Mikumo’s true identity is revealed and with it, Roid
finds the final piece to complete his plans of galactic dominance. With the UN Spacey powerless to stop
Windermere, it’s up to the Macross Elysium, Walkure and Delta Flight to end the
war once and for all. But with Mikumo in
enemy hands and Freya’s confidence shattered, the odds have never been this
stacked against them. That won’t stop
Hayate and Mirage from fighting their hardest to protect their friends and free
the galaxy from Roid. It’s time for Walkure
to step onto the ultimate stage and the galaxy is waiting for what could be
their greatest (and possibly last) performance.
I’ll admit right here: maybe last week I was a bit hard
on Macross Delta, especially after speaking with a friend who really enjoys
it.
Honestly, a lot of frustrations I’d
been having with the series second half boiled over by that sets end and while
I don’t think every complaint was invalid, it seemed like I was almost willing
to give up on Delta before the finale, thinking this was becoming Macross 7 all
over again.
What a fool I was.
While it didn’t reach the heights of the
Series Finale of Macross Frontier, Macross Delta managed to regain its altitude
and blaze across the screen a pretty decent send off.
Characters got to shine (even those doing so
super late in the game), the action was solid and the resolution to a great
love triangle worked out perfectly.
Not
everything was great but considering where I last left things with this show,
it’s a good enough recovery to put a smile on my face.
Let’s start with Mikumo.
Somehow finding out what she really is turned her character around.
Not only was she questioning her own
existence but she was slowly becoming open to trying new things.
Last week I remarked how she and Reina and
Makina barely had any screentime together.
Well they got a great scene here where Mikumo couldn’t avoid having lunch
with them because she was supposed to be on a special diet.
And you know what?
She loved the girls spider snack (which did
look kind of tasty).
Natrually I wish
this happened much sooner with her but I was more on board with Mikumo for the
finale after this.
But my favorite
moment for her came when Mikumo was forced to use the Star Song to coerce a UN
Spacy fleet into blowing itself up.
The
look of shock on her face was devastating: her music had done all of that.
It made me think of all the times in Macross
7 where Basara’s antics with music led to a lot of collateral damage but he
refused to take responsibility for his actions.
Mikumo saw it, felt the pain, took it in and used it to rejoin her
Walkure comrades and press forward on her own terms.
THAT’S character growth and I’m proud of
Mikumo for finding it at last.
Both with and without their lead singer, Walkure proved
it was a helluva effective unit during the final episodes.
It was nice to get some backstory and see
that Kaname, Reina and Makina had some successes prior to Mikumo and Freya
joining the group.
We didn’t get to know
the other two teammates before they quit due to the stress of the job, which
was a shame.
Still, the trio didn’t stop
without their lead vocals and even poor Makina nearly bought it, making me
legit wonder if Walkure would really lose a member in this final push.
The finale managed to use the songstresses
effective sepearated and together, even bringing back the first OP theme for
their save the galaxy concert (ngl I haven’t been a fan of OP2).
They’re no Sheryl and Ranka but Walkure did
their job right even when the odds (and Mikumo) were stacked against them.
I salute the Goddesses of Song.
And at the heart of the final conflict, much like the
rest of the series, was Hayate, Freya and Mirage.
While I’ve been on the fence about it all
series long, Hayate and Freya ending up together makes the most sense.
I feel bad for Mirage but Hayate and Freya’s
affections were leaning more heavily towards romance.
Mirage either waited too long or came in too
late.
It’s not that Hayate doesn’t care
about her but just not in the same romantic way he feels about Freya.
I do like that Mirage openly confessed her
feelings for Hayate so that Freya would be challenged to reciprocate Hayate’s
love.
Moreso than Walkure, that’s what
broke Roid’s mental stranglehold on the galaxy.
Freya may have been tested like never before but she held together.
One thing does bug me.
I get why Mikumo slapped Freya during the
performance on Alfheim but I still would have liked if it was Mirage that did
it (yes she’d have to leave her Valkyrie to do so, so it’s not the most sound
idea).
It would have been a nice
callback to “Do You Remember Love?” when Misa did the same thing to Minmei to
get her act together.
Idk, having the
other love interest do it just feels right to me but I digress.
But as I said, this finale wasn’t perfect.
Windermere has dragged this series down from
the beginning and it didn’t change that pace in the finale.
From Bogue almost desperately wanting to kill
Hayate and the others cause he couldn’t keep his stuff in check to Heinz being
a total blind zealot, there was little to like about the main antagonists and
the finale made them look more stupid than ever.
When Roid finally revealed his true
intentions and caught everyone off guard, the second Heinz realized that had
happened, I was like “No.
Uh uh, no you
don’t get to react like that.”
Roid’s
duplicity has been out in the open since the moment he declared all out war on
the galaxy and everyone, especially Heniz, just followed his lead.
Hell Heinz gave Roid almost unchallenged
authority to do whatever the heck he wanted in this war.
They don’t deserve to act surprised or
betrayed because their own stupidly all over the place ambitions blinded them
to what was obviously happening right in front of their faces.
Are the Windermerans as bad as Macross 7’s
Protodevlin?
Ehhhhhh…yeah, yeah they’re
pretty bad and they still
have a lot to
answer for which brings me too…
This series doesn’t have a proper ending.
The war isnt over.
Windermere is retreating and Heinz was saying
he wanted to try and sue for peace but we don’t see any of that happening.
And while the Elysium and her crew are back
home on Ragna, Hayate and Freya’s blossoming romance seems to have an ill omen
with those marks that began to appear on Freya’s hand (not sure what that’s
about but maybe it’s an aging thing with those from Windermere?
That or her musical powers are greatly
taxed).
There’s still a lot of
unanswered questions and lingering plot threads but unlike Macross 7, I
actually want to know those answers.
I
guess it’s a good thing that Macross Delta has a pair of movies but we’ll talk
about those in due time.
Still, if those
movies hadn’t been greenlit could we maybe have gotten an extended last episode
for some wrap up?
(think I said the same
thing about Frontier too now that I think about it).
Alright, time to wrap this up.
Final thoughts on Macross Delta?
Despite my gripes with most of the second
half, I definitely don’t think this is as bad an entry as many might make it
out to be.
The focus on Walkure’s idol
girl antics may turn off some fans but they’re missing out on some fun music
and the fact that it does play equally against the classic Top Gun/Macross
style action the series is best known for.
Hayate, Freya and Mirage are a fun love triangle to watch though Freya
is the MVP with her heartwarming storyline and moments of frustration that make
you want to give her a hug.
Makina and
Reina were likewise MVPs of the supporting cast with their energetic dynamic
and made up for the fact that much of the supporting cast doesn’t have a lot to
do besides exposit a lot…like a lot a lot.
The bad guys are some of the worst in the franchise and the overall
story doesn’t wrap up every plot thread.
If I had to rank it against it’s fellow Macross brethren, I think Delta
fits nicely in the middle, fourth after Macross Plus, OG Macross and Macross
Frontier.
It does a lot of things right
with past concepts and forges a path of its own, for better or worse.
It’s well worth giving a chance cause is far
from the worst Macross have provided us.
Til Next Time Walkure, cant wait for the encore.
7/10
So yeah, those movies.
Like I said, we’re not quite done with Walkure just yet, or Macross for
that matter.
Coming
February 2027,
we’ll be celebrating the month of love with a
Macross Movie Marathon.
We’ll be looking at the two part features for
both Macross Frontier and Macross Delta
: Macross Frontier: The False
Songstress & The Wings of Goodbye; and
Macross Delta: Passionate
Walkure & Zetai Live!!!!
Apparently they tell very different versions of the events of the TV
Series so I’m looking forward to both sets of movies.
But that’s next year.
Next up, we arrive at this years Extended
Summer Series Review with a bit of a change of pace for me as I review the
heavily hyped and requested
The Rose of Versailles, which kicks off This Saturday right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
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