Just for kicks I though I’d try something different and try to do what I think a summary of this episode would sound like in Newspeak. Here goes.
Glorious Defence Against Hated Enemy Vajra And Goodsong Concert By Sheryl Nome
Ahem….Voiceover talks of Macross PlusEarth and glory of Department of Discovery. Body Change is properthink on Macross PlusEarth, but hated enemy Vajra is at war with glorious Macross PlusEarth and always was at war with Macross PlusEarth. Macross Fourth Full is put to defense to bring victory to the Party of Macross Frontier and confirm goodthought on Vajra. Back in Macross Frontier Goodsong is brought by Sheryl Nome to keep the proles away from Ownself and in Cultural. Great Heroes of Skull Unit bring defense of Party of Macross Frontier against hated enemy Vajra who they were always at war with via Planet Dance. Soldier Alto expresses thoughcrime against Skull Leader Ozma as well as Ownself in attempt to defend against hated enemy Vajra who he was always at war with. Skull Leader Ozma uses uncontrol steamer on hated enemy Vajra who he was was always at war with to make doubledefence and Vajra unalive. At sametime Goodsinger Sherly Nome uses telescreen to make newimage of Sheryl. Konig Monster is deployed for doubleplusdefence on hated enemy Vajra who they were always at war with and more are made unalive. At sametime Leon Mishima of Inner Party confirms goodthought on defence against Vajra. At sametime Goodsinger Sheryl Nome expresses Ownself and Sexthoughtcrime in watching defence against Vajra. Also at sametime hated enemy Vajra who Macross Fleet was always at war with unfolds otherearth in unadherence of overfolded otherearth and attacks Kaitos to bring victory and is defended by great heroes. Soldier Luca expresses doubleplusownself and confirms newdata that was always known by party of Macross Frontier and Big Brother Glass of lasergun and fold powerplant bioweapon on hated enemey Vajra who he was always at war with. Soldier Luca is punished for thoughtcrime and ownself by hated enemy Vajra and has never existed on record.
Sheryl tries to sing unhello number but begins doubleplusownself about unconstruction of Macross Plusearth. Sherly loses goodface, but Ranka gives doubleplushappycheer to return Sheryl to goodculture, but unsolving ownself badsexthoughtcrime for Alto. Sheryl and Ranka begin doublesong. Soldier Alto begins ownself unformation to rescue Soldier Luca. Soldier Michel acts with plusgoodfarshot and unknown flyingboat approaches flyingboat that Big Brother Glass predicted would defend is present. Glorious Captain Jeffrey Wilder orders Macross Fourthfull to newform and Strangesex soldier Bobby is of Plushotbloodedness and assumes power he always had. Heroic Soldier Alto succeeds in rescue of Soldier Luca with help from unknown aircraft but unpossessions earring of Goodsinger Sheryl Nome at sametime. Macross Fourthfull fires doublepluslargegun and victory is brought home to Macross Frontier in defence against hated enemy Vajra who they were always at war with. Alto is praised for goodaction by Fearless Leader Ozma Lee. At unknowntime pilot of unknown doubleplusfastflyingboat play goodsong of Ranka Lee on Harmonica.
Thoughts: The hell Kaioshin….right? Well I thought for once I’d cut loose and have a little fun; not taking things too seriously since among other things everybody’s probably already seen this episode and thus hopefully few will mind, but boy was this episode fun. Really it was a straight up battle with a few Sheryl and Ranka songs inbetween, but they got just about everything right for one of the most stunningly well choreagraphed battle sequences I have ever seen in an anime. Crazy camera angles, explosions, bullets everywhere….so much detail. Aside from that the plotline developments were in Macross Quarter’s obvious ability to transform and use a Macross Cannon and Ranka ans Sheryl’s mutual understanding and budding friendship with each other. (Represented with a floating in space sequence that looks like it came straight from Gundam) Their are of course some mysteries introduced such as the intentions of Leon Mishima and the Zentradi looking scientist who kind of has Britai’s facial features going on. If he’s not a Zentradi then I assume he was surgically altered on the Galaxy fleet since they specialize in such things. Then there’s the mystery pilot who also seems to be from Galaxy and pilots a Valkyrie so fast and maneuvarable (Trans Am?) that it only manifests as a red blur most of the time. The pilots seem to notice it’s presence but don’t think much of it and in the end he ends up apparently helping Alto rescue Luca. He also seems to have some connection to Ranka in that he recognizes her song. *Whispers* My bet is that he’s her brother….shhhhhhhhhhhhh….
So awesome action episode that was perfectly timed and the focus kept (Unlike Code Geass which is even starting to bother me a little with it’s tendency to jump around a lot making writing summaries an extra chore in that I have to constantly reset the context for each scene that takes place in a different setting with different characters interacting so that people don’t get too confused) with almost no flaws to speak of makes for a solid 10 rating from me.
Ratings: Ten Out Of Ten
When Anime Past Meets Present 
You forgot one thing – everyone was DRAWN correctly for once – even Bobby didn’t look wimpy, and Alto looked almost like a girl (which is why he’s called ‘hime’ in the first place). That, and Klan Klein looked… stunning, in the few frames she was in, and that one throwaway comment basically illustrated the whole relationship between her and Mikhail better than some shows spent whole story arcs to explain why two characters got along the way they did… or didn’t get along.
The art in this episode is amazing all around, but unfortunately I know it takes the worst hit yet in Episode 08. Why you would ditch consistant character design for an episode that features Sheryl and Ranka bonding in a shower is beyond me? It seems almost counterproductive if the point of the scene is to among other things provide some eyecandy along with the dialogue.
I never though I’d say this about any anime, but Macross Frontier is simultaneous one of the best and worst looking series I have ever seen. It’s just a good thing that the story and characters are consistantly interesting.
By the way, did you like the “creative” summary for this episode or was it just plain too far out in left field and weird? I’m sure more than a few people think I’ve gone off my rocker, but I assure everyone I’m still quite with it. Now definitely go read George Orwell’s 1984 along with the series if you haven’t already as it looks like the government might be up to something and is possibly using the Macross Fleets as unwitting pawns in an experiment in the never ending quest for MORE POWER! Kind of like the thing Ingsoc would do without a second thought.
“Macross Frontier is simultaneous one of the best and worst looking series I have ever seen.”
It could end up giving the original a run for its money I think. Sure SDF Macross is now 26 years old, but for its time some of the art AND animation was amazingly horrid and yet some scenes showcased some of the best animation of the era.
I just watched episode 8. The animation was actually pretty good, but everything was off key. I must say I liked how old the VF-1J (A?) looks, it’s like a blast from the past (it looks as if it was used in DYRL or even SDF Macross).
“Why you would ditch consistant character design for an episode that features Sheryl and Ranka bonding in a shower is beyond me?”
I don’t know, but I think Shugo Chara’s animation team did most of the animation this time round because it’s pretty similar. This is a rather throwaway episode, so I’m not really complaining.
“an episode that features Sheryl and Ranka bonding in a shower is beyond me?”
WTF! does it even need a comment!! I want to see it now. 🙂
Anyway, the newspeak was awesome, must have been quite tedious to write.
DAMN, I’m surprised that there’s still money left in the budget after this episode! Kickass episode 10/10
1984 shurely is a great book but I have yet to see a connection to Macross F.
Newspeak serves exactly the purpose it was greated for – turn your brain into a vegetable. I appreciate the effort but hope you will avoid THAT gimmic.
I read these to enjoy your summeries and views of the ep. But I just couldn’t read that summery. I just don’t want to put that kind of effort in to reading that kind of style.
Ah Nineteen Eighty Four. Commendable effort, but I read your blog posts is to get good, concise, and well thought information about the Anime. This is like reading German for me…I can read it but it takes me a little while to plow through.
The Britai looking zentradi is actually the owner of the SMS civilian battle group. If i remember his name is Mr. Bilrer….remember in the very first episode the president phoned him when the Vajra first attacked (after the military failed).
Anyways i agree heartedly! This episode harkend back to the old days. The battle choregraphy was up to par with Macross Plus, the amount of special effects used in this single episode was stunning. Mr.Kawamori-san & his team still have the magic after 25 years. The song ‘Infiniti’ wasn’t bad as well. Also the Macross Quaters has quite abit of maneuverbility compared to past Macross…it’s like a variable fighter on steroids.
btw…you must have ALOT of time on your hands to write that summary down *applause*
@Anon: Yep, the original was a bit of a contradiction too. The combat sequences and fluidity of the animation were amazing for the early 80’s, but the overall character consistency was terrible. (though arguably no worse than other shows at the time) Eyeless Max continues to haunt my dreams….
@ZI: It’s definitely not as exciting as you’re probably imagining. Picture one of those hair salons with the row of hair dryer machines that come down just over peoples hair, and middle aged women often sit under in older movies and chat about their husbands. Now picture this is if it were seperate standup showers with a screen in front of each and Ranka and Sheryl standing facing each other relaxed and chatting, but each of them incredibly of model so that it just isn’t pleasing to look at like it probably should be.
I actually had fun writing the Newspeak for a change. The boring part would have been if I just did a straight summary, though unfortunately/fortunately (for those who couldn’t make sense of any of it) it’s back to the regular ones next time. One shot deal…
@Zetatrain: There might not be that much left to spend on this portion of the series, hence episode 08. Though it looks back to normal by episode 09.
@Unentschieden: There was actually an ulterior motive as to why I wrote the article in a bizzare way just this one time and yes it doesn’t have much to do with Macross at all, but rather it’s for a reason others might have to figure out on their own. If you do some thinking about what I’ve written about this past week it shouldn’t be too hard to piece it together though. I’ll drop one hint: It’s to express what it’s like to read something about the very medium I’m communicating through.
@Gaia: Don’t worry, again this is the only one that will like this and the fact that you had trouble reading it actually confirms something for me. I hope you continue to enjoy reading my other writings despite it all.
@Other Anon: You’re frighteningly close to the reason why I chose to write the article this way and why I don’t normally as a form of expressing something. There’s a method behind my madness I assure people.
@Izumo: The Macross Quarter isn’t quite as big as the original Macross so it’s likely to have added mobility. Though it could just be older hand drawn shows tendency to show their ships sliding across space rather than moving in 360 degrees and changing direction. Also thanks for the heads up on the creepy looking Zentradi guy’s name, I feel somewhat ashamed for missing that.
Wow, thank you everyone for the feedback. It really makes my day when I see that so many people enjoy what I’ve written or thought about. I just hope I don’t end up disappointing anyone of you in the future and hopefully Macross Frontier ends up being all it can be.
Oh and in case anyone is wondering, I’ve changed my avatar again not out of spite for Ranka or anything, but to celebrate the upcoming release of a game (Ikusa Megami Zero) that will mark the 10th Anniversary more or less of the eroge maker Eushully. After that it’ll be this avatar for a week and then probably back to Ranka’s mug.
Thanks Again! 🙂
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