Articles with the Tag Macross

Nobody would ever confuse Macross with hard science fiction, so it’s hilarious that perhaps the most scientifically rigorous moment in the franchise’s entire history is done in service to a bit of equal opportunity fanservice by Mirage and Hayate. The artificial gravity has broken down, you’re floating around in free fall and have to make your way over to a giantic power cable to reconnect the emergency power supply. What’s more natural than to strip down, thrown away your clothes in the opposite direction of where you need to go and rely on old Isaac Newton’s law of every reaction triggering an opposite and equal reaction? And of course if you’re trying to open a recalcitrant valve in zero g, you need to be able to anchor yourself to something, or someone…

And of course the Walkure members pick up the transmissions between Hayate and Mirage, leading to some hilarious as usual reactions from Freyja. A funny climax to an episode that was mostly setup and taking stock. Having been driven off Ragna, Walkure and company now find themselves in a situation familiar from every other Macross main series: stuck on a island city ship among the stars. But this time it’s one that hasn’t flown in thirty years so there are some issues, which is where the main threat of the episode came from. I quite liked this episode, as it also finally build up the Hayate-Mirage relationship again, which had gotten short shrift until now as compared to Hayate & Freyja.

Or even Rei-Rei and Maki-Maki, who got to showcase their leet technical skills again during the crisis. Walkure might be the only idol group boasting a skilled starfighter mechanic and an ace hacker among their members. All in all, it made episode fourteen a fun breather episode after the way the previous episode ended. A great new insert song too, NEO STREAM, as song at the climax of the show, which sounded somewhat prog rocky in places. Also the last appearance of the first opening theme, featuring Freyja’s involuntary scream from episode thirteen when she jumped off the Elysum.

Episode fifteen is more of a slog, compared to that. The focus lies squarely with Windermere as the Wind Singer, Heinz, is crowned king after the death of his father two episodes ago. There’s a distinct whiff of the Nurenberg Rally to the coronation, as Lord Roid sweeps up the crowd into accepting not just a war to “liberate” their star cluster, but to take over the entire Galaxy. Roid is the one obsessed by the idea that Windermere is the true heir of the Protoculture and therefore the natural ruler of the Galaxy, not an entirely unfascistic sort of idea, though more reminiscent of WWII Japan than Germany.

If eminent destiny is not your cup of tea, Windermere has of course another excuse for waging war on the Galaxy: back during their independence war a dimensional weapon was detonated on their planet, leaving a nasty wound behind that has not healed yet. As the episode starts, we have most of the Aerial Knights visiting ground zero, save for Bogue, the team’s resident hothead. He it seems is visiting his family, but as we cut to him, we see he’s actually visiting their grave, heavily implying they died during the detonation. That’s one of the things I’ve always liked about Macross: its villains are never outright evil, rather have good reasons to fight even if their ultimate goals have to be opposed. If Windermere’s truth about the bombing is the entire truth, that is a question for another episode.

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…

After the battle, the mourning. We open on Messer’s homecoming as his team mates and Walkure crew salute his coffin. It sets the tone for the rest of this episode. Walkure and Delta Squadron have been dealt a heavy blow. Apart from the loss of a comrade and friend, there’s the simple fact that their best pilot was brought down with a single shot through the heart. Despite their conquests Windermere until now hadn’t yet directly attacked Walkure, but rather skirmished with them. This was the first time they could bring their full power to bear and they managed to not only kill their enemy’s ace pilot but also to overpower Walkure itself through the song of the Wind Singer. It’s no wonder we see Windermere plot further attacks, while everybody in Walkure & the Delta squadron wonders what they could’ve done to prevent Messer’s death.

Much of the emotion in this episode is understated, controlled, but not the grief that waitress from episode four feels. It’s interesting that she’s the only one grieving openingly when his old flame Kaname remains stoic, though perhaps only on the outside. But of course Kaname is military as well as an idol, not a civilian like our waitress. She still has a job to do. And as the occassional cutaways to Windermere show, that job is only to get harder from here on.

What I like about this series of Macross is how it has attempted to give Ragnar a distinct culture, as also seen in the previous episode’s jellyfish festival. Floating people out to sea for their final voyage is an old tradition among many seafaring peoples so it makes sense that the Ragnarians have something like it as well. Though here it’s symbolic, as the Nyannyan kids created a model of Messer’s Valkyrie to float out. It’s an emotional scene as the entire crew of Walkure and Delta Squadron, as well as the Nyannyan staff say their farewells.

And of course it’s only right and proper to have the fallen warrior be sent off by Walkures singing a final song to him

After a pre-opening scene of Windermerians scheming, the meat of the episode takes place at the jellyfish festival on Ragnar, as almost the entire Walkure crew is roped in to sell jellyfish buns for Nyannyan — the pub/hostel the men are staying at. Freyja and best Couple, together with the Nyannyan kids do a little promotional song which of course immediately made me think of that other famous promo song. It’s incredibly cute and what better life advice than eat, drink, have kids, then bite the dust?

Meanwhile, as in battle, Hayate and Mirage were stuck in a supporting role, grilling the actual jellyfish, as Hayate wonders why there are so many couples at the festival. I like the interplay between the two this entire episode. Unlike with Freyja, who wears her heart of her sleeve, Mirage is guarded in what she says, but the way she and Hayate act around each other speaks of a familiarity and trust that they lacked in the first few episodes. It’s gratifying to see that sort of subtle character growth, that the series trust its viewers enough to not over explain things.

As for why there are so many pairs at the festival, Best Couple knows (of course): tonight, everybody’s wearing matching underpants. Or rather, the jelly fish festivals is meant for couples, as confessing your love underneath the rising jellyfish means it will last forever. Best Couple were very much on form the first half of this episode, pointing out one of the secondary love triangles to the Oblivious Main Trio. Messer loves Kaname, but Kaname likes Arad, the commander of the Delta Squadron. And Messer is leaving for a new assignment. Which is why Best Couple invites both him and Kaname over to the festival, to make some good memories before he leaves. So nice of the lesbian couple to get the straight kids hooked up too.

Oh Messer, poor Messer. After his secret weakness finally came out last episode, after it turned out the model fighter pilot had legs of clay, there was no way he could continue in Delta Squadron. So it’s off to a training squadron for him, never to fight again. Before he goes though, he has to tell Kaname what she means to him, how she saved him, in the process sending death flags up left, right and centre. His death at the end of the episode therefore isn’t a surprise, but fits. The best pilot in the squadron, coming back to save it when it finds itself in a pinch, only to die at the hands of his rival, not quite good enough in the end despite Kaname seeing for him, keeping the Var syndrome in check. A turning point for the series, as Windermere’s true strength is finally revealed and Walkure/Delta Squadron is left lacking. And with that Messer’s part in the story has ended.

Which brings us back to Mirage. As a pilot she superficially resembles Messer as opposed to Hayate’s more instinctive approach, but perhaps without Messer innate talent. In the very first episode we already got a hint that she, for all her drive to succeed, might be actually the worst pilot in the squadron. And as we saw a few episodes afterwards, coming as she does from a long line of badass fighter pilots, the pressure and expectations heaped upon her must be huge. If you compare her to either Hayate or Freyja, she doesn’t have a goal or ambition of her own, but rather seems to be driven by what is expected of her rather than what she wants to do herself. Storywise, either she or Hayate now has to step up to fill Messer’s shoes; normally it would be the male lead who’d do so, but wouldn’t it be interesting to have Mirage do it instead, finding her own role despite not actually having the same sort of passion as Hayate has?