Monday, July 21, 2025

Macross 7 Part 5 Episodes 21-25

The two halves of the Macross 7 reunite at last but their troubles are far from over.  With the Basara obsessed Sivil still running loose in City 7, the populace is still at risk of being drained of their lifeforce, or Spiritia.  As tensions rise, Max gives Ray permission to take Fire Bomber to the next level, giving the go ahead on the civilian defense team Sound Force. But the battlefield has always been Basara’s solo stage, how will his sound fare when his bandmates join him in battle?

Well we made it folks.  We’ve made it to…sigh…the half way mark of Macross 7.  Why the hell is this show 49 episodes when it’s barely done anything with its first overall 25?  And the real kicker, things are once again hitting a fever pitch with how infuriatingly bad this show can be.  Most of it, naturally falls to Basara but there’s plenty of blame to go around.  In fact it’s gotten so intolerable that I’ve begun instituting a ban on “Planet Dance.”  Anytime the song comes on, I mute the TV and let the subtitles do their thing.  Is it really that bad?  Yes, yes it is, but let’s break it down.
 
Today on the Basara BS List I’ve got major complaints to focus on.  The first is Fire Bomber getting their own mechanized squadron.  They’re supposed to be a support unit backing up the defense forces which is something I figured was in the works for a minute now.  But Max and the Military made one big mistake: allowing Basara to stay with this unit.  This is a bafoon who’s used to flying and playing solo in his own mecha.  Now he has the rest of the band and wouldn’t you know it, he’s not a team player at all.  He refuses to do maneuvers, listen at strategy meetings…he’s just being Basara and the more he is, the more I’m pissed he’s allowed to do anything.  ESPECIALLY after my biggest grievance this set.  As City 7 hurdles towards a star, Gamlin has to do repairs on the Fold System from the outside and Millia orders Basara to help…and Basara just ignores her to keep on singing to the attacking enemy…excuse me while I go scream into a pillow.  Who came up with this character and thought he was ever a good idea?
 
But as I said, my usual rage against the character that is Basara aside, the rest of Macross 7 isnt exactly picking up any slack.  Last weeks interesting new arrival, Sivil, is quickly wearing out her welcome with her wash, rinse, repeat character usage.  By that I mean, yap about Spiritia, steal Spiritia, maybe possess someone, listen to Basara’s music, sensual situations ensue, run away.  How the hell has Milia not locked City 7 down and put a massive manhunt to find Sivil and detain her or the other Aliens still hiding on board?  As much as I applaud Millia for stepping up to fly out in combat for City 7 (and still looking hot as hell in the flight suit), she’s running the city about as poorly as Max is running the Battle 7 fleet, which jumps in again at the last minute to save City 7 from the aforementioned star, plus Max being ok with Basara or anyone in Fire Bomber who isnt Mylene being part of Sound Force.  But yeah Sivil.  It would be interesting if they made her kind of a love interest for Basara to mirror the legendary cross species romance between Max and Millia from the original series…but this series doesn’t have that kind of brain power as exemplified by Basara simply existing.
 
The only bright light in this dark and depressingly annoying schlockfest continues to be Gamlin and Mylene.  Gamlin is actually growing as a character, both as a leader and as a love interest for Mylene.  It actually sucks to see him being tossed back and forth between Millia and Max’s commands cause he’s doing a better job protecting City 7 than either of them.  At least they gave him a new squad and are assigning them directly to City 7 which is something that should have been done from the get go.  He’s also trying to lighten up more around Mylene and it shows as he supports her music, even saying she has a better singing voice than Basara (which is true).  Mylene, on her own, I do go back and forth on.  Mylene’s got a ton of potential to do big things and be the real key to Sound Force’s success.  It’s too bad her bandmates only care about letting Basara do his own thing.  And there’s that pesky love triangle attempting to be setup between her, Gamlin and Basara when there is no competition, it’s an even easier decision to make than Hikaru, Misa and Minmei.  Also, calling out Mylene for using her missiles?  If Basara’s gonna complain then why do any of the Sound Force mechs have missiles besides the obvious reason.
 
Ugh, I know I said I’d try to dedicate an entire section of each review to Basara bashing but this mid point set just really pisses me off.  An idiot has become Musical Jesus while other idiots continue to run the populace of two vessels into the ground with their incompetence and the villains are too horny to do anything besides cause havoc on a regular basis.  I know I shouldn’t say this cause I know I’m just gonna be disappointed, but the cliffhanger of this set has promise: with Macross 5 going missing over a supposed perfect planet.  The good news is though, Macross 7 is halfway done.  The bad news is, it’s only halfway done…going back to screaming in the pillow, see you all Friday for more Macross 7 right here at the Gundam Anime Corner *MUFFLED SCREAM*

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