The skirmish between the UN and enemy VFs continues about Mayan Island as the villagers take shelter and Shin goes to find Mao. But the fighting isn’t limited to the skies above the once peaceful island as Valkyries use their gerwalk and battroid modes to get close to or on the ground. Shin and Mao barely manage to dodge a crashing VF-0, while the merciless anti-UN pilot strafes the crashed UN pilot in front of them. Seeing this brings back terrible memories of a previous massacre perpetrated by anti-UN forces in Shin’s past, and doing his best Shiro Amada impression he uses the now one armed Valkyrie to fire back at the SV-51 above. But this skirmish is only a small part of the story. Sara’s words and rituals are now seeming to align with some of the archaeological facts being discovered. The Asuka anchors near the island and pulls a large alien artifact from the waters, missing its head just as in the Mayan legend. As training for the new Valkyrie pilots is overseen by Roy in the air, a research team headed by Dr. Aries lands on the island and begins looking around. After convincing the locals to provide some blood samples, Dr. Aries has found something interesting. The islander’s cells have some odd properties and start to become abnormally active at the same time that Sara is standing naked at the island’s waterfall singing a song in French of all languages.
Roy gets into a duel with a familiar face: Ivanov, apparently an old instructor of his. Why he decided to join the dastardly forces of Celestial Being is unknown, but one thing is for certain: when Roy left he was but the learner. Now he is the master.
God of Wind? I didn’t know Talim was from Mayan.
The duel continues down into the canyons of Mayan, both combatants constantly changing forms to take advantage of the terrain and evade each other’s attacks.
The way the main gun tracks with where Roy looks is really cool, kind of like the chain gun on an AH-64 Apache.
Shin is not letting that CB scum get away with mowing down a defenseless man again, though he nearly gets Mao killed in his single-minded rage.
The enemy plane takes a hit and dives down at Shin’s nearly disabled VF-0. The pilot is some woman who looks kind of like Selvaria, but without the sense of honor or duty of the ill-fated Valkyrur. Ah, Selvaria, I miss you already *runs off to replay Valkyria Chronicles for the third time.*
She can do a Char Kick too, though fortunately for Shin the Skull Squadron was still in the area and took notice.
Roy lands after driving off the Selvaria-impostor, and seems a bit more worried about Shin and Mao than one would think from he would allow to show.
After the skirmish ends due to low fuel on the part of the enemy forces the Asuka moves into the area to raise the alien artifact found by earlier scans. Shin is brought back aboard and reunited with Edgar, who apparently survived their F-14 being shot down but had to remain in sick bay for several days due to his injuries. With their carrier destroyed, the two orphaned pilots are given a new home in Skull Squadron and its compliment of early model Valkyries. Training is arranged, but for the moment the pilots have time to relax while the scientists take a better look at the artifact. Aries has a little chat with Roy after she emerges from the artifact’s isolation dome, though we’re still left to wonder about the details of their past. All that is certain now is that the two went to college together and that Aries knew Roy back before he was as cool and self-confident as he is now. They may have been a couple once too, though Roy’s ass-grab may have just been his natural lecherousness. The next day the first round of training takes place, with Shin and Edgar in some sort of different Valkyrie model while Roy in his VF-0S acts as the aggressor. After mid-air refueling the exercise takes place and it’s not a good day for Shin. He hesitates to engage gerwalk mode to slow his descent, nearly crashes, and then gets eliminated first. And when he tried to get a shot in on Roy even after being eliminated he gets his Valkyrie tripped up in close combat by Roy and handed another defeat.
The Asuka’s battlegroup begins raising the artifact for study, something that seems to have a place in the mythology of the islanders.
Adding a little Evangelion to this Macross series.
There’s no better place to be.
Roy does not care to admit the mistakes caused by his youth.
Aries is a smooth woman, definitely has to be to be Roy’s senpai.
Really cool mid-air refueling sequence. In keeping with the real world aircraft we have S-3 Vikings refueling the Valkyries.
Not off to a good start.
Despite Shin’s objections this is a new era in combat and pilots just might find themselves having fight on the ground as well as in the air.
More training is scheduled, and surely Shin needs it, but that evening the crew relaxes by watching some sparring while the mechanics get to work fixing what Shin broke by flying his Valkyrie so brashly. Nakajima is not happy with Shin making his team pull the engines and work on them all night, but he later tells Roy that he’s happy to see a pilot that’s willing to push the design to the limit. On the hangar deck Shin enters a sparring match with a tall female Marine and gets his ass handed to him every which way. She points out his weaknesses: he doesn’t understand his opponent and keeps forgetting about his center of gravity, which are the same problems he had while piloting the Valkyrie against Roy. The latter point is an interesting training tie-in with Frontier, since the pilots-in-training use their exoskeleton suits to develop a similar awareness, one that is necessary to piloting a fighter whose center of balance can change rapidly as it switches from one form to another. Afterwards Shin is feeling pretty down, but Roy joins him and cheers him up a bit by letting him know that Nakajima isn’t as upset with him as it sounded. And instead of training the next day, Roy has a special assignment for Shin and Edgar: escort Aries’ team to the island and stand guard.
Interservice rivalry.
So much for that. If Cima Garahau and her fleet taught us anything, it’s that Marines in mecha are not to be messed with.
Shin forgot to Remember Love (for his engines.)
A pretty sweet detail.
Sara greets the UN landing party coldly, refusing to allow them in with their weapons and referring to them as Kaidun, but after they agree to stay outside of the town and lower their weapons they’re allowed to stay by the other islanders. Dr. Aries begins collecting blood samples under the pretexting of checking the islanders’ health, though with all the research going on concerning the artifact and possible alien manipulation of ancient humans and their genetic structure this is likely just a cover. Sara is extremely against collecting blood and thinks that their souls will be stolen, though everyone is convinced to give a sample when Aries offers them delicious soft drinks in return. That night the scientists return to the Asuka while Shin works on finishing his repairs to the island’s generator. Mao joins him and asks why he’s working on it again, but a promise is a promise to Shin. But just as the two are about to start it up Sara stands outside the hut glowering at them. She asks if he’s there to steal the stars from them by starting the villages’s electric lights up again, her understanding of light pollution coming from an old story passed on to her. But Shin informs her that Mao wanted the lights back, and he turns the power back on. In all honesty there’s little light pollution that can be produced by the few houses on the island, but Sara is nonetheless displeased. Out at sea, a huge anti-UN submarine is also closing in on the island, the Celestial Being SV-51s stored aboard it. We get a bit of the enemy mindset from wannabe-Selvaria, who apparently thinks that sharing technology for the good of mankind in the face of possible alien invasion is theft. She must read a lot of Ayn Rand and applied the concepts to interstellar war. The next morning on the island Shin is walking near the waterfall pool when he hears singing. Approaching he sees Sara standing naked in the pool, singing. Continuing his Shiro Amada act he stands and watches, but then notices that the plants around him are spontaneously growing and the rocks around him levitating. And back on the Asuka at the same moment, Aries cell samples start acting oddly. Unbeknownst to her the alien artifact in the isolation chamber has started bleeding or leaking some sort of red liquid in response to the song.
I don’t know Sara, that sounds a little too Hitler-esque to me.
Reason 1, superstition 0! I <3 you Aries.
A variation on ‘come to the Dark Side: we have cookies.’
One thing about Macross, it’s always been pretty positive in regards to commercialism.
A nice shot visually contrasting the two worlds that each character comes from. Sara under the natural starlight but in darkness while Shin is inside with artificial lighting repairing the generator.
As much as they deserve to die I kind of hope they live long enough to witness the arrival of the Zentradi to show them how wrong they were.
So…um…do you have to sing naked for this to work?
I hope the text that was cut off says that she showed no signs of malaria and tapeworms. Parasites are kind of not moe.
Something crazy is going on on this island.
Final Thoughts: – The dogfights continue to be amazing, especially the one between Roy and Ivanov at the beginning of the episode. The VF-0 is very cool, and even the SV-51 is looking better now that I’ve seen one that’s not in ‘rival ace’ fuchsia. Though I’m wondering what’s going on with the Valkyries that Shin and his group used since they’re definitely a different model from the VF-0 Valkyries that Skull Squadron has used so far.
- Continuing on that positive approach to commercialism thing, I’m getting the feeling that it’s a running theme in the Macross series. That seemingly insignificant commercialized things like soda and pop music are a way to bring different peoples together into a larger human culture. It worked on the Zentradi in the original series, and it seems to have a lot of influence on Mao. Frontier showed it too with the full integration of humans and Zentradi aboard the colony ships. That if a globalized (or interplanetary) monoculture is established then it will be the way to lasting peace. Which might not be unusual coming from a country as monocultural and commercial as Japan (seriously, I thought we Americans were supposed to be the commercial whores, then I lived in Japan for a year.) But even if these things seem to lack substance, they’re given purpose with how they build common ground between people who share in their consumption. And in that way I think Macross tries to show us the value of seemingly artificial and ‘pop’ cultural elements, redeeming them from being dismissed on their lack of inherent content. It’s an optimistic view, but I have to say that even with ocassional backlashes against globalization I agree that moving towards some sort of Macross-like monoculture is probably the best way forward for mankind in the long run.
17 Comments
I dunno about being what’s best for the long run, but this is a smashing observation that I wish I caught myself. Good work!
That said, I wouldn’t mind running a franchise of the Super Dimensional Chinese Restaurant Nyan Nyan someday, IN SPACE.
Ghostlightning can’t run the Nyan-Nyan franchise because, I, Yot-chan, took over the business from Minmay’s Aunt and Uncle! (Yes, that’s canonical…little Yot-chan is the one who turned Nyan-Nyan into a galaxy-wide chain.)
Anyway, interesting thoughts on the monoculture…it hit me a while back that Macross tends to enshrine some of the most disposable of pop culture as a symbol of culture as a whole (would Beethoven’s Ninth or readings from The Republic have worked on the Zentradi as well, I wonder…?) but it never really occurred to me to figure out what that was SAYING. Definite food for thought.
Agan: don’t expect ANYTHING in Zero to “set the stage” for the original show. Your comparisons to 08th MS Team are apt…it was set DURING the original Gundam, but doesn’t really intersect with it at all. Macross Zero is similar…it happens before the first series, but doesn’t shed any light on it.
And, yes, Shin’s VF-0 is different. It’s a VF-0D type…you may recall the VF-1D, the orange and tan two-seater VF that Hikaru trashed in the first couple of episodes of SDFM. That had a slightly different body that the other VF-1 models. For some reason, the VF-0D, on the other hand, has delta wings. That’s the main difference in appearance. There’s probably a lot of interior difference as well, but they haven’t covered it yet in the Macross Chronicle magazine, so I don’t know yet (and reading the detailed technical material takes a long, long, loooooong time for me. Too many non-general-use kanji, and Macross Chronicle is written in an insanely difficult style, with serpentine sentences packed with information that go on for five or six lines of text. It’s a real pain).
If you think that what happened when Shin was ogling Sara was crazy, just wait a while, there’ll be a moment when you’ll think if Kawamori didn’t abuse of too much ‘shrooms.
I found funny the fact that Sara sing in French, for a change, at least I can clearly understand the lyrics, it could also explain why Sheryl can write in French in Frontier.
I laughed at the “Shin forgot to Remember Love (for his engines.)”, nice little joke here.
I think you made a little error, Sara refers to the Kadun, not Kaidun (but if you piss her off, she’ll attach a Kaifun to you, much worse than a Kadun, as we all know :p )
I think the islands are supossedly located in the French Polynesia. If you take a close look, the island looks like Bora Bora.
They’re probably from the DOM-TOM territories, we have quite a few little islands in our possession in the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans.
But the name of the island Mayan made me think it could also be close to French Guyana.
And some of the Navy soldiers are maybe from the Infanterie de Marine, since they’re equipped with FAMAS, the current assault rifle of the French Army.
@Der Langrisser, nice catch on the Sheryl writing in french. I didn’t notice to correlate that back to Sara.
Ah the singing, it was definitely a WTF moment when i first saw it. I watched Zero before M7 so it didn’t understand why all of a sudden singing actually had powers. That being said, the super powered Zero singing actually made the rock power in M7 more “believable”.
Sheryl and the Sara were the only people using french in Macross, so the link was easy to make.
The more surprising was the fact Sheryl wrote her message in a perfect french, which, knowing the ability of the Japanese for “Engrish”, is a real feat, because french it is a difficult language.
I had in mind to watch this again (and to the End, this Time) and the Dog Fights are def. gonna be a reason for that. Yeah, the Fight between Roy and Ivanov was so Bad ass (especially, the switching between the differnent Modes).
Also liked the Training Match with Shin VS. Roy. And how it took quite an effort from Shin a superb Pilot (we saw put up a good Fight agains a transformable Figher in a F-14) to master the Control of his new Ride.
I didn’t realy notice the hole “Continuing on that positive approach to commercialism” thing so far, but like others said it’s def. there when you look back on the older Macross Chapter, nice catch.
Also i realy like, Aries. Sempai or not those two def. had something going on befor they met again, i think she would fit his M.O. (Smart and Professional but can still let loose, puts him in his place if She has to… She like Claudia before Claudia).
Also thanks to those who told me to keep going trough the early Episodes of “Space Vampiers Vs. The Power of Rock” aka “M7″.
I’m up to Ep. 28 and it got a bit better but i can see that this will probably be my least fav. Macross Series (to many little things that annoy me, or come of stupid. “Sound Force”… Ugh, even in the Macross Universe).
I think, i like Milla the most so far, i’d totally vote for her. Also i still think Basara is kind of a Douche.
Beware the Appale Genki, Alto uses those for as missiles for his Armored Messiah in one episode of Frontier (14 I believe).
@Yot-chan
As for the VF-0D, the wings allow it to carry more fuel (larger internal tanks) and more ordnance. The way Roy uses Shin in this episode probably hints at the Ds role – that is to allow the commander to detach it from the main force to do other missions independent from them.
@Der Langrisser
Sheryl is an classy oujo-sama that’s why.
@KB_SBI
There’s some who argue that Basara may actually be a deconstruction of the shounen tropes of the day – showing how annoying they could actually be.
M7 definitely grows on you after the first few episodes. But the M7 Encore episodes are the big payoff. For whatever reason (Millia, Millia, Millia, Millia).
It is interesting how Zero kind of represents a metaphysics that has firmly coalesced by now, and is just reoccuring in Frontier. TV Macross, and Plus hadn’t quite articulated this metaphysics yet.
Someday there should be a final giant super wedding/concert/space battle in the Macross universe. If you think about each series….
Thanks for the Tip i’m gonna watch those “Encore” Episodes after i’m finished with “M7″.
@ Ghostlightning
Judging by your comments and those of others, it sounds like this theme runs through the other Macross series as well, so I’m interested in seeing how it plays out through the entirety of the Macross franchise. For all I heard about Kawamori being a hippy before I started watching Macross, he seems to be one strictly in the environmentalist sense. Seeing disposable pop culture as having value because it brings people together, even if it might not be very deep, is certainly an interesting and valid viewpoint. For all the thought I’ve given the positive effects of globalization and the role of trade in preventing conflict, I never really looked at it quite the same way as Macross does. My personal tastes still make me hate content-empty, disposable pop music and stupid trends and fashions (the sentiment expressed very well by Operation Ivy in Artificial Life) , but Macross has brought to my attention that they may very well serve a useful purpose for humanity.
@ Yot-chan
Hehe, maybe the Voyager probes that we sent out into the universe should have had recordings of Madonna or whatever was popular when they were launched instead of Mozart. I hear your warning about Zero not being a direct link to the original series, though I wasn’t expecting it to tie in directly, just to give me more detail on things that I saw in the original series, DYRL, and Frontier.
@ Der Langrisser
Ah, I didn’t even remember Sheryl writing in French in Frontier, nice connection you spotted there. Haha, yeah I mixed up the spelling for Kadun. My mind just kept thinking ‘something bad that starts with a ‘ka’ and ends with an ‘un’ ‘ and went halfway to Kaifun’s name. His douchebaggery has left an impression in my mind, to the point of opening my cupboard, seeing a pack of Saifun rice noodles, and wanting to yell KAIFUN! in the same way that Capt. Kirk yelled out KHHHAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!
@ Pat
Could be, though I’m guessing they were just going for a general south Pacific location. The details of such a location and its environment are really cool in a lot of respects. The big, fluffy, tall clouds that are rendered with an almost nostalgic detail to them look a lot like what I have seen in photographs from WWII when the islands in that region were the center of conflict between 1942 and 1943. The island is also nicely done, though for the sake of making nature there seem beautiful and pleasant they seemed to have left out the bullet ants, giant mosquitoes, and 5 inch+ wasps *shudders*.
@ Square
The ‘singing has power’ thing, beyond just social influence, is still something I that irks me a little bit about Macross, but the rest is so enjoyable that it doesn’t even bother me anymore. Though I’m guessing that Macross 7 takes the concept to new levels of ridiculous.
@ KB_SBI
Aries is certainly a cool character, and I’m hoping that she gets more screentime in the episodes to come. Like you said, she’s a very Claudia like character, though I sense from Aries a cool persona that seems to be covering up some kind of disappointment or something. It’s hard to point to anything precisely at this point, but she seems a bit troubled about something to me.
@ d3v
Lol, the beverage can missiles continued into Frontier? I’ll have to look for that when I rewatch it. Interesting point you made about Basara in Macross 7, that’s something I’ll keep in mind when I get to watching that series after Zero and Plus.
@ tman2000
More Millia is making me anticipate watching Macross 7 even more, hehe. The development that you mention of a more coherent metaphysics is also something that sounds interesting.
@tman2000
I always did wish that Frontier had their own “M7 Encore” style additional episodes.
@Executive Otaku
The ‘singing as power’ thing is only really built on in Macross 7, Zero and Frotier, with M7 turning making it a bit over the top (then again, it was targeted at a younger demographic). Plus takes a less mystical, and some would say, more personal approach to it.
hmm… i’m gonna reserve my take on Kawamori’s view of pop culture until the end of your M0 reviews. It’ll make more sense
On M7, It’s not so much that the singing power is “ridiculous” (though it is) its more that all the “other stuff” ie dog fighting, side characters, love triangle etc. REALLLYYYY isn’t nearly as good as the other series.
I’ll quote Iknight:
Macross 7 is perfectly Macross, while Macross Plus is merely perfect.
To which I add, Macross Zero is the most beautiful to the eye, and Do You Remember Love? the most beautiful to the ear, but do listen too, to Macross Frontier.
But a year ago today, a former wreck of an alien space craft is christened Macross.
I like the story as the graphic is very clear & detail. the story line is also interesting.