Summary:
Ozma manages to intercept the red Vajra before it can harm Ranka, and Mikhail gets a quick headshot on the alien. Unfortunately, the aliens have evolved to deal with campers, and so Alto has to grab the girls and leap into an emergency shelter before everyone gets sucked into space. Things get a little tense in the shelter as Ranka starts spazzing in fear, and Sheryl accidentally loses her top in front of Alto. Grace uses her illegal paparazzi necklace to locate Sheryl, and everyone gets out safely.
Unfortunately, now Ranka knows that Ozma isn’t some HR guy, and Ozma reveals that he isn’t even really her brother. 11 years ago, he failed to protect Ranka’s family from the Vajra, but she was so moe that he had to take her in. Further adding to the moe is the fact that Ranka has dissociative amnesia, but flips out in times of stress. The only thing Ranka remembers about her childhood is a strange song, and with the encouragement of Sheryl and Alto, Ranka enters the Miss Macross contest. At the same time, Alto cuts through all the emo crap and tells Ozma to get him a sweet VF-25.
Reaction:
What was up with the fanservice in times of stress? While aliens were rampaging outside, Alto was using his eyes to upload topless pics of Sheryl onto image boards everywhere. Then Sheryl had to faceplant into the boobuns that Ranka brought while the air was running out. Meanwhile Ozma was getting his butt kicked because Leon Mishima was waiting to bone President Glass’ daughter Cathy instead of drafting a defensive strategy.
I liked Alto in this episode. Alto quickly brushed aside all of that BS that Ozma was spouting and told that lolicon to just bring the mecha. Plus Alto didn’t hesitate to call Sheryl’s clothing skanky (nor did she seem that upset). I also found it hilarious how Mikhail thought he was shooting the Vajra’s face, but then realized that the Vajra are even uglier than originally thought. Finally, I am going to go ahead and predict that Sheryl is one of those really high maintenance girlfriends that can never leave you alone. She’s the type that leaves her things around your place to mark her territory and to always have an excuse to show up and hijack your evening.
This post was written by...
Kabitzin – who has written 1971 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
I like Altoh too! He’s so lucky to know a hot chick and a cute one. Ranka is truly adorable though and I agree with the Sheryl thing. She does seem like that.
Leon don’t give two shits about mercenaries who don’t work for him. Besides military pay is by drills per day not by the hour…So he only put in 30 seconds of overtime, and after that he moved to more important matters.
Gotta love how Leon laid out Cathy over Ozma’s personnel record. I liked how they blended the triangle fight with the battle it was cheesy, but that’s what this series is about mecha and love. Now that Alto is no longer running away he owes his dad a performance, and no doubt Sheryl will be there to praise that lovely kabuki girl…
I wish they’d drop the whole pop and idol thing but glancing at the other Macross shows it seems rather unlikely.
Matte – given that song and love are an integral part of Macross, it’d be like asking for a agundam show without any Gundams or mecha in general.
As for Alto, he’s not the wimpy harem type who can’t say anything, and who gets hit for his troubles. That, and his relatively realistic (for anime) response to the aftermath is part of why I rather like the shoe so far. That, and his responses to the girls (especially when he trots out the exhibitionism charges when Sheryl calls him a lecher)
I don’t know much about the Macross Universe, but I think I have solved the mystery of the Vajra. Vajra are like those indie music lovers who trash anything mainstream and are here to eliminate pop music. They have come to take out Sheryl, but their intelligence also suggests that Ranka is an even greater potential threat. In order to protect their street cred, they must eliminate Ranka and avoid failing like they did 11 years ago.
Also, Ozma will become Ranka’s manager and end up misusing her funds to build himself a VF-26.
I don’t like Ozma myself, referring to the military pilots in episode 1 as ‘cowards’ when he and his team have the better equipment and KNOW what the Vajra are. Punching Alto in Ep2 was unfair seeing as how he wanted to help, had a lot of skill for a newcomer AND saved Ranka, you’d think he’d have more respect after that. As for secrets from Ranka, it would be dangerous, but she’d find out anyway if the situation escalated too far (like this episode, no-one’s invincible after all), and it would hurt all the more.
The president and Leon keeping secrets on the Vajra from the public led to preventable deaths on pilots and civilians alike, sneaky bastards!
Alto’s response to Sheryl is valid, though, high maintenance prima donna.
Haesslich – I don’t have to like it though! ;P
biltwick – That’s what I thought too. He seems a bit like an asshole.
biltwick: Of course, the fact that they were selected ( SMS) to test the VF-25 suggests that the NUNS isn’t exactly the most elite force either. Remember also that Ozma commented that they (NUNS) had been spoiled by peacetime, and the pilot he called a coward was fleeing a battle and had clearly shown panic over the comm system – and the American (and most current fighter pilot) traditions tend to forbid showing anything but cool resignation even in the worst of messes; which meant that pilot had lost his nerve and would’ve been called the same by his comrades had he survived.
Alto had trashed the Valkyrie he’d been piloting – and wasn’t trained to fight. Even if he’d saved Ranka, giving him a VF-25 would’ve been a mistake, but the punch was delivered because Ozma seems to be a man of actions instead of words. And there was no good solution with Ranka – she would only gave gone fugue more often if she known Ozma was flying – the only solution to her trauma would be to quit flying for real, which would’ve endangered her because the Vajra were out there.
Would you decide that you would do nothing to protect someone because they would be scared for your safety even if you knew that by doing so that they might get killed by whoever had tried to kill them before? Or would you try to protect them anyways, knowing they’d still be alive to feel hurt about the secret that you’d kept?
Matte: then Macross F isnt for you, nor any Macross series. Try Geass or Gundam 0080 for a pop and idol-free experience.
I think Ozma is a little bit of a jerk for punching Alto, since he could have just told him to hang on, but given the circumstances (time to scramble, best bud just died) I can understand.
I think Ozma should have been up front with Ranka. The thing is, civilians are dying in the attack too. What is safer, being stuck in an immoble civilian area or being in a top of the line VF-25? The vents and a/c in the emergency shelters don’t even work! Now, if Ozma really wanted to make Ranka feel safe, he would improve his sniping skills like Mikhail. Mikhail is never in danger and yet he is pretty effective at the same time.
Focker was something of a jerk too, and an arrogant one whose arrogance was justified, so I guess that’s where Ozma gets it here. That, and he’s slightly crazy for wanting to lick his lips when shoving a knife into a Vajra in CQC…
As for Mikael never being in danger, I’d disagree – he’s in a Valkyrie, and it only takes one Vajra noticing what he’s doing to shoot him in the back and he’s done. Ozma’s Armored VF-25 is made for infighting, which is why it has the reinforced armor in the first place… and given his inclinations for close combat (which does, to be fair, appear to be the best way to deal with Vajra so far), is a logical loadout for his Valkyrie. As to whether being up front with Ranka would’ve worked, I can’t say… except that the way she seems to have blanked out the memory of that last bit of trauma (seeing Ozma passed out in a VF-25 flying upside down, which makes no sense to me given that they’d have had to flip him over in order to land him safely ANYWAYS).
Yeah I think Ozma upside down made no sense either, but you have to admit that it was way more dramatic that way.
As for Mikhail, so far he always goes in with support and always uses cover, so I think what he is doing is pretty safe. Plus he can fly away from danger, unlike civilians on the ground.
> Vajra are like those indie music lovers who trash anything mainstream and are here to eliminate pop music.
Crap. I’m a vajra.
Except, replace indie bs with metal and all subgenres of metal. Progressive is fine too.
…but, I like Ranka!
Sell out.
I think the ONLY reason he was carried in upside down, despite having been right-side up relative to the ship when he passed out, was so we could give Ranka a good view, despite being 30+ meters away, of his face… so she could have a fit and pass out. Never mind that his face is mostly hidden by the helmet, that he’s in a tinted cockpit, and that the only way she knew it was him was basically because Lieutenant Glass told her.
Mikhail’s in a Valkyrie… which makes him a target. Those Vajra have those long guns, which they used to kill a few of the escorts for Frontier on the way in, so I think he’d be fair game for a ‘sniper’ Vajra, which means the only safe place to be during an attack is a few light years distant.
I recall in episode one that his name is painted on the nose of his jet, too.
The thought of sniper Vajra scares me
.
They’ve got long-range cannons which can blow whole destroyers up at range. If they’re smart enough to snipe with them, I think Mikhail and the rest of SMS is in a heap of trouble, not to mention the regular (drone) NUNS folks. They seem to have seriously degraded in quality from the fliers who kept the Macross alive against the might of Zentradi attack forces, fleets, and everything in between.
As for the name on the nose of the jet, I don’t recall seeing it on his or Gilliam’s in the various shots from the series. At least, the name didn’t look that tall – 20cm at best, which is about the size of a human face. Only the fact it had SMS markings on the leg nacelles and Lieutenant Glass ID’ing it as Ozma’s caused Ranka to crack. It could’ve been Luca’s, and if Catherine had shouted Ozma’s name, Ranka would’ve reacted the same way.
I disagree. Focker was a blowhard, and a bit of a womanizer, but not so much a jerk. He was incredibly supportive of Hikaru.
That said, I can sort of see why Ozma was such a dick — whether his decision to hide piloting from Ranka was right, it was in jeopardy. On top of that his friend died, and here comes this pretty boy who saw Gilliam bite it, asking to drive Ozma’s dead friend’s Valkyrie, in the heat of the moment punching him seems like something a hard charging alien-killer might do.
and Matte, let me second Haesslich, it might not be the show for you, but I hope you give it a real shot. It’s easily one of my favorite franchises.
So it was a JUST AS PLANNED sort of thing. I see. Ozma’s such a punk though.
Wonder if the DVD version will be “uncut”: Showing more than the kiss, Sheryl’s nudity, etc. It would be hardcore.
The Macross Frontier needs to just hire Duke Togo, but then the show would only be one episode long. Duke would have come in, grabbed all the girls for a 2-3 hour romp (while his anti-Vajra gun was being prepped), and then shot every single Vajra using only a single bullet and the creative application of geometry and gravity.
I distinctly remember Ozma having his name painted on the nose of his VF-25, but it would have been upside down and probably no taller than from his shoulder to the top of his head. While it wasn’t nice to punch poor pretty pretty princess Alto, I’ll give Ozma another chance to prove he isn’t a jerk, due to the mitigating circumstances.
I also agree with theories that the Vajra are trying to capture Ranka or something. Otherwise it makes no sense for them to attack in CQC. A platoon of the red Vajra could probably down Macross Frontier at range with a few volleys.
otou-san: Focker was supportive, but at the same time could be a bit of a jerk. Remember that scene where everyone was driving, and then he let go of the wheel to argue with Hikaru, scaring the crap out of his passengers in the process? He’s supportive of Hikaru, a blowhard, and a womanizer… but a bit of a jerk, even if he was good to Hikaru.
Can I like Leon please?
strangely, when i first looked at sheryl, she seemed a bit like paris hilton, perhaps i’m blind…
One note: Ep 4 notes that morale AND training in the New UN Spacy is ‘low’… which suggests they’re at the same level that the American military was during Vietnam – low morale, and everything else which was causing issues that led to the revamping of all branches in the 80′s.
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