Anime

So far Windermere had been the menace lurking in the shadows, stirring up Var trouble and flying around in unmarked planes without much of a explanation or justification for what they were doing. Not anymore, as last episode ended on a declaration of war, with this one opening with the reasons why Windermere wants it: to liberate themselves and the rest of their globular cluster from the oppressive menance of the New Unified Government. Whether those reasons make any sense to outsiders is another thing entirely, but it shows how Macross never goes for simple black and white conflicts.

Hayate is right: Freyja does have the best creepy smile in all of Macross. She and Hayate make a good team, with Mirage forced in the role of third wheel, her stiff manner and gruff behaviour contrasting with the open warmth of Freyja. Past Macross series tended to be a bit mean towards characters like Mirage, making them the butt monkey — think of Cathy Glass in Frontier e.g. — but here Mirage is left her dignity.

But that doesn’t mean her pomposity doesn’t get punctured. As when she talks about her grandparents, Maximillian “Max” Jenius and Milia Fallyna, the first ever human-Zentradi couple in an attempt to motivate Freyja, but is interrupted by Hayate asking what that has to do with anything. It’s a fun little scene further establishing each of their personalities, especially coming in an episode that’s ninety percent setup. What I like about it especially is that it’s not so much a love triangle as a friendship triangle, where Hayate & Freyja had hit it off almost immediately and so did Freyja and Mirage for all their difference in personality, while Mirage and Hayate keep managing to rub each other the wrong way but don’t necessarily dislike each other… It’s just that his frivolity annoys her, while her pomposity irritates him.

Not that Hayate isn’t free from pomposity himself…

Well, they said Macross Delta would have several love triangles, not just one. So how about a Hayate-Freyja-Mikumo one? Those two certainly seem to share some sort of bond and it would be novel to have a bisexual love triangle for a change. Probably won’t happen though. But wouldn’t it be great if it did?

Speaking of great things, best couple has to be those two, Makina & Reina. They’re not just nice together, they’re nice to their friends/comrades as well. Case in point, fixing up Hayate’s brand new VF-31 Siegfried Verifech Fighter so that it works with his unique approach of not using AI control systems. That’s one of the things I like the most about Macross Delta, the camaraderie and lack of pointless antagonism between the main characters.

One of the funnier moments this episode came early. One of the waitresses at the welcome party for Hayate & Freyja ineptly flirts with uberserious Walkure pilot Messner asking about the Waccine concert tour, providing an opportunity for a bit of infodumping. Courtesy of her kid brother jumping in and ruining the moment. Cleverly done, though not so much that whole Walkure + vaccine = Waccine thingy.

That whole party scene was a delight from start till end. Some very cute things happened in the background as the show got some exposition out of the way, like Reina’s obvious enjoyment of her food. That’s the sort of thing I like to see in my Macross and Delta so far has it in spades. The world building has been top notch as well, shown mostly through this kind of throwaway background detail.

In this episode Freyja explained a bit more about her motivations to leave Windermere and join Walkure. Apparantly an Earthman had given her a music device with terrestrial music, otherwise banned on the planet and she became hooked. Of course it had all the previous series’ idols: Lynn Minmay, Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee and yes, Fire Bomber, featuring the Galaxy’s greatest asshole, Basara.

It’s the third episode and it’s time for a trainings montage. As well as mercat antics. Hayate Immelman gets the pleasure of having Mirage Farina Jenius as his tutor, while Freyja Wion is starting idol training with the Walkures. in between their respective training sequences there’s a bit of light hearted slice of life starring an evil mercat stealing fish from the restaurant/lodgings Hayate is staying at. This will turn out to be more important than it first seems.

Hayate is trained on the VF-1EX, the trainer variant of the venerable VF-1 from the original Macross. Which took place in 2009 while Delta is set almost sixty years later, in 2067, giving the VF-1 a time in service rivaling that of the real world B-52 which first flew in the fifties and is still used today. Of course the plane is upgraded somewhat from its first appearance, going full CGI here. It also looks a little bit less a blatant F-14 knockoff than the original.

Both Hayate and Freyja are not doing too hot up until the former is in his final exam, a mock dogfight against Mirage, watched by Freyja. She wants to help him in some way and the Walkures leader reminds her that she has her own fight. Freyja takes this to heart and starts to sing while stretching out her hand towards Hayate’s plane. Which begs the question: if Hayate can only fly well when Freyja sings and Freyja can only sing well if she sees him fly, what good are they on their own? I do love how well they fit together though; an even nicer couple than Frontier‘s Ranka Lee/Alto Saotome. Whether the oneside belligerent (sexual?) tension between Mirage and Hayate can cope is anybody’s guess. Focus here was very much on Hayate & Freyja this episode: need more Mirage next time.

In the end of course Hayate’s raw talent and instincs win it from Mirage’s experience and guile, as inspired by how that thieving mercat evaded attacks, he finally manages to shoot her. Freyja meanwhile sings her heart out and gets appreciative comments from the Walkure team members. Two of whom were casually established to live together earlier in the episode btw, which is irrelevant but still nice to see. in other news, I can actually do that Walkure hand gesture, which puts it one ahead of the Spock sign.