SDF Macross Episode 27 – It’s the End of the World as We Know It

Given the grand scale of the events of episode 27, I felt it would be best to just do a one episode post this week. Preparations began among the Macross-Britai fleet last time as the main Zentradi force began to defold into Sol system, and now the battle begins. All the various resources of the Macross, Britai fleet, and UN Spacy are at the ready, but the scale of the incursion is massive. Bodolzza even brings the entire headquarters fortress WITH HIM for the battle along with millions of ships and countless soldiers. With the stage set, events occur on both civilizational and personal levels that will forever change the lives of everyone involved.

Ready for the fight.

Before getting into the cockpit himself, Hikaru tells Minmay that he always loved her and wishes her well with Kaifun. No regrets before battle.

Everyone aboard the Macross-Britai fleet ships prepares. For the first time we get to see a little bit of the inside of the Destroids. I wasn’t even positive that they were piloted before now.

UN HQ is preparing as well, with Misa directing the deployment of Earth-based Valkyrie squadrons.

The UN Space Cartography Department leaves something to be desired unless there were massive sealevel increases that somehow didn’t touch Japan. They’re also not the only powerful international organization to forget about Africa (Australia and most of SE Asia is noticeably missing too).

As Hikaru gets into his flightsuit and prepares to launch, Minmay comes to see him again. She still wants to talk about what Hikaru said to her, starting to say that she just thought of him as a friend but trailing off like she has more to say. But Hikaru calmly and without any sign of emotional distress, tells her that it wouldn’t have worked out. Even in the confines of one ship, they’ve been living completely different lives. Minmay seems shocked by this, though one would think that she would have noticed by now. But just then the Bodolzza fleet begins its planetary bombardment of the Earth, shooting through the orbiting UN ARMD-class ships, wiping out most of the inhabited areas and effectively destroying human civilization there. This is done from such a long range that the Macross-Britai fleet didn’t even have a chance to engage them before they fired.

Very nice use of the helmet in the scene. Why doesn’t more anime try to be creative with its cinematography like this?! Such an old series puts so many more recent ones to shame.

The final killing blow to the Minmay X Hikaru ship. Though as much as she was the enemy of my preferences, at the end I feel more like moving on and letting her be than savoring her shock. She screwed up big time in the middle, but towards the end she at least went out with dignity.

The Zentradi reduce the surface of the Earth to ruins as they did to another planet when Hikaru, Misa, and Kakizaki were captured. Despite planetary bombardment being outlawed by every civilized world.

The second shot from Battlestar Galactica reminded me of the original, though I would doubt it was an intentional homage to Macross.

The Earth is now devastated, but the Grand Cannon at Alaska Base is still operational, and the UN HQ fires back at the Zentradi fleet, surprising Bodolzza with its power. The forcefulness and totality of the Zentradi attack seems to have vindicated Admiral Hayase’s plan to shoot first and seek negotiation later as the Zentradi didn’t even think twice about trying to destroy the Earth. Hikaru came up with an idea for Minmay to sing and distract the enemy Zentradi by exposing them to ‘culture’, and on the bridge of the Macross Capt. Global, Archivist Exedol, and Capt. Britai finalize the coordination of this jamming by other means. Minmay then readies herself and begins going through her repertoire of songs, with a kiss between her and Kaifun in the middle to heighten the effect on the enemy. At that moment she says goodbye to Hikaru in her thoughts.

You may fire when ready. BA-BOOM Big laser! PA-PEWWW! Zentradi chunks EVERYWHERE!

She never looked so mature or introspective.

Some of the Zentradi are watching, though it’s too late for Earth.

The bombardment of Earth will not go unanswered. The Macross-Britai fleet capital ships begin attacking the enemy command ships while the Macross’ Valkyries, loaded with reaction warhead equipped missiles, keep the mecha busy and take out several capital ships of their own. Millia now joins the fray in her own VF-1, painted red because real aces have custom paintjobs. Down on the surface the Grand Cannon’s firing made it a target for the orbiting fleet which quickly devastates the base. Misa is still trying to contact any units that may be out there when she gets a message from her father telling her to leave. Everyone else in the base is either dead or has fled, and the transmission ends with Adm. Hayase’s death as well when the control room explodes.

The Macross-Britai fleet flagships begin their attack, while another variant of Zentradi battlepod is engaged by the Valkyries.

All the Valkyries deployed seem to be equipped with the new FAST Pack equipment.

Given recent events I imagine Millia is less hesitant to deal killing blows.

Zentradi counterbattery fire quickly reduces the Grand Cannon to rubble. Such is the disadvantage of stationary superweapons.

Misa may be the only one left alive in the entire base.

Hikaru is good, but not good enough to get away unscathed and his Valkyrie takes enough damage to prevent him from escaping the Earth’s gravity and returning to base. He realizes that there’s nothing more he can do and prepares his VF-1S for reentry. During this he remembers the rest of his conversation with Minmay. As they saw the Earth being bombarded, staring in shocked silence, Minmay tells him that she will sing just for him and gives him a parting kiss. In his mind, Hikaru also says goodbye to Minmay as he descends to Earth. There he radios to the UN HQ and finds Misa on the radio, overjoyed to hear from him. Up in orbit the battle continues, and Kamjin watches events and is persuaded by Minmay’s song to join the Macross-Britai fleet, which is currently engaged in fierce combat as it works its way towards the fortress.

Similar to my love for the ‘point of no return’ part of Gundam 0083, the scene in Hikaru’s nearly disabled Valkyrie and the final part of the conversation between him and Minmay featured great use of silence. It really says more than words could at such times.

At least it ended well, I’ll give Minmay credit for that.

I agree, ‘Love Flows By’ has been the best of Minmay’s work so far.

Apparently Captain Harlock has also joined the fleet.

Hikaru flies into the remains of Alaska Base looking for Misa, and finally cuts his way into the flight operations center. There the two meet again, both overjoyed to see each other and to have a real human connection amidst the devastation that is all around them. It was a very sweet moment and nicely done, some parts in time to the music of ‘Love Flows By’ that was still playing in the background. A paragraph just to talk about this one short scene? Yes.

Their reunion is one small thing to be happy about on such a dark day.

Set to the drum beat from ‘Love Flows By’, I loved the snapshot style of this sequence. Not saying that the destruction of most of humanity was worth it for these Misa smiles, but it’s not a bad consolation prize.

Though I wasn’t as keen on the black and white sketch style of the embrace part. Reminds me of the video for ‘Take on Me’ and that’s NOT A GOOD THING. Argh, there’s so much to hate about 1980’s pop culture and yet my generation has this odd obsession with it. WE WERE BORN IN THE 80’S, HOW MUCH NOSTALGIA CAN YOU HAVE HAD FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU MAY NOT HAVE EVEN BEEN BORN YET? AND FOR A POP CULTURE THAT SUCKED ANYWAY! GAHHH! *raeg rant*. Sorry, it kind of hit a nerve with me. At least there’s Macross and Operation Ivy to remind me that the 1980’s weren’t a complete disaster.

Now the Macross begins the final phase of its attack. Making its way to the command fortress, the Macross focuses the Pinpoint Barriers on the bow, punches through the outside of the asteroid, and fires all its weapons and reaction warhead anti-ship missiles into the interior and then raising the ODB to protect itself from the explosion. Supreme Commander Bodolzza is killed and a large portion of his fleet it also destroyed, leaving the rest of the Zentradi leaderless. Back on Earth Misa and Hikaru observe the explosion and take the time to tell each other how much they appreciate being together at a time like this. While the explosion so near Earth of a massive object would probably lead to an Endor Holocaust scenario, the Earth is already pretty screwed.

The Macross Attack utilized the entire ship in a manner similar to the Daedalus Attack invented earlier.

Bodolzza meets the face of Death, and it is a singing idol.

I had figured they were going to intentionally overload the ODB to destroy the fortress, but the reaction weapons seemed to be enough.

Quite a sight.

She never lost faith, and indeed Hikaru has grown over the months to deserve such faith.

Sitting at the end, and beginning, of all things.

Stuck on the Earth the  happy-given-the-circumstances couple is worried about what happened to the Macross, but soon their fears are alleviated when they see the heavily damaged ship float down to the surface as the sun rises of the ruins of Alaska Base. Surprisingly after so much death and destruction they manage to remain upbeat for now, holding onto each other and returning to their friends and comrades. Soon it will be time to reorganize and make sense of the new situation. The human and Zentradi have both lost their chain of command, the Earth is destroyed, and there will likely be aftereffects of the Zentradi being exposed to culture. But for now, Hikaru and Misa enjoy their flight back towards the Macross.

No need to narrate this image, just including it because I liked it.

The Macross is one tough ship.

More great use of objects in the foreground as occurred earlier with the helmet. The broken cockpit almost seems to reflect the losses of the day, while the rest of the Valkyrie is still mostly intact and able to move forward just as the fleet and survivors must.

Into the newly uncertain future.

Final Thoughts: – This really changes everything. With the Earth devastated and the remnants of a massive fleet still in-system, the future is uncertain as never before.

- I could see how the series could have ended here, on a pretty big downer but with a hopeful spirit for recovering in the future. However I’m a big fan of ‘what now?’, post-war stuff so I’m looking forward to what happens in the rest of the series. Way too often series just cover the war and somehow things are just back to normal and rebuilt by the time of a sequel series. I know a lot of people hated the show, but one of the good things about Gundam SEED Destiny is that it did address the immediate aftermath of war and the lingering animosities. I’m excited to see what’s to come and how Macross handles it.

- The end of the Minmay/Hikaru thing was well done on both characters’ parts. Even though Minmay annoyed me a lot through most of the series, she has started to wise up and mature a fair amount lately. And at least she didn’t take her unreciprocated feelings and run off into an abyss of treachery and selfishness like another loser in Macross love.

- I’ve started to notice the budget constraints coming into play somewhat. There were some obviously recycled sequences from other episodes, such as the Zentradi recon ship getting destroyed by the Macross’ main cannon from the first episode, and Hikaru getting jerked back and forth by his harness when he decelerated using the FAST Pack for the first time.