Episode twelve and thirteen of Macross Deltaare a turning point in the series, the point at which everything goes wrong for our heroes as Windermere starts its final offensive and the UN Spacey forces show their own sinister side, so let’s talk love triangles. So far it’s not been much to be fair. Hayate and Freyja from the start had a nice, easy going friendship going, but it hasn’t been that romantic, while Mirage disappeared to the background for many of the episodes so far. For all of Hayate’s pledges to protect Freyja, compared to Macross Frontier it’s all somewhat lackluster. The Ranka-Alto-Sheryl triangle had been established by the third or fourth episode; the Mirage-Hayate-Freyja one still hasn’t quite started.
Poor Mirage though. Of the three she’s arguably the one most aware of her feelings, therefore the one who suffers the most. She’s a character I can identify a lot with: serious, aiming to be the best but who already knows she lacks that essential spark, that bit of genius that could’ve put her at the top. In love too her personality works against her, awkward in a way that Freyja has never been with Hayate. She tries so hard but hard work is not always rewarded…
Even when Mirage gets the chance to save Hayate, she’s upstaged in the same episode by Freyja again, who dives from the Elysium to where his plane is in trouble to encourage him with her song. Which means while Hayate pledged to protect them, it’s actually both Freyja and Mirage who save him this time and later team up to give him the chance to duel with the White Knight who killed Messer back in episode ten. Episode thirteen is one long battle fought in the skies of Ragna, as Walkure and Delta Squadron mount a final stand against the Windermerean forces while the NUNS forces want to use a “reaction bomb” to blow up the ruins. It’s a classic Macross battle, but one that ends in failure for our heroes as they’re forced to evacuate the planet in one of those handy flying city space ships.
Not without loss either. Spare a thought for that poor waitress from Nyannyan, who we here see for the last time, protecting her family from the shockwave of the reaction bomb…
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