New Macross (Macross Frontier) - Talkback

While I wouldn't rule out a twist here that makes the Vajra's not as "mindless and stupid" lower life forms as they've been presented at this point, I would like to point out that cows are affected by music and they would fit that definition as well. There has really been research used on cows to see what type of music they like. If cows like a certain type of music they make more milks and if they don't, they make less. What they found out was cows like Country Western and Classical Music but hate Heavy Metal (it seems they like slow music verse stuff with a fast beat). So the idea that non human lifeforms are affected by music is a valid one.

This is the first I've read of the show being cut back to 25 episodes? Where did you hear this?
 
I don't see any way they could produce the kind of quality we've seen in space battles if we had lots of them in each episode. It would just be impossible to get everything done in time for the following episode.

Maybe if they did all pre-production on the show for a year or two and then released it, but then that would definitely increase the costs as it would be a series long OVA.
 
I marked out big time for the ending using Ai Oboete Imasu Ka (Do you Remeraber Love?) A nice nod, but it def takes some balls to re-use that classic with their new handpicked idol. I'm not sure Mari Iijima could have pulled off the song right after she was cast, it was from the movie some time later after all.

Still prefer Mari's, but I think I like it more then some of the covers of it done by Mylene's VA/singer from the Macross 7 CD's. Although it's a long song and it kind of suffers a bit from being used as a shortened ED.

As for the episode itself I thought the computer animation looked really really good. The detail on the city ships and everything in space was pretty awesome.

I'm not sure how I feel about the little human armor thing. It's funny because earlier in the thread the whole Robotech/Macross thing got brought up and the human armor is actually from one of the unrelated shows smushed into Robotech.

I find it ironic that something similar is now appearing in Macross

Weird that it seemed like the military has the weaker version of Veritechs then the city's forces rolled out, maybe they were in prototype testing. Although it seemed like the President knew about the enemy so will be interesting to see what that's about.
 
I don't think that research is vaild. Correlation is not causation. Wheres the proof that it was the music is what made them produce more milk. Of course it could be simple that loud music like Heavy Metal upsets the cows and puts them under a lot of stress which could reduce their ability to make milk.

Look what you've done. You made me go off topic.
 
That's what's great about Macross They never really close the door, there's always something more. Wheather or not we'll live long enough to see that end now that's the question.
 
I was about to, then I got yelled at.

I'll get back to you all in about 10 episodes or so. I still find the loli infestation distatesful, but I'll give the series some time and then look it over via the first part as opposed to 1 at a time.
 
When you see a shot like this, you know something great is about to happen.



Who cares about the bloody love triangle? With the way things played out any sort of resolution would have been arbitrary and rushed, not natural and satisfying. I don't mind things being left to the imagination there.

What matters is that this series was sent off with a hell of a bang. Good lord, was it ever. The tide of battle shifted several times. There were amazing displays of valor left and right. With the singing of Ranka and Sheryl backing that up, practically the entire last episode was a hot-blooded amalgamation of everything that fans have liked about Macross in the last 25 years. Passion, courage, music, high-speed action. It was all there. I was so entertained that I was able to look past Grace being turned into a Final Fantasy boss for the final act.

I lost count of all the great little moments and homages. The old Zentraedi looking at Minmei's picture? The decision to oh-so-briefly show us Macross City on Earth? Klan piloting Michel's mech? Alto taking the rifle from said mech to deliver the final blow? Macross Quarter smashing the captured Macross Galaxy? On and on and on...awesome.

Frontier is not a perfect series. In terms of plot I would still take the original or Macross II, mostly because all of the technical talk about the Vajra and fold waves and all the rest of it often made me strain to understand all of it. Frontier's war against the Vajra and then against Grace was pretty simple compared to the Zentraedi conflict, the last-minute revelation about them notwithstanding--guess what everyone, the aliens have feelings!

But heck, this is Macross, I'm not going to try applying logic to it the way I would Gundam or a given real robot show. If the series started off being too interested in the obligatory Macross soap opera and in paying homage to past Macross anime, it made up for it with an impressive display of space opera toward the end. For serious Macross fans there is likely little to nothing to complain about. Personally my mileage varies, and I found this series just so-so time and again. But they really went all out with this finale, clearly making some serious effort to make it an event to remeraber. I respect that, and I'd say that they pulled it off.

Frontier may not stand as the crowning achievement of the Macross franchise, but it surely succeeded at paying homage to the past while not being afraid take some risks and make its own mark. Ultimately, it can stand with the rest and not be at all ashamed.

Well done.
 
The VF-25 must not have been rolled out yet so the defence forces only have older model fighter. The Cyclone suits did enter my mind as I saw the pilot blast out of his fighter in his EX-Gear but as we saw EX-Gears are not as good as cyclone armor.
 
Oh come on, loli is whats suppose to keep you coming back for more.

Look at code geass and C.C. Yes, technically shes not a loli but she can sure pull off the look, especially with cheese-kun. So there is room for a loli in a mecha anime. Then again, code geass seems to have made a point of proving tons of fan service.
 
Well, the Zentraedi had been living as giants for hundreRAB of years in space ships. They didn't have an issue with resources, and have enough to spare to waste on wars. There is no reason why they would all of a sudden be unable to sustain themselves after peacetime.

There are advantages in being small, but in a city filled with luxuries like music and icecream, being able live as a giant is just another lifestyle choice.
 
That's especially interesting because plants like Heavy Metal; so I guess what's good for the cow is not good for the grass and vica-versa.

Now that it seems the show is a peace with Macross 7 I wonder if we'll every see that little Zolan girl (now grown-up) from Macross Dynamite 7 as like a back ground character? I mean both of her parents were experts in their own way in large space inhabiting organism, she might have followed the path of her mother in that regarRAB, and she could be brought in as part of a research team.
 
Most of us look for more than fanservice, and there's no shortage of anime devoted to that. The bar is raised higher for good mecha/sci-fi.

_________

I can't say I'm sure whether this is headed for great things, but after two episodes this series has me interested. The first episode was a lot of setup, though the concert scene was solid. Now episode 2, there's something to talk about.

After disappointments like the new Reideen (ugh) and Super Robot Wars OG, this show is fast making me believe that CG animated mecha can work very well. Compared to what came before it, Macross Frontier is the Gundam 00 of CG robots. The whole chase scene with Alto carrying Ranka was absolutely gorgeous, capturing all the speed and agility that a Valkyrie ought to have without missing a beat. Attentive fans will notice that the part where Ranka is pulled to safety in mid-air was just about borrowed directly from original Macross, where Hikaru/Rick Hunter saves Minmay in a similar fashion.

Possibly my favorite part is when Alto gets slugged for asking Ozma to let him pilot again when the aliens come back. Instead he's shut out since he's still seen as an amateur, and Ozma apparently just wanted Alto to talk about how Gilliam got killed. Alto's time is obviously coming before long, but in a cliche series he'd be getting welcomed as a pilot already.

The classic Macross drama seems to be coming up again, though I'm on the fence about it for this show so far. So far Sheryl comes off as arrogant and unlikable when she's not performing, and I'm not clear on why she's interested in Alto at all. Ranka's more believable with her gratitude to Alto and her admiration of Sheryl's talent. For now, Alto seems indifferent and only sees either of them thanks to chance. The three of them seem to be the focus of the show so we'll see how things develop, though I assume a love triangle at some point is at least a given. I now see Beat's loli point a lot better though, as without looking it up I would never have known that Sheryl and Ranka have no more than two years separating their ages (17 and 15, respectively). Minmay was 15 in Macross but not as childish, I'd say.

At any rate, episode 3 looks to be shaping up as character development with the next fight against the aliens is a backdrop. Macross Frontier is showing some promise, but the jury is definitely still out. There's still too much unknown about both the cast and whether this new alien threat will ever develop into anything beyond an abstract menace.
 
Loli is what puts me off a show. I think the only Loli charachter I've ever liked (and not in a sexual way) was Pinoco.

Though I have been known to watch bad shows just because I like the Mecha...
 
That's what's listed at ANN's encyclopedia.

Good point about the cows and such. The impression I got is that there's some greater intelligence controlling it all, but that doesn't have to be the case for the music angle to make sense.
 
If Bilrer(the old Zentraedi guy) looking at picture of Minmay leaRAB us to finding out the fate of Hikaru/Misa/Minmay on the Megaroad-1 I will be so unbelievably happy.

I had hoped it might happen during this series with it being the anniversary of the original Macross. Maybe in the movie? Or might the movie lead into the next series dealing with it?

Just please make it happen Kawamori.
 
Thats what I'm thinking, it shows that even though the Zentraedi now live with humans they still mantain the things that make them Zentraedi. I thinks it would be cool if later the fleet runs into a Zentraedi fleet who senRAB a spy into the cultured zentraedi, I think it would be interesting to say the least.
 
Not exactly. MegaroaRAB are strictly lightly-armed colony ships. they require armed escorts to defend themselves.

Frontier is a New Macross class ship (that we were first introduced to in Macross 7) in which the City portion docks with an assault carrier (in this case the Macross 25) and then separate during corabat situations.
 
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