The End of the World

[Categories: Anime Reviews]

Macross Frontier end: Vajra have feelings too

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Macross Frontier]

At least, so says the closing episode of Macross Frontier. It’s a statement that sounds clichéd and absurd yet, in the context of the story at least, quite heartfelt and profound. The same can be said of the series as a whole actually: the whole affair was clichéd and absurd, yet strangely heartfelt (although saying it was profound would be stretching it a bit). I think the underlying message here is that we all share valuable bonds that link our hearts and minds, even those of supposed monsters we don’t understand. I did find the humour in the idea of the heart-melting Aimo as the cue for an intergalactic Vajra love-in to detract from its seriousness though; it’s like Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do being forever etched on my mind as the last song of the school disco when unattached males made a swift exit from the dancefloor. Kevin Costner kinda ruined that for me too, I might add.

Anyone who was praying as I was for a Gunbuster-style Ranka/Sheryl combo attack should be happy now…MANLY TEARS, people

Bear in mind that although I’m about to hit you with a Wall of Text that outlines the negatives I still really, really  enjoyed watching Frontier. I looked forward to every subsequent outing, sitting on my sofa on Sunday morning with my morning coffee and breakfast and eager to see where the story would go next. I knew I’d be fanboying shamelessly right from that early first showing of the opening episode, and also knew deep down that even if it turned out bad I’d still watch it, for no other reason that IT’S MACROSS, DAMMIT. For all this I don’t think it was everything it could have been; just because I enjoyed it more than nigh on every series of 2008 so far, that sadly doesn’t mean it was the best of the lot.

The pacing was a bit uneven for one thing. After a strong start it seemed to quickly forget what it was doing, and only focused on the story proper after the tenth episode when it fell back on the old favourite of referencing an earlier instalment (this case being the recently-reviewed Macross Zero). In a solid timeline in which events are directly linked to earlier ones this is easily forgivable: it broadens the worldview, fleshes out older characters and offers plenty for long-standing fans to enjoy. This is after all an anniversary work to celebrate a quarter of a century of Macross, of which there is much to celebrate.

I see no reason to disagree

As with Gunbuster 2, this particular sequel however falls into the trap of staying so close to its predecessor’s shadow that it ends up being compared with what went before and loses its own identity in the process: sequels to me mean continuations, not retreads. Little details like turns of phrase in the dialogue, or dropping names from an earlier series, are great but sometimes I felt as though it was too busy paying tribute to the franchise as a whole rather than standing on its own feet.

In the same way that actors playing the part of James Bond have to contend with expectations and characteristics of the role and how these affect nuances in their own performances, the characters of Macross Frontier were sometimes playing the roles of archetypes rather than stepping out as new characters. You have your gung-ho ladies’ man, your rising starlet trying to be the next Miss Macross, the grizzled captain in an awesomely retro hat who desperately wants to smoke his pipe on the bridge and the male lead who just wants to fly while the two female leads are rivals for his affection but every time I saw Wilder, I thought of Global; every time I saw Mikhail, I thought of Roy Foker; every time I saw Ranka, I thought of Minmei. Needless to say, this effect was welcome while other times it wasn’t.

All hail the captain of the Pirates of the Macross Quarter

Unlike Macross Zero, the characters of Frontier were by and large engaging and made me care about what happened to them. Whether I loved them, hated them or loved to hate them, they were just that: engaging. And memorable. Sheryl positively shone from start to finish, projecting the image of a flirtatious, spoilt diva; by the end she was a dignified character who shouldered more than I ever thought she would have to, and genuinely felt for her in a difficult situation. That is perhaps why Ranka’s return of the Sheryl Slap in the final episode didn’t carry the same amount of significance.

I mean of course that Ranka didn’t enjoy anywhere near as much character development as her elder sister/romantic rival figure; while I never bought into the RANKA RAGE hate campaign, I felt that there was a wasted opportunity there. She’s still the same likeable, well-intentioned but fundamentally naïve and immature individual she was at the beginning, which I didn’t expect from someone who is after all only sixteen, going through a time of great upheaval and finding out the truth of her forgotten childhood into the bargain. At a time of life when your hormones drag you through a mood swing every thirty seconds, twenty-five sets of twenty-five minutes didn’t leave me convinced that this teenage girl would remain virtually unchanged by the events that turned her life upside-down.

The characterisation regarding Alto also promised much but delivered slightly less: his character had plenty of untapped potential. Differences in opinion with his family regarding the course of his career, the wavering of his heart between Ranka and Sheryl, not to mention his more laconic and tsun-tsun demeanour that set him apart from the likes of Isamu and Hikaru all made his character stand out but didn’t take it far enough.

We needed more Introspective Alto moments like this

The fact that Alto was voiced by the same VA who played Tomoya in Clannad is I think significant because, aside from a similarity in hair colour, the same air of “I can’t admit to myself that I’m the good guy who deep down wants to do the right thing…” also comes through well in Alto’s character when he finally shows a bit of gumption and acts on his true feelings. The practised precision of stage acting which he uses to call in his old plane in the final battle, his confession/promise to Sheryl beforehand and resolution to rescue Ranka that finally puts paid to Grace’s plans are all highlights of Alto’s screen time; I just wish there had been more of them. Clannad wisely chose to make the normally bland male lead entertaining in his own right; a part of the Macross franchise, which ought to be used to doing such things, gave us a lead who was good but could have been great.

Before I get on with my thoughts on the ending, I must say that the art and animation varied between OAV-worthy fantastic and just plain average. The aesthetic of the show was brilliant in the opening and closing episodes but inconsistent in between: the space battles were stunning but in during the slower-paced moments the frame rates dropped, the characters’ outlines wobbled and things generally - and noticeably - lost their sparkle. I’m hoping the movie version solves this and the other minor problems since it ought to trim off the filler and consolidate the budget to the moments of character interaction and introspection as well as the sweeping and kinetic battles of Valkyrie Vs Vajra.

The ending did however pull out all the stops in every way I hoped. This was after all a fanservice show - not in the panties and cleavage sense, although there was a playfully coy camera angle every now and then - in that it knew what the fans wanted, and when crunch time came duly answered. It was the studio staff thanking us fanboys and fangirls, some of whom have been coming back for more through thick and thin for the best part of twenty-five years, and saying “You want answers? You want Yoko Kanno duet mix? You want to see the bad guys fall and true love prevail? You want to see MACROSS CANNON? Kawamori delivers!”

Admittedly, I was hoping for a more solid resolution for the infamous love triangle but if I let my imagination run…I can see a Sheryl End with an Alto-Hime who takes to the stage when he’s off-duty; Ranka using her experiences to grow up into a responsible and wonderfully talented Miss Macross who takes her beloved Ai-kun for walks in the evenings; Bobby collaborating with the Zentradi to open the first human/Zentran/Vajra shopping mall; Wilder on the bridge with his pipe on one hand and Monica at his side; a peacetime Klan leading the Pixie Squadron in a mission to de-micronise human male pilots; Ozma looking to a lifetime of happiness, safe in the knowledge that Cathy doesn’t know the recipe for pineapple salad. I could go on but my word count reads on the red side of tl;dr. This is one shameless Macross fanboy signing out for another five years, or the Frontier movie. Whatever happens, in the name of Roy Foker and everything else that’s good and right, I’ll be there. See you next deculture. ^_^

[Filed under Anime Reviews]  [Tags: Macross Frontier]

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