Summary:
There’s a quick flashback of how the Zentradi beat our asses, but eventually succumbed to our pop-culture, and then we learn that Ranka has qualified for the 12th Miss Macross Frontier competition. We get a montage of Alto going through the tough training to get into SMS, but he still tells Ranka he will show up for her performance. Unfortunately, Ozma thinks that the contest sucks, and because he doesn’t know that Ranka is competing, Ozma schedules Alto’s final exam for the same day.
Ranka is a bit of a mess, since Alto has to leave before her song portion, but she does her best. Although she doesn’t win, Ranka puts on a good show before losing to big-chested Miranda Melin. Meanwhile Alto does well in the final mock battle, before a lone Vajra shows up to crash the party. Zentradi Lieutenant Klan Klein cracks the Vajra’s laser pack, and Alto is able to grab an old Zentradi gun from nearby and finish the job. Alto is accepted into SMS, and he tells Ranka not to give up. Meanwhile, Sheryl stalks Alto to school, presumably to get her earring back.
Reaction:
First off, Ranka has an awesome backpack, and she did a great job against those other ladies. However, there were a lot of questions introduced in this episode. For instance, were the other two Queadluun-Raus pilots in Pixie Squadron Zentradi as well? And what was the Ozma talking about when he said he managed to get 50 of something? Finally, did Mikhail mean to insinuate that Luca is trying to get all shounen-ai with Alto?
As for the rest of the episode, the blending of song and battle was well done, and I enjoyed Alto’s kabuki-taunt after downing Nene. Ozma was being foolish about the contest, considering that mankind had been saved by culture and hotties in the past, but Catherine seemed to act like Leon was the culprit responsible for tanking Ranka’s chances. I wonder if the former 8th runner-up suspects some cheating, but I guess there are other ways to become a pop star.
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.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
You have to wonder what they’re feeding the girls in Nanase’s junior high, since she and her former classmate are… rather shapely, to put it mildly. Ranka’s ‘not fitting in too well’ scenes again echo those of Macross, but they’re.. well, there’s less of the Miss Macross show here, but more Sheryl.
As for the answer to your question… yes, they’re ALL Meltlandi. Here’s your proof:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5617/macrossf04kleintriogianbb2.jpg
Here’s the trio in Miclone form:
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/9038/macrossf04kleintriovw7.png
Notice the other two pilots there. The one who looks depressed is probably Nene, the one Alto shot down. And I -think- the reason Lt. Glass looks pissed off is because she thinks Leon’s womanizing… to judge by who won the contest.
Personally, I think they could’ve done more with the contest… but I guess they had to trim something to fit the CGI in. By the way, I suspect that rifle, if it survived, will be going onto Klan’s Queaddlann Rau. She sure can use the weapons upgrade.
Cool backpack indeed, I think she also has the best phone as well xD.
Haesslich: That makes sense about Cathy, since she would prefer if Leon chose the non-threatening loli. Especially considering that Cathy didn’t even place in the top 5
. And what the heck is wrong with Klan that she gets miclonized into a chibi? Genetic defect, indeed…
It amazes me that everything is so intuitive in the future. Even advanced weaponry can be just picked up and used right away with no training!
Runningkid: Ranka definitely has the best accesories.
Oy! You changed the first caption! Hurray for patching captions!!! (hurr hurr, I guess I’ll consider this an easter egg or something!
)
EDIT: Oh yea! Jesus has done it again, and this time it was unintentional!
Yeah, haha, I cut and paste the code and I forgot to update the first caption :blush: .
Kabitzin: It’s meant for Zentradi – it has to be simple and robust, given they didn’t apparently do much maintenance by themselves. As Klein Klan claimed, they can be used for millenia.. and still work. Which saved Alto’s and probably Klein’s lives, as I doubt that either of them would’ve escaped otherwise, especially seeing how Alto went into Emo Gundam Pilot mode.
Runningkid: We can probably blame Ozma for indulging her in that respect. I still love Klein, though – and not because she’s got two modes (although that doesn’t hurt). The psycho mode’s what got my attention, along with the blue hair.
See, this is how the human race has survived – they killed most of the Zentradi and married their women (and men). From this, we get weird hair colors, maybe Mikhail, and Ranka.
Man, I really thought Ranka would win *sob sob*
I was joking when I said she was going to sing “My Boyfriend is a Pilot,” but I guess I called it. It’s a silly-ass song, but I’m so gay for Macross I got excited.
Now it’s off to massage the belly of my cellphone until I’ve mailed all my friends!
When you think about most pop songs, they are quite silly anyway. This was my first time hearing My Boyfriend is a Pilot, and I thought it was ok. Intermixing it with epic space paintball helped, of course. More importantly, the frog cellphone screentime was fantastic!
I guess the song wasn’t that bad in itself, just the fact that they wrote only like 3 tunes for the entire 36 episodes. So every goddam time Minmei hits the stage ZHOOM ZHOOM! Plus the little Minmei dolls that the Zentradi obsessed over played that song.
Shit, I hate you. Now I can’t unsee it.
The more I think about it, the more I think Mikhail is going to die sometime in this series. The sly pushing of Ranka into Alto just sealed Mikhail’s fate. I’m calling it right now.
I noticed that Mikhail’s defense against Klan’s flailing arms was the exact same defense that the Vajra used against the knife-wielding Alto. Ah, Macross does love it’s juxtapositions!
Man now that Alto-hime has caught the attention of the bridge crew and the Pixie squadron these yuri goggles are struggling to keep up. I might not be able to unsee the Luca thing, but I can drown it out with some Klein-sama goodness.
A pity that Ranka lost but at least Alto-hime was there to cheer her up.
Kabitzin, I think Catherine is the runner-up in the 8th contest, instead of being a former 8th runner up. That’s probably why she’s a judge, but then again I have no idea. Watching the Gattai subs, no idea if they are good at translating but they are HD as opposed to AiA.
As for Leon, I wonder how he gets so much action with that ridiculous haircut of his.
At least now we have confirmation that Ranka is truly the ‘new’ Minmay. I’m happy that she didn’t in the contest, because that would have been too cliche.
Too bad Klan Klein (I keep thinking of Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star) gets chibi-ed when micronized. I think a love quadrangle would have been an interesting mix. Still I can’t complain, they have one of my favorite seiyuu voicing her Megumi Toyoguchi so I’m happy.
I just hope that this series starts getting a bit original soon. More than any other Macross before it, I feel this is too much of a rehash of the older shows sort of like how the first half Gundam SEED was to MSG.
Kabitzin: I say Luca’ll die, because he’s the cutesy character whose death will traumatize Alto, Mikhail, or both. Plus, he’s like the Hayao character, and they always have to kill one member of the trio of school buddies to show things are serious.
Now, Mikhail might die OFF screen because Klein forgot that she wasn’t Miclonized when she finally got a chance to punish him….
I thought the reason Cathy was judging was that she was the President’s daughter and he was too busy doing… presidential stuff. I guess it’s not too important either way, though.
I feel like Luca is not important enough to die, but I guess I wouldn’t be too surprised if it happens.
One thing I think we can all agree on is that Ozma will die, as that’s his role in this show.
Epi: He’s a big brother character, he’s Skull Leader, and he has a complex about defending Ranka from the Vajra. Plus he’s the mentor to Alto.
“Dead Man Walking” pretty much sums up this character type to a ‘T’. But they’ll probably wait till we’re half-way in to do it.
:love: I couldn’t stop giggling (in a good way) to Ranka’s cheesy/cheery dance and “My Boyfriend is a Pilot” song! =3 I like the comedy aspects of this show, like the sound effects of bouncing BAZOINKAS! Poor Ranka don’t got da stuff yo! I’ll help her massage them thoroughly
BANZAI!!! (and frog cellphone FTW!)
on a side note:
Haha, they should have an “Assessing Your Risk Factor” chart for anime characters. Certain traits and sequences really do put you at risk, like if you are a secondary character who suddenly gets the limelight for an entire episode.
J159, Alto already helped Ranka out in the first episode, and I’m not sure that the massage worked.
Kabitzin: My favorite was that episode in Raxephon (was it 19?) where for the first time ever they focused on this side character, and then… BAM he dies. It was so pitiful. I guess it just makes me like Band of Brothers even more.
That’s pretty easy:
Secondary character = high risk of death
Primary character whose death will affect everyone else = dead man walking
Hmmmm, true dat yo! I MUST DO MORE RESEARCH!!!
*invites Totali to a moonlit dinner at the Nyan-Nyan*Rawr! :love:Glad that I wasn’t the only one that thought that. Owen’s response is hilarious too, but I wouldn’t mind the situation, especially given both of their appearances. Snapping on the yuri goggles definitely helps out here.
While this would vary from show to show, it’s definitely “Secondary character who starts talking about his or her past” in Gundam 00.
One note:
The day ANYONE asks for Pineapple Salad is the day we’ll see a major character death, guaranteed.
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