Super Dimension Fortress Macross Part 6 Episodes 26-30

After a year of continuous fighting, it looks like there are those on both sides of this long war calling for peace.  While some Zentradi find a strange tranquility in Minmay’s music, others see it as the ultimate weapon that could destroy them forever.  One lone Zentradi commander brings the full might of his people upon the planet Earth, setting the stage for a final showdown.  As a fire rages across the stars, Hikaru races to find Misa and tell her how he feels.  Heroes will live, worlds might die, and the crew of the Macross will never be the same again.

Well…all of that definitely just happened.  Our second to last collection of Macross episodes saw the end of one epic chapter and the surprisingly well done beginning of another.  I was nervous going into this set because I knew I’d be covering the epic showdown between Humans and Zentradi and the two year time jump that occurred right afterward.  I’ve always been skeptical about Macross’ strange 36 episode run time and wonder if it was meant to be longer, like a sort of 2 section deal totaling at around 52 or so episodes.  Now I think I’m gonna wish that was the case because much to my shock and happy surprise, Macross still has a lot of story to tell despite the outcome of everything that it’s been building towards.

I’ll just come right out and say that the 26^th and 27^th episodes of Super Dimension Fortress Macross are a perfect pair of flawless Anime outings.  They were the culmination of everything up until now and could have easily served as a pretty much perfect series finale in their own right.  Everything from Exedore getting exposed to the Macross’ culture and attempting to sing and perform a Minmay dance routine to the sight of hundreds of Valkyries hovering in front of a battle ready Macross to the ultimate fate of Earth, everything was perfectly paced and well executed.  This little finale even brought to a close the Hikaru, Misa, Minmay love triangle but sadly only for a moment.  Maybe my biggest surprise was how pivotal a role Minmay had to play and how little pushback she gave, actually, she didn’t give any at all.  She happily accepted HIkaru’s request to put on a concert during the final battle to throw off the 4.7 million strong Zentradi main fleet…and kiss her increasingly irritable cousin Kaifun.  Both Minmay and Hikaru shared a kiss prior after Hikaru finally told Minmay how he felt, but both knew that romance wasn’t in their cards.  So they both said their silent goodbyes while Minmay did what she sort of does best: put on a good show, while Hikaru found his way to Earth to save Misa once again, kind of what he does best.  Factor in some pretty crisp animation that’s kind of a taste of what you’d see in the Macross: Do You Remember Love movie, and you’ve got a damn near perfect outing that really should have been the end of Macross altogether.  I doubt anyone would have complained.

But as I said, there’s still a little more story to be told.  It’s not everyday you see an Anime come up with such a grand action set piece that could close out a show and then start up a whole new chapter to explore the aftermath…the good but mostly the bad.  As predicted, Bolddoza’s fleet went all “scorched Earth policy” on the planet, leaving everything practically barren and desolate.  Two years later, the Earth is still in a sad state, with no image hitting me harden than seeing a long dead Zentradi pilot desperately holding onto a Minmay doll still singing their most cherished song.  Sure, the Macross is grounded but her crew is still alive.  But things haven’t really gotten much better with the end of the war.  I guess it was easy to forget that while many Zentradi were excited to become part of Human society, no one stopped to think that not everyone would adjust so easily.  Now there are pockets of Earth bound Zentradi starting riots and begging to fight a non existent war again.  It really brings a tear to my eye to see all the hard work Hikaru, Misa and the others fought so hard to achieve hit such a major set back.  Sadly, Kamjin is still alive and looks to be the main gathering force for these disgruntled Zentradi.  Chances are he might be the final obstacle for the Macross to face in the finale.

So some Zentradi aren’t liking peace time, how is everyone else post time skip?  Well, everyone on the Macross is still in the military but in slightly different roles.  Misa looks to be in charge of day to day Macross operations while also taking care of Hikaru’s apartment while he’s off on missions, HIkaru’s a Captain now too.  Max and Miriya have an adorable bouncing baby girl, Komilla, but are still on active duty.  Minmay, meanwhile, is touring the wasteland with Kaifun, putting on shows for small towns.  Kaifun is drunk all the time and still blames the military for everything and is kind of even more insufferable than he was before, so much so that Minmay is starting to reevaluate things between them and suddenly realize Hikaru might be her true love.  Not that Hikaru would look to argue this since his fixation on Minmay isn’t as in the rear view as we thought.  He’s still got a photobook of her and a poster on his wall and constantly is keeping an eye out for her…all the while Misa is still by his side both on and off the battlefield, acting more like his friend than his superior than ever before.  I was really hoping Hikaru and Minmay would have gotten their crap sorted during the big Zentradi battle…but what is Macross without this love triangle, right?

With all the gloom and disarray back on Earth, it was actually fun to see Hikaru and Misa reunite with Max, Miriya, Claudia, Exedore and Bretai for a mission to capture a Zentradi battleship factory and bring it to Earth just incase renegade Zentradi or the long mentioned Supervision Army ever shows up to start another fight.  While we got another spectacular action scene with Hikaru, Max and Miriya all in the thick of it, it was worth it just to see everyone back together and having fun.  I did question Max and Miriya bringing Komilla with them on the mission.  But then I saw how happy the little tyke was around all these people and the shock value she produced when shown to the opposing Zentradi holding the factory.  It wasn’t so much a battle that followed as it was a total ass kicking…all because the Zentradi couldn’t comprehend a precious and adorable mini miclone.  Heck, Komilla made more of an impact than a repeat kiss between Hikaru and Misa, though Hikaru should not be complaining about having to kiss the woman he’s clearly meant to be with.

Honestly, I’m surprised Macross only has 6 episodes left to be covered.  The Post War Arc had a tragic air and a strong beginning that could carry on another series of Macross stories for 20 or so episodes if they wanted to.  But all good things must come to an end and it’s time to wrap up those dangling plot threads like the final battle with Kamjin and Hikaru finally making up his mind between Misa and Minmay.  Hopefully the future will look a lot brighter when we reach the final moments of Super Dimension Fortress Macross on Thursday.  See ya then.