Macross Frontier

[Buffalobiian]

We needed one in there somewhere. The last 3 or four have been pro-Sheryl. If they ever wanted to develop Ranka into Sheryl's rival, they would've needed something like this.

[Kraco]

I thought the episode was fine. But then again, I have been pro-Ranka for a long time and only recently have begun to think Sheryl is fine as well. So, it doesn't really matter to me which one Alto is going to choose. I don't usually like triangles at all, though, but if they build the story otherwise in a good way, I can cope with them.

Considering the ending, I wonder if I'm going to miss something in the coming episodes due to not having watched most of the older Macross series (except for Zero). Well, time will tell.

[KrayZ33]

the "power of singing" just came out of the blue... I know that this isn't something new for Macross fans but for me it was... macross zero was nothing like this

"hey look I'm a loli, listen to my song" *lalalala* "ok lets stop fighting, my nose is bleeding!"

at first they made it look like the zentradi didn't care about those Idols at all and then, suddently they did.. (I'm talking about the guys in the purple armor, the green ones were fans of sheryl :P)
It felt horrible and poorly made... it's like someone is going to sell hotdogs or something and everyone stops fighting because they are hungry.

Not so good ep imho.. especially because I wasn't so sure what was going on anyway..everything felt so random and I had problems in following the plot...

well at least the animation looked nice, beautiful sun/clouds etc.

I hope the next episodes are going to focus more on the actual plotline and has some vajra again.

btw, I enjoy the singing scenes normally.. I liked Sheryls first concert very much and Ranka singing a song at "miss macross"... but this looked a bit ridiculous. Maybe this is what macross is really about but I'd prefer it Sheryl+Ranka are just singing songs at concerts or out of fun which gives Alto some "special power" while he fights the rebel-Zentradi or Vajra.

for example like the mockbattle against the zentradi squad and Ranka singing this song at "miss macross"
or when Alto was fighting the Vajra to help Macross Galaxy and Sheryl had a concert at the same time on Macross Frontier

[Kraco]

If a bunch of starving people are fighting each other over scraps of food and suddenly a truck loaded with food supplies stops next to them, you can very well consider it likely the people would stop their useless waste of energy and go get some food from the truck. I don't think most of these zentradi had any particular reason for fighting there. They were just a bunch who hadn't adapted that well to the human society yet apparently they have some genetic predisposition to love human music nonetheless. So, they were mainly fighting because they were frustrated and pissed off, not because they would have had some real objective. Maybe some of them had like that one dude Alto defeated but that doesn't apply to all of them.

And if Macross is like this, then it is like this. There are 13 regular series in a dozen of fighting mecha series so it's only good if Macross has something that sets it apart like this music thing. If you can't accept it, you don't have to. But for those who don't mind or even like it, it makes the series that much better than those other series that have nothing but "may the best mecha or best pilot win".

[shinta|hikari]

While I understand what Kraco is trying to say, I have to admit this episode felt really unnatural and unbelievable. It is not really simply the idea of music stopping conflict (which is perfectly fine considering the zentradi previously had no culture, so exposure to music can produce great effects), but the delivery was kind of silly IMO. I would have chosen a more dramatic and touching song rather than a pop one for the music, and the reaction or results need not be that extensive. Instead of every soldier except the leader just dropping their weapons, a gradual cease fire then maybe dialogue about the effort of the young girl and her touching singing could have ensued. The cheering right after the shooting made me shiver in disgust to be honest.

[KrayZ33]

And if Macross is like this, then it is like this. There are 13 regular series in a dozen of fighting mecha series so it's only good if Macross has something that sets it apart like this music thing. If you can't accept it, you don't have to. But for those who don't mind or even like it, it makes the series that much better than those other series that have nothing but "may the best mecha or best pilot win".

I don't have a problem with that but its just funny that they shot and killed each other (maybe some of them lost their best friends during the fight) and then ranka appears and they hug each other....
Its simply overdone, thats all.

And on top of that: They didn't start the fight because Sheryl wasn't able to sing... they planned this from the beginning... so why do they stop now... well ok I can accept this, but why the sudden change in their behavior? At least they could have made it look less stereotyped. especially since Ranka was a no-name like 1 week before all this happened.

Ranka made them forget simply everything... its like I'm killing 4 guys and Jesus says "forgive him, he didn't mean it" and everyone ignores what I did 2 seconds before

[animus]

its like I'm killing 4 guys and Jesus says "forgive him, he didn't mean it" and everyone ignores what I did 2 seconds before

Not a good example, a lot of crazy religious people would.

[Kraco]

Actually nobody died nor even got wounded there. I rewatched both the fights and didn't see a single instance of a succesful hit, despite all the shooting. So, that shouldn't have caused any hard feelings. It all was pretty much cover fire, nothing more. That also tells they were fighting pretty half-heartedly. Maybe these troops had never seen a live concert and thus were so surprised and awed by it.

[KrayZ33]

Actually nobody died nor even got wounded there. I rewatched both the fights and didn't see a single instance of a succesful hit, despite all the shooting. So, that shouldn't have caused any hard feelings. It all was pretty much cover fire, nothing more.

First of all: This pretty much means nothing... we don't get to see a lot of things which happen in Macross Frontier... take the fight between macross Galaxy and the Vajra... do you think they just sent in 6 planes in there? They launched the skull squadron, the zentradi squad + 2 or 3 others... yet we only got to see the skull squadron fighting.

btw
you should watch closely then because when Ranka appears, some warriors are supporting the wounded zentradi.




Maybe these troops had never seen a live concert and thus were so surprised and awed by it.

Yes and I'm fine with that, but they could have done it a bit less overdone and clichéd, it's just that I'm not used to see this in a modern anime... It's something I would expect to see in animes meant for kids and not young adults

[Kraco]

First of all: This pretty much means nothing... we don't get to see a lot of things which happen in Macross Frontier... take the fight between macross Galaxy and the Vajra... do you think they just sent in 6 planes in there? They launched the skull squadron, the zentradi squad + 2 or 3 others... yet we only got to see the skull squadron fighting.

Oh, noes! This is a completely different thing. You won't get that easily out of it. This wasn't a full-scale war but just very limited conflict and we actually see all of it because the shots from distance show it all!


you should watch closely then because when Ranka appears, some warriors are supporting the wounded zentradi.

Alright, I admit one dude sprained his ankle when running for cover, but that's not an excuse for a bloody vendetta with no remorse or going back.

[David75]

Maybe it was only me, but that rebelion zentran leader that was beaten by Alto really looked like Ranka... as if he could be her brother.
Then again, maybe it's just me. I wonder if anyone got the same impression.

[Darknodin]

Alright, I admit one dude sprained his ankle when running for cover, but that's not an excuse for a bloody vendetta with no remorse or going back.

Why not? last time I sprained my ankle the first Golf War happened!

For me, I can accept the songs as some sort of superweapon. but the whole episode was rushed. From the rebellion, to the way Ranka got the planet to the effects of the song. I really feel that this ep was really just a set up for what is to come and aside from the ending could have been removed altogether.

[Kraco]

I won't deny it being rushed and somewhat shaky in general but when you consider those nameless zentradi rebels may have already played whatever role they were going to play, it would have been a waste to invest more time into this whole affair. They needed some reason for Alto to be there and obviously Ranka as well, as well as I reckon they wanted to underline Ranka's power before they found that ancient piece of wreckage - whatever its role is going to be. Generally speaking hasty details are never good but they are only really bad when it's something that matters.

[Buffalobiian]

And on top of that: They didn't start the fight because Sheryl wasn't able to sing... they planned this from the beginning... so why do they stop now... well ok I can accept this, but why the sudden change in their behavior? At least they could have made it look less stereotyped. especially since Ranka was a no-name like 1 week before all this happened.


The only guy I'd say who had it all planned from the beginning would be the dead one. While I admit that it felt a little awkward when Ranka came and sang with turbine speakers, I got into soon enough, so no complaints from me.

[MFauli]

but the whole episode was rushed. From the rebellion, to the way Ranka got the planet

Hey, they used their new uber-power, making the universe smaller by factor 10!!!! ^^

Anyway, the song-and-happy-end was ridiculous. But i like it that now Ranka is closer to Alto. Granny Sherly mustnt get him. But two questions, as this is my first MAcross-series: Are there different kinds of Zentradi? And i thought Macross was just the name of the series, but now it seems it is this super-robot Alto found.

[Yukimura]

So is no one else surprised that Ranka isn't deaf after singing her little heart out standing right in front of speakers loud enough to extend concert level sound for at least 500-1000 yards...

Previous comments had prepared me for the Zentradi's complete and utter weakness to music but it was still kind of silly to see it. I didn't have a a problem suspending my disbelief but I now have a better appreciation for how lame the Minmay Defense is and why people make fun of it. I mean, what kind of genetic engineer fills an order for a race of warriors and leaves them emotionally susceptible to music? I supposed they just spent too much brain power building giant transforming robot spaceships and for that I can forgive them, but I still laugh at their failure.

[shinta|hikari]

I guess the speakers had a very distinct coverage, probably at an angle that spreads out, preventing Ranka from destroying her eardrums.

[Buffalobiian]

So is no one else surprised that Ranka isn't deaf after singing her little heart out standing right in front of speakers loud enough to extend concert level sound for at least 500-1000 yards...

Previous comments had prepared me for the Zentradi's complete and utter weakness to music but it was still kind of silly to see it. I didn't have a a problem suspending my disbelief but I now have a better appreciation for how lame the Minmay Defense is and why people make fun of it. I mean, what kind of genetic engineer fills an order for a race of warriors and leaves them emotionally susceptible to music? I supposed they just spent too much brain power building giant transforming robot spaceships and for that I can forgive them, but I still laugh at their failure.

I remember when Ranka almost got sucked out of the Island in episode one due to the vacuum, Alto commented that her eardrums should have burst. She told them she was half Zantradi. That fact could mean she's zero-atmosphere tolerant or has indestructible eardrums.

I'll buy shinta's idea though.

[Everon]

She uses super strength earplugs, duh.

I don't really bother trying to explain all the inconsistencies. The series is really just a jumpstart for the voice actresses into semi-pop idol status (Nakajima Megumi and May'n). Just sit back and enjoy the musical. I'm sure it'll end with the two singing a duet in order to SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!

[Darknodin]

I won't deny it being rushed and somewhat shaky in general but when you consider those nameless zentradi rebels may have already played whatever role they were going to play, it would have been a waste to invest more time into this whole affair. They needed some reason for Alto to be there and obviously Ranka as well, as well as I reckon they wanted to underline Ranka's power before they found that ancient piece of wreckage - whatever its role is going to be. Generally speaking hasty details are never good but they are only really bad when it's something that matters.

Yeap, i completely agree with you. it was probably just a big setup for the next ep.

[NeoBear]

I'm sure it'll end with the two singing a duet in order to SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!

...this here is my worst fear and sadly i would bet cold hard cash you are right =/

[David75]

Don't forget that the ep before, the pink fighter did follow them to their destination.

So it can't be possible there isn't more action.

[Buffalobiian]

Macross Frontier Episode 13 - gg (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_13_%5B7DBB126A%5D.mkv.torrent)

[NeoBear]

man ill say as of right now i relly have no idea wear they are trying to go with this it seems all over the place but in a good way =/

[David75]

man ill say as of right now i relly have no idea wear they are trying to go with this it seems all over the place but in a good way =/

Man...
Previous ep you have something entertaining at quite a low level of interrest.
Then you have that 13 ep that is a pure visual orgasm and explodes every of your neurons by overloading you with the so many routes the show can take, and finding where everything is rooted from.

I just remarked that Alto's mech is 007. Nice little touch. I'm almost certain it was on purpose as in that scene the number was very near the center of the screen, which is always a key area for attention.

That very last scene reminds me of a very old robotech one, I'll now next ep wether it's as sad as it was back then. I guess it can't be, also in robotech it was a more conventional large scale explosion, than this one...

[Buffalobiian]

They threw quite a bit at us this time....Ranka is a test subject...Vajra.....tentacle manager....

I'll comment more when I'm done recovering.

[animus]

Noo another Ranka episode.

[xtallography]

This was a great ep... quite a bit of plot and a little clarification in terms of the purple mech (and his attachment to Ranka), Sheryl's manager, and the reasoning behind it all. If LAI has all of this advanced warfare/machinery how does no one else know about it?

Plus, was the little glowing red eye beast in the jungle just a smaller version of the thing in the chamber on the bridge of the macross?

[KrayZ33]

Ohhh yaaaaa.... nice stuff... can't wait to see the next episode, when the REAL action is going to start

I hope well see some "grunts" fighting too and not just the popular SMS characters

I need some Military fighters in such a great battle!

well there isn't much to say about this episode, except that its going straight to a very interesting part and that it enjoyable to watch... so much eye-candy

[Psyke]

Sheryl Nome live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s-NYFgF_Tg)! :p

[David75]

I found this without really searching for it:
[Kei] Macross Frontier - 14 (h264 1280x720) [E08751C2] mkv 320Mb @mininova (http://www.mininova.org/tor/1586682)

I don't know that group, hope it has enough quality ;)

Edit:
Really, this show is incredible visually. Regarding the plot, I can't tell.
The only let down would be character design, but only slightly.
I really enjoy watching it, and it's one of the few shows I always find to be too short when the ep is usual length...

regarding the girl that died, it was really obvious from the way she was introduced...

Manager repaired? Geez!

Subs where average and Quality Check very poor, but at least it was still possible to follow the flow and understand what had to be understood... I guess.

[NeoBear]

i guess i don't catch QC stuff very much so if sub quality is important to you see above post but the video quality was great and of course yes once again they melt my face with outstanding visuals during the battle scenes.

[Yukimura]

Macross Frontier - 14 - [gg] (http://xabin.mine.nu:3335/stats.html?info_hash=4264e3d0fabf48531274d529f6613 898c89b101b)

So gg seems to have decided that 409 MB is the appropriate size for this episode and thus the file is 409 MB....

[Buffalobiian]

That was.....409MB of Gold.

Battle aside, we finally see the link between Ranka and the Vajra - the microbes present in her abdomen that glows when she sings. What significance that plays is yet to be shown, but if she extends her calming powers, it could potentially make her the Vajra Queen (Little Queen).

The identity of Brera is turns out to be a Major from Galaxy. Why he's taking orders from Sheryl's manager is beyond me.

This episode is worth watching twice. The audio in this show is just....ownage!!

[David75]

And does Sheryl start to loose against Ranka?

[Ryllharu]

I don't know about her loosing anything (other than a song), but Sheryl has certainly been losing ground. However, I don't think that Sheryl will take it sitting down. Sheryl can see pretty plainly that Alto's attentions have been on Ranka the past two or three episodes. Actually, pretty much since Ranka took over the role in the movie.

Sheryl used to be able to push Alto around all the time, and he would always get pissed off at her and chase after. Maybe she has begun to realize that she really does love Alto, and if she doesn't stop playing around and getting serious, she stands to lose him to Ranka, our new Little Queen. The scene where she floated in telling him to come back showed this clearly, and she was a little taken aback that her genuine concern and interest were brushed off so easily with "I'll come back with Ranka."

I think this would be an even bigger shocker to Sheryl than the fact that Alto never viewed her from a fan's perspective. Now Sheryl gets to experience being ignored. It's a lot like what happened with Misa right after the time jump, and Minmay towards the end.


As for the Vajra, is it just me, or does it seem like the Vajra are supposed to be "humanlike" in the same way the Zentradi are? Are they some offshoot/derivative of humankind (or the Supervision Army like humans and Zentradi both are) that was created by the Research Fleet? I assume the big floating image that was projected to Ranka from the Vajra Queen was her own mother, and while I don't think that her mother had somehow mutated into the Vajra Queen (this isn't that kind of series...I hope), did it somehow gather that connection. I don't know where I'm really going with this, but the viruses in Ranka could be that significant.

It also looks like we'll finally found out what that mophead asshole truly wants out of all this. Here's hoping Cathy comes to her senses faster after the operators discussion and gets back with Ozma.

[David75]

The [gg] 409 Mb version was worth every byte as the image was a lot clearer, which is a major improvement for an episode where so many tiny details are in each picture. It's really, really incredible at times.
Should they make a 90 minutes ep, improve character design a bit, and it would be a very nice movie because as Buff pointed it, even the music is pwnage.

And yeah, loose and lose are different and I think I make the mistake a little too much :D
But I had the exact same reaction when Sheryl got ignored in such a way.

Regarding the Vajra Swarm Queen, it's creepy a lot, and its connection to Ranka's eggshell was quite the thing. Regarding the connection to her mother, seems like her mother was rather a host, like Ranka is, for some kind of living things the Vajra share too.
A sort of biological symbiosis, where even communication is possible. So I guess that the remaning entity of her mother was still in that "biological symbiosis" thus able to communicate with Ranka.

[KrayZ33]

it felt really good to see some normal military pilots owning and killing.... no canon fodder here.
I love things like that, especially because the militay planes look twice as cool as Alto's or any of the skull sq.

but the battlefield was filled with too many rockets.... its always funny to see alto shooting like 200-300 rockets just because he can.
thats the only point I hate about this show... they limit the rockets to like ~8-10 on each plane :/

edit: oops I actually meant "they *should* limit the rockets to like ~8-10 on each plane"

[Ryllharu]

Planes only have so many hardpoints to attach weapons to. That's why Ozma or Alto need the heavy weapons pods to shoot off a ton more missles.

Nor do you need that many missles when you are using the Reaction (aka Nuclear) weapons. Those things are like 50-100 Megatons. (50 Megatons is a 4.6 km diameter fireball).

I wonder why Mophead Asshole wanted to get approval for Reaction Weapons so bad. You could see the mental hard-on he was getting when the president approved of it. Smug bastard.

[Everon]

I think its clear that Mop-head is the puppeteer in this war with the Varja. He probably wants to escalate this war to larger proportions and take power from the President. Or some other stupid reason.

[NeoBear]

episode 15

http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_15_%5B3B378167%5D.mkv.torrent

make sure you watch the credits too fellas =)

[Ryllharu]

For an episode that had a lot of recap, that was very interesting.

Grace is just part of a large network of Ghosts (to use Ghost in the Shell terminology) whose goals are still unknown. But for some reason killing Sheryl is part of their plan? Other than inciting anger, I'm not really sure what that would really accomplish. Then with Ranka is revealed to be the 'Queen,' they wouldn't need Sheryl anymore, but they are still going to kill her anyway? WTF. It does make you wonder how much Leon is truly a part of this, and how much he is just as much of a pawn as everyone else.

Though it would probably be impossible, the protagonists had better hope to find the indentities of these insurgents before it's too late. I recognized a few voices, but that is probably just double-dipping into the VA pool.

The sing off was really funny though. Alto should be worried.

Other notables:

- Klan doting on Mikael in the hospital.
- Cathy and Ozma know something is fucked up.
- Brera is still a douchebag.
- How nearby is the Galaxy, and is the Network intentionally keeping it hidden and disabled?

[Yukimura]

Lol the sing off was awesome, poor Alto. Sheryl and Ranka really should do a duet concert...except that I think Sheryl has either been poisoned, or needs something from Grace to stay alive which she's not going to be receiving anymore. I'm getting a powerful feeling that Sheryl's going to die and I'm quite upset about it.

[David75]

Lol the sing off was awesome, poor Alto. Sheryl and Ranka really should do a duet concert...except that I think Sheryl has either been poisoned, or needs something from Grace to stay alive which she's not going to be receiving anymore. I'm getting a powerful feeling that Sheryl's going to die and I'm quite upset about it.

She could die popularity wise... but I do not see her dying as she's a very strong figure.
I don't know if the franchise did use that kind of development before. In any case, killing a nice and positive figure you have brought to light for so many eps, that is in every ep, and also sells actual songs IRL... that would be quite a strong and incredible move.

For some reason, Sheryl was there to either serve as beacon for the Vajra. She becomes useless as Ranka is something of high importance whose use cover those of Sheryl and much more. Also, we do not know Ranka's hidden powers yet, but I'm sure she's one of those able to cure many things, like what is poisoning Sheryl.
That's very important as it could be a classical story of two girls fighting for the same guy, that have to help each other.

Regarding how grace wants to dispose of Sheryl, I guess it's only normal to them. After all they use so much power in all they do, that they really want to wipe any traces they may leave.

[xtallography]

I guess the Galla 4 rebel commander was right... there really isn't room in the universe for the two species. It will be interesting to see how they flesh out the motives for the various zentradi factions behind all of this.

[Buffalobiian]

Singing was top stuff again, as expected from Macross.

As for Sheryl dying, I can't help but feel it could very well happen, which is indeed saddening. It would be in Grace's favour to do it though, since it would give her a clean cut reason to jump from being Sheryl's manager to Ranka's. Anything else would seem rather suspicious, since she and Sheryl go way back to Galaxy. Swapping blood samples obviously showed us there's something wrong with Sheryl that Grace wants to cover, but whether it's a poison or a life-support need is yet to be seen. I think that Sheryl would have a chance of living though. Why? Firstly, Alto being so worried that he'll notice something's wrong with her. Secondly, but more importantly, Michael picked up, and from what we saw, recognised the pills Sheryl was taking when they were on Galla 4. When Alto brings news of Sheryl's illness, they put the two together and see the true picture.

Whether that'll simply help in uncovering Galaxy's plot, or save Sheryl's life too, I can only hope the latter.

[Ryllharu]

I'm pretty sure the blood swapping is to cover up one of two things:
a) That someone has been poisoning Sheryl
b) That genetic/physical modifications have been done to Sheryl (something she was proud of not having), which would explain why she's the "failed" version that will be replaced by the true Queen in their plan.

I don't really expect her to die from any sort of disease. Outside of malicious poisoning by her own manager (who has repeatedly said they were going to kill her, and though the plan has changed they'll do it anyway), Sheryl is pretty healthy. Mikael knows she was being fed pills for her fever that were certainly not medicine.

[KrayZ33]

This episode was really good ...
felt a bit like a AMV at first, which was really cool, nice "editing" n stuff

and the later part with ranka + sheryl "fighting" over Alto was really enjoyable too.
all in all one of the best episodes so far.

I remain hoping that nothing will happen to sheryl and I'm still rooting for Alto + Sheryl, even though I don't think it will end that way :(
I've a bad feeling about this... (please don't die Sheryl!)

[shinta|hikari]

The AltoxSheryl pairing seems to have become impossible now. It would just seem too awkward if Alto suddenly switches over to Sheryl unless Ranka dies or something.

[Ryllharu]

Stranger things have happened in the Macross universe concerning love.

I don't think Sheryl is going to die, and I still think Sheryl will win in the end. Ranka is going to turn pacifist soon enough.

[David75]

[Kei] Macross Frontier - 16 (h264 1280x720) [0AE0AE85] mkv 243Mb @ Mininova (http://www.mininova.org/get/1633823)


GG:

[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_16_[29D66672].mkv.torrent 379Mb@ggkthx
(http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_16_%5B29D66672%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Ryllharu]

I see the new ED title is "Northern Cross." I wonder if that is a jab at the bastardization of SDF that became Robotech. The second part of Robotech was of course, a heavily edited version of the series Southern Cross (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=1177). I like it a little more than the previous ED, and the concept art is a nice touch too.

This episode pissed me off. For a number of reasons. We still don't know what's going on with Sheryl's illness. Is she getting better, or is she dying? The fever keeps coming back at the most random of times.

Then there's Ranka's complicity in this plan. It seemed like the last two episodes she was ready to jump to the pacifist camp, and now she's happily going along with all of it.

Sheryl on the other hand doesn't even seem to have a role in the series anymore. They were pushing towards the Alto-Ranka ending with his huge desire to protect her (now more competetive because he keeps losing to Brera), and Sheryl got a "assumed sexual encounter" and an almost kiss while he looked at her earring.

What's a Sheryl fan to do? They seem to be cutting out her role more and more, and I really don't see where she's going to come back into the story. Maybe she will continue to persue piloting and we can get an Max-Milia style ending for the two (though that's probably more in line with what will happen with Mikael and Klan). Even everyone on Frontier seems to have forgotten about Sheryl. She better seduce Alto fast and sire a brood from him or she won't have anything to do.

But I do like the SMS Owner's plan. Make travel fast, cheap, and easy so that everyone can keep in contact and live peacefully, making the galaxy a single community.

[oyabun]

It makes me sad too, I see the ending going to Ranka's direction. About Sheryl's illness, Micheal noticed something wierd about her medicine right? He should make a move already, or else Sheryl might die

[Munsu]

Proud to say that I just began watching SDF Macross. Hopefully I'll be done with everything to do with Macross in a month's time or so, and be in position to start this series.

See you guys when the time comes.

[KrayZ33]

"lets put a smile on that face" *cough*

the episode was ok... not one of the best but ok.
The new Aimo song isn't that good because I don't like the music but it has very good new lyrics.

so, Alto got promoted eh? cool.. and the galaxy-fighter seems to get mass produced now! very cool too, because they look more agile and much better than Alto's unit.

I request a .gif from that security guy getting a kiss from sheryl... this was one of the worst scenes I've ever seen in macross... the face... and then his hand getting closer to the kiss-spot, it looked so horrible funny.

[Buffalobiian]

There was only one VF-27 wasn't there? I thought I saw two, but then I couldn't find it again, so it could have been Brera zipping around. As of yet, I'm still thinking whether the whole of Galaxy's in this scheme with Grace, or if it's just a few selected individuals who are going askew with their budgetless experiments.

[KrayZ33]

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/9538/vlcsnap235968qc8.th.png (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vlcsnap235968qc8.png)

these are the VF-27, or not?

[Yukimura]

Apparently while no one was looking a squadron of Galaxy fighers joined up with the Frontier fleet. They could have come from those ships that were rescued back in the ep where Sheryl and Ranka did their Fold Space duet and Macross Quarter blew up that capital ship Brera was hiding in.

I'm also distressed about Sheryl's diminishing role as well. Unless her illness is discovered and addressed I think the most we can hope for from her now is a tragic death that has a meaningful impact on the other characters. I don't see anything else that could happen involving her being given much more attention.

[staffcc]

Oh no... I love Sheryl... I hope they don't kill her off.

[Buffalobiian]

Does anyone know what this is?

Macross Frontier E01 Close Encounter 720p BluRay x264 - THORA (http://tracker.anirena.com/download.php?id=10769)

It's big, @0.98GB

[Inazuma]

Will check

[Inazuma]

Well the file is gigantic, but the quality is Fucking A, it's worth it if you got a 2560x display 28" plus otherwise, just don't bother you won't see the difference because your monitor won't keep up.

Guys, standard displays (19" to 24") not keeping up, sheeeiiittttt.

[Buffalobiian]

Well the file is gigantic, but the quality is Fucking A, it's worth it if you got a 2560x display 28" plus otherwise, just don't bother you won't see the difference because your monitor won't keep up.

Guys, standard displays (19" to 24") not keeping up, sheeeiiittttt.

So..........can you tell us what it is?

[Inazuma]

First ep of the series

Macross Frontier Episode 1 in ultra Bluray Hi Def

[Buffalobiian]

Oh, okay. If it's the deculture version, I might consider it should I save enough quota up.

[oyabun]

Blue ray huh? Im gonna watch it on my CRT Flatscreen monitor. lol

[animus]

Episode 17 by gg (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_17_%5BE9B9122A%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Ryllharu]

Ugh, this episode only convinced me we need a lot more Klan/Mikael. Klan was so cute in this episode, particularly when she got discovered fixing her hair, and when he dropped her on his lap and she starts blushing.

We have not had nearly enough Klan overall.

Are those eggs on the Quarter or somewhere hidden on the Macross? They kind of look like the same critter Ai-kun is. We knew from the Research Fleet Macross vessel that the Vajra have a lot more forms than the two or three we always see.

Though we might be better off calling them Borg-Zerg.


This episode was a huge homage to episode 18 of SDF-1.

[spoilers of SDF-1]
- Roy Focker in SDF-1 was also the leader of Skull Squadron.
- The scene where the techs look into the cockpit is pretty much the same, the only difference being they show all the blood.
- Claudia in SDF-1 also makes a mean Pineapple cake. (You can see the similarity in their names despite Bobby actually being in Claudia's bridge position.)

[end SDF-1 spoilers]

[Darknodin]

Damn... they really had me thinking Ozma would die in this ep.
4 times actually!

[Buffalobiian]

I rewatched Ozma's "death scene" a couple of times over. It sure would have worked out well if he did bite the dust, but no complains here. I sure hope this means we get to see some more Ozma x Kathy. I'd love to see the look on Leon's face when he learns he lost to a mere pilot.

Plot moves yet another step, with Mikael putting the pieces of the puzzle together, while Grace is about to learn her unfortunate truth. Luca's rather passive role just got a bit more interesting this episode. Sure, he's good natured and all, and seems true enough to his friends, but he's now got his family business to think about, with the discovery of the Fold Quartz. I'm expecting him to end up siding with Alto, but there'll be some backstabbing before that I'd think.

As for Grace, lets say I didn't think they'd take we to a literal level.

[shinta|hikari]

I personally thought that the way they made it look like Ozma was going to die was very well done. I just couldn't be sure whether it will happen one way or another, and I like how they concluded it by breaking the cliche of developing a character then simply killing them off.

[animus]

It was actually funny since they knew that it was such a buzzkill at the end when Michael was like "It would've been such a dramatic death, too."

[KrayZ33]

Oh man, I can't say how much I love that new Galaxy squad with their huge beam-canons...
definitively the coolest unit so far.

hmmm now we have an opening with Ranka and a ending with Sheryl...
but for some reason I feel like Ranka has the upper hand... poor Sheryl :(

[Buffalobiian]

Sheryl's popularity is doing down hill in comparison to the Songstress of Hope. If she is to make a comeback in her career, she'll need to become something equally figurative. Perhaps Ranka's singing may be somehow ineffective in the future, and it's only combined with Sheryl's singing (plus the Fold Quatz earing) that they finally defeat the Vajra.

Random speculation.

[Ryllharu]

I hope she doesn't....and takes Alto while Ranka is distracted supporting the war effort!

From the looks of the preview, Sheryl is going to be considerable depressed if Grace outright tells Sheryl that she is a total failure and the only reason they were using her is because they hoped she might have had the same effect on the Vajra that Ranka does. Or that's my guess anyway. Sheryl needs to find her place in the galaxy again.

On the other side, we also know that Mikael was asking Klan about her pharmacolgy friend. He played it off that he wanted to date this reportedly attractive blond, but it looks more like he will ask her what the hell is in the pill of "medicine" he swiped from the stash Grace was feeding Sheryl.

[xtallography]

Here's the part that confuzzles me...

Varja are ever adapting to the battle scenario gathering new info and redesigning themselves because of it. Varja have fold quartz within themselves. It is that fold quartz that resonates with Sheryl and Ranka's songs (Sheryl because of the earrings and Ranka presumably because she has it within her... glowing purpleness when she was close to the queen... further explaining why Aiku likes her). How does the song somehow affect the fact that the varja have modified their armor? They may act stupider and more erratic but in the end they will still be able to withstand the barrage Frontier and Galaxy veritechs are throwing at them. I could only see the veritechs having an advantage if they plan on hand to hand combat from now on... which is highly doubtful. Plus, you'd think the varja would adapt by some kind of fold quartz dampener to put around themselves.

Edit: The more I think about it... the varja are using the fold waves for communication so dampening wouldn't make sense. I guess the songs scramble the signals from the queen which is why their fighting and movements become more erratic. Still though... that shouldn't affect their armor.

[Buffalobiian]

Here's the part that confuzzles me...

Varja are ever adapting to the battle scenario gathering new info and redesigning themselves because of it. Varja have fold quartz within themselves. It is that fold quartz that resonates with Sheryl and Ranka's songs (Sheryl because of the earrings and Ranka presumably because she has it within her... glowing purpleness when she was close to the queen... further explaining why Aiku likes her). How does the song somehow affect the fact that the varja have modified their armor? They may act stupider and more erratic but in the end they will still be able to withstand the barrage Frontier and Galaxy veritechs are throwing at them. I could only see the veritechs having an advantage if they plan on hand to hand combat from now on... which is highly doubtful. Plus, you'd think the varja would adapt by some kind of fold quartz dampener to put around themselves.

Edit: The more I think about it... the varja are using the fold waves for communication so dampening wouldn't make sense. I guess the songs scramble the signals from the queen which is why their fighting and movements become more erratic. Still though... that shouldn't affect their armor.

Use the song to disrupt their movement, then surround and destroy. If none make it back, the rest will not know about the new weaponry and it's counter.

[Ryllharu]

Use the song to disrupt their movement, then surround and destroy. If none make it back, the rest will not know about the new weaponry and it's counter.
xtallography's edit is correct. They said in the last episode that the vajra communicate immediately. Most of them report on how they were attacked as they are destroyed. Ranka's songs cut them off from that hive mind.

We haven't seen them fight with Ranka against them after they got the new armor though.

[oyabun]

Judging from the encounter of sheryl and her assistant, Sheryl must have an idea about her assistant's conspiracy. she gave that "look". Michael should tell Alto about the drug. He may do something to prevent Sheryl from dying,,

[Buffalobiian]

Hot off the production line:

Macross Frontier 18 - gg (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_18_%5BD4C8E46F%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Everon]

did anyone have problems with gg's episode 18? It keeps badly hitching at the OP.

[Ryllharu]

I have problems with the OP on everything gg does. Code Geass and Macross, every time. It has something to do with their karaoke for the OP's and their encoding.

Anyway, I hate the remix of Aimo (and knowing Macross, we're going to be hearing it a LOT, I got just as sick of My Boyfriend's a Pilot) and now that they are more openly comparing Ranka to Minmay, I dislike her even more. I hated Minmay throughout SDF-1, and Ranka is souring for me really fast.

It is funny that Sheryl always boasted her appeal was she her being 100% natural, and she was a manufactured idol in more ways that one. Grace's little organization planned it all, temporarily fixed her, and pulled her literally out of the gutter. Personally, that raises the appeal for Sheryl that much more. She's not some amnesiac about the whole thing either, she knows all about it.

What's really pissing me off is how much Mophead Asshole seems to be toying around with the government. We don't know what he's after still, and he comes off as the biggest slimeball. Worse, we know that he is being manipulated by Grace's cadre.

On a lighter note, Cathy with arms loaded with bags, and Klan's tiny child-sized labcoat were hilarious. Klan hasn't been much of an aviatrix lately, we haven't seen her in a Quadleun since her silent-flightmate died.

[xtallography]

It was a good ep. At least they explained the Sheryl health situation clearly enough. Plus, it's good to see that Michael is aware of Klan's feelings for him although it was funny that his explanation as to why he couldn't say anything to her about it seemed to go over her head (no height pun intended).

Like Ryllharu, I am just getting tired of ranka and the Aimo song regardless of the version. Also, it seems ranka's singing had very little affect on the actual fighting going on in the sense that the varja were still immune to the conventional weapons the SMS and Frontier military were using. It's a shame that the Frontier's military branch has been reduced to canon fodder in the series while the veritechs from the Galaxy (well the purple at least) appear slightly invincible (for now).

They have to know that any time ranka sings after the long range fold that it acts as a homing beacon for the varja (even if they didn't have some tagging along in the bowels of a ship somewhere). Eventually the varja would find them all again.

[Kraco]

It seems quite unreasonable their whole selection of possible weapons would over time become useless. Wouldn't that mean the vajra are accumulating new armor layer by layer? Logic dictates they become likewise bulkier and heavier with each change, thus slower and easier targets all in all, unless they drop immunity from the other end, making again some older weapons usable. I'm sure the humans and Zentradi possess an endless variety of weapons already. And considering their combat vehicles, it should be a piece of cake to equip any manner of weapons, or even change them in the middle of a battle.

It just disturbs me the vajra are presented like some masters of adaptation while humans (and Zentradi) apparently can't change or develop anything new. Except new fold drives and clandestine plots. If I'm not mistaken, Alto still fights with the same kind of totally ineffective low caliber machine gun that we saw in the very beginning when the one hapless pilot got killed. Why the heck hasn't he got a decent new main gun?

Well, I guess it's all because Ranka is their new piece of artillery so it doesn't matter what kind of sticks and slingshots they swing around...

[Everon]

It seems quite unreasonable their whole selection of possible weapons would over time become useless. Wouldn't that mean the vajra are accumulating new armor layer by layer? Logic dictates they become likewise bulkier and heavier with each change, thus slower and easier targets all in all, unless they drop immunity from the other end, making again some older weapons usable. I'm sure the humans and Zentradi possess an endless variety of weapons already. And considering their combat vehicles, it should be a piece of cake to equip any manner of weapons, or even change them in the middle of a battle.

It just disturbs me the vajra are presented like some masters of adaptation while humans (and Zentradi) apparently can't change or develop anything new. Except new fold drives and clandestine plots. If I'm not mistaken, Alto still fights with the same kind of totally ineffective low caliber machine gun that we saw in the very beginning when the one hapless pilot got killed. Why the heck hasn't he got a decent new main gun?

Well, I guess it's all because Ranka is their new piece of artillery so it doesn't matter what kind of sticks and slingshots they swing around...

Its science fiction. They can do whatever the hell they want to. Heck, they could say that the Vajra are the same size and mass due to "fake scientific fact X" and it would satisfy your irk. Same thing with Alto's bird.

The really funny thing is that you question those two plot devices, but ignore that RANKA'S SINGING MAKES ALIENS STUPID. But of course, they already explained that bit with a thing about folds in space and magic. :P

[shinta|hikari]

@Kraco - the armor does not need to increase in size or thickness. Think of it in terms of better material. A thin titanium plate is both lighter and tougher than a steel plate of the same dimensions. I guess that is how it works in this case.

I do understand your complaints though, since it is not really due to the factor of believability but the gap between humans and the vajira in terms of adaptability.

[Kraco]

I don't buy a material change either. Because from what we have seen, the human and Zentradi machines are made of rather weak materials. Since they are supposed to live in the same universe, it makes no sense the vajra would miraculously develop a new uber material resisting everything old and new every month whereas the human and Zentradi can come up with nothing new. I mean, if that was the case, the humans would surely collect vajra corpses from the space and cover their fighters with pieces of them...

[Inazuma]

I can see the "Vajra powered fold engines" plot coming. It sucks, MF sucks, I wanted this series to go In Fuego a while ago but now it goes down the Naruto's Fillers Avenue.

Aimo song makes me skip ahead, and considering how much that song is fucking played this episode lasted 460 seconds for me. How about Ranka NOT singing, and plots not being made out of bullshit composed alloy ?

Macroos Frontier is basically reduced to a simple equation [Japanese MTV + Anime = Macross Frontier]

Repeat song a few thousand times w/ nice visuals props, insert commercial in the middle. There you go, CommerciAnime, Hello.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm not sure, but aren't Vajira semi-organic? Maybe they are simply evolving their armor, so it does not need to exist beforehand (like mined metal) and can be perfectly new (meaning new organic substance, not a new element) since it is produced in reaction to the attacks. It may be similar to a spider web, which is stronger than steel (I think) with identical dimensions.

I guess the reason the Macross side isn't salvaging stuff from space is because they can't use it. They are studying the vajira, and if it were possible, they would have made use of all its abilities if they could. We can't really be sure anyway.

[Buffalobiian]

Not only that, but humans have to deal with the cost of mass manufacturing, energy shortages, and design limits. This isn't even touching resources yet. Galaxy's that advanced because of an unlimited budget, and from what we can see, Frontier doesn't have that luxury.

I can buy the fact that Vajra can adapt to different weapons and stuff. Like Shinta said, it's an ever evolving process, not simply slapping one on top of another.

The only thing that seems unreal is the pace at which te aliens evolve. They're accelerating something that is a long but entirely possible process to less mere weeks/months.

Anyway, I enjoyed this ep quite a bit. I'm still not entirely sure of what Sheryl's disease state is like. Can she be cured? The thesis was about management and prevention, while we're not sure if that technology is entirely confined to Galaxy or not. Mind you, it doesn't mention cure, but seeing both divas in the OP is promising.

[Ryllharu]

I'm still not entirely sure of what Sheryl's disease state is like. Can she be cured? The thesis was about management and prevention, while we're not sure if that technology is entirely confined to Galaxy or not. Mind you, it doesn't mention cure, but seeing Sheryl's really tight dress and well-developed chest in the OP is promising.
Fixed it for you ;)

It seemed to me that a V-type infection was something like Lyme Disease or Chickpox (but obviously a lot worse than both, fever the entire time). Something that you can never truly get out of your system but isn't contagious by normal means. Something she contracted from living in the gutters.

For whatever reason, the Nome family, Grace, and what looked like Ranka's mother were involved in treating the disease through research. They had made some progress, but only got as far as supressing the symptoms. They in essence made something like the AIDS cocktail. But after that, they didn't make any progress and Grace went off on whatever plan this is.

If Klan was right, they made huge progress, and it's possible to cure her, just not with the technology they have today.

[Buffalobiian]

[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_19_[6B4B9B6F].mkv.torrent (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_19_%5B6B4B9B6F%5D.mkv.torrent)

----------------------------------------------
I'm liking Klan more and more with each episode. She gone from simply an annoying chibi in my books to, well, a cute one. I'm also assuming that just has Sheryl heard Alto's words, she heard Mihael's. This is first time I've noticed her with two different hair colours though. Can she change it at will or something?

[NeoCybercoin]

No she has always had pink/blonde hair. While she is preforming I'm sure there is some kind of technology that makes it look like she has other colours then that.

[Buffalobiian]

No she has always had pink/blonde hair. While she is preforming I'm sure there is some kind of technology that makes it look like she has other colours then that.

I was referring to Klan. She always blue hair, but at the end she had green. I thought the green + clothing was quite cute.

[Ryllharu]

That was just the lighting. When Klan and Mikael were looking at the sea lions at the marina (btw, wtf?) it was midday, and the "sun" was the usual bright and full spectrum. At the end of the episode, it was near sunset, and the "sun" was considerably more yellow. The considerably yellow light cast on her normally blue hair gives it a green hue. We've seen a similar effect with Sheryl's hair in different lightings as well, and I am not counting the holographic effects when she is performing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

I figured Ai (the pet) was Vajra, though I did not expect it to be a larvae. We haven't seen any other forms of exobiology that were not already on the frontier (the hippo-cows or the chimera). Even the planet that Ranka, Sheryl and Alto went to, that was later destroyed, only seemed to have plants or small forms of Vajra.

But that in itself is strange, because Brera gave it to Ranka. Since the Grace Cadre has known about Vajra for some considerable amount of time, I would have figured they'd have known all about it. Brera is probably watched as close as anyone other than Sheryl was and Ranka now is.

It's not looking too good for Sheryl. Despite all the positives towards the Sheryl ending while she was at the Saotome mansion, it doesn't look like Sheryl confessed or anything, and now Ranka will run off...and inevitably Alto will chase her. Ugh. Now it looks like they are either going to turn Sheryl into a repeat of Alto's mother, or at best, some kind of a "big sister." Here I was hoping that we'd get to see another, "protagonist ultimately picks the more emotionally mature woman" like how SDF-1 ended. It just makes me angrier and angrier at Ranka.

Which is a bad thing, because I tend to like the songs from Megumi Nakajima (Ranka) more than the ones from May'n (Sheryl). With the notable exception of Northern Cross, the new ED. Though I still hate the militant remix of Aimo, but I like the acoustic version.

[Buffalobiian]

Ai being a Vajra was near confirmed a few eps ago, but is that thing we keep seeing an entire nest on Frontier?.

One other thing that came to me about Sheryl. We've seen the flashback of when Grace picked her up from the slums of Galaxy. I am going to assume she was homeless and "adopted" by Grace to be a test subject, to later be a famous diva. Nome was probably the surname given to her by one of the scientists (who was also a Nome). That leaves the question about Sheryl's only family memento, for all we know, the Fold Quartz earrings.

Who's where they, what are they for, and why does Sheryl wear them? I can't possibly see Sheryl scavenging the lows of Galaxy while in possession of those earrings.

[xtallography]

I think the earrings were given to Sheryl so that her singing would resonate with the fold waves in space and affect the varja. She was intended to be the original weapon against them until Ranka was confirmed as the "little queen".

[Ryllharu]

That's true, and seems to be the most likely answer. We saw the effect once before when Alto still had one of the earrings (that Grace/Mophead somehow reobtained). The end of Sheryl's farewell concert where Sheryl and Ranka both sang Infinity and that allowed Alto to escape death and save Luca.

But I suppose the part that remains a mystery is which of the scientists gave them to her and why she cherished them so much. Sheryl certainly doesn't like Grace now, but even in the beginning it seemed like Sheryl did not view Grace in any special way outside of being her very useful, competent and multi-functional agent.

Since the scientist and project leader Mao Nome adopted her, she undoubtedly treated Sheryl in a way that a gutter orphan never would be. Going from eating garbage to gaining a kind mother-figure and being treated well (all the researchers in the picture from eps 18 are female) would probably make quite the impression on her. It also seems like Mao Nome was one of the oldest researchers, so she may have died. Sheryl would certainly keep them safe if someone who was very much her mother/grandmother gave them to her. If Grace had an alterior motive out of it, then all the better for her to stay close to Sheryl.

In fact, it's possible that Mao Nome was THE Mao Nome (from Macross Zero). The research project took place in 2053, which would be 55 years after Macross Zero took place (since Macross SDF-1 starts 1999). From the looks of the photograph, 10:16 in eps 18, the ages would be about right for that. It also looks like Ranka's mother was there...a Ranshe Mei.

To Sheryl, they may just have always been a keepsake. To Grace, they were the beginning of her cadre's plot.

[KrayZ33]

Oh man, i wish they would do something about the "face-animation" sometimes... the series is nonetheless *great*, but I totally dislike that... because it looks sloppy and poorly made. It's as if they didn't care about how it looks in the end and wanted to finish it as fast as possible... I find that really annoying.

They made really nice background images.. and beautiful characters and then, in the next second, they decided to give them a face like "( *_* )" out of the blue and it looks like some 5 years old drew them


edit: btw will the new opening be avaible @ gendou or somewhere? I totally like it.

[Buffalobiian]

btw will the new opening be avaible @ gendou or somewhere? I totally like it.

It's scheduled to be released on 20th August according to Nipponsei's schedule. It should be up on Gendou soon after that.


...earrings that Grace/Mophead somehow reobtained.

Where was this?

[Ryllharu]

There have been fragments of the approximate shape/size of the Fold Quartz Sheryl's lost earring was in either Grace or Mophead's hands after episode 6, where Alto saved Luca. I think Grace had it first in eps 7, where they showed her holding it in hand.

Mophead kept it in a little box on his desk. This was well before they started actively bring Vajra corpses back.

[Buffalobiian]

Hmm, I might have missed that. Since they're fragments though, any chance that they may be simply Fold Quartz extracted from the Vajra bodies they've been collecting?

[Ryllharu]

Who's? Sheryl's originally or the one that I'm claiming Grace had reclaimed and may or may not be the same piece (presumably grabbed by Brera)?

They are certainly extracting Fold Quartz now from all the vajra they kill, they spoke all about it and showed scenes of VFs towing vajra carcasses back to the Frontier. That's how Mophead had all the shards to give to Luca.

As for Sheryl's in the first place, it seems to me there's pretty strong evidence that Ranka's mother and Grace had been involved in Vajra research for a long time. They had to have found the pieces that went into the earrings somewhere, and the government aboard Frontier certainly knew about the Vajra before they attacked the first time. Even the SMS Founder has a ring of the stuff.

[Buffalobiian]

They=Leon&Co, but I missed the second half of your post about it all happening before they started dragging in corpses. I don't think Grace had the same piece that was in Alto's cockpit. After all, that mothership was annihilated by the Macross Cannon.

I agree that Grace would have known about the Fold Quartz, about extracting it and all. Given how advanced Galaxy is, she probably knows a whole lot more. What's still not shown yet is whether the Vajra are an alien race, or one created either intentionally, or by mistake by Galaxy's scientists (or the 117th research fleet).

Grace knowing about Ranka tells me that she was on the Research Fleet that Ranka's parents died on, indicating again that her plot goes way back. If I remember correctly though, Grace was saying something about starting wars and all on Gala 4. It just seems a bit of a bloodthirsty/barbarian idea for a researcher like her

[Ryllharu]

Oops, the last several posts should refer to episodes 7 and 10 respectively, not 6 and 7.


They=Leon&Co, but I missed the second half of your post about it all happening before they started dragging in corpses. I don't think Grace had the same piece that was in Alto's cockpit. After all, that mothership was annihilated by the Macross Cannon.

Grace knowing about Ranka tells me that she was on the Research Fleet that Ranka's parents died on, indicating again that her plot goes way back. If I remember correctly though, Grace was saying something about starting wars and all on Gala 4. It just seems a bit of a bloodthirsty/barbarian idea for a researcher like her
But Alto's VF blew up long before they used the Macross Cannon on the Vajra Carrier. Brera had been hiding inside the carrier for as long as Alto was inside it, and only saved Alto at the last possible moment and possibly only when he heard whatever resonance was coming along the fold quartz from Ranka and Sheryl. More than enough time to snag the shard from the explosion.

Now for the proof. One of Grace's alter-egos meets with Leon (Mophead) to initiate their totally evil plan. In episode 10, 11:19, he asks what they want in return for the data on the Vajra. Man-Grace flicks a tiny case over his/her shoulder, and contained within is a shard of Fold Quartz, the exact cut of Sheryl's lost earring.

As for Ranka, I agree, but I think that Grace's group thought the "Little Queen" was dead along with the rest of the Research Fleet. They only rediscovered her because of her budding idol status.

[Shadow Skill]

As I watched the new OP, I noticed they have Ranka and Sheryl singing side by side through most of it. Are they trying to tell us, them singing together, plays an intregal part of the story? Like a way to finally defeat the Vajra with the 2 of them singing?

[Buffalobiian]

As I watched the new OP, I noticed they have Ranka and Sheryl singing side by side through most of it. Are they trying to tell us, them singing together, plays an intregal part of the story? Like a way to finally defeat the Vajra with the 2 of them singing?
Sheryl's popularity is doing down hill in comparison to the Songstress of Hope. If she is to make a comeback in her career, she'll need to become something equally figurative. Perhaps Ranka's singing may be somehow ineffective in the future, and it's only combined with Sheryl's singing (plus the Fold Quatz earing) that they finally defeat the Vajra.

Random speculation.

That's what I think. Talking about the OP, I realised from the position of Sheryl's dress, her nipples shouldn't be hidden.

[KrayZ33]

That's what I think. Talking about the OP, I realised from the position of Sheryl's dress, her nipples shouldn't be hidden.


thats not necessarily right... they might slip out sometimes.. but the dress should barely hide them ^^

interesting change of topic btw

[David75]

A corset really keeps boobs well in place. You really have to move them quite a lot to have them out without untiying the corset ;)

Regarding Sheryl's problem... V-type infection. My hard working brain tells me that V stands for Vajra... does it?
And for some reason the quartz she wears has the infection quiet. She probably needs both for the infection to be totally quiet. One is missing, she gets symptoms.
Following this idea, yes she needs to team with Ranka that will have some kind of control over the symbiosis Sheryl needs to have with the infection.

Yes now we know the Vajra are nesting on the Frontier. The strange thing is that no one noticed their activity/presence. Maybe they are deep down the dump/trash place which would give them material to feed/grow. But to me the Frontier is a closed ecosystem where everyhing is recycled, so it's hard to think of garbage or things that can't be recycled, but the vajra would be able to use for their growth/nest.

Regarding klan, she mentionned the fact that in her zentran form she could be of some appeal to Mickael. Well just do it :D

[Ryllharu]

A corset really keeps boobs well in place. You really have to move them quite a lot to have them out without untiying the corset ;)

Regarding Sheryl's problem... V-type infection. My hard working brain tells me that V stands for Vajra... does it?
And for some reason the quartz she wears has the infection quiet. She probably needs both for the infection to be totally quiet. One is missing, she gets symptoms.
Following this idea, yes she needs to team with Ranka that will have some kind of control over the symbiosis Sheryl needs to have with the infection.

Regarding klan, she mentionned the fact that in her zentran form she could be of some appeal to Mickael. Well just do it :D
Yes...corsets are lovely things, even on animated women.

I believe Klan read that the research had only produced a way to mask/hide the symptoms, and the drugs that Mikael provided to her were a part of that treatment. So yeah...it's a virus very much like the various strains of herpes or chickenpox (except chickenpox doesn't come back). The earrings [right now] appear to be completely unrelated to her illness, and seem to have more sentimental value than medicinal. The pills she was popping were the key.

Sure, Klan could go full meltran (yes...I like to differentiate the terms because the Zentradi didn't seem to even realize male/female were the same species in SDF, much less procreate), but methinks Mikael might have a problem with intimate relations with a giantess. Kinda like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.:p
[though we have all seen hentai that shows this is not that big of a problem]

[David75]

I did not get my hands on hentaï material displaying intercourses between a giantess and a "normal" sized man... but did see some material anyway (not labeled hentaï due to the source and culture). It"s funny and I like the idea, as an idea only.

Regarding the illness, sure my guesses aren't backep up by strong details in the show. The ear ring was a weak one, but could apply if V-type is Vajra-type and those quartz are so important. Anyway, we should know quite quickly since it seems to be a one season show (at least for that timeline)

[Ryllharu]

I never said that "V-type infection" doesn't mean the V stands for Vajra. I'm not sure either way on that. In fact, it probably does lean in that direction given the two assistant researchers involved in the project. Grace and her cyborg cadre certainly know more about them than they should, and if Ranshe is Ranka's mother, we know for certain that her research shifted to the study of Vajra, or at least ended up that way with all the material that Alto passed by while in the Research Fleet Macross vessel.

[Buffalobiian]

Did Ranshe look anything like the woman in Ranka's vision when she was captured in the big mothership?

[Ryllharu]

From episodes 14 and 18 respectively:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8547/43745220ml2.th.png (http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=43745220ml2.png)
Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

While I think that perhaps the Vajra were just using the image of the human they knew best to project into Ranka's head, I think the evidence is fairly conclusive the Ranshe is the same woman who led the research aboard the lost Research Fleet. I believe we are fairly certain from episodes 13 and 14 in addition to the tidbits Ozma has given us that the woman who led that research was Ranka's mother.

[Buffalobiian]

Seem like they're the same person to me. Meanwhile:

[Nipponsei] Macross Frontier OP2 ED2 Single - Lion [May'n & Nakajima Megumi].zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Macross%20Frontier%20OP2%20ED2%2 0Single%20-%20Lion%20%5BMay%27n%20%26%20Nakajima%20Megumi%5D. zip.torrent)

I didn't realise it was both the OP and the ED in one until I posted this. Double the hearing pleasure. Enjoy.

[lelouch]

This series is really starting to get good. I am a little confused about the term "deculture" though as it seems to be appearing a lot. What is "deculture"? (Maybe translates as something else in other subs).

[Ryllharu]

"deculture" was an Engrish word they used in the Japanese dub of the first series. It seemed to be more of a blanket concept for culture in general, and was never overtly explained.

The two genders of Zentradi did not even live together, and only ever thought about war, nothing else. Music confused them, cohabitation alarmed them, and kissing put them into a huge shock. The people aboard the Macross used these against the Zentradi as weapons, confusing some, converting others. "Deculture" was used more often when were using it as a weapon, though it also covered the general culture that humankind had.

[David75]

Ep20 by GG:

[gg] Macross Frontier - 20 [9E7173A2] mkv 394Mb @ xabin.eu (http://xabin.mine.nu/gg-tracker/torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_20_%5B9E7173A2%5D.mkv.torrent)

Towards the end of the show, drama and action escalation...

[Kraco]

Somebody hasn't been doing his job when a whole army of vajra had been breeding inside the ship, undetected. There were a lot more vajra than people there, in the end! The fleet apparently has no maintenance department.

A wicked episode otherwise, though. People dying left and right.

[David75]

Somebody hasn't been doing his job when a whole army of vajra had been breeding inside the ship, undetected. There were a lot more vajra than people there, in the end! The fleet apparently has no maintenance department.

A wicked episode otherwise, though. People dying left and right.

Yup, as I mentioned before, those ships are close ecosystem. Such a mass of vajra should have warned someone in some report, because this mass is taken from the system as a whole.
Plus they were on a very restricted ressources use not long ago, such a large use of ressource should have been seen.

[Ryllharu]

This is why I've always liked Macross series more than their Sunrise counterparts (Gundam, Geass, etc).

They both share countless numbers of random deaths from all the no names, but when primary characters are strung between Atropos' shears, they mean it. Deaths are permanent, always. There's never any moments that might dilute the moment, or cast any doubt that they are dead. Be it bleeding out on a couch, blown up into tiny shreds, or impaled then covered in gore then a little burnt and experiencing the joys of explosive decompression. Macross characters do not come back from the dead. Each and every death means something.

...god I hate Ranka. The preview makes it look like I will hate her even more.

[Kraco]

I don't hate Ranka at all. But I hate Alto for being so dense and keeping both the girls in torturing uncertainty.

[xtallography]

I just had to watch that twice I thought it was so good.

I think Alto has made his decision. His interactions with Ranka seem more out of duty to the ship/fleet than anything else at the moment whereas when he's with Sheryl it appears to be out of more genuine emotion. Plus, I'd hope that Michel's situation would make him realize how short life is. It will be interesting to see what kind of role Klan has in the next couple of eps.

It was also good to see that Ranka's songs can have undesired affects on the varja if her own negative emotions get in the way.

[Inazuma]

I think we could at least make Macross Frontier an honorary member of the series in Fuego.

[David75]

I just had to watch that twice I thought it was so good.

I think Alto has made his decision. His interactions with Ranka seem more out of duty to the ship/fleet than anything else at the moment whereas when he's with Sheryl it appears to be out of more genuine emotion. Plus, I'd hope that Michel's situation would make him realize how short life is. It will be interesting to see what kind of role Klan has in the next couple of eps.

It was also good to see that Ranka's songs can have undesired affects on the varja if her own negative emotions get in the way.

Regarding Klan I now have mixing feelings for her future in the show.
Will she die quickly fighting as a dumb seeking death.... or will she make it alive so that she can suffer Michel's death for a long time....

[Buffalobiian]

I certainly didn't expect Michel to die, but he did was to go, I do think this would be the best. Now that this has happened, I think something like this may also happen to Ozma, leaving Kathy with a final confession.

Good episode, though it didn't quite get my emotion up, for some reason. Maybe Diamond Crevasse just isn't sad enough.

[Inazuma]

With that preview she obviously goes berserk. And thank god Diamond Crevasse was GREAT because I was at a point where if I heard Aimo again I would just Alt-F4 the damn thing.

[Buffalobiian]

With that preview she obviously goes berserk. And thank god Diamond Crevasse was GREAT because I was at a point where if I heard Aimo again I would just Alt-F4 the damn thing.

I would hope that those eyes mean a loathing hatred and deadly focus and accuracy rather than berserk spraying. If she lives, it'll be good to see her carry Michel with her in spirit in the form of a deadly sniper.

[xtallography]

Yeah, I hope she doesn't become death seeking-ly reckless even though that would be the easiest route for the writers to take. Deadly sniper Klan would be an awesome alternative though. The preview definitely showed vengeance in her eyes. The plus side is we'll get to see her fight at least for one more episode.

The real question is going to be how do Ozma and Kathy prove that mophead actually killed the president versus having him just say that the president died in the varja attack. Even worse is how do they stay alive when he does take control. A man willing to snipe the president certainly isn't above killing those two off.

[Kraco]

They don't have to prove anything, though, if they just make sure the president won't be the only high official who got killed in the vajra attack. That would also be a lot more satisfying than any official way of handing the issue.

[KrayZ33]

I liked this episode... even though it was extremely sad at the end I had to laugh at the last picture saying "See you Space *Play*boy" ^^
now that I think about it, the similarity is really astounding :)

very nice stuff we got to see this weak.. I just wonder what they are going to do now? the vajra now know where Frontier is.. seems like war they can not win.. if a few vajra larves can do reproduce themselves to this level, then I wonder if it is actually possible for them to ever win this war.

or at least live in peace

[Ryllharu]

I'm less happy about the Ranka/Sheryl x Alto situation. Now that Sheryl has rediscovered her joy of singing just for the hell of it (and her career may end on the rebound if anyone survives) I'm really hoping this won't turn into a Ranka ending. Because it looks really bad. Aside from her health issues, the scene in the bunker might be construed as a tie up for Sheryl's character development. She's returning with renewed vigor.

On the other hand, Ranka's signing doesn't work because she is upset.... T_T
Now if there is any chance that the Frontier can be saved, it means the reason she's upset and full of negative emotions needs to be reversed. Of course, what is she upset about? Possibly losing Alto to Sheryl. Ugh. That means that Alto will either have to make her realize that he loves Sheryl, and it's nothing to be upset about....or kiss her and say how much he likes her in order to make her happy.

So why would I be pissed about this? It's not because I like Sheryl more. It's because I really can't stand that Ranka gets to be utterly selfish just because it is the only way to keep the entire fleet from dying. Even if Alto is wishy-washy and the timing of this is all his fault for possibly not telling Ranka off sooner (if it is the case that he likes Sheryl more), Ranka gets the opportunity to be even more selfish than Minmay ever was.

[Kraco]

You must be carrying some really old and heavy grudge, Ryllharu. It's now established that Ranka's singing only affects positively when she's excited and full of hope. The effect is rather negative if she's feeling the opposite. That's a cold, "scientific" fact with no way around it. And it has nothing to do with how selfish Ranka is. It's highly unreasonable to say Ranka is evil because she's devastated after seeing, seemingly, Alto and Sheryl together in such a fashion. She had finally realised why she likes to sing so much and with so high spirits, and finally gathered the courage to tell Alto. And then she finds Sheryl in Alto's arms. How the heck was she supposed to react? If she had reacted any other way, her love for Alto wouldn't have been real in the first place.

While I could have taken either coupling, I still like Ranka more. Sheryl was so cold, proud and superstar (and bitch, I'd like to say) in the beginning that she lost my interest. She's been considerably better of late after she realised she loves Alto and is not just using him as a toy. But honestly it's utterly strange to call Ranka selfish when you have that kind of Sheryl next to her. Ranka was peeking at Alto from behind a corner while Sheryl was pushing him around as much as she could spare time from her more important businesses.

[animus]

Well atleast Sheryl didn't serenade him with love songs practically confessing to him in a concert.

[Ryllharu]

@Kraco:

That's not really what I was implying. What you said is all well and good, and mostly if not all true. The problem lies in what kind of position Ranka is now left in. If she was more like Sheryl acted in the beginning of the series, she could easily turn around now and say, "I don't know if I can save everyone, it hurts so much! [she did actually say this much.] Alto-kun, you'll have to show me how you truly feel [blackmailing Alto into leaning towards her.] or I just don't think I have it in me to sing happily!"

We all know that neither Ranka or Sheryl would actually do that in this sort of situation, but that is still the position Ranka is now in.

As for the whole Minmay-Ranka connection, it's mostly how stupidly naive Minmay was, without ever realizing or accepting the consequences of her own actions and how she dealt with the protagonist. Ranka at least carries that same stupid naivette, but she jumps to more conclusions. Sheryl on the other hand, is far more like Misa. Though Sheryl is a bitch and likes to play around with Alto (it is important that she is doing so intentionally rather than naively) when a serious situation arrives, Sheryl is far more mature and doesn't let her emotions get too much in the way.

Lastly, for the coupling, I'll always prefer the tsundere character to the moe character.

[shinta|hikari]

Amen, Amen, Amen on that last statement.

If Alto did not try to convince her, Ranka would not have started to sing in order to stop the Vajira. Granted it had the opposite effect, but that consequence was unknown at that time. If Alto just left her there and Sheryl did not slap some sense into her, she would have let hundreds of people die just because she is hurt and jealous. Wow, she isn't selfish at all.

[Kraco]

Ah, well, I have to admit that is true. No matter how emotionally distraught she was, that was certainly bad by any reckoning.

[Yukimura]

Lastly, for the coupling, I'll always prefer the tsundere character to the moe character.

I would agree in cases like Sheryl who is a strong character with a prickly exterior, but when the tsuntsun is just a defense/covering mechanism to hide a character who's simply a weak personality I find tsundere tiring (Louise Françoise).

In any case, while Ranka is certainly lame for flipping out, we can't forget that she's a traumatized teenaged girl with abandonment issues. I think we make this mistake a lot in anime, just because some 16 year olds can bear the fate of the world on their shoulders we shouldn't expect that to be the case with all of them. I wish she wasn't so weak, but I can't really hold it against her that she is given her age and background.

Michel went out in suitably badass fashion though so props to him. But what were the designers of that base thinking? The Micloning process seems to be somewhat delicate, yet they put the machine in a room that is adjacent to space...
If the ship was going down I hope they have Zentradi sized escape pods.

I can't wait to see rage-Klan though, should be awesome.

[shinta|hikari]

I will still hold it against Ranka, since she managed to sing just fine after being slapped. Being slapped and lectured is not exactly life changing, which means she could have sung all along, but chose not to because she feels "used" and hurt. It is not as if they are asking her to risk her life at that point. All she had to do was sing to save lives, not go into a robot and battle with monsters. And the reason for her being unable to sing is so lame. So what if she sees Alto embracing Sheryl? What does that even confirm? She simply let her insecurities take over instead of fighting for what she wants.

Yes, she is weak, but not normal teenager weak, but lame-ass weak. Shinji Ikari, who also had issues about abandonment (and younger), had a tougher time but people (and lots of them) held it against him and called him a crybaby and a wuss for being afraid of being torn apart and burned to death inside a gigantic human form (which btw almost happened several times). Ranka is obviously worse.

[Kraco]

And much good did it do to force her to sing. It only make the vajra angier. And that's a valid point if you hold what happened against Ranka. Had it been her choice, at least the attack wouldn't have escalated. So, her lame-ass weakness was actually protecting the place, and Alto and Sheryl were worsening the situation. Real heroes.

[David75]

I will still hold it against Ranka, since she managed to sing just fine after being slapped. Being slapped and lectured is not exactly life changing, which means she could have sung all along, but chose not to because she feels "used" and hurt. It is not as if they are asking her to risk her life at that point. All she had to do was sing to save lives, not go into a robot and battle with monsters. And the reason for her being unable to sing is so lame. So what if she sees Alto embracing Sheryl? What does that even confirm? She simply let her insecurities take over instead of fighting for what she wants.

Yes, she is weak, but not normal teenager weak, but lame-ass weak. Shinji Ikari, who also had issues about abandonment (and younger), had a tougher time but people (and lots of them) held it against him and called him a crybaby and a wuss for being afraid of being torn apart and burned to death inside a gigantic human form (which btw almost happened several times). Ranka is obviously worse.

Reasonning and feelings aren't the same.
Being able to take the right decisions and act accordingly is difficult enough for anyone... it becomes utterly difficult when under stress or feeling related state. For a teen it's double worse. It's not the same part of the brain that reacts.
Being able to make the best possible choice with a clear state of mind, while caught in a personnal love quagmire is impossible when it's your first time being in love...

[shinta|hikari]

She clearly said she was fed up. She wasn't confused, or unsure of what to do. She just didn't want to. Two choices, with one being the obvious winner. How hard could it be?

I also know that singing with emotion is difficult if you don't carry that emotion, but whether that will have an effect or not was unknown to Ranka and everyone in that scene, so it is a non-factor. As far as everyone knew, she just had to open her mouth and spout some Ai-mo stuff to have an effect on the vajira.

@Kraco - you are looking at it in retrospect. It doesn't matter what actually happened, since we are talking about Ranka's choice based from what she knows at that time.

[Kraco]

Perhaps, but I only said that after your post for a very specific reason. The thing is Ranka's initial choice was not to sing. Alto and Sheryl's choice was that she should sing. That's the basic setting. Then Alto and Sheryl forced Ranka to change her initial feeling of not singing to singing after all, and the result turned out bad. So, objectively thinking Ranka was correct in the beginning but Alto and Sheryl made her change the correct feeling of not wanting to sing into something worse.

Ranka being not any bright lass, in the end, she should have listened to what her gut feeling was telling her and not sing if she wasn't in the right mood for singing. But nah... Alto with the density of depleted uranium and Sheryl the bitch knew everything better.

[xtallography]

Shinta is right. Kraco, your reasoning would work if Ranka knew what the outcome/influence of the varja would be if she sang while being upset/distraught/however you want to put it. At that point, everyone just thinks that Ranka singing = varja cool down. So it's only natural that they want her to sing even if she didn't feel like it.

We (the audience) are fortunate because we get to see the cause and affect. Kathy and Osma have no idea that it's Ranka's singing that caused the escalation. They just got to see the varja get angrier. Whether everyone gets together to compare notes and figure out that negative emotion singing Ranka = angrier varja we'll have to wait and see.

[Kraco]

Kraco, your reasoning would work if Ranka knew what the outcome/influence of the varja would be if she sang while being upset/distraught/however you want to put it. At that point, everyone just thinks that Ranka singing = varja cool down. So it's only natural that they want her to sing even if she didn't feel like it.

Her reluctance to sing did know it will be no good. Not that such reasoning is worth much. Of course had I been there myself I'd have encouraged Ranka to sing (but I'd certainly have understood what went wrong as my density is only at the level of lead and not DU).

Well, in any case the reasoning here is like that of a commander who's explaining why an operation he commandeered against the will of his men went wrong.

[Ryllharu]

Wasn't Ranka just as surprised as Alto and Sheryl that her singing was having the opposite effect? The only problem on her end from her own mind was she didn't feel like singing because she was depressed. After Sheryl slapped her into action, Ranka thought it would work too.

[Kraco]

That's pretty much given. Her main interest in singing for battles probably was the idea it would help Alto in his fighting (and generally she would contribute to the defense like Alto). I doubt she was thinking much else even at that point, and all in all she's the kind of good girl who likely would do anything she's told to do (like wear idiotic costumes publicly). Even if she now thinks Alto and Sheryl are together, Alto meant so much to her that I doubt she wants him to start to hate her, so there was no other choice but to sing in the end.

[David75]

[gg] Macross Frontier - 21 [411028EB] mkv 380Mb @ mininova (http://www.mininova.org/get/1752070)

Enjoy!

[Inazuma]

Meh, I'll respect the 24h spoiler ban even if I didn't enjoyed the ep that much.

[Kraco]

It was a stupid episode. But I suppose it was necessary for the bigger plot.

[NeoBear]

while i certainly still enjoy the show its starting to take itself way to seriously its like watching Days of our Lives or something lol.

[Buffalobiian]

Grace has means of restraining Brera, so we can assume that what Ranka's doing isn't affecting her plan, if not according to plan.

I didn't mind this episode personally.

[xtallography]

The ep was okay. It looks like Klan will now just be relegated to the background as before.

All I know is that I'd be super pissed if someone called me at 3am to go fold paper airplanes.

[Darknodin]

so... Ai is the mastermind of all this?

[MFauli]

Just watched episode.

FU- , why Michel :-/

Also, can someone explain what Klan is doing? I thought people of her race could change size by will, but it seems she has to prepare within that container.

Also, LOL at Sheryl. If i was in the room, surrounded by monsters that want to kill me, i´d shout "SHUT THE FUCK UP!".

[Kraco]

What I'd like to know is why Ozma and Cathy are just camping in the ruins, roasting sausages and marshmallows in the campfire, while the regicide dude is seizing power unopposed - and even more ironically with the support of the hero Ranka Lee, whose guardian Ozma still should be. Of course it makes sense Ozma wouldn't mix Ranka in power struggles, especially so shady, but there should be some limits...

[lelouch]

What I'd like to know is why Ozma and Cathy are just camping in the ruins, roasting sausages and marshmallows in the campfire, while the regicide dude is seizing power unopposed

Do you suggest he go out and shout "the president was killed by leon, it's all a conspiracy"?

Leon probably has people searching for Ozma and Kathy with orders to kill.

[Ryllharu]

Leon definitely has people looking for Cathy and Ozma with intent to kill. What other reason would there be for all those black suits with guns drawn inside Ozma's place?

Seeing the photo of Klan and Michel as children inside his cockpit while Klan hugged his helmet in tears made me sad...

Also, can someone explain what Klan is doing? I thought people of her race could change size by will, but it seems she has to prepare within that container.Zentradi are naturally giants, but through a process called Micloning, they can become human sized. Micloning is accomplished through the use of that two tank machine. Their bodies basically dissolve in one tank and then are reconstituted into the other. That's why Michel was so worried about Klan when the tank started to crack. She was in between the two states, and most certainly would have died if it broke open. Aboard the Frontier, Zentradi can change sizes whenever they want, but it must always be accomplished within those tanks. They cannot just will themselves between the two states, it is done through advanced technology.

Late in SDF-1, it was theorized that the Zentradi and Humans were both part of the same species (hence the interbreeding), but a now deceased faction called the Supervision Army modified the Zentradi into giants to use them as soldiers.

To my knowledge, humans cannot use the tanks despite being "genetically equivalent" to Zentradi.

[Darknodin]

To my knowledge, humans cannot use the tanks despite being "genetically equivalent" to Zentradi.

mmm... now that would be rather interesting.

[Buffalobiian]

To my knowledge, humans cannot use the tanks despite being "genetically equivalent" to Zentradi.

Hentai has explored this possibility.

Just thought you'd like to know. :)

[Kraco]

Do you suggest he go out and shout "the president was killed by leon, it's all a conspiracy"?

For somebody who has dubbed himself "lelouch" you certainly are lacking rational ideas...

The longer they wait, the more solid Leon's power and more people he can muster to do his ill deeds, and the colder all the evidence against him (plus he can erase any evidence more easily as time goes by). Not to mention every moment gives him more time to silently find Ozma and Cathy as well and terminate them just like he did the president. And if Cathy had wanted to have a dirty revenge, the easiest time for that has also passed now that things have considerably calmed down.

[lelouch]

@Kraco

I don't think there is much they can do at the moment. Perhaps they are waiting for a better opportunity.

[Psyke]

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/679/topsr7.jpg

1/72 VF-25F Messiah Valkryie (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B001DIMOWA?ie=UTF8&tag=blogaffiliate-22&linkCode=as2&camp=247&creative=1211&creativeASIN=B001DIMOWA) released in Japan this week!

[Shadow Skill]

That Decepticon owns!

[Buffalobiian]

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/679/topsr7.jpg

1/72 VF-25F Messiah Valkryie (http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B001DIMOWA?ie=UTF8&tag=blogaffiliate-22&linkCode=as2&camp=247&creative=1211&creativeASIN=B001DIMOWA) released in Japan this week!


:D........I......want.......:(

[Buffalobiian]

[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_22_[ADBE296E].mkv.torrent (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_22_%5BADBE296E%5D.mkv.torrent)

[David75]

So V-type infection was really Vajra...
Earrings were also playing a part.
Seems like I pointed in the right direction, self promotion I know :D

So regarding the SMS piracy, I guess that when the ship sinks, rats flee... I would not compare them to rats, but in dire situations it's hard to swallow that some do not consider trying to save the day.

Also, to me the solution to frontier's survival include the Vajra... Both species will have to find a compromise allowing the two to survive.
There's a reason for the Vajra to attack Frontier that much. I do not think this is just a very vehement species that attack everything that moves.
After all, their losses are also very dangerous to their own ecosystem.
Also, they do not even seem to be interrested in the ressources there are abord frontier like water for example...

So for some reason their existence is intricated with the humans from galaxy/frontier.
Both species need each other to survive in the long term. But since they are so different, they tend to destroy each other at the beggining.
Grace may be the flagship of the future deal to accept. She's a bio-robot, she had to accept loosing a great deal of her flesh body to survive or just go on.
To me there's a difficult choice awaiting humanity, were they'll have to find a symbiosis with the Vajra.
It may seem far stretched, however there are examples of strange symbiosis in the biological world.
Even some bacteria are thought to have had a symbiosis with our bodies long ago in the past and are now part of our genes...

[Darknodin]

Even some bacteria are thought to have had a symbiosis with our bodies long ago in the past and are now part of our genes...

gotta be nitpicky here but... mitochondria (which you are referring to) have their own genome apart from ours. Also, they embedded themselves in early single-cell eukaryotes.
Some viruses have embedded into our genome though.

about the ep. I actually like it quite a bit. I thought Alto would join the SMS. I hope he stays with Frontier. Makes the story more interesting.

[Buffalobiian]

I guess this episode cleared one thing for me. The Vajra do need to escape back to share information on weapons, not just simple survive for a split second to send out fold waves.

I really liked this ep, and Sheryl's music in the battle background just owns. At least now we'll have something else to listen to other than Aimo.

Ozma beating Alto was neat. It's always felt unsatisfied at main characters who seem to fly through ranks with sheer talent. Also is likable, and most likely trains too, but Ozma shows there are somethings that you can't learn from a few fights and some talent.

Agreed that having Alto on Frontier would be much better plot wise, though it's sort of predictable that Klan, Luca and Alto will join them when the time comes for the finale.

[KrayZ33]

Nice!!!

Sheryl + Alto ftw!

I always liked Sheryls singing twice as much as Ranka's, it's so good that it turned out this way

What I didn't like is that they wasted the possibility to show some very dogfights right there...
The fight was a bit lax.. I expected much more there.. Especially since there were so many planes...

[shinta|hikari]

Didn't Ozma and Alto end up with a draw?

[Buffalobiian]

Didn't Ozma and Alto end up with a draw?

Ozma got his thruster tail nipped. Alto got immobilised in the intake/shoulder.

[Yukimura]

I guess this episode cleared one thing for me. The Vajra do need to escape back to share information on weapons, not just simple survive for a split second to send out fold waves.



Didn't Luca say they were jamming fold waves within some radius? I remember reading the distance translation and thinking it was far too small.

[David75]

Didn't Luca say they were jamming fold waves within some radius? I remember reading the distance translation and thinking it was far too small.


Yes something like 100 click radius ;)

[xtallography]

I don't think I'd call the SMS folks rats leaving a sinking ship. When your choices are leave or extermination... I think leaving is a smart option. Something along the lines of living to fight another day.

It was good to at least see humankind has the ability to make better weapons and adapt the jamming strategy to keep those weapons useful... for now. At least the explanation for the new weapons is moderately believable unlike Geass where things just seem to advance at a logarithmic pace. It seems like the Grace syndicate doesn't intend to let mophead stay in control for long. I wonder if there plane is to "replace" him or just full out extermination of the Frontier. I remember in the last ep she said she didn't want Frontier to die just yet so it makes me curious what other experiments they have going on (all of the chimeras??).

But the series does seem to be building to the "battle for the planet" climax. At least that will give them an endless sky to fight in.

[Kraco]

3 episodes left. Will Alto finally cease to be a tool? He began to piss me off when he forgot he only wants to fly, and started to act like some lousy wannabe psychiatrist for the girls, and feeling responsible for every decision made by others. It's probably better plotwise he was left behind (not that the life of a pirate would be good for a tool anyway) and maybe this will finally force him to make the first decision of his own.

[MFauli]

Just watched it.
Can someone explain what that "Becoming pirates"-thing was about? I didnt get it that well...

Also, meh, Alto chooses Sheryl over Ranka...that was the boring, because obvious, choice. I wanted him to choose Ranka...

And lol, how weird has that to be when you´re flying in space, and a giant big boob-girl appears in front of you. Khlan is awsome xd

[Buffalobiian]

Just watched it.
Can someone explain what that "Becoming pirates"-thing was about? I didnt get it that well...

The crew is stealing the Quater, and going against the established ruling state Macross Fontier, hence becoming fugitives.

[MFauli]

The crew is stealing the Quater, and going against the established ruling state Macross Fontier, hence becoming fugitives.

And what is their goal?
Kill their former comrades?

[Kraco]

Uhhuh. Ozma told Alto their goal: When everybody else is staring right, somebody better look left as well. Obviously they are trying to look at the humans-vajra conflict from a different perspective than the corrupt coup d'etat president now in power.

[Buffalobiian]

And what is their goal?
Kill their former comrades?

I wouldn't consider that their ultimate goal.

Firstly, their intention is to leave Frontier, who, in their opinion, is not ruled by the rightful leader. They don't serve him, so they leave. By stealing the Quarter, they've made themselves, "pirates", and fugitives of Frontier. Leon knows what they're thinking, and that Ozma's on board. He'll issue a kill/capture-on-sight command, so it's note like Quarter has a choice but to fight.

Quarter's main goal, I believe, would be to wait for the emergence of a rightful leader, and aid them in overthrowing the current corrupted Frontier.

[David75]

[gg] Macross Frontier - 23 [EE43F954] mkv 379Mb @ ggkthx (http://ggkthx.org/Torrents/[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_23_[EE43F954].mkv.torrent)

[Kraco]

Will the bitch ever die? It's like a bad joke unless her second name is Kenny.

Alto still isn't too convincing but I'm hopeful he will get together with Ranka, after all. His little cooking and eating session with Sheryl in this episode looked more like someone taking care of somebody out of a sense of duty (or pity) than someone spending quality time with his loved one. Of course he even couldn't have been totally relaxed knowing Sheryl is a terminal case but still I didn't sense any particular love there, from Alto's direction.

[Buffalobiian]

Will the bitch ever die? It's like a bad joke unless her second name is Kenny.

Alto still isn't too convincing but I'm hopeful he will get together with Ranka, after all. His little cooking and eating session with Sheryl in this episode looked more like someone taking care of somebody out of a sense of duty (or pity) than someone spending quality time with his loved one. Of course he even couldn't have been totally relaxed knowing Sheryl is a terminal case but still I didn't sense any particular love there, from Alto's direction.

That....unfortunately.....does seem like the case. I'm still hoping for an AltoxSheryl ending, but now that this, and Sheryl refusing to take her medicine is shown to us, it seems less and less likely.

So Grace is now a Colonel? What's up with that? Somehow, I don't think being a collection of minds will make her more of a war machine than Brera.

Too right about Alto seemingly joined SMS just yesterday. He might have improved his skills, but his way of thinking hasn't changed at all. Perhaps it's just unconvincing to be in a leading military role without a gruff, commanding voice.

[Ryllharu]

Grace was probably always a Colonel since the beginning of the series. She certainly had command/control over Brera since his first appearance. We don't know all the details yet, but it seems likely that she joined the fringe militant branch almost immediately after Ranshe (and possibly Dr. Nome) rebuked her side of the research. Something Grace has only now come near to achieving.

I'd comment more, but I got really sidetracked trying to install dictionaries into Opera on Vista, and subsequently forgot what I was going to write about.
EDIT: Success!

[MFauli]

Lol @ Alto´s brother.
Did he really intend to persuade Alto into that his destiny is to be the actor of a female role instead of fighting for humanity?
AAA-scene xD

[hoshi]

Sad that Grace intended to kill Brera.

Lol @ Alto´s brother...
AAA-scene xD
qft

[Buffalobiian]

A fight for a planet:

[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_24_[2D45D489].mkv (http://xabin.mine.nu/gg-tracker/torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_24_%5B2D45D489%5D.mkv.torrent)

[Kraco]

I like Ranka suddenly a lot less after this episode. It's one thing to be an indecisive good little girl but quite another to become the willing tool of the immortal bitch Grace, and help in the massacre of humanity.

Also, why do the vajra suddenly suffer the company of Grace and Brera? It makes sense they have nothing against Ranka hanging around but Brera is nothing but a Grace's cyborg sextoy and the bitch herself... Well, she's whatever it is that makes a human immortal but how does that make her so close to the vajra?

[David75]

I like Ranka suddenly a lot less after this episode. It's one thing to be an indecisive good little girl but quite another to become the willing tool of the immortal bitch Grace, and help in the massacre of humanity.

Also, why do the vajra suddenly suffer the company of Grace and Brera? It makes sense they have nothing against Ranka hanging around but Brera is nothing but a Grace's cyborg sextoy and the bitch herself... Well, she's whatever it is that makes a human immortal but how does that make her so close to the vajra?

Well to me it's obvious that she was able to crack all of Vajra's network protocols.
By doing so, she's able to be identified as whatever she wants, and able to do so for Brera.

Also, she's able to control Ranka thanks to the Vajra bacteriae in her. At some point I think the human/zentran part of Ranka will be able to control herself again... but for the moment she can't because she is depressed.

Grace's ultimate goal is to become the Vajra queen and rule over the galaxy. As you've seen, even though the network is a multipeer one, nodes are more powerful than basic peers and the central nodes rules them all.
That central node is the queen.
I'm almost certain Grace has links with the zentran fonder of SMS... They spoke about the same thing, same project.

The question is why is it so cool to be ruling a galaxy with bug like slaves...

Regarding Alto, for some reason we can't certify he is dead yet. It was'nt as clear as for Michel...
We clearly see the beam hitting well behind the cockpit, we do not see his face nor body and the last images though showing explosions tell us nothing about his actual state.
Also the earring is a way to be linked to the network to both Ranka and Sheryl who hold vajra bacteriae.
So his near death experience is impact on Sheryl... and Ranka who will probably take control after she thinks her love interrest is dead.

[Ryllharu]

What's with the recent resurgence of the "All Will Be One" versus Individuality theme in anime? This is like the 5th series in the past year, and the second this season. Not that I don't enjoy the allusion of a fight against socialism, Nanny-states, and possibly even as an affront to Buddhism...

At least this time Grace is trying to become the ultimate Queen Bitch of the Universe and it's not some delusional "everyone's equal" non-corporeal utopia.

I definitely echo the hate-Ranka-more now sentiment. For me, a lot of that came from the Sharon Apple projection she put up in space. This whole thing screams references to that last fight in Macross Plus, only it's Vajra instead of humans.

I was not pleased to see Sheryl's short monologue before she descended to the stage. She knows she will die, perhaps as a result of singing in this very battle, and she's just giving up. She doesn't even want to fight against Ranka, she's just pushing Alto into her arms by telling him to save her. I don't mind endings where the hero inevitably must kill the one he loves to save the world/universe/city. I miss those series from the late 90s, they had impact, like Gurren-Lagaan did.

I also agree with David here. Grace is way more powerful than we could have possibly suspected. She's spent the last decade learning exactly how to accomplish what she's attempted to do now. She's practiced plenty messing inside Brera's head too, now she's made him into a total slave. I had thought she was just wiping his memories again, but it looks like that is not the case.

[Buffalobiian]

Did anybody get screwed up video when the battle starts and at the credits?

I don't get why Grace is preserving the Vajra like that though. She wants to be Queen of the galaxy, and its humans/Zentrans rather than simply the Queen of the Hive, right? Shouldn't she be studying how the Mind rules the others like she's observed everything so far, so they can destroy the Vajra, take the fold quartz, build the network, and then she becomes the human's Hive Mind? This is assuming, of course, that Frontier knows she's on the Vajra's side, but the info seems to be confined to the Quarter.

[Ryllharu]

I don't get why Grace is preserving the Vajra like that though. She wants to be Queen of the galaxy, and its humans/Zentrans rather than simply the Queen of the Hive, right? Shouldn't she be studying how the Mind rules the others like she's observed everything so far, so they can destroy the Vajra, take the fold quartz, build the network, and then she becomes the human's Hive Mind? This is assuming, of course, that Frontier knows she's on the Vajra's side, but the info seems to be confined to the Quarter.
Ozma and the rest of the Quarter crew explained that. Grace's plan would have all forms of life interconnected in a fold quartz powered galatic network, with her right at the top as the central node.

However, her plan only works on people like her and Brera who have cranial implants. Those let humans/Zentran connect to a similar network like she does. However...how do you convince those who don't want cybernetic implants in their heads? You use an utterly loyal, completely unstoppable alien force to either kill or subdue those who resist.

[xtallography]

This series is just always amazing. While Klan is adorable in her micronian form... she is just so kick ass as a zentradi. Definitely my dark horse favorite character.

A couple things...

Why not try jamming communication between the varja in this battle? If anything that seems like a good way to keep them from hearing Ranka's song.

Also, did the queen look like a possible macross ship to anyone else? If so, then I wonder who the queen is... Ranka's mother?
Pic of the queen:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/jhabel/queen.jpg

[David75]

Ozma and the rest of the Quarter crew explained that. Grace's plan would have all forms of life interconnected in a fold quartz powered galatic network, with her right at the top as the central node.

However, her plan only works on people like her and Brera who have cranial implants. Those let humans/Zentran connect to a similar network like she does. However...how do you convince those who don't want cybernetic implants in their heads? You use an utterly loyal, completely unstoppable alien force to either kill or subdue those who resist.

there's the implants and probably the V-type infection almost no one knows about that she studied for years.


This series is just always amazing. While Klan is adorable in her micronian form... she is just so kick ass as a zentradi. Definitely my dark horse favorite character.

A couple things...

Why not try jamming communication between the varja in this battle? If anything that seems like a good way to keep them from hearing Ranka's song.

Also, did the queen look like a possible macross ship to anyone else? If so, then I wonder who the queen is... Ranka's mother?
Pic of the queen:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/jhabel/queen.jpg

Yes Klan is a nice side character.

The queen probably is Ranshe, because at some point the first clear communication Ranka had with the Vajra network showed her her mother in the same fashion we see Ranka in the battle.

Jamming Vajra communication is almost impossible for Frontier/SMS/Nuns since they can't hack the protocol as Grace did.
You'd answer me back that you don't need to know the protocol to jam a connection, well that connection is particular. The only way we know is the conceal it with that weapon that sucks everything into oblivion.
That point is important when linked with the nodes hiearchy... If such a bomb was to explode near the queen, the Vajra network would be paralized for a while, until a new queen/supernode emerges. So that explosion has to kill Grace and possibly Ranka at the same time to be efficient for a long enough time.

[Illrenmazou]

Battle Galaxy? (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/VF5SS/BattleGalaxy.jpg)
I thought it's the head of Brera's VF 27 but I noticed the turrets.

[xtallography]

They were able to jam fold wave communication an ep or two ago to try out their new weapons and prevent the varja from communicating back (so they don't evolve defenses against them etc etc). I thought the protocol was needed only to actually communicate to the varja. I'm not suggesting talking to them, I just mean to drown out all fold wave communication. Even if it is in just a limited range I would think it would still help against organization but maybe the range is too small for use in actual large scale battle conditions for it to be effective.

[NeoCybercoin]

Hmmm correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Sheryll's V-type infection contagious? Through like..body fluids? If she just kissed him doesn't that make him infected too? ._.;

[Ryllharu]

I don't think saliva was one of the "body fluids" they were referring to. More like blood and...the more intimate kind.

[KrayZ33]

I don't understand what the Vajra are and why this quartz thing is able to control minds or whatever....

but that aside, I liked this ep (even though GG's version was screwed at the beginning of the fight and the credits)

Could someone explain to me what grace and that zentradi guy is trying to accomplish?
This is so irritating... actually I don't even know what is going on since it was mentioned for the first time.

Why is it possible for grace to control the vajra? All the time I thought that Ranka's singing did somehow irritate the foldwave communications of them and thats why they start to act like brainless beeings, since the "Overmind" can't send them orders anymore (much like Starcraft and the zerg.)

[David75]

I don't understand what the Vajra are and why this quartz thing is able to control minds or whatever....

but that aside, I liked this ep (even though GG's version was screwed at the beginning of the fight and the credits)

Could someone explain to me what grace and that zentradi guy is trying to accomplish?
This is so irritating... actually I don't even know what is going on since it was mentioned for the first time.

Why is it possible for grace to control the vajra? All the time I thought that Ranka's singing did somehow irritate the foldwave communications of them and thats why they start to act like brainless beeings, since the "Overmind" can't send them orders anymore (much like Starcraft and the zerg.)

That quartz enable long distance and no delay communication.
It's also a base for supra-luminous speed travelling.

The Vajra works almost as a unique being thanks to the way they communicate, since the range is huge and there's no delay (like minutes from earth to mars for each input you have on the robots there), it works very effectively.

Why is Grace able to control that?
that's because she cracked the protocol used for the communication.
Just like she would be able to crack an encrypted communication from two PCs.
As she cracked that, she is able to be seen by the network as a Vajra, thus isn't targeted by them. Now she's trying to hack the core of the system: the Queen.

Why was she able to crack the communication protocol?
Thanks to Ranka.
Before that, Grace accumulated tons of data, but since Vajra are so different from any other race, she wasn't able to grasp how that worked.
Ranka being a symbiotic Vajra/human-zentran, she was some kind of Dictionnary or I should say a Rosetta stone. In Ranka, everything Vajra from the protocol had a counterpart in human-zentran. On the latter part, Grace probably has extensive knowledge, so it was a key to understand the protocol.

Remember that Ranka is partly Vajra, once Grace cracks the protocol, she is able to control anyone on the network... like Ranka.
For Brera it's because he is a bio-robot and Grace is her chief in that matter.

For their aim?
Well they want total control over the galaxy. The Vajra are a huge power that can enforce anything on any living being in the Galaxy. Go figure why being so omnipotent is important.
So what, you're the God of your Galaxy, then what do you do next?

Regarding the problems you have with that ep, update ffdsho to 2110 and it will disapear.

[shinta|hikari]

It is not just about omnipotence for Grace. It is about pride, and trying to prove herself and her ideas correct. Pride or actions that arise from it are usually an end in itself, so she is not really moving with any logical goal in mind.

[Buffalobiian]

Final Frontier:

[gg]_Macross_Frontier_-_25_[A3CDD196].mkv (http://xabin.mine.nu/gg-tracker/torrents/%5Bgg%5D_Macross_Frontier_-_25_%5BA3CDD196%5D.mkv.torrent)

(It may be an hour special, but I haven't confirmed it yet. If not, 700MB is a tad overkill)

Edit: I take that back. 700MB is fine :)

[DDBen]

The final isn't a hour long special its pure awesome though as I watched the raw earlier.

The release is massive because they added 4 audiotracks.

Default Track: No songs. 2nd Track: w/songs. 3rd Track: Zentradi, no songs. 4th Track: Zentradi w/songs.

[David75]

The final isn't a hour long special its pure awesome though as I watched the raw earlier.

The release is massive because they added 4 audiotracks.

Default Track: No songs. 2nd Track: w/songs. 3rd Track: Zentradi, no songs. 4th Track: Zentradi w/songs.


No the size really is in the video. Because the tracks they mention only changes the subtitles and karaoke ie text... so not a great deal of data.
Maybe they did a better audio encoding, we even have 5.1 here... but I do not see that explain twice the size of a nice HD encode.

Regarding the ep, well the end sure was rushed

[Illrenmazou]

The epic Frontier vs Galaxy duel I'm anticipating didn't happen, worse Battle Frontier just stood there and it didn't even fire the main gun. The Quarter transforming while flipping and doing the classic Daedalus maneuver was awesome though, way to go Bobby.
That scene of Mr. Birler holding a locket with Minmei's photo was a bit surprising, an episode ago he said that he'll finally be able to see her again. Maybe the key to finding the lost Megaroad vessel is in that planet.
Alto saluting his trashed VF-25 reminded me of Zechs and Tallgeese, poor VF.

[Kraco]

The script of this episode, or what was visible of it under all the space battle, was somewhat dodgy. I don't know if it was rushed as such because logically thinking the humans were being wiped out and so it couldn't have take any longer. The fighting itself, which clearly is what this was all about in addition to the ever present singing, was good in my opinion.

I didn't really connect with this show at all at any point too deeply so I think this was a jolly good last ep, even if it still didn't resolve the bloody triangle...

[Yukimura]

Wow, that was the best musical, beam-spam-filled, missile-spam-filled, vibrantly colorful smorgasbord of awesome fluff I've seen in a LONG time. I don't even care about the plot at (which I think is how it's supposed to be). The bad guys are dead, music has saved the galaxy, and everyone is happy with their current situation (except maybe Luca since breasts girl could still reject him to try and break up the SherylxRankaxAltoxAi-kun quadrangle). I think this is how it had to end and while I think they could have tied up the plot a little better I really don't care. The final battle was highly enjoyable and had in it all the elements that drew me to this show in the first place. And now we can start forgetting about Macross for a while and move on to the next thing (Linebarrel anyone?)

[NeoBear]

visually this was mindblowing it was all so random and just over the top but i smiled the whole time. there was so much i was angry about in the middle of this series but i forgive it all it was truly an awsome ending all is forgiven ... even Macross 7 =)

well its over how many more years will i have to wait for another Macross anime this series truly started me down the path of loving anime years ago thank you Robotec (Macross)

[Buffalobiian]

I'm with Yuki on this one. Totally tops any mecha show I've seen for a long LONG time. The "lets keep the love-triangel going so no one gets left out" sure doesn't resolve anything, but it works for me. There's a lot of comments saying that the ending was rushed, but I didn't feel that way. They pretty much covered everything they had to, and in a manner that didn't drag and take the adrenalin from the main battle.

I particularly liked how they recycled the "war machines understanding humanity" theme. Quite fitting for a show celebrating the 25th anniversary of Original Macross.

All in all, this ended on a very good note for me, and I'm willing to put it down for my personal list as Best Anime 2008 (for now at least). What's more is the ending didn't leave me said it finished, despite how awesome I thought the show was, which is a first.

For those who weren't 100% satisfied with the ending, or simply Macross fans, there was an announcement at the end (but out by gg) for a movie version Macross Frontier.

[DDBen]

Wow what a ending. Seriously the amount they managed to fit into this episode was astonishing and and contrary to a few I felt it flowed incredibly well without being to rushed. Little things like Klan's Zentradi mecha being replaced with Michele's Skull One were subtle yet very well thought out additions overall. The battle itself and the almost nonstop music really caused this entire episode to come alive for me. In addition I can't give them enough credit for letting characters who died STAY dead unlike some other series with to many Decoy ships laying around.

All and all I would say this series outdid my expectations by miles and I look very forward to the movie assuming its a progression of the story instead of a retelling of the series. Also I think not resolving the love triangle was the best way to end it. This leaves them enough room to finish it up in the movie if they so choose. However beyond that both of the female leads ended up with completely equal footing in the long run so honestly how could they have possibly left Alto to choose one without at least another episode?

Another Note I loved the fact in this series that each of Ranka's/Sheryl's songs during this series and highlighted in the end really tells the story from each girls perspective. You can really tell that each song was written to convey a part of the story and to have all of those pieces put together as a concert for the last couple of episodes couldn't have been done any more perfectly. If you haven't taken the time to read the lyrics and think about what they mean in context to the show I really suggest you do so..

[NeoBear]

DDBen if you happen to have a quick link handy to some of the more prominent songs that you referenced in your topic above about what the lyrics mean id love to take a look at that =)

[shinta|hikari]

I just hope they continue the story and give a proper conclusion to the love triangle, hopefully Sheryl emerging the winner. If they just leave it like this, I can't really say it is a good ending, since they just left one major plot point hanging, never to be addressed. The movie hopefully aims to fill this gap.

@DDben - You should not forget that Alto "died" in the previous episode, only to make a triumphant comeback in this one, with his only decent excuse being he is the protagonist.

[DDBen]

DDBen if you happen to have a quick link handy to some of the more prominent songs that you referenced in your topic above about what the lyrics mean id love to take a look at that =)

Its not really about a link just read over the lyrics and think them over a bit. Its fairly clear Sheryl writes her songs as they tend to contain a lot of personal meaning. In contrast Ranka's songs are basically all covers.

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/aimotorinohit.htm
http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/aimo.htm

Aimo is a direct reference to the bird humans and Macross Zero. For Ranka the song really represents her past as it seems she learned it from her mother.

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/whatboutmystar.htm
http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/whatboutmysta.htm

What about my Star starts as Sheryl's song but is also later used by Ranka. This ones kind of used to show them battling over position. Kind of to say what about me! Also being the song used to fight over Alto in the hospital.

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/diamondcrevas.htm

Diamond Crevas is Sheryl basically giving up as she falls into despair.

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/northerncross.htm
http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/infinity.htm

These are also directly written to Alto Sheryl seems to be constantly writing her feelings for him into her music.

Sagittarius 9pm. Don't be late
http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/itezagogokuji.htm

Note Alto is Sagittarius 1 when he gets shot down in 24. This is a Song Sheryl wrote to him specifically while they were dating after Ranka left.

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/ninjinlovesyo.htm

That one just proves Ranka was turning into a cooperate whore :P

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/macrossf/lion.htm

Lion is about Sheryl's plea to survive the "brain aids" she has. She's past wanting to die at that point she really wants to be strong and live on of course with Alto even if she thinks its impossible.


Just some quick thoughts. To me I was just impressed how meaningful all of Sheryl's songs were and its also the main reason I think he should be with her Over Ranka. I found the ending where She was singing with everything she had to tell Alto how much she cared about him while she said goodbye. Then after Ranka moved the Virus out of her brain and into her intestines how when she's singing again its about surviving the battle and no longer about saying goodbye.


@DDben - You should not forget that Alto "died" in the previous episode, only to make a triumphant comeback in this one, with his only decent excuse being he is the protagonist.

I 100% disagree with this. The fact pilots had solo flight suits and he ejected and waited on nearby debris was completely in character. His mech was shown to have only been shot in the wing and they only stated the signal from his Valkarie was lost. This is quite a bit different from showing people die in a bath of light in the middle of nukes multiple times or shooting someone with a magic Machine gun and having them wake up with minor wounds. Also the Valkarie they brought him was HIS in the first place they took it when they left with the Macross Quarter and Klan getting Michele's mech as well was genius.

[shinta|hikari]

It does not change the fact that he came back from the dead. It was better executed of course, but what you were pointing out in your previous post was that no one came back from the dead in this show, and clearly, the episode before this one (where his fighter clearly got blown to pieces and Sheryl screamed in horror at the sight of it) was going for the "protagonist seems to have been killed but obviously he can't be gone" approach. If it was any other character instead of Alto in that scene last episode, no one would think that person would still be alive, and it would seem like another dramatic death like Michel's used to usher in the final climax.

[DDBen]

They certainly did it as a cliffhanger to build tension but I disagree he came back from the dead. There is a massive difference between someone being shown as clearly dying with ZERO chance of survival aka Michele in this series. Who disappears for several episodes and then magically shows up later with no explanation of what happened. Alto was at no point shown dying his craft was merely shown blowing up and before that it was shown being damaged in a non-critical location. Its not like he was shown pushing someone out of the way of one of those fold missiles had himself shown dying in the cockpit of his mech and then when Sheryl fell over in a clump he walks out of nowhere kisses her to magically heal her and sing a duet.

So no in absolutely no way did he come back from the dead. At the end of 24 we are shown purely the perspective of a onlooker. In 25 in the VERY beginning we are shown Alto's perspective and with next to no delay we have him radioing in to say he's alright. I mean its not like they showed his corpse in space and then "erased it" in a special edition to have a excuse to have him alive for season 2 or anything.

[Kraco]

This is quite a bit different from showing people die in a bath of light in the middle of nukes multiple times or shooting someone with a magic Machine gun and having them wake up with minor wounds.

I don't know what magic there was in the guns that were used to kill the previous president and it was just one huge bomb that killed Grace the first time, but Alto's "resurrection" certainly was better than Grace's immortality. Besides, she didn't have any wounds, probably because it was a different body (why doesn't she wake up somewhere yet again, btw... The bitch could have 100 bodies in store all around the galaxy). But in short, I saw nothing wrong in Alto's survival since the initial hit didn't kill him.

[DDBen]

I don't know what magic there was in the guns that were used to kill the previous president and it was just one huge bomb that killed Grace the first time, but Alto's "resurrection" certainly was better than Grace's immortality. Besides, she didn't have any wounds, probably because it was a different body (why doesn't she wake up somewhere yet again, btw... The bitch could have 100 bodies in store all around the galaxy). But in short, I saw nothing wrong in Alto's survival since the initial hit didn't kill him.

I'm not sure why your quoting me on this one as we agree about this one Kraco. My comments that you quoted were referencing crap that came out of R2 with at least 3 characters of various importance.

As for Grace her immortality was based on the Battle Galaxy(whatever Galaxies Macross was called). Being they took out both her Macross and her Main body inside the queens head. At that point I assume she was killed. Even if she had some other bodies somewhere. Of course even assuming she does. Still in the case of Grace she didn't come back to life she simply wasn't killed in the first place.

[shinta|hikari]

You don't seem to understand my point at all. I am not saying that Alto's survival is unfeasible. In fact, it is fairly well done (especially compared to that other show) as I said in my previous post.

What I am saying is, the creators intended his "death" scene to seem like a death scene, and the only reason people did not immediately assume that he is dead is because he is the protagonist. So, if there is a "death" scene, where his plane explodes with no sign of him ejecting, him appearing again the next episode is technically coming back from the dead.

You seem to be aware of the fact that the perspectives on how a scene is delivered affects its interpretation by the viewers (and Macross F did well in this respect). What you did miss though, is that this can be applied to "being bathed in the light" scenes as well. The gap between disappearance and reappearance does not matter either.

Setting the reason for survival aspect aside, I don't see how being bathed in white light followed by a scene cut (remember that the perspective shown is also limited as in Alto's case) is a more definite sign of death than a plane blowing to pieces without any signs of ejection (take note that the viewers knowledge of the story at this point is only up to episode 24).

What you said about Grace also applies to all the other "resurrected" characters you were criticizing. They never really died (that is what the show claims anyway, as hard to believe their excuse is), so they didn't come back to life either.

EDIT: Well, this is mere semantics anyway, so any further argumentation is unnecessary. Don't worry, I get your point, and I only wanted to clarify mine.

[Ryllharu]

I guess a lot was already said while I was downloading this ridiculously large filesized episode. I suppose I will just leave my impressions.

While I certainly loved the series, I feel totally, completely used. The love triangle remains unresolved! Damn those bastards for stringing us along, dividing us into either pro-Sheryl or pro-Ranka camps, and then leaving us with nothing!

As someone said before, I was a little surprised, but very glad to see that the Daedalus Attack (using a pinpoint barrier to punch the hell out of another warship, and then have land units or Koenig Monsters blow the hell out of it from the inside) was still a completely viable strategy 50 years later.

It also seems I was wrong before, Klan's hair may not, but Sheryl's hair does change color. Apparently V-type infections sap the vibrant luster out of a girl's hair.

[animus]

I had goosebumps throughout this whole episode.

[oyabun]

I had goosebumps throughout this whole episode.

Me too. But it kinda ended when Sheryl miraculously survive and became a Vajra singer. But the animation was top notched.

[MFauli]

Just watched the final episode. A solid series all in all, but just to un-creative, especially the ending. And that Alto didnt choose one of the two girls was kind of disappointing as well.

Well, that´s all i can say. Not a series i would rewatch, but it doesnt feel as if i wasted my time on it.

[Psyke]

I was hoping for more valkryie action throughout the series, but then again I loved the songs so much that it makes up for the lack of transforming planes. Still, I thought how they arranged the songs in the last episode was interesting but a little messy at the same time.

There's a movie? I can't wait to see Sheryl and Ranka again, perhaps in a concert together.

[Buffalobiian]

Hot Hot Hot!

[Nipponsei] Macross Frontier Original Soundtrack 2 - Nyan Tora..zip (http://tracker.minglong.org/torrents/%5BNipponsei%5D%20Macross%20Frontier%20Original%20 Soundtrack%202%20-%20Nyan%20Tora..zip.torrent)

[Buffalobiian]

I'm really getting into the alternate versions in the the second OST. The medly was good, though not quite as good as what I remembered from ep25.

Anyway, here's the OST artwork as the link didn't come with one (again:().

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3926/401590nx5.jpg

[Psyke]

Sheryl Nome aka May'n is coming to Singapore for a event, and will be singing songs from the album. I'm still thinking whether I should attend. I'd definately go if Nakashima Megumi's coming too.

[Besu]

Finally watch this searies and msut say i enjoyed it. Though the most exciting part was between eps 6-12 for me it still had a good ending.

Can never get used to the 'hero' not being able to choose his girl.

[Ryllharu]

Thinking back to the final episode, there was a line where Alto said that they were "both his wings," so it may be a harem ending after all. If Sheryl and Ranka can learn to share Alto, everyone would be happy.

[Besu]

Thinking back to the final episode, there was a line where Alto said that they were "both his wings," so it may be a harem ending after all. If Sheryl and Ranka can learn to share Alto, everyone would be happy.

But didn't Sheryl accept Ranka's challenge at the end. But I hope it's possible for me :P

[Buffalobiian]

Accepting the challenge means seeing Ranka as a worthy rival, not a worthy threesome candidate.

Edit: Or does it? I remember something similar happening in a doujin, where Sheryl accepts Ranka's "challenge" :rolleyes:

[EpyonNext]

But didn't Sheryl accept Ranka's challenge at the end. But I hope it's possible for me :P

Yes she did. To quote it(from the gg subs):

Ranka: Um...Sheryl. I wont loose. In song, or in love!
Sheryl: I accept your challenge!

Buffalo is on point with this one though, basically you have the trappings of a romantic comedy in the making imo.

[Ryllharu]

Accepting the challenge means seeing Ranka as a worthy rival, not a worthy threesome candidate.
Two different points of view. Sheryl and Ranka want to win out over the other one, but Alto doesn't really seem to care, and seems to prefer to have both of them at once. :D

Hence, "If Sheryl and Ranka can learn to share Alto..."

I quoted Alto to begin with.

[Buffalobiian]

Besides the upcoming movie that will be a theatrical adaptation of the TV series, a second movie has been announced that will have a new story and fresh music

http://myanimelist.net/anime/7222/Macross_Frontier_Second_Movie

I'm looking forward to it.

[Ryllharu]

I think that this merits some discussion, but not in the thread it was in.


[Not a spoiler here]: Didn't [Sheryl] carry an infectious, incurable disease? That always made me think her quite... not so sexy.

I don't think it was ever clear that the V-type infection of Vajra parasites was actually contagious. If you're born with them in your blood, as Ranka was since her mother was infected, they settle in your abdomen. If you get infected due to some exposure, then flow throughout the blood and slowly kill you as they collect in the brain.

But they don't really leave the host body.

Nor was it clear how Sheryl was infected in the first place. She was simply found by Grace (http://randomc.animeblogger.net:8000/image/Macross/Macross%20Frontier%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2002.jpg) in a back alley living in squalor (http://randomc.animeblogger.net:8000/image/Macross/Macross%20Frontier%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2003.jpg) aboard the Galaxy Fleet, already infected. She was adopted by Dr. Nome and some of the damage done was slowed/reversed.

She never infected anyone else though (nor did Ranka), leading me to believe it is more like respiratory diseases, created by the conditions one is in rather than a specific vector. They seemed to be only passed by mother to child.

[Buffalobiian]

Macross Frontier The Movie - The False Songstress [BD, 720p] (http://www.nyaatorrents.org/?page=download&tid=167669)

[Kraco]

According to AniDB it's nothing but a cut and paste work of the original series. I'll pass.

[shinta|hikari]

According to AniDB it's nothing but a cut and paste work of the original series. I'll pass.

This is definitely not true.

While it had most of the original elements intact, it changed a lot of things. All new scenes lead to better character development despite the short screen time, and overall it felt like a more compact and efficient version of the series. You don't need to have watched the series to appreciate and enjoy this movie, much different from A Certain Time (Un)limited Movie.

The action is eye candy, the fanservice is plain awesome, and the changes are very welcome. Watch this.

EDIT: I hated Ranka in the original, but I'm fine with her on this one. Sheryl was, well, delicious. Gochisou sama deshita.

[Illrenmazou]

[Commie] Macross Frontier the Movie ~Sayonara no Tsubasa~ [66AE8F11].mkv (http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=255972) - 3.8 GB

[Commie] Macross Frontier the Movie ~Sayonara no Tsubasa~ [BD 5.1 FLAC] [3AD13563].[B]mka (http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=255973) - 1.2 GB

Is .mka a new container or just a typo?

[Marik]

Is .mka a new container or just a typo?

The second link that ends in mka is just a sound file. It's for those that wish to have FLAC audio instead of AAC audio. Notice the lack of resolution in the filename.

[Commie] Macross Frontier the Movie ~Sayonara no Tsubasa~ [BD 720p AAC]: Torrent (http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=256072) | DDL (http://www.fileserve.com/file/w8k3JEC)

[KrayZ33]

According to AniDB it's nothing but a cut and paste work of the original series. I'll pass.

thats not true, I havn't watched the movie but I watched an AMV lately which featured a lot of new scenes too

http://vimeo.com/29552962

and I'm pretty certain that it tells a "different" story... or from different perspectives, or something like that
well to sum it up, new scenes.

[Ryllharu]

These movies are an excellent supplement to the Frontier tv series. A must watch for any Macross Frontier fan...or any Macross fan. If you think you don't need to watch them because you watched the series...reconsider. They're very different.

This was a really dense movie. A lot goes on, and then I realized it had only been 25 minutes!

----------------------

Just like I always liked Ranka's squishy frog phone, I equally love that Sheryl's is a taiyaki. It just seems so out of place when compared to the way she prefers to act in front of the public or at performances. Of course, it perfectly fits with the way she acts in front of Alto, which is how she really is.

The shot of Sheryl's room with her staring longingly at a picture of Alto in Kabuki onnagata getup. :3 Then Alto's Kabuki flashback...with a young Sheryl happily watching, entranced (So cute~). It also served as a good explanation for why Sheryl got into singing, aside from the previously nebulous reason of being adopted into the Nome family.

One of the best parts was that Alto got to play a much more active role in the final battle, rather than just rescuing a songstress and making the final shot. He was a vital part of the battle's success.

Also very interesting that Grace and others offer to cure Sheryl by having her undergo cybernization. I liked the reference to Sheryl and Alto's conversation in the tv series that her being fully human as a point of pride (and marketing) despite the trend toward cybernetic enhancement aboard Galaxy.

I'm a little bit disappointed they still went with making Grace and her cohorts evil. I was starting to like the twist in the previous movie where the leaders of Frontier were using the vajra as a political weapon against Galaxy, and Grace seemed like one of the good people. Someone who (on some level) legitimately cared for Sheryl's wellbeing and the wellbeing of those aboard Galaxy. In the tv series, Grace had become an evil caricature by the end. Then again, I really liked the way they made Grace come off as much more manipulative here. She showed concern for Sheryl while slowly, slowly achieving her own ends. They didn't have much build up before in the series, Grace just suddenly announced her evilness. The movie version is done so much better. Even more interesting is how the takeover of Frontier went for her. We got to finally see what Grace's compatriots now look like. It makes a lot of sense really. They'd do anything to see their idea through.

Even when she's beaten down, Grace is still Grace though. Her ambition is what makes her great. I was glad for the final turnaround though, even if it was a little cheesy.

Ranka's concert definitely got some influence from Sheryl's style, but the little fairies breaking off everywhere reminded me a lot of Sharon Apple's style. A nice touch, the same way Sheryl's concert in the tv series pulled influence from there.

The movie further emphasized the comparison of the VF-27 Lucifer as the successor to the YF-21 (with its brain-link control system) and the VF-25 Messiah as the successor to the YF-19. Loved the VB-6 König Monster having Sheryl and Ranka painted on. The YF-29 is kinda bullshit though. Macross 7 kind of bullshit.

Cute visual reference to the tv series Opening song and romantic theme of the series on the rooftop of the hospital. Triangular indeed. Too bad Leon had to ruin it by actually pointing it out.

Overall, this movie is extremely brutal politically. I love it.

The Valkyrie sleeps while she guides her warrior back across the rainbow bridge...

I'll always like Ranka...I just like Sheryl way more.


Random tidbits:
- Goth loli Alto...
- The Alcatraz concert is without a doubt a Fire Bomber reference (Macross 7). Still looks ridiculous.
- There wasn't enough Klan, but Klan and Mikhail both survived this time!
- Ozma Lee, total Ultimate badass.
- The Quarter surfing...not badass.
- I'm still not sure why Vajra explode.

[oyabun]

I will watch this.

[shinta|hikari]

SHERYL WINS, NUFF SAID.

[EpyonNext]

I got goosebumps every time they started singing.

This movie was outstanding.

Edited for my stupid fucking grammar.

Also:

- The Quarter surfing...not badass.

1039

It was super dimensional badass

[shinta|hikari]

I'm just glad it had a happy ending. I was terrified at the thought of tragedy while watching the credits roll.

[Ryllharu]

It was super dimensional badassWhen I was writing that post up, I originally had in the quote from the tv series about, "I'll show you why as ship this size carries the name 'Macross'!" (paraphrasing). Then they started surfing on the debris rather than just plunging into the atmosphere like a champ (maybe with its arms crossed (http://static.hlj.com/images/kyd/kyd010407.jpg) too...).

'Twas no Daedalus Attack moment, that's for sure.

[shinta|hikari]

I thought it was pretty cool, but not something I would proudly recommend to non-fans.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought it was pretty cool, but not something I would proudly recommend to non-fans.

I would have liked it better if they used a little surfing to dodge a few beams, but the entire time it looked like they could even gain altitude with that piece of rock - that I disliked.

Ozma coughed up blood after taking a shitload of bullets from Brera head-on, but looking fine when he rescues Sheryl was perhaps the most jarring inconsistency for me in this movie..but

We finally got an answer from Alto: Sheryl one. Cool movie.

(yah.. finally getting my backlog moving again!)

[Ryllharu]

Latest re-run of Macross Frontier ended with the announcement of a new TV anime in development (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-26/macross-science-fiction-anime-franchise-gets-new-tv-series). New Macross series in the works!

New pop songs to listen to, new VF models for Buff to buy!