![SDF Macross Episode 34 Remastered [Galaxy Network].mkv_snapshot_01.32_[2011.07.10_16.29.15]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-episode-34-remastered-galaxy-network-mkv_snapshot_01-32_2011-07-10_16-29-15.jpg "SDF Macross Episode 34 Remastered [Galaxy Network].mkv_snapshot_01.32_[2011.07.10_16.29.15]")
I will end this post on a rather dark note, because having finished this rewatch I’ve seen more of this understated darkness than ever. It is dark, but not grim, and so it escapes the viewers too fixated on the antics of the love triangle and its resolution. But there is a lot more to the show I find interesting, than its professed objective of being a love story set against the backdrop of great battles.
First thing: Roy Focker back story. Roy was a douche and was lucky to have Claudia. We should forgive her for making that pineapple salad. This back story is Claudia supposedly trying to cheer Misa up. The reassurance is basically: Men are assholes, put up with them. This should reassure no one, no matter how true.
Two other things: warfare in a high-scarcity era results in the showcase of the Destroids; and many characters, including the leads, come to new lows… and for some it is doubtful that they’ll rise from it again. I will talk about these things for a while, but I promise to finish this entry with a commentary on the very ending of SDF Macross. Let us begin.
![SDF Macross - 35 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_07.47_[2011.07.10_19.26.01]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-35-animefiends-avi_snapshot_07-47_2011-07-10_19-26-01.jpg "SDF Macross - 35 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_07.47_[2011.07.10_19.26.01]")
Hikaru, while reaching the very depths of his personal douchebaggery by trying to schedule two dates on the same day (and running roughshod over Misa in the process), got to showcase the Destroids in a way that was impossible in space combat. Bereft of his VF, he got to lead a squad made of two Destroid Spartans and a VF-1A and take on a motley band of Zentraedi malcontents. The thing is, I wouldn’t call this a highlight of real-robot functionality given the premise of giant humanoid mecha in Macross (which is a sterling element of the show), only that it is [you cannot see the slideshow from a feed reader; go to the post website to view the awesome fight]:
For all the lack of everything I want from a mecha action scene (dynamic animation, serious business choreography/direction), this establishes more than anything the fulfillment of the need for giant humanoid mecha in a science fictional universe. Patlabor uses a similar conceit anyway.
To belabor the point, here are some size charts:
The use of Overtechnology made sure the UN SPACY had the mecha to combat them giants. So much for the Zentraedi malcontents, but did the cultured Zentrans do that much better? I discussed this in a previous post on episode 34 “Romanesque:”
And then we find Minmay alone in a park, sitting on a swing having been left by Kaifun and no longer wanting to sing. She’s washed up, and much too soon. But then again, everybody alive has already heard her songs. There is no one else to sing to, except maybe for her most die-hard fans. But she didn’t even want to see them, and the last we see of our Zentraedi spies is their failure to catch up with Minmay, who was the catalyst for their transformation.
I was actually wrong in that post. We see the Lolicon Trio with the Bridge Bunnies once more and for the last time during the Silent Night montage. I certainly like to think that the three ‘couples’ found a way to join the Megaroad 01, though that voyage may be an ill-fated one.
![SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_17.40_[2011.07.10_22.01.24]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-36-animefiends-avi_snapshot_17-40_2011-07-10_22-01-24.jpg "SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_17.40_[2011.07.10_22.01.24]")
Before I move on to the triangle’s resolution, something must be said about Kamujin Kravshera. I had been rather dismissive of him throughout my blogging the series, but I’ve begun to see him in a new light thanks to the comments of one of our regular readers:
Kamjin seems to be another deconstruction of the genre; far from the typical and noble Alien rival in your average Robot show, he’s a compulsive conniving imbecile, renowned not for his piloting skills but his talent for getting his subordinates massacred. Its an interesting subversion.
[…]
As far as the “Noble” enemy rival trope Kamjin seems to disparage, the earliest example I can think of would be Prince Sharkin in Brave Raideen; the character archetype was refined into its more modern form with none other than Prince Heinel in Voltes V, and Richter in Tosho Daimos. Note that all three are aliens, same as Kamjin. Its a common trope in older anime. Char merely branched out into the more modern “Masked Rival” sub-trope.
Not that the idea that the rival figure in a series can be a figure of contempt is anything new, similar contemporary examples I can think of at the time would be Ypsilon in VOTOMS and Gostello (sort of) in SPT Layzner. I just read Kamjin that way from both how the series presents him (like his exchange with Hikaru in ep. 7 seeing them equally matched) and from the narrative role he seems to fit in the series. Kamjin is thrown into the rival role, ill fitting though it might be, so I saw him as a deliberate subversion of it.
–Matt Wells
And how about this for an end: His gunship gutted by the Macross Cannon’s last bang, he pilots it himself with Lap’lamiz, towards ramming the SDF-01 in a suicide attack? He promises Lap’lamiz “We’ll do culture afterwards.” Of course you can’t do Miclone culture after you fulfill your Zentraedi destiny of dying gloriously in battle. But this irony is precisely why Kamujin is interesting now. For most of the show he was this excuse for battle scenes, but at the very end, he still is, but also offering such considerations for the intent viewer.
![SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_19.11_[2011.07.10_22.00.40]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-36-animefiends-avi_snapshot_19-11_2011-07-10_22-00-40.jpg "SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_19.11_[2011.07.10_22.00.40]")
Join your brethren in GARhalla Kamujin. You can take Lap’lamiz with you.
And now we come to the very end. I have chosen my words as carefully as I can. This is a post series that I didn’t expect I would do but always wanted to do. I want to make these count:
Macross is anti-heroic. Not in the sense that there are heroes who do heroic things only as a consequence of their personal violent agenda, but rather the heroes of Macross in the end are after very personal things, even when they seem to be about serving others. Minmay. She was forced to find a reason to sing that’s bigger than herself. We don’t know if she ever succeeds, but this choice is not a heroic one… it’s what she has to do after facing rejection. Hikaru dumps her for Misa.
![SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_10.49_[2011.07.10_21.34.14]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-36-animefiends-avi_snapshot_10-49_2011-07-10_21-34-14.jpg "SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_10.49_[2011.07.10_21.34.14]")
Misa, woman of the service. She had resolved to quit! She went to Global utterly defeated thinking she can’t serve in the military if it means she has to be around Hikaru who at the time was with Minmay. She stays in the service, to accomplish the worthy mission finding other planets for humans to colonize because it was so easy for the Zentraedi to waste the Earth. Why does she accept this? It’s because it means she can run away from Hikaru & Minmay!
![SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_21.47_[2011.07.10_21.54.43]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-36-animefiends-avi_snapshot_21-47_2011-07-10_21-54-43.jpg "SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_21.47_[2011.07.10_21.54.43]")
Hikaru. He dumped Mimay for Misa. Minmay was forcing him to quit flying, because Minmay can’t handle Hikaru living his dream while hers lay in ruins. If she’s grounded, so must Hikaru be! Hikaru will never agree with that. He could’ve agreed to this at first, but he’d find a way back to the sky soon enough. But then, Misa gave him a way out. Misa was leaving in a grand mission. He would get to leave the ravaged Earth, travel to the distant stars, and keep a woman who’d cook and clean and put up with him. Needy Minmay had no chance in hell at this point. Hikaru himself resented her success as a star, though he can’t abide her defeatist quitting. Also he’s not okay with being Mr. Rebound-from-Kaifun.
All three. Instead of saving the day and being heroes, they were people who found reasons to live, or had to find reasons for themselves to live. Besides, the mission for all intents and purposes, has failed. The Megaroad 01 is lost. The colonization of the galaxy was more successfully pursued by subsequent Macross colonization fleets. This is the resolution of this rather simplistic but rather dark love love triangle, set against the background of great battles.
![SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_22.18_[2011.07.10_21.55.46]](https://ghostlightning.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/sdf-macross-36-animefiends-avi_snapshot_22-18_2011-07-10_21-55-46.jpg "SDF Macross - 36 [AnimeFiends].avi_snapshot_22.18_[2011.07.10_21.55.46]")
But we (and Minmay) will always have Flashback 2012.
We Remember Love 
I don’t really know what else to call it except for “cracking the code”. Your interpretation of SDFM is quite far off from mine, but the picture you paint suggests a more consistent universe than I was prepared to give it credit for.
I’ve often felt conflicted and “betrayed” by the direction Macross chose after SDFM, but I viewed it as a fundamentally optimistic series which does not shy away from the darker side of human nature when suitable, and fell prey to bizarre writing decisions later on. Yet if indeed Macross was meant to be a series in which little is earnestly hopeful or to be taken at face value, the later creative decisions make more sense.
Like the fate of the Megaroad-01. I refused to view that part of the story as good or necessary writing, and especially not as a tear-jerking sendoff, or as the only thing standing between overuse and overexposure of the characters. I hate it, pure and simple. Yet if the viewer was never supposed to expect happiness or a good treatment of the characters, than it makes a perverse amount of sense for all that’s been invested in to go up in smoke.
As further demonstration, the ex-spy trio are said, in the liner notes for one of the Macross 7 albums (ask Yot-chan; he knows which one), to remain on Earth, and become bitter, burned-out alcoholics who curse human culture. Rori, in particular, is married to Vanessa but does not work. It’s a horrible way to deal with characters, but again: if most of SDF Macross is meant to be a dark smirk, it’s not the appalling shock it could be.
Even the wholesale alteration of Exsedol might be considered part of it. Remaining attached to characters as they are isn’t a necessary part of a more pessimistic story. Or even the unexplained nature of Max and Milia’s estrangement…and so on.
That’s not to say I agree with you, but it was the observation that first came to mind.
As for Kamjin, his decision to indulge in a kamikaze attack on the SDF-1 has always struck me as random, but not so much that I dismiss it as bad writing. There are many potential interpretations, and a lot of it depends on whether one believes if Kamjin gathered the “malcontent” Zentradi because it was something he did for kicks, or because he had found an earnest in preserving the old ways and taking revenge on those who had tried to change it…and still got his kicks anyway. Perhaps he saw that it was all ultimately a futile gesture, and decided to go out with a bang.
The resolution of Hikaru and Misa seems too abrupt after the Archie Comics shenanigans he put Misa through, but in a story like this, my default is to assume the wrinkles are more or less ironed out, since an unexperimental narrative ought to end on at least some finality, and it feels like Macross is the sort to try it.
The message of Claudia’s talk with Roy was, I always thought, that all relationships are rough at the start, and not to give up too soon. Macross doesn’t seem self-aware enough to actually point out the truth behind such platitudes and cliches, namely that sometimes people you’re interested in are just jerks.
I am very susupicious about unifying purposes or themes for the whole franchise. I can easily acknowledge shared themes, but unifying ones? Nah. Every new work stretches things, or is a variation and/or subversion. This is why I don’t really think about this too much. The writing isn’t very good really, or rather meets the standard of other science fiction works that people adhere to as ‘good.’ But I’m less concerned about this as this show is a Masterpiece in my mind of all anime and for all time (shouldn’t be any surprise coming from me).
I would have to chase down those liner notes… that’s really awful stuff re the Zentraedi trio… but I suspected as much.
I don’t know what Macross’ purpose is beyond showcasing a love story against great space battles. It succeeds here, but I can no longer confidently ascribe other purposes. I can definitely read what’s there to be read though… as the ‘darkness’ I talk about in this post.
Yes, Claudia meant to say this to Misa… relationships are rough at the start and they get to be awesome later on. But what she’s not saying but is all there in what she’s saying (deconstructed) is that men are douches and she can’t own up to this. Max is the exception… and it’s him that got estranged from his wife. Dun dun dun.
Kamujin… I don’t think his final attack is bad writing in any way. It was a great end, the best end for him. But still, he plays that role to the very end: plot excuse to have a battle. He’s very consistent.
Actually, I believe that Macross is unified by a lot of things: themes, tropes, imagery, whatever you want to call it. Some if it is lazy “borrowing” from earlier works, some of it is subversive, but there are notable recurring things.
IIRC, the album is a Macross 7 audio drama called the Macross 7 Docking Festival. The album is otherwise innocuous, and that little tidbit of information is dropped in there like garbage on a clean floor.
We all have our ideas about the way stories should turn out, and in this case I was appalled by the notion that a series could simply squash benign secondary characters in such a callous way, when previously it had not been shown to have such capability. Beyond my affection for those characters, it still doesn’t seem very “Macross” a thing to happen, based on all else I’ve seen, and in principle it’s just sloppy to destroy characters like that, for no good reason.
Like I said, I can see that cynical interpretation of Claudia’s words, an interpretation that can be applied to dozens of fictional couples, but it doesn’t feel like the interpretation that “matches” with the story as presented.
Also, while I come down hard on the idea that Kamjin would suddenly switch to a suicide run, the concept of him becoming a thorn in humanity’s side, rather than turning tail and running as ep. 27 suggested is something I’m a lot easier on. The transition is hardly seamless or smooth, but the pre-kamikaze result is very convincing, because it introduces a new angle to Kamjin, the possibility that he might have found something to believe in besides himself.
I dunno if shared/recurring = unified.
Kamikaze run is easy. He’s good as dead. Everyone else he fought with is dead (Oigul, etc.) With what army and forces does he further fight with. Die like a Zentran!
It requires no leap of imagination.
But the Zentradi don’t have an ethos of dying gloriously in combat. If Kamjin decides that’s the cool thing to do, okay, but he doesn’t seem like the type to create and serve that sort of self-extinguishing ideal, even if he did believe in his cause.
They don’t? Why fight so much? If fighting is so much fun, preferable, awesome… then dying while fighting is more preferable than dying while not fighting. It’s not that big a leap.
It’s harder to imagine veterans’ retirement villages… and that Zentraedi actively looking forward to spend their days there after their tours of duty. Death! Glorious death!
I suppose that part of the appeal of SDFM is that it does not succumb to the temptation of painting a rosy picture for its protagonists. Hikaru doesn’t really choose a woman as much as a lifestyle. Misa get’s her guy in the end, but not really in the way a girl dreams of, and poor Minmay walks off into the distance a bit wiser yet alone. And yet it worked very well. Even without seeing Flashback 2012, all the narratives are taken care of and a new age can begin. And in future Macross’ series were Minmay is myth and legend, we can get to see how prosaic somethings really were.
The ironic thing about Kamjin Krashvera, is that despite his hate and contempt for humans, he might easily be one of the most “cultured” of all Zentraedi towards the end of the series. Impervious to Minmay’s singing, freely fraternizing with women and somehow free from the childlike behaviour of his fellow Zentran.
Nice find with the size chart by the way. I didn’t know that Klan was such a big girl! Too much of a woman for Michel for sure…
Kamjin actually strikes me as extremely childlike, in the sense that he refuses to accept change and is dragged kicking and screaming into a new era. He’s retrogressive, regressive, etc. He might not be as overtly silly as Warera, Rori, and Konda, but he’s not the cool one. At best, Kamjin’s scenario just shows that he’s not as free from human influence as he thinks he is. 😛
…which is why it’s so good to ask “Do you remember love?” …a far more romantic (or romanticized) and rosy, and nostalgic take on the love triangle was indeed found in the film.
Yes, Kamujin irony is strong.
Klan is a freak.
But isn’t there also a love triangle between Pineapple Salad, Death, and Steak?
The fruit wins death, though it cheated death 40 years later.
Reading this post it occured to me that maybe the Minmay sitting on a swin in the snow scene was inspired by Kurosawa’s Ikiru. I think that is a possibility.
I am very glad they remade the whole thing into the DYRL movie where the whole love triangle is much more a pleasant thing to watch. Hikaru makes a decision and it is personal not like in the series. I think i would’ve beat him up seriously when he made poor Misa wait for him. But that shows how strong Misa’s love is, and that she is the wife type who accepts (I’m not surprised, as a soldier she has to follow orders all day)
Speaking of mecha for me it always seemed a bit impossible that a Zentradi can fit into a Regult (battlepod). It always seemed smaller when a Valkyrie was in close distance for comparison.
The Megaroad-1 is a nice idea, and I wonder how their relationship was kept alive (or how Hikaru was kept alive while fighting in the unknown). I think it is better that we shall never know.
Kamjin is an idiot.
I’m unfamiliar with Ikuru, but now I’m interested.
As I said to megaroad1, DYRL was indeed a more romantic or at least romanticized love story. Both works give us fans the service to fit our moods.
Mecha sizes are almost always problematic while being animated. This has not changed. In Macross Frontier 01 you see a Vajra that towers over an entire city block and then in the next clip wrestle with a battloid that is smaller than the VF-1. So your impressions re the Regulds are not surprising. But chalk this up to the difficulty of animation rather than design.
Ikiru’s about a minor Japanese civil servant diagnosed with cancer, who decides to get a park for children made as his last good deed. He faces petty opposition and red tape wherever he goes, eventually succeeding, but everyone else takes the credit for his work. He dies alone and pennyless, rocking gently on the swing of his children’s park. A visual reference maybe, but thematicly I don’t think it has much to do with the series at this point.
A bit off-topic: anyone who has seen both shows couldn’t help but take notice at the increased stature of the Zentraedi in Frontier. Why? Although I accept the fact that the creators didn’t set a standard regarding Zentran stature (considering the total disparity) in real life, my theory is that, ever since they assimilated themselves into human culture, their lifestyle has been utterly altered, including personal nutrition. In the 50 years since Space War One, better nutrition translated into improvements in physical makeup. Hence we have a Klan Klang just as big as Breetai.
A far better and rational explination for Zentradi size inconsitencies than Kawamori has ever given us.
It’s not just Klan. Nene is BIGGER than she is (she’s the shy moe-moe one with even more gigantic tits) making her nearly as big as Bodolle Zer. But you may be right. Them hippo cows have super milk and them 7-color carrots have super vitamins.
That enka singer in Folmo mall, the farmer with them hippo cows… they’re both ginormous Zentrans as big as Destroids.
The idea about Zentraedi height disparity hit on me when I remembered about reading one of those Time-Life books on health; it was said that the average height of a Roman legionnaire was 5’4″; researchers compared the height of several skeletons belonging to Middle Age knights with those tallied from enlisted men during World War II, and concluded that between centuries human progress meant more food on the table, more food ensured better health, thus positively affecting height and weight of the average person.
Applying this to assimilated Zentraedi, the introduction of human foodstuffs, which replaced their usual staple space-travel diet of synthesized chow (and those aforementioned carrots) caused quite an impact to their health and well-being, and by extension, altering the functionality of their growth hormones.
The downside of this, however, it seems that the average macronized Zentran needs up to 10-15 times the amount of food their human counterparts consume on a daily basis, which means they have to produce more crops and livestock (and thus more costly in terms of resources needed to keep the Frontier fleet environment sustainable), so it makes economic sense for any Zentraedi to live as micronized beings most of the time.
I’ve always been even more surprised by the fact that Rori and Exsedol were intended to be bigger than Milia. I always imagined Milia of somewhat Amazonian proportions, and Rori and Exsedol are little guys (relatively)–it just doesn’t look right.
It’s not followed up in the animation, though: we never see Milia side by side with those two male characters at the same size, but Exsedol is pretty small compared to Maistroff, and it’s hard to imagine that Milia is smaller even than *that*. Thank goodness for inconsistent character sizing in animation. 😛
That last picture of Minmay is a fine example of zombie skin tones in SDF Macross.
This was the original basis of the theory that she actually died in that last battle and Hikaru and Misa used dark arts to raise her for further use on the Megaroad 01
WAITING FOR REMASTERED FINAL EPS
removed some of the weird colours in my experience
I can’t wait. Will just watch again.
yeah, unfortunately the translation process has been stalled for now (since earthquake, actually). I talked with one of the guys on the project and he said it will be finished eventually, but not anytime soon… 😦
Remastered episodes just look so good. I wish to rewatch whole Macross saga (barring 7 series LOL) prior to Sayonara no Tsubasa BD/DVD release but I’d like to watch all of SDF Macross with remastered eps…but whether the final (two?) eps come out prior to that film I do not know. Oh well.
DVD rips of 7 look a LOT better than the rips I first watched. Go watch them!
Those are what I’ve watched, actually.
All heroes are anti-heroes in private.
Possibly
@ GL, above:
Zentradi fight because it’s all they know, what they’re told to do. Some of them like it, and they return to the military after contact with humanity, but liking it really isn’t the point. It’s what they’ll do, and they’ll do it, because there’s nothing else. Therefore there’s no need to cloak war in ceremony and glory in order to persuade Zentradi to engage in it–battle justifies itself, and that is the only reward. No one is retired, either. It’s use them till you lose them, and move on to the next topic.
It makes less sense that they are incapable of intense enjoyment at a large scale. The majority must be amped for fighting — the Lap’lamizs and Millyas and Chlores and the ‘culture’ around them. They are after all, genetically manufactured to value battle above all. Death in battle is a natural, and preferable consequence than to dying otherwise. Zentraedi aren’t salarymen who just happen to be soldiers. The Protoculture who made them won’t design them that way, or at least, it doesn’t make sense that they would.
watching this series twice, I quickly learned not to consider anyone in that love triangle a hero. None of them were terribly likable to me, they just had good, even great moments (especially Minmay). They were never as bad as the majority of main characters of Evangelion, who just seemed to be a bastion of childish hangups, phobias and selfishness. It just felt like even in their best moments their faults would hang out in a way that was impossible to ignore.
The only thing that took me back was how low (morally, emotionally) the characters got by the end of the series. It just seemed that once all the pressure and glory was gone they had nothing left to do but runaway from their problems and responsibilities, or “man up” and face them. And everyone initially ran. The end of this show could be interpreted in a number of ways, optimistically, pessimistically, realistically; all depending on how you want to view it. No matter how f*cked up these people are, a sliver of humanity still survives whether these losers get their lives together or not.
I was also glad I got to watch this show because it helped me, and will help me understand so many other series and tropes following this series. I remember when I was first watching the teen episodes of TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN hearing Viral compared quite a bit to Kamujin from this series because of his rebellious role in that arc. I guess for a time he was the unfortunate a-hole who wouldn’t quit, though I found Kamujin much more annoying and less cool.
Isn’t great, to have such incredibly human characters in such a show?
I’d never think of Viral as a reference to Kamujin, but my god you are right. You are so fucking right. You win the internets for this one.
Offtopic/news: Mark your calendar – 10/20 will be the release for the home edition of Sayonara no Tsubasa. HOT DAMN YAKH DECULTURE!
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Got the news here:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/07/20/macross_ps3/
Mindsploded once I came across with the article. Best news to end the day (watched HP7, bought new sound card, ate burgers down at Megadethmall).
Too bad I never play any games anymore, not even SRW (no time), but yes it’s almost here!
And I’m done. First time viewing of one of the crown jewels of real robot series, and I had a blast. I found myself satisfied by the resolution of the love triangle, but everything else in the story felt a tad rushed. No closure for Britai and Exsedol, no resolution for the Lolicon Three, next to nothing on Globalthe stirrings of a subplot between Milia and Lap’lamiz which went nowhere, etc. According to Animeigo there was a longer ending involving Misa being promoted to Ship’s Captain and launching the Megaroad 01 in her wedding dress, which would have kicked ass, but budget constraints…
Honestly I felt that the whole post-war arc was three episodes short of a proper ending. If the series ran for a whole three cours, it would have made all the difference. Then we might not have been lumbered with Kawamori just pulling a Bermuda Triangle on the main cast. Small grumblings I suppose, we were lucky just to get another 9 episodes in the first place.
Claudia’s flashback stung a little, its never nice to have GARsome characters taken from their pedestal, but the revelation that Roy was far from a perfect boyfriend was understandable, even an admirable move for a genre that tends to vilify dead characters. Hikaru hitting on a bridge bunny in full view of Misa and calling her mannish…DOUCHEY. Kaifun level douchery. And speaking of the Kung Fu Dickery, his departure was surprisingly dignified. He’s unwilling to put up with Minmay’s girly indecisiveness, the creepy incest presumably does nothing for him anymore, and he leaves Minmay to sort out her own life. Given the crap he’s endured recently, It’s not too surprising.
I liked how prominent the love triangle became in these last few eps, shifting the portentous, epic tone of the main plot to the central romance, it almost feels like a genre shift. Really hammers home that Macross is a love story punctuated by epic space battles. Minmay herself became reall interesting: she’s attained the love of the masses as an Idol yet not the personal happiness she dreamt of, she’s willing at last to make sacrifices at last for that love, only to see it slip through her fingers.
Rushed? Only if you see the show as a war drama primarily. Remember, it IS a love triangle primarily and it stuck to its guns not only in ep 27, but all the way to the very end.
I think Kaifun’s dignified departure truly infuriated some, but it serves best to underscore how much fail Minmay has become, how she’s going to become an albatross on Hikaru’s neck the moment she becomes finally available to him! Ah romantic irony.
I’ve enjoyed reading the show partly as the tragedy of Minmay, though it doesn’t really stand as she doesn’t possess gravitas, nor intelligence. She had talent but was ultimately a shallow and petty person, which is a great portrayal and a stunning indictment of the burgeoning idol industry in the early 80s.
Well said. Thanks for introducing me to this show Ghostlightning, were it not for your frequent posts I would have put off watching it for years, and that would have been an awful mistake. Thanks for making me care about these characters so that I now get pissed at how Kawamori continues to troll the fanbase, and thanks for extending my viewing backlog by a good 80 episodes or so, plus movies. I may not have the stomach to watch all of Gundam, but I have resolved to watch all of Macross. Yes, even Macross II.
Sorry again for the appalling spelling errors in my above post, but I was a little rushed in my typing. Based on the Pterobat’s comments, the actual resolution for the Lolicon Trio is nothing short of horrible, but strangely fitting for your analysis of this series, and the franchise in general. Macross isn’t quite the “so-bright-it-shits-rainbows” series people regard it as; humanity is always one step away from annihalation by the latest uncovered genetic tampering by the Protoculture, spreading culture across the galaxy in a desperate attempt to preserve what little they have left.
Given the undecided fate of the Megaroad 01, it makes the ending here all the more poignant and tragic. Thanks for getting me so emotionally invested in characters literally written out of the series by the Troll-in-Chief. Seriously though: thanks for both the feedback and your patience Ghost. And I’m glad to see my viewing experience was able to slightly enrich your own view of the series. Thanks a million. Next up, I shall Remember Love! (with a higher budget than the TV series, high quality animation and WTF Zentradi character designs!)
You’re welcome. This is after all, the core mission of We Remember Love. This blog is an evolved Macross shrine; evolved in that it does a lot of other things too, but at its very heart it’s all about
MinmayMacross.DYRL will be a different beast of a treat, and Plus is a guaranteed piece of awesomeness. It takes a spectacular douche to hate Macross Plus. Indifference, sure. Hate? Fuckers. Macross 7 is my charging heart of love. Macross 7 The Galaxy is Calling Me is Heart and Soul. Macross 7 The Fleet of the Strongest Women is the greatest thing ever. Macross Dynamite 7 is a whale of awesome lulz. Macross Zer0 has the best and fastest mech fights ever. Macross Frontier makes you fall in love with everything again. Macross Frontier the False Songstress is real good. Macross Frontier the Wings of Goodbye I will have to see later this year.
Macross II is … I dunno man. I wrote about it too.
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Incidentally…sorry for not finishing the subs in time for this post. I hope you’ll be happy to learn that I did all the timing and editing for Ep. 35 this evening, and will finish the series tomorrow.
…which still leaves the novels and film comics, not to mention the bonus material on the DVDs, DYRL, and FB2012. It’ll all be done by the end of next year. I promise.
Awesome! No apologies asked for! Instead I have much to be thankful for all your effort!
Macross: The First! PLEAAAASEEEEE
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== Minmay was forcing him to quit flying, because Minmay can’t handle Hikaru living his dream while hers lay in ruins. If she’s grounded, so must Hikaru be!
==
Oh, c’mon, I do not think so, really. No needs to consider her such deep-minding. She’s not envious and ever not very clever to be able to make such cunning plans. ))
All her thoughts laid at surface. Yes, she’s lost her great dream to be singer, but finally she found (as she thought) a new one – to be together with her boyfriend (yeap, she’s wasted more than two years just to recognize that, heh!), maybe even to be married, to make family etc. She wasn’t already the same little girl as she was before, she has changed her life values, and of course she has become to worry about Hikaru, because he has become as parts of her life values.
While he was on vacation, she really enjoyed thoes part of the life: homeworking, sleeping together, warm family evenings, and so on. But only here it has begun to reach her mind that Hikaru can perish in every battle. This is her real worries and her fears, and she wanted to avoid them… yes, by forcing Hikaru to stay at the ground.
She has chosen very stupid and very naive way for that. Naive is, because she really thought that Hikaru has only the same dream like she is. She just couldn’t understand that was possible to fond of fly as strong as fond of her. When I watched that scene, I was ready to scream: “Minmay, you idiot! what’re you doin’? You really going to lose him!”
So, I agree that was stupid, but anyway there was no any evil intentions. Just stupid girl, who didn’t know how to manage with her feelings.
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