Macross general Thread

Interesting that they're tackling the "first kill" issue. That's one I don't think Macross has done before. As I understand it this is a big deal for soldiers: all their training cannot really prepare them for the first time they actually, consciously take a life. It leaves a mark on their psyche.

I said earlier that Hayate was reminding me of Basara, but he's growing less and less like him as the show goes on, and I'm happy with where his character is going.

I can't get a read on Mikumo's feelings toward Freyja. She keeps that same expression no matter what happens, which is honestly beginning to get a bit creepy. My guess, though, is that she's trying to "train" Freyja, and she's going the "tough love" route by making Freyja face her faults directly, not sugarcoating things to spare her feelings.

Messer, on the other hand, has graduated from "snob" to "total jackass". I get that he doesn't think that Hayate really has what it takes, but to just dismiss him with "You're not even worth scolding"? As squadron leader his JOB is to keep the people in his squad alive, and that means pointing out their mistakes so they can improve. He shouldn't have to be prompted to do that. Frankly, it sounds like he's just waiting for Hayate to die.

So Windermere is "scarred". Probably from their war of independence. Don't know why a person would gasp in horror upon seeing the crater though. Yeah, the purple lightning is a bit unusual, but why is it horrifying? My only guess is that it's a result of a Macross cannon firing. Guess we have to wait to find out.

edited 8th May '16 10:57:14 PM by DarkHunter

Given what Messer said he was trying to do, I assumed that he just had a good grasp of Hayate's psychology. Kid has pretty easily-pushable buttons and a major stubborn streak, so 'there's no point giving specifics, everything you do is awful' becomes an encouragement to apply yourself and learn the fundamentals rather than cruising on raw, unpolished talent.

It is exactly. He takes his own tough love approach. Mikumo and Messer are the respective aces of their teams and take different methods to train the others. Hayate understood what he was doing and admires him.

In this weeks episode of Macross Delta, hacking, cat ears, backstory, oil and water, and traps.

edited 15th May '16 6:39:23 PM by mega-dark

...yeah that about sums it up actually.

So why exactly is Walkure some sort of amazing spec-ops unit if their main duty is singing? They have people for that!

In retrospect it's surprising it took this long to get to the cat girls

Otherwise we have mounting evidence that the Windemere government is composed almost entirely of massive assholes and Makina and Reina being gay

The only reason (so far) is because their singing is able to turn the tide of the Var Syndrome by curing those affected by it.

More evidence that Windermere's aristocrats are scumbags. Lying to their own people, even their own prince. All because they've decided they're "the chosen ones".

And we now know how the Var is spread. I guess it makes sense why song energy can cure it if it's connected to Protoculture-altered water.

Also Mikumo's beginning to worry me. She doesn't seem right in the head.

EDIT: Oh hell, this revelation is retroactively shedding some light on parts of Macross 30's plot. I wonder if that game was any inspiration for this series' premise?

edited 16th May '16 12:11:38 AM by DarkHunter

in what way?

A great episode putting the Best Couple in the spotlight, but the main trio was largely useless this time.

One does wonder why both sides are using their supposed elite forces here. Why use Walkure to infiltrate a planet, why use the Aerial Knights to trap any infiltrators when you can use both much better elsewhere?

Except for the plot demands it, that is.

I think the Windermereans sincerely believe that Earth detonated that weapon. I'm betting on a third party dicking with both sides.

A big part of Macross 30 was that local Zentraedi were causing a ruckus and attacking people.

Now Zentraedi bandits being belligerent is nothing new, except that many of the attackers in Macross 30 were noted to be normally peaceful people, not the bloodthirsty warmongers one would expect. It quickly becomes apparent that their minds are being toyed with and they're being manipulated into attacking.

Now we learn that the Var Syndrome has its roots in water tainted by Protoculture ruins... which there were a LOT of on Ouroborous. Most of the battle against berserk Zentraedi took place in and around them. In several cases they were being controlled via songs as well. I'm wondering if what happened on Ouroborous wasn't a variant of the Var Syndrome... obviously they didn't have Windermerian apples there, but that chemical compound, or at least a similar one, could pop up elsewhere.

Admittedly, the symptoms on Ouroborous weren't identical. The berserk Zentraedi still retained some of their faculties and all it took to break them out of it was a good thrashing. Still, even if it wasn't specifically the Var Syndrome, that's an awful lot of similarities in the situation.

edited 16th May '16 11:48:06 AM by DarkHunter

The cat puns and the disguises were the best parts of this episode.

In this weeks episode of Macross Delta. Flash bangs fail, Freya comically misses the point, Messer has a past, GIRI GIRI AI, your face, more missile tanking, Freya sings a song from last episode, Messer might be leaving, and the sub group has a PSA. Did I miss anything?

edited 23rd May '16 6:02:59 AM by mega-dark

Keith and Messers Foe Yay continues to amuse me. This is their first meeting outside thei mechs and Keith knew it was him because of THE WIND. Even his rune stopped glowing during the fight in them once he realized Messer was partially Var'd.

Sub group's message at the end made me laugh. I'd been wondering since the translations of the songs keep shifting around.

So Messer isn't an invincible perfect soldier. Good to see him get a flaw.

The Aerial Knights continue to make me angry with their hypocritical self-righteousness. But I loved Hayate and Freyja calling them out on it. Glad to see some characters in this show are able to recognize bullshit when they see it.

I really would like to know how the Windermerean war happened. Who fired the first shots? Who deployed Fold Weaponry? We still don't know why the Windermereans hate the New UN so much. Do they have an actual reason or is it just propaganda by their ruling class to justify their conquest?

edited 23rd May '16 11:15:40 AM by DarkHunter

Not sure if linking this is okay but I find it too funny not to. I give you Earth Windermere and Fire.

edited 23rd May '16 11:27:03 AM by mega-dark

Roid is functionally the leader of Windermere, and he's a decent enough guy that I'm prepared to accept that their official narrative is the truth to the best of their knowledge. There's almost certainly a third party fucking around with both sides. Probably connected to the Var Syndrome, since that's an alien power that the Windermereans are having a real tough time controlling, and it's only a matter of time before it backfires on them.

I am happy to see that Roid (or would "Lloyd" make more sense?) is more level-headed and calm than his knights, but the fact that he's calmly using mind-control to conquer worlds makes me very disinclined to trust anything he says.

edited 23rd May '16 4:46:04 PM by DarkHunter

He's been trying to minimise that as much as possible, though, constantly looking out for the health of the frail kid who they've got doing the mind-control and urging his troops to minimise civilian casualties. He seems to be genuinely of the opinion that Var Syndrome and its delivery mechanism both suck and he hates them, but it's the only weapon available that'll let him save the cluster from the genocidal NUN interlopers - and he's not even as gung-ho about that as his troops are.

The prequel manga to Delta does have a mysterious guy in a mask. He also has a Vajra in a tube.

Current theories is he's the third side.

So...based on Delta's prequel manga, the Macross franchise now has "A CHAR"?

Also, what exactly was that PSA about? I don't think the subbed version from the stream site I usually watch from (which I cannot namedrop for legal reasons) has that PSA... (And in case that can't be answered in here, just shoot me a PM. Thanks.)

There's a sub group called GG that was doing the subs for the past 8 episodes and they would usually show up about 8 hours after it aired. This week it took them longer to sub because the song Freyja was singing was hard to translated because of the machine gun fire hense why it took longer for them. Also they like to take "creative liberties" with their subs. Like in episode .89 they translated Freyja line about Riceballs into "Thanks for the Japanese Donuts".

@mega-dark: GG, huh? Pretty notorious, those guys... IIRC, some of their subs are quite memetic.

So I take it the PSA was about why the subs took longer than usual? And here I thought it was a PSA telling the viewers to buy the DVDs/Blu-Rays since they do have English subs as well.

If the reason for the delay was because someone in the fansub team has exams, moving house, getting a medical check-up/is sick, taking a vacation to improve their mental health or taking care of some other personal issue, sure, I'll let it slide. Not being able to hear the song's lyrics because of the background machine gun fire seems trivial in comparison. (Then again, it's GG we're talking about here...)

And while on the topic of "creative liberties," I assume they're the guys who translate "Kuso" as "F**k"? Because if they are, I'm assuming that the person who uploaded it to the stream site I watch it from must have cut the PSA portion out.

Here's the PSA◊ they put at the end of the video that I watched.