Okay, this episode was fair enough. It did a good job in pointing out the inexperience of the two main leads. I don’t like how easily Alto managed to learn to perfectly control his craft, but at least he still doesn’t understand tactics yet. What also surprised me was that Ranka didn’t end up winning the miss Macross Frontier-contest. At that point, things seemed so obvious that I thought that the creators were just trying to give her an important role in a quick way, but thank god I was wrong, and the creators turn out to be a bit more subtle than that. After all, it’s probably the first time she sang in front of such a huge audience, she felt out of place, she was full of nerves. It would have been a very glaring plot-hole if she did end up winning that contest.
This episode also introduces a bunch of new characters, among which a big-boobed giant with bright blue hair who can turn into a little girl whenever she’s not piloting. She offers another hint as to why Ranka’s special: her brother rescued her ten years ago from god knows where, so who knows what happened in her past? At the same time, this giant, when she’s in little-girl form also has bright hair that has a mind of its own and it’s just as brightly coloured. They could be of the same “race”.
We also learn that Saotome’s father is some kind of famous person, though they seem to hate each other. No sign of his mother yet, if I’m not mistaken. This episode also introduces a human factor in the enemies, as this time, a manned mecha comes to attack Macross Frontier. One thing I hope for this series is that it’ll provide enough attention to these “bad guys”, and doesn’t focus too much of its screen time on Ranka, Alto and Sheryl. I’ve seen many series that screwed up with their villains, simply because these people weren’t fleshed out enough. A damn shame.
In other news, the animation was different from usual. It seemed much messier than the previous three episodes. I like this kind of animation; it makes the characters feel alive, rather than a bunch of drawings in a series that just uses minimal animation.
Now by same race you mean Zentradi right. I think it’s been stated that Ranka is 1/4 Zentradi already, and Klein is already clearly a Zentradi or Meltlandi if you want to get technical.
“a manned mecha comes to attack Macross Frontier.”
It’s an exercise I think, not true ennemies ^^
Alto’s a flight school kid, so it’s not completely out there to believe he might have some innate talent… which is/was honed by his training with the EX-Gear suits too (and they apparently use a similar interface to that of the Valkyries). This is better than Hikaru in a way, as the former hadn’t up till that point even imagined anything like the Valkyrie system existing. Plus, Ozma did mention in episode 3 that he rescued (or rather, failed to save Ranka’s real family) as a pilot some ten years back… so that’s not news.
And the Meltrandi… well, Klein’s definitely Meltrandi/Meltlandi, and biologically of the same race as Ranka (except it appears her grandfather was Zentran/Zentradi). As for the Vajra, they’re not exactly ‘people’ and may end up being the ‘unknowable and very alien monsters’, so their lack of ‘fleshing out’ is probably understandable… but I would like to see what their connection is with Ranka, and why they picked now to attack the Frontier fleet.
Zentradi/Meltrandi (Male/Female) can be micronized into human side but for Klein Klan due to genetic defects she ends up as a little girl… poor Michael.. looks like he’s going to have to do a Max from DYRL and become bigger if he ends up being paired with her.
And what did you mean by manned mecha? It was just another Varja like from the first 3 episodes and before that it was a training excerise between Skull Squadron and those 3 Meltrandi’s who are probably attached to them anyway..
If you’re having trouble with the terminology you could quickly check out Do You Remember Love, will make things a lot easier for you. It’s not needed but it can help.
Ah, that was my mistake, I thought that a training-mission was supposed to be an enemy. Still, I do hope that the enemy of this series will be more than the random Varja that attack the Frontier Fleet.
Is it wrong to declare that I love Klein already due to her… interesting relationship with Mikhail so far (strangling, going psycho when teased) and for looking remarkably good in a flight suit when in her normal size and being introduced?
@Westlo: From the look of his ears, Mikhail is probably at least half Zentradi, so ‘rising to the occasion’ might not be such an issue for him, if he does end up paired with Klien…
Asides from her inexperience, perhaps there is also another reason for Ranka’s loss at the contest. I don’t know if it was just me, but one of the judges seemed to have pulled some strings – notice that scene when the military personnel whispers something to another one of the judges, who seems to be connected with the running of the contest. I have a nagging feeling that Ranka has a larger hidden role due to her tragic history, but I’m going to sit tight and wait for the next release before I count the chickens.
Kuroba: That’s Leon, who was also reviewing Ranka’s file in Episode 2. We don’t know what her role is with the Vajra, but every time she’s sung we also coincidentally see an attack take place, except for the end of Episode 3.
This show is very Macross-y. So far, it seems to be channeling a lot of the core of the original which, in this case, is a Very Good Thing. Lovin’ it. Good nostalgic value too.