Macross Frontier Manga Discussion

[Thess]

Originally Posted by sa547

Spoiler:

I think this is probably the only MF manga (and also probably within the entire franchise) that depicted child abuse, mild guro, bondage and Les Yay or two, much for shock value.

It hasn't been the first, but it's been the most wtf-random mood shift I've seen in a Macross manga.

Edit: I just noticed Brera has long, polished fingernails in the manga. Is he trying to out-girl Alto?

[sa547]

Originally Posted by Yot-chan

Haven't you seen Macross Dynamite 7?

Spoiler:

Offtopic: nope, and I've seen SDFM back in my primary school days, remembering only in bits and pieces.

[raile]

Hmm..



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Spoiler for I couldn't resist...kinda NSFW.:

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I just had to.

[Darthtabby]

I've was able to access and read one chapter of Kiss in the Galaxy a while back... it didn't really improve the impression that reading accounts of what happened in the series left. It seemed pretty cheesy and cliched and a lot of things just didn't seem right to me (I have trouble imaging Sheryl's history playing out the way it was portrayed there). The idea that one of the major influences on her was a girl who is rather reminiscent of Alto was kind of odd. Plus Sheryl didn't seem very much like Sheryl. I realise she can't have gone from street urchin to superstar over night, but a meek, shy, lacking in confidence Sheryl just doesn't seem like Sheryl. She's not cut out to be that kind of protagonist.

Though in spite of that fact I do have to admit I wouldn't mind a chance to read more. I guess trainwrecks can be pretty entertaining. :lol:

[Thess]

Sheryl becomes confident and cool after Lilith's death. It was character development. The way she shamelessly pwns the other competitors is awesome.

Her liking for Ranka comes from how she reminded her to herself in the past there. It's a plot point that is played in the story. The parallels between Grace, Sheryl, Ranka and Flora (the villain) who suffered due to misunderstandings of the Vajra.

Spoiler for ending spoilers:

Her fierce resolve to rescue Ranka was also very cool. She pretty much went head-on to rescue her without protection. She's really brave. I liked how she eventually faced her crippling fear of the Vajra and death.

I have some grippings with the manga, but I liked Sheryl's development and growth.

[Darthtabby]

As I said, I realise she can't have gone from a street urchin to being who she is in the series overnight. She must have had a lot of doubts and uncertainties along the way. But I guess what bugs me about the Sheryl I saw in that one chapter (and granted, it was only one chapter -I can't read Japanese) is that she was so meek and shy and passive. I guess maybe I've tended to see her as a bit more of a fighter -someone who learned to rely on herself because she had to. Granted, my impressions of Sheryl are kind of heavily skewed towards the TV series version of her character.

[Thess]

Sheryl looked vacant-eyed (with that blank expression) and hollow while she struggled to survive as street urchin in the TV series. She also looks quite frail in the Diamond Crevasse video clip. So there must be a progression to confident, soon to be idol Sheryl in any scenario. In the movie, it seems Alto inspires her. In the manga, it's Lilith's sacrifice.

[Darthtabby]

I'm not going to deny that there has to be a progression between the two. But something about the manga version just doesn't really seem quite right to me somehow. Perhaps I was put off by how much Sheryl in chapter one seemed to have been made to resemble a "typical" shy shoujo heroine (granted it's probably unfair for me to have that sort of impressions when shoujo isn't a genre I'm actually very familiar with).

Out out of curiosity, if you think Alto inspired the movie version and Lilith the manga one, what do you think motivated the TV series version?

[wisteria233]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

I'm not going to deny that there has to be a progression between the two. But something about the manga version just doesn't really seem quite right to me somehow. Perhaps I was put off by how much Sheryl in chapter one seemed to have been made to resemble a "typical" shy shoujo heroine (granted it's probably unfair for me to have that sort of impressions when shoujo isn't a genre I'm actually very familiar with).

Out out of curiosity, if you think Alto inspired the movie version and Lilith the manga one, what do you think motivated the TV series version?

With the tv series Sheryl it was probably Grace who worked on making her that confident.

[Darthtabby]

That makes sense, although I don't know if I'd consider that the only factor. I suspect that Sheryl really wanted to please Grace as well (Grace was the one who took her in after all), which I suspect motivated her to keep trying until she eventually succeeded (and gained the confidence which comes with success). I 've actually thought that maybe Grace would have appreciated it if Sheryl was a little less confident so that she wasn't always running off and making decisions on her own. Though then again she does seem somewhat amused by some of the things Sheryl gets up to.

[wisteria233]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

That makes sense, although I don't know if I'd consider that the only factor. I suspect that Sheryl really wanted to please Grace as well (Grace was the one who took her in after all), which I suspect motivated her to keep trying until she eventually succeeded (and gained the confidence which comes with success). I 've actually thought that maybe Grace would have appreciated it if Sheryl was a little less confident so that she wasn't always running off and making decisions on her own. Though then again she does seem somewhat amused by some of the things Sheryl gets up to.

actually after a while tv series Grace let Sheryl handle a part of her career herself so there is the possibility that Grace wanted Sheryl to have some confidence, and independence.

[karice67]

I finally sat down to read this, and...it's...completely shoujo. So much so that, IMHO, the less said about the story and most of the characterisation the better. (*sighs* I just can't really stand shoujo anymore...)

Though I do have one good thing to say about it besides the prettiness of the art: cliched though it may have been, the development of Sheryl's strength, which we don't see in the series, is a positive. Sheryl isn't quite a Mary Sue - I quite liked the depiction of her (slight) struggle with coming to accept Ranka as a rival. Oh, and the chibi Sheryl mangas at the end of volumes 2 and 3 are pretty cute.

Spoiler for the ending...:

What happens with the Vajra at the end is completely different from either the series or the movie. It involves Galaxy 6 infested with a mutated, highly poisonous form of the V-type virus - what Alto and Brera had to do was break through that ship's defenses in order to prevent it from folding to Earth where any infection would soon spread across the universe. Chance of success with Alto alone: 0%. Add Brera: marginally better. (No one else was in any position to help because they'd all taken tremendous amounts of damage in the preceding battle.)

Based on that, feel free to make what you want of the epilogue at that cliff-side church.

The interviews are kind of interesting though...

Endo Aya (vol.2 int.) said that for Sheryl, Grace is the person that she thinks of when listening to Diamond Crevasse, because Grace was a hugely important person to Sheryl. Conversely, May'n (same vol.) normally thinks of Alto whenever she sings, but apparently, for episode 20, she sung it for all the despairing people who'd lost things/people that were precious to them. Inoue Kikuko (vol.3) also assumed it was Alto, so she was surprised but happy when she read Endo-san's inverview.

Originally Posted by Thess

The one with Kawamori, Risa Ebata and mangaka Koyama Kariko:

Spoiler for size:

They talk about how the character designs have evolved (the characters were a lot shorter, and Alto was more like Luka when they first conceptualised him...), as well as about the ending of the movies. Though we've seen most of the latter comments in another interview already.

[magnuskn]

Thanks for the translations and summaries, karice!

[Tak]

Originally Posted by karice67

I finally sat down to read this, and...it's...completely shoujo. So much so that, IMHO, the less said about the story and most of the characterisation the better. (*sighs* I just can't really stand shoujo anymore...)

Sheryl help me, for I cannot believe I read through the whole thing.

- Tak

[magnuskn]

Originally Posted by Tak

Sheryl help me, for I cannot believe I read through the whole thing.

- Tak

Hey, you dress it up in Sheryl dress on occasions, I think that's the perfect attire for reading it.

I'd read it without hesitation, but then I read quite a lot of fan-fiction, too, when it's good.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Tak

Sheryl help me, for I cannot believe I read through the whole thing.

- Tak

LOL Good job finishing it!

I have no idea how I managed it myself. Was pretty tempted to skip straight to the interviews after

Spoiler for slight spoiler...:

seeing how they gave Lilith so much of (series) Alto's personality...

[Yot-chan]

Originally Posted by karice67

LOL Good job finishing it!

I have no idea how I managed it myself. Was pretty tempted to skip straight to the interviews after

Spoiler for slight spoiler...:

seeing how they gave Lilith so much of (series) Alto's personality...

I thought it was actually okay until

Spoiler for Vol. 2:

Brera shooting Sheryl with his finger laser.

Although the rocket boots in Vol. 1 had me a little worried.

But yeah...ultimately, for me, it ended up being lovely art in the service of a deeply substandard story. Especially when compared to Sayonara no Tsubasa.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Hey, you dress it up in Sheryl dress on occasions, I think that's the perfect attire for reading it.

What, holy shit, have you been peeking?

- Tak

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Yot-chan

I thought it was actually okay until

Spoiler for Vol. 2:

Brera shooting Sheryl with his finger laser.

If I hadn't known that there was just one volume left, I'd probably have stopped reading right there, methinks...

Originally Posted by Yot-chan

Especially when compared to Sayonara no Tsubasa.

I don't think there's been a BD/DVD release I've longed for more than this one! Crossing fingers that the BD won't be coupled with a game this time!

[raile]

Overall, I could have done without the crazy-curled villain.