Macross Frontier 18; New hope, fading light
August 9th, 2008 by Shirukii
Much like that feeling of guilt you get when you call someone retarded only to find out that they really are mentally ill, I can’t help but feel bad for ragging on Sheryl in my last entry, especially the bit where I told her to be a good little girl and stay in bed. However, my assertion that she’s just as shallow a character as the rest of the Macross Frontier cast still stands, no terminal illness is going to change that.
Grace is an evil, cold hearted bitch, and I’m loving every second of it! However, while it’s awesome to see her true colors, I feel disappointed that the mystery behind Grace is all but gone now. The mystery that surrounded her has been more or less cleared up and it’s safe to throw her under the “batshit insane” classification of villains. While her motives remain unknown, they’re for the most part irrelevant, because as with all characters who exhibit the traits that Grace does, she will undoubtedly crush herself under the weight of her own aspirations. But hey, that’s not to say that her rise to and fall from grace (har har har) won’t be a fun spectacle to watch.
On that note, Sheryl’s free fall is going at an alarming rate. There’s no sure time line for the events of Macross Frontier, but if I had to take a guess, the events that have transpired so far have played out over the course of no more than a few months. In that time Sheryl has gone from a galactic wide pop idol to bargain bin trash. Here’s where I’d insert a witty pop culture reference comparing her to the teen sensations of the real world, but I abhor pop culture and the majority of mainstream music, so my intent to do so will have to suffice.
Begs the question though, how widespread is Sheryl’s decline in popularity. I can somewhat understand why Macross Frontier would be so quick to replace her with Ranka, as the Songstress of Hope is one of their own. But what about on other colonies, have her CDs crashed in sales across the universe? Sure she’s been off tour for a while, but surely she’s not completely forgotten. While I’d like to believe that the transient and fickle nature of celebrity popularity isn’t that bad, in the scene depicted above not a single person recognized Sheryl. Previously she had to wear a disguise and walk around in the dead of night so as not to get mobbed in crowds, now she walks around Shibuya and not a single soul so much as approaches her? Wat.
The whole deal with Sheryl’s illness was an interesting and admittedly unexpected twist which in hindsight makes a lot of sense. It explains the medicine Sheryl has been popping, one of which Mikhail stole to give to Klein for analysis. I’m still not sure what the reason behind Grace switching the vial of Sheryl’s blood in the hospital was though, my guess is that she either didn’t want Sheryl to know she was dying just yet, since at that time the effect of Ranka’s voice on the Vajra had yet to be confirmed, or she didn’t want traces of the V-type infection inhibitor to show up on Sheryl’s blood work, or perhaps both.
And of course there’s the whole issue of Mao Nome, pictured above, who, based on appearance, looks like Ranka’s mom, but based on family name, is Sheryl’s mom. Should prove interesting to explain.
Edit: So, apparently the woman in the middle is Mao, not the green haired one on the right, not that the scene was structured to make it look that way. Given her old age, it’s safe to assume that Grace just gave Sheryl the Nome namesake as a nod to the head doctor she worked under.
As for Ozma, he continues to paint the picture of his own death, relinquishing the duty of protecting Ranka, the very purpose of his life, to Alto, leaving only his relationship with Cathy to tie up before he can pass on without regret. Not that Alto is doing such a great job protecting Ranka though, being upstaged by Brera most of the time, in the eternal struggle between overprotective brothers and the dude who wants to bone his little sister.
As for Ranka herself, stagnant character development aside, her significance to the overlying plot of Macross Frontier is much more interesting to consider. Her reaction to the Vajra is growing more intense as the series progresses, this episode it looked like she had a chunk of fold quartz inside of her. The first time she had this reaction was when she and Sheryl sung a duet during Alto’s first deployment, and again when she was inside the macross infested with a Vajra nest that Brera wreaked havoc on. The physicist in me wants to believe that Ranka really does produce fold quartz inside of her and it reacts in tandem with the fold quartz produced by the Vajra, it would also be a convenient explanation of the Vajra hivemind.
SIEG HEIL!
Plot aside, the fight scenes in Macross Frontier are beginning to bore me. While the whole evolution thing on the Vajra side made things slightly more interesting, all it did was reverse the problem that Macross Frontier suffers from, largely one sided battles. Even in Code Geass R2, which I rag on for submitting to Gundam style battles wherein all mass produced units are essentially cannon fodder, the tide of battle ebbs and flows, whereas in Macross Frontier one side lays the beat down on the other until someone pulls out a quantum cannon. Well that’s all well and good for plot advancement, but a one hit kill (a.k.a The “Fuck You” Button) has and always will be a cop out battle device.
Not like it did them much good anyways, seems like Macross Frontier has a little bug problem.
Finally, an odd turn of events Yasaburo coming to Sheryl’s rescue is. I hope this doesn’t throw us into another round of Alto angsting over his purpose in life and dealing with the acting blood that courses through his veins, that dead horse has been repeatedly beaten, burned to ashes and pissed all over.
Obligatory Klein ;_;
~ Shirukii ~
15 Responses to “Macross Frontier 18; New hope, fading light”
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Enough with the “Mao Nome is Sheryl’s mom” theory. Mao was in her late 50s/early 60s when Sheryl was born. And how would she end up in the slums of Macross Galaxy?
The simplest explanation is that Grace bestowed the surname ‘Nome’ on Sheryl in memory of her former professor.
@ Son Gohan: Huh…excellent point, strange how that possibility didn’t even cross my mind. So much for Occam’s razor.
It should be pretty obvious by now that Sheryl was just orphan Grace had picked up off the slumps of Macross Galaxy and most likely adopted by Mao Nome. This fact adds to the insult that her entire life, through and through, was nothing more than what was fabricated by Grace. Sheryl Nome was an absolute nobody to begin with.
> However, my assertion that she’s just as shallow a character as the rest of the Macross Frontier cast still stands, no terminal illness is going to change that.
That is just unfair and outrightly false. If Sheryl was indeed shallow, she would’ve ran straight to Alto for pity love—at least then in her mind she can comfort herself thinking that there is still one area where she triumph over her rival.
You don’t judge a person by observing just one side of them. So she was quite ostentatious when she was famous, but now that she is in the pit of hopelessness, her true spirit has yet a chance to shine through.
Yes, terminal illness does not raise a person’s respect, but what that person does in such trial does.
@ bakaneko: Whoa, I don’t mean shallow as in fickle, materialistic, or superficial. I mean shallow in terms of her character lacking depth and personality. While her terminal illness added a layer to her character development, her reaction to it, her obstinate refusal to seek help even when in dire need of it, shows that she’s the same old Sheryl. And hey, that’s fine, I respect her independence and pride, however it just goes to show that her character has a one track mind. In fact, I would have liked it better if she had gone running to Alto in search of comfort, which is what any normal person would do instead of pushing away those who are close to you.
I think you are asking a bit much for Sheryl to tell Alto-hime that she is dying. If Sheryl did then it be pretty low and Alto-hime might stay with her out of pity and duty than love. Besides after being demolished by Grace if Sheryl couldn’t prove to herself that she is strong then Grace would have been proven right in that Sheryl is nothing without Grace.
I think it was a better choice to keep the grunts useless and limit their weapons to two big guns which every shot had to be conserved in order to remain effective. They could have easily copped out and started handing out VF-27 guns for lots of beam spam but they didn’t. So in the end it was actually some what more realistic in that they just discovered that their weapons were useless and they remain useless, instead of having some sort of miracle weapon.
Mao (the older woman in the middle) looks nothing like Ranka, Ransha Mei (the green haired one) is Ranka’s mom though being the motherly type might have been doing Sheryl’s hair. Since Sheryl was picked off the streets by Grace it is likely that Mao Nome, being the more noted of the three adopted Sheryl one of the reasons being that it’s technically unethical to just start experimenting on random people you pick off the streets. At least with Sheryl’s adoption Mao, the most responsible of the three, would have been able as Sheryl’s guardian to authorize some tests and justify what they were doing as a means to save her adopted child.
I am sure next time would be a good time to deal with Alto-hime’s past and for hime to bury the hatchet. Ranzo at the very least gave good advice to his son. Perhaps now Alto-hime will find a new reason to fight given how he can’t protect Ranka or Frontier. His guns can’t do anything and Brera supplanted him.
Ranka got braver, but she seems to have colluded with Brera to make her sortie. Given their increasing closeness it saddens me to think that Ranka is starting forget Alto-hime and is now relying on Brera. This will have dangerous consequences in the future because Ranka’s cyborg knight is and Agent of Grace.
Sigh.
I’m disappointed at your thoughts on this episode :/
It’s so painfully biased…
@ Crusader: Normally I’d say that Sheryl sticking stubbornly to her guns for the sake of pride is a lame character trait, but given that I started watching House, which is pretty much the basis for his character, I guess that would make me a hypocrite. However, Sheryl doesn’t possess the brilliance that allows for it to work so damn well. But I will concede that it was in her character not to run to Alto-hime for help.
And once again, thanks for the clarification on who’s who in the photo.
@ Kaelyn: Yea, I am bias, for numerous reasons, some of which I can’t help. But that’s okay, while objective analysis is good basis for discussion sometimes, fancamp wars are almost always more entertaining, if only more frustrating.
Sure thing comrade, we Macross fans have to stick together. Besides I cannot wait to see what price Alto-hime will pay to let Sheryl stay at his house…I hope it some how involves Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho.
Doesn’t Sakurahime azuma bunshou involve a double suicide attempt by the two lovers in the story? I would’ve thought that blissmo would be the one advocating it instead of you.
There are no shallow characters; only shallow interpretations.
I’m not quite sure that I follow your line of reasoning, however. On one hand, you acknowledge the fact that Sheryl is very independant and stubborn; which, in itself, is part of her personality. On the other hand, you say that she lacks personality.
Based on your later replies, I’m more inclined to think that rather than finding her character shallow, you disagree with the way in which she approaches her problems. That’s fair, but it’s a different issue altogether.
The purpose of the illness isn’t so much to show some radical change in character, so much as it is to give you more insight into who she is. Superficially, it’s easy enough to write off “I’m Sheryl Nome” as arrogance, but in many cases, it’s a reminder to herself that she needs to be strong for the sake of others.
Even in episode 1, for example, Sheryl comes in feeling extremely tired from her flight; but she knows that she has to put that fatigue aside to give interviews. In this episode, she sees the worry on Michael and Klan’s faces – so she tries her best to reassure them, even though she’s feeling terrible inside.
While Sheryl’s insistance on bearing her burdens alone is always frustrating to watch, I can’t help but admire her remarkable strength of character at the same time. That’s what makes her such an amazing presence in this show.
I’m thinking that CD sales in general are down on Macross Galaxy…
This episode reminds all viewers to always wear protection! You don’t want to get an hiV-type infection.
I wanted to hug Sheryl, though she’d probably would not allow herself to accept it. :P
@Kari: Will this do, instead? :)
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2130/mamorukaraqo6.jpg
@jacobian
WONDERFUL! I love you! :D