Macross Mega Marathon

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Arbiter GUNDAM
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Iris Scope wrote:Say, I received a DVD set of the original series this morning. I haven't watched the show in it's unaltered format for nearly a decade. How about I give my two cents here if you don't mind?
If the mods have no problem with it, I don't see why not. :)
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

(sorry for the double post but I just realized I haven't been updating this)

SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? (1984)

Iconic Scene: A lot, just look at the following photos.

Quotable Quotes: "Just a simple love song that was popular in an alien city 10,000 years ago."

Best Character: Hard to say, everyone's pretty much their best self in this movie. I think I'll go with Hikaru because he doesn't devolve into an @$$hole in the movie.

Best Death: Lots but the one I like is a few photos over where the zentradi guy comes out of his pod to try and fight Max and Max just blasts him right in the face. Poor guy.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MACROSS: FLASHBACK 2012

Iconic Scene: Again, a whole series of them.

Quotable Quotes: None really, since this is a music video.

Best Character: Minmay, I would say, because she finally seems to have gotten it all together and everyone gets their happy endings. colonthree emoticon

Best Death: Not applicable

It's now late 2012 in the Macross timeline and the last bit of the story is about to wrap up. The Macross itself has been refitted and looks more like its movie counterpart and the colony ship which Captain Global spoke of is ready to launch into the new frontier.
And so these characters and places we've come to know, exit the stage. And now... we move on to Macross II and oh boy that's going to be fun.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN
EPISODE 1: FIRST CONTACT

Iconic Scene: Faerie Squadron pilots Saori, Ami and Natasha, minus their leader Sylvie.

Quotable Quotes: Do you think Earth has the best culture? Bullshit. You don't even know the meaning of the word.

Best Character: Dennis Lone. Too bad he had to die right in the first episode.

Best Death: Again, Dennis.

So, fast-forward to 1992, 10 years after the debut of the original series, 8 years from DYRL, and about 4.5 years after Flashback 2012.
Big West, the company that sponsors all of the Macross productions wanted a new sequel but Kawamori and many of the other Macross alumni didn't really want to get involved. BW went ahead anyway and thanks to a combination of not really knowing what they wanted out of this besides "a new Macross" and the fact that real robot genre had atrophied somewhat by the 90s led to it not being very popular in Japan... although it ended up having a measure of success in the USA probably due to a certain adaptation.
I chose this particular picture because the Faerie Squadron pilots are, as far as I know, the only human female pilots that have names and screentime in all of Macross. There might be a character in the VF-X games but I'll have to check that. And even then, if you strictly by the animated productions then yes, they are.

-------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN

EPISODE 2: ISHTAR

Iconic Scene: Ishtar discovers the Alus... which was actually the Macross? I guess? Certainly doesn't jive with later lore

Quotable Quotes: Rather abrupt!

Best Character: Ishtar because most of the rest of the characters are still a bit annoying and Hibiki's both creepy and still jerky.

Best Death: Nobody really. Maybe the Zentradi that Feff punched but that's iffy.

Not much to say about this episode that won't get said... well, I'll just say elsewhere. One thing to note is that this episode apes several elements of the 1953 movie Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. An odd choice to say the least.

----------------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN

EPISODE 3: FESTIVAL

Iconic Scene: The reveal of the Metal Siren... the fugliest Valkyrie in all of Macross.

Quotable Quotes: Take me to the moon, Hibiki! I'm sure I'll learn a lot!

Best Character: Wendy Rider, just because this is the only time that she ever gets any real screen time. The characters in this are just too bland for anything else.

Best Death: Again, nobody notable. Noticing a pattern here?

A large part of the episode revolves around the Lunar Festival but it ends up not being something particularly memorable or exciting. Not as flashy as Minmay's concert in DYRL, not surreal like Sharon or energetic like Sheryl and Ranka's shows. Wendy Rider is basically just... there. It probably didn't help that the first major Idol Boom was over by '92 and they already had Hiroko Kasahara doing Ishtar. Also the Metal Siren is introduced here and the best way I can describe it is that it's much more of a jumbled mish-mash of jagged lines and car fenders than many Gundams are accused of being.

----------------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN
EPISODE 4: MARDUK DISORDER

Iconic Scene: Ingues The Dingus

Quotable Quotes: No one will ever know my shame... that I dared to love above my station.

Best Character: Sylvie because Ishtar gets to be Princess Peach in this episode and Hibiki is just sort of along for the ride as it were. Sylvie is the take-charge character this time around.

Best Death: Poor Lady Elenshe. If only you had listened to Ishtar and gone with her.

It's kind of odd that the dub for this show sounds better when they're speaking the Marduk language. By the way, did you know that Lord Feff was voiced in Japanese by Toru Furuya aka Amuro Ray?

-------------------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN
EPISODE 5: STATION BREAK

Iconic Scene: The warship class known as the Macross Cannon.

Quotable Quotes: We must not allow the enemy to get past the defence fleet!

Best Character: It's very hard to say. Not many of the characters get a standout moment here and that's because the story feels like it was getting on a good pace up through episode 4 but now has to rush to a conclusion because the next episode is the last.
It's definitely not Major Nexx, that's for damn sure.
I guess I'll say it's the commander of the defense fleet. I don't even know if he has a name. He tried his damnedest to hold back the Marduk lines but even with the Macross Cannon ships on his side, he just couldn't do it and went out in a blaze of glory.

Best Death: The crew of the flagship Gloria.

--------------------------------------------------------

MACROSS II: LOVERS AGAIN
EPISODE 6: SING ALONG

Iconic Scene: Just like the Enterprise in Star Trek III, the Macross in this series suffers an end that is not quite as awesome as you'd like it to be.

Quotable Quotes: MACROSS! Take off!

Best Character: Ishtar for bringing peace not only to her people but to Earth as well.

Best Death: I'd say Ingues but that would imply he is a character worth caring about. Which he isn't.

------------------------------------------

You've probably also noticed from the FB album but I've posted a bunch of screenshots and thoughts from Macross Delta episodes 0.89 and 1-4. On to Macross Plus!!
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

--Freyja Wion
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Yay, you watched the movie!! :D For years it was my defining standard of why anime ruled over all other forms of animation. Even better because it was instantly comprehensible to a young anime fan who had previously seen some of the material in Robotech. I am still amazed that it was all 100% hand-drawn. And it still holds up to all the CG-arranged and holo-filled stuff that is currently the rage. Plus the movie soundtrack put all of Minmay's TV hits on 1 CD, and added the immortal "Do You Remember".

Oddly enough, I did not see the Japanese-language version first. I saw a murky removed-gen version of a dub that had been done as an English-teaching aide (I think) in Australia. English dialogue, Japanese subs, but Mari Ijima's songs were left unaltered as God intended. Anyone else here ever see that version? Terribly clumsy at times, but delightfully quotable. "Tiny pieces... That doesn't tell us how to fight the women!" 'Wow, what a scoop!" "You can still fight when yer drunk!" "Can't you find someone else more suitable?" :lol:
The 15th anniversary LD revealed the absolute detail and clarity that before had been visible only in books. Fell in love with it all over again.

Best Death (serious): Roy goes out fighting, instead of bleeding all over Claudia's apartment.
Best Death (comic): Poor Kakizaki. Made all the better in the brief Hikaru-POV of his cockpit display.
Best Death (ensemble): Those poor bastards who ended up serving as Miriya's non-challenge.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Zeonista wrote: Best Death (serious): Roy goes out fighting, instead of bleeding all over Claudia's apartment.
And apparently took out Kamjin at the same time.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Zeonista wrote:Yay, you watched the movie!! :D For years it was my defining standard of why anime ruled over all other forms of animation. Even better because it was instantly comprehensible to a young anime fan who had previously seen some of the material in Robotech. I am still amazed that it was all 100% hand-drawn. And it still holds up to all the CG-arranged and holo-filled stuff that is currently the rage. Plus the movie soundtrack put all of Minmay's TV hits on 1 CD, and added the immortal "Do You Remember".

Oddly enough, I did not see the Japanese-language version first. I saw a murky removed-gen version of a dub that had been done as an English-teaching aide (I think) in Australia. English dialogue, Japanese subs, but Mari Ijima's songs were left unaltered as God intended. Anyone else here ever see that version? Terribly clumsy at times, but delightfully quotable. "Tiny pieces... That doesn't tell us how to fight the women!" 'Wow, what a scoop!" "You can still fight when yer drunk!" "Can't you find someone else more suitable?" :lol:
The 15th anniversary LD revealed the absolute detail and clarity that before had been visible only in books. Fell in love with it all over again.

Best Death (serious): Roy goes out fighting, instead of bleeding all over Claudia's apartment.
Best Death (comic): Poor Kakizaki. Made all the better in the brief Hikaru-POV of his cockpit display.
Best Death (ensemble): Those poor bastards who ended up serving as Miriya's non-challenge.
I'm pretty sure the version you're talking about is Clash of the Bionoids.
excalibur2008 wrote:
Zeonista wrote: Best Death (serious): Roy goes out fighting, instead of bleeding all over Claudia's apartment.
And apparently took out Kamjin at the same time.
No apparently about that, it was Kamujin, though it can be hard to tell.
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

excalibur2008: You are quite right, Roy's nemesis and partner in oblivion is the cinematic version of the Backstabber himself! (It's in the movie book and everything.) I always thought Kamjin would have been dissatisfied at so small a role, but it is no more than he deserved. :)

Arbiter GUNDAM: No, no, that was a different thing entirely. Clash of the Bionoids was an American commercial dub, not the fun Engirish tutorial version. I would like to reference the Aussie dub, but alas! The old VHS tape has gone the way of all mortal things. I have no regrets for my youth... Now, Clash of the Bionoids was a true hack job of the sort that made dubbed anime notorious for so long. It deserved the oblivion into which it has subsequently sunk. A good half hour (at least) was cut from the movie, blood and skin especially, the story was dumbed down to remedial school levels, and the voice lack-of-acting was atrocious. It made the Aussie version look RSC by comparison. I could audition MAHQ members at random and re-dub the film to a higher standard. But why bother? Let the Blockbuster volumes all molder in a pit next to the ET video game.

I had much the same feeling about the Macross II dub, come to think of it, and the dub was the version that made it to the USA first, poisoning many minds against it at the time. It was not until a few years ago that I watched a later subbed version and realized that it was not half bad. OK, it wasn't a Kawamori Macross story, but it had its good points, Mikimoto drew some engaging and interesting characters, and the Marduk were an interesting antagonist race. I suspect there will be some similarities appearing during the run of Macross Delta, although I will stoutly maintain them as sheer coincidence!
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

I'm gonna step in here for a bit because I recently did something somewhat similar in that I decided to finally sit down and watch the two titles that have been on my to-do list since...not long after Frontier originally aired, which I had not yet had a chance to have a look at.

Now thus far I have seen Frontier(both series and movie) and the original SDF Macross years ago, and I'm currently following Delta as it airs - and by the way, I do plan to rewatch the original in the near future.
But I have been wanting for years to see Macross Plus and Macross 7. Having at last gotten ahold of a copy of each, I first sat down to take a look at Plus, the shorter of the two.

Overall, I liked it quite a lot. It's very Top Gun-esque especially in its first couple of episodes, in a way that reminds me quite a bit of the first two-thirds or so of 0083.
Spoiler
The characters are quite interesting, although I personally found Isamu to be insufferably arrogant at first. To my great relief, he gets better later on.
With Plus, as with 0083(and, come to think of it, with the original Macross and Frontier), we have the mandatory love triangle. And since I've mentioned 0083, I have to say that although it also has its cringe-worthy moments, Plus handles it exponentially better. This is, IMO, largely because all three parties involved have some personality - not much of one in Guld's case, but still much better than the propaganda-spouting cardboard cutout of an antagonist that was Anavel Gato. So that's a big plus(no pun intended...I lie, the pun was completely intentional :P ) in my book.
Then, there's of course the matter of Sharon Apple...who creeps me out far more than I expected. Quite well-done, actually. So I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the narrative as well.

If I had any criticisms, they are as follows: 1. Far too little, I think, is done with the Ghost. It was a great concept to bring in, but I feel like it was not used nearly as effectively as it could have been. And a part of that, I think, has to do with criticism #2: The length.
Simply put, I think Plus was too short. It told a tight narrative and did it well, but some aspects of it felt rushed, because it has so few episodes. Not saying I wish it'd been dragged out over forty-plus episodes, but I think a length of maybe a few episodes more (say, 6-8 episodes rather than 4) would have allowed them to flesh it out a little bit more without going too far in the other direction, and made for a more enjoyable experience.

Finally, of course, you can't talk Macross without talking VFs, and I have to say all three of them - the VF-11, VF-19(especially the -19) and VF-21 were pretty awesome, and the action the -19 and -21 saw was quite consistently enjoyable. Overall I personally prefer the -19 to the -21, but that's a personal preference.
Next up, Macross 7. And I will probably pop by every few episodes and comment on what I'm seeing so far :D
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Iris Scope
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Saw the first episode of original Macross and it was done well, by the numbers. Not much Minmay in this debut appearance but that will soon change in the next episode. Hikaru has a bit of a pacifist streak but fortunately, it's not as bad as Kaifun's will be plus Hikaru will change his mind about war later as the conflict grows. Global is a rounded commander being that he doesn't really like publicity so in a way, the start of the Zentraedi war is a sigh of relief for him. Roy's seiyuu didn't grate on my nerves like I thought he would, since aside from Robotech, Roy seems to have bad luck when it comes to getting proper dubbing *i'm talking about YOU, Brett Weaver! :P *. And he has the sempai part down pat, getting Hikaru to safety for a bit when he inadvertently goes to the skies in a Valkyrie training model. I do have to note that since I am accustomed to Gundam's slaps, I would've thought Hikaru's showboating stunt with the arrival plane would've garnered such a reaction from Roy as soon as they met properly but Macross is a different puppy. All in all, I am looking forward to continuing this observation of SDF-1 and it's crew. :)
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

For the nostalgia factor and the heck of it, I got the VHS of Macross Plus the movie. I felt like I could comprehend the Sharon A.I. aspect better than I ever did on DVD. Also to note, this was the first time I could not stand Takumi Yamazaki as Isamu. The smugness in the tone of his voice just doesn't go away even when he's being serious. I did fall enamored with Unsho Ishizuka's performance as Guld and I have the feeling that if I heard him as Jet in Cowboy Bebop, I would get through that show faster.

Picked up on Macross 7 episode 3 as well. Basara's personality is annoying on the surface but when his singing finally has a positive effect on the people who hated his songs, it's a fulfilling experience. I find Mylene to be the audience's voice in expressing the annoyance of some of Basara's as well as her parents' actions like arguing in public at the live news conference. Something tells me i'm going to like her a lot.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

@Iris Scope: it only at the time of this post that i managed to see your PM. apologies for that.(been busy with stuff.)

anyways, here's moi two cents.(pesos more like it.)

Macross Plus: I've only watched the OVA version but i do agree with you on Isamu's voice. yet another example of japanese not being the perfect dub that some otakus make it out to be. as for Guld, i'm considering myself lucky that i heard Ishizuka first as Guld then later as Hercule. that would've been awkward for a Seiyuu Otaku.

Macross 7: stopped at episode 3. can't find time to get the next sets of episodes. but i will tell you this, i prefer Mylene.(then again, i'm a big perv so i'm biased with female characters. :twisted: )
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Iris Scope
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

^ Thanks! :D

I saw episode 4 of Macross Seven in recent times and I definitely have to side with the Diamond Force who are getting more and more tired of Basara's antics as well as Max's apparent inefficiency at dealing with him.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

I got a little over halfway through M7 and dropped it, mainly for two reasons: (1) I felt it got really repetitive and formulaic, without really progressing in any meaningful way in terms of what the heck's going on, and (2) HOLY CRAP, Basara is annoying. The guy really gets on my nerves - not quite as much as Minmay or that other turd(Kaifun?) annoyed the heck out of me when I watched the original, but almost.
Much as I wanted to like Mylene, she actually at times annoys me even more than Basara does - though again, still not to the extent of the two I mentioned earlier.

I may go back and finish it eventually just so that I can say I've seen it all the way. And the music is pretty good - I can see why Ozma's such a fan.
But honestly, of the now five and a half entries in the franchise I've seen (In viewing order Frontier, the original, Plus, 7(halfway) and Delta), 7 I think is probably the weakest entry based on what I've seen.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Well, with few episodes left i am not sure which one is the weakest - Seven or Delta. In my eyes Delta tries really hard to beat Seven on that regard.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Here's my review of Do You Remember Love?.

The animation was pretty ahead of it's time considering it was made in 1984 and so much attention to detail was paid. From the rainbow in Saturn to Hikaru going up stairs to get to Minmay, it was very awesome.

Characters like Global, Claudia, Max, Kakizaki, Milia, and the Bridge Bunnies take a justifiable backseat to the inner workings of the love triangle of Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay. Hikaru is given equal amounts of quality time with both of them so one really absorbs the suspense of will they, won't they.

I can't possibly review a title like this without going through the performance of the galaxy with Minmay singing "Do You Remember Love". The way the stage is lit up for her moment in the spotlight to it seamlessly synchronizing with the goings on of battles in space and the Microns/Zentraedi/Meltrandi working together to destroy the big bad oozes levels of master craftsmanship that simply weren't found in the TV series version.

Overall, I give the film a 9.5/10 since if it were perfect, the scale would have to go up to 11.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

I see my little thread has kind of gotten taken over. :3

Well guess what me boyos; I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack. With a Gundam in my left hand and a VF-31 Siegfried in my right, I will crash through the barriers and... and what? It was something so awesome that i can't remember. Think it had something to do with a Stargate and Richard Dean Anderson....

Anyway--

MACROSS PLUS - EPISODE 1 (1994)

Iconic Scene: Probably the space battle at the beginning because it doesn't show up in the movie version.

Quotable Quotes: "Seven instances of disobeying orders, five times under house arrest, six times flight command revoked. You're lucky we haven't court-martialed you."

Best Character: Hmm, hard to say. Isamu's a bit of a jerk, it's too early to tell with Myung and Guld... I think I'll go with Lucy. :)

Best Death: The unseen Zentradi that Isamu is fighting at the start of the episode. Their suits are so fricken cool
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pirx
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

Nice to see you enjoyed Plus :)
I suggest watching OVAs and Movie both. Make your own preference.
I like better flashed out ending in Movie, but i do love some OVA moments.
TBH i can't say that i definitely prefer one over another. They both are good.
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

MACROSS PLUS EPISODE 2

Iconic Scene: See the following

Quotable Quotes: I don't acknowledge Aristotle or his belief that the mind must be tied to the flesh

Best Character: I'll say Millard for being able to drive Isamu up the wall

Best Death: Isamu and Lucy's relationship. Oh and the very expensive sound equipment that Sharon fried.

--------------------------------

MACROSS PLUS EPISODE 3

Iconic Scene: I prefer the Star Wars version of the healing tank.Also see the following

Quotable Quotes: You needn't do anything. I was born from you. But I exist now as a separate entity.

Best Character: I'm gonna say Jan, for finally getting through Isamu's ego.

Best Death: Guld's chances with Myung
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

--Freyja Wion
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

MACROSS PLUS EPISODE 4

Iconic Scene: The episode opens with Sharon doing her best Skynet impression by seizing control of the Earth's defense network. Also see the following

Quotable Quotes: I bought you lunch TWICE in high school!
And I bought you lunch thirteen times!
You actually kept count?!

Best Character: Sharon Apple, even though she's the "bad guy", she puts on an incredible show here.

Best Death: Guld of course, going out like a boss against the X-9
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

--Freyja Wion
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

MACROSS 7 EPISODE 1: Speaker Pod

Iconic Scene: See the following

Quotable Quotes: Who is that idiot?! (Probably a lot of the audience's reaction to Basara)

Best Character: Hard to say, even though this is the first episode.... I think I'll say Max, for still being a boss, even at 52.

Best Death: Can't really say, no major characters bought it. How about the misplaced hopes that this was going to be some kinda gritty war show with blood, gore and bullets? :D

EPISODES 2-5
These next four episodes continue the world-building but also set up an unfortunate plot trend i.e. Fire Bomber will be doing something, a gig or whatever, the Varauta will attack, Basara goes out to sing, the Varauta retreat, wash, rinse, repeat. And it will continue for several more episodes beyond this.

In any case, the Varauta send infiltrators aboard the fleet, although their exact purpose won't be revealed for a while yet. As for as our main characters... I'm kinda wishing we might have a different Basara. Sometimes he's entertaining, but then he's a complete and total douche, like in episode 3, where some brawling fans knock Mylene down and Basara goes postal on them, then yells at her like it's her fault. Dude, not cool. Not cool at all.
As for Mylene... she's not a bad character, but she's got a bad habit of getting into arguments with Basara and it gets real old, real fast.
We also see that things are pretty rocky between Max and Milia and not just because she's the Mayor and he's the Commander of the Fleet. Honestly I do believe that, considering how whirlwind their romance in the original series is.

EPISODE 6-10
I can kind of understand why not many people get beyond these first few episodes as they're pretty formulaic. While they do lay groundwork for the Varauta/Protodeviln's overall plan (and the end of 1st cour shocker when City 7 is separated from the rest of the fleet) I honestly think it could have taken less episodes for that to happen. It also opens up the question, to whit, if Geppelnitch wants City 7 and its citizens so bad, why doesn't he just fold the entire Varauta fleet around Macross 7 and tell them to surrender or die? They mention in episode 38 that the Varauta have about 70,000 ships surround planet Lux and even if you go by the Macross Chronicle's vastly reduced count of 502 ships, that still outnumbers Macross 7.

Another slight nitpick is that in addition to the early episode's slow burn, they seem to be padding them out as well. Episodes 2-6 repeat episode 1's recap of the events of the first series and then include a 30 second recap of what happened in the previous episode. Were they trying to avoid having dedicated recap clipshows?
Also the repetitive stock footage of battle and Basara singing sets in here as well.

As for some positives, I do like how the episodes show you what the various ships in the fleet look like and we also get to see some of the other bands in the fleet, like Witches & Princess who sing a Macross II song and Alice Holiday, who ends up being a Varauta experiment.
As seen in this picture, we meet Akiko, who becomes Fire Bomber's manager and ends up having history with Ray. Specifically, her fiancee, Stefan, was Ray's best friend and they were together with Diamond Force leader Kinryuu in the rather audaciously named Pink Pecker team (also shown here). Unfortunately, during a battle, Stefan is killed protecting Ray and this drives him away from Unified Forces.

And you know what? I'm also going to plug the blog of Richard Clark, who knows a lot more about Macross 7 (and the franchise in general) than I do. You can find his blog at gubabablog.wordpress.com

Check it out for certain episode details I may have had to gloss over in my more abbreviated postings.
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

--Freyja Wion
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Re: Macross Mega Marathon

MACROSS 7 EPISODES 11-15

The pace finally picks up in these episodes, starting with some fanservice concerning the "Linn Minmei Story," (should be Lynn Minmay) a schlocky docudrama being produced in the Macross 7 fleet that Fire Bomber ends up being a part of. Interestingly, the two full-size Zentradi that are introduced as playing Breetai (technically Vrlitwhai but it's not pronounced that way) and Kamujin are wearing their movie and tv costumes respectively. Again, it's supposed to be very schlocky.

As for the rest of the episodes, the stakes are finally raised as Varauta infiltrators separate City 7 and Battle 7 from each other and fold the City section away from the rest of the fleet. This leaves Basara as pretty much the sole protector of City 7 which means we get one of the Crowning Moments of Awesome: Milia pulling on her TV-style flightsuit, jumping into her movie-style VF-1 Valkyrie and going to town on the Varauta. This pleases me.  

Lastly, we get a sun little festival in episode 15 where Milia subtly tries to form a civilian defense force by getting the City 7 citizens to bring out their vintage battroids and destroids. Only problem is the VF-1s don't seem to be well-armed and the destroids are all modified for construction work. Renato Rivera Rusca of the Macross Speakerpod Cast mentioned that this was probably because lots of mecha had to be modified to help rebuild Earth after Space War I.

In negatives... *sigh* it's only been 15 episodes and already I'm starting to get tired of hearing Planet Dance, Totsugeki Love Heart and My Friends. As I said, I DO like Fire Bomber, but because this series has no music other than FB and the occasional Macross II or Sharon Apple song, it quickly becomes wearisome to hear these songs over and over and over again. At least we'll have a couple of new songs soon.
I'm also getting tired of the constant spats between Basara and Mylene. If you were watching this show for the first time, you might think this was setting up a romance between the two... but it's not. Mostly because it becomes very apparent as early as episode 5 that Basara has no intrest in girls in THAT way (i.e. his complete non-reaction to Rex making out with him). Plus I've already seen this show so I already know they aren't getting together so it's doubly-annoying
I can fly if I ride the wind! Gori gori!

--Freyja Wion
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