Friday, August 1, 2025

Macross 7 Part 8 Episodes 36-40

Mysterious ruins are unearthed on Planet Lux.  Within lies the history of Protoculture as well as a message that could help defeat the Protodevlin once and for all.  But Geppernich isnt about to let Humanity gain the upper hand and soon Planet Lux becomes a battleground once more.  Meanwhile, Basara and Gigil’s mission to protect a recovering Sivil leads to unexpected revelations that could change the direction of the conflict between Humanity and the Protodevlin.  But with war on the horizon, will Basara’s music be used for peace or destruction?

What’s most frustrating about this kick off to the final stretch of Macross 7 is that the story is gaining some momentum now.  It’s not a good story and you know my feelings on the cast pretty well by now.  But the trains moving now with minimal filler or pointless Fire Bomber antics.  Still, doesn’t change the fact that Macross 7 is still a shadow of it’s legendary parent series and the flaws still outweigh the positives.  But you know what, to change it up a bit, let’s talk about those positives first.
 
The ruins unearthed by Basara and Gigils restoration of Sivil (cause we can add excavation to the list of things Basara’s music can accomplish) offered something that maybe should have been the original mission of the Macross 7 in the first place: a full history of the Protoculture.  For those who don’t recall, or maybe are familiar with the term as a power source in Robotech, the Protoculture are the first humanoid civilization to exist in the universe.  They not only were the first to form a society and culture theyre both the ancestors of Humanity and the original creators of the Zentradi.  In all the space faring missions since the Zentradi War, why haven’t we heard of missions to learn more about these guys?  This temple is a heckuva find and the murals inside are gorgeous.  Top it all off, Exedore gets off the Macross to investigate himself.  I’ve always been curious if he’s always standing or sitting on the bridge since all we see is his head but still it’s nice to see the Zentradi Archivist doing what he does best again. 
 
Like I said, a journey to learn more about the Protoculture and maybe even find a long lost tribe of them would make for a great Macross story.  But that would be smartly written and Macross 7 is all about not being intelligent.  Which brings us to a rather small for once Basara BS List.  I’ve been annoyed he’s been allowed to wander Lux with an important piece of military hardware and that the Macross has been lucky enough that the Protodevlin didn’t seem to bother much with them while he was gone (along with Mylene and Gamlin).  Personally, I’m more than sick and tired of Basara’s voice and music being the answer for literally everything in this series.  It’s not that I think it isnt necessary to deal with the Protodevlin but there’s something about entrusting the fate of mankind to someone like Basara without cause for concern that bugs me.  Dammit I hate it when I halfway wanna agree with Barton about relying too much on a wild card like Basara but he’s in the wrong too (more on that in a moment).  I wont lie though, I so wanted Basara’s mech to break down after he refused to let it get repaired while a battle was going on.  I guess Fire Bomber cant to anything without him, poor Mylene.
 
I’m honestly surprised over 40 episodes in and NOW everyones super worried about the Protodevlin.  These guys have been inside City 7 for ages now. The fleets been under constant attacks.  But oh now that Planet Lux has been destroyed, NOW you wanna advocate for all out war?  Not like this is a smart move either and I hate that Macross 7’s entire military structure is on board with it.  Hey I don’t like putting the fate of the fleet in Basara’s hands but it’s not like anything else has worked against the Protodevlin so far and anything conventional isnt going to get the job done.  Basara may be oblivious to a lot of things when he sings in battle but the fact that Max cant overrule his fellow commanders, even in a majority vote, the Macross is really in trouble now and they’re gonna do more harm than good before this is all over.  Bravo Max, you truly are good at your job.
 
One major event in this set is the death of Gigil.  I have mixed feelings on this.  He’s the first major character to be killed off in a while but how am I supposed to feel when Gigil’s been Sivil’s single minded fanboy/bodyguard/obsessive stalker right up until the moment of his demise?  Ok his and Basara’s forced cooperation led to the revelation that the Protodevlin might react to Basara’s music.  Idk, Gigil’s been less of a menace and more of an annoyance in Macross 7.  His Sivil obsession got old real quick, especially when screaming her name became half of his spoken dialogue.  It’s just hard for me to care about the death of a character who hasn’t done much in a while besides stand in a forest and watch Basara sing while occasionally collecting Spirita for Sivil.  He did blow up a planet along with Valgo (I think).  As far as declarations of love go…yeah I still cant buy Sivil being that torn up over Gigil.
 
Once again, it’s a case of some good coming out of a huge mess but the mess is still not getting cleaned up anytime soon.  Macross 7 presented a case for a very different direction the show could have taken but instead settled on The Adventures of Hard Rock Jesus (and his tag alongs).  Seriously, listening to Exedore explain the Protoculture history is the most invested in any kind of dialogue spoken in Macross 7.  Why isnt there more of this…and better action…and better characters?  Well we’re too far in to ask those questions now.  It’s time to finish this abysmal sucker so buckle up because Next Monday it’s the beginning of the (merciful) end of Macross 7 right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

No comments:

Post a Comment