Macross Frontier

2021.08.26 I'm watching Macross Frontier for the third time. I haven't seen it since 2010 and I am hoping this shit holds up because it was an anime synonymous with my own being -- I need to be banned from karaoke for only singing Macross songs (I Will Not Apologize). So I am relieved to report that Macross Frontier still fucks.

There is no way you can stop me from pronouncing this like Macross Flontier; just look at that logo.

In my last review (of Kanon 2006 btw), I linked to ANN & MAL for the summary -- not this time. They are decidedly uninformative for Macross Frontier, so instead I present to you my superior summary: Macross F follows a kabuki actor turned fighter pilot in a ~wacky~ galactic love triangle with two singers (one a dissociative amnesiac part-alien girl, the other anime Britney Spears) that BANG OUT THE FUCKEN YOKO KANNO TUNES as he's fighting in the war against giant space bugs that are also mechs, so basically it's the final season of Sonic X except good.

Today's Cast of Clowns

Only including characters I have something to say about. Eat up...

chara	Comment
	Alto The main boy-o. Kind of an asshole. His hobby is Paper Planes by MIA. He's anime. I like him and I like his name. Alto Saotome. Effervescent. A very beautiful boy, please let him fly.
	Ranka The underdog. She is cute. I really liked her in the beginning. Once her reason for singing became only for Alto... HRMMM. idk I thought she was kinda more independent than that... but I guess she is a high schooler so we gotta have that drama or maybe I just forget that people can have feelings.
	Sheryl In 2009, Sheryl Nome was my waifu amongst the likes of Bayonetta, Sheena Ringo, and the entire cast of Final Fantasy VII. She's the dude with a 'tude, her career is in shambles, she is dying of space bug disease in the brain, and she is great. Her songs are my favorite.
	Ozma This absolute bastard. I cannot believe I slept on him my first two watches. I SWORE he died but I completely forgot about the fake out. You planet dancing king.
	Michael I had no opinion at first but he grew on me. He would have been even better without...
	Klan I think I'm gonna need a whole section for this rant. Yeah, let's do that.
	Brera Another character I didn't pay much attention to back then because I'm actually an idiot. His hair is delightfully asymmetrical, so naturally I am a fan now.
	Grace The NSA agent spying on you through your webcam. She is drugging my wife.

The good stuff

• So the music is amazing. Even the background music is memorable and enjoyable. Yeah, even the one that vaguely sounds like You Raise Me Up.
• Sheryl's Iteza Gogo Kuji Don't Be Late outfit is chef's kiss.
• I like how Ranka's hair is expressive. And how it's color drastically changes hue in different lighting. Really great exaggerations going on here.
• Episode 15 is a recap episode of sorts, which should kinda be illegal, but they DID give us the iconic scene of Sheryl and Ranka basically having a Y*utuber rap battle at their boy ft. amazing lyrics such as "dollars how much fake." Really great, really fun scene.

The movies

• The concert scenes are fucken fun. More than the series'. The 3D is sometimes out of place though.
• I am here for whatever they did to Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl. They all have clearer motivations, resolve... and probably for the sake of time have more confidence earlier on.
• The movies give Sheryl the screentime she deserved, which was missing from the series. She is even more wild. Her and Ranka's friendship-rivalry is cute.
• Alto was handled so much better in the movies. He actually expresses the issues he had with his acting career and how he struggled with his identity because of it: "Am I man? Am I a woman?" We also get a scene of Alto wearing one of Sheryl's earrings and having an absolute freak out. Thank you Alto for defying gender stereotypes.
• This was actually the first time I saw movie 2 so I'm a little in shock lmao... I am a pessimist and am pretty sure most my faves just fucken RIP'd but they went out fucken blazing. Salutes sadly.

Brera defying color theory like some sort of JoJo character

The mystery

• I'm thinking the series would have benefitted were it a little longer to explain a few things...
• Michael's backstory felt rushed and I'm sad about it because I liked him in the end. Did he ever find out if there was more to his sister's death?
• If the Type-V disease Sheryl has is transmitted through bodily fluids, shouldn't Alto be in danger??? Yeah, Sheryl wouldn't let Alto near her when her finger was bleeding, but Sheryl kissed Alto on screen a few times, and off screen I swear it's implied Alto and Sheryl slammed at least twice. The transmisson extends to spitting and fucking, right? Am I losing my McMarbles???

The Obligatory rant

Alright, we gotta address the torpedo tits in the room.

I have always been very removed from the Macross fandom (Is there even a fandom? idk It's not the '80s anymore), so I have no idea how other people feel about Klan. The TLDR here is that her intentionally horny gimmick ruined an otherwise emotional scene and I will never forgive her.

I'll try to make the context worthwhile. Klan's got two forms:

• Her ~natural~ form, an alien giantess with exaggeratedly big boobs that are often in frame. I could give this a pass 'cause I get it, people wanna fuck a tall lady, and that's all well and good. HOWEVER...
• Her shrunken down "micronized" form so she can live among humans, wherein she looks like a child (to the point where Michael, her love interest, remarks that'd he'd probably go to jail if they dated) and acts like a tsundere but it's not even cute, just annoying.

Here's where this gimmick screws things up: Michael's death scene. The mf squad is on the ground, mechless, in unforeseen combat with the bugs, and for Klan to get in the giant mech suit to save the day, she's gotta get into her big form. So the boys are shootin' these bugs and Small Klan's there with her top off, because I guess she has to strip to get in the transformation pod, tits out confessing her love to Michael and even givin' him a surprise smooch IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE while he is literally gun in hand shooting down the bugs. He might as well have gotten killed then because the timing is so inappropriate. But this is anime so OK fine.

But THEN. Small Klan gets in her goin' giant pod, becomes Big Klan, and the pod's now getting shot up by these bugs, and Michael tries to protect her because he's a good guy who likes her after all (how. why.), but he gets fucken obliterated, Sheryl's beautiful Diamond Crevasse is playing in the background for this emotional scene, but I can't even cry about it because Big Klan is just there with her fat tits out while all this is going down and I can't take any of this seriously. Bummer majores.

I don't even know how to fix this. Maybe if there was an arc about how she feels about changing forms, not feeling like she's in her own body most of the time, something like that. Maybe she has to make a choice to stay in her big form to be true to herself or go small forever to live easier with her friends and the guy she loves. Maybe even throw in some more consistency with her personality -- big Klan and little Klan don't really act the same. I don't know if that's worth it though. So I'd say the movies handled Klan the best -- by having her not very involved at all.

And now that I have excommunicated myself from the fandom...

Now I've run out of captions. Something here about lions being strong despite licking each other.

So who is best girl?

• On my first watch, Ranka. Would you believe she's the reason I got into Macross. I heard Seikan Hikou and thought her voice was unique. I was rooting for her career and her to end up with Alto. I thought her feelings were true and Sheryl was just being a jealous flirt. And I thought Alto loved Ranka the most. Until...

• On my second watch, Sheryl. It had only been 2 years since I first watched Macross F, and I had already changed a lot, comparatively. At this point, I could not relate to Ranka at all. Not that I particularly related to Sheryl either, but I felt she was more serious about Alto, and that Ranka's feelings for Alto were an obsessive high schooler crush she'd get over in a year, or however that works.

• On my third watch, it's Sheryl once more. I felt Sheryl was winning Alto's affection the whole time. I do feel bad for Ranka though. Feelings are permitted once more.

Should you watch this?

• Macross Frontier is fun. It's not perfect. It's very anime. But it's a damn good time and the songs slap my flat ass. So yeah, I'd recommend this, even if you've never tried mecha. It's not super heavy on mecha, even.
• This was actually the first Macross I saw, and I think it's a good entry point. Def don't need to see the other Macrosses to understand this one. You'll miss a few references to the earlier Macrosses, but there's nothing plot important that isn't explained.
• .｡.:*☆୧(･ᴗ⌒)キラ

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