Macross Frontier Part 5 Episodes 21-25

Chaos engulfs the Frontier Fleet as Leon’s coup d’etat begins during a devastating Vajra invasion.  Having lost Michel and with Ranka in enemy hands, Alto must pull himself together to retake the fleet and finish the fight.  Sheryl must also contend with an uncertain fate and play her part in the battle to come.  The hearts and souls of Alto, Sheryl and Ranka are the last chance Humanity has at a peaceful end to this war and to make the ones who started it pay for it as the Macross Frontier reaches its journeys end.

There were moments during these final five episodes of Macross Frontier where I felt the show was stumbling at the finish line.  In fact while I have had my gripes here and there, most of my overall complaints for the story fell in maybe 2-2.5 episodes of content.  Thankfully, Macross Frontier isnt Macross 7 and actually manages to overcome these hurdles to produce a pretty kick ass finale that definitely saved the best action, music and character moments for last.
 

FIF#244-Gad Guard

In the future, Earth resources have almost totally run out and Humanity is in a state of stagnation.  Hajiki Sanada is a child of the new world, barely making ends meet with his family in one of the lowest dumps of Unit 74.  Everything changes when a delivery gone awry causes Hajiki to end up with a special piece of tech called a GAD.  In an instant, a new breed of robot, the Iron Giant, is born.  Now Hajiki is being targeted by everyone wanting to get their hands on this mech.  Luckily, he’s not the only one with a Robot like this and soon Hajiki finds the world around him changing as fast as his ever evolving mecha.

 
Today’s FIF entry comes as a request from a friend and we’re heading back to the early 2000s where Digipaint Anime reigned supreme.  Not only that but Gad Guard feels like a series trying to sort out a bit of an identity crisis.  It’s scifi/mecha/dystopia for sure but the more I watched the first episode the more I found it was trying to do a lot with its first 23 minutes of run time.  In fact, to me, there’s a lot going on but none of it is interesting.  Hopefully my friendship with this friend remains intact after this one.
 

T5W#528-Top 5 Anime Supergirls

Yesterday marked the 66^th Anniversary of the debut of one of my all time favorite superheroines: Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl.  While the Girl of Steel has had a pretty healthy life in comics, TV and film, her popularity is on the rise once more as Mily Alcock takes on the cape and costume in James Gunn’s DC Universe, having made a surprise cameo appearance at the end of the new Superman movie in the lead up to her solo film adventure next year.  Now Anime is no stranger to beautiful, costume clad power houses who can punch holes through mountains but how many of them are on the same level as Supergirl herself?  It was an interesting question I asked myself and decided to use it as the basis of today’s Top 5 Wednesday as I pick out the Top 5 Anime Supergirls.  Couple of ground rules first: 1. No Magical Girls, Supergirls powers are biology based for the most part though augmented humans can be applicable (also Sailor Moon would hands down win).  2. All applicants can at least fly, have super strength or possess extreme durability.  Much like Superboy in some iterations, not every Supergirl has the same power set so I’m flexible in terms of what these ladies can do.  With that in mind, onto the Top 5.

Macross Frontier Part 4 Episodes 16-20

With her music proving effective against the Vajra, Ranka finds herself on an even higher pedestal as she’s hailed the next Lynn Minmei.  Meanwhile, Alto deals with the revelation of the importance of the Vajra to the fleet while Sheryl receives ominous news from someone she thought she could trust.  While it looks like the Frontier Fleet could be in the clear, theyre anything but as a ship wide conspiracy prepares its own endgame, just as the Vajra close in for a final confrontation.

This weeks penultimate set of Macross Frontier episodes breezed along at a nice, steady pace but did hit some turbulence here and there and some of that involves problems I’ve had with a couple of things up until this point.  Luckily, when it comes to the action and the core trio of the show, the show is as reliable as ever and man did Alto, Sheryl and Ranka get put through an emotional ringer, putting them all in prime, important positions for the finale.  Let’s get into what worked and what didn’t work about arguably the most important chapter of Macross Frontier thus far.
 

FIF#243-Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective

At the Tenikai General Hospital, the lives of dozens hang in the balance daily.  For Doctor Ameku Takao, most of those cases can be solved in seconds.  It’s the more mysterious illnesses with no clear cure or answer that really intrigue her.  Together with her hand chosen staff, Ameku leads the Investigative Pathology unit, using unpredictable and unorthodox methods to solve mysteries and maybe save a few lives in the process.

 
Maybe it’s my immense love for Apothecary Diaries but when a random title comes across my feed about a Doctor who (no pun intended) happens to be a cutie, it might merit a first episode peak.  Unlike Apothecary Diaries though, Ameku MD is a modern day medical drama featuring a main character who bears a very, let’s just say uncomfortable resemblance to another infamously beloved Anime menace.  And lets just say by the end of the first episode, I’m not sure I’d trust this Doctor Detective with my life much less anyone elses.