Generally, most people hate Monday. It’s the beginning of the week and depending on how your weekend has gone, it can just be a drag to go back to work. Macross probably hates Mondays more than anyone right now because holy crap…it was not a good Monday at all. Akira level explosions, new arrivals stirring up all kinds of annoying feelings, and Hikaru being forced to say goodbye to not one but two important figures in his life. The only upside is that Hikaru might be letting go of some unnecessary baggage that hasn’t been doing him good for a long time. Anyway, onto the long list of sadness for this set of Macross episodes.
It's hard to get to into things without addressing the biggest shocker of Macross thus far: the death of Roy Focker. Roy has been one of the shows most popular characters: a true maverick who was fun loving and deadly serious in battle but also a big softie. He was a strong source of support for his “little brother” Hikaru and a caring and fun boyfriend to Claudia. Losing him hurts, not just because he’s gone but because, for whatever reason, he never sought medical attention for his wounds. So we knew this was coming after Roy landed back on the ship. Hikaru and Claudia’s shocked faces speak a thousand words and emotions and Roy is gonna be missed greatly. The loss of Kakizaki is pretty substantial too and is treated with as much reverence as Roy. Macross proved that in war, anyone can bite it at any time, even those with a good sense of humor and a kind heart like Kakizaki. And his death, being caught in that aforementioned Akira sized explosion was just as brutal as Roy’s slow burn demise. I feel like we’ve passed the point where anyones card could be up at any time, which is sad but effective since I’ve come to care for the bulk of the Macross’ unlucky but never giving up crew.
Well the drama with the UN Spacey continued and in light of the Macross accidentally destroying a city when it’s barrier system went haywire, they’ve decreed that they don’t just want the Macross to play decoy against the Zentradi, they want it off the Earth PERIOD!!! Hikaru and Misa already got caught up in a near riot when the civilians figured out they weren’t going to be allowed off the ship before this all went down. I still call BS on the UN Spacey not allowing at least the civilians to be let off of the ship and I’m glad Global fought as hard as he could for them. You never expect someone who looks so gruff like a veteran to show emotion when he’s forced to tell the citizens they are being exiled from their homeplanet. It’s one of the things I like about Global: he’s a military man who can make hard decisions but not without good reason. The UN Spacey cant keep the mystery of the Macross and the forthcoming Alien onslaught a secret forever. I cant believe im looking forward to seeing it blow up in their faces while the Macross and her beloved crew hopefully come out more intact.
Poor Hikaru was in rough shape this set. Even before the deaths of Roy and Kakizaki, Hikaru was injured in an attack executed by Misa and put into a coma in the hospital. While he was there, Hikaru had a spiritual journey that was more or less an excuse for a clip show (our second in like 4 episodes after Global’s Report in the last set). The episode played with events, making them all come down to a deep dive about where Hikaru stands with Minmay. Basically the message has been the same that’s been practically yelling at him in silence: Minmay is not the girl for Hikaru. The fact that she’s so obsessed with her stardom and show little concern or interest for Hikaru being in battle or the ongoing war AND her obsession with her extreme pacifistic cousin Kaifun…yeah Minmay just off in her own little world most times and Hikaru shouldn’t be fighting for a place in it. The dream sequence did end with Hikaru revisiting his kiss with Misa. Good on Misa to visit HIkaru and apologize for putting him in the hospital. It was the beginning of several rather chill scenes between the two. The bickering has died down but Misa is also aware Hikaru is mourning the loss of his big brother just as Claudia is mourning her lover. Unlike Minmay, who doesn’t seem to care (is she even aware Roy is dead), Misa is up to date and there for the up and coming Hikaru, who received Roy’s plane and job as overall squadron leader in his stead. Now if only Misa could drop the whole “Kaifun looks just like Riber” angle, she’d be in completely good shape.
On the Zentradi side of things, while Kamjin continued to whine about not being able to go all out on the Macross, other developments were taking place that will change this side of the story completely. First there’s Mirya, the beautiful Zentradi Ace. She’s found a rival who can actually best her in battle…Max. Yep, one of the better sequences this set involved them engaging in a dogfight that took them into Macross City itself and Max totally had Mirya in an uneasy, losing position. So now Miriya is volunteering for micronization so can extract her revenge in person…if she can find out who Max is and what he looks like…baby steps. Meanwhile Bretai returned to the story to pick up Loli, Conda and Warera from their long term spy mission. It’s clear their experiences on the Macross have changed them. Between good food, not bad music and starting to win the affections of the Macross’ three Bridge Bunnies: Vanessa, Kim and Shammy, the Zentradi trio didn’t want to leave and their sadness was genuine. Once back with the fleet, however, they delivered their report to Bretai, along with some micro human items they brought back from Macross. The most important scene, however, was the trio showing some of their fellow soldiers their Minmay dolls and music discs. The soldiers are loving Minmay’s music just like the citizens of Macross. I can see this spreading like wildfire and upsetting the entire Zentradi order…but I know that’s a good thing. Loli, Conda and Warera have shown that not all Zentradi are flat out evil. They’ve just been soldiers for too long they’ve forgotten what peace and happiness looks like without an explosion. The return of Protoculture to their civilization has been a long time coming.
And so, the Macross heads back into space with Minmay telling them to not lose hope (probably the only useful thing she’s done in forever) and leaves two beloved characters behind. Protoculture returns to the Zentradi and Hikaru takes his place at the forefront of the Valkyrie defense forces. We’re now at the halfway mark of Macross and all bets are off on anything that comes next. What does come next? Well you know soon enough when we return to Super Dimension Fortress Macross on Friday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner. See ya then.
No comments:
Post a Comment