As Walkure and Delta Flight mourn a terrible loss,
Windermere launches an all out offensive, using the power of the Protoculture
Ruins to claim more systems in the Globular Cluster with little
resistance. The war seems to be coming
to a head as all eyes fall to the last free planet of the system: Ragna.
Combining what forces are left in their military, the Macross Elysium launches
into battle, with Delta Flight and Walkure taking point as the ultimate battle
with Windermere begins.
So here’s the thing I’m starting to slowly realize about
Macross Delta. My feelings towards it have so far been positive.
The more I watch though, I still mostly feel
that way but not in a mind blown “this is awesome” kind of way.
It’s more of a “It’s…ok” kind of way.
IDK maybe part of the reason I feel more
positively about Macross Frontier is because I watched it after the horendeous
Macross 7 and it was a major breathe of fresh air and relief.
Delta tries to continue in the same vein but
it’s just fine, not terrible but not quite on Frontier’s level either.
Let’s breakdown why this weeks set has me
more on the fence than before and my concerns going forward.
Messer’s sendoff was easily one of Macross Delta’s best
moments.
Despite his stand off and cold
nature, Messer had the best intentions of his teammates always at the front of
his mind.
He even took daily notes on
how best everyone could improve their flight techniques while also making sure
to point out where everyone was succeeding as well, even with Hayate.
He really did get the classic Roy Focker
demise as it shook everyone to their core.
We saw Walkure working out cause most of them blame themselves for their
music not being able to protect Messer.
Hayate had to grapple with losing a guy he thought hated him but came to
respect him.
And hell, everyone had
regrets about not doing enough to stop Messer from flying into battle in the
first place.
Most surprising, even Keith
had to tell Bogue to STFU when he tried to insult Messer’s memory: respect the
opponent Douchebag.
It all came down to
a nice little Ragnan remembrance ritual complete with a nice little water model
of Messer’s fighter and while I hate Fire Bomber’s legend, Chuck’s siblings
singing “Remember 16” was welcome too.
This was a Macross death celebrated right.
The Battle of Ragna marked the halfway mark of the series
and it had a lot going on, and I mean a lot.
From Windermere suddenly deciding to press their advantage to the
arrival of a shady New UN Spacey representative, mixed in with all the action,
it was a lot to take in and keep track of.
And even through our heroes ultimately lost this battle, it was still a
pretty damn good one.
First you had the
Macross Elysium launch and my God, the sight of a Macross launching never
ceases to amaze (it even has a seamless transformation).
Hayate, Mirage and Freya all stepped up under
the circumstances too.
Freya’s leap of
faith to save Hayate unlocked his flight potential and he was able to kick
Keith’s ass properly as payback for Messer (though Keith did survive, more on
that later).
The Elysium even got to
bring out the big guns on the Windermereans.
Honestly, it kind of feels like the show could have ended right here
with this battle and an extended episode.
Sadly, we’re not done yet and that’s both a good and bad thing.
It’s a good thing because there’s still a lot of
unanswered questions such as that damn crater on Windermere.
They blame the New UN Spacy (Not sure why but
I refuse to call them NUNS) for dropping a Dimension Eater on their planet
(even have footage of the plane that did the deed in a very eerie style
reminiscent of the Hiroshima bombing).
But there’s a lot more to this than is being shared.
Heck I even have the feeling someone from
Windermere may have carried out the act themselves to propel the planet closer
to war with the entire galaxy (my money’s on Roid).
Then again, we did meet Lauri Marin, an
officer in the New UN Spacey Military who is shifty as all get out.
He could have had the bomb dropped to
accelerate his own plans involving the Protoculture ruins.
That’s all I have now though: Theories.
This show is tip toeing around the real
secret behind this massive electric hole in the ground of Windermere and much
like some things in Macross past: I don’t think the actual reason is going to
be worth the wait.
As for the Windermereans themselves, they are still the
most boring villains in the entire franchise.
They are barely compelling, mostly filled with nothing but bloodlust and
hot air and still cant seem to ever not insert “Wind” or “The Wind” into every
other sentence out of their mouth.
And
now with the entire cluster under their control, they’re so into their “we’re
the chosen successors to the Protoculture” mentality that they’re going to go
beyond the cluster and just wipe out all of Humanity and their allies.
Now on the one hand, Windermereans have an
average lifespan of 30, hence why many of them are in such a rush for conquest
or revenge or whyever the hell theyre launching this little war of theirs.
Even Heinz is so indoctrinated by their
manifest destiny mentality that’s he’s all on board with Roid’s declaration of
intergalactic war.
There’s manipulation
up the wazoo with all of this and it never ceases to make Windermere look like
idiots, up there with the likes of the Protodevlin from Macross 7 or Leon and
Grace from Macross Frontier.
After the Battle of Ragna was over and before the
Windermereans declaration of escalating war, we spent some time with the
Elysium lost in space with dwindling resources and power.
This is where I got the feeling of the show
being “Ok.”
As I said, we’re the show
restructured a bit better, the Battle of Ragna could have been the final major
part of the series, encapsulating Episodes 12 & 13 and closing out the
series on a decent note.
But now that
we’re sort of rehashing some cliché lost in deep space tropes, I feel like the
shows spinning its wheels getting the second act going.
Again, it’s nothing bad.
We do get another nice Walkure concert and
some good character check in moments for Hayate and Mirage.
But it feels like the show should kind of be
over by now.
Instead, we’re in a holding
pattern for things go get going again.
I
really hope it pays off cause I do like the show despite it’s shortcomings…it’s
just not as good as Macross Frontier atm.
Odds and ends time.
Got some good moments for Ernest that we need a lot more of in this
show.
Him being an experienced and
seasoned Zentradi captain needs to be taken advantage off and the show teased
this as we learned Ernest used to teach combat tactics on Windermere, even had
Grammier as a student (crappy pilot but definitely King material apparently.
Speaking of: Grammier,
if the average Windermeran lifespan is 30, how
do you explain his old looking self?
(BTW I thought they’d killed Grammier off screen but turns out it was a
post credits scene I had to go back and see.
You don’t save that for after the credits, you include it before hand
guys).
The mystery of “Lady M”
continues.
Who the hell is Lady M?
I thought it was Mikumo cause it would only
enhance her high and mighty attitude but I could be someone more legacy related
(Minmay?
Misa?
Miria?)
I’m glad it isnt Mikumo because every time I see her, her continued “I’m
better than all of you” vibe angers me.
And now she’s having weird dreams about Protoculture ruins that’s sure
to enhance her “I’m more important to this story than anyone” attitude, not
looking forward to that.
Lastly, I was
fully expecting Keith’s face to some how resemble Harvey Dent in The Dark
Knight considering how they were keeping the side of his face hidden…but no, he
just has a face plate across his eye, what a letdown.
Macross Delta closed out its first half reasonably well
with a crushing defeat for the good guys despite their best efforts and some
major improvements for our main trio.
The second half feels stalled as it tries to ready the next phase of the
series and it’s mostly problematic seeing as how the series could have ended by
now and at least been ok.
Lots more
questions to answer and I’m bracing for a lack of satisfying ones but I guess
as long as the action is good, Hayate, Mirage and Freya are handled well and
the music impresses, the show could still get a passing grade.
Check back Next Monday for more Macross Delta
right here over at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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