and the one he loves and his home) or even Nanase(was sexually harassed when she was younger and has troubles with men because of it, is studying fashion and makes Ranka’s costume designs for her concerts).
I actually consider you a real Ranka fan because you don’t make excuses for her. You can only call yourself a fan of any character or series if you accept them for all of their faults, and not try to justify yourself by making up any excuses or being overly defensive about it unless someone is spouting bullshit. But if what they’re saying is true then there is not reason why you should try to defend the character or series. I consider myself a fan of Ranka but its only because I can accept her for all of her mess ups, and her faults in personality. This is especially true for Ranka whom even the staff of MF feel the need to point out her faults.
Funny you say that, because Rank’s voice actress said something similar. As for me I think that Ranka is very immature and I really wouldn’t ship her with anyone just because it would seem more like a punishment for that character to have to deal with a significant other who lacked empathy and was very childish.
Thanks, while I’m not as interested in being an ‘expert’ at being a fan, I do think that being such is far less about defensiveness and apology. I think healthy fandoms are very much able to make fun of their pet shows and characters, or able to appreciate them critically.
To do otherwise makes me think that the people are more concerned with themselves and their identity. They use the show or character more as a tag to buffer their image of being a person of good taste or what not. While there is nothing wrong with this at all and my statements are not for invalidating anyone, I know in my heart that this isn’t love, this isn’t being a fan in the fullest sense.
Also thank you very much for giving perspective on the popularity of Misa and Minmay during the series run, and for sharing the info on the 2ch hate threads.
As for the mature milieu that further highlights Ranka’s maturity, yeah it really kind of sucks for her. I mean you have Klan who is tinier than her but at the same time improbably skilled in two wildly different preoccupations not to mention occupies a position of responsibility.
As I said to Executive Otaku, Ranka feels like she’d be a better fit in Genesis of Aquarion — Luca and Nanase too.
Which is why I appreciate your posts on Ranka, your not defensive about it and you don’t apologize or make excuses for her. I also agree with you that its no fun if you can’t make fun of your favorite series, or rather its too restricting. I for one love Cardcaptor Sakura as well as pretty much anything from CLAMP and yet I have no problem with making fun of or CLAMP in general. I know Ohkawa is not a writer without faults, and there are much of the series they make have their own problems but really I can look past that. I also look to it the same way I look at Macross, the series has problems of its but I can look past that, and my favoring the series does not mean that I will give it a free pass. That being said I actually don’t consider myself a “true” Macross fan, I’m just an ordinary fan like everyone else.
I agree with you that some people who make up excuses for like a character who does unfavorable things or a series which is questionable are trying to project themselves as a person with taste.
Don’t mention when I first heard that Ranka wasn’t that popular in Japan despite being Loli Moe I was surprised. By the way Sheryl was voted in the top ten female characters in the last 25 years, and will get her very own manga sometime this year which seem to be canon to the storyline. Said manga will be aimed at females which unlike Ranka Sheryl is very popular with both sexes.
I think that Ranka’s character would benefit with time away from the whole cast, including Brera so that she that can find herself. I also read your post about Lafiel that you wished that Ranka would learn empathy by volunteering, I agree with you. I find it sad that both Sheryl and that girl who won the Miss Macross contest, and was snubbed by Sheryl (she’s also the great granddaughter of that actress in SDF who thought she was a shoe in to win the Miss Macross contest, and became antagonistic towards Minmei)both did volunteer work on Frontier after the disaster. Their reasons for doing this is because Frontier was their home(consequently that’s how Sheryl got the idea to write the song “Lion” which was intended to be a Sheryl only song). Meanwhile Ranka could worry about herself, that part of her needs to be done away with.
Ranka, Luca, and Nanase in Genesis of Aquarion would be interesting if only because Aquarion had a habit of calling out all of the characters faults, not to make the character necessarily grow from them but instead to let them know that it was there. Though Nanase character might overlap with Tsugumi.
A Sheryl manga? SWEET!
Hopefully Ranka gets her character makeover/surgery in a new story (as opposed to retcon).
Can you link me to the character ranking? As much as I dislike things like this I am a complete and utter fool for them. I will watch stupid list shows on TV on end.
I didn’t know Melinda/Miranda/Melin are related. I thought the Frontier version was an expy. I really appreciate all these details you’re sharing here!
According to what I’ve heard about the Frontier movie they seem to have made the first step in fixing her character. Now if only the DVD would come out so I can watch the movie.
Okay there are two character ranking polls that I think would interest you. The first is the and the second is the top characters per decade since the eighties notice how Minmei is on both polls.
I was surprised too, until someone summarized the Infinity short story which came with the Sheryl artbook (good luck finding it- if you want it most places are sold out of the book).
Thanks a lot! The first link seems to be missing though.
I’m sorry here it is
I’m sorry
I really suck http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=2800809&postcount=1197
Finally success! Thanks again. I think these links are invaluable to this whole project of mine to blog Frontier.
*grumble grumble* up until this point of Frontier I thought Ranka was a st****, sp***** little bi*** who had as many brain cells as she had teeth. The thought that her actions could make sense never popped into my head. The whole joining Grace and then joining the Vajra thing never really made sense to me. Perhaps a thorough rewatch is in order.
As for Sheryl, at this point she could really do no wrong at this point, except love a that “princess” named Alto. But I digress. By the way, really appreciate that pic of Sheryl in the hot pants. >;-)
It shouldn’t be as nonsensical as that. Ill-advised or ill-fated perhaps, but not ridiculous or implausible — at least to me.
You need to give Alto a little more credit. I think he’s a pretty understated character despite his initial loudness. Though he is definitely of the Kamille Bidan school, a total throwback:
The ultimate remembering love for Kamille moment I’ll reveal to you in the post for the finale ep.
At this point Sheryl’s actions seemed pretty believable and consistent. She’s accepted that death will not be too far off for her and in the twilight of her last days wants to be with the person she loved, to have a sliver of happiness in her final days even if it is to her a fictional romance. I’d imagine that is the way most people with a terminal illness want to go out in life, not alone but surrounded by the people we cared for. Sheryl didn’t really have anyone else Klan was a friend but not a life long one and hime was the one she wanted to be with. It was selfish of Sheryl but in her case it was understandable as no one wants to die alone and forgotten. Alto picked up on this with his comment that this wasn’t like her, it was to a degree true as the Sheryl he knew was full of life and ambition she had been quite insistent on her own independence. I think Alto-hime at this point was genuine in loving Sheryl unconditionally as he had given up pretty much all that he had for her sake, he didn’t have to but he did Sheryl was dying as far as he knew and for him to give up all that he had been working towrds for someone that was to him sure to die was a big step. Alto could have just been Sheryl’s frined and kept some of what he had worked for with the expectation that he still had a life to live after Sheryl but instead he renounced his own goals and ambitions to be with Sheryl in her final days. When Alto realized that he did not have forever to ponder what Sheryl meant to hime he made a costly decision to stay with her and care for her knowing that she wouldn’t be there for him for very long. Hime learned to care for the home he hated, start empathizing with the father he loathed, gave up his fiction of being Ranka’s protector after she went traitor. Alto’s reaction to the situation was believable because he finally stopped trying to be that cheap bad character and started to think about someone else for a change, not that hime was totally inconsiderate before he just had trouble showing it and got really defensive about being a nice guy instead of an aloof bad boy pilot. Sheryl lowered her defnses just as Alto did when he gave up that cheap persona he had been maintaining for most of the show.
Ranka’s insistence that her song has not failed her before might be simply more of that willful ignorance and her perpetual childishness at work. I’d give the Macroass F team credit since they seemed more deliberate in their characterizations, and to me Ranka was an attempt to have a moe character though whether or not it was done so to satiate the moe demographic or simply be an elaborate Kawamori Troll on the Moe character is anyone’s guess. Ranka fleeing with Brera without knowing who he was, and expecting an adoring Vajra audience was consistent with Her previous behavior, illogical yes, but still within the realm of desperate 16 year old with minimal maturity trying salvage a big mess she had a hand in creating. There is a human tendency to insist that no mistakes were made and that “unforseen” circumstances lead to failure, a personal mistake is usually the last thing we point to and in Ranka’s case she did not point to herself as the fulcrum of failure.
As for Grace not being a schemer of high caliber, working over Ranka was easy, working over Sheryl was a bit harder and took more effort. Grasping that Leon was a power hungry mongrel and prod the would be dictator to deviate from his marraige scheme makes me think that Grace was a capable plotter. Also Grace did surreptitiously gain access to Frontier’s systems without being detected until it was too late and did manage to make sure Frontier was going to be militarily isolated when she demolished the 33rd Marine Fleet. Even if you insist that Ranka’s fall is no mark of Grace’s talent you have to admit though that Grace was a schemer with malice, using the children of her professional rivals to bring to fruition her scheme for Galactic domination and using their data and their children to come upon the precipice of total victory over NUNS and kicking Kiafun in the face… I think Grace had talent and that Ranka’s weakness only made things easier but did not in and of itself mean that Grace had no talent.
It’s not an easy thing to create an idol Grace at least had a superior understanding on how to wage a PR campaign, I think getting into show biz is hard enough, succeeding in it even harder. Frontier did not exist in a vacuum Sheryl probably had competition from other colony fleets, we just never met them given the vastness of space.
I like the Macross Franchise but still I can’t unconditionally love all of it I can accept Minmay, and Ranka and forgive the worst of Basara’s excessses but I doubt I will love them as you do. I can accept them but still their actions still grate me the wrong way.
Still watching Sheryl and Alto-hime shack up was for me a sweet moment and a hint of what could have been had Minmay been more of her DYRL version than what she was in SDFM.
Well said comrade. Oh don’t think that these things that rub you the wrong way don’t annoy me. Just the other night I watched choice sections of the franchise and I still facepalm like anyone with reason. It’s just as you said, acceptance; though mine is an aggressive and willful one. But make no mistake, disappointing character turns are just that.
The franchise isn’t short on malice, as the sponsor(s) of Sharon Apple have shown us. It’s just that Macross never really invested in genius or even intellectual characters — no, not in the Max and Millya sense. Actually Macross is really the realm of the everyman: even the most exceptional of them are accessible and very human. This is a good thing.
Grace is different because in a franchise universe where everyone is empathetically (at least) human, she is willfully inhuman. She wants to appropriate the Vajra empathy engine but for machine-like control efficiency. Now malice is a very human thing so it’s just my conceit to call Grace inhuman, but for the purposes of my comparison I think this is appropriate.
This is how to locate the dread for Grace. It’s not about crediting her for skill, but rather noting her deviance within the context of the entire franchise. Everyone else is organic — Even Sharon Apple’s story is an organic play (about love of all things), but Grace’s ideal is mechanical and virtual.
As for Sheryl, the more I think about it, she really didn’t ask Alto to give up anything, so saying yes is quite easy. There was no real cost, unless we think Alto is the kind of man who doesn’t have the heart or stomach to see a loved one’s death through, and I think this is hardly the case.
Grace went against the grain and maybe she’ll be the founder of a anti-NUNS movement of her own. Still I think that manipulation of others is a science and an art since it is difficult for me to compel others to confrom to my will, even in a military structure rank helps but it will not compell people to give 100% just because you point to your rank. Perhaps your experince is different, but in my case getting people to do things is a challenge for me so I cannot help but admire how Grace was able to make people dance to her tune and hide her intentions from almost everyone until she was on the precipice of triumph and galactic hegemony. I think that is why I think of Grace as being more skillful than just lucky to have a weak willed little queen to manipulate. There is also an art to espionage and whether or not the Frontier security was simply lacking or that Grace was that big of a threat is open for debate, I personally don’t think NUNS was that incompetent since they were able to keep the truth of the situation under wraps from the general populace so Grace had to have some above average skill in so throughly infiltrating their network and hiding a VF-27 contingent within the colony fleet without being detected before she showed her hand.
Alto-hime pretty much gave up everything before Sheryl asked so I think of it as paying it forward it’s not that hime paid nothing by saying yes to Sheryl but that he had already sworn to be with her until the end when he went against Ozma. I think it was difficult for Alto to give up all that he had worked for but he had to choose which was more important to him, hime pretty much said yes before the question was asked, it still means something.
Alto didn’t give up flying — he wasn’t asked to do so. Remember that this is the only thing that really, really matters. This is what he risked his stardom, station, and family for. This is what made Minmay’s request to Hikaru dramatic. It implied quitting (as a counterpoint Misa intended to quit too until Global talked sense into her).
While in the real world what Grace accomplished to get to her position would be exemplary, she started the narrative already with all of that. Hence her measure was to live up to such accomplishments in her background. The good thing is, Macross isn’t that interested in such kinds of competition. Nobody’s making her out as some kind of Gihren or Rubinsky, or even Trunhit or Ikari.
Call me twisted, but I would like to see an alternate universe version of Macross Frontier where the good guys lost. Grace O’Connor and the secret cabal on Macross Galaxy were successful and completed their galactic conquest of the galaxy.
It would take place years later after the death of Sheryl and Ranka’s elimination. Alto, Brea and a few others survive as hardened, older warriors still fighting the good fight. The Vajra have become shock troops of the new Macross Galaxy Empire, wiping out or subjugation entire worlds, races, species, and civilizations in this grim new reality.
No pop-idol songs, no last-minute rallies, and no one to save the day at a critical moment during battle. A darker Macross that throws away all the tropes that the franchise has used since its inception.
Oh who am I kidding, it would end up with Alto finding another pilot protegé that will find another singing idol who will free the Vajra and “make it right” this time.
You’re twisted :3
In all seriousness, I would want an OVA series wherein the good guys lost. I don’t mind the setting being somewhere earlier on in the franchise (maybe post space-war, but prior to Macross Plus). I’d like to see something dark, like pro-Earth Zentraedi fighting rogue Zentraedi, and nobody wins.
Frontier was my first “whole” Macross (I had watched an episode or two of 7, previously, and I only known that because I only remembered Guvava). When it started out, I remember that I rooted for Ranka, and thought that Sheryl was too “tsundere” (though when I looked back at the first episode, it should be noted that Sheryl was polite to the flyers, and only voiced her problems with their “boss”, and that she was proven right, whether it was Alto’s fault for cowboying it, or Purple Guy’s fault for nicking Alto’s wing, fact is, that show could have ended in tragedy, and Alto wouldn’t have been in Purple’s way if he wasn’t cowboying it, and most professionals with experience knows not to cowboy a choreographed flight!), anyway, back to Sheryl: Sheryl wasn’t very attractive to me in the beginning, as I thought she would just be another spoiled diva character, while I rooted for Ranka as an underdog character (though she was very much the shrinking moeblob I’ve seen before. Meh, I mostly watched for Alto-hime and Michel in the beginning).
Then I quickly started to turn around in my opinions. Sheryl was a blast of fun, fresh air after many female leads that were too easily influenced by their boys, while I started to get a bit annoyed with Ranka, from screaming when Alto accidentally groped her after saving her (sorry, but it just grates at me when girls scream for something so clearly unintended and unplanned, it makes them seem irrational and hair-trigger-y) and her plot-convenient, pity-party amnesia (never liked convenient amnesia, unless it is used to tell the viewers about the world the story is in, like the player character of an RPG needing to know that Inns are useful or something, and Ranka’s case just seemed a cheap way to garner sympathy from viewers as it isn’t triggered as often as it should).
Then I started to realise that Ranka was never the underdog she’s presented to be. She spoiled by EVERYONE. Ozma, Michael, Luca, Nanase, Sheryl, Alto, Elmo, Brera, Grace, the list just goes on. And to top it off, whenever a character goes against her, their shown to be toxic ambitious (Leon, Grace, Miranda), and are put in their place, not by Ranka, but by her adoring fans/friends/family.
But it was Michael’s death that really clinched it. Michael, who had helped her (Star Date), put his trust in her (Fastest Delivery), was killed by Vajra, and she then runs off to the Vajra!
It didn’t ring true to me. Firstly, because we have multiple characters in her age who didn’t run away from responsibilities, secondly, because a realistic, traumatised teen who just lost a friend, and watched her best friend get injured, are more likely to follow directions and contracts, because even if their instincts tell them no, it is easier to do what the authority people tells you to do.
She would also have been more likely to lash out at Ai-kun upon learning that he’s Vajra, she even could have screamed at him that she hates him, causing him to harm himself and making her realise the power her voice and emotions have over Vajra, thus showcasing that she have a few braincells as well.
Instead, up to the very end, we got wilful ignorance and stupidity. And I dislike real people with those qualities, and loathe characters (especially main characters, who are supposed to grow) with those qualities.
But I guess she’s consistent.
Sheryl, to me, was very believable. It’s been observed (though I’m unaware of any real studies on the subject) that children who haven’t been coddled develop an unusual and uncanny maturity for their age, as they get to figure things out on their own (and some abused children, in survival for the fittest sense, can be downright frightening in the things they understand, but this shouldn’t be an incentive to abuse children!).
It should be noted that while Sheryl might be named for the Fairy Godmother, and Ranka for Cinderella, Sheryl is actually more Cinderella than Ranka is.
Sheryl was born to the Nome family, and her mother looked very loving that picture, her grandmother was a great scientist (or, at least, a good one), and her great-aunt was a songstress in previous series. This is a high point.
She then appears as a non-cyborg orphan of Galaxy, a fleet known for it’s body-altering. Her greatest wish is a dinner with a loving family in a warm house. This is a low point.
She is then picked by Grace and becomes the Galactic Fairy. This is a high point with low undertones.
Grace abandons her, she’s about to die, her rival has replaced her in her career. Low point.
Alto chooses to be with her, she reclaims her career, she become hope, she’s still about to die. High-Low point.
She’s cured. Most of her friends are alive and well. War ends. High Point.
It’s the flux of high and low points that makes the Cinderella tale interesting (born into noble family — high, becomes servant to step-family — low, is belle of the ball — high, nearly loses her prince — high-low, becomes princess — high), and it makes me, as a fairytale fan, annoyed with the Cinderella label is put on someone who climbed from the middle to the high point (I don’t think that Ranka has, thanks to amnesia and coddling of others, ever hit the very low point).
On the other hand, the birds pecking out the step-sisters’ eyes do fit nicely with how everyone else puts down Miranda, Leon and Grace instead of Ranka/Cinderella herself.
That Sheryl, after having her wish from her orphan days fulfilled, sick, drunk, betrayed and left behind by Grace and Ranka, and to top it all off knowing that she’s about to die asks the person she loves to stay with her, is pretty realistic. Heck, I get whiny and clingy when I have a bad cold!
If we look at Sheryl, these are the most important people in her life (not counting dead relatives), by order of importance:
Grace*
Alto
Ranka*
Michael*/Klan
Elmo
Luca
Nanase*
Macross Quarter Team* and so on.
All those marked with *s are either dead, run off or in a coma. Sheryl basically has Alto, Klan, Elmo and Luca (not counting Leon). She must encourage Luca to use her, instead of slowing down her illness, thus making it difficult for her to show him any weaknesses. Same for Elmo, because Elmo’s so nice that I don’t think, and I think that Sheryl would have realised this as well, that he would never let her sing herself to an early grave on his watch. And then there’s Klan, and if there had been more time in the series, I would have liked for them to bond, but as it were, it wasn’t.
Anyway, Sheryl is basically asking the one person she has left not to leave her like others have done. And that’s a very realistic portrayal of any human at any point on life in the same type of circumstances.
Onto Alto. I think Alto’s journey was a true circle: He hated being reminded of his Kabuki days (though I suspect that back in those days, he really enjoyed it, as it’s hard to excel at something one hates absolutely), he hated Frontier and its false sky, and he didn’t really connect with people (except Michel and Luca, but those two were pretty much fanboys [Michel watched Sakura-hime, Luca's self-explanatory] who tolerated his prickly personality for the times when he’s a good friend).
Then he starts to connect with people (Michel, Luca, Sheryl and so on). Grow fond of Frontier and accept his past as a Kabuki player.
He has a kind of chemistry with Sheryl that works both in intense and restful situations. He has a similar, platonic chemistry with Michel, in that he responds to their teasing, but does not have truly hard feelings, he also worries about them and trusts them implicitly to not just be on his side, but also to take care of themselves.
This is an extreme contrast with Ranka, who he doesn’t very often seek of his own volition. He also feels sort of weird when interacting with her after he learns about her amnesia. He seems way more careful about hurting her feelings, yet slips when it all boils over.
At first I would draw parallels with Alto’s treatment of Sheryl after he learns that she’s sick, but then, it seems so different. Alto gives vague encouragements and promises of protection to one person, but gives vows of life-long devotion to another. With one person, he grows more distant. With the other, he moves in with her and takes care of her.
In a way, Alto matures as he gets to know the full spectrum of relationships. The loss of someone he likes (Michel), the loyalty of a friend (Luca), the impeding loss of someone he loves (Sheryl), the capriciousness of idols (Ozma), the betrayal of a friend (Ranka), the betrayal of an acquaintance (Grace), the misplaced rivalry (Brera) and so on.
Sheryl also matures through the trials she faces.
Yet, I can’t help but to feel more moved at Luca’s happy “Senpai!”, and find his crush on Nanase adoringly tragic, his trust in his friends and desire to keep them safe, even when he doesn’t know them very much (twice he has tried to place himself between Sheryl and danger, one, when he tried to save her and Michel, two, when he warns her against the infection rate of the virus). And he knows that there’s a point when playing cute shotaro wont cut it. When people gets hurt, when people betrays and runs away, he actually grows up and tries to do his duties even better than before.
That’s a HUGE contrast to Ranka, which puts her at a major disadvantage. She’s a main character, and through marketing/character design THE main character, THE face of Macross Frontier, yet she grows less than a minor side-character.
If every episode had been “High School Queen” type episodes (with better animation, obviously), then Ranka would be at home (though still at disadvantage compared to the others). A character that doesn’t grow are usually better in fluff stories and/or stories that doesn’t focus much on characters, rather, they focus on events and plot. Also, they work better as side-characters who doesn’t show up in many episodes (even then, Akatsuki from ARIA seems to have grown more than Ranka, so maybe she wouldn’t have found a home in those type of series either).
Anyway, to sum up:
Ranka’s characterisation growth: Not good but consistent.
Sheryl’s characterisation growth: Good and consistent.
Alto’s characterisation growth: Sometimes too subtle, but good and consistent.
Side-characters: Pretty good. Though I feel sorry for Leon, he was completely eclipsed by Grace and the Vajra to the point that I had to remind myself of his evil deeds in order to remember why he’s a villain (“Why is he villain again, oh, right, assassination, right, moving on… Hey, why’s Leon more than a nasty politician? Right assassination… Um-” and so on and so on). Really, the over-the-top evil of Grace and Vajra kind of hid the nasty, evil and questionable things Leon did.
Er, sorry for the teal deer, I’ll shut up now.
Wow, thanks for the awesome ‘teel deer’ — this is really good feedback, and the kind I really hoped to get from a post like this.
Very insightful analysis and from the perspective I really wanted to attract. Some highlights and my reactions:
I like this. However, if you’ve seen Evangelion, Ikari Shinji does both the docile following orders post-trauma, and the running away drama precisely during a pressure moment (post-trauma). I can’t rule out the plausibility of Ranka’s reactions, but I’m rather upset at how convenient that she gets away from the funeral service given the amount of personnel on-site. I would’ve preferred to see a near-catatonic breakdown rather than a running through the forest performance.
Moving on, I enjoyed your analysis based on the Cinderella story structure. Sheryl indeed would be a better fit based on the ‘low-to-high’ narrative trajectory. This is my theory on why Macross does the Cinderella story the way they did anyway (beyond thoughtless convenience — underdog = Cinderella):
During the 1980s, Japan’s economic trajectory was peaking (something that can be contextualized as a Cinderella story in itself). Part of this is the emergence of a strong middle class. There were far less truly poor people in Japan, and as such weren’t the subject of the ‘everyman’ character driven stories.
SDF Macross (1982) had Lynn Minmay as the ‘original’ Space Cinderella, to follow Frontier’s rhetoric. Minmay had a single named Cinderella, but apart from this there wasn’t much to it. She was pretty much middle class the way Ranka is, though both were underdogs during their respective Miss Macross competitions.
To sum, there were no “poor people” in Macross until
1) 2009 (Macross Zero) but then everyone in the island are on a level economic plane
2) 2010 when everyone is poor
3) Macross Galaxy (Sheryl’s context)
There are no poor people in the Frontier colony as there were no poor people in the original Macross ship. Thus the structure of the Cinderella narrative would’ve been necessarily compromised. Sheryl’s case is really an exception in this regard.
While I’m uncomfortable with Ozma’s classification here, I get where you’re going with this and I like it a lot. It’s not very easy to spot — I agree that Alto’s story can be rather subtle. I also generally agree with your summations. There’s a lot more to appreciate in your remarks, and I hope you come back for the rest of the upcoming posts on Frontier (you may also want to visit the archive).
You’d think she would be extra watched after she ran away from her parade on Aimo Day. Also, if her amnesia was more real, the pressure of the Vajra attack and the pressure from the mourners should have triggered it, but then again, it seems to have been created as a plot convenience.
I dunno, in some ways, it feels like Ranka is the creators’ favourite little sister, because she gets away with things that would have thrown other characters into jail, exile or becoming an social outcast.
On the other hand, she’s shafted at pretty much every opportunity that they can shaft the main character and not just reduce her to a side-line character.
It’s just strange to watch Ranka because there seems (though maybe not, I’m just saying what I’m feeling) to have been so many conflicts in the creative process behind her actions.
The last time I watched/read a character like that, I know that there were conflicts, because it was my character, and I presented it to my sister for criticism (in hindsight, not so smart as her current favourite books are the Twilight series). Lets just say that she stopped my character’s growth, as she believed that the character should go another way, but if the character did that, it wouldn’t complete its character arc, and thus the character was scrapped.
In Macross Frontier, one wouldn’t be able to side-line or scrap Ranka because she is, without doubt, the most market-oriented character on the show.
It’s the marketing contrivances that did her in really (a Doylian perspective on Ranka as a character in fiction).
She was intentionally made to be loli moe in terms of character design, and her attributes were made childish, with some clumsiness, insecurity with flat-chestedness, dependency on males, naivete…
All of these would seemingly satisfy an “otaku database animal” (as Azuma defines them). Thing is, observing fan behavior in defense of shows like Strike Witches, fans insist on overarching plot and perhaps characterization/character development. In the case of Macross Frontier and Ranka, moe wasn’t enough.
My only experience when first starting on Frontier was Macross Plus and Macross Zero, both of which were a lot less “goofy” than the original series. I ended up watching Do You Remember Love? after Frontier, which allowed me to appreciate it a lot more in retrospect.
To answer your question as to whether the action made any sense – I couldn’t have cared less by that point in the series. I had pretty much decided to leave my brain off after witnessing the Macross Quarter transform for the first time, and definitely left it off after witnessing Ranka pacifying the rebelling Zentraedi in that other episode, so I was hardly looking for thematic elements; which this series of posts has actually been very helpful in contextualizing – although Macross in general still does grate on every real-robot bone in my body, it perhaps does so less now when the metaphors and linkages are visible.
LOL. I get you. I think you should watch SDF Macross without a doubt.
Most fans — those introduced to the franchise via Robotech, then Plus, simply won’t accept the ambition of the franchise, that is to tell a love story against the backdrop of great battles. The singing is the device by which the love battle is waged, analogous to how the soldiers fight with robots.
That said, once one gets past the very idea of humanoid mecha as a fighting machine, the versatility of transformation is unmatched. In my mind they are the most practical mass produced fighting machines in robot anime given that there is no real problem in mass producing them. So much so that the Gundam franchise couldn’t help but copy the concept: Z Gundam was Tomino’s response to SDFM. By Gundam Unicorn, mass produced MS are fully deployed by Londo Bell.
However, I seriously doubt the Z or ReGz outperforms the VF-1, save for Z’s NT Barrier, etc.
As for capital ships transforming, the become incredibly powerful close combat fighters. In a setting when enemy vessels can fold within very close range, this is a very good thing.
I watched SDFM many, many years ago, so I can’t make comparisons with Minmay, but I’m interested in the “flawed/fallen idol” concept raised in the original post. Lots of excellent points have been raised by earlier commenters based on the characters’ thoughts, feelings, & actions. I’d like to add to this by considering how Sheryl, more than Ranka, begins to embody & express more of the “Macross spirit” at the end, or, at least the emotions & hopes of the characters as they fight. (Perhaps this suggests a transcendence of “mere” idol status? IDK…) I’m thinking here of ep24-25 & the big final battle with the Nyan Nyan Service Medley playing in the background.
First off, the giant Ranka projection that hides Battle Galaxy while she sings “Oboete imasu ka” in ep24-25 reminds me of the Sharon Apple projection on the original Macross as she sings & tries to shoot down Isamu in Macross Plus. I think both are examples of the ambivalent & threatening aspects of idolhood when it’s taken to larger-than-life proportions (as idols often are when they’re promoted in the media).
But that’s secondary to some nuances in the ep25 final battle / Nyan Nyan Service Medley that I really like and that suggest Sheryl’s becoming or become more than just an idol. There’s the Hikaru/Misa salute, of course. What really strikes me is how, right after Capt Wilder gives the order for the Macross Attack on Battle Galaxy, the camera moves *past* Ranka singing on stage and *zooms in* for a close-up of Sheryl’s face, and then lingers on her eyes, which are hauntingly powerful and intense (this is at about 17:49 in the episode) as she begins singing the LION reprise in the medley. Then we cut immediately to a full-body shot of Macross Quarter executing its signature attack — it’s as if Sheryl with LION compels & guides Quarter’s attack in an amazing combination of mecha action, music, & vocals. Then, when Alto-hime has his famous helmet-visor-shattering moment and shouts that “because humans are alone that’s why we can love someone!” (around 19:40), it’s Sheryl again on LION singing “seiza no michibiki deeeeeeeeee” directing him onwards & upwards. And then when Alto-hime fires a final salvo of missiles at the Vajra Queen/Grace 10 seconds later, it’s again Sheryl-LION with her beautifully high-pitched & spine-tingling “aishiteruuuuuuu”. Of course, Ranka has her fair share of screen time & song time in the final battle & medley sequence, but I see more visually and musically striking moments in this climactic episode given to Sheryl.
You’re right to point out these things, this entire series of blog posts on Frontier also serve to point out many of the references to the earlier Macross shows as well as other sources such as the Gundam franchise.
I too tend to focus on Sheryl’s part of the medley. Despite Ai Oboete Imasu Ka? and basically Minmay’s concert during the battle against the Bodolle Zer fleet were either slow or soft tunes, a hot-blooded battle needs a lot more well, hot-blooded music. Since Fire Bomber isn’t here (um, thank goodness), Sheryl’s stronger songs and vocals were a better fit to score the battle.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, there will be posts on both episodes 24 and 24 in the coming weeks, as well as one big post to wrap everything up. In the mean time help yourself to the archives: http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/category/macross-2/macross-frontier-macross/
Ah, I see! Thanks for posting the archives. I’m new to the anime blogosphere & wasn’t aware that this is an ongoing series; I mistook this as a stand-alone discussion of Minmay-Ranka-Sheryl as idols. Looking forward to your posts about ep24 & 25!
Even though I finished Macoss Frontier a while back, it still bugs me a lot. Even more than basquash does (Kawamori pisses me off in the most charming ways possible).
For a great deal of the series, I felt like I couldn’t stand Sheryl. But it’s only when people bring up Minmay that I realize I can’t stand her either, and while I can see and agree entirely with those who paint Ranka and Sheryl as two sides to Minmay, I also believe I can see how Sheryl resembles her in more ways than Ranka does outright.
Just as well, I have a bias toward Ranka. Her and Brera are essentially the only main characters I liked (but I did love Bobby and the crew). And I definitely got annoyed with Ranka, but I felt she acted appropriately in situations, like you said. Also, my take on her lying is different. I feel like in a way, it isn’t a lie? Her emotions and mindset at the time were ‘compromised’ (pardon the Star Trek referencing), so I feel as though there wasn’t any way her song could have done anything. However, in a significantly different moment and mood, she probably feels comfortable and confident that her song will make a difference. Maybe by that time, she’s matured a little (I think her leaving was oddly mature) and understands herself slightly more and perhaps sees the difference. But then again, maybe she was just being an idiot in the way only Ranka can be.
I think Ranka is a one of a kind idiot. She is indeed never completely clueless, but it’s obvious when things go over her head or she refuses to see them. But I think she made mostly good decisions on her pat when it came to Alto. Although I refuse to ship them (I wish Brera wasn’t her brother), I do feel that Alto also came to love her and choose her, and that’s because of her decisions. When Ranka left, it was clear that she was steadfast in her deicison and ‘knew what she had to do’. Alto felt that killing Ranka is what he had to do. And it sounds lousy for making the comparison of a loved one, but it’s a constant across all media in different ways, isn’t it? I remember in Old Yeller, the boy knows he’s the one who has to kill his beloved dog, and he can’t and won’t let or make anyone else do it. And while it’s a twisted version, I remember Karasu from YYH having that ‘attraction’ from Kuruma and knowing he had to kill him. I think it’s the weight and connetion really of a relationship. (But maybe my mind and thought processes are screwy?)
Love triangles are pretty pivotal to Macross at this point (and any Kawamori work just about), but I feel that often times, they only diminish his characters. The triangle and romance becomes the core of certain characters and it just leads to bad development and writing in my mind. I was proud and happy with Ranka for being able to distance herself from Alto, who she had been smitten with for the whole series, but I still had to endure her focusing her life on him for all the episodes before that. And I started the show thinking I was going to like Sheryl, but she became an annoyance so fast, and I feel that’s because of how theyw rote her when it came to Alto. There’s also this dependence on the loved one in the triangle that I feel takes away a lot of the growth and indepence of the characters (which is again and especially contrasted by Ranka’s departure and Sheryl’s growing dependence). And in a way, I think it’s also a bit of feminism tainting my opinions, because it’s two girls stuck on a guy, and fighting each other when they could potentially be the best of friends. And in the end, they somehow regress when they should be developing because of it. Watching Basquash reminded me a lot of Macross F, and so I think it really changed how I saw and felt about certain characters. But in the end, I still can’t forgive most of the characters and I can’t stand two of the main characters.
And I feel like Ranka and Sheryl are both the quintessential idol as it relates to present day. (But then again, how idols have changed over the times and even now is interesting, isn’t it?)
I think I get how you feel, though I disagree.
While love triangles aren’t as obnoxious as outright harems, it’s obvious that anime indulges the male viewers’ fantasy of being sought after. It is then the responsibility of the narrative to make the male object to be plausibly attractive. In this case, Alto is plausibly attractive without being ‘perfect,’ as opposed to harem anime leads who are stand-ins for the unattractive and socially impaired viewers who implausibly have so many girls falling for him.
When the target audience is predominantly female, the triangle revolves around a woman *cough* Twilight *cough*. Otherwise, even Macross Plus which starts out being a triangle of two men fighting over Myung, becomes about Myung vs. Sharon over Isamu. Or, in the case of Aquarion or Macross 7, it’s the female who is the one into the males, and one or both of them isn’t into her that way. SWWEEET is an interesting, if disturbing take on the 1-woman x 2 men triangle set-up.
Yeah, that’s true. And that’s a good point. I feel Alto is complicated though, because he isn’t a pretty boy by general standards, but he still passes for a woman darn good. So it feels different from the norm, which I appreciate. And I think this was actually a case where I didn’t mind the fact that it was a triangle, but just having a romance at all drug the characters down. Ranka was most annoying when she was fawning over Alto, and Sheryl just… I don’t know what to say. She certainly was ‘flirtatious’ though.
(I’m so sad we only have Twilight, of all things, as out harem. Women need a qualty harem, lol.)
And that’s a good point. It’s weird because it is a fight over Isamu in many ways, but it still feels so very decided and Isamu is still fighting for Myung to me, which was curious. I think I like that Plus had so many different directions, and yet it was so short.
And thank you for that link! I find it interesting that Nana was mentioned first (though that’s kind of heart-breaking). But that manga certainly brings up an interesting point that bugs me too. One that’s common and doesn’t do much for the male or female audience. And now that I think about it, I realize why I didn’t like Alto for a good part of the series, and it was because I feel the romance drug him down too. I think the way the triangles are handled since… a while now, may develop the characters in one aspect, but other characters are bound to be left behind. I don’t think it enhances the male or female characters. But I suppose both guys and gals subscribe to their own kind of romance, judging by the way romance is handled and enjoyed in seinen/jousei and shounen/shoujo. I can easily say I prefer Seinen/Jousei romances (Ah!My Goddess, Kimi wa Petto) because they give agency to all the characters and develop them a majority of the time. And I think maybe when it comes to romance, Macross should subscribe to that again rather than the shounen/shoujo aspect.
It all brings up a lot of interesting thoughts about the development, genre and appeal of Macross over the times.
Think about it, you as the center of the triangle have the problem of choosing between formidable partners. What a great problem to have! It lends to fun and telling discussions, and impassioned divisions within the fandom.
While no doubt there could be better ways of writing the romance, but there’s little reason not to do it.
At this point, I don’t think anyone who isn’t mired in the bog of character partisanship will actually claim that the love triangle in Frontier was well done. However, this isn’t to say that I don’t find a lot to enjoy about it, most of which is Alto and Sheryl complementing each other well and as much as you may disagree I think they are very interesting within the robot anime tradition.
Well, while I understand why you say that the triangle itself wasn’t done very well ( it was just too lopsided ), I think the romances, in context of who the characters are, were presented extremely well. Meaning that in the case of Alto Ranka there wasn’t much of a real romance, only a commitment to protect a friend and one-sided crush. OTOH, the Sheryl Alto romance did have all the weight and nuance it needed to carry the show.
sorry for my off-topic (I think) comment on this:
one thing’s for sure with me, at least the voice actress of Ranka Lee is half-Flip.
oh yeah, am not a big fan of Ranka though, Sheryl Nome all the way!
That she is, and I’m glad you took the time to read and hope you stick around for the rest of this blogging Frontier series at least.
Hey, i just read all of your frontier reviews in one day and ended very delight to read a great deep insightful reviews almost 2 years after the series ended. I’m really grateful to you for all the time and dedication you have use for writing all of it.
Just in order to help you in your last 2 reviews, I wanted to tell you: at the AnimeSuki Forums in the Ligth Novels tread, you can find translations of several fragments regarding the macross novels, mostly about the lasts chapters of the series (22 on forward). I don’t have the links at hand right now, but sure you have heard of that forum before.
I´m pretty sure you will find it helpful while completing your hard work here. Ill be reading the rest of your work while waiting your finals reviews,
Bye
Thank you for reading all that! I wouldn’t call these things reviews so much as speculative essays of a fan who really loves his Macross.
I think the light novel excerpts, are meta retcons that should be very interesting to me as a fan, but I’d find difficult in using to write about the subject work as it is. I will get around to reading them.
That said, the rest of the posts on Frontier have been completed for over a month now (including a post-finale overarching essay), I’m just publishing them a week apart so I don’t run out of publishing material. The next one should be out in 2 hours ^_^
I’ve been reading your blog now for a bit and find it very thought provoking. I’ve been searching for other interpretations of a few key scenes for the Triangle and specifically for the Alto/Sheryl ship.
One thing I have yet to find from is another take regarding this episode on Klan’s “So that is your love?” line. I see it referring to two possibilities, either it refers to Alto’s “love” for Ranka or his love for his Fleet/home.
I must wonder if it’s just me that finds the line a bit vague or are there others?
As for Sheryl’s failure in this episode, all I can say it I don’t know if Alto is acting or if his growth included his new found love for her. To say Sheryl ordering Alto not to leave her when she knows she will leave him soon (in death) a failure on her part is bit harsh in my opinion. I think her failure comes from older episodes, not relying on others, hiding beyond a mask and otherwise not letting herself to admit weakness. My question on the scene is did Alto really mean it? I know he would stay with her until her death but if she wasn’t dieing what would Alto do? Was he acting as Sheryl thought (pretending to be lovers) or did he want to confess in episode 24?
Perhaps I do not understand Alto’s character enough…
Thank you.
We can choose to be “lenient” if that’s how you wish to put it. But I don’t see how anyone asking someone to stop being who they are (soldier, pilot, warrior, etc.) to satisfy a personal need, is a good thing. She should know better what’s at stake for Alto and for the Frontier (and Galaxy) colonies… and therefore a severe impact in the human galactic expeditionary effort.
Thanks for the reply! =)
Was she really asking him to stop being himself though? To me it just seemed that she was asking him to stay by her side as himself. I don’t see it as Sheryl asking Alto to stop being a pilot like Minmay. I see it as her asking him to stay by her side as they fight the good fight, to stay with her as she is dying, stay close to her but as himself, no matter who is he. Basically I see it as her saying “Please don’t break up with me/love me forever” which under normal circumstances would not look good on her part, but this isn’t normal. With the war and her dying all she wants is to not die alone or at least when she dies she knows that Alto is with her, even if he is fighting/not physically by her side.
I do not see Sheryl as the type to ask anyone to stop being themselves for her, that seems to go against the grain of her previous statements/personality. She encouraged Alto and Ranka, so I honestly think those words are not meant to say “Don’t leave my side 24/7″ but more “Come home to me every night, don’t let me be alone”.
She is of course alone and her personality and upbringing, along with her workaholic attitude deeming everyone must be a perfectionist like herself has caused her to be alone and to rely on Alto so much. I think that is another one of her failures, perhaps her biggest one. But this little moment just doesn’t scream like a big “no no” failure. To me it’s seems so much more like an “aww, that’s so sad” moment. It is similar to Minmay’s request however the negative side effects of “stop being yourself” just doesn’t seem to be there for me. It’s like this is how Minmay was suppose to be, what she was suppose to ask.
It’s been awhile, so I’ll have to rewatch the episode.
In any case, I did read the situation this way:
Sheryl isn’t singing anymore, which lends a symmetry to ask Alto to remain with her, and even if only temporary, stop flying/fighting. This is significant in that they’re approaching the most important battle in the colony’s history.
If this isn’t the case, then I was too harsh.
Ah, I see what you’re saying and I would agree if that was the case. However I just finished watching the series. The episode prior to this has Sheryl reviving her singing career with Elmo and adamantly stating she won’t give up singing which lead to her asking Alto to give her courage “to sing”.
So in this episode she is singing for Frontier because she now has fold wave capabilities (implied/in the background). Sheryl was going to give up singing but she didn’t, in episode 20 she sang for everyone in the shelter and she continued to sing from then on.
Totally re-watch it whenever you have time and I think you’ll see it a bit differently maybe. Thanks for the discussion and I really do enjoy your blog, keep up the awesomeness!
In light of this, the reading of her request as a significant failure is indeed harsh, my opinion mostly colored by Minmay’s case. Thank you for engaging me and this post!
Last month I visited Tokyo and managed to see Sayonara no Tsubasa four times while I was there. Bloody fantastic, phenomenal film and definetly the best Macross film since DYRL (which is to say yes, it’s better than even Macross Plus film IMO) – in some ways I can’t help but think I should rate it higher than DYRL as it doesn’t suffer from its flaws but I don’t think that would be fair as Sayonara is not standalone – it needs Utahime – like DYRL was… anyway, inspired by this wonderful piece of fanboy heaven I got to experience I’ve been rewatching MacrossF episodes here and there to remind me how tv series handled things in comparison. It’s still fantastic series in my opinion, although after Sayonara I can assuredly say that I think film retelling is better as it irons out the minor kinks series had (like removing ep 8 entirely, LOL), resolves the triangle and its treatment of Ranka and Alto was superior to tv series.
^So if you were wondering why I’m commenting on such a old post that’s the reason. And it’s also possible my points were already brought up in discussion before, I didn’t read it because as far as I can tell it was the same old crap. If that’s the case I’m sorry for pointless post. I’m going through my points in order of importance…
First of all, this time around I noticed you made one pretty big mistake which kind of disintegrates one section of your commentary here (*which is a good thing*, because this means the writers didn’t get hit by hammer of colossal dumbness out of nowhere after all):
“Ranka Lies: She Claims to Have Never Failed
Ranka says to Brera that the Vajra will listen to her song, that “It hasn’t failed me before.” Either Ranka is dissociative amnesia all over again (unlikely because the episode begins with her remembering more things about Ranshe, Brera, and Grace), Ranka is ridiculously stupid, or that Ranka is lying. In episode 20 Alto convinced her to make the Vajra listen to her song (to pacify them) and Sheryl even slapped her when she wouldn’t agree to do so. The whole thing failed, and the Vajra only became more violent, leading to the near destruction of the colony and countless deaths.
Why would she claim that it has never failed?”
That is because she’s telling the truth. Aimo has NEVER failed so far.
When I first read this post I came to agree this was some bizarre hole in the writing and wondered why I didn’t notice it when I first watched the series. Now after the most recent rewatch I realized it was because there was no hole in the writing and Ranka’s reasoning here.
The mistake you make here is conflating Aimo and Aimo O.C together as one, which is even from thematic point of view wrong thing to do, not to speak of the actual narrative. Aimo O.C is a corrupted, “evil” version of Aimo that stands in opposition to its original nature.
Ranka never identified with this “version” of Aimo and always felt uncomfortable singing it. Even after the big military operation in ep 18 when she saves the colony with Aimo O.C she ends up singing the original, real Aimo for comfort afterwards, as if to “cleanse” herself from what happened before. The one and only time in series any version of Aimo fails is in ep 20…and it’s *Aimo O.C*.
The moment Ranka returns to singing the real Aimo in ep 21 it works. THAT Aimo has never failed before and there was no reason for Ranka to think it was going to fail this time either.
The whole issue disappears once you read Ranka’s lines as referring to original Aimo – which I think is the correct thing to do as Ranka clearly never identifed with the butchered, corrupted version. It wasn’t the song that had been her core, her lone memory and pillar of support for years. It wasn’t “Aimo” as far as she was concerned. And given Kawamori characterizing the whole O.C gig as evil thing while original Aimo is love song of galactic proportions it’s clear writers made the separation too.
So yes, this issue is actually non-issue. Ranka wasn’t hit by massive dumb/loss of memory nor did the writers forget events of previous episodes – “Aimo O.C” just isn’t Aimo
“Also, it’s rather telling how Ranka never asked Brera who he was, what his relationship with Grace is, who Grace is – beyond a artiste manager who has elite pilots at her disposal. She never bothered to wonder.”
Well, the last part certainly isn’t true. For example she did give great deal of thought about Brera from the start as ep 16 makes apparent (she had already connected the man she saw in Griffith Park in ep 8 and Brera as same person). Episode 16 also makes it apprent why Ranka didn’t bother – she *did* – to “ask him anything”. Ranka tried – and apparently she ends up doing this repeatedly – to ask him why does he know Aimo only to get “top secret” as answer. As source of information about Grace or Brera himself the guy was practically useless. As for Grace herself, Ranka was intimidated by her from the start. Can you *really* imagine Ranka starting to ask all sorts of personal questions about her when merely voicing her disagreement about personal matters like needing a bodyguard was hard to do and she got immeaditly rebuked anyway?
I don’t think Ranka made separation between Grace and Frontier government anyway during her gig as “Songstress of Hope”. When Grace becomes her manager she makes it explicit it’s part of government plan and that essentially she’s just acting her part. Why then would Ranka be surprised Grace has “elite pilots at her disposal”? She’s working for the government as key personnel in a huge government project and has all resources at her disposal she needs. Getting a bodyguard or two isn’t at all weird if Ranka’s going to become something as grand and important as “Songstress of Hope”. And Brera still doesn’t say anything. She does ask Brera about Aimo once again after they leave Frontier behind but it turns out Brera really doesn’t remember or know much.
It’s unfair and factually wrong to say Ranka didn’t wonder about these things. She did but combination of her meek, shy personality and the conditions around her didn’t exactly make her the best or most productive intelligence officer around.
“The Doylist approach tells us this scene is a contrivance to maintain the conceit that Sheryl (and Ranka) are versions of SDFM’s Minmay. However, Sheryl is the Macross: Do You Remember Love? version of Minmay while Ranka is the SDFM version. This scene only exists in SDFM, so the writing staff rather trip over themselves maintaining the conceit.”
While Ranka and Sheryl undeniably inherit their positions in narrative from the two versions of Minmay I think you take these “starting points” as a bit too determinative. For one thing neither Ranka or Sheryl really resemble Minmay in terms of personality, secondly it was the screenwriter Hiroyuki Yosino who noted Ranka was SDFM Minmay while Sheryl was DYRL Minmay. Kawamori was apparently suprised and went something akin “oh, well damn that’s true” – he didn’t intentionally write Ranka or Sheryl as “Minmays”.
So Sheryl gaining some flavour ot SDF Macross Minmay isn’t really the writers tripping themselves over because Sheryl is NOT DYRL Minmay. She just starts in similar position in the beginning of storyline. As much as MacrossF homages the original it’s still its own narrative so this isn’t messed up characterization at all. It would be flaw if Sheryl was ment to be new DYRL Minamy and only that, but we really don’t have any reason to think so. Kawamori himself wrote Sheryl as Sheryl, not as “DYRL Minmay”. I think you’re giving a bit too much importance for the meta-scheme here when evaluating the writing.
“This question I ask of you who have only seen Frontier prior to any other Macross shows: did the behavior of the protagonists make sense for you up to this point?”
I guess I don’t really count since I had seen DYRL prior to all Frontier episodes barring the few very first ones but…yes. I’ve also made few dozens of people to watch Macross Frontier over time. Pretty much everyone thought it was great, but barely anyone had seen any Macross titles prior to it and only fraction of them would go on to turn into genuine, full Macross fans and start going through other entries in the franchise. Nevertheless no one felt like they had needed to see other Macross works to understand behaviour of characters in episode like this.
In regards to this episode and the dinner scene I was just as blind to history of the franchise as they because DYRL didn’t have that scene between Hikaru and Minmay. So all I saw it as was Sheryl’s moment of weakness and need for Alto to stay with her untill the end. I never got any impression that she wanted Alto to quit being a pilot, albeit that IS a possibility now that I think about it.
Did not read for fear of spoilers! I’ll have to wait until I see Sayonara no Tsubasa you lucky bastard.
THERE ARE NO SAYONARA NO TSUBASA SPOILERS IN THE POST!
I only mentioned that I saw the film as reason why I was rewatching the series again (which in turn led me to reading these older posts)
Only spoiler in my post is that I answer the question whether or not the triangle gets resolved in the film – and I’m not sure if you can even consider this a spoiler since the film and OST have been marketed with “end of the triangle” subtitle
Apart from the beginning my post is entirely about tv series and more specifically what you wrote here. It’s safe read
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