As the UN personnel begin to learn more about the alien artifact found near the island, the anti-UN forces plan to take it for themselves while increasingly strange things begin happening as the fighting comes to the island in earnest. Sara tells Shin that it’s his fault that this is happening, that the UN forces are ‘weakening the bond’ between nature and the island, and somehow this relates to the Protoculture artifacts but no one is quite sure how. Now that the generator is fixed, the islanders are becoming ever more entranced by the offerings of modernity, much to Sara’s dismay. And Mao suddenly makes her move on Shin, while his reactions indicate that he might have some sort of thing for her older sister. Ah yes, it wouldn’t be Macross without a love triangle now would it?
Shin, trying to distract Aries and Edgar by…doing a witch impression?
Loved Sara’s facepalmstaff.
Mao, NO! Oh gods, the kancho has spread to even this remote island. Maybe it was occupied by the Japanese in WWII? Though after getting a wikipedia link to make the reference, apparently this happens in South Korea and the Philippines too (Koreans and Philippinos, confirm/deny that this horror lurks in your countries as well) . You learn something new terrible everyday.
For all that Macross seems to promote the virtues of pop culture, the scenes of people greedily turning the generator on during the day to watch TV certainly weren’t portraying it as a good thing.
Kind of reminds me of Qoo. Also, is this an actual language or something made up for the show? Reminds me of Thai, but I don’t know enough about what that language looks like to say.
Edgar feels like a third wheel, but hey, at least this Shin actually deserves the girls that go after him, unlike a certain Gundam pilot of the same name *cough* Shin X Lunamaria WTF *cough*
Commercialism already existed on this island!
Right after Sara notices Shin watching her and stops singing, the rocks immediately fall to the ground, all of them seemingly having runes carved into them. When he asks how it’s possible, she just replies that he has brought a Kadun to the island and that it’s weakening the bonds on the island, though I suspect something to do with anti-gravity generators similar to those aboard the Macross. Perhaps they are part of the Birdman machine buried under the island and something is causing them to malfunction…or work as designed? Sara cautions Shin not to tell anyone what he saw, but replies that no one would believe him anyway. While she agrees and tells him that he and the other UN personnel have a Kadun attached to them that only lets them believe what they see, clearly meaning it as a negative, I for one am all for reason and science. But it’s a matter of one’s point of view, and from my point of view the Jedi are evil. Aside from this, Sara is also angry at the researchers and the UN presence on the island, thinking that they’re corrupting the people by bringing them modern standards of living. Certainly the islanders are now very eager to watch TV inside instead of being out in nature, but to be honest I think this is a bias of the writers and of people who live in advanced industrialized societies in general, that being out in nature is superior and ‘purer’. If we all lived on islands, were at the mercy of weather for our food, had no antibiotics, and never saw a TV we’d probably wax poetic about progress and technology. Soon after this conversation, Mao takes Shin by the hand to show her her ‘treasure’ a site underwater that they must dive to get to. We get a long scene about the wonders of marine life, with fish, coral reefs, an octopus, and diving birds swimming along with the two humans. Just as the two are oxygenating their lungs before the deepest part of the dive, Mao asks Shin if he likes her older sister, but before he can answer in any form he dives down. Coming to a cave opening, they stand before a Protoculture artifact with an eye that opens and follows them. Shin is so surprised that he panics and loses most of his air, and Mao kisses him both for romantic reasons and to pass air to him.
Some really bright, beautiful shots of the coral reefs not far from the islands shores as Shin and Mao swim through them.
Mao swimming along with the diving sea birds, certainly suggesting the link between her (and the people of the island) and the natural world.
I saw this in a movie once…
They recreated this scene shot for shot in Macross Frontier’s ‘Tori no Hito’ movie, the only real change being that Mao/Ranka asking Shin/Alto if he loves Sara being in a voiceover during the kiss in the movie version.
You almost can’t tell the difference.
The Mao/Ranka surprise kiss attack. Oh Ranka, I really was cheering for you at the beginning, but you had to go and betray everyone.
While the two are off on their scuba dating, the Celestial Being forces are planning on seizing the Protoculture artifact from the hangar bay of the Asuka while simultaneously sending a submarine and amphibious force to the island to secure other artifacts. Sara senses a disturbance in the Force, and the UN carrier battle group seems to have some advance warning as well, scrambling Valkyries and Ghosts shortly before the enemy VFs approach the fleet. But even with this notice the UN battle group is loses a destroyer and takes damage to the Asuka II in the attack. But just when the Old Man and his wench of a sidekick Lesser Selvaria start entering the hangar deck, what at first looks like a Destroid ‘THIS IS SPARTA!!!’s the geezer’s VF out of the bay and jumps to the deck of the carrier to fight back. Lesser Selvaria is sent to the island to reinforce her allies there, while Roy Focker in an armored VF-0 fights it out on the deck, at first looking destroyed and then purging the extra armor around the VF-0 and continuing the fight. While this was happening farther from the island, Shin picked up the alert on his radio just as Mao was trying to consolidate her romantic gain with conversation. He tells her to head towards the island when Edgar shows up in their VF-0D and floats it on the surface to pick Shin up, just as a torpedo from an anti-UN submarine heads towards them. Shin quickly scoops up Mao and gets her inside the cockpit, then takes inspiration from the seabirds he saw earlier and dives the Valkyrie into the water in pursuit. A nice and realistic touch was his firing the main cannon into the point of entry for the Valkyrie, helping to break up the surface tension that could have damaged his Valkyrie. Destroying the sub in close combat and seizing an artifact it had recovered, he sees the larger amphibious force move on the island, fighting it out with the Destroids from the UN camp.
A breakdown in traditional social order caused by rapid modernization. Though I don’t think it’s quite so bad as Sara seems to think it is, at least it hasn’t gotten that bad at this point.
AHHH now I want one, possibly two VF-0 models and an arming crew model kit!
Quite possibly the coolest shot of a Destroid evar, I really liked the grainy green light from the missile exhaust.
These Destroids featured Code Geass-style wheels at the heel of each foot for added mobility.
This is Roy’s house!
The Macross team certainly likes their external, detachable armor. They even brought it to Gundam when some of them worked on 0080.
The Birdman was all YAKK DECULTCHA!
Carrying the girl to safety in the hand of your Gerwalk-mode Valkyrie: a retrospective.
The island sees a lot of destruction as Shin delivers a traumatized Mao to Sara, then jets off to try and protect the artifact from the enemy. Meanwhile Mao is MedEvac’ed to the Asuka along with Aries and a group of UN troops and about to be given a transfusion of the blood that was leaking out of the artifact, as it matches her own blood type. But just after the helicopters leave UnterSelvaria dives down on Shin, her ammo low but her fanatical determination in full supply. After a running battle she send the VF-0 down in flames, and secures the artifact, only to have Shin steer the flaming wreck INTO HER FIGHTER! Hell yeah! Ejecting just in time, he and Edgar parachute to the ground, but find themselves confronted by their rival once more. Things are going to get…interesting.
That’s some regression. Also, Mao as prototype Ranka: loli with psychological issues due to trauma.
Indiscriminate attacks on populated areas to take out a few military units? Check. And you wonder why I call them Celestial Being.
Ah, more cool cockpit sequences. I wish Gundam did first person views like this more/at all.
Tsun tsun, tsun tsun, kuroshitai hito wa pirotto!
Oh my. If only you weren’t evil.
Final Thoughts: - As I watch more Macross, it’s becoming quite clear exactly how much influence it has had over Japanese arcade flight sim games like the Ace Combat and Airforce Delta games. Two enemies in Airforce Delta: Strike look a lot like the enemy pilots in Macross Zero, for example. And then there’s the song bringing everyone together from the end of Ace Combat 5 that was very reminiscent of the final battle scene in DYRL. Along with Area 88, Macross seems to be a huge influence over the genre.
- The original series and DYRL had elements of environmental concern to them, though in DYRL it was also tied in with an anti-nuclear message. Zero seems to put more emphasis on with the coral reef scene and the generally positive portrayal of life on Mayan Island. Which I think can potentially be kind of hard to reconcile with the franchise’s love of pop/consumer culture and the way that it argues the virtues of that culture. Depending on which level the environmentalism/nature argument is made. If it’s more about just taking notice of and valuing the natural world, the feeling I got from the original series and DYRL, then it’s fairly compatible. But Zero seems to be idealizing, at least at this point in the story, a sort of goodness/virtue of pastoral life. That living in close contact with nature and actively avoiding modern technology and culture is a better way to live. Which, excuse me if I sound cynical, seems to be only the daydreams of people who have grown up in and lived in advanced societies. It’s all too easy to forget about the myriad of very bad things that people are subject to when living outside of modern societies. Low life expectancy, easily curable diseases, living one drought or storm away from starvation, lack of communication and education, the generally oppressive nature of traditional societies towards women and anyone defying the norm, etc etc. But there exists, and has existed probably since Rousseau if not earlier, this longing for a more natural and ‘purer’ way of life that’s seen as the cure-all for the ills of modern society. It just seems like human nature to want these elusive things, even opposites to what one has. The old PC adventure game The Longest Journey commented on this nicely when you were in the magic-filled world and people wished for all kinds of modern things to solve their day to day problems, while in the futuristic world people were wishing for magic and adventures while complaining about how the world has no mystery.
- Zero’s dogfights continue to be the best Macross battles I’ve yet seen. I even went back to Frontier to refresh my memory, and they just don’t compare. Zero’s fights are just more fluid, they utilize cockpit points of view more, and they focus more on the battle itself instead of one individual machine. That is not to say that I didn’t find Frontier’s dogfights and battles gorgeous, just that I find Zero’s approach much cooler and more like the original series.
29 Comments
Macross Frontier = TV
Macross Zero = OVA
Budgets alone make for a big difference in animation quality.
@ExecutiveOtaku:
I take it that you’ve already watched “Dances with Blue Cat Aliens”? The theme of nature >>> tech seems to run rampant in that movie too.
Shin looks like he’s carrying a Tavor in the second pic, nice use of references to Frontier in those screencaps btw…
Wow.. That Dogfight scene always awesome as ever and the cockpit screenshot is nice one
IMHO this OVA is still the best for me and better than Frontier
Macross Zero had some of the best fight scenes of all the Macross titles IMO. This OVA ranks up there as one of the more beautiful looking anime titles and the fights have that same beauty, only in a deadly sort of way (if that makes sense).
As for your question yes the Kancho also exist in the Philippines. The same name too.
I’d like to point out here that Mao despite being portayed by Ranka is actually 11 years old at the time. Yeah Shin can go to jail if he touches her…
In comparison to Macross Frontier in terms of sisterly roles. Ranka is to Mao, Sheryl is to Sara.
This not the first time there was one guy, two sisters, one being a loli. Macross Dynamite 7 had the Hoyley sisters. the older Liza and the younger Elma. Though there is no love triangle as this is Basara we are talking about. To say the least the sisters were intrigued by Basara’s nature. To Liza Basara is the guy who starts singing in a middle of a firefight and mesmerized for a moment because what he is doing is unbelievable. Elma is a fangirl who wants Basara to mentor her to be like her singer mother. Yeah Basara isn’t attached it floored me when Elma asked if he was married while in a catatonic state , both naked at a natural hotspring…
A while back I noted on one of ghostlightning’s blog posts about Macross Zero is that the primary message is actually a lot less environmental overall, but rather – as you point out in your title – about the clash of cultures.
I actually think Zero tries to capture this sort of tension in the dynamic between Mao and Sara – both represent these clashing viewpoints on technological advancement versus adherence to traditional values, exemplified in the whole tussle over Shin fixing the generator back in the first episode. It is that very same disregard for the traditional taboos that contributes to the awakening of the alien artifact and the triggering of the conflict.
The islanders’ lives are fairly idealized in the show, but I still think the show does a good job of showing how they also live very much in poverty – simple modern conveniences like electricity, radio, or canned juice is hard to come by. And furthermore, the islanders are caught up in a war not of their own choice or own making, simply becoming pawns in the struggle between outside ideologies and factions.
Japan, like a lot of North American nations, have a very bad track record too when it comes to treating their own aboriginal peoples, such as the Ainu. I can’t help but feel that Kawamori is making some sort of commentary about that with Zero – a commentary about not just preserving ecological diversity, but also cultural diversity.
Along with Plus, Zero is probably my favourite Macross. Maybe it’s just the OVA format, but all the goodness just seems much more concentrated.
It’s funny that little Mao tend to look older than Ranka while being a11-12 years old.
@ExecutiveOtaku
The will of mankind to return to a “purer” world and to live in harmony in nature is a constant in mankind’s history, as I saw while studying History in college. Every society and culture wished that, while also wanting to keep their advanced technology at the same time.
At this point Kawamori is still well into his eco-mentalist “Arjuna phase” and it tells. Thank goodness he got back to being more sensible in Frontier.
I dunno…my take on it is a little different, and closer to Vendredi’s. Just because Sara thinks technology is evil doesn’t necessarily mean Hiroshi Ohnogi (Macross Zero’s writer – he also wrote a bunch of episodes of the original SDFM and the Misa novel I’m working on now) thinks technology is bad. As Mao pointed out in episode one (I think…maybe it was two), without technology, they wouldn’t have photos of their parents. Electric light is also clearly a good thing for everyone except Sara (TV, less so). The show itself remains relatively ambivalent.
And yes, the combat scenes in Zero are MUCH better than Frontier. As Ghostlightning said, it’s a matter of budget, but I’d add two other factors: first, Ichiro Itano (who was the chief mecha animator for the original series and DYRL, as well as Plus) did the fight choreography, and second, it took SIX DAMN MONTHS for each episode of Zero to come out. Looking back on it, I’m glad they took their time, since I think it holds up a lot better than other CGI-fests from six or seven years ago, but man, was it frustrating at the time…
On the culture clash you discussed in this post and the previous one: my take on the spread of (popular) culture as a positive force is that it’s only positive if it’s two-way. If one culture simply subsumes another, then something has been lost, whereas if both cultures can learn and benefit from each other, then the relationship is not only mutually beneficial but synergistic. So, for example, Japan’s cultural interaction with the West (pre- and post-war) has been two-way to a fair extent: Japan has not only adopted Western technologies and customs (e.g. clothes, school systems), it’s retained its own to a reasonable degree and has actually improved on Western technologies, while Western countries have assimilated elements of Japanese culture into their own in turn (food, fiction, business practices, etc.). Other, less fortunate countries and peoples have to some degree lost their distinct culture to Westernization, without much if any of said culture passing into that of the West (this is probably true of parts of Africa, for example).
Economic globalization also sometimes leads to the proliferation or elevation of one ‘brand’ at the expense of others, often undeservedly. So, for example, a man in Madagascar, Ho Chi Minh City or Warsaw might come up with a tasty new soft drink, but hasn’t much chance of knocking more than a few percentage points off of Coca-Cola’s sales even in his own country. Similarly with music: homogeneous hyping of a few artists/acts on global television leads to massively inflated sales for those who ‘make it big’ – and, unlike in Macross, the top-selling pop singers in the real world aren’t the ones with alien-bamboozling powers.
@Yot-chan
Part of what I consider spectacular in terms of dogfights is that they happen within the atmosphere. There’s a lot of stuff going on that I don’t think I see in the space battles. If they purposely worked in the differences, then man, how awesome are they!?
While ep 13 of Macross Frontier (VF-27 vs VF-25f — and then VF-25g) isn’t as good as some of the better dogfights in Zero, the atmospheric difference is played up too I think. You won’t see it so much in the Lucifer, because of all the H4xx, but for the Messiahs you can see Alto strain and labor — if not the bird itself.
And yes, Macross Plus has this in spades as well… but that’s a different kind of perfect.
@ghostlightning
Actually, I recall that episode 13 had a few subtle Macross Zero homages as well (though no double Pugachev’s Cobra this time).
@ Ghostlightning
It’s not so much the visual quality that wows me, which is due to budget, but the way that the battles and dogfights are choreographed. Macross Frontier was a lot more static in its camera positions and focused a lot on the machines individually instead of using interesting, flowing points of view, either the pilot’s or a fixed point away from two dueling fighters.
@ Kherubim
No, I haven’t watched Avatar yet for precisely that reason: I’ve heard how shallow and cliched the story of it is. I almost want to go watch it just for the visuals (and to cheer on the humans and their mecha, hehe), but so far I haven’t been able to bring myself to go to a theater just for eye candy.
@ AstroNerdBoy
Indeed, it’s definitely up there with the best in terms of both direction and well done visuals. Out of visuals that are supposed to be realistic I’d probably say that it’s the best series I’ve seen.
@ ReddyRedWolf
Was this curse brought to your land by the Japanese or developed domestically?
Mao is supposed to be 11? I always figured she was Ranka’s age, given the usual anime tendency for age/appearance combinations. That certainly should be making Shin feel more awkward, though it hasn’t seemed to as of yet.
@ Vendredi
Yeah, the dynamic does seem to be reflected in the Mao vs Sheryl conflicts. I still think that the show idealizes the islanders’ lives more than it shows any downsides since the downsides it shows are ‘negative’ ones (lack of modern conveniences) and not ‘positive’ ones (the presence of the potential for disease, the short lifespans, etc), if that distinction makes sense. Though it could be as you suggested and the writers were trying to comment on cultural diversity/respect for other cultures. It could also be possible that they’re being neutral about it, that these things happen when cultures interact, but it seems too much like commentary to be that.
@ Der Langrisser
Good point. Even the Romans talked about it to a degree with the idealizing of farming, though they usually seemed to mean ‘landowning’ and how that led to virtue. I brought up Rousseau though since that seemed, at least to me, the point that technology and science started to be lumped in with the ‘corrupting’ influences of city life.
@ d3v
Ah, so HE was responsible for Arjuna! *shakes head disapprovingly*
@ Yot-chan
I’ll keep that interpretation in mind as I watch the rest of the series, perhaps it will seem different to me in hindsight. But at present it seems to be saying that life was all happy and good before technology came to the island. Or at least, that the only things and people depicted negatively come from outside the island.
@ Keith
I can definitely see your point. A globalized culture is certain better off if it takes something of the best from every culture it interacts with and often subsumes. Though at least from my point, if some cultures or part of cultures are lost in the process it’s an unfortunate thing but that on balance humanity is still better off due to the unity it brings. Take languages for example. There are stories about some languages only having a few speakers left or dying out. But is humanity better served by having a bunch of languages to study or by having more people being able to communicate with each other? My opinion is the latter.
Brands and inventions are trickier since it can work both ways. There’s the problem you mentioned, that entry costs into a market can be higher because someone with a good idea has to try and beat out an existing mega-brand with advertising or outbidding on contracts or whatever tactic best serves that product. But on the other hand globalized communication and transportation systems can allow word of that product to get out to a wider audience that might not have otherwise heard of it. And with globalized forms of commerce that product can also reach those people, while decades ago putting together that kind of infrastructure would have been prohibitively expensive. But I’m not an economics student, so I don’t know which of the two scenarios is more prevalent. I’d tend to think the second just by the amount of goods I see available in stores and online that come from around the world, but that’s very limited anecdotal evidence.
On Avatar: I didn’t feel the story was as yawn-worthily cliched as some; I think its resemblance to other movies gets exaggerated a bit. I’d say it’s definitely worth seeing even with a somewhat derivative story. If nothing else, the sci-fi aspects make the story different to something like Pocahontas or Fern Gully.
On Mao: I doubt she’s 11-12, at least I hope not. That would make Shin look like a bit of a Pedobear.
On cultural interaction: yeah, I forgot to mention that the idea that all aspects of all cultures have value and deserve to be preserved is a bit of a naive ideal. I think most of us here would agree that ‘cultural’ nastiness like female genital mutilation, racism etc. would be better consigned to the ‘rejected’ pile of cultural Darwinism.
On economic globalization: yes, I agree, there are definite positives as well, as with cultural globalization. One problem with products being sold worldwide, that said, is that a lot of energy/fuel gets wasted shipping stuff to countries that already produce the same thing but not quite so cheaply or with such brand success, or that could produce an identical product but are prevented from doing so by cheap imports, because transport costs are very low without reflecting the long-term cost of burning so much oil/whatever flinging goods around the world.
But Mao really is a 11-12 years old, that’s true.
Where did that anti-Jedi comment come from? Sounds like Mando-speak to me. :p
Man, I got nothing. Zero didn’t do very much for me, except for the mecha-porn. But I liked your “The Longest Journey” reference. When will the third part ever come out, I want to know what happens to Zoe.
@ ExecutiveOtaku
Frankly I don’t know. The rowdiest and most mischievous kids do it. Now I won’t atttribute it to WWII as Filipinos back then are treated more than just a Kancho by the Japanese Imperial Army. Though I suspect it is an influence of Super Robot anime.
We have to note that Filipinos absorb other peoples culture like a sponge. Totally opposite the extreme isolationist tendencies of the Japanese in the old days, that some what still mildly present when it comes to foreigners. You are more likely to be invited to a Filipino’s home for some grub. It fact in college dorms Filipinos are the go to place when it comes to food.
@ Keith
http://macross.anime.net/wiki/Mao_Nome
Mao is 11 years old in 2008. Now she obviously survived Space War 1 being Sheryl’s grandmother. Either in some underground Grand Cannon or the Macross itself. Mao died at the age of 50 with 117th Fleet. Mao was the commander of the SDFN-04 Global and leading researcher about the Protoculture. At some point Mao became wheel chair bound. Not that she was that old probably a disease or injury.
Now being a Nome priestess bloodline may explain why Sheryl survived as long as she did with the V-Type virus. Until Grace got her hands on Sheryl all those who were infected did not survive as long as Sheryl did and doing the things Sheryl could do. Not to mention those Fold Quartz earings Sheryl inherited from her mother which was apperently passed down from generation to generation. (Yes by the power of Retcon Mao got them from her parents. Besides the picture of her parents.)
If Sheryl survived so long, it’s thanks to the pills Grace gives ger, which delayed the disease Grace oh so kindly inoculate to Sheryl. Sheryl bloodline is closer to the Protoculture than humans, which could maybe give her the ability to control Protoculture weapons like the Birdman.
“Edgar feels like a third wheel, but hey, at least this Shin actually deserves the girls that go after him, unlike a certain Gundam pilot of the same name *cough* Shin X Lunamaria WTF *cough*”
Funny you should mention that, because both Shins are actually voiced by the same VA, if I’m not mistaken.
Yep, it’s the same VA, that’s why everytime he shouts “SARA !!!”, I hear “STELLA !!!” instead.
Great write as always EO. Already lots of discussion on the culture clash subject, don’t have too much to add to that. I remember watching this ep, when the Spartans were deployed on the carrier as AA weapons it made the SDFs destroids 1000x more cooler. I also loved the development of the Valkyries but never understood why they even bothered with destroids.
@Der Langrisser
you assume that Grace didn’t just infect her after she was picked up
Sheryl was a experimental subject of Grace for the V-type infection, as seen in episode 18 of Frontier.
She inject the disease to Sheryl under the guise of medical treatment just after she pick her up (it’s also assumed Grace killed Sheryl’s parents just to have her full vengeance against Mao).
From Macross Frontier Drama CD material it turns out that Sheryl’s parents were killed by the Macross Galaxy Executive Board. Apparently they knew of their schemes and opposed them. Grace only later learned of Sheryl’s existence on Galaxy. When Galaxy brought in Grace it wasn’t exactly willingly. When Grace died the first time on Global they downloaded her whatever is left of her. Apparently they have been keeping tabs on her research. Galaxy Excecutive Board have been keeping Sheryl empovrished for their sick amusement. Upon learning about her Grace then later asked them to have Sheryl as a test subject. From the Macross Frontier light novel Sheryl managed to endear herself to Grace. But Grace’s ambition is greater that Grace had to erase whatever feelings of love she had for Sheryl.
I believe the difference in choreography is due to the fact that Ichiro Itano (pioneer of the “Itano Circus” aka Macross Missile Massacre) was still involved with Zero but not Frontier (which is the second Macross without his involvement, after 7).
Sheryl bloodline is closer to the Protoculture than humans, which could maybe give her the ability to control Protoculture weapons like the Birdman.
Would it be ok if I borrowed a bit of your style.css for my own forum? I would appreciate it! Thank you!
I’m not sure about it since I’m not involved in the technical stuff so much, but if you use the Email THAT page at the top of the blog you can email and ask Impz. I usually defer any site building issues to our fearless leader.
I am going to check out macross zero…. never heard of it before… thanks for the heads up on how good it is…
girs is so cute