Macross Frontier - Episode 08 Discussion / Poll

[thundrakkon]

Originally Posted by Wesley84

When she's explaining the school, does 8-Course-Unit mean that everyone in the school has to take the entire curriculum, because I thought Alto transfered out of Theater and into Piloting?

I think what was being conveyed here was that the school has eight areas of specialty, where a student can specialize in 1 of those courses study. Well, at least that was my interpretation of it.

Originally Posted by Wesley84

Look out everyone! A power armored Idol is on the loose, and she's not taking prisonsers! And what "Lock" is Luca refering to?

Luca was referring to the fact that Sheryl was not locked into Sampson, hence, when she jumped off the roof, Sampson got separated from her and fell on the ground.

Macross has continued to entrench me with its story line. It is just a wonderful show. Sheryl has been warming up to me now, and I am beginning to really like the more carefree version of her (moreso than her professional attitude).

I feel sorry for Ranka, but Ranka is always so cute. I was left speechless after her carrot act in the beginning. Words cannot describe it. The song, the outfit, the dance... speechless.

The animation did not bother me at all. If you compare it to most other series, this episode's animation still blows them away.

That bow cut, dorky looking, evil bastard Leon seems to know something about the red VF and plans to hide all information about it. My bet is that he will eventually die a painful death by the end of the series.

If Sheryl is going to be a pilot, I would put her on the level of Cagalli from GS, in effect, better than grunts but not that good. Besides, Ranka's singing is probably going to be the most powerful weapon of all, blowing Vajra fleets away.

[rpgman1]

What a strange episode overall. The animation really did get the the bad end of the ugly stick. It was really odd that Ranka and Sheryl arrived at school, causing Alto much grief. I feel sorry for him actually and the attention seems to get even worst.

[SuperKnuckles]

Actually, I wish hell and eternal torment for Alto. FOR HILARITY!

And the 'bad' animation I loved especially because of the crazy Shugo-Chara style facial expressions. We need more zaniness! And serious action too..

[ani_d]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

If Sheryl is going to be a pilot, I would put her on the level of Cagalli from GS, in effect, better than grunts but not that good. Besides, Ranka's singing is probably going to be the most powerful weapon of all, blowing Vajra fleets away.

That would be nice. If only Ranka's voice doesn't invite Vajra instead of blowing them up to smithereens.

[stormy001_M1A2]

The awful art and attempting to be Full Metal Panic wannabe ruins this ep for me.

[cerrian]

Originally Posted by ani_d

That would be nice. If only Ranka's voice doesn't invite Vajra instead of blowing them up to smithereens.

Surprisingly, there has been very little development on the relationship between Ranka's voice and the Vajra. We still know next to nothing other than Ranka's voice can attract the attention of any Vajra in the local area.

There was a bit of a curve ball thrown at us in ep 7 though. I have no idea if it was the earring alone that acted as a medium for the song to travel across or if Ranka's participation played a role in it as well.

On the topic of Alto, I am getting a bit worried that his character is not being developed sufficiently. We've mostly seen his character growth in terms of his ability to pilot the VF-25, everything else has been growing at a snail's pace in comparison. We still have very little insight on what makes him tick. Who knows, it may be that I'm mistaking the rigidness of his character for 2-D character growth.

[ZODDGUTS]

Originally Posted by cerrian

On the topic of Alto, I am getting a bit worried that his character is not being developed sufficiently. We've mostly seen his character growth in terms of his ability to pilot the VF-25, everything else has been growing at a snail's pace in comparison. We still have very little insight on what makes him tick. Who knows, it may be that I'm mistaking the rigidness of his character for 2-D character growth.

Well probably get to see Alto's background when they get into what happen between him and he's family fall out.

[cry]

it seems that alto doesn't like talking about himself or his family with his friends, every information we had was from michael & luca's jokes about the hime thingy or the short encounter with his father.
sheryl and ranka talked to him about their fears or past, but alto never answered with the telling of his own story. but i suppose it's harder for men to talk about themselves??!
i think it will be easier when he'll be more confident with them.

[FlareKnight]

Anyways was a pretty tough day on Ranka. Alto really isn't there much in a supportive sense with the eyetwitch at her transfer and looking disinterested when everyone was talking outside of the main building. Though its not like he has negative intentions. Like during that phone call early in the episode. Trying to keep her from being bothered at not visiting, but instead she gets a negative feeling.

Just seems like it takes something dramatic like with Sheryl's arrival to get his attention focused in. Wonder how the friendship with Ranka and Sheryl will go. After all Sheryl does seem to have a good lead in regards to Alto and the show she was involved in by its existence got Ranka tossed aside at least for now. Life certainly is a complicated thing.

On the Sheryl side things did progress with Alto, her spreading the slave thing around and finding out about the princess nickname. At least she doesn't know where that came from yet, though you know its coming . She did create quite a frenzy though considering what happened and her run through the school.

Troublesome Leon has his own agenda out there which will make things tough eventually. Then when Ranka was probably feeling at a low point a familiar face from the previous episode shows up playing that familiar tune.

[FLCL]

just from a general overview of the situation, my money is on the fact that alto and his family had a falling out when he decided to go against the traditional family kabuki performer route and instead that of a pilot

you can quote me on that

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by cry

sheryl and ranka talked to him about their fears or past, but alto never answered with the telling of his own story. but i suppose it's harder for men to talk about themselves??!
i think it will be easier when he'll be more confident with them.

Nah, it's just Alto character. He never volunteer any information about himself and especially his past is a touchy subject.

I bet there will be an episode where Alto have to go back to the kabuki stage later on and others (especially sheryl n ranka) will see why he's nicknamed hime

[herbert]

Originally Posted by Wesley84

Spoiler for Wall of Text for Massive Damage:

Nanese's a good friend. Showing confidence in Ranka like that and being angry with Sheryl for her treatment of Alto. Too bad she let herself be put on the defensive so easily. A girl, her feelings, and the desire to be understood, Sheryl really knows how to push someone's buttons.

Spoiler:

She maybe a good friend of Ranka's, but she's definitely not a friend good for Ranka. This episode just strengthens my dislike of her. Simply put, she never makes her brain in use; her emotions get better of her from time to time.

Being so-called #1 member of Ranka Lee fanclub, does she ever attend Ranka's so-called concert? She is so confident even if Vector Promotion is so powerless in the circle, even if Ranka only has some very sorry jobs to do and she sets a goal FOR Ranka as high as dethroning Sheryl. Believing in what Ranka can do is one thing; believing in the kindness of the world is another. It's not like popularity always comes to good artists, it only comes to good artists who grasp opportunities. Does she really believe Ranka can surpass Sheryl by selling carrot? Sheryl sells music to the whole Milky Way while Ranka doesn't even sell very in Frontier.

And even on this scene, she doesn't behave in a way a REAL good friend should do. She likes or not, Sheryl's offer is a kind act and also a golden opportunity to Ranka. It's Ranka's, not her place to showing anger and not to mention turning down the offer. She is the one truely belittling Ranka by making the decision for Ranka. Having a friend standing up for you in wrong time is worse than having an enemy.

Nanase is a friend you may have fun with, but not a friend can help your problems or share your burdens. I guess Ranka knows her nature as well. That's why she always looks for Alto, not her, when she wants someone to talk about her problems.

Originally Posted by Wesley84

Spoiler for Wall of Text for Massive Damage:

It'd be nice to see her on the spot for once, but obviously Nanase's not going to be the one to do it.

Haven't we already seen it at ep3? Thinking of how easily she crushes Alto afterward, she clearly has been on a loose when she's having the unpolished verbal battle with Alto?

[D a m i e n]

Originally Posted by stormy001_M1A2

The awful art and attempting to be Full Metal Panic wannabe ruins this ep for me.

QFE. did they run out of budget already?

lame filler episode is lame.

[Smithj]

QFE. did they run out of budget already?

*Time* is the issue here. Everyone talks about "Budget this, Budget that", but I really doubt the budget is the issue here. Especially since this is Macross we're talking about; it's almost guaranteed to make some (read: a lot) money from the music alone. If they were out of budget, the *animation* would be completely static (or true QUALITY) unlike what we got this episode.

It's obvious as day another group of people worked on this; obviously one with some skill as the *animation* was quite good. Yeah this episode didn't have a lot of substance, but the scene where Ranka gets shut down while surrounded by Sheryl Nome holograms was especially nice.

Either way, the animation/art is fine next episode.

[SymphonicRain]

I don't see a problem with filler approach. It gives fans more things to be inspired to create fan made stuffs (Ranka's carrot fanart seems to be extremely popular).

Its clear that even the Macross team wanted to have fun with the series with bits of silliness (Exagerrated comical expressions, the commercial scene of the Vajras). In addition I believe it is also aimed to please the new generation of young audiences to Macross that MF managed to capture unlike the previous with light hearted episodes such as this.

To reinforce Smithj's reasoning, MacrossF is certainly not running out of animation budget but certainly time. Evangelion is an example of this where the later episodes consists of lots of still-frames scenes. Remember the infamous lift scene?

[cry]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

Nah, it's just Alto character. He never volunteer any information about himself and especially his past is a touchy subject.

I bet there will be an episode where Alto have to go back to the kabuki stage later on and others (especially sheryl n ranka) will see why he's nicknamed hime

for the first answer, that's what i supposed too in the part of my post you cut
but that's right my last supposition is not alto-ish

[ani_d]

When I saw that pretty, finesse kabuki lady in OP and found out that it was Alto, I was floored---from laughing. I can NOT imagine Alto being capable of even acting/moving like that. So just the fact that he has a touchy past, I feel for him. Noone should blame him for keeping quiet about his past and getting touchy if he's called a girl. I have the feeling he'll freely talk about that to someone later on though. We should just wait.

Since Alto's dad is a famous Kabuki performer, his family has to be rich. A pretty boy and a rich boy. How'd you like that? lol They never really showed where Alto's living before he joined SMS so I'm not sure if he ran away when he transferred to the Piloting course or still lived in his house or lived in a dorm? :| He seems to want to prove a point to his father. Is his mom even worried about him, btw? I'm curious about his little past now that you guys brought it up. Seeing him doing the Kabuki will be fun and interesting

[D a m i e n]

Originally Posted by Smithj

*Time* is the issue here. Everyone talks about "Budget this, Budget that", but I really doubt the budget is the issue here. Especially since this is Macross we're talking about; it's almost guaranteed to make some (read: a lot) money from the music alone. If they were out of budget, the *animation* would be completely static (or true QUALITY) unlike what we got this episode.

It's obvious as day another group of people worked on this; obviously one with some skill as the *animation* was quite good. Yeah this episode didn't have a lot of substance, but the scene where Ranka gets shut down while surrounded by Sheryl Nome holograms was especially nice.

Either way, the animation/art is fine next episode.

didnt they start working of it months ago? iirc we had the special eps 1 by the end of december.
are you telling me they spend their entire time sitting with their thumb up their ass the months before and after this special eps?
i though they used their time to work on the whole serie in order to avoid episode like this one.
the quality of MF is still bazillion level above the regular anime but at this level of animation it sure is unexpected

[Tabris]

Originally Posted by ani_d

Is his mom even worried about him, btw?

She's probably passed away, like every other anime mom.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by D a m i e n

didnt they start working of it months ago? iirc we had the special eps 1 by the end of december.
are you telling me they spend their entire time sitting with their thumb up their ass the months before and after this special eps?
i though they used their time to work on the whole serie in order to avoid episode like this one.
the quality of MF is still bazillion level above the regular anime but at this level of animation it sure is unexpected

You really think anime can be made in a few weeks?

It can take YEARS to plan an anime project. And to make sure everything they make is not outdated like DukeNukem Forever, the timetable is created to air each episode as close to the completion of the actual animation as possible.

Usually the anime studio only just barely make it in time for each episode, and even then they often couldn't finish the opening credits until one or two weeks after airing the debut episode. The worst case is when the screenplay wasn't even finalized, and they had to wing it.

This isn't about laziness, but general problems with any project in the world. Timetable is tight, and there is little wriggle room for emergencies.

I suppose you are confusing anime with Western habits of creating entire seasons of shows before the first episode even aired?