2011-11-10, 03:19 | Link #482 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Age: 48
|
I see where you are coming from. Alto was very conflicted in those two episodes, due to Rankas departure from Frontier, building up to his rooftop speech with Klan. In the case of how that relates to his feelings for Sheryl, they are one of the two reasons why he chose to stay on Frontier, instead of running off with SMS. The other one being his acceptance of his love for and his desire to protect his home.
__________________
|
2011-11-11, 18:04 | Link #483 | |
old school actually.
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: zzzzz
Age: 34
|
Quote:
And yes, I guess it could be viewed as a soothing moment cause talk about all kind of shittery going around for both charas and confusion at its maximum at that time. That episode hit me like Alto's mindset was 'man, what the fuck (..literally btw) am I doing/will do etc.' |
|
2012-11-08, 15:18 | Link #493 |
Catholic = Cat addiction?
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: MURICA!!
|
So I came across something interesting/hilarious...
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=13681 Coincidence? You be the judge. - Tak
__________________
|
2012-11-09, 00:01 | Link #496 |
Catholic = Cat addiction?
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: MURICA!!
|
I've got more LOL...
Spoiler for Pretty Boy Alto:
And just for the heck of it... Spoiler for Said boy's love interest:
Coincidence?? This was released in 2007, mind you. - Tak
__________________
Last edited by Tak; 2012-11-09 at 00:14. |
2013-09-28, 12:03 | Link #497 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
|
The third of three blog posts defending the three leads of Frontier from their haters. This one concentrates on Alto.
http://hoshigakirari.wordpress.com/2...-alto-saotome/ |
2013-09-28, 15:30 | Link #498 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Age: 48
|
Okay, if the very first sentence of an analysis makes me go "WTF are you talking about, dude?", this already starts out bad.
"I think it’s safe to say Alto is the character getting the most hate from the fandom out of the major characters." Really? Really?!? You can't be serious. The analysis is full of bullshit like Alto always running away, something we see a lot of characters calling him out on, but not something he actually ever does in the series. It's a fundamental misconception of the character, one which crosses over onto the two characters who do the calling out (Michael and Yasaburo), but which either is something which happened before the series began or just in their preconceptions of Alto. The problem is here that those other characters have a preconceived image of whom Alto is, which does not square at all with what he actually does. The writer calls out Alto for "running away to sortie" in episode four after seeing his father, but what actually happens is that Alto, member of a mercenary organization, was called in by his superiors. There's some cogent analysis in there, but the writer swallows the misconceptions coming from Yasaburo and Michael hook, line and sinker and that is already a fundamental flaw when making an analysis of Alto as a character, which colors the rest of the analysis.
__________________
|
2013-09-30, 23:51 | Link #499 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
|
Its hard to say for sure who gets the most hate, but there are certainly plenty of people who dismiss Alto as essentially a typical dense, indecisive male romantic lead. Enough that Ghost Lightning decided to include him in his list of characters that were rehabilitated by the second movie instead of Brera. I can also remember joking at a convention that I cosplay Ozma because "I'm not pretty enough to play Alto" and having the guy I was talking to reply "Why would you want to?" (I should have told him "So I have an excuse to take pictures with cute Sheryl cosplayers" but that's another matter.)
I don't necessarily entirely agree with everything this blogger says, but I think a lot of it is worth considering. You bring up that scene where Alto gets called up by SMS. Yeah, he got called up by his superiors, but he wasn't very happy about it. But after he ran into his dad he became much more eager, because he felt he had something to prove. I think Alto honestly wants to fly and also wants to defend his home. But I wouldn't rule out the idea that he's acting and running away from problems either. If Michael and Yasaburo's remarks are so far off the mark, why do they get under his skin so much? Why does he make to angrily storm off from his meeting with Yasaburo, then stop as soon as Yasaburo says he's stuck in a role, then space out thinking about the offer later on (when he was waiting to meet Sheryl)? Heck, Alto outright states that he might have been running away in Episode 23, and that he was pretending not to notice certain things. We know he wasn't being honest about his desire to defend his home. What reason would he have to deny that if he isn't trying to avoid something? Food for thought. |
2013-10-01, 03:17 | Link #500 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Age: 48
|
Wait, what? Who is this nebulous "we" who knows that he wasn't honest about his desire to defend his home? Sorry, but I don't know where this comes from, because to me that was a crucial scene of Alto admitting to himself (and Klan) that he wanted to defend his home all along, but since he was so hung up about hating it (due to the limited sky, feeling stuck, etc), he couldn't admit this to himself and subliminated his desire to protect Frontier onto Ranka.
Michael's and Yasaburo's remarks get under his skin because he is angry that they are reading him so wrong. An important scene which proves this is when he and Temzin (that Kwamzin clone from Gallia IV) fight each other and Temzin taunts him about war being in the blood of the Zentradi. This induces flashbacks from Alto to his prior conversation with Yasaburo, with Alto finally declaring "An actor's blood, my ass. I don't give a shit about that." This is not the reaction of someone who is running away from his past, but from someone who is defying the expectations of others to comform to what they perceive him to be. Alto is angry about other people stuffing him into a box, a box he doesn't want to be in. Yes, him admitting to himself that his past as a Kabuki actor also has value is part of his character arc, but that is not a particular "running away" motivation, it is a motivation to be his own man, to be free of the constraints of expectation from his family and friends. And this combines with the other great motivation of the character, to be a protector. Yasarubo calls this Alto wearing a "hero's mask", but it is a misconception from Yasaburo, coming from his own limited viewpoint as an actor. We never see Alto pretending to be a hero (well, there's that one scene where he lies to Ranka about whom defeated that diseased Hydra, but I think that is not a scene of Alto claiming credit for his own glory, but rather about him trying to protect Ranka from that weirdo with the armblades), we never see him being arrogant about his own heroics. Alto simply nuts up as soon as he hears that he can contribute to protecting Frontier, only that he disguises that desire to himself under the cover of protecting Ranka. Lastly, that scene in episode four, where he gets called in for his final exam and then he sees his father who disapproves... yes, Alto is trying to prove his independence from his father. Once again, what has that to do with "running away"? If there is any "running away" going on with Alto, it is from his own real desires, because of his inner hang-up about Frontier. But that is not what Yasaburo or Michael are talking about. And many people who think about Alto's character only see his pretty-boy features, his Kabuki past and his behaviour with the girls and then take Yasaburo and Michael at their words and dismiss Alto as another wishy-washy harem lead. Nothing could be farther from the truth and it is a shame that a subtle and intelligent character arc like his just passes under the radar for so many people. He is my favorite male Macross character (even edging out Max, which is a feat) and I wish more people had actually understood him.
__________________
Last edited by magnuskn; 2013-10-01 at 04:01. Reason: "think", not "thing" |
|
|