[musouka]

Different people will have different appreciations of songs because of their own backgrounds. As someone with a singing background myself, I probably look at the Macross F music differently than you do, C.A., but it would be downright arrogant of me to dismiss your opinion and say you can't understand music because you don't sing. (BTW, the lyrics aren't really a problem for me either, but lyrics are just a conduit for the emotion of the song. I don't know Latin, but I sang plenty of songs in that language, and others.)

I like the bell-like tone of Megumi's voice, but her stuff is very simplistic on a musical level. There isn't a single song she sings (solo) in the series that I would have any trouble singing myself, and I'm long past my vocal performance days. She also has a tendency to be overpowered by the more complex songs that she shares with May'n.

All you have to do is listen to "Lion" and it's painfully obvious that the song was originally written for May'n alone. It's obvious because, if you listen, you can hear that May'n is actually interjecting emotion and playing with vibrato in her lines as she sings, where it's all Megumi can do to hit the notes square on. (It's actually a little painful to listen to her try to "reach" in places) Not only that, but May'n is holding herself back and doing what any seasoned vocalist will do when it comes to blending their voices together.

May'n's songs, on the other hand, kick my ass and back again. "Yousei" is probably THE most difficult song in the series on a technical level, and she makes it almost seem effortless. That's not even going into how high energy many of her other songs are. "Anyone" can sing a slow ballad, or a peppy pop song that stays in one register, but something like "Northern Cross"? I've tried, and it's embarrassing. There is a reason why, in emotional, climax scenes, it's more often May'n singing. Diamond Crevasse (both times!), Iteza GoGo-kuji, Northern Cross...even in the service medley, she takes on the heavy lifting with "Lion" while Megumi croons "what 'bout my star" in the background.

So, if May'n's songs are what you think of when you think of the hard hitting emotional moments and they're of a much higher caliber proficiently, why on earth would anyone be surprised when she gets the higher amount of votes? I mean, you can go on and on about how a few Japanese people mentioned that foreigners don't understand Japanese music, but somehow miss outpouring of praise for the number one pick of Diamond Crevasse? Heck, it's like taking all the jokes of "where's ninjin?" seriously.