The Top 3 ASDFGHJK Moments of Macross Frontier The Wings of Goodbye

We (the founders of We Remember Love) watched the culmination of the Macross Frontier saga together and in grand fashion: using an office board room and a high-end projector. It is only fitting, as the Macross Frontier sub-franchise is, and had always been the representative anime for this blog. Yes, our favorite show is Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but is Macross Frontier that remembers love, and is the show that in 2008, got us following anime blogs and finally start one ourselves.

This post will be the first I’ll make on this film, and relatedly, Macross Frontier as a sub-franchise and Macross as a franchise as a whole. I’m not hung up on destiny, but I find it entertaining to imagine how the destiny of Macross Frontier is intertwined with that of We Remember Love. The first post here is to get the obvious out of the way: We loved this film and here are the moments that blew us away:

[SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY]

3. Remembering Love For Gundam (and Eureka SeveN) “Big Wednesday”

When the Macross Quarter made its desperate run into the atmosphere of the Vajra home world, it had to deal with the danger of atmospheric entry which has not been a significant obstacle in a Macross narrative since Macross Plus and even then the hazard involved more of the static satellite defenses Isamu had to fly through. This however, was a big deal in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and in Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack.

In Z the AEUG invasion force headed for Jaburo from space was attacked by the Titans during atmospheric entry. The mobile suits had to use ballutes, devices to reduce atmospheric friction to survive. Macross Frontier referenced not only this, but the Axis asteroid falling to earth in Char’s Counterattack when the Macross Quarter used the asteroid in orbit as a ballute, Z Gundam style both as a shield against atmospheric friction but also against enemy fire.

BUT IT DOESN’T STOP THERE.

In Gundam, mobile suits are generally unable to fly within the Earth’s Atmosphere. In Z Gundam this was mitigated by the use of what amounted to as rocket-propelled flying surfboards. This was not cool. It looked rather dumb. 2 decades later Eureka SeveN did away with the rocket propulsion and used some in-universe energy source for robots to surf the skies as if they were surfing waves in the ocean. THE MACROSS QUARTER DID EXACTLY THIS USING WHAT’S LEFT OF THE ASTROID AFTER RE-ENTRY.

NOT QUITE DONE YET.

For good measure, after taking damage even in the cockpit, Capt. Jeffrey Wilder earned his place in GARHALLA by whipping out the “emergency controls” of the Macross Quarter which constituted of a naval vessel’s helm straight out of Mobile Suit Gundam’s The White Base. CAPS-INDUCING AWESOMENESS.

2. Inverting Space War I: The NUNS are the Invasion Forces firing down on an Earth-like Planet

So Many Macross Class ships all at once, firing the final shot. This inverts the Zentraedi Bodolle Zer extermination/genocidal attack on Miclones in the first Space War. This time it’s the humans doing the firing which is some delicious irony. But this is already the bonus, the real substance of this moment for me is seeing all these Macross ships. It’s an invasionary fleet made of Macross-Class ships (even if they’re the quarter-sized variety).

I didn’t even think of ever wanting to see anything like this in my lifetime. BUT HERE IT IS. Sure, Macross II Lovers Again had a fleet of Macross Cannons but that’s kind of LOL. This is different, this is unilaterally awesome. This is like an large idol group made of Minmays, Rankas, Mylenes, & Sheryls.

Speaking of which:

1. LOVELY BOMBER

I know Kawamori is retarded for San Francisco, and Frontier City is basically parts of Tokyo, parts of San Francisco, and a tropical beach recreational district a la Singapore’s Sentosa. But Alcatraz? LOL. How many years has the Frontier fleet been in exploration to require such a facility. And how many years has the facility been in operation to be this run-down? Never mind, Macross Frontier never let logic get in the way in presenting a spectacle and it’s not about to start now.

Ranka wasn’t a big star yet, and thus she required a gimmick. Thus, taking the thematic cue from episode 12 of the TV series the film proceeded to reference Macross 7’s Fire Bomber in all its tacky, cheesy, rock ‘n roll glory. Why would people want to go to a concert of an unknown band held guerilla style in a still active prison is beyond me, OH WAIT, THEY’RE ALL INMATES… but yeah that attitude towards logic thing sure is handy! It was awesome, there was a battle too, and oh my god the Fire Bomber costumes of Michel & Klan!

BONUS: ISAMU

Yes, that’s an antique YF-19 folding out to invade an Earth-like planet once again, piloted by no one else but my main man Isamu Alva Dyson. His name and the seiyuu is in the credits (I’d recognize that “YUHOOO” anywhere). Yeah, it’s really him. In Macross 7 (and Dynamite 7) we still see a fair number of Space War I relics in operation, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to see a well-maintained perfection in Variable Fighter design make an appearance.

Isamu really came out of nowhere, the last cameo I’d expect really, but it makes sense in how Alto’s last ride was in a YF-29, the swept-forward wings of goodbye.

The Ongoing Post Series:

1. The Top 3 ASDFGHSDFG Moments in Sayonara no Tsubasa [you are reading this]
2. A Tale of Two Movie Adaptations: TTGL vs. MF
3. The Resolution of the Triangle
4. The Rehabilitation of Characters: Ranka, BreraAlto, Grace
5. Going Beyond the Impossible: The Reconstruction of a Canon
6. Sheryl Nome: The Most Awesome Woman in Anime

I mentioned these so I can have some order in the conversations to come. For now, let’s talk about our most favorite moments from the film.