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.
So I’ll give the show this, I can totally understand how
truly pissed off everyone in the Frontier is after the Vajra attack on their
home soil.
Resources are dwindling,
hundreds are dead, and there’s no way the fleet can survive much longer.
The need for payback I get, so much so that
the people are even galvanized by Leon’s declaration of a “Holy War” against
the Vajra (cause of course he’d call it that).
What I can’t really get behind is Alto.
Yes, he’s lost his best friend and with all the stuff happening with
Ranka and Sheryl, he wants to protect his home more than ever.
But when Ranka, the person he admits her
joined the SMS to protect, the girl he has stuck his neck out for time and time
again, tells him that there’s more to the Vajra that it seems and they need to
act on it…WHY THE HELL IS ALTO SUDDENLY SO HOSTILE!!!???
It’s stuff like this that hampers the overall
finale for me.
Granted, Alto not joining
the Quarter Frontier crew has to do with staying behind to protect Sheryl but
come on man, you shouldn’t discount Ranka’s opinion like that just to satisfy
your thirst for revenge.
He does get his
act together by the end but yeah of the three leads Alto isnt shown in the most
flattering light for much of the finale.
There’s also the matter of the villains and their final
agendas.
Neither Leon or Grace ever rose
to the true levels of threats like the classic Zentradi or Sharon Apple from
Macross Plus (but at least Grace is easier on the eyes than any of the
Protodevlin, even Sivil)).
I mean
universal domination is always a big problem but both of these characters came
off more as posers than big name threats.
I still don’t even get what Grace even was.
Yes she was a researcher from Ranka’s home
fleet who often clashed with her mother and Dr. Mao over her theories on the
Vajra but what about the other personalities she was conversing with?
Were they also digitized conspirators from
the Macross Galaxy fleet?
And as for
Leon, well dude was a poser who got super lucky the entire show with his plots
and if there’s one definite letdown it’s that we didn’t see him get what was
coming to him after his blink and you’ll miss it arrest.
Alright, enough gripping, onto the good stuff and there
was A LOT of good stuff.
The second the
Battle of the Vajra Homeworld kicked in, Macross Frontier pulled out all of the
stops.
The dogfights were intense and
Studio Nue was working overtime to pull off a lot of these incredible 3D
visuals (seriously this is one of the best uses of 3D in a mecha Anime
ever).
The sight of three Macross type Battleships
going at it also gave off Pacific Rim vibes with a special emphasis on how much
effort it takes to moves these behemoths.
And, of course, all of our major pilots got moments to shine in
battle.
I especially loved Klan and Alto
using Michel’s sniper rifle for pivotal moments.
It’s good to see that despite his tragic
absence, Michel still helped his closest friends and the woman he loved win the
war.
But everything kinda pales in comparison to Sheryl and
Ranka’s battlefield duet concert.
Granted this did start off with Sheryl and Ranka going against each
other when Ranka was being manipulated by Grace and that was a good
starter.
Ranka even got to sing the
classic “Do You Remember Love?” theme from the original Macross movie.
And just when all seemed lost, that’s when
Alto got Sheryl and a freed Ranka to belt out a combination of their respective
greatest hits from throughout the series to pull the Vajra to their aid and
properly kick Grace’s Kaiju Mecha ass.
The show has benefited greatly from these two different but equally
gifted Songstresses whose music, heart and character arcs dwarf that of Lynn
Mimmei.
And while it seems kinda clear
to me that Alto chose Sheryl in the end as his true love, nothing really broke
the bond between him, Sheryl and Ranka and it’s the power of this incredible
trio that pulled through in the end (not the one man show that Basara was at
the end of Macross 7, ok, ok, I’ll save those complaints and comparisons for a
Top 5).
As far as farewell concerts go,
damn this was a gorgeous mix of song, visuals and action to cap off a pretty
well done Macross sequel, even if things just kinda end afterwards (a happy
ending but not much follow up beyond Ranka telling Sheryls shes not giving up
on Alto and Sheryl happily accepting the challenge).
Before I close out with Final Thoughts, I wanna take a
moment to acknowledge the unsung heroes of Macross Frontier: The Bridge
Crew.
It’s not that we didn’t get to see
them a lot through this show but I’ve always admired this iteration of the
command crew at the center of the battleship guarding the fleet.
Captain Jeffrey felt like a fusion of Captain
Gloval and Captain Harlock (the latter is fitting since he and his crew steal
the Macross Quarter when Leon takes over, thus making them Pirates). I always loved
the gossip between the three “Bridge Bunnies” (and Mina was so damn cute) and
effeminate main pilot Bobby (dude kick all kinds of ass piloting the ship
btw).
It did take me a second to warm to
Catherine as I felt she was misused.
I
didn’t get why she needed to be tied to the President of the Frontier cause it
didn’t amount to anything.
She could
have always been with the Bridge Crew as a sort of hybrid between Misa and
Claudia (Misa in a Secondary Command role and Claudia as she was love interest
of our Roy stand in, Ozuma).
Unlike the
incompetents of another show I said I stop talking about for now, I always felt
like the citizens of the Frontier were safe in the hands of these brave and fun
souls and I wish we’d spent more time with them throughout the series.
Final thoughts?
Macross Frontier was exactly the kind of sequel Macross that stands tall
even if it doesn’t reach the same heights as the OG Macross or Macross
Plus.
However, what it does better than
Macross II, Macross Zero and ESPECIALLY Macross 7 is find that familiar balance
between mecha carnage and character drama that made the original such a legend
and rework it with its own twists.
Alto,
Sheryl and Ranka are not the same as Hikaru, Misa and Minmei and may infact
have a stronger love triangle than those three, one that never becomes
antagonistic or one sided with a proper answer.
The action is everything from Macross Zero refined for a TV Series and
looking just as good (Zero might edge it out just a teeny bit).
And the music?
I’m still listening to the jamming tracks of
Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee as much as I am Yoko Kanno’s work from Macross
Plus.
No song ever got old or too
repetitive (even Aimo Aimo and that got used a lot) and fit the situation they
were used in nicely, even giving some scenes a music video/series trailer
vibe.
The only things that didn’t work
came down to the antagonists feeling more like posers than threats and some of
the character choices made towards the end of the series despite the
circumstances they were faced with (seriously Alto would kill Ranka if it came
down to it, hell no).
Some extra time
with the supporting cast and some extra resolution to the finale would have
been nice too but I cant fault what Macross Frontier managed to do in 25
episodes, which is give us a true TV sequel that takes everything learned from
the original and take it to…well heck why not, the next Frontier.
Macross Frontier is awarded an 8.5/10
And that concludes our Mega Mecha Summer Event
here at the Gundam Anime Corner (yes that has still been a thing even if I
haven’t mentioned if often lol). Before
we head into our chosen Horror Anime themed movies for October, a couple of
quick notes. First, there are a pair of
Macross Frontier Compilation Films (The False Songstress & The
Wings of Farewell) that apparently serve the same purpose as the original
Mobile Suit Gundam Compilation Trilogy, making them potentially very different
viewing experiences. Could make them
candidates for future reviews. Lastly,
sigh, we’re not quite done with Macross this year and I sigh because, while it
involves more Macross Frontier…it also involves going back for Macross 7. Yep, on December 31, New Years Eve,
keep an eye out for Macross FB7: Listen to My Song…or in this case
listen for the scream that will be heard from me around the world. Anyway, we still have a few months until the
return of the Horseman of the Apocalypse that is Basara Nekki. Check back Wednesday as we start off
October with Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba): The Movie-Infinity Castle
(Part 1-Akaza Returns) right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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