where is your heart? (macross frontier 20)
Categories: anime, episodic review, macross
Tagged: macross frontier
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An intergalactic colonization ship is infested with Vajra, and the topless tsundere loli trumps all.
Very hard to take Klan seriously when she’s wearing that frilly outfit…
… and even harder when she decides to go topless. Wait, there’s Vajra outside?!
And only in anime will she then proceed to kiss Michael during a tense High School of the Dead-level desperation battle…
… and then watch him die as she’s stuck nakkid in her Amazonian form. Maybe I’m not desensitized enough because I still find this ridiculous. Definitely over the top way for Michael to go, but, if you are going to go, it’s always better to go out over the top than “Dukat shot Jadzia because of a contract dispute between Terry Farrell and Paramount.”
He died to protect the one he loved, but did he just say that because he knew he was going to die, and it would be the heroic last act or did he really care for Klan? Though I must admit that I thought either Ozmu or Sheryl would die before Michael.
(I’m just curious why did she had to strip off all her clothes yet still wears that headband… does the headband macronize as well? But not the bra? Or is the cup size difference too large for Frontier’s technology to compensate for? Whomever invented the micronize device, I want to shake his hand.)
“No, stop it Klan! Chris Hansen could be watching!”
Vajra… what Vajra… ?
“USO!”
“GOMEN NASAI!”
Please, for the love of all things holy, give her a cleaver!
Instead of Fufonfia, why not a Higurashi parody with the Frontier characters? You have the well-meaning but ignorant Alto (and Alto would make the fangirls happier when it comes to penalty games), you have a lot of Rena potential with Ranka (especially if she tries to take micronized Klan home), and you can probably wrap Sheryl into a Sonozaki.
Macross Frontier needs more Sheryl and Ranka hugging and less Vajra nonsense.
I liked how they make a big deal out of the Vajra now being immune to rockets and missiles and standard lasers that everyone had to go hand-to-hand against them… and we’re right back to blowing up Vajra with rockets and missiles and standard lasers once again. Even Sunrise is horrified about these battle mechanics.
Sheryl and Nanase hugging ain’t bad either… but will Nanase turn into eyepatch girl next?
Again, no one noticed the once most popular songstress in the galaxy… even when confined into a tight space… until she started singing. Knowing how cynical and mean people get when stressed, I’m surprised no one tossed a shoe at her going, “We’re all going to die! Shut up!” Not everyone can be as honorable as the prisoners trapped on the ferry escape from Gotham in The Dark Knight.
(I like Diamond Crevasse a lot. It’s the best Sheryl song. Though it feels like an ending theme to Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.)
“Ranka-chan! If you are the songstress of hope, then I’ll sing amongst despair!”
Great line. It’s almost the female equivalent of gar, if such a thing existed. Though the opposite of gar would be moe… so… as usual, I have no point.
(And I enjoyed her “Who the fuck do you think I am?” earlier.)
Wow, kind of shocking how fast Frontier San Francisco burned. My gosh, it looks like a magnitude 8 earthquake hit right before Godzilla and Rosie O’Donnell attacked the city. And Klan’s nose seems to disappear and reappear at will…
Does remind me of the beginning of High School of the Dead when the zombies started overruning everything and the only weapons available to fight back with were a few guns and plenty of melonpan.
This week’s Ranka-puppy is cute montage.
43 Responses to “where is your heart? (macross frontier 20)”
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You mean the giant melonpan/loli tsundere trumps all.
Oh Jason, you crack me up.
this is starting to feel like a trend, as with code geass, another sensible non-broken side character has been killed off. Along with alot of other people, I would have thought Ozma to be the 1st one, but noooo, they had to kill off the one that had potential and character that hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. But the main thing is, because of his death we lost out on moar lovely tsundere loli scenes! RIGHTEOUS FURY ACTIVATED!
Gah! that sucks Micheal died! sob sob…
It was a Kamina epic death saving the girl he loved… cept he isn’t anywhere near as gar as kamina…
Damn! It I was hoping that he would of revived like Ozmu and Klan and Micheal can actually start something. BUT NO! he got suck into space and died. blarghy. (Though I think now it would be better off if he stayed dead. hate random character revival.)
Ozmu has so many if he died it would of been glorious, but he never died.
This eps really built the mood well I think.
Thank the Protoculture for making Zentradi able to Miclonize, but to ensure they’d have to do so naked. Even though they destroyed themselves, they did create some… rather nice things.
As for the Vajra being immune to nukes… it’s only the big red ones, not these little ones, who are immune to nukes and guns – but not knives. Apparently, melee IS indeed the way to go with the Red Ones (which go faster). Of course, they’d have done better with mecha… but I hope that’s why they’re going to Battle Frontier or the Quarter. At least they’re consistent – remembering the white ones got nuked pretty well in that same battle that revealed the Red Ones were immune (Ep 17).
Let this be the lesson derived from Frontier: refusing the Klein-loli means you die. Let the blue-haired loli win in the relationship game, and you’ll live.
PS: RIP, Nene – your hair-nuzzling of Klein will not be forgotten… even if everyone else forgot you to focus on Mikhail. Also, does shooting one’s future father-in-law count as a Dear John note?
so much for my Michael x Alto-hime ending I was hoping for :/
No more Ranka-puppy I beg you, it has become as turkish delight to me. No more can I look on her and not see the moeblob whose issues and improper grasp of biohazard protocals cost me a bonanza of non-pedo loli.
Cokematic: I guess that means the fujioshi do NOT control Satelight’s writing team the way they do the Code Geass team.
jack: You prefer topless Klein, I take it?
Oh man, I still look forward to watching Macross F, but not the way I used to. :(
At least Klan now has a reason to have an Emo Facial Distortion.
Michael you bastard, how could you die and leave a loli… wait, does that mean she is available now?…
I was like “OH man he’s not done yet thats just a chest wound, he can come back…oh wait now he got sucked into a vaccuum, stick a fork in him ’cause he’s done.”
That sucks, Mikhail really was a nice foil to Alto.
I thought Luca was going first. Damn lying flags.
Although I’m a little sad that Mikhail had to go, thus ending all hopes at another Max/Milia equivalent, it’s interesting to note that after doing homages to the original series that Kawamori seems to be gleefully subverting them as Frontier nears its end. After all, the Roy and Kakizaki equivalents are still alive up to this point. Also, the traits of the Original Series Minmei/DYRL are becoming more and more apparent in both Ranka (takes more from TV Minmei) and Sheryl (ditto with DYRL Minmei).
Alto is just as frustrating as usual though. Get a grip, and own up already! Or are you really just interested in your PLANE?
Hope you didn’t miss this…
See You Space Playboy…
(nods to Spike)
Aside from how ridiculously cliche the episode was it was certainly my most favorite episode of the season… maybe because Michael died and it was a super loli episode, I guess that makes me a sick bastard.
Well supposedly Alto-hime finally has an answer for both of them. I hope he does. At least the most of the deaths were of 2nd Stage Vajra so its at least probable that those nymphs (in the bug context) are not as durable as the adult Vajra.
How is Sunrise horrified by this? If anything they are taking notes and intend to one up Macross in both Gundam 00 and Code Geass. ;)
@Myssa Rei
I guess Kawamori has declared that there will only ever be one Max and Millia. Though hopefully Klein will be racking up her kill count until her end comes. At least Klein has his glasses and Mikhail went out like a Zentran. I suppose now that Mikhail is gone that there will be a line outside of Klein’s room when she returns.
Perhaps Frontier will give us Ozma and Cathy to make up for the lack of Max and Millia.
Patience comrade rumor has it the triangle will be concluded early, and have you forgotten how long Hikaru was sitting on the fence? At least Alto-hime didn’t run after Ranka to add to the confusion. Next time Alto-hime is running some where, let’s hope its to confess to some one.
Please, for the love of all things holy, give her a cleaver! KILL HER!!!!!!
@Haesslich: If you’re referring to the person being held by Michael when he says something about “even civilians are getting involved” or whatever it was he said, then that’s not Nene, and I don’t remember Nene getting killed in this episode. *can’t rewatch it to check, because I deleted the gg episode after its torrent was finished seeding, ’cause I’m archiving a different group’s release of the series*
EDIT: Nene’s the (relatively) tall (when micronized) Meltran with pink hair and Aya Hirano’s voice.
EDIT#2: Sorry, light pink hair. *distinction made because, after looking back at a screenshot of the dead person, their hair is a bit pinkish*
All you other anime bloggers can just pack it up. It’s over. Jason has just inserted a non-scifi reference to a Star Trek series into a review of a scifi anime. Game, set, and gold medal, Miao.
If all it needs is a death scene for more nekkid Klan, then I have a few suggestions…
*unfurls list*
@Haesslich: That pink haired woman that died had short hair. She wasn’t Nene, just a random SMS pilot. Michael called her Annie, at least that’s what I heard.
@deBurg: “See you space playboy” was a joke sub by gg, it wasn’t in the original screen.
And why is nobody here RAGING at Ranka for indirectly causing Michael’s death by infecting the vajra with her emoness?
Because they were going to go on a killing spree anyways – the EMO didn’t make them single out Mikhail – Grace was apparently aware that Frontier was about to become a Vajra hive. The only thing she didn’t count on was her weapon (Ranka) not working due to being a spoilt child that she should’ve disciplined as soon as she got her, rather than stroking her ego and recruiting Nanase.
Now if the Vajra had eaten Sheryl and then left Alto alone, then we could blame her WMO for causing death.
emo even.
oh good job killing off Michel, now we will not get to see anymore nakkid Klan macro nor micro.pfft.. why can’t they kill off Luca or Ozma or Sheryl(though i would hate that a lot) first.
but apart from that, Sheryl’s “who the fuck do you think i am” brings back memories of Kamina…
@Son Gohan – ??? gg??? joke??? ahhh… burnneedd… got me good.
Hmmm… Cowboy Bebop premiered 10 years ago, and it was another YK project, so like after the pineapple salad thingie my mind was like primed for this. sigh….
Vajra are not really “immune”, they adapt and find ways to counter something that was used against then on the next generation .
That is why they developed that “skin” to counter the extreme heat but they had to shed it …
And there are still limits, the Macross Canon is still effective because the shear power of it is not something they can just “adapt” to.
And sorry Haesslich but Grace does not care about it … in fact I believe they expect the Frontier Fleet to be utter destroyed.
Also Ranka did not acted as a “spoiled child”, it did not worked for the simple reason the song by itself is USELESS … Ranka communicates with the Vajra on a basic level and all that is needed is her emotions, the Vajra gone berzerk because of Ranka emotions at that time.
Acting like a stone would mean the Vajra would simply be somewhat distracted by that Vajra/non-Vajra, considering how the Vajra were acting DURING the concert (yes, they were there) the key is Ranka feelings and THAT is not something you can train.
And last Grace already have a anti-Vajra weapon.
On the whole Ranka=spoiled thing… it’s really pretty hard to honestly call Ranka “spoiled”, considering that her competition is -Sheryl-, whose answer to all of life’s problems is “I’m ****ing Sheryl Nome (and better than you)!” At least, initially; she’s growing out of it, which is the only reason I’m coming to tolerate her.
That being said, yes, Ranka did need to be Bright-slapped in this particular instance. Whether or not a person can actually put their feelings behind them that easily (and whether it would have helped things if she had), you can’t really just let someone sit around feeling sorry for themselves when everything is going to hell. Although, the fact that Sheryl was the one to do it seems like it could well have made things -worse-, but…
And anyway, I think Ranka is entitled to feel a little used at this point considering that… that’s -exactly what’s happening to her-. And Alto isn’t helping, seeing as the first thing he says to her after she walks in on him and Sheryl “hugging” (and is clearly hurt by that) is “Hey, can you calm down all these Vajra?” Actually, I almost expected him to go further and actually fake(?) a confession or something just to get her to sing. I mean, that would have made Alto a -complete- bastard, but… all the directions things could go from there! Ranka choosing to go along with it even knowing that he’s probably lying, Sheryl’s reaction, Ozma eventually figuring it out… Okay, so that’s a little sinister for Macross, and would seemingly be contrary to Alto’s character, -and- I’m still pulling for Alto/Ranka. It would still be epically angsty.
Wait a minute… I’m forgetting someth… oh right, Michel! *Cries man-tears* You BASTARD! Why did you have to get sucked out into space instead of dying in Klan’s ar–well… fingers? Now I can’t even do a gender-reversed “A Little Fall of Rain!” What angsty music am I supposed to listen to after your death now, huh!?
Dear Frontier Writing staff: Thank you for rendering me completely USELESS for the rest of the day after watching this. Oh, and YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! THE LOLI-PAIRING! AH, DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO… yeah, okay, I’m done.
…By the way, who’s Chris Hansen? *just thought about this*
“Alto is just as frustrating as usual though. Get a grip, and own up already! Or are you really just interested in your PLANE?”
If I had a VF-25 I’d be hot for it too.
So many tears for Michael but so so few for the president? He wasn’t such a bad guy. But really I had a bad feeling about Klan and Michael since the middle-of-episode eyecatch of them both.
Also, kudos to Klan for not being all “Oh please don’t look at me, I’m so embaressed” and all that. She partally covered herself and fought on! Thats female GAR! I’m looking forward to bouncing boobies and hot red vengance!
Drakron: The MDE only works if the Vajra are clustered around it. Otherwise it’s like dropping nukes to kill a single roach. The thing is that Grace is using Frontier as her Vajra hive test-bed… which means it behooves her to keep it around as long as possible so that it can be used to harvest as many Vajra as she can get, and to perfect the techniques to control them.
As for being spoiled? Ranka was upset all the way back in episode 10 about not knowing about Alto’s past or Alto himself. Has she done anything to rectify it? NO. It’s been ten episodes since then and she barely even talks to him except to ask ‘is this right’? She’s had zero character development since episode 12. She expected Alto to run up to her confessing love because she loved him, and then when he’s in danger doesn’t do jack-squat. And a bit of disappointment made her wish she and everyone else was dead… which is the emotional cue you mentioned which helped the Vajra start their killing spree. She hasn’t had a chance to grow up thanks to Ozma, and now she’s thinking only of herself even as others die around her, even as her best friend gets nailed by shrapnel, and so forth.
If she spends the next episode whining about how she’s upset that she saw Alto with Sheryl, then any chances of Alto x Ranka are through… since she’s shown no real interest in Alto beyond ‘he saved me, I like him’. She hasn’t sought him out, sought out information about his past, let him know how she felt… and for the most part just SITS there.
Great episode. Ranka got bitch slapped, literally and fugitively.
It’s clear now that Ranka wasn’t written as a viable love interest for the main character. She’ll nurse her spoiled, broken heart by realizing she loves her brother. The only question is whether she’ll end up with the real brother or the fake brother. Siscon, Da Capo fans rejoice!
Roy: Or she could go the Minmay route and end up as the proverbial third wheel. At this point, she’s losing any sympathy points anyone had for her… and Sheryl wasn’t anywhere near as harsh as she could’ve been. Which is a bit of a shame – the Vajra going berserk might not have happened if Sheryl HAD bitch-slapped her instead of trying to Bright-slap her.
*Raises hand* I still have sympathy points for Ranka, do I count? Admittedly she hasn’t done a whole lot useful -lately-, but I’m convinced that’s the point–that all the fame and the military conscripting her and whatnot is putting her in a role that she doesn’t really want or know how to deal with. That seems to have been the gist of what Brera was saying in episode 19. Could she handle it better? Of course. But I think that’s the struggle that they’re setting up for her character. If you never fall you can’t dramatically get back up, you know.
And anyway, I don’t see how you can honestly complain about an -anime- character not being proactive about the person they’re in love with. When have they -ever- been? 20 episodes before -trying- to confess their feelings is pretty much par for the course. Also your comment that she never sought out Alto and told him how she felt is kind of moot since that’s what she was -trying- to do before all hell broke loose.
Also, just for the record, the Vajra going berserk appears to have been the result of her trying to sing while in a hurt, unstable emotional state, so… it’s kind of hard to assign blame there. And… I think having her rival (who incidentally caused her to feel hurt in the first place) really go all out bitch-slapping her would have just gotten Ranka mad at Sheryl… and then the Vajra probably would have eaten her, since they’re tied to Ranka… so, you know, if you like that version better than Michel dying… *shrugs*. Really, Sheryl wasn’t the right person for the job just there, even if no one else in the cast was likely or able to do it.
@ Cat Megex: If I recall correctly, Chris Hansen was the host of “To Catch a Predator,” a show about setting up stings to bring in pedophiles. Hence the Michel/Klan thing.
You know, it’s true, in mecha anime security does not EXIST. You can break in (and plant hundreds of eggs/bombs/whatever) -anywhere-. If you have a secret project, someone will steal it, or only fail to steal it because a main character showed up. And apparently if you make a public appearance your enemies -will- be present, even if they’re giant insects who you’d think might… you know, stand out. But why did they kill the assassin first? That felt a little too convenient… and for that matter, why write that in if Leon was going to kill the President anyway? It’s not like the latter accomplished anything useful between getting into his car and getting mowed down on that moving walkway.
Don Himura: Not counting harem series, there are MANY shows which have the ‘pairing’ start in the first few episodes, or at least don’t have the characters dithering the whole time. And she was unhappy that she didn’t know a thing about him TEN episodes ago.. but didn’t act until AFTER she’d gone on her date with Brera-nii. And she’s upset that he might’ve picked someone else? Did she expect Ozma to get her the guy she wanted too?
She’s spent most of the past ten episodes in a rather static role… and with no character development at all, which in a drama is akin to a character who is completely unfunny in a comedy, like Fuyuki in Minami-ke Okawari. She’s going to draw flak just for that – the Vajra incident was merely icing on a cake which was laced with a lot of pineapples. At least if Sheryl had pissed her off, she could’ve either a) gotten rid of a rival, or b) been shocked out of her ‘woe is me’ state to actually assess what she was doing. Instead, she wished for herself and everyone to die because she’d been disappointed as Alto didn’t conform to her fantasy of him…. and the Vajra obliged.
Nice metaphor…except you forgot that pineapple cake doesn’t have the same effect as pineapple salad.
Cat Megex: It sure did for Mikhail, that pink-haired pilot outside SMS HQ, as well as a whole bunch of others in the way of the Vajra. You have to be GAR like Ozma to enjoy the pineapples, then get a day-to with the ex who you confessed love to in the middle of battle while beating a Vajra to death with a series of kicks.
BUT MICHAEL (…wait, was there ever an official English spelling for his name? I’ve seen, variously, “Michael”, “Michel”, and “Mikhail”.) NEVER MENTIONED PINEAPPLES. OR CAKE. OR EVEN KLAN’S MELONPAN.
Oh, and I’m surprised no-one mentioned Klan’s line *just realized it*: “How can I fall in love when I’m so afraid of dying?” I’m not sure if that counts as foreshadowing or anything, but it was just an interesting little bit of the dialogue.
I think Mikhail is his “real” name and Michel/Michael is… what his friends call him?
Anyway, I’m pretty sure Ranka never wished for everyone -else- to die, just herself, even if that did serve as a trigger of sorts, you can’t actually blame a character for activating an emotional link with a species of bug aliens that she still isn’t actually aware of. Yeah that was a bit melodramatic, but you know, teenagers have been known to say idiotic stuff like that without -meaning- it, at least, given the chance to actually think about it. I’m not disagreeing that she needed to be slapped there, but it’s not unreasonable for her to have some wounded feelings (and there’s probably still time for her to blame Alto and Sheryl hugging on herself… except that could get really pathetic really fast, so I’m not convinced it would be a good thing…).
But like I tried to explain last time, I’m sort of looking forward to see where they might go with her character from this point on. The fact that she was in a static role could be really good writing that, you know, symbolizes being trapped, or it could actually just be a screw-up. I prefer to remain optimistic, since the fact that “Aimo – Battle Version” sucks compared to “Tori Hito” is actually serving a purpose within the plot.
Anyway, basically it comes down to what they do with her in the next few episodes through to the end of the series. Seeing as we just had the episode where everyone dies and Frontier gets ravaged, the next episode or two probably -are- the reflection/reevaluation episodes, so we’ll find out soon enough, I guess.
i don’t know if anyone has mentioned it but in the OP it looks like sheryl is cupping her own left boob
“See you space playboy”
hah what a nice ending
(is there a way to edit post?)