Macross Frontier 13
July 5th, 2008 by Shirukii
Loli Ranka!
I don’t care what you naysayers out there say, I think Ranka is ridiculously cute, character design wise anyways.
We’ve hit Macross F’s halfway point (and consequently the start of the summer anime season, I haven’t forgotten) and it seems like this show is finally ready to start. And by start I mean stop beating around the figurative bush and finally start explaining just what the hell is going on. Hopefully this puts a stop to the True Tears-esque fancamp war and spurs some meaningful plot and character discussion.
D-pulse waves, which seem to be the Macross equivalent of EMP, have knocked Alto’s valkyrie out of the air and are causing periodic white outs to all electrical systems on Gallia-4. After a controlled crash landing, Alto and Ranka stumble upon a downed Macross ship, a first generation Macross which seems to have been sitting there decades. The familiar silhouette triggers Ranka’s dissociative amnesia and she has a panic attack in front of Alto. Alto later reassures her that if the memories of her past are causing her so much pain, it would be better to forget them and stop dwelling on the events of the past, focusing instead on the here and now.
After another white out, the two trudge through the forest in the blistering heat until they stumble across a water source where they have the opportunity to rinse their bodies off and reminisce about the time they’ve shared together since meeting. Alto notes how Ranka was self critical at first but since then has gained a lot of courage, which Ranka says is all thanks to him protecting her and giving her a push in the right direction whenever she lost her way or got cold feet. As the two get ready to head back to the valkyrie, Ranka runs off to go to the washroom when she’s suddenly kidnapped, the only clue a trail of downed forestry leading directly to the downed Macross.
Back on Frontier, the SMS is beginning to worry since they haven’t received a transmission from Gallia-4 in quite some time, the last one being a confirmation that Ranka and Alto had taken off and begun to make their way back, which they obviously didn’t do since they’d have been back already. Klein suggests once again using the LAI’s fold technology to get to Gallia-4 to assess the situation, but given the trouble Luca has gotten in for doing so once already, that’s not an option.
Back on Gallia-4, Alto scouts the Macross, preparing to go in and rescue Ranka, when he notices that the serial number of the Macross matches the one which Ranka had previously been stationed on, the one which was supposedly attacked and destroyed by Vajra during her childhood. Nearby, Brera continues to receive orders, but the sender is revealed this time around, as most of us thought, it turns out to be Grace pulling the strings, this time telling him to watch over Ranka, an important research subject, however she’s only secondary to their objective here on Gallia-4.
Alto infiltrates the Macross to find that the data in the research labs has been completely erased, and just recently as well. In the same lab he finds a sealed Vajra specimen, and more curiously a photo of Ranka as a child. As if on cue, Ranka wakes up from her kidnapping in what appears to be a Vajra den, contacting Alto asap and giving him her location. However, before Alto reaches her, the Vajra overseeing the den wakes up and begins to rampage, Brera barging in to protect Ranka. Soon afterward, Alto arrives on scene to see Brera fighting off the Vajra and flies around him to Ranka’s side, only to be blocked by a force field put up by the Vajra. Suddenly, a flash of purple light erupts from Ranka, pushing both Alto and Brera out of the den as the Macross awakens to give rise to a Vajra fleet led by one of their motherships.
Amidst the commotion, Alto tries to head back in to save Ranka, only to be engaged by Brera, who by virtue of superior piloting skills, a better valkyrie, or a bit of both, pins Alto down. Luckily for the princess, Mikhail and Sheryl took off earlier to see if they couldn’t figure out what exactly what was going on with this planet. Alto tells them to head inside the Vajra mothership to save Ranka while he takes care of Brera.
However, before anything else happens, Grace steps in and closes the curtain on this act, standing by an ominous machine she coins the “Dimension Eater” she tells Brera to retreat for now. Activating the machine, it turns out to be a planet eating weapon, opening a massive fold distortion that destroys everything in its path, including her, not that she seems to mind that much. Mikhail and Sheryl get away by piggybacking on the Vajra who fold out, while Alto has to rely on guts and a stereotypical courageous pilot scream in his attempt to outrun the wave of death.
Thoughts
I guess the biggest story following this episode is Grace, who we all knew was up to something behind the scenes, but who we probably weren’t expecting to destroy an entire planet. With this WTF twist, Grace now occupies the spot of most interesting character in my mental Macross hierarchy, not that she’s my favourite character, Ranka still holds that, but most interesting by far. On the surface she looked like nothing more than a side character, Sheryl’s organized secretary lackey, that quickly faded as we continually saw her prowess in information manipulation and her intrigue has now exploded after having swallowed up an entire fucking planet.
She did get sucked into the fold dislocation she caused and has technically “died”, but I certainly hope that we haven’t seen the last of her. Given that we weren’t told her past or motives, I’d expect that she’ll return later on, as no character in anime dies without being either completely and utterly useless or until after they’ve vomited out their entire life’s story in a couple episodes of expositional dialogue, neither of which fit the bill.
Secondarily to Grace absolutely wrecking Gallia-4, whose political and military stability we had spent an entire, now useless, episode restoring, is Ranka. The mystery behind Ranka continues to grow, just exactly what is she and why is she of such great interest not only to the Vajra, but to the military and various other independent organizations as well. Currently, she has the Vajra, Leon and now Grace all vying for possession of whatever it is that she can do. The ability to glow and emit forceful waves of colorful light isn’t anything new in anime, so I’ve got absolutely no idea on where to begin formulating a theory on her purpose, so I guess this one will be up in the air for at least a week longer.
Bitch in one hand, rifle in the other. Savin’ the day.
Ranka and Alto’s relationship grew ever so slightly this episode, the two sharing a bonding moment until interrupted by a tiny nonthreatening bug…thing. At this point I believe it’s safe to say that Ranka has broken Alto’s little sister image of her and is at least poking around in the “I might want to date her” circle of his mental Venn diagram, if not right smack dab in the middle of it. The two are now blushing profusely in each others presence and launch away from each other after prolonged physical contact like two like poled Neodymium-Iron-Boron magnets.
As for Sheryl, not much development on her end this time around, as she remains dishonest about her feelings, as was bluntly pointed out by Mikhail. I’m still really confused about Sheryl, who shows continuing interest and concern for Alto, but won’t admit it to herself and others and always leaves a certain ambiguity to her actions around him. It’s as if she likes Alto but is afraid of what that would mean, like loving him would somehow undermine the confident and independent woman she has built herself up to be.
Animation was really good this episode, the fights were fluid and the scenery relatively well drawn, as if somebody had applied a trace layer to the Crytek engine. A little shiny at times though.
Next week looks to be an interesting and action packed episode as the Vajra bring the hammer down full force and attack Macross Frontier.
Obligatory Klein shot.
~ Shirukii ~
31 Responses to “Macross Frontier 13”
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I’m pretty sure Grace is not Grace. The real Grace has been disposed of and replaced with by this android whose arm transforms into tentacles that plugs into machines. The real mysterious question is who’s been controlling behind the scene, and how much does Leon know about what this Grace truly is.
As for Ranka, I don’t think she has as much as three quarter human blood as she thinks she does. So, whatever blood that she has, how much of her personality will it eventually take over? I’m looking forward to see a bad ending for Ranka. :p
As for Sheryl, it’s her personality to play people in the palms of her hand. So, she’ll never let anyone know her real feelings. That’s her hole cards. That’s how she gets ahead. That’s Sheryl Nome. :)
>>> I think Ranka is ridiculously cute, character design wise anyways.
I think I would like Ranka if her character design wasn’t so ugly. For example, look at the ending credits with the nice shots of Neo-San Francisco and Sheryl’s profile. What sticks out like a sore thumb? Ranka.
Finally, out of the flames of fan-camp wars and into the explosions of epic space-battles ^_^
Oi-vay :P…..
So much flame warring happening over Macross…….and it’s not even a harem series lol :P……
I personally don’t care either way *holds up anti-nuke shield*
Ranka is cute and innocent in her own way, and “Aimo Aimo” gets stuck in my head every time she sings it lol :P……Almost as catchy as “Dango dikazoku” from Clannad
Sheryl on the other hand is just plain HOT :), both in character design and personality…..she knows what she wants and goes after it, damn the consequences!
My only gripe with this series so far is the serious LACK of plot…..or if it has plot….I wish it weren’t so damned predictable…..
Especialy since Macross is the only anime that has remotely caught my attention this season :S…….they need to put in a real WTF moment and spice things up……..
Until then, I’ll just have to enjoy the fight scenes, cute character designs and kick-ass soundtrack :D…….though I’m pretty sure that will only appease me for another 2 or 3 episodes………Maybe it’s because I didn’t watch the other Macross series first?!? I dunno.
>>”Bitch in one hand, rifle in the other. Savin’ the day.”
That is the true bad-ass hero, Isn’t it?
I think Sheryl has retreated into the position of really close friend for the time being given how Ranka is now ascendant. Circumstances seem to indicate that Ranka will only be drawn further away from Alto-hime given her importance, however she can always pull off a Sara Nome and take Pilot-hime along for the ride. I have a nagging suspicion and slight desire to see Sheryl as Alto-hime’s eventual wingman to give Sheryl a fighting chance since it seems singing is not going to cut it any more now that Grace is gone along with any jobs. In any case once we find out who that VF-171 Pilot is in the preview we should get a more clear picture.
Well, I guess that one way of resolving whatever political situation was going on in that planet.
I really wonder if that is what Grace looks like. No doubt the real Grace is sitting at home in some scandalous leather outfit controlling her robo-doppelganger from afar.
@ItAintEazy
Bahahaha, so true.
The only comment I have about this episode:
Ranka is soooooo cute in that pilot suit!!!!
Save her alto!!!!!
@ItAintEazy
what about the power of concert? T_T
Am I supposed to say “I told you so” with the whole Grace factor? Even I thought her sudden appearance as an outright villain was surprising.
I’m pretty sure that our Hime (alto) escaped the whole death star thing by using the anti-fold thingy that Michael used to get to that planet.
you can see it at 24:14 in the post-credit previews.
still i want to see how he was assumingly about to be sucked into that big planet of doom got into that fold drive thing and escaped it. lol
Anyone else think that Brera is Ranka’s brother though?
Regarding Alto/Ranka: VOMIT.
Roy Mustang: I’m with you; she’s not the least bit cute in terms of character design. I blame the puke green hair and the style of her cut which reminds me of slugs hanging off either side of her head. Ugly slugs, not cute ones like her cellphone.
And I’m sorry, there’s something pedophillic about Alto hooking up with her considering she looks all of 12. The thing is, I’m usually pretty open-minded when it comes to people liking characters I don’t, but with someone like Ranka, I just don’t get it. Ranka-lovers, are you sure you’re not just settling because it’s either her or Sheryl? It drives me nuts: she really is not worthy of the story or the setting, and that fact just makes me want to cry sometimes. I mean, the anime is sooooo breath-takingly stunning, look-wise. Why?? Why did the creators choose to populate it with such unworthy characters??? It’s a travesty!
Spoiler for Macross Frontier Episode 25
Show ▼
@Roy Mustang: Why didn’t I see that coming?!
I agree with Razberry_yum, is not because i like sheryl, the fact is that i dont like ranka’s characters and hair design, it’s horrible, ….and she looks like a little kid ……
pd: and i like sheryl, coz dont like ranka’s character design..OwO!!
God…I hate Sheryl so much! What a sneaky, arrogant person she is. Ranka is pure and innocent, she doesn’t want to harm a single person nor is she selfish (like someone else). Yeah, you could say Ranka is much more of a child (especially when it comes to Alto), while Sherly is more of a woman playing tricks on the others. Alto is the typical simple-minded character in a “boy meets 2 girls” drama, he doesn’t notice anything…*sigh*.
Best wishes to Ranka and a bright future for her in this series, she really deserves it.
>>>It’s as if she likes Alto but is afraid of what that would mean, like loving him would somehow undermine the confident and independent woman she has built herself up to be.
In a relationship, one is revealing to the significant other every part of that person down to the weaknesses. Having built herself up to be so confident, to be so in control of herself, it may be a little scary to her. It’s obvious that she has feelings for him, but she could very well be afraid. It’s only a guess. I have felt that away before, at least before finally meeting my current fiancé, so that’s probably why I can identify with Sheryl so much. To allow someone to see every part of me was scary just because of the idea of “what if he doesn’t accept me” and the vulnerability lingered. Lucky for me, it turned out well.
So I do wonder if Sheryl will ever get the guts to tell Alto how she feels and I will continue to root for her…till then, I’m digging the moving of plot. Hopes it goes on for a while before the shipping crap starts up again. :P
Where are you shirukii D:
@Kaelyn: I’ve been wondering this myself o_o
Short and sweet…(not really).
To be honest, I used to be the type who would fall for the moe type girls. The cutsie-poo crap used to get me hook line and sinker. I was a sucker for it.
Now?
I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the looks-like-a-12-year-old archetype. I’m tired of the “sweet and innocent” archetype. I’m tired of the selfless self sacrificial martyr cute chick who is so *genki* and lovable. That sort of stuff turns me off faster than a basement dwelling mouth breather hitting on me in a comic store.
I seriously see right through that sort of character personality, and it is why within seconds of the first episode, I found myself rolling my eyes at the predictability of Ranka’s personality. Not 5 minutes had gone by and I was going “Alto’s going to hook up with her.”
After watching Episode 15 (and stumbling upon this blog) I decided to comment on everything as I felt it. Most everything anyway…
Ranka is the damsel in distress (and a damsel in SERIOUS episodes.. not Alto rescuing Sheryl because she dove off a building after her panties–that’s not serious.. that’s meant to be lulz), she’s cute and lovable and has a marketable goofy stuffed cell phone that makes cute chibi faces when she sends a text. She’s 100% saccharine sweet tooth decay material that makes me want to throw up.
I fear that I may be the only one who watches this show who feels this way–though a few comments on the blog have made me feel that not everyone is a sucker.
I like Sheryl because she is a bitch. I like her because she is flawed. I like her because she is not the cute sweet innocent archetype that REQUIRES a -chan after her name. She’s cocky, arrogant, and self centered. But at the same time, she does seem to care for Ranka and Alto, though she doesn’t want to admit it. What pains me the most is that I can see them taking the relationships where they are headed from a mile away. They make Sheryl seem more down to earth, cute even, then they crush her like a bug beneath the overbearing moe of Ranka’s giant cutsie poo heel. Sadly… I have already given up the SherylxAlto ship–even before I had begun it. I was surprised and delighted at Episode 5, thinking maybe Macross Frontier would take the character relationships somewhere new. Main character gets with confident flawed chick instead of cute selfless perfect chick? HOW ORIGINAL! But after episode 13…?
FAIL. No luck there.
No anime has the characters do what they did in this episode and not follow through with a hook up.
“Glittery glowy lighting surrounds them as the male mutters something about the female being “that girl”… she brushes his hair with more glittering light effects, and she blushes, he blushes, they blush… they speak softly to each other as if coming to an understanding… it is a sweet moment….then something happens and he grabs her about the waist instinctively for more blushing!!!—THEN SHE’S KIDNAPPED AND SCREAMS HIS NAME AS HE SCREAMS HER NAME IN AN ATTEMPT TO RESCUE HER!!!!1111111″
I guess I will just keep watching this show but I’ll be sure to brush my teeth furiously after every episode to get the nasty sweet taste out of my mouth before I puke.
Helloes everyone, I’ve been MIA for over 2 weeks for various reasons which I will state in an upcoming post (hopefully). Life’s been hectic and the time I’ve had to maintain this blog went on a rapid decline to rock bottom. Sorry for my absence ;_;
It’s okay shirukii D:
I hope everything turns out okay for you.
Don’t worry about the blog for now, sorting out things in your life is most important.
Good luck, and we miss you !
Just stumbled across Frontier. Been a fan of Robotech since I was a kid, learned more about the Macross side once I got the net. I was always turned off by the bizarre inclusion of pop star crap into space anime. Minmei was the worst part of Macross and subsequent shows like Macross 7 seemed to say “What if we took the worst part of the original and made it the centerpiece of the new series?” Valkyries with musical instruments built in? Combat music squadron band? Shoot me.
Frontier seems to strike a decent balance between the stupid pop star crap and good space action but I do have to wonder about the relationships in anime these days. Ranka is not 12, maybe closer to 14. But it isn’t a “14″ like Evangelion where the girls looked 18. She looks young, she is young behavior-wise, and it feels very creepy to see her in serious romantic pairings. I mean, tit wouldn’t be so weird if she were paired with someone her own age with a platonic feel but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
What is it with all the lolicon crap populating anime these days? Hell, we even have it on the contractor ship with the bridge bunny who must be all of 20 crushing on the 50 year old captain.
>>>What is it with all the lolicon crap populating anime these days?
But….but she’s almost 13!
http://derailedbydarry.com/archives/2008/05/17/1408/
Lolis are awesome. What’s wrong with you?
Good to see you’re alive and well, Shirukii. :)
@Sarah
I like you!
LOL
We’re the feminists who don’t fall for generic loli-moe characters.
@Shirukii
good to know your okay!
I’ve been waiting for new code geass blogs as I wanted to discuss and read people’s thoughs/opinions, and I’ve had to migrate over to random curiosity for my dose of that O_o.
hope to see your takes on the latest geass episodes soon/eventually :D
@ Kari
*high five*
you were one of the ones I was mentioning namelessly in my post. Brain is on. Moe shield is up. ALL SYSTEMS GO!
My friends say I’m out of control. :d Maybe I am..!
@ Kaelyn
Agreed. I am not effected by ruffles, chibi faces in cell phone pictures, or prepubescent looking girls squealing kyun kyun and nyan nyan!
(I dig characters who have flaws… it makes them human to me and they are more unpredictable and exciting to watch).
@Shirukii
Did you blog Season 1 Code Geass? I watched it on the way back from my last Japan trip and hated every second of it (but there was nothing else to watch).. I was curious to see your thoughts on a certain episode with Euphemia.
Hey everyone, I’ll be posting soon on what has changed/will change in my blogging habits.
As for the discussion at hand…
@ Sarah: I’m confused at why you’re expressing so much rage over Ranka’s predictability as a character and her tendency towards cuteness. ALL the female characters in Macross F are stock archetypes best described by the adjectives transparent and predictable.
Sheryl is no more original nor interesting than Ranka just because she’s flawed. While she started out as a deeper character than Ranka, she became just as two dimensional when her behavioral patterns became a “rinse, lather, repeat” process. Yes Sheryl is more down to Earth than Ranka, but that only makes her more relateable, NOT a better/deeper character.
The older, busty, all woman character is just as archetypal as the DFC loli, Sheryl’s as much a cookie cutter character as Ranka is.
You say you’re not affected by prepubescent looking girls squealing kyun kyun and nyan nyan, yet you are by a mature looking one (who is only 17 btw, misrepresentation of age works both ways) who is a self proclaimed exhibitionist?
- - -
One thing I’m really confused about is why everyone seems to attack Ranka on the sole premise that she’s cute.
…so what?
Some of you may be quick to point out that I hate moe for the sake of moe and thus condemn series like Lucky Star. But that’s when all the series has going for it is oozing cuteness. Macross F has a well developed plot, so Ranka can be chock full of moe and still fit in to the overall picture.
And finally, some of you are expressing hate for the loli archetype altogether, which is even more bewildering. If you hate loli and the characteristics associated with it, you’re almost saying that you hate anime by extension, since nearly every single anime out there has at least one.
I’m not going to delve into the whole moral debate of lolicon and why it’s nothing to fear/be ashamed of, yet the fear/disgust of it is what spawns most of the hate directed toward it. But don’t dismiss loli characters as weaker or less deep than any others, it’s a baseless assumption.
tl;dr: Macross F is riddled with shallow and predictable characters, why pick on Ranka specifically?
Man, Macross F needs less shipping faggotry and more explosions. This feels like True Tears ver 2.0, haha. Not that the discussion isn’t fun, just seems like the set pieces are repeating themselves.
(Oh, and I believe I blogged a couple eps of Code Geass R1, but nothing consistent. What episode in particular are you referring to?)
i love the show…..is so cool…..the fights the characters everthing…i just hope it will not be a lame ass 20 episode series :(((