Oh wow Hotdogs!
Well that was a fucking awesome OP words cannot describe the levels of win and awesome, thought I miss that shot of Kabuki-hime… Nevertheless the amount of excellence shines through, I love it. Much Sheryl development this time around in the wake of Kawamori’s epic troll and while I would have liked to have Lion as the OP sooner given the lavishness of the OP alone I am glad that they went all out for both Sheryl and Ranka. This time Ranka takes a back seat while we finally get a glimpse into Sheryl’s past along with a bit of Grace’s and some possible Alto-hime development.
Family tea time.
Mina hopes to one day be just like Cathy, in the sense that she wants to have hot…tea.
Of all of Bobby’s children it seems that Monica is the one most prone to ry and show off.
Good to see that like responsible parents, Bobby and Cathy have instilled the kids with an aversion of poverty.
GARby?
I am positively pumped to go shopping for some reason…Where GARby leads we shall follow!
Frontier experiences a huge amount of rationing and heavy regulation on resources in an effort to build up enough reserve energy to fold the entire fleet out of the area in an effort to escape the Vajra. With their reaction weapons all but useless now they lack enough military power to continual defend the fleet and it did show with the loss of men and machines. Thankfully they did fold out and take out a bunch of bugs, but it seems that they have a few stowaways…
Pretty woman, walkin down the street, pretty woman
The kind I like to meet, pretty woman
I don’t believe you, you’re not the truth. No one could look as good as you.
Mercy!
Luca is slowly worming his way into Leon’s inner circle and I suspect the Luca is trying to spy on them to see what they are up to. However Brera and Nanase seem to be getting along as well, so Luca better keep alert while trying to play splinter cell. Bobby and his battle family seem to be getting closer and they go shopping together. However it seems that Cathy is the master of sales as proven by the amount of bags she was carrying. I like how our bridge crew is really coming together and it did lighten the mood a bit given the general atmosphere of the episode. I love these guys even on their off time they act like small unit troops they do stuff together though in most cases it just getting together over Xbox live for some Madden, TF2, or Halo 3. The local dress vendor mistaking Alto-hime for a woman was great and poor Alto-hime actually had to show off his Adam’s Apple just to prove that he was a guy. Oh poor Pilot-hime even in public he’s fooling every one without even trying.
Talk about hard life, but I guess that’s what happens when you got corporations running things…
Oh Shi- even pedo bear would have been better than this…
Nooooooo!!!!!!
I can’t believe Ranka’s mom and Dr. Mao went along with this…Grace I could understand, but those two? Man corporate moraltiy sucks.
Grace dropped the bomb on Sheryl telling her that she will die and that she was nothing more than a manufactured idol. The blow to her professional pride was clearly seen as Sheryl feel to pieces when the full weight of having Ranka’s fame eclipse her’s sank in. Grace seems to have been part of the hawtest team of doctors and possibly the most underhanded one of them all. While Dr, Mao’s fate is unknown it seems Dr. Mei was Ranka’s mom and later became Queen of Vajira and Dr. Grace was the one procuring samples and test subjects. In a way all three women formed the traditional stages sometimes associated with women, Mao was the wise crone, Mei was the mother, and Grace was the maiden. It’s somewhat interesting to note that Grace does not give birth per se but rather she is the uncaring maiden who is willing to toy with others. While Grace has been quite a bastard, she has nonetheless been a magnificent bastard with the way she has manipulated every one into following her tune. I wonder if Kikuko Inoue is having too much fun with this role after all it’s not one of her typical roles and mein gott she sounds sultrier and hawter than in her usual roles. Grace is incredible dangerous given how she just snatched Sheryl like that and started blowing bitter words into her ears. I don’t know about you but it looked incredibly yuri…
Sheryl…
Grace was always the master of CQC.
Come to momma.
Time for a nap.
Mom will sleep with you if it makes you feel better…
Sheryl isn’t tired…
Grace… what did you do there?
Slightly disappointed that there was no nibble.
Well we can’t all be immortal like you…
Yes your evilness?
Oh shit some one is going to die…
Mikhail and Klein do some private digging of their own and discover that Sheryl’s illness is likely terminal and with out a cure. The drugs that Grace was giving Sheryl only suppressed the disease and had a good number of side effects that they later saw. I like how despite being under utilized thus far that they decided to use Klein in a somewhat more serious manner. It was kind of odd to see Micronized Klein being big time university student and talented Google master. It was cute to see Klein protest that she too was a mature and beautiful woman when macronized. To her credit though Klein had gotten Mikhail to go on field trips together and while micronized she is being a bit more mature about things. When they broke the news to Sheryl it was just so adorable how Klein protested that she knew what Sheryl was going through because she was a woman too. Amen to that mein Hauptmann Klein. Minor developments on the Mikhail and Klein front but it was good and most delightful to see that they don’t have to antagonize each other while Klein is chibi. Given how Mikhail’s conversation with Alto-hime went I suspect he and Klein have joined the Sheryl ship. I loved and savored every moment of KleinxMikhail I hope you guys did too, so fat this has been a great episode for Klein-sama.
Whew that’s all?
Yeah I mounted the head over my fireplace. What of it?
Wow even Klein-sama is impressed…
Wow that’s quite and endorsement.
I don’t doubt that for a minute, I am sure All Meltran Klein is a mature woman with style.
On the Ranka front it seems that at the very least Ranka has become a bit braver though Ozma seems ready to tell Ranka the truth or at least ready himself for the day she no longer needs him. Not much else to say other than that Ranka is still dancing to other people’s tune and making Ai-kun sad and her stomach hurt with every Vajira killed. The thing that struck me was that Ranka was very much loved as a kid and ended up kind of spoiled. She seems to have forgotten about Elmo and in the preview she might have been going on a dayto with Brera. It’s kind of sad to see that Ranka seems to be losing herself in her own fame, but at the same time lying to herself. I hope she grows up fast and soon because given how Grace just demolished Sheryl Ranka better be wary of Grace and assert her own will before Grace gets Ranka under her thumb. Elmo is gone, Mikhail is gone, Luca is busy, Alto-hime is forlorn, Ozma is on his way out, and Bobby is busy raising his battle family, it seems that Ranka is losing all her old pillars of support and falling more onto Brera and Grace. Nanase is right there but so far even with Nana-chan Ranka is very real danger of falling further into Grace’s machinations. Brera is of dubious loyalty given how even Ranka’s cyborg knight is dancing to Grace’s tune.
Dang even President Glass is casting a vote of no confidence.
All Hail the QUEEN!
Bad bad Vajira!
Alto-hime seems less distraught about losing to Brera this time not only did Brera protect Ranka when Alto-hime could not, but Brera saved Alto-hime too. I suspect that with the way things are going Alto-hime is starting to realize just how big a gulf exists between his combat ability and that of Brera. Thus far even when Ozma asked Alto-hime to protect Ranka, hime seemed less than enthused and made no effort to even shout Ranka’s name. The more I think about it Alto-hime only got closer to Ranka because he was asked to, though it remains to be seen whether or not Alto-hime wanted to do it because he likes Ranka or because Ranka needed saving. Now that Brera has made hime obsolete in the protector role Alto-hime seems less intent on trying to fight Brera to get Ranka back.
Hime heard that you bimbos.
Alto-hime doesn’t look too happy when people dis Sheryl…
The rest of your life….
When Sheryl found herself in a pickle Alto-hime went all out to look for her and seemed incredibly pissed when his brother took Sheryl back to his father’s house. Had there been no call I think that Pilot-hime would have run after that car with all his might. In the last episode he couldn’t give Sheryl a straight answer and when those three bimbos started ragging on Sheryl hime looked angry and sore like he was ready to punch them. Given how Mikhail has a good measure of Alto-hime’s feelings perhaps his statement that he Alto-hime had to go find Sheryl otherwise he would regret it, may prove significant in the future. If nothing else it seems that Alto-hime really does care about Sheryl when it counts and goes all out when it happens, but remains confident in Sheryl’s ability to take care of Sheryl. I don’t think we are going to get a clear sense of how Alto-hime will lean until about episode 22 or 23 so it is pointless to berate hime for not being clear. Once Alto-hime finds out about Sheryl’s impending doom I think we shall see just how much hime feels for Sheryl. Right now it seems that Alto-hime is learning how deal with his anger issues given how he wasn’t shouting as much this time. Hopefully now that he’s mellowed out a bit he can deal with going back home.
Oh hell…
I hope you have a better explanation that she’s just a friend…
She thought your were Alto-hime…
Just as planned…
Yeah your dad just took a hostage, you have to go back home Sakura-hime…
Oh come on, its only Kabuki…
Sheryl got the most development this time with her inglorious demise at the hands of Grace who tore down Sheryl’s self confidence and revealed that Sheryl would die. To her credit though Sheryl tried to put up a brave front but ultimately even the strongest of us have our limits and seeing Ranka become bigger than she ever was and that she has been written off as a has been was more that Sheryl could bear. Added with the fact that her illness is terminal and that there is no cure even if Sheryl can get the medicine she needs the bouts of weakness will never go away. It was sad to see that Sheryl did rise up from dumpster diving for bare necessities to pop star. While Grace provided the marketing and took her out of poverty and into a lab as a test subject, Sheryl’s songs were still hers and Diamond Crevasse was written by her and (Edit) Infinity was dedicated to Alto-hime by Sheryl in episode 7, not Grace. The fact that Sheryl never told her sob story to anyone and wanted to keep her illness a secret from Alto-hime was probably her way of not making Kabuki-hime worry or treat her differently. If Alto-hime knew in all probability our naïve hime would have felt obligated to stay with Sheryl out of a sense of duty than love. Sheryl didn’t want to burden Alto-hime and her subsequent attempt to get away was probably Sheryl’s way of avoiding Alto-hime given her devastated state. She never wanted to show weakness when hime was around, and tries, albeit unsuccessfully, to not be the damsel in distress.
Self Esteem at 96%
87%
71%
62%
32%
2% We need Alto-hime damage control NOW!
Sheryl just pretty much lost everything to Grace in this episode, and for all her pride and strength it was simply no match for Grace. Now that Sheryl knows that there is no real way for her to fight back and that she might not have enough time in this life to rebuild her career I doubt Sheryl is going to try and prove Grace wrong. Just what niche job Sheryl will find remains to be seen but now that she is in the home of Alto-hime she can either be a pilot or find a job with the Saotome troupe. I don’t think that with Alto-hime rushing to back her up that Sheryl is going to sit around and do nothing. Her image of Alto-hime was gorgeous and clearly Sheryl has a much more idealized view of how hime looks hips and all. To her credit at least now she has gotten far enough with Alto-hime that he becomes visibly angry at Sheryl bashing and pissed that he had to go to work rather than look after her. I wonder if what it takes to tip the scales in Sheryl favor is for Alto-hime to realize the very real possibility that he would lose her forever. They have been together for some time and share many intimate moments where they confided in one another. They have a level of trust that they share with no one else. Alto-hime wasn’t asking any one else to save Sheryl he wanted to do this on his own and really seemed to hate how his brother beat him to the punch. Suffice to say Sheryl’s tragic tale moved even the hearts of the most staunch Ranka fans.
Hull breech! Hull Breech!
It seems that Sheryl’s Alto-hime has curves…
OMG…
Ummm…
Wow Sheryl’s True Tears really bring out Alto-hime’s beauty…it’s works on ugly people too.
Poor Sheryl…
I like how Kawamori and his team have put such effort into weaving an interesting story and throwing around enough clues for some speculation while at the same time dispelling some of them and vindicating others. The tossing around of information is right now at a very digestible pace without making the audience confused. We knew that Grace was associated with the 117th and now we know in what Grace is capable of and how monstrous Grace has always been. Now that we know Grace and Mei have met perhaps this latest conflict is the result of their research from all those years before. Grace’s motivation might not be for personal gain but for her to see a triumphant experiment come to fruition. Grace has a remarkable capacity to be callous now we know why, for Grace everything seems to be a test subject and given how her talent for science has probably made her mad, I doubt Grace is bound by a fear of God or by morals. It makes sense that Grace was just a mean person due to her zealous scientific ambitions, and I am glad that they weren’t trying to excuse it by providing a sob story for Grace. I approve of how they chose to do it this way since it makes Grace all the more terrifying, it’s not some random brutality, it’s all calculated and she is very thorough…
Klein-sama! I am so glad you joined Ai Ai Alot-hime.
Yes in that Loli body is the heart of a woman!
I see Klein has also joined Suki Suki Sheryl…
Mikhail…
Tears averted, you live one more day Mikhail…
Wait…
Good Job Klein that’s one setp closer to making that worthless lout yours!
Well next time it seems that Ranka is having some fun with Brera, while Sheryl and Alto-hime spend some time in the Saotome estate. Well I do get to see Sheryl in a kabuki get up, now I just hope that Alto-hime will get roped into some acting while he’s back home. If nothing else I hope that Alto-hime buries or at least starts to bury the hatchet with Ranzo. Sheryl really has no where else to go and the price of letting Sheryl stay in hime’s home is not going to be cheap. I, for one, am crossing my fingers that Alto-hime will have to do some acting on the side to help Sheryl out during her tough times. Hopefully Kawamori and his crew will drop some more hints about how Alto-hime feels about Sheryl and tells her about what is going on in that pretty head of his. Right now Sheryl is probably going to be the only conduit where Alto-hime is going to share his thoughts. I also hope that Sheryl finds a measure of confidence during her time in the hime home. Ranka had better start getting her old support back quick before she falls further into Grace’s clutches. Well at least we have been given som hints about Battle Frontier, I cannot wait to see that badass ship swing into action with Ranka and Sheryl singing at the helm. I bet bobby would like to take that badass cap ship for a spin.
I so want to intern for their project.
Mao Nome! Long time no see, my you have barley aged at all. Genki as ever I see.
In the future Ranka will be at least Dr. Mei hawt.
Man all natural Grace was hawt.
It seems that GARby has met his match…
Woah 80% off!
Give you the Cathy 28th master of Sale-fu.
Oh Shit Brera is taking your Nanase.
Luca fighto!
I am so looking forawrd to see Alto-hime go home again…I want to see Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho!
Stop laughing Brera < Alto-hime.
63 Comments
If Sheryl was THAT sick, she’d have been dead long before Grace found her. Macross Galaxy doesn’t seem to believe in socialized health care, or even Medicare/Medic-Aid for someone who picks garbage in alleys. Plus, Grace pretty much said flat out that she was the one who got Sheryl infected and thus was the one keeping her alive until she found someone more useful… and that she was a manufactured idol whose popularity was more due to Grace’s business acumen (and hacking) than natural talent rising to the top.
But given the resemblance, it’s either coincidence that Sheryl looks like Ranshe Mei… or a real good knife-twisting, as now she’d have had her hands on BOTH of Ranshe Mei’s daughters, and used them both. Plus it’d let Kawamori put in one more Macross Zero reference, and would make Ranka’s role in the movie even more ironic (playing the role of Doctor Nome when her own mother worked for Doctor Nome).
PS: If Grace O’Conner is indeed the Queen Bitch of this show, then Kikuko Inoue got one of the best roles available for Spring 2008 – The Boss was good, but being evil like this after being typecast as caring mothers (one of her more recent was Ms. Hiragi in Lucky Star) or Belldandy for years.
Some how I just don’t see Ranshe ditching Sheryl and running off with a man to give birth to two more kids. Though that be a big shock if Ranka’s mom was morally loose and/or that she stole Grace’s man…
Such a reference would be rather poetic in more ways than one…
I agree that this one of the more memorable roles Kikuko Inoue has snagged hopefully she will be able to break out into other roles. She is much more than the voice of a caring mother. Even if she doesn’t get much time as Cecile Croomy in Code Geass at least she has one big role as arguably the most evil femme fatales in recent memory. Right now Grace seems to be much more insidious than many evil characters this season.
Sad to see that video game roles didn’t seem to count in terms of casting.
Grace and Ranshe have the same eye color.
It was quite fortuitous for Hime’s brother to run into Sheryl like that. ^_^ Now he has the perfect means to lure him back home.
I agree, there are strong feelings there when a guy will run through the rain for you.
And Ranka does seem to be losing her way a little, but I think in the end she’ll realize what’s going on and not allow herself to be a puppet. I think Brera would protect her from everything, including Grace!
As for Sheryl, I think along the same lines. Grace certainly pulled strings but without the determination Sheryl has I don’t think she would have become as popular an idol as she is.
I think with some time at Hime’s place she’ll find her voice again, and will sing, eventually ^-^
Just saw pics from the next episode. It looks like Alto-hime‘s gonna be breaking more fans after episode 19.
Crap, ran out of time to edit. Anyway, as I was trying to say, Ai-Ai-Alto-hime is deculture!
… Alto-hime’s mother looks JUST like Alto-hime now. He is genetically a trap, and no doubts about it.
Oh, and Naked Klein next ep. Let the nosebleeds begin!
@D.J
It seems next time Ranka makes a big mistake…
@d3v
Good to see that in the future our Alto-hime will only look better as the years do by. Suffice to say it seems that Alto-hime got most of his genes from his mum.
@Haesslich
Oh man I can’t wait to actually know what they were actually saying…but well we all have confirmed our suspicions that Alto-hime did get most of his genes from his mother. Wow I can’t believe she married Ranzo. From what I can gather though it seems Ranka is fooling around while Sheryl is being egged on to be serious with Alto-hime. Hopefully Sheryl will be flattered to be compared to Alto-hime’s mom, after all she was prettier than Sheryl.
Crusader: It’s usually not a compliment when a guy tells a woman she reminds him of his mother. Either that, or it portends incest and severe mother issues that damage a relationship.
Looking forward to Naked Klein, though.
You forget Alto-hime’s mom is just your average mother…besides we all know who is the prettier of the two. Besides given how Kawamori is a hippie but not some sick bastard I don’t think it was intended as incest, however it could be a sign that Sheryl might end up being Alto-hime’s most important person given how hime loved his mother very much or at least cherished her and her memory. Perhaps it is a portent of the possibility that Sheryl’s fate might end up being similar to Alto-hime’s mother and perhaps there is a chance that Alto-hime will face the same problem Ranzo did…
Right now I am raging over the fact that Ranka was dallying with Brera…well at least it was good to see Klein finally getting her way and it seems Ozma and Cathy have to put up some sort of awkward front…
Ozma and Cathy were quite cute there – it looks like the engagement to Leon is off, though. But I guess his brush with death plus his mid-battle confession in front of everyone did the trick. Looking forward to more Klein, even if Mikhail’s talking about dying portends not-nice things.
I bet Leon passed up Cathy for Grace considering how it seems Leon no longer needs Cathy as a means to become head of the Fleet. It’s not a quedstion of if Leon and Grace are partaking of afternoon delight, but rather as to the manner…
Watched 19, oh Ranka, your dilly dallying cost you precious time…