Happy Destroid Day everyone! because we can’t celebrate Aimo Memorial day until Brera stops defiling the song.
I didn’t even hear one rendition of Aimo on Aimo Memorial day, and I for one feel cheated… Well it seems that aside from the animation quality the thing I most lament is Ranka. I want to cheer for her, but she has been making things increasingly difficult. The clock is ticking and Ranka needs to do in six remaining episodes or so what Sheryl has been consistently doing since episode 5, right now the Alto-himexRanka development looks to be stagnating to the point that Brera and Ai-kun time will soon over take it. I understand that Ranka likes Alto-hime, but if she did love hime she would be most wise to actively court hime rather than gallivant around with Brera. It irritates me every time I see them together, if Ranka is going to beat out her label of Minmay then she better get it together and ditch Brera and assume command of her career. I for one thought that is was rather irresponsible of Ranka to go running off for Ai-kun and have soft cream with Brera when she can’t run off during her free time to see Alto-hime. I would have found ditching work for Alto-hime to be annoying, but for Breara and Ai-kun?! No. For work Ranka should be at work, but when she is free she ought to make use of her own time. Not even Sheryl was so rude as to skip work, and she found the time to court hime. Putting Ai-kun and soft cream with Brera on a higher priority than work and on par with Alto-hime’s safety is not a good thing. It illustrates a lack of strategic vision as I have specified in my love doctrine post, and now it seems that Ranka’s local support is drying up as her fame rises and more worrisome events are on the horizon…
Alright Cathy looks like you scored big on that Pre-Fold Sale!
It’s the Fire bomber Special!
Cathy is so moe…
Cathy aptly named this Operation Make Leon Jealous, suffice to say Leon stopped caring sometime ago…
Love is in the air on Frontier and while Bobby and his children Ram, Monica, and Mina are stuck at work, but still on station. Oh the poor girls, but as a soldier I appreciate that they went to work as ordered to even if they were less than happy about it. Cathy and Ozma go on a date of sorts and my goodness, don’t they look lovely together, even if they are old by anime standards. Though I must admit using a date as cover to get some information was an excellent idea on Cathy’s part, and you know it was Cathy who planned it, given how she was actually dressed for the occasion. I bet the girl she lost to in Miss Macross 8 years ago hasn’t aged nearly was well. Klein-sama scores a dayto with Mikhail and he doesn’t get arrested, I take it that Klein had informed every cop in the city about her circumstances, though I must say the choice of location while nostalgic was kind of lame. I guess even after all these years the Pier 39 seals are still as lazy as ever…
Sadly there were no local Zentradi boys to justify these three going on a dayto on Aimo Memorial Day. Believe me if the miclone chamber line wasn’t a mile long I would have volunteered…
Yeah those stupid bugs…
Man I know what you mean…I lost my weekend to watch stander duty too.
RIP Ram…Rank has Its Priveleges
Grace has made a new bomb and has won the arms race for Macross Frontier this season, from prototype to field test to mass production Grace moves at Macross speed. Not only is Grace making Leon giddy that she has new toys that go boom, but she is also at the cusp of an even greater discovery about the Vajira Queen than either Mao or Ranshe ever made. I think Grace might have felt small in their presence. Leon is about to launch a coup as Ozma and Cathy are too late to stop the assassin. I guess Leon is either a minion of Grace or he has his own plan at work, though if it is the latter I doubt Grace is unaware of it. Poor Howard glass looks doomed even if he isn’t shot the next Vajra attack might well claim his life…at least they showed of a lot of destroids.
Looks like Macross has upped the ante.
He came!
Yeah I bet Grace already sterilized Leon…
Still a scientist I see, I wish my professor was this hawt in love with science.
Dang it Ranka why didn’t you say no?
As I said before I was really unhappy with Ranka this time, going on a dayto with Brera and blushing…What is the girl thinking?! It is madness and folly to be dallying with other men. While Ranka needed a shove in the right direction it should not have been Brera, it should have been Bobby damn it! I have to say Ranka taking Alto-hime’s performance as a sign was naïve at best and arrogance at worst. Throughout the episode I was just crying inside at how Ranka was doing it wrong. If she is to end up with Alto-hime I hope Ranka grows up and fast because the lack of spark right now is most damning they have had relatively little development and as such wouldn’t feel like a worth while end. I mean it this time! Right now I can see why Alto-hime and Sheryl would end up together but Ranka still knows nothing and she isn’t trying nearly as hard as she can. To add insult to injury I am fuming over her blush over Brera. I had hoped Ranka would have kept Brera at arms length but no…she doesn’t need any more attention least of all Brera’s. It’s also kind of sad how Ranka’s love for Ai-kun is about to kill off a bunch of her fans and a good chunk of Frontier’s population. I just hope that if she finds out that Ranka doesn’t get all emo from that and seeing Sheryl with Alto-hime. Most worrisome of all was the possibility that Ranka wasn’t willing to confess until she thought she knew that Alto-hime loved her too. If that is the case it is fear at best and craven cowardice at worst.
Oh let me guess you prefer Pistachio…
What’s wrong you ask? EVERYTHING!
That’s not good enough, you must now feed Brera to Ai-kun…
Perhaps I am being overly harsh but right now if Ranka loses her bid to be with Alto-hime it will be because she was unwilling to commit and she was not putting Alto-hime on a high enough priority, work I can understand, Ai-kun and Brera, however not so much. Ranka could have just told Super Cyborg Brera to find Ai-kun given how he has superior tracking capabilities, but no she just had to buy him soft cream as part of the deal. I am just so disappointed that Ranka just doesn’t seem to be trying and is acting like a child and seems unwilling to put her heart on the line when it counted for better or for worse. I want her to be brave I want Ranka to ditch Brera and dig in her heels and declare her love for Alto-hime for good or ill. Now is no time to retreat if Ranka goes emo this late in the series she will need a Hail Mary to get Alto-hime in a manner that doesn’t seem arbitrary. I am just fuming that Ranka is at this stage going on dayto with Brera when Sheryl, the less modest of the two has only had her eyes on Alto-hime. Minmay lost because one she was a bitch, and two because she didn’t commit until it was too late. Ranka is at least not a bitch, but she better commit now and give it her all, no more nice Ranka, time to show guts or GTFO. All I can hope for is that Ranka doesn’t go running into Brera’s arms when she is hurt and confused, I can accept Ai-kun however. Giving Brera soft cream?! How could you, Ranka? How could you? I am glad Ranka decided that she sung only for Alto-hime, but that is insufficient basis for romance, and hopefully if and when Ranka decides to accept any and all possible consequences then she might learn more about her beloved Alto-hime and at least score a chance to visit the hime home.
Anything worth doing is worth doing for a date.
Oh quite whining Skull-2, Pixie Leader just made it an order.
Under the hedgerows Ma’am
I agree.
Hehe because Klein is always right…kudos to Klein for starting to house break Mikhail early.
It seems that Klein and Mikhail have figured out Alto-hime for being the dullard that hime is, but since this is a love triangle after all I await some major drama at episode 23. Right now hoping for a clear explicit answer is a losing proposition. I hope that enough of the audience doesn’t start declaring a winner or start making demands of Kawamori and his team. We know that Mr. Kawamori is surfing the internets lol-ing at our complaints and planning another excellent display of troll-fu. I am rather wary of Mr. Kawamori’s ire and humbly await news of the fate of Ranka, Sheryl, and Alto-hime. Oh and if Kawamori trolls both Sheryl and Ranka camps I just want to say I fucking called it. So Alto-hime is indeed rather thick headed when it comes to love and undoubtedly with a father like Ranzo and losing your mum at 12 didn’t help Alto-hime’s education on matters of love. It is also understandable when considering all of hime’s life that hime was treated like a girl, and indeed it was as a girl that hime earned the most fame and accolade. It also seems that Alto-hime has only really cared about one woman until he met Sheryl and Ranka. I doubt that there was a mommy complex at work, but more on that later. Even if Sheryl is at a nadir now and despite Mikhail and Klein’s jabs about Alto-hime’s pace it does seem significant that our Kabuki-hime would go back home for the sake of Sheryl, but not his dad. Clearly at least Sheryl means enough to Alto-hime for hime to break his oath to never return and it adds some more indication as to why Alto-hime left in the first place. I guess that at least when Miyo-sama was alive that Alto-hime was happy, but that all ended once Oyama training began and Miyo-sama was unable to allay the worst of Ranzo’s rigorous training. Maybe the bad blood between Alto-hime and his father might have had more to do with just kabuki, given how Miyo-sama died relatively early perhaps that served to darken Ranzo’s mood or Ranzo might have gotten lonely and thought about finding a new wife shortly before falling out with his son.
She taught hime how to fold airplanes…
Aww…..
Indeed…
Miyo-sama…
Alto-hime definitely takes after his mother.
Perhaps the way for Alto-hime and his dad to mend their fences is for Alto-hime to ask his dad about why he married his mother, the great Miyo-sama, despite knowing that he would out live her by a significant number of years. Kabuki action would still be highly desirable but having a father son chat about something more to do with life might be for the better. If Alto-hime does choose to live with and marry Sheryl for however many years she may have left, hime might have some questions for his father. It might also indicate that Sheryl might not find a cure and both Alto-hime and his dad will suffer similar fates if Sheryl does secure hime’s affections by series end. That is not to say that the same situation would not apply to Ranka as she seems headed towards the ultimate fate of being Queen of Vajra and subsequently “dying” at some point that is to say Ranka will no longer be fully human. Perhaps if Ranka does ditch Brera and court hime successfully then Alto-hime might end up having to go on with out Ranka at some point in a fashion not too dissimilar from that of Ranzo. Mikhail at least thinks that Alto-hime is capable of having a serious relationship, and around this point is an excellent time for hime to contemplate what Sheryl really means to him and how much Ranka means to him.
The Miyo-sama of Alto-hime’s memories.
Umm…
The name’s Sheryl, Sheryl Nome…
Why because Sheryl is fine too?
Just as planned…
trying hard not to stare eh?
Oh really…
I have to say though since we know Kawamori isn’t a sick fuck with a mommy complex that I highly doubt that Kawamori was gunning for an oedipal undertone, but rather he was trying to illustrate how Sheryl and Miyo-sama weren’t all that different. Both seem to be headed towards s short life, but it seems that Miyo-sama was at least confident enough to use the rest of her life to raise Alto-hime rather than waste away bedridden and distraught. Sheryl is still vulnerable to depression over her mortality, but hopefully she will find the same strength that Miyo-sama found to soldier on in life and make something of it rather than give into despair. Given how Miyo-sama’s love and care raised a superb Oyama that has been breaking audiences across the known space, I do think that Miyo-sama was quite successful. If Sheryl does love Alto-hime perhaps she too will have to commit her heart and life to hime no matter how short it may be if she wants to be happy and make Alto-hime happy. In any case it was at least mind numbingly cute to see mother and hime together. I guess we at least know why Alto-hime has not cut his hair after all this time, clearly hime loved Miyo-sama very much or at least enough to tolerate the hime jibes of Mikhail. I bet Miyo-sama taught Alto-hime a thing or two about hair care…
Alto-hime said he had hung up his fan for good.
Sheryl wanted to see Sakura-hime too…
and she wants to see Alto-hime as Sakura-hime NOW.
You can still pilot amirite?
I take it she wants to see it very badly…
Wow she wants join Ai Ai Alto-hime bad…
Sheryl seems to have arrived at a decision on what she is going to do. She tried and failed to convince Alto-hime to give up on her but it looks like for the time being Alto-hime will not abandon Sheryl to her fate. Fortunately since Klein insisted Sheryl hopefully will not try and runaway from Alto-hime despite her condition. It was sad to see Sheryl lie to herself and Alto-hime like that, though hime being the hot blooded hime that he is would not suffer Sheryl to be emo. At least now Alto-hime knows Sheryl well enough to spot the obvious lie and be angry enough to try and prove Sheryl wrong, and caring enough not to beat the living crap out of her for being emo. I think that in his own way Alto-hime was tying to inspire Sheryl that even if you aren’t the best if you love it do it. Alto-hime is after all eternally second best, but hime tries nonetheless to be a good pilot. Sheryl might not be on top of the charts but as long as she loves to sing why stop? I think Yasaburo was right that Sheryl knows that the stage is something incredibly hard to give up and walk way from, and that some how she and Alto-hime are somewhat alike. Both seem to be hard headed believers of GUTS and working hard towards a goal.
At least you can die happy…
Believe in the me who believes in Alto-hime.
They haven’t given up hope either…
While Alto-hime has seemingly walked away from kabuki I still doubt that hime has forgotten everything. It’s the same with Sheryl her drive to be a top singer was in part because she relished the feeling of being on stage in front of an audience, long before she even met her beloved Alto-hime. I hope Sheryl knows how much headway she has gotten with Alto-hime to risk her fragile hopes and heart. Right now I think Alto-hime has bailed Sheryl out of a bad situation enough times that it is clear that hime at least cares enough to listen and swallow his pride to make sure that Sheryl was okay. There is no need for a façade of strength now (Alto-hime is no longer buying it wholesale anyways), frank honesty is needed now if Sheryl wants to her very special hime to help her in her time of need. It’s hard to ignore that Sheryl was on hime’s mind when he was flying especially since it was Ranka’s Aimo day. I guess Sheryl can also take solace in the fact that Alto-hime was ready fight Mikhail over what Mikhail knew about her. If nothing else Sheryl was at least compelling enough bait to make Alto-hime crawl through the secret paths and set foot again in a place hime swore to forsake. In terms of her relations with Alto-hime their time together has changed them quite a lot, mostly for the better.
Welcome back Alto-hime.
Oh…
…I am sure the reason might be very important this late in the series.
I guess that is one for Yasaburo…sort of.
To Ranka’s credit her time with Alto-hime has allowed her to realize her dreams, though they are now at risk in the hands of Grace, but Alto-hime didn’t seem to have changed much since the first time they met. Again I hope the stituation changes, because Ai-kun and his pals don’t seem to like Alto-hime or Valkyries so Ranka has a really big up hill battle this late in the series. Sheryl at least has become less insufferable showing remarkable progress in that Sheryl cares more about some one else than Sheryl Nome. We have seen her go from to of the world to the gutter and hopefully she will find renewed strength to live on without lamenting her fate. Her relationship with Alto-hime has progressed marvelously from passing flirtation, to friends with limited benefits, to a semi-state of dating, and finally to something more serious in that they have managed to have their first real fight. Along the way Sheryl has gained some friends and supporters such as Mikhail, Klein, and Yasaburo. At the very least Sheryl seems to have a better grasp of Alto-hime than her rival Ranka, but Sheryl might lose it all if she starts giving into despair. If nothing else they are at least close friends that Sheryl and Alto-hime. Alto-hime seems to have become more humble and less hot headed, and at least with Sheryl he is learning to act more snarky than blatantly hostile to his superiors and peers. Sheryl was the catalyst for hime’s return home and hopefully it will be one step towards reconciling with hime’s father. If and when hime finds out about Sheryl’s ultimate fate and that of Ranka we shall see hime finally man up and give both Ranka and Sheryl an answer.
…
Well Alto-hime did get paid quite a lot for that one…
Wooo we’re so glad Ms. Ranka Lee got our message, best use of 9001 USD ever.
Wrong…so very wrong you are Ranka-chan. T_T
Meanwhile back in the crowd…Oh look cosplayers, bugs like Ai-kun fit right in…and he brought some friends.
Elsewhere I just love how there was just so much shipping fodder for MikhailxKlein, and OzmaxCathy. Klein is most wise in making exacting her price at helping Mikhail and forced to endure the ridicule of being compared to Sheryl and that other girl. Ozma and Cathy were just so awesome together and I was happy to see that Cathy’s mastery of Sale-fu netted such stunning results. Ozma was so distracted that he even ate the paper on his chilli dog. I applaud Cathy for mixing business with pleasure, it was like watching an older couple pretend to be like teenagers…just freaking epic. Glad that Kawamori was able to work it all in some how…whew chilli dogs aren’t the new pineapple salad after all. However I would have loved to see Cathy arrest Leon in that get up that way at least Leon would regret leaving Cathy for Grace. Though I could be wrong, perhaps a beauty contest between the two is in order…
Moar Klein.
:3
Dude why is this bastard Mikhail looking so sad?
Sorry Luca but Kawamori decided to cancel your dayto with Nanasse…
Next time Ranka better not run to Brera and Sheryl better not run away from Alto-hime. Ai-kun and his brothers have come out to play and much fighting shall be had. Not sure why Klein seems a bit more exposed next time, but I can wait a few days just to see the reason why.
36 Comments
Honestly, I feel so much like a filthy lolicon when Klein wore that laboratory suit that is just so darn hot. I mean, my favorite pairing in Macross Frontier is definitely Klein x Mikhail a lot because you can tell that Mikhail is trying very hard to restrain himself from getting too close to her. I guess the explanation that was given in this episode fits Mikhail very well, as he does not dare to be serious with the girl that he cares the most.
I just feel so much doomsday prophesy for Ranka, since Sheryl’s trump card has not appeared. For Ranka, she is likely to throw all the possible trump cards that she has, and she does not seem to be closer to Alto. Instead, she feels that she has been carried away by fame, despite doing this on the strength of Alto. If anything, I am speculating a Sheryl end but it’s way too close to call.
Lastly, Kathy x Ozma teenage romance? Fricking awesome.
I’d like to see more of Ranka and Brera together XD
Hi I read this blog often but it’s my first comment here. I wanted to give an insight as to why Ranka’s emotions seem to waver between Alto and Brera in the show. My friend gave me this month’s Animage and the interview said that originally Kawamori wanted a 2-male 1-female triangle. But the character designer didnt’ like that idea so they added in Sheryl. So maybe Ranka’s feelings are just what is left of Kawamori’s original ideas that he stuck into the show.
Congratulations. You’re one of the few people who didn’t immediately leap at the “mother = Oedipus complex” suggestion and caught the connection between Sheryl and Miyo’s illnesses. We’ll probably be talking more on this point later…
The reason why Sheryl was cold to Alto at the Saotome home wasn’t merely to act strong. She wanted to drive Alto away so that he wouldn’t grieve when she was gone. The sudden shot of the decorative fan (as a symbol of kabuki) as well as Yasaburo’s remarks about Sheryl’s “acting” reflect this farce that Sheryl puts up for Alto’s sake. Overall, this scene was very well presented, with the outward image of calm presented by the garden contrasted with the inner turmoil that Sheryl showed by gripping at her kimono (again, fitting in with that idea of “control” that Yasaburo was talking about with regards to kabuki).
If you think back to episode eighteen, Sheryl was still willing to fight even when Grace tells her that she was a manufactured idol: she tells Grace that she’ll do it on her own. That was what forced Grace to up the ante and tell Sheryl that she’s going to die. Her principles are still the same; but now that she doesn’t have a future to put those principles to use, her only goal is to avoid burdening the people around her.
This is also the reason why Sheryl makes it seem like a matter of fact decision on her part. Unfortunately for her, however, Alto refuses to accept her statement, because of the difference that her words had made on his life. The stunts at Ranka’s concert was proof of that: he’s come a long way from episode one, where he messed up the stunt at Sheryl’s concert. He wanted Sheryl to see for herself that she did make a difference.
But you can see that Sheryl didn’t believe the words that she told Alto either, in that her mask very nearly breaks when confronted about it. Only when Alto is gone does she hold herself and express the grief over what she had just done.
The bit on the roof is an extension of that. Sheryl wants to go off and face her burdens alone, but Klan convinces her to own up to the truth and tell Alto. With this sudden interruption, I think that she’ll again try to retreat and push Alto back towards Ranka. Right now, it’s up to Alto to see past Sheryl’s act and to search out the truth, if he really wants to pursue a relationship with Sheryl.
am i the only one who hope that brera isnt ranka’s brother.
.. so we can have rankaxbrera and altoxsheryl
i like rankaxbrera conversation more than altoxranka (if there’s any significant conversation between them)
Damn, Alto likes the sickly mature type! Very clever Sheryl… Unfortunately, I’m not sure that Alto is really in love with either Ranka or Sheryl. The reason he can’t choose is because he doesn’t like either of his choices.
BTW, let me explain to you why Alto resolved never to return to the mansion. It had nothing to do with harsh training, which Alto had already dealt with up to that point. After Miyo died, clearly Ranzou took a look at the family finances and realized that Alto was costing the family a fortune in paper costs. Ranzou then outlawed making paper planes on the family property, causing young Alto to throw a tantrum and leave. On a related note, once Alto finds out that Ai-kun destroyed one of his paper planes, he is going to end his friendship with Ranka. I’m calling it right now.
Oh yeah, doesn’t it seem like Klan Klein did pretty well at the 7th Ultra Fold clearance sale too? Why haven’t we seen Bobby in new clothing?
ranka’s main problem is that she’s rather indecisive in general, having her ‘brother’ make most of her decisions in life (as well being rather overprotective) probably hasn’t helped much in that regard.
Unless you guys are blind, there’s no way it will end into Ranka x Brera…
Oh and Sherly will prolly die, so the ending is Alto x Ranka .
He’s her brother
Ranka’s problem is that she refuses to act, period. She was upset in episode 10 bcause she fur t know about his kabuki past… yet we’ve not seen her ask Aoro about his past or even get Grace to give her data the way Sheryl asked for it in episode 2. She says she wants to sing for Alto’s sake… but outside of one visit in 17 doesn’t mention the matter again. She’s sitting there expecting Alto to come running, when Alto has yet to show signs he even wants a relationship.
Sheryl at least has talked to Alto, or tried to avoid Alto. She’s asked questions and shown interest even if she’s been insufferable. And Alto was VERY attached to his mom, which is part of where the Oedipal comments come from – outside of having a terminal disease, how much do Miyo and Sheryl share? Was Miyo an arrogant bitch half the time? Did she put her pride above her friends? Appearsmces over her health? Did she always say “I’m Miyo Saotome!” when asked if she was feeling okay? I doubt it.
Well Sheryl might die since in this anime many have died….so sad if it were to happen. I wish Ranka would give up her singing career and fight for Alto, and as for Sheryl she would continue to sing. But somehow I feel like Alto and Sheryl’s surprise to see Ranka was like a misunderstanding. I dont really get why everyone is so mad at Ranka for buying Brera an ice cream I mean she is just being nice and giving him a reward for helping her sneak out right? And Alto is the one who is lost in love since he didn’t even notice Ranka’s and Sheryl’s feeling for him. Gosh its getting kind of annoying this whole triangle thing so I advice those who are in the same situation to confess or suffer for the rest of their lives. But one thing hasn’t changed and thats Evil Grace! Thnx for the blog^^
@Haesslich: You can be fond of your mother without having an unresolved Oedipus complex. There’s nothing wrong with loving your parents.
As for your description of Sheryl’s character, this seems to reflect your judgement of her, rather than her personality traits. But I’m not sure why you’d want to compare their personalities, at that, since it probably won’t come into play in terms of Alto’s choice.
Sheryl x Alto = LOVE.
Ranka x Brera = brotherly LOVE.
Klan x Michel = midget LOVE.
Luca x Nanase = busty LOVE.
Ozma x Cathy = moe LOVE.
Crusader x THAT Blog = true LOVE.
Thanks.
Ranka this time was so giggly, starry eyed, way too cute with her charging heart of love, but where are the Nanase designed costumes? Brera now knows who she’s singing for and he did not look pleased. Scary for the Hime, since Brera’s by far the superior protector. As for Alto + Sheryl – I hope he did make the arrow through the heart for Sheryl or he’s just stupid. I hope something of significance was exchanged between these two as Ranka barged in.
Swampstorm: Yeah, but it still seemed for a moment like he saw his mom in a Kimono when he knew she was dead… and then was horribly disappointed it was Sheryl. I wouldn’t call that a normal reaction.
As for the latter.. Sheryl has a very haughty, somewhat bitchy side to her – that’s what we got for the first few episodes. However, she also can be kind and charming as well as supportive… which is what Ranka got to see from Sheryl as well as Alto on occasion (like when she invited him to Gallia 4 to give him that birthday present of a real sky to fly in). Miyo-san is being depicted as a stereotypical yamato nadeshiko… which Sheryl sure as hell isn’t. That’s why I don’t see the parallels between Sheryl and Miyo-san outside from the fact that both are dealing with terminal illnesses and aren’t taking them lying down (as it were) and just giving up on life. It seems to be stretching a bit too much to be claiming otherwise.
@Haesslich: It’s natural for him to feel saddened by the reminder that he can’t see his mom again. If the writers wanted to drive home some sort of inappropriate lust on Alto’s part, there was plenty of opportunity to do so in the first eighteen episodes. Why just now, after we’ve learned that Sheryl’s dying?
Given that we’re still just being fed snippets about Alto’s past, I think the purpose is simply set the stage for future flashbacks on Alto’s part as he slowly comes to terms with his feelings about his past. As such, the amount of actual resemblence between Sheryl and Miyo is irrelevant, so long as it provides the writers with a segue to expand on Alto’s character.
@Impz
It’s okay you are a loli-trap yourself so its not so weird now is it?
Mikhail’s motivations were understandable, but Klein does deserve her man even if he is afraid of getting close in an age of conflict. Ranka right now seems to be hoer own worst enemy given how she just gave into to her inner child again. It’s sad in a way because even if she was discovered Ranka had so much help that now it sabotaged her own self esteem and made her very needy. I know ranka can do better a step in the right direction would be to fire Grace and feed Brera to Ai-kun.
Cathy waited many years for this day, and I do believe that Cathy was most flush with victory. Ozma is about to be house broken…
@blissmo
Surely you jest. No way Cyborg Soldier Brera can defeat Grace, at least Alto-hime has a chance…
@Lori
It is possible that the original concept was scrapped in favor of the current triangle, but Kawamori and his team seem to have been able to make it work for the most part. Granted that Ranka’s voice actress is a new comer perhaps they felt it was necessary to add an additional musical star to supplement the critical music component of Macross Frontier. Right now it seems that there were some interesting concept sketches that were floated around for Sheryl. undoubtedly much of the current wave of fan enthusiasm is due to the huge amounts of music being brought to the table. I am sure that Kawamori would not have given into executive meddling unless he and his team felt that they could make it work and make it work well. Suffice to say it has worked well thus far, but it seems that along with Ranka’s childhood innocence is the very real problem of her childish demeanor.
@tyasawa
Soory but I just don’t care for Brera…
@Swampstorm
I am not so sure that Sheryl would try and push Alto-hime towards Ranka, though it is possible that Sheryl will stand by and do nothing for a while. I think that now is about the time that Alto-hime gets tested the most I think hime is the fulcrum in this case. Sheryl would probably try and support hime in the coming battles in any way she can but the ball is in Alto-hime’s court and hime might go running after Ranka for a while.
@Kabitzin
Hehe it could have something to do with paper planes, but it seems that they kept the last one Miyo-sama and Alto-hime made so there is hope that Ranzo might make some of his own. With the money gained from Alto-hime’s performances paper will never be a problem ever again…
I think Alto-hime is fond of both of them, but right now since it looks like Alto-hime finally grew out of his child like attitude towards women that hime might get a bit more serious about both, and Sheryl at least. Brera would probably get in the way when it comes to Ranka. It is possible that the with the changing of Alto-hime’s Miyo-sama centric existence that hime hight finally find girls other than his mom to be nice and not icky. Perhaps in terms of women Alto-hime was seeing them through the lens of a 12 year old. Lord knows that hime did not get much talk about girls from Ranzo, and Miyo-sama was gone before she even had the chance.
@random hero
Agreed, Ranka needs to fight one battle on her own if she is going to cast aside the curse of Minmay.
@Extrange
Perhaps, but this is Kawamori master of troll-fu for all we know he’s going to troll you and let Sheryl live.
@Haesslich
Yeah watching Ranka just sit there waiting for hime to come to her reminded me of how Minmay was treating Hikaru only in Minmay’s case Hikaru was definitely smitten enough to endure it. Ranka has no such luxury and while she was a a damsel in distress it seems that her Alto-hime is not the only one who can rescue her.
While I am in agreement that Miyo-sama was likely the polar opposite of Sheryl, they both faced the same major crisis in their lives. Dealing with the reality of a terminal illness forces a person to make very important decisions and Sheryl will have to make one in regards to her future. Ranzo made a decision of his own when he decided to marry Miyo-sama and deal with the pain of losing her after roughly 12 years of marriage. In the grand scheme of things 12 years is hardly a life time and the choice to raise a young child alone is not an easy one.
Sheryl will have to decide for herself whether or not she wants to spend her last years in despair or in a reasonable state of happiness. Alto-hime will have to decide if he is willing to love and lose Sheryl after a few short years, and go through life alone or at least bear the pain of her loss. I think that is the thing Kawamori was trying to get at in setting up for the eventual reconciliation between Ranzo and Alto-hime. Otherwise a conversation about kabuki would be somewhat boring, and other than that they don’t have much to talk about if they want to reconcile. If they want to argue there’s plenty but in terms of shared experiences and interests Ranzo and Alto-hime seem to have little in common.
I think that since Miyo-sama died when Alto-hime was still young that hime was not fully prepared to grow up. His running away from home and the stage was not the action of a mature person, but rather of a teenage brat. Since hime seems to have had few friends it seems reasonable that the most important person to hime was his mother, he only ever had happy memories of her and they never argued. Given how Mikhail doubted his piloting abilities, and the double disapproval of both Ranzo and Yasaburo about hime being only capable of acting it is possible that Alto-hime has an affinity for people who are willing to help nurture his dreams of flying. Miyo-sama probably started hime’s passion for flying and Sheryl went so far as to grant hime a real sky. It’s not necessarily love in the Oedipal sense, and might well be due to hime feeling affection for those who understood him, like Sheryl and his mother.
If you think about it Alto-hime when flying off to Galia 4 was like a kid going to Disneyland he’s excited at the prospect of the rides, not the chance to share it with some one special. I know that as a kid my mom was the only girl that wasn’t icky up until age 12.
Sheryl has at least become less haughty as time went on and hopefully this lesson in humility will not be lost on her. Even if she was insufferable for a while at least we know that it was probably due to having been raised from the gutter of society. Her bravado was really nothing more than a means to project an air of confidence that gained her the respect she lacked as a kid. Besides given how Sheryl went from dumpster diving to Galactic Fairy she has much to be proud of, and it entitles her to a bit of smug sense of superiority.
It is also possible that once Alto-hime realized that it was Sheryl that hime was expecting a few punches to fly his way along with a kick…
@rollchan
okay…thanks
@vjean
Dresses by Nanase have yet to be debuted it seems Ranka might be stockpiling for the coming episodes in a bid to win back her beloved Alto-hime. At least that is what I am hoping.
Inappropriate lust? We haven’t SEEN him with his mother for the past 18 episodes, not even in the flashback in Episode 11, I think it was. If he sees a woman in his mother’s kimono and looks nothing like his mother, but then sees ‘his mom’ in it… yeahhh… that’s ‘normal’. In a pig’s eye. And he had yet to find out about the terminal illness during that kimono scene, so saying that he saw a parallel to his mother at that point is definitely stretching the boundaries of believability.
Crusader: I still say part of the problem here is that he ‘grew up’ as a girl for quite a while, and while he may not have gotten into the ‘girls are icky’ phase, he may have developed an adverse reaction to relationships because of Miyo’s death (possibly) and a fear of losing the partner OR because people started going fangirl over him for his role as Sakura-hime… and he saw them as trying to climb into his bed for the ‘I bedded a famous actor’ sort of thing, and thus has spurned all attempted suitors since.
As for Sheryl… she may have climbed from the alley to the top of the pop charts, but not ALL of that is ever talent; marketing skills count for much, and Grace and her backers provided those in spades. She should’ve looked up “Madonna” in the files to find out about that; the woman reinvented herself every decade or so and has kept herself ‘fresh’ as a result… while Britney, who Sheryl’s currently emulating (even if the real Britney may never have shown up in the Macross-verse), is currently in the dumpster and trying to climb back out.
Seriously – she’s had to depend on others for YEARS (fans, Grace, etc)… so why does she keep falling back on the “I’m Sheryl!” defense with regards to refusing help or even accepting that some things can’t be dealt with through sheer cussedness?
Ranka is inexperienced, the clumsyness is part of the cute charm. If she sudenly start to act like a an experienced women it breack the credibility of the character, characters evolve slowly or make an U turn after an earthshaking event. For recognize, accept and express the feelings that she have, there must to be a catalyst. Being isolated in an enviroment where the relations and emotions of Ranka can be controled by Grace for the Grand Strategy of Galaxy Colony, the escape with Brera allowed a small, casual, but very important talk that made clear two things for she and one for he:
1 – Unconsciously, both Ranka and Brera feel each other only like brothers, she was confused by the afection of Brera, but not anymore. The Incestuous theory is not very likely, like the Oedipous theory.
2 – That the she become a Star, not for she or the public, she di it for Alto. I took a lot of time and some talk from an unsupected person, but she cant denay it now.
3 – I think that Brera start to understand that she feels something for Alto. The way Brera look to Ranka in the concert reflect some change in the always cool ciborg after the ice cream talk. If Ranka can make Brera help she with Alto, or at least not actively be an obstacle in the relation, that is the openning on Grace’s only weak factor on the Golden Cage that she made for Ranka.
Summary: In my humble opinion, I dont think that Ranka was losing time with Brera. Because she is so inocent that care more for the life of a small pet than for shes own carrer, she got the chance of clear things with Brera and accept that what she want is Alto. Even if she sudenly understand these with out any help, weakening the dislike of Brera for Alto is an important step. Each girl move at their own pace, in their own way. Ranka stumbling, is cute and credible or stupid and inmature, is a matter of taste. She still have to face her own drama with the vajra legacy that separated she from family and friends, being a Pop Star, Frontier’s main weapon, Vajra’s Queen, Galaxy’s Tool and the imouto of the Macross version of Terminator dont make it ease having a romance with Alto. For the record, I root for Sheril, but I think that Ranka get to much critic.
@Haesslich
Perhaps Alto-hime did grow up as a girl, seeing as how Ranzo seemed to busy himself running a school than teaching his son so you might be right. However people trying to get in hime’s pants is kind of a stretch, not even Kawamori was giving off that vibe when they were shooting the movie, also neither were Ram, Mina, Monica, and Cathy trying to score and they were already in close proximity…though we have yet to see what Alto-hime’s acting classes were like.
I don’t think Sheryl is emulating Britney, Sheryl at least writes her own songs. Even with top notch marketing if the talent isn’t there success will be limited, after all we do have Ashlee Simpson… Besides Britney actively courted disaster, Sheryl seems keen on avoiding it or at least is willing to go away forgotten. Besides It doesn’t seem like there is a media circus surrounding Sheryl’s fall from grace…
She had Grace and her fans, but from what we saw of Sheryl’s time at the top, she was practicing and working long hours, that drive that dedication was all her own. The songs she wrote were not handed to her by Grace nor does it seem that Sheryl would have allowed for Grace to muck around with her songs. Sheryl never did stop working even when sick, even Alto-hime noted that rest did not seem to be part of her vocabulary. Even when Sheryl was running off with Alto-hime she never skipped out on work for it. We have yet to see Sheryl go to drinking parties with the grotesquely rich nor does it seem that Sheryl was keen on being tabloid fodder. Marketing has a role to play but Sheryl still had talent and drive, her songs were her own, that is quite an achievement. Even when Grace was there Sheryl was not some clueless bint, when Alto-hime first flew into her on stage, her recovery was masterfully done. Besides Sheryl only failure was that she never saw Grace’s betrayal coming nor could she have imagined that Grace was using her all those years.
Conversely Ranka wouldn’t be Ranka if she lacked that childhood innocence, and I doubt Sheryl would be Sheryl without the bravado and her once boundless confidence. I think its too much to say that Grace was the only thing that allowed Sheryl to succeed even in Ranka’s case. The audience is always a fickle lot like Sheryl found out fans do help, but in order to win them over you must at first have to win them over.
@mareo
I am sure Ranka can be a great woman some day but in the tme left it seems less and less likely that she can match Sheryl. They both have problems but it is only Ranka who has been dallying with another boy and going on a starlight dayto with some one other than the person she loved. There is a time to be kid and there is a time to be an adult, if Ranka wants to be with Alto-hime she cannot do it as a child, as to whether or not she can grow up in about six episodes or so remains to be seen. However playing around with Brera isn’t helping matters.
I’m talking about Episode 5, where the schoolgirls were going to look around the men’s locker room; they indicated that Alto rebuffed every attempt made at getting close to him, which suggests he’s had a lot of them prior to this. Whether this was to get into his pants, or because he was famous is irrelevant – they were either persistent or numerous enough… or he was too traumatized/annoyed.. for him to flatly shoot down every girl who so much as made a run at him, unlike Mikhail who has a reputation as a player with oneesama types.
Sheryl’s… arrogance, I would have to put it, with regards to her talents being the ONLY factor that drove her to success as well as her rather catastrophic fall are why I called her ‘Britney’ – while she hasn’t shown the instabilities of the latter, she was marketed as well as Britney and seemed to have much the same attitude towards her career and the idea that it wouldn’t ever crash or go down because “I’m Sheryl”.
Talent is never enough – as those American Idol contests should tell you, where some of the better ones get nailed because they’re not as marketable due to their backgrounds. Without the marketing, you can only go so far… and she likely would’ve never been the Galactic Fairy without it, as otherwise she’d have been at most a local hometown celebrity, save for the marketing power and acumen (as well as perhaps background influence and hacking) that Grace and her backers provided. She may write well and sing well, and have stage presence… but she probably would’ve ended up like Ranka at first (doing side jobs, getting small gigs which would be cancelled or pushed aside) if not for Grace’s ability to market the product better than Elmo. Those connections help muchly.
Or, if you want to look at Shoujo, may I recommend NANA? As far as the development of BLAST goes, it’s fairly realistic as far as the way showbusiness is depicted there. Nana Oosaki’s a great singer… but she only had a small cult following until Gaia’s marketing team gave them more exposure and helped them refine the image presented to the audience.
@Haesslich
Well it is high school after all and rarely is it that students show no interest in the opposite gender, and in some cases the same gender or both. I have a nagging feeling none of them ever brought up flying, and Sheryl did have a real excuse to drag Alto-hime out of school. While accidental at least we know that Alto-hime isn’t the kind of guy to tell people to bugger off after taking their stuff. Besides Sheryl did have one thing every other girl lacked, the gall to take hime’s precious amulet and place it some place where hime dared not venture… Besides after having even men throw themselves at hime I guess Alto-hime was just used to the unwanted attention. Perhaps the winning strategy would have been making Valkyries the topic of the first conversation…
Every star has to have good PR, but more often or not it is still the star that has to play the part in order to rise above the rest. I liken the relationship between a star and his/her manager to be like that of the a Prussian Commander and his Chief of Staff. Together they are formidable, but it is the commander that ultimately bears the responsibility for the screw ups and the successes. Had Sheryl slacked off Grace’s job would have been harder, had Sheryl been in less than healthy shape even Grace would have had a hard time selling it. Like a Prussian commander a star would do well to listen to his PR person, but there is a time to relent and a time to stand.
I admit that I like how Sheryl is gutsy enough to slug it out no matter the odds and give it her all. If anything Sheryl did take part in some of her shows making some adjustments here and there getting her security to not beat Alto-hime to a pulp. I think you underestimate Elmo while he was not as good as Grace he did score some crucial opportunities for Ranka while Leon was making things incredibly tough. I think Elmo deserves some credit for scoring even a bit role in Kawamori’s film considering the amount of Leon oppression. In Sheryl’s case I think that Grace provided the opportunities, but it was Sheryl who capitalized on them. Talent is never enough but only talent can ensure some measure of lasting fame and distinction. I think Sheryl’s lesson in humility will make her realize that it wasn’t just her but she did have some crucial support along the way. Nevertheless as Sheryl was a poor orphan who didn’t get handouts I can see why Sheryl was adamant that she made it to the top through the power of her own grit. It’s kind of the same with my mother she says she got to where she is by her own efforts, but I am sure that gramps and my great grandmother provided support during those hard times. I doubt my parents could have gotten that far if they had to worry about raising two obnoxious brothers who were constantly fighting, at least my great grandma was there to keep us in line so mother and father could focus on getting better jobs. That said had my mom been a lazy lout no amount of help could have made her learn English.
I believe that the people who help you can only provide the opportunity you need, however only you can seize it and make the most of it. Besides it seems that after a life of dumpster diving and then getting a higher standard of living than she could have ever imagined, that it was not and could not have been conductive to sweet humility. I think Sheryl is like most poor people who came to the States as immigrants with little in the way of money, they worked hard to get where they were they never got a handout. It breeds a sort of pride of accomplishment that can be at times be insufferable, but given the failure rate perhaps it is allowable for a measure of pride.
NANA turned out to be a slog that i could not find the will to finish I hope to return to it some day, but Macross Frontier, Code Geass, and Itazura na Kiss make my plate already pretty full.
I would suggest the manga instead, although the anime follows NANA very faithfully. The reason I brought it up was because they seem quite realistic in how they portray the entertainment business; Nana Oosaki has an amazing voice, but without the marketing muscle at Gaia they were at most able to do small gigs and have a few (hardcore) fans, but that was it. Nana couldn’t make a living by her singing with the band. In contrast, Takumi’s business-minded manner and contacts along with how he plays the movers and shakers at the company made Trapnest a big enough success that he doesnt’ really have to worry about money and Ren can afford enough cocaine to practically take a bath in. Sheryl has to play the role… but if there’s nobody behind her to help do the moving and shaking has no role to play and no stage to play it on.
I would also argue that you can have a bad singer and a great manager, and do better than someone who has a great singer but a piss-poor manager or no manager at all; have you HEARD the crap that’s on the radio these days passing for popular music?
Seriously, most of those people need to take singing lessons rather than dance around in scant clothing while striking dramatic poses, or need to stop posing naked with their fake pistols to look cool and ‘gangsta’. Only AFTER you’ve gotten enough star power do you have any room to negotiate – that’s why the recording industry’s gotten big enough over the past 50 years to dictate terms to up-and-comers and why they’re so afraid of the Internet; by cutting out these middlemen and the structure of the current music business (which seems to be the structure that survived into the Macross universe), this need for ‘super managers’ with contacts in the music biz is reduced… and thus these parasites who make $5 million paychecks while artists get like 2% of the royalties would be out of work.
Sheryl has started to learn some humility, which will help her more in the long run; she’s been arrogant and unwilling to ‘accept’ any help, which has in turn stunted her social life and personal life. Remember that she said she started talking to Alto as a person primarily because he wasn’t impressed by her “I’m SHERYL” attitude, and was willing to yell back without apologizing for it. Ranka, on the other hand, has WAY too much humility.. which is why she’s been unable to cope with fame successfully and why she’s losing contact with all her friends; she went from being nobody to being the Super Dimensional Cinderella (complete with courtiers and yes-men)… which hasn’t helped her grow up at all, not that Ozma’s spoiling let her do all that much growing up.
@Haesslich
I might check out the Manga once I get more money, but right now I am building a warchest for more Macross Frontier CDs and hoping that it will come to the States in bluray as well.
I think Sheryl is pretty good, and since Grace has no hand in Northern Cross I say Sheryl still has some fight left in her. In any case all music these days is of inferior quality for the greatest band that there ever was has come and gone, I speak of course of Earth Wind and Fire.
Yeah music these days wasn’t what it once was, at least we still have the oldies like the Police, Earth Wind and Fire, and many others from the ye olde days. Still there is from time to time that one artist that does impress.
I think that since Sheryl was in tears after trying to say that She was “Sheryl Nome” that it will be probably the last time she can say that with a straight face until she gets a last laugh on Grace assuming they can nail Grace in the first place. It would be rather funny if way back when Sheryl loved Alto-hime before that, i.e. Sheryl was also a fan of Sakura-hime Azuma Bunsho and that her quest for fame was to impress that lovely Princess who overawed the audience.
Ranka despite having achieved SDF Cinderella status seems to have gotten her glass slippers from the wrong person. I just hope that when Ranka finally says no that she will not back down or be polite about it. At least while Ranka has been spoiled and forgotten the hard times with Elmo at least she still has Nanase to give her a link back to her old life. I just hope that win or lose Ranka will out grow her childish behavior and stand tall on her own. Interesting how Sheryl needs help and Ranka suffers from too much help I wonder how Kawamori is going to end this though, if he and his team were willing to defy the pineapple curse there is not telling what they might do now.
I also like how in the last scene Ranka seemed to be channeling Misa a bit, though in truth it seems like both Sheryl and Ranka got some traits from both Minmay and Misa. Perhaps it was to Ranka’s detriment that Bobby was not allowed to help raise hre. After all it is hard to argue with how successful Bobby was at caring for Mina, Ram, and Monica.
For next episode speculation: Glass will die. Mikhail will die. (maybe) The heated cliffhanger in this episode will be interrupted by a Vajra attack. The preview of Ranka and Alto in the stairs is an entirely different matter. Canalia might die. (koenig rammed into that floating asteroid) The Diamond Crevasse is not going to be related to the romance but to the plot. (Mao Nome’s diamond crevasse earrings).
Oh hey did anyone notice that Ozma ate the wrapper of the chili dog Cathy fed him? hahaha
@Crusader:
As you said earlier, any sort of romantic relationship between Alto and Sheryl right now requires an enormous sacrifice on Alto’s part. It’s not just the issue of Sheryl’s illness; there’s also the fact that should he decide to have any offspring with her, both they and him stand the risk of recieving it too, given the nature of transmission. That’s not something that Alto will do unless he’s madly in love with her, and it’s not something that Sheryl can expect him to do, either.
Given the nature of Ranka’s interruption on the roof, at the very least, I’d suspect that Sheryl will be less likely to tell Alto about her situation if she hasn’t already (which she probably hasn’t; the interruption is much too convenient for that). To add to that, if she feels like her presence is interfering at Alto’s chances at happiness, she’s likely to give him that push (given that she was already planning on pushing him away so that her death wouldn’t troubling him as much).
(Besides, the previews show Alto talking to Ranka on the stairwell, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheryl tells him to go after her to resolve the confusion.)
@Haesslich:
You’re approaching the scene where Alto sees his mother from the standpoint of his character, while I’m addressing it from the standpoint of a storytelling device. We see a clear shot of “Miyo” well before Alto opens the door (I’m not just talking about a silhouette, either), and I’m guessing that Alto doesn’t have X-ray vision.
The scene is aimed at the audience as much as it is for Alto, so the whole thing is somewhat stylized. Forget mistaking someone for your mother; aren’t visual hallucinations abnormal? Again, this is a story, and the writers have the freedom to wax poetic with their scenes.
But even with your more literal approach to the scene: what conclusions can you draw from it? Aside from “That’s abnormal!” of course.
The issue of whether Sheryl’s success is her own is up to your own interpretation. When you look at it, both Ranka and Sheryl had marketing on their side at some point in their careers. So you’d be hard pressed to laud one for succeeding on her own efforts while bashing the other for relying on marketing.
The notes from Nyan Fro indicate that Sheryl has a proven track record in terms of her successes. Her strengths and weaknesses reflect that it’s in her nature to be successful at what she does. She’s ambitious, competitive, and extremely hard working. Right at the start of episode one, she pushes herself to go ahead with interviews and greeting her fans, even though she’s extremely tired and Grace gives her the option of skipping out and resting. She’s keenly aware of the effort that she’s put into her job, and she refuses to neglect her duties towards it. She doesn’t simply show up at a concert in the last minute and perform; as we saw in episode six, she runs through the entire thing ahead of time and sets up every last detail down to the lighting. She works out to stay in shape for her concerts, as we see in episode nine, and you can see how intense she is when she comes up with song lyrics in episode five. And during the sing off in episode fifteen, you can see her flash a quick grin when she sees that Ranka’s also singing and jumps in to challenge her – she thrives off of competition. These are all qualities of successful people.
Even her flaws reflect this. She’s very uncompromising and exacting on both herself and others when it comes to doing the job at hand. She’s a workaholic; even during her date with Alto or her love of flying, her job as a singer always seems to find its way to intervene. She has no idea of her own limitations, either; even with her illness, she always tried to push herself to work even when she should really have been resting. Everything about Sheryl’s attitude shows that she’s hungry for success, and it seems inevitable that she was destined to make her way to the top, support or no.
With regards to pride and humility: while it seems that the latter is undeniably better than the former, the two exist on a continuum. Someone who lacks pride in what they do is just as bad as someone who has too much pride. Where Sheryl often has unreasonable expectations of herself, it’s more the result of being overly hard on herself than it is of being certain to succeed. In episode ten, for example, Sheryl openly admits that her song is unsuitable for the movie. This shows that she’s concious of her own weakness. But she isn’t willing to settle for that, either – she tells the director that she’ll write him a new one. While she is prone to making grand gestures and bravado (she is an entertainer, after all), these are more meant for the sake of others than for her own benefit. In episode eighteen, she acts strong because she doesn’t want Klan and Michael to worry; but when she’s by herself, she has no reservations about acknowledging her pain and letting her emotions run out.
Of course, many of these qualities that make her self-sufficient can also make her very unapproachable and occasionally abrasive. But where her character is very well developed as far as her career and personal success is concerned, the place that she stands to grow most is by softening some of the harsh standards by which she puts herself to and reaching out to others.
No screencap of the roof scene? Why, oh why? That was the best part, especially Ranka running up those stairs to meet Alto.
I think I know where this love triangle is going to go. Now that Ranka has realized her feelings for Alto, it will be a trick to get him now that Sheryl is dying. For now atleast. It’s going to be Ranka–>Alto–>Sheryl.
Once Alto finds out about Sheryl’s condition, she will remind Alto of his mother and he’ll end up consoling her instead of Ranka. The story does not end here though. Ranka may be faced with an important decision near the end. Once Ranka hits a dead end, that’s probably the time where Alto will finally realize Ranka’s importance to him, and he’ll stand by her. Yeah, sounds like a wishful thinking, but I don’t think Alto will leave her alone for anyone when push comes to shove. He’s been like this to her ever since the beginning. There’s also Ozma’s plea to Alto, and the fact that Brera is Grace’s pawn. He doesn’t know that he’s doing harm to Ranka by letting her sing to the Vajra. It’s really just Alto in his VF that can save Ranka from her twisted fate. As for Sheryl, my bet is that Ranka is the one that can save her from her twisted fate also.
Sheryl’s talk with Yasaburo about fame and glamour hit something in her. The stage is her calling, unlike Ranka, so she definitely won’t stop singing.
@Swampstorm
Why are we talking about offspring of Sheryl and Alto already? And the chances of contamination and Alto sacrificing things in order to be with Sheryl. That scared me a little. ^^
Sheryl’s face when Ranka found her and Alto on the roof looked…stern. She doesn’t look like she fainted, or pleading. Ranka was made to look pitiful in that certain scene, so it’s more likely Ranka that will be shown to step aside here. But who knows? Maybe some explosion will happen and things get interrupted so all the drama we’re expecting to see will be cut short.
@Ricaryx:
The issue was raised in direct response to Crusader’s earlier points. I think it’s a bit much for Alto to pursue a relationship with Sheryl at this point, given the fact that she doesn’t really have a future ahead of her. It would be one thing if his feelings were invested in her, but they aren’t. What’s more, I’m becoming less and less convinced that he’s even going to find out, since Sheryl more than likely won’t tell him after this most recent interruption.
If you look at that distant shot of Sheryl, it really does look like she’s fallen over to the side and Alto’s caught her. Her face was fairly stern when she faced Alto on the roof, and you can see that it was painful for her to try to bring up the subject of her impending death. But I think the first moments of next episode will reveal the truth behind the misunderstanding.
Ranka X Brera would be a match made in sibling-con heaven.
Also, someone at the Macrossworld forums pointed out that the last scene was similar to the flashback in Macross Plus where Guld caught Myung and Isamu sharing a tender moment.
1. The siblings don’t know they are related, yet, so that may still mess things up.
2. Seeing a woman in a kimono that was either his mother or similar to it, made him get a flashback, or he thought he saw a ghost, or that she reminded him of his mother.
3. Alto running away may have been the only way to get away from the family business and the fathers and family pressure.
4. I dunno, but did not the sickness transfer by bodily fluids?
If so both ranka and alto can perhaps get sick with it now.
As Sheryl has kissed alto, and he has kissed ranka, so all three -may- have it now, or will soon.
5. transformation evolution or absorption of ranka in some form seems likely sometime in the future.
6. I hope we see more then 26 eps as i like the whole series, both in story, looks, and universe.
And it dose not seem as stupid as the “bomber” crap, i simply could not stand that one.
Tho, he auto immunization of space bugs into super bugs is a bit gay.
Ok having them evolve is fine, but taking no damage whatsoever is simply wrong.
But it is a nice plot device for making and showing off new weapons and stuff.
7. I wonder if the father had something to do with the mothers death, she might just have collapsed, but they could have had an argument or something witch resulted in a collapse.
And Alto being pissed of as a result, and finally fed up and left to make his own way in life, as many do.
8. i doubt this gets read, as there already are so many, even i skipped the later once.
I have to say I was totally unhappy with the whole Brera X Ranka dayto thing. If you view him as a brother, then why do you get so damned blushy? argggggggh.
As for Alto-hime, I think Yasaburo won’t be successful in getting Alto to return to the stage, because I don’t think acting is Alto’s first love.
Given how we so often see that paper plane he makes, and how it ties back to his past and his mother. I think piloting has always been his first love but he hasn’t quite realized that yet.
And Mikhail and Klan are awesome as are Ozma and Cathy, such cute couples!
Mikhail in particular is totally awesome for calling Hime out like that.
ahhh…such a joy seeing Ranka fans trying so hard to defend their idol here….
Sheryl 4 eva
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I just watched 20…
I just saw a raw of 20 and as far as I can tell Ranka failed to seize a crowning moment of awesome for herself.
@Paris
You were right on the money for the most part.
@D.J
I saw a raw of 20 as well and coupled with 19 am very upset with Ranka. I am hoping that Yasaburo at least gets Alto-hime to perform once more. Alto-hime may want to be a pilot, but hime still loves to perform.
@Swampstorm
While the content of the Alto-hime and Sheryl conversation was mostly lost on me what was significant was that this time there was no anger and no snark, just an all round peaceful atmosphere. I am not sure if themy might have kids at this point but it does seem that at least for now Sheryl and Alto-hime have made a step forward.
@Ricaryx
From what I can tell Ranka just made a huge step back in ep 20. Sheryl seems to have found the strength to stand tall on her own again, but Ranka well…
@d3v
It turns out that it was a tender moment though Ranka didn’t pull a Guld on Alto-hime and Sheryl.
@fw2k1b
I doubt Ranzo had anything to do with Miyo-sama’s death and he probably felt her loss more keenly than Alto-hime.
@indr0008
Im not Ranka fan, I think that Sheril deserve Alto, just like Noe in True Tears. Sex apeal or cuteness dont affect my opinion, only actions. If I was a real fan of Ranka maybe I get really angry with how slow she goes with Alto, but happen that I like the style of Sheril of fair competition, so have no problem on defend or encourage the other side.
And you know what happened to the character who did get a crowning moment of awesome….