Macross Frontier 20



Summary:
As expected, Alto just caught Sheryl to stop her from fainting, but Ranka immediately spirals into a deep depression. Ranka is feeling hurt and suicidal, and her emo waves cause all the stage-two Vajra to fly around and assault the city. Everyone races to the SMS base, but not everyone makes it. Leon makes good on his second chance to gun down President Glass, and Graces uses Force Mode to force Brera to call KITT his plane and defend the island. Sheryl slaps some sense into Ranka, but Ranka’s emo song pisses the Vajra off even worse than before.

While Sheryl stays behind to care for Nanase (who took a shot to the right eye) and comfort Elmo, Kanaria’s family, and some random people, the rest of the team heads for Battle Frontier. Klan Klein confesses to Mikhail after doubling him over with a liver shot (for a kiss). She then races to the Macronizer while Luca fixes up the Fold Wave Amp for Ranka. Unfortunately, some Vajra manage to flank Alto and Mikhail, and Mikhail gives his life defending the vulnerable Klan Klein as everyone watches helplessly.

Reaction:
From the start I thought Mikhail was going to die, but it was still painful to watch him go like that. If only he had stayed true to himself and found a dark balcony to camp, he probably would have been able to gun down all the Vajra without any danger. Poor Klan Klein had finally managed to confess and get Mikhail’s love returned, only to watch him skewered by a Vajra. It takes much longer than I thought to Macronize, otherwise Klan Klein’s plan to get the giant roll of Zentradi flypaper probably would have worked.

Ozma and Cathy made a fantastic team this time, but Cathy’s fighting skills weren’t enough to save her dad. It was funny how she tried to dump Leon before he could dump her, but technically I think Leon was the dumper in this case. I really thought that Sheryl would be able to have some effect on the Vajra, but she was only able to calm the people in the shelter. However, it was great to see Elmo there, and my hopes for a Jerry McGuire-type Elmo-Sheryl revenge team are still alive!

31 Comments

  1. Posted 8/23/2008 at 2:38 pm | Permalink

    It’s all Ranka’s fault, let her BURN!

    Sheryl! o/

  2. Diss (1)
    Posted 8/23/2008 at 2:50 pm | Permalink

    I was like “maybe he’s coming back, he just got stabbed in the chest, i’ve seen worse…oh wait he’s in space now, he’s done.”

  3. Yoo (3)
    Posted 8/23/2008 at 3:10 pm | Permalink

    It’s all Ranka’s fault

    While I can’t agree to the burning part ;P , it’s a bit disturbing to realize that this is literally true …

  4. Haesslich (54)
    Posted 8/23/2008 at 5:11 pm | Permalink

    It’s more Grace’s fault than anything else, since she apparently planned for this but didn’t tell anyone that there were Vajra aboard. Ranka not being able to SING well is, however, her issue more than anyone else’s, especially given how she admired Sheryl’s ability to sing well even when under stress of knowing loved ones were in danger (see Ep 7).

  5. Posted 8/23/2008 at 7:20 pm | Permalink

    CURSE YOU GORBY

    WHY DID YOU EATS THE PINEAPPLE SALAD

  6. T_I (60)
    Posted 8/23/2008 at 7:26 pm | Permalink

    I seriously have doubts Grace planned for this to happen.

    If a stray Vajra like Ai-kun can slip away, I assume other could do the same, undergo metamorphosis somewhere else and emerge larger.

    I agree that Ranka is indirectly responsible though. The Vajra were peaceful audience at her concert until her “emo waves” spread out.

  7. Bunny (1)
    Posted 8/23/2008 at 10:36 pm | Permalink

    Nice going Ranka. Gotta love how she wishes to die from seeing her twu luv near another girl when one character actually IS dying and two others did died. Kind of puts it into perspective how pathetic she is.

  8. Posted 8/23/2008 at 11:53 pm | Permalink

    Ranka has failed me for the last time. If she can’t pull herself together then I hope she ends up alone until she can truly learn to love some one enough to let them go if need be. I can’t believe that for Ranka that the only Alto-hime worth saving was the one who loves only her. That’s just pathetic and right now Ranka is at Shinji Ikari levels of uselessness.

    So much for Ranka taking a page for her hero Sheryl it seems that in the end Ranka is still that scared little girl from 11 years ago. She even thought of Brera while she held hime’s hand…

    At least Sheryl seems strong enough now to lose in love with out going emo on us.

    Cathy dumped Leon end of story!

  9. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 12:20 am | Permalink

    The funniest thing is that Ranka barely even knows anything about Alto. Does she really think he was making out with Sheryl? I don’t blame Ranka that much for failing to calm the Vajra, but her attitude was pretty bad this episode. I mean, Sheryl went to freaking Gallia-4 while feeling like crap to offer hope to the masses; Ranka skipped out on her special Aimo Day to look for Ai-kun. Ranka isn’t a bad person, but Sheryl is just so much more mature/reliable.

    BTW was that Nene that Mikhail was mourning in front of the SMS base? If so, the likelihood of Klan Klein dying next episode goes up even higher… poor Pixie Squadron has no luck. OTOH, she didn’t have pointed ears and I think Mikhail called her “Annie” and mentioned that non-soldier shouldn’t die in battle.

  10. Posted 8/24/2008 at 12:56 am | Permalink

    Well if you think about Ranka’s flagship song Seikan Hikou then it becomes clear. Ranka wants to know Alto-hime without talking to hime. Sadly for Ranka that’s not how things really work, but we shall see if Kawamori grants victory to the wisher or the one who actually got to know hime.

    At least in Sheryl’s case we know that her relationship with Alto-hime has improved her immensely from that haughty diva from episode 1, Ranka no so much.

  11. EvilDevil (17)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 2:38 am | Permalink

    Mikhail why did you order the pineapple salad???

  12. Hibiki (4)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 2:50 am | Permalink

    Snipers are doomed to death.. (Hint: Lockonnnnnnnnnnnn……. ><)

  13. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 2:52 am | Permalink

    Snipers only die when they forget to camp and killsteal.

  14. ayeffekay (1)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 4:27 am | Permalink

    hrmm for those who are blaming everything on ranka and saying she’s pathetic…

    do u mean u’d be totally fine if you’re about to confess your feelings to the one you love but walk in on him/her holding someone else whom u know also has feelings for him/her? would you be able to sing with real hope in your voice instead of crushed hopes + hurt?

    it’s not that ranka can’t sing well the way a pro should, it’s the emotion/waves in her voice that the vajra respond to and i’d say any normal person would find it difficult to be all cheery and hopeful when it looks like the one u love, loves someone else.

    give the girl a break!

  15. Haesslich (54)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 4:50 am | Permalink

    It’s more that she was upset about not knowing about Alto’s past… but then makes no effort to get to know him, about his likes and dislikes, and sits there expecting him to come running up to her confessing love because “she likes him and he should know that”. She doesn’t seek him out, has summoned Alto ONCE since episode 13, and is very passive and seemingly unconcerned with Alto’s welfare.

    At least Sheryl pumped Grace and others for info on Alto - and talks to him to get to know his feelings. That’s how she knew to give him the gift of flying in Gallia 4’s clear skies. She didn’t even try to find out more and understand - only assumed Alto was lacking Sheryl. She couldn’t even pull herself together in the way Sheryl did in episode 7, which she admired in her idol.

    And Grace seems to have planned to make Fromtier as Galaxy’s Vajra jive. She just didn’t plan for her toy to fail due to her childishness. Ozma reallly screwed up in his parenting to judge by how spoiled Ranka has ben acting.

  16. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 4:54 am | Permalink

    To be fair, Ozma has his hands full just staying alive most of the time.

    The reason Ranka sucked in this episode isn’t that she failed to sing with hope, but that she turned her back on all the innocent people because she thought she was having a bad day. Sheryl is dying and fainting every other episode and she still does everything she can to help Nanase and even perfect strangers.

  17. Haesslich (54)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 4:57 am | Permalink

    Ranka didn’t bother to ask, even. And Vajra hive. This page says I don’t have permission to edit what I just posted

    And he’s been staying alive fighting Vajra everyday the past 11 years? Or is paperwork and training that dangerous? He screwed up her upbringing, and now everyone will be paying for his mistakes.

  18. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 5:23 am | Permalink

    Actually this makes me wonder if Ozma was going out with Cathy after he adopted Ranka. Does that mean that he had to wait till Ranka went to bed to get Cathy in the sheets? Was Ozma constantly sneaking out to go on dates with Cathy instead of spending time with Ranka?

    This also kinda makes me wonder how old Klan Klein is supposed to be. When macronized she looks pretty *ahem* mature, but she was a child at the same time Mikhail was a child.

  19. Haesslich (54)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 5:42 am | Permalink

    I think it’s more that Ranka never learned to deal with disappointment or boys dye to Ozma being too overprotective. As for Klein, I’d expect her to be at least two or years older than Mikhaul due to her being in college while Mikhail was a sophmore un high school.

  20. Sydous (1)
    Posted 8/24/2008 at 7:01 am | Permalink

    Klan Klan and Michael were childhood friends and grew up together. She has a problem with her mi-clone that makes her look like a child. They were about the same age.

  21. FantomOmega (1)
    Posted 8/25/2008 at 12:29 am | Permalink

    ~SIGH~ that’s the LAST STRAW!
    Evey episode all I hear is her whining, whimpering and dear GOD why oh WHY doesn’t she toughen up a bit!? I mean look, the Frontier is constantly under attack, people are “dieing” everywhere and the survivors are facing “their” issues, why cant she? Anyway I Just LOVED the stupid look on her face when she said ‘no way!’ priceless. always jump to conclusions and cause indirect chaos! the whole “concept” of “love” goes WAY over that little girl’s head, I’m sure a lot of people will try to justify that the damage was not Rank’s fault BUT LOOK! even when her best friend and supporter was injured and was left with Sheryl all she did was ’space out’ as Alto pointed out NOT because of the death and carnage around OR that fact that her close friend may be dead but because her crush (for I can not believe her misguided feelings after the whole hold hand and think of her “brother” scene as anything near actual LOVE) may hug someone, sure its Sheryl that’s understandable at least confront them to be sure what their relationship really is, not run away squealing like a pig that got thrown onto a electric fence.

  22. Posted 8/25/2008 at 5:13 am | Permalink

    Ranka wanted some attention from Alto by refusing to sing initially, that was rather selfish of her but I guess that cannot be helped since she is just 15.

    I will jump off a bridge if there are kids who are mature enough to see the bigger picture when the situation is dire.

  23. x64600 (1)
    Posted 8/25/2008 at 8:42 am | Permalink

    Factoring out Mikhail from the cast and Frontier becomes even more Shojo Anime then before. I see relationship disaster ahead without guidance (Inspiration) from Mikhail for the guys of Macross Frontier.

    There is still a slim chance Mikhail makes a come back. But if the chance proves true, he may come back cyber jacked up. Ranka’s self proclaimed protector is remote piloting his Veritech out there (Empty cockpit) for whatever reason.

  24. loli (1)
    Posted 8/25/2008 at 9:21 am | Permalink

    I can’t beleive that no one noticed the vajra in Ranka’s concert they could’ve killed them right there- because the vajra were peaceful but nooo they’re to mesmorized by Ranka. Wait until they find out it was really her fault that the attak happend. :eek: Other than that I have to say Michael was one of my favourite characters from the start so I’m a bit unhappy he died. Also I think that Grace was just using sheryl to make Ranka jelous so that Ranka gets emo and the vajra’s get more violent.

  25. Shin (82)
    Posted 8/25/2008 at 10:03 am | Permalink

    Hehe, I can’t argue against Ranka’s behavior in this episode, though I might have to resort to a Chris Crocker-esque LEAVE RANKA ALONE!!!111 video if all the hate gets out of hand…. :lol:

  26. Martin (21)
    Posted 8/25/2008 at 10:43 am | Permalink

    Mikhail’s end was fantastic - I can see Roy Focker looking down on him with a proud smile, specially since protecting Klan is even more badass and heroic than snuffing it with a guitar in your hand (but only just ;) ). It was more in keeping with Focker’s demise in DRL?, although I doubt that’s of any real significance.

    I was a bit disappointed with Ranka’s behaviour here too, especially when the bitch slap X sisterly hug combo from Sheryl should have been more effective. I blame the fact that she sang the Grace Remix when the original edit is clearly infinitely superior! I’ll forgive her emo episode if she pulls herself together for the next ep, mind.

    I’m looking forward to seeing the Fold Wave Amplifier though - does it go up to 11? :hmm:

  27. Posted 8/26/2008 at 1:15 am | Permalink

    Ranka was childish but surely we can understand the fact that she is young huh? Don’t mind the fact her emo fit got so many people killed.

  28. Epi (126)
    Posted 8/27/2008 at 1:02 am | Permalink

    This is the problem when the fate of an entire fleet is based on one emotional teenager.

    I always thought that Klan, Mikhail and Alto were all the same age?

  29. Haesslich (54)
    Posted 8/27/2008 at 9:59 pm | Permalink

    Epi: No, Mikhail and Alto and Luca are roughly the same age. Klein’s in university, which is where her friend in the pharmaceutical program comes from… Theressa, I think her name was. Ranka’s a year behind, and Sheryl would be a year ahead given that she’s about a year older than Alto.

  30. Kabitzin (1521)
    Posted 9/13/2008 at 2:48 pm | Permalink

    I just realized that the Vajra aren’t angry because Ranka is emo. As I mentioned before, Vajra hate mainstream music and they attacked ferociously because Ranka has sold out!

  31. Karru (1)
    Posted 9/13/2008 at 7:10 pm | Permalink

    lol ya i can see why the Vajra hate mainstream music but i dont blame Ranka i mean i would be messed up also in her place

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  1. [...] welcoming party as Ranka is shocked that whenever she stops singing that the Vajra go hostile. Like Kabitzin was saying, clearly the Vajra are none too happy that Ranka sold out and betrayed the spirit of [...]

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