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Old 2008-05-12, 14:10   Link #72
4Tran
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Distance

I'm a little surprised that Alto isn't getting more love even though he's one of the most interesting male mecha anime leads in a decade.


The only major theme in Frontier that existed in SDF Macross seems to be that of distance. For Alto, the most important relationships are with Sheryl and Ranka; and the amount of distance he has to the two characters started from different points and appears to be moving in different directions.

With Ranka, it started off with a random encounter, but upon meeting up again, they became close enough to exchange phone numbers. In this case, Alto served as her support in a way that Ozma couldn't/wouldn't fulfill. However, this closeness was shortlived as events constantly conspired to interfere with their interaction:

Alto was called away during the Miss Macross Pageant (Ozma's fault).
She called him after the fight with her brother, but Alto was stuck in the locker with Sheryl (mostly Alto's fault).
Alto tried returning her call, but she already killed her phone (mostly Ranka's fault).
She would have spoken to him at the Zentradi mall, but for the presence of Sheryl (mostly Sheryl's fault).

All of this built up distance is brought to a boiling point in episode 6 as Alto rebuffed Ranka in their only conversation since the Nyan-Nyan outing (admittedly that'd only be a couple of days ago). This doesn't mean that Alto is either ignoring Ranka or intentionally trying to deceive her. However, what he did to encourage her is the most telling thing about the way he sees her: he gave her a ticket to the Bye-Bye Sheryl concert. If it were the same Ranka we saw in episode 1, she would have been overjoyed, but she's moved on a great deal, and Alto failed to note the signals. And the main reason for that is that his mind was occupied on a totally different subject...

Alto's relationship to Sheryl is on a diametrically different path. They didn't start off on the best note, but the distance has shrunk between them to the point that they're willing to share their insecurities with one another. Given their personalities, this kind of thing doesn't come easily at all. The best illustration of the difference in approaches is to compare how Alto primped and preened before going to the Miss Macross Pageant to see Ranka, but rushed off immediately after the interview to see Sheryl. This is further emphasized by how neither speaks directly about each other, but they understand the meaning behind the words perfectly. The earring is the cherry that puts everything in perspective: not only did Alto find it for Sheryl as he promised, but he dwelled on it to the exclusion of other matters. Putting it in his cockpit just shows how much he's taken Sheryl's feelings to heart.


What I also find interesting is that there still isn't very much in the way of romance going on. The three characters still relate to each other as people first, and only peripherally as romantic partners. As a slight aside, the distance between Ranka and Sheryl is pretty interesting as well, but that's a topic for a different thread.
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