When Sheryl’s trip to the planet Galia 4 for a concert
for disgruntled Zentradi results in an uprising, it’s only the beginning of a
larger conflict to come. Buried on Galia
4 are long lost secrets that some will go to destructive lengths to keep
buried. The Frontier Fleet finds itself
in a dire battle with the Vajra while Alto must push himself to the limits to
save a captured Ranka. And as Ranka’s
musical star rises, is Sheryl’s star destined to fade away?
The midpoint of Macross Frontier sure dials up everything
to whatever your most sophisticated threat level you can name might be.
Epic battles, major revelations (or at least
further steps towards a few) and some amazing music once again coalesce to form
a solid change in direction for just about every aspect of this series from the
threat of the Vajra to how our heroes (and their shady would be allies) are
dealing with them.
Oh and we got some
good ties back to OG Macross once more that might’ve been one of my favorite
parts of the series so far.
A great deal of this weeks set took place on Galia 4 and
there’s a lot to break down.
I’ll start
with my aforementioned favorite: the Zentradi.
The 33rd Naval/Marine Zentradi Fleet was comprised of a lot of Zentradi
who had fought way back in the Zentradi War with Earth.
This continued the epilogue of the original
Macross with Zentradi both adjusting and struggling to deal with their new status
quo as many still believed they were bred for war and conquest.
It’s nice to see this hasn’t gone away and
continues to plague some Zentradi, as it should given their creation and most
of their existence.
It’s also super
amusing to see them stage a mutiny over the fact they cant hear Sheryl sing but
are even more excited when Ranka shows up.
I liked this group, especially the older Zentradi commanders and am sad
to see them go so soon as casualties of the big upheaval that happened
later.
Also shout out to Temzin, who’s
kind of a dead ringer for Macross antagonist Kamjin so no wonder he was itching
to start a fight.
But awesome Zentradi fun wasn’t all that was waiting on
Galia 4.
The discovery of an old Macross
ship, called the Global (no doubt in honor of the legendary Captain of the
original Macross), unlocked some clues to ongoing mysteries.
Most of this was centered around Ranka, who
freaked out when she saw the battleship and proceeded to do so every so often
cause this ship belonged to the Research Fleet that used to be her home.
Ranka’s always had some kind of connection to
the Vajra and it was brought to the forefront when their fleet left Galia 4 to
go wreck havoc on the Frontier Fleet (even though they were baited into it,
more on that later).
Wrecking said havoc
did give us some of the best action Macross Frontier has offered to date.
As awesome as it is, seeing Ranka bearing
some kind of emotional connection to these creatures raises new questions,
particularly why the Vajra are so hostile in the first place…and who made them
this pissed off too.
Which brings us to Grace.
As I guessed from last week, Grace is actually some kind of agent
working to have the Varja go berserk.
I’ll admit, this is still an early development but there’s plenty I
don’t get.
Firstly, Grace seems to be
more than just a cyborg as she seems to have several personalities or A.I.s
floating around inside of her and they seem to be pulling the strings of the entire
Humans vs. Vajra conflict.
They also
seem to have a vested interest in Ranka, or rather her talent for song.
Of course this is a Macross staple and
Ranka’s song does seem to have an effect on the Aliens.
I shouldn’t be too upset because the ground
work is still being laid for where this all goes but idk.
Maybe I’m just irked by all the shady behind
the scenes bs going on between Grace, her AI Illiuminati and Leon (and his
stupid villainous haircut).
What do they
gain by bringing about all of this chaos?
With all the explosions going on around and right next to
them, Alto, Ranka and Sheryl all saw major steps taken in their respective
character arcs.
I didn’t like Alto’s
Sempai telling Alto his wishes to become a pilot were masking he wanted to be
an actor.
Dude’s reaching too far cause
Alto’s love of flying is more than established and it seems his wish to be a
pilot and not a Kabuki performer is what drove him away from his father in the
first place.
Ok, Alto wants to do
something different from the family trade, big deal.
What miffed me most is that Alto’s Sempai
clearly has wishes of his own to maybe succeed Alto’s father as the leader of
their theater troupe, why is he pressuring Alto to do something he clearly is
good at but has no passion for?
Rant
aside, Alto was awesome this week, demonstrating grit, increasingly improved
combat and flight skills and he even got to live his dream of flying in a real
sky, courtesy of Sheryl bringing him with her to Galia 4.
It also looks like the gloves are coming off between
Sheryl and Ranka for Alto’s affections and maybe more than that.
With Sheryl overworked and ill, Ranka stepped
up to quell the Zentradi rebellion and that shot her popularity higher into the
stratosphere.
Sheryls clearly affected
by this and the stage is set for her jealousy to kick in now that Ranka’s in
more demand than she is.
This was kind
of inevitable.
Sheryl may have been
supportive of Ranka’s rise but she’s still the biggest musical name in the
galaxy and she prides herself on that.
To see her throne threatened isnt going to do good things for Sheryl’s
mindset.
Still, these two can pull off
sweet, sweet music together as they performed an improved duet of “What About
My Star” with Alto in the middle both confused and amazed.
This was coupled with a great montage of all
the romantic and tender moments Alto has shared with Ranka and Sheryl.
It couldve been a music video and just
continues to show why these three are, in my eyes, rising to rival two of the
best love triangles in all of Macross.
BTW Episode 15 turned out to kind of be a Clip Show but
guess what, I don’t have any complaints.
Some of it was recapping yes but there were added details such as
Grace’s report and deeper reasoning for attaching to Sheryl in the first
place.
There was also a lot of new
footage of the aftermath of the battle with the Vajra that left the fleet
pretty banged up.
Best of all though,
the recap portions were mixed so well with the music.
Sheryl’s incredible “Welcome to my Fan Clubs
Night” could have been a trailer for the Macross Frontier series itself while
that aforementioned duet with Sheryl and Ranka could have been a music
video.
So you’ve got dialogue that
enhances details of what we’ve seen, great music and the plot progressing
without any pause, THIS IS HOW YOU DO A CLIP SHOW PEOPLE!!!!
Suffice to say, this might’ve been the best set of
Macross Frontier episodes so far.
The
first half of the series concluded with a devastating battle that’s left the
fleet scarred and our trio of leads all at a crossroads in their lives.
Plus you’ve got that deepening conspiracy of
whatever Leon, Grace and their mysterious cohorts have got going on.
However you slice it, Macross Frontier has
hit its afterburners hard and I cant wait to see what’s next.
We’ll find out what that is with more Macross
Frontier Next Monday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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