[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Macross Frontier 11-16: the rise and rise of Ranka Lee
The first question I ought to be answering here is, if Macross Frontier is one of my favourite shows I’m watching now, why am I not blogging about it more often? For sure, I’m enjoying it one heck of a lot but while some stuff is really enjoyable to watch that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to write about too. I don’t blog anything episode-by-episode any more either (Eve no Jikan will be an exception to this, but I don’t see it being released weekly like the TV series are) and Frontier is a good example of why: I’d just be writing really short posts that state the same things over and over.
Nuff said
It would go something like this: the aerial scenes rival those of Macross Zero (honestly), the music is only one level below that of Plus and it has a good balance of humour, dorama and intrigue. Basically, this is space opera anime of the highest order - the sort of stuff my blog lives for. As true as all that is, it pretty much goes without saying for every episode so I can’t be bothered to reiterate it every week…unless I can somehow acquire the same talent for insight and humour as Kabitzin perhaps.
At this stage in the game it appears that Ranka is doing very well for herself: she seems to be realising her ambition to be the next galactic idoru and is getting more worthwhile gigs than advertising vegetables. I’m really noticing the little details surrounding the lifestyle and daily routine of someone whose celebrity career is getting off the ground: as in the pop world of the present day, talented youngsters such as Ranka sacrifice a lot in order to make a living out of doing what they love. Considering the disruptions to their education and social lives, worries about artistic integrity in the face of industry pressures, not to mention the issue of whether celebrity status is a viable long-term career option, I often wonder why these kids bother. I suppose it takes a certain mindset to expose yourself to an emotionally and psychologically harsh environment at such a vulnerable time of life, which I guess is what makes Cheryl the person she is.
I’ve mentioned the integral importance of music in the Macross universe countless times now but Frontier, like Plus did I guess, seems to be adding a fair bit of criticism aimed at the industry itself, portraying it as very similar to the one we in the early Twenty-first century know only too well. As a friend of mine quipped the other day, “The more I learn about the music industry, the less I want to be part of it.” In fifty years time it doesn’t look as if much has changed for those who are aiming for stardom - Ranka and Cheryl have the same problems as the likes of Madonna, Amy Winehouse (maybe not quite) and Aya Hirano in our own time.
At this point in the series that love triangle thing is taking some interesting turns - as demonstrated by that sing-off with Alto as the bishie-in-the-middle there are two girls who have become rivals for his affections and the status as the next Lynn Minmei (although fortunately neither is as annoying as Minmei was). Maybe it’s the Cheryl fanboy in me speaking here, but I keenly felt her pain and disappointment at the end of episode 16 when she realised her time as the most popular artist in the charts may be over. Coinciding with Alto’s feelings of inadequacy when Brera takes the position of Ranka’s bodyguard, those feelings of redundancy were effectively conveyed on screen.
“Here I am, stuck in the middle with you…”
I’m not saying Ranka has it easy here - she’s trying to do well as an artist, while unknowingly being a pawn in the side-story that’s lurking in the background. Maybe the other reason why I’m not writing Frontier posts as often is because until recently I’ve not been paying attention to the clues being dropped about the Vajra and who’s controlling them, or why: the character drama has provided all the entertainment value I thought I needed. The issue of Ranka and Cheryl being the Galactic Fairy of the pop charts appears to be a cover for some military operation to create a Galactic Fairy of a different sort, in which fold waves are a weapon of war. I really should have been making notes about that sooner.
When I say Frontier’s OST is not on par with Plus’ I’m not taking Ranka’s own song, Aimo, into consideration. Like the classic Voices, which alerted us to Kanno’s songwriting skills in the first place, Aimo is a gorgeous piece of music; the heart-rending vocal melody gives that spine-tingling sensation that made Voices what it is for me. I absolutely love that tune and will probably wind up buying the OST on that alone (although What About My Star? and the fact that it’s YOKO FREAKIN’ KANNO will invariably help me justify the purchase).
What comes across as quite hard-hitting, for me at least, is that Grace and whoever she’s working for decided to use the fold waves that a performance of Aimo creates as a weapon - taking something as beautiful, pure and mysterious as a song like that, changing the words, then using it to kill people/things by making a civilian sing it, strikes me as downright awful. Ranka’s fear and disgust at what she was coerced into doing left me with the same feelings of shock and pity that I felt when Chise first wasted a city in Saikano…I swear that show has left me traumatised actually.
Watching the progress of Ranka’s singing career, and how it shapes the conflict with the Vajra, will no doubt have a lot of bearing on the character relations - Macross seems to take on large and serious ideas, but has so far in this case pulled them off well and left me thinking about what it’s trying to say without feeling too heavy-going. Ranka’s stricken look after that battle is prevented from turning it into another tearjerking tragedy by the countless moments of humour and small touches and in-jokes: the more I see that squishy green cellphone that plays mini-CDs by eating them for instance, the more I want one. Seriously.
The future’s bright, the future’s green…and squishy. I WANT
Posted on August 9th, 2008 @ 7:47 pm
Heh. I kind of liked Minmei because of her flaws. It was like getting mad at your own self when she made a mistake.
The Sojourners last blog post..Why The World Needs More Things Like The Olympic Games
Posted on August 9th, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
@The Sojourner: good point. The fact that Minmei was annoying is mostly down to those very ordinary flaws, which I think retains that ‘ordinaryness’ that makes the viewer want to see her do well. I’m only basing my judgement on her portrayal in Robotech and the DYRL? retelling though.
I might also retract my criticism of the OST soonish though. Aimo still makes MANLY TEARS sting my eyes but the record as a whole has just left me dumbfounded on the first listen. *_*
Posted on August 10th, 2008 @ 4:44 am
Yeah, the only things annoying about Minmay was her cousin, whom I wanted to strangle, and the fact that she sang Eurovision-reject “My boyfriend is a pilot” THIRTY TIMES AN EPISODE. Otherwise I liked her just fine.
I don’t think Sheryl’s out of the game yet. I think she’s going to have a lot to do, singing and otherwise, when the Big Stuff happens.
Posted on August 10th, 2008 @ 5:40 am
I really want the green squishy thing as well! It’s so adorable, I wish someone in the real world would hurry up and invent one! Since I’ve never understood anything military-based, I’m only interested in the relationship between Alto, Sheryl and Ranka as well. As far as I know, the Vajra are just evil creatures that are just there to make the trio (threesome)’s relationship more interesting.
Posted on August 10th, 2008 @ 8:34 am
Everyone else’s cell phone is sooo boring, though. I wonder if perhaps Ranka’s cell phone is also experimental! It would be quite the twist if it turned out that Ranka isn’t actually special… just her phone is.
Kabitzins last blog post..RD Senno Chosashitsu 06
Posted on August 10th, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
@Peter S: I have to say that Ranka’s version of that song was better.
iirc Cheryl had a troubled early life and the way that Grace brushed her aside makes me feel slightly more sorry for her. It’s not my inner Cheryl fanboy speaking there, honest! ¬_¬
@blissmo: I’m beginning to wonder if the Vajra are artificially-engineered creatures, made by the Bad Guys of the series, whoever they are. I’m finding Brera quite annoying at the moment actually, partly because I still don’t know whose side he’s on, if any.
@Kabitzin: Ai-kun seems to be connected to the Vajra in some way so perhaps the cellphone is some form of new species too. It is skilled at concealment and its communication skills are second to none…quite a dangerous critter that shouldn’t be underestimated really.
Posted on August 10th, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
Now you bring it up, the relationship between the various Macross stories and the real-life music industry is an interesting one. Plus was a quiet comment on the manufacturing of stars - an artificially intelligent idol is the logical conclusion of the trend (Hatsune Miku, anyone?), and I thought that was the more interesting side of Sharon Apple. (Before she got down to the business that occupies all threatening AIs in soft sf: wreaking serious havoc.)
Zero had music as something magical, tying humans to the natural world, and SDF had music as the ultimate form of psychological warfare. You’re quite right to pick out the use of ‘Aimo’ as a weapon as significant and saddening. I wonder if Frontier’s taking the music-as-weapon premise of SDF and saying ‘Wait, if it’s a weapon, isn’t it a tool that can be used for good or ill, like any other weapon’?
Anyway, good, thought-provoking post as always. You’re not the only one that wants one of those cellphones, I’m sure.
IKnights last blog post..Moe-Mao and a Mobile Suit
Posted on August 11th, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
I quite like your idea that Macross Frontier and Macross Plus were criticism about the music industry. Given the totality of Sheryl’s fall from the charts it really does hammer home how talent doesn’t always win out and how even a strong talent like Sheryl could not cope in the industry without Grace. Same thing with Ranka when Elmo was desperately trying to spread her gospel.
Like IKnight I agree that it’s interesting how in the first SDF music was generally a good thing in that it mellowed out the Zentradi from their warlike ways, now its quite inverted in that the Vajra are being serenaded into the path of a death ray. Now that I think about it when Ranka was looking for approval from Alto-hime about singing Grace’s Aimo it kind of highlights how little Alto-hime actually understands Ranka. For hime it was about duty, but want Ranka wanted was to be true to herself and not butcher her precious song for the purpose of exterminating bugs.
I wonder how Macross 7 fits into the musical critique thing though…
Posted on August 12th, 2008 @ 12:40 am
@IKnight: I love the way that music pervades all Macross shows, but seems to add new meanings every time. In Frontier it seems to affect fold waves somehow but we don’t even know the origins of the Vajra yet so I’m keeping an open mind on its role in this particular outing until the end. Here’s hoping Ranka ‘finds her voice’ in every sense…the end of ep #18 showed her singing again after the battle, but using ‘her’ own words instead of the lyrics Grace gave her - that was a really powerful scene.
@Crusader: speaking of my next Frontier post…poor Sheryl. Honestly, it gets worse and worse for her - there really does seem to be a bit of social commentary about the transience of fame here. Alto does seem to have a lot more sensitivity than the token hero though…which would probably make another post on its own. I can see this blog being too Frontier-centric in the coming weeks if I’m not careful, what with the OST review being in draft format already!
Point taken with Macross 7. I’ll make an effort to check it out after Frontier finishes…believe it or not, I haven’t actually seen it yet.
Posted on August 12th, 2008 @ 6:56 am
@Martin: I can picture Brera becoming a good guy because he seems to care for Ranka a lot, and is soon going to worry over her more than the mission. I dunnoes, I just get the feeling, and that he and Alto will battle it out over protecting Ranka and all. Hope so, anyway!
blissmos last blog post..The Yukan Podcast, episode 1