Macross Frontier 09
May 31st, 2008 by Shirukii
Macroned loli Klein?! Mind = Blown
Pretty good episode, a little typical in that they followed the whole traumatic childhood deal with POWER OF FRIENDSHIP! saving the day in the end, but it was executed well enough and had enough Klein that I can’t really complain. Plus, compared to episode eight and successive episodes are going to seem like works of art.
So it turns out Sheryl joining Mihoshi was just another publicity stunt cooked up by Grace, who personally apologizes to Mikhail, Alto and Luca for interrupting their training time. Mikhail doesn’t seem to mind though, feeling blessed to be in the presence of such a beauty, but his advances are shot down and then some when Grace expresses her condolences for Mikhail’s sister, opening a mental wound.
On the SMS’s next mission Alto and Mikhail are arguing over Sheryl joining their flight squad, Alto suggesting that perhaps it was all a plot to get him closer to her hot secretary, Mikhail responds in kind, questioning his reasons for suiting up, wondering whether he’s just a princess who has run away from home to play war. Their bickering is broken up by a call from NUNS asking for assistance in engaging a Vajra, Alto quickly immobilizes it, setting Mikhail up for a shot, but when he goes to take it, Grace’s words about his sister echo in his mind and the distraction causes him to nearly blow Alto’s head off.
Back at the base, Alto lectures Mikhail, wondering what good his pride in his sniping is if he misses, always going on and on about his skills being acquired from his sister, Alto wonders if misfiring might not run in the family as well. Having struck a nerve, the Luca barrier crumbles and Mikhail proceeds to beat Alto to a pulp with Klein and the Pixie squad watching on.
Later, while being patched up and continuing to bitch about Mikhail’s behavior, the medic suggests that maybe he find out about Mikhail’s reasoning before bashing him endlessly. Meanwhile, Mikhail is outside in the firing range, where his accuracy is showing signs of question as thoughts of his sister run through his mind. Klein comes out to talk to him, but Mikhail dodges the issue, spewing out his usual misogynistic dribble, causing Klein to give him a nice slap to the cockpit (hehe) before running off.
Elsewhere, a meeting of key political and military figures is held to discuss a mission to find and research a nearby Vajra nest. The president of Frontier argues that it’s a needless and expensive risk, but Leon convinces him that it’s necessary to learn more about the Vajra, who are quickly becoming a threat not only to Frontier, but mankind in general.
Lounging around SMS headquarters, Alto gets a call from Sheryl where she explains the reason behind her temporarily joining Mihoshi, an ad on TV painting the picture of her as having suited up to fight for the sake of Galaxy. All she wants is that the Galaxy issue not fade from the minds of the public, who are often forgetfully fickle on such matters. Furthermore, it was an opportunity to attend school for once.
Elsewhere, Ranka is giving it her all too, her debut album receiving moderate promotion via street broadcast and handing out branded tissues. It’s not the most grandiose debut, but Ranka seems to be having fun with it and giving it her all, and that’s really all that matters to her.
Soon afterwards, the mission to locate and gather data from the Vajra nest is approved. The SMS leads the search and the squad spreads out to locate the nest, Ozma sticking Mikhail and Alto as partners, reasoning that a frontman who can’t trust his backup is useless on the field. At the same time, Brera, the mysterious pilot from episode seven is given launch orders by a, thus far, unknown commander, on orders to destroy the Vajra nest and prevent and data collection.
Klein is the first one to find the nest, but is interrupted by Brera before she is able to make her way to it, the two have at it for a while, Brera clearly possessing the superior machine and piloting skills. Nearby, Alto and Mikhail are still arguing, Mikhail offering to finish what they started the day before, with no one to interrupt, but ironically enough, they are interrupted, spotting Klein having trouble off in the distance. Alto goes on ahead to engage Brera while Mikhail sets up his sniping position.
After grappling on to Brera and prepping Mikhail for a shot, Alto notices him hesitating again, and screams at him to get over his sister and shoot. Apparently Klein told Alto the story behind Mikhail’s sister Jessica, once a renowned military sniper. On one mission she shot her commanding officer in the heat of battle, which alone might have been an excusable offense, but she and her officer had been dating and it was just before that mission that he broke up with her. She was sent to military court on suspicion that her misfire might have been backed by murderous intent, and soon after she committed suicide.
Mikhail takes the shot and nails Brera dead on, but his Valkyrie is hax so it gets off relatively unscathed, with enough structural integrity to disengage Alto, blast the Vajra nest to shreds and fly off at speeds exceeding what would allow for pursuit…right.
After the mission, Mikhail heads to his sister’s grave to pay his respects, saying that one day he’ll find out what she was thinking when she pulled the trigger that day. Alto and Luca come to pick Mikhail up for school, Alto impressed and glad that Mikhail didn’t run away and took the shot properly, and proceeds to call him “Michel”, which he reserves for his close friends (and women he’s trying to get into bed). All the while, a micronized Klein looks on from behind a tree, D’AWWWW.
Thoughts
Wow that was a lengthy summary, but I guess that’s to be expected from an episode with so much character exposition. It ended up being a pretty cliche backstory, but a fitting one nonetheless, although I’m not sure I quite like what it does to Mikhail’s image, making him out to be one of those characters who are an emotional wreck on the inside but put up a front of confidence bordering on arrogance to prevent anyone from seeing that side of him.
Much love for the MikhailXKlein subtext that was set up though, the two make a great couple, if not a little mismatched. They have the pretext of being childhood friends and they get along really well in sort of a love-hate-love relationship. The only barrier is Klein’s whole problem with her microned form being a loli, aside from the fact that it might land Mikhail in a lot of trouble for dating someone with that appearance, he appears to be into the mature older women type. Klein has that aspect to her, but not in a form that would be suitable for Mikhail to…well, you know.
Another issue I have, not so much with Klein, but with Zentradi in general. Where the hell does the energy for their transformation come from? Conservation of mass, my ass. I know this is anime and arguing physics is a futile endeavour, but come on, there has to be some explanation for it, even if it’s as simple as “protoculture acts as a energy allowing their transformation” or something.
As for our other leading ladies, I wasn’t really impressed with Sheryl’s stunt this episode. Falsifying her image as having joined the fight for Galaxy just to make sure the public doesn’t forget? That’s a pretty lowly tactic, which while effective, reeks of media manipulation. However, I can’t fault Sheryl for this, it was obviously not her idea, surely it’s Grace that’s the mastermind behind all this.
So basically, I find fault in Sheryl’s means, but not her message, as it’s not unreasonable that she doesn’t want the public to let the Galaxy issue fade from their minds as yesterday’s news, much how media works in the real world. For example, let me ask you, how many people do you think are still actively following the Tibet Independence issue even after the massive earthquake hit Sichuan, China? Barely anyone, it’s yesterday’s news, irrelevant in comparison to more pertinent news.
Anyways, I digress. Ranka. I liked Ranka this episode, who was back to her more cheerful self, not brooding over Sheryl bumping her off her TV spot, but giving it her all in any opportunity she can. She might be deluding herself when she says that her promoter is doing a great job getting her image out there, but hey, she’s having fun with it and doing her best to reach as many people as she can. I’m curious to see what big break she gets that lands her in the same league as Sheryl, or if she’ll even get one.
Also, I wonder who’s responsible for giving her manager problems when trying to promote her via the internet, hacking any attempts to do so. There are only two reasonable guesses, Grace or Leon. I somehow doubt it’s the former, as devious as Grace is, I don’t know if she is aware of how big a threat Ranka might be to Sheryl, and even if she did, would she go to such lengths to crush her career? Especially given that the two are friends. Leon is the more likely culprit, as mentioned by a commenter before, it’s probable that he will need to manipulate her ability to draw in Vajra in the future, which would be easier to control if she doesn’t rise to stardom.
Next episode looks like filler of sorts, the SMS along with Sheryl and Ranka ending up on some sort of island setting. No indication it’s a beach episode though, which I’m both disappointed and thankful for. On one hand it spares me from further pseudo-mecha vs love comedy confusion, but on the other, the prospect of seeing the female cast in bathing suits is rather appealing.
One last shot of loli Klein, just for good measure :3
~ Shirukii ~
15 Responses to “Macross Frontier 09”
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It’s scary that a Zentradi can bitch-slap a pseudo-mecha with such force. Next time Mikhail pisses her off I’m willing to pronounce it as a home run.
Anyway, I’m really anticipating their tie-ins for this mysterious individual who is “randomly” appearing in front of Ranka and assisting in the prevention of Vajra data collection. Seems like Ranka’s very popular in this war, seeing as both Leon and Purple 1 both have hidden motives.
Oh well, I digress. Time to mindlessly wait for another episode =)
Apparently the next episode is going to be focused on the events of Macross Zero. I’ve got it on my HDD so maybe I’ll marathon it before the next ep so I don’t feel anymore like a noob to the series than I already do ^_^.
The next ep actually looks really fun!
Pyrrhus: This is the same universe where a macronized Vrlitwhai (Breetai) took apart Hikaru’s VF-1 with his bare hands after a hand-to-mecha fight which started three-on-one… after the latter had leapt down at least a hundred feet from a balcony above to disable Hayao’s unit, then tore apart Hikaru’s with his bare hands. If a Zentran can do that, surely Klein can bitch-slap a Valkyrie hard enough to make its head spin, even if her hand may be a bit sore afterwards.
Gotta love how this explains both Mikhail’s fetish for older women (he has an oneesama complex), as well as being a method for introducing three Klein modes; chibi-Klein, All-Woman Klein, and macronized chibi-Klein. Especially with that photo of her smiling and holding a swing for little Mikhail to use. Too cute for words.
I definitely didn’t get the impression that Sheryl’s reason for joining was in itself a publicity stunt. It was made pretty clear last episode that Sheryl did enjoy flying, and in this episode she made it clear that she really did want to experience a normal school life. But given the nature of her profession, it’s only natural for her promotions team to want to make use of the situation. The distinction between ‘public’ and ‘private’ is a minimal one.
If this can be considered ‘media manipulation’, then so too can all forms of advertising. Celebrities endorse products all the time to make money; if anything, the fact that she’s taking the time to endorse support for a civilian population that is in danger is a very nice thing. At least it’s a non-profit cause.
As Alto points out, it does look stupid. But part of being a professional means going out and putting your best effort into it, whether it means dressing up as a pilot, or… a carrot, regardless of how silly you feel.
The only thing that I dislike about what happened is how quickly Sheryl’s recreational activities always end up getting tied back to her work. When you think about it, she was even writing lyrics during her date with Alto! She really needs a place where she can just break free and relax; otherwise it’s going to be very difficult for her to find any sort of normalcy in her life.
I think it was Leon who had Brera sent to destroy the Vajra nest to prevent any data or evidence from being collected from it. Now my suspicions of Ranka being linked with the Vajra are even stronger. And I enjoyed the MikhailxKlan development. But the only thing I hated was the animation. It sucked ass. I think I’m the only one who lilkes the ep 8 animation. It was the best for me… (sigh)
We all know that anime runs on havok physics where dead people lose all their mass upon death. ;)
They making a film for Macross Zero so Ranka might get her kissu from Alto-hime…
So take heart it isn’t necessarily filler if Ranka steps up and claims her role and the giver of her first kiss…Have you forgotten how rabu rabu Shin Kudo got with both Nome sisters? You know Alto-hime is going to get drafted as Shin. As for who gets to play Sara and Mao, well that will be the interesting part. XD
Now if Mikhail was Japanese there would be no problems with Chibi-Klein-sama.
I’m glad Bobby finally voiced how crappy Ranka’s manager is. This publicity she is doing is totally weaksauce, and he can’t even get her website going. That is unacceptable, and she really needs to fire his ass.
I want to know if Mikhail really thinks he’ll get in trouble for sleeping with loli-Klan Klein. Can’t he just blame it on deculture?
First of all Brera’s Valkyrie is juts awesome. It’s a light-armored-fast mech witha rifle that’s longer than anything seen in Gundam 00.
Oh yeah and Souichirou Hoshi is good sounding evil (it’s quite clear Brera has has the whole “malicious fighting” theme in him)
Yeah lots of MichaelxKlan vibes. I agree they do make a good couple. I imagine that her micronized form may be healed in the finale-epilogue. Or maybe Michael won’t really care. Either way. It’s good we have more romance to seriously focus on.
I feel bad for Michael now that his past has been revealed. I think Alto did the right thing (ie. yelling at him) because otherwise Michael would have kept his feelings bottled up….and that’s never good.
Kabitzin: Bobby/Garby’s good at pointing out the obvious here, and shows he’s definitely not an uke-type… but at the same time, the obvious had been tried, and DDoS’d out of existence. I still say Leon’s behind that, which means Elmo’s not ALL at fault for that particular failure.
He still seems a bit dubious though, at least with his contacts (or lack of) as well as being of a little-known, possibly one-man, operation.
@ PyrrhusOnline: > Next time Mikhail pisses her off I’m willing to pronounce it as a home run
lol @ the unintentional double entendre.
As for Ranka, she is indeed quite popular, she even has a baby Vajra following her around!
@ Randor: I also have the entire series sitting on my HDD, but I have neither the time nor motivation to get started on it ;_;
@ blissmo: Beach episode! Perhaps…
@ Haesslich: Holy crap that sounds awesome, okay, so now I only have a lack of time stopping me from watching the rest of the Macross franchise.
@ jacobian: As a celebrity of her caliber, she must have accepted the fact that normalcy will be absent from her life. But I guess that’s why she finds herself so attracted to Alto, since he provides her with a small glimmer of normal in her otherwise grandiose life.
And yes, all advertising IS media manipulation o_o that was intrinsic to my point.
@ Lala: That would be a good explanation, but a little too predictable for my tastes.
The animation this episode was pretty good. I fail to see how you found episode eight’s animation to be the best, it was really bad, Ranka’s facial expressions were retarded and Sheryl had a manface thing going on half the time ;_;
@ Crusader: > Have you forgotten how rabu rabu Shin Kudo got with both Nome sisters? You know Alto-hime is going to get drafted as Shin. As for who gets to play Sara and Mao, well that will be the interesting part.
*whoosh*
I haven’t watched any of the previous Macross series, haha.
> Now if Mikhail was Japanese there would be no problems with Chibi-Klein-sama.
Excellent point.
@ Kabitzin: Yea, pretty much, his promotions are lame. Though the website thing totally isn’t his fault, h4x and etc.
Mikhail is lying to himself, he totally wants to hit loli Klein, she’s probably wild in bed.
@ Avisch: I’d love to see Mikhail get over her loli form and hit it anyway. I can’t say I feel bad for him on account of his past though, given how cliche it was, it didn’t really hit that hard.
Brera’s valkyrie is pretty broken, but that just means the SMS will get a nice upgrade down the road.
I was a bit light in my comment. I meant to say:
I only feel alittle bad for Michael becuase of his past. But I too hated how cliched it was. I don’t like how his sister sort of abandoned him for suicide over one dramatic ordeal. I feel bad for him because if it were real life he might have some anger to his sister for that…..since this is anime he doesn’t appear to have that.
Actually it really annoys me that his past has -1 creativity points in it.
Come on writers….
“I’d love to see Mikhail get over her loli form and hit it anyway.”
Me too. That’s what i meant to say…..man I gotta stop going half-way in my comments.
>> Brera’s valkyrie is pretty broken, but that just means the SMS will get a nice upgrade down the road.
Macross is NOT Gundam - they don’t tend to switch mecha when they encounter a superior one, and at most just add features to existing mecha (such as the Super pack of the first Macross) unless a new mecha’s been shown in the OP. This means SMS is unlikely to get a ‘new Strike Freedom VF’ to counter Brera, but that they find some other way of dealing with him.
While you certainly could consider all forms of advertisement to be media manipulation, MF has done a fair bit to subvert that perception. Vending machines that try to sell their products get ignored, singing carrots are no more appealing than silent ones, and as Alto points out, Sheryl’s commercial is obviously silly.
The characters are surprisingly cognizant of the role of advertising as well; Sheryl makes no secret of the fact that success in her line of business depends on how she ’sells’ herself, when talking to Alto on their date. Ranka too, in this episode, shows that she understands the importance of advertising herself in her promotions campaign this episode. So much of the subliminal effect of advertisement is missing, as far as the viewer is concerned.
Sheryl’s home is under attack, and with it, one of the only ties she has to the parents she never knew. She’s not a pilot like Alto, so she can’t fight in person. But that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t do what she can, both by singing and campaigning her support. The fact that the ad itself was presented as goofy demonstrates how limited the approach is; it’s unlikely that people will blindly listen. But it’s nice to see that Sheryl is still trying her best to help in spite of the limitations that she faces.
WARNING! THIS BLOG ENTRY CONTAINS AN HEROINE.
Also, Mikhail Despair Mode in cruise control.