i left my heart in san francisco (macross frontier 19)
Categories: anime, episodic review, macross
Tagged: macross frontier
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The day-to episode.
This has to be the ultimate Ranka-puppy face.
And this has to be the ultimate Ranka-puppy “USO… USO DA!” face. I rooted so hard for it, but it didn’t happen.
I was hoping that Ozma would conveniently run out of gas once they got to Make-Out Point, but, alas. And was it just me, or was this a coupling episode? Let’s examine…
Couple #1: The prototypical over-the-hill couple still trying to act young. I’m not sure what’s funnier, Ozma’s “I remember why I dumped this bitch, but I also remember the hawt sex” look on his face as well as Cathy’s “ZOMG MY BIOLOGICAL CLOCK!” effort. Though their day-to of enjoying street food while walking through Frontier San Francisco is a bit lame, they did make up for it by making a Make-Out Point pit stop and accuse the top intelligence officer of treason and sedition.
Couple #URACHAI!: it’s almost Saito and Louise except with a larger height difference. But… loved Klan’s “URACHAI!” Loved her pushiness in getting Michael to go on a day-to. And finally loved those stockings. Fairly generic day-to of enjoying the overpriced food of Pier 39, but they did come together as a qsuasi-team to pair Sheryl and Alto up… just so Ranka can stumble into seeing Sheryl and Alto embrace. Triangle! Triangle! Triangle!
(Their rendition of Pier 39 is pretty good. MFL shop… I wonder if Frontier San Francisco has a football team, or are would they be the Frontier Santa Clara 49ers of San Francisco?)
Couple #3: The bat-shit insane Grace and the shitty Leon. Neither are really interesting when they’re not destroying things or letting out an evil laugh. Though I still can’t get over the fact that I keep thinking of a bizzaro Kyon and Belldandy whenever the two are on stage.
Couple #4: Run Miria! Don’t let Szilard eat you! (Not the first time I thought of Szilard with Ranka) I liked their back alley day-to through Frontier San Francisco, but Ranka ended up hitting Brera with the “You’re like an older brother to me!” rejection. Hopefully, Brera takes it well. And when I write, “takes it well,” I mean “doesn’t start up a rebellion to try to get her back only to see her nuked by his best friend.” If Brera had a best friend and all…
Couple #5: Nanase look depressed as in “our friends dumped us and left me with the crappiest male lead to hang out with… what did I do to deserve this?! LOOK AT MY MELONPAN! I DESERVE BETTER!” Though for Luca’s defense, he does know that Ai-kun is a vajra, in one of the least shocking developments ever.
The Sheryl – Alto – Ranka love triangle basically has Sheryl and Ranka in love with Alto, but neither have been able to admit it. Not Miss “my breasts bring the people hopes and dreams” Nome nor Miss “I’m cute as a puppy!” Lee. The problem isn’t these two, as both are smart enough to eventually figure it out (and did). The problem is Alto– has there been any hint as to what he likes? I’m not talking about just Sheryl and Ranka– about anything.
We know he hates kabuki. We know he hates Brera. We know he hates vajra. We know he hates a bunch of things and is a tight fisted ball of emo angst, but what does he like? At least with someone like Lulu, we know exactly what he likes (hint: not Shirley, not Kallen, and not C.C.). With Alto, I think it’s more likely he’ll cut himself, go goth, and we’ll get a Sheryl x Ranka ending. What am I saying? That’s a fantastic ending. Let’s make that happen.
(But, seriously, the question is not “who will Alto pick?” but “will Alto actually make a choice?”)
I think it’s about one out of every four times Ranka goes to see Alto that she finds Sheryl in his arms. Why is she still surprised? Sheryl tried to seduce him in front of her in a hospital just a few episodes ago. Between then and now, Ranka should have purchased a nice, sharp cleaver…
(It’s the green hair. Must be the green hair.)
With all the fighting going on against the vajra and the training for SMS, where does Alto and friends find the time to work on their air stunt routines? And why not do fly-bys with their fighters instead?
Why is there a Shibuya landmark in Frontier San Francisco? Why not put the Eiffel Tower there while you’re at it? Or maybe the Empire State Building? Or the Bellagio?
Wait, Klan put on her white lab coat between her day-to with Michael and Ranka’s concert? I approve. She needs to wear those stockings with that lab coat everywhere. And we need to FedEx one of those outfits to Becky Miyamoto ASAP.
There is a crappy seafood restaurant in this corner of Pier 39. I rarely go to the Pier anymore… only to bring friends and family who are visiting from out of town. There are a lot of better places to go in the city IMHO for a daytime day-to. Golden Gate Park… Union Square area… Presidio…
New ED… Triangular… I am glad that we are back to the love triangle aspect of this show. It was almost turning into an afterthought with all this vajra nonsense. I’m also curious who called them the “vajra.” A “vajra” is an old Asian weapon / religious artifact. If humanity found yet another species that wanted to destroy us, wouldn’t we give them a more deprecating name? Like in Space Above & Beyond, they called the aliens “the chigs.”
(And of course the unfortunate irony of naming this event “Aimo Memorial Day.”)
We had Ranka-puppy in glasses and Sheryl in a kimono, and we get Bobby as the eyecatch. He didn’t even have a line!? Though he is the elder office lady of Frontier Software…
“Easy, guys… I put my pants on just like the rest of you– one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records.”
This week’s Ranka-puppy with glasses is cute montage.
26 Responses to “i left my heart in san francisco (macross frontier 19)”
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Well… they could’ve gotten Ranka’s ‘Rena’ face on (see Episode 17 when she’s giving Ozma the blank-eyed stare)… but alas, they didn’t.
Sad thing is, Ozma and Cathy are WAY more romantic than the teenage couples or triangles in this show are…
One other thing to note – Alto likes to run away.. and that’s the ONLY thing we know he likes for sure, along with his mother. He loved his mother, he loves to flee his life which is why he likes to fly… and that’s it. He’s like Makoto from School Days, but with more trappiness and less interest in sex; just as indecisive, but less interested in getting into women’s pants or skirts.
As for Klein, she dresses well for her size. Knows what works, and what doesn’t – Konata should be taking notes.
Speaking of Konata… it looks like she IS watching the show.
http://img206.imageshack.us/im.....741ah3.jpg
PS: Still have the souvenir ready. Can link to picture, assuming you want to break the readers.
Again, where is Alto in drag? I refuse to watch this show until that pretty boy is dressed as a woman! Enough with the tease! -_-
And I would argue that a nuclear bomb is a far better way to end a relationship than “It’s not you; it’s me.”
One thing that bothers me is are glasses really enough of a disguise. Ranka is the top idol now with a picture everywhere over the city and yet NOBODY recognizes her because of a single pair of glasses.
How can a whole colony be THAT clueless?
Mikhail was pretty cool this episode. Did i see a properly sized Klan in the preview? That would be an interesting development. It might have been grace, though.
>> One thing that bothers me is are glasses really enough of a disguise.
I already pointed this out already. Last episode. When Sheryl was completely ignored on the streets. And she wasn’t even in a disguise.
It’s the classic Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman switch off!
Well Lois has been noted as being “cosmically stupid”. But then it appears that everyone else who encounters both Clark and Superman are on the same level as Lois.
On the other hand, how many of Sheryl’s fans were actually looking at her face? Plus Ranka is a new idol. When you are new you can still blend a little. (plus people have a tendancy not to look too closely at your face when you where huge frames like that, and they aren’t sunglasses.)
(Clark’s mother makes a similar remark about his costume, “Well they won’t be looking at your face”)
I like the sea lions at Pier 39….
Hmm, a goth Alto… anyone else thinks that would look sexy
Well in Macross San Francisco was turned into dust as with most of Earth surface .. Island-1 is not supposed to be a exact re-creation of pre-Space War I of San Francisco.but a composite of San Francisco and Shibuya.
See, Ranka, this is what you get for asking about your f******* star again. Suffer! MWAHAHAHAHA!
And no mention of how Sheryl’s dying of Vajra AIDS. Ranka’s issue here is that she’s spoiled and is unwilling or unable to act, which is why she got a nasty surprise at the end of the episode… but Sheryl’s attitude isn’t exactly endearing either.
Of course, Alto < Sheryl OR Ranka…
And by the way, Roy Mustang, that was SHERYL’s song first.. she was just copying, remember?
“We had Ranka-puppy in glasses and Sheryl in a kimono, and we get Bobby as the eyecatch. He didn’t even have a line!? Though he is the elder office lady of Frontier Software… ”
Koi Ni Ochitara was an awesome show. I approve of this episode summary.
wow, Frontier’s savior is spending the nights with a vajra spawn. why am I not suprised?
seriously though, the scriptwriters should just forget bout macro-sizing Klan. Micro Klan is way way better.
“we’ll get a Sheryl x Ranka ending. What am I saying? That’s a fantastic ending. Let’s make that happen.”
It shall be done!!!
Question from someone who hasn’t watched any of the Macross series, for one reason or another: is Macross Frontier easy to get into for those who haven’t seen other Macross series? That is, does the show assume that its watchers already know enough about the Macross world-setting (or universe-setting) to not need any info on what anything is, or does it explain things? (For instance, why exactly this Klan person has the ability to assume a small form and a gigantic form, etc.)
They explained all of that in series in the first 9 episodes. That’s what the pre-credits summaries were for.
@Haesslich: All right, then. I’m gonna start watching Frontier, then.
I realized after this episode that “Vajura” sounds like the FIlipino word “basura”…ie Trash.
Yep — good thing this episode’s back to the love triangle..but now I’m confused to who to root for, since both Ranka and Sheryl “deserve” attention!
….Will they end this with Alto not ending up with either?
…You know, I’ve spent a fair bit of time pondering why Ranka glows in the dark, and I keep praying that the writers of Frontier will at least do something not COMPLETELY awful with it, but seeing her masterful use of the glasses disguise, it appears that there is only one logical explanation:
RANKA LEE SHE IS A CHAR!
…Is it bad luck to make a Gundam reference in a Macross discussion? (You have to admit though, -nobody- would expect her to be implanted with the psychoframes from Char’s Counterattack, and it’s a similar-looking effect)
As for the revival of the love triangle… I dunno, I kind of thought the triangle was dead not just from the shift in focus, but because Alto and Ranka have a relationship that doesn’t revolve around physical/verbal -abuse-. Though you may have a point in that we don’t really know what Alto likes, so…
To be honest, my money is still on one of them dying (Sheryl). I mean, come on, the new theme song has “I want to survive,” as its main theme. That’s ASKING for it. So either Ranka will mutate or something, or else Sheryl will die of RANDOM DISEASE A, or do something stupid like fly a robo-airplane again and get killed that way. Or maybe BOTH (… well… neither would be okay too)! Now -that- would be an ending. Sort of a… “Use it or lose it” message? *Shot in the head repeatedly by all decent human beings nearby*
Random note: First time commenting on this blog, so I just thought I’d say that I thoroughly enjoy what you’re doing here. So… thanks for all the laughs and such.
Isn’t it pretty obvious by now that Brera is Ranka’s long-lost brother? Still, they seem more like a potential couple than anything…who knows – if Ranka loses out to Sheryl, she might get an incestuous consolation?!?!?!
Honestly enough with the Vajra attacks. The biggest reason I’m watching this show is the Sheryl x Alto x Ranka angstness.
Something I noticed in the episode: at the Ranka concert, it looked very much like there were about three smallish (read: go-cart-sized) Vajra just standing around in the crowd, waving their antennae to the music…still not sure if it was just really good costuming, or if security at the concert was terrible.
Megex: Security there’s bad. Just look at what happens next episode.
P.S.: The lesson here is to NEVER refuse the loli. Bad things happen if you do. :P