Category Archives: Retroblogging

Macross 7 – Scourging Myself to Prove My Devotion to the Franchise, a Retroblogging Review

Self flagellation, or corporal mortification, is a practice associated with some religions and disciplines where the individual causes physical pain to oneself for the purposes of showing their devotion to the faith or to come closer to its source. As a member of the super-conservative, may-be-plotting-to-take-over-the-world Catholic sect Opus Dei wrote, it “helps a person [...]

Also posted in Macross 7 | 64 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 12 and 13 – Going Back, Moving Forward

Hamdo arrives with his forces, scattering what meager opposition there is and ordering the complete slaughter and destruction of Zari Bars. The final confrontation between the dictator and his hated enemies can’t even be called a battle, but amidst it several characters and issues come to a head. All the characters come together again, facing [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 8 Responses

EO’s Retroblogging Interest Check Round II – Cast Your Vote!

More truth than you’ll get in real election campaigns. With only one more Now and Then, Here and There post left to go, the time has come to choose my next retroblogging project. Similar to the first show I retroblogged, I’m letting you, the readers, decide which show I’ll be watching and blogging. In this [...]

Posted in Retroblogging | 33 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 10 and 11 – Reality Strikes Back

After the restful respite from the horrors of the world in the almost idyllic Zari Bars, the outside world and past events come back hard on the main characters. And on a larger scale things are looking bad now that Hellywood is operational and the location of the one decent settlement in the world is [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 8 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episode 09 – Zari-Bars

Shu and Lala Ru wander through the deserts and find their way to a large, deep canyon filled with people, agriculture, and evidently a large supply of water. They find out that this place is Zari-Bars, the main enemy of Hamdo and the place that, at least according to the dictator, send the land battleship [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 7 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 07 and 08 – “All the good people of this world are already dead.”

Lala Ru makes this statement to Shu. She has the power to provide the water that’s in such short supply in this world, but doesn’t want to since people would just kill each other for it (and her.) Shu is taken aback for a moment when she explains her views, but continues on with his [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 8 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 05 and 06 – Freedom and Captivity

As Shu and Sara continue in the roles forced upon them by Hamdo’s regime, they both come to face certain choices and make decisions in their own horrible situations. Nabuca is also brought to face certain realities and is given a decision to make that resonates with him in a very personal way. Hellywood continues [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 6 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 03 and 04 – The Dogs of War

Shu awakes in his cell the next morning after being beaten and tries to talk with his cellmate, at first to little avail. Outside, we’re given an insight into the daily lives of Hamdo’s child soldiers as they train against each other for actual combat, overseen by a strict instructor who beats his charges for [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 13 Responses

Now and Then, Here and There episodes 01 and 02 – It Could Always Be Worse

Bidding farewell to most of the Macross canon, the next retroblogging series is Now and Then, Here and There. A 13 episode series from 1999, Now and Then, Here and There follows a boy named Shu, who is going about his daily life in a town in Japan until he sees a strange looking girl [...]

Also posted in Now and Then Here and There | 16 Responses

Why Is It (Almost) Always Three? Small Unit Organization in Gundam and Macross

If you’ve watched enough of the two biggest mecha franchises you might have noticed that most mecha teams seem to operate in units of three, when they do operate in coherent units. But why units of three, why not units of four like modern fighter aircraft? Tanks offer a more varied model, where platoons have [...]

Also posted in Editorials, Gundam, SDF Macross | 36 Responses