Macross Frontier Character Discussion - Ranka Lee

[raile]

Man, when I compare Minmay and Ranka, Minmay was a much better character (and this is Minmay). In terms of character design, Minmay was a mixture of cute and hawt without hurting anyone's eyes. Ranka's design was like an overkill (green hair, fangs, loli...OH GOD). In terms of character development, we all know who still wins there. Then in music...well, Mari Ijima has much to be proud of. NakaMegu couldn't even enter the top ten. Now, Kawamori is totting NakaMegu around in hopes to soar her popularity. It's quite obvious that Kawamori spoils Ranka even more than he did with Minmay.
Ohnogi was right, Kawamori is a bad father.

[Natsuki Hyuga]

Well, actually Mari Ijima's popularity only lives as far as SDF Macross Period. As far as it goes, she didn't have the chance to enjoy the globalization like both May'n and NakaMegu do, so her popularity dies out fast. If you try to squint your eyes at her career, then you should have seen that she is generally known only because of Macross "Ai Oboete Imasu Ka".

As for NakaMegu spamming... I think it's because of her status as newbie-talented Macross singer. Too much spamming though-she should have practiced how to add flavour of emotions to her songs. Aimo, after hearing it repeatedly, just become a bland song from a beauty. Compare it with how you listen to repeated Diamond Crevasse and Voices, it really do not have a lot of hope. (Hell, even her Seikan Hikou hold more emotions even though that song is way too poppy and is in one of my hated song list were it not for the looped Kira~! Trauma macrossuki members inflicted on me. Yes, I'm looking at you, my comrades! :E)

For the Ranka hate in 2ch, I visited that place once episode 25 has ended... And well... The Ranka hate thread is full of trolling. Ummm... I cannot say anything but really, it was a surprise since 2ch was known as the loli/moe-land in general.

[raile]

My point really was that, Minmay made her VA a star in the culmination of the series/movie (even if for a short period of time) and Ranka...well, it's different.

I do notice how NakaMegu has a bland flavor in most of her songs. The only songs I liked from her were What 'bout my star @Formo and Ai Oboete Imasuka ~bless the little queen. The rest...well don't have impact.

[justavisitor]

@raile
but you got to remember the entrainment has changed a lot in the last 25 years...Gundam and Macross could start making its own franchise at those time (gundam in 1979)....now it's hard to imagine any anime has this kind of power...we simply have too many anime now to choose XD

And someone posted the clip long time ago, showing Ranka's VA sang in her own voice...and it was very different from Ranka's voice...I don't know whether Sheryl's VA could change her voice that much..but those two VA should be really talented in singing anyway...besides, the classic Ai Oboete was from a movie...maybe we can expect something like that (a great song...not saying the old songs in the series are bad) in the macross f movie??

[magnuskn]

Originally Posted by Natsuki Hyuga

For the Ranka hate in 2ch, I visited that place once episode 25 has ended... And well... The Ranka hate thread is full of trolling. Ummm... I cannot say anything but really, it was a surprise since 2ch was known as the loli/moe-land in general.

I guess even they couldn´t stand Ranka getting away with all the crap she pulled. And then not even having to grow up a bit, and getting to "pursue" ( lol ) Alto. Well, until she notices that Sheryl takes Alto home for the night, that is.

[raile]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

I guess even they couldn´t stand Ranka getting away with all the crap she pulled. And then not even having to grow up a bit, and getting to "pursue" ( lol ) Alto. Well, until she notices that Sheryl takes Alto home for the night, that is.

magnuskn, you are an inspiration for a very good fanfic. XD

[Natsuki Hyuga]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

And someone posted the clip long time ago, showing Ranka's VA sang in her own voice...and it was very different from Ranka's voice...I don't know whether Sheryl's VA could change her voice that much..but those two VA should be really talented in singing anyway...besides, the classic Ai Oboete was from a movie...maybe we can expect something like that (a great song...not saying the old songs in the series are bad) in the macross f movie??

Yes, I have heard that clip too and it was surprising to hear her, perhaps, real voice. I commented before that I would like to see her doing and train more for VA's jobs than singing-NakaMegu needs a LOT of practice to instill her emotions to songs.

She already got the voice, but has not been successful in giving in the emotions in songs. Even in the EPIC DYRL~Bless the Little Queen, I cannot say that it surpasses the emotions given in the original DYRL by Mari Ijima which left me cry for a while for some reason while watching the scene Vocally Bless The Little Queen is superior though.

[justavisitor]

Bless the little queen is in episode 24 right? I like the Ai Oboete in the ending of episode 1 (deculture version) better tho, and I don't know if they are the same?? What's the name of that Ai Oboete in the end of episode 1??

[raile]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

Bless the little queen is in episode 24 right? I like the Ai Oboete in the ending of episode 1 (deculture version) better tho, and I don't know if they are the same?? What's the name of that Ai Oboete in the end of episode 1??

I think it was Ai Oboete Imasuka ~Deculture Edition or something along those lines.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

but you got to remember the entrainment has changed a lot in the last 25 years...Gundam and Macross could start making its own franchise at those time (gundam in 1979)....now it's hard to imagine any anime has this kind of power...we simply have too many anime now to choose XD

They are certainly products of their time. The last franchise to have this kind of staying power is Evangelion, and that's almost 15 years old now. I can't imagine any of today's shows sticking around that long. A big factor in this is that the anime companies themselves aren't as interested in longevity.

Originally Posted by justavisitor

And someone posted the clip long time ago, showing Ranka's VA sang in her own voice...and it was very different from Ranka's voice...I don't know whether Sheryl's VA could change her voice that much..but those two VA should be really talented in singing anyway...

Are you talking about May'n or Endo Aya? Endo Aya has a fair bit of range beyond what she showed in Macross Frontier - her performance in Lucky Star is proof of that. She does sing, but not as Sheryl (to my knowledge anyways), and it isn't her specialty. May'n's vocal range is actually quite impressive - Diamond Crevasse is an example of a song that can be very difficult to perform for lesser singers.

[justavisitor]

Thanks...I like that version better, especially the beginning part of the song...sounds pretty peaceful, especially with the ending animation of episode 1--deculture version

Edit
@4Tran
I mean the Sheryl's VA who sings XD (I totally forgot about this) I am not saying May'n is not good, just saying Ranka's VA has to sing in Ranka's Voice, which is a different challenge (of course ppl will bring in Minmay as an example lol, but Minmay is Minmay XD)

[ickem]

I actually remember liking the voice the Nakajima Megumi used in the Deculture episode. It made me think that the writers would not go the moe-loli route with her despite her character design. The thing is that as the episodes progressed, her voice got higher, which was probably due to Kawamori wanting childish loliness in his beloved. The voice that she ended using for most of the series sounded vapid.

Alto-kuuuuun, tasukete!!

[raile]

Originally Posted by ickem

Alto-kuuuuun, tasukete!!

Goes to show NakaMegu needs more experience in VActing and singing. >_>

[Natsuki Hyuga]

Originally Posted by justavisitor

I mean the Sheryl's VA who sings XD (I totally forgot about this) I am not saying May'n is not good, just saying Ranka's VA has to sing in Ranka's Voice, which is a different challenge (of course ppl will bring in Minmay as an example lol, but Minmay is Minmay XD)

Impressive as it may be, actually her singing in Ranka's voice is what makes her songs mostly... Bland Her cutesy pitch limited her from giving on more emotions, in my honest opinion.

I will hold my judgement first until NakaMegu finally shows how she sings "Angel's Painting" from Flashback OVA. If she cannot fare well, imo, I would like her to continue her career as a VA

[justavisitor]

Well, just to clear things up, I think both Sheryl's VA (acting and singing) and Ranka's VA are good, from beginning till the end...that's my opinion of course XD

[zalem]

Megumi is definitely a lot better when she is singing normally. Her Ranka voice does sound very flat and unemotional. But at the same time the voice does suit Ranka. It's a young, innocent, untrained voice.

Here's an example of her normal singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx9jR1M7sM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QNmM8rRmrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEmFDQfCrpQ

I like her singing style in the first song more than the other two. I prefer May'n's voice but Megumi is a good singer too.

[DeX-kun]

Originally Posted by zalem

Megumi is definitely a lot better when she is singing normally. Her Ranka voice does sound very flat and unemotional. But at the same time the voice does suit Ranka. It's a young, innocent, untrained voice.

Here's an example of her normal singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTx9jR1M7sM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QNmM8rRmrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEmFDQfCrpQ

I like her singing style in the first song more than the other two. I prefer May'n's voice but Megumi is a good singer too.

To be honest I like Megumi's voice, even with her Ranka version but that is just the way I feel about it. Anato No Oto was pretty good song, as well as Ao No Ether. Of course none of her songs reached the level of Diamond Crevasse but I enjoyed all of Ranka's songs.

I get the feeling that Megumi might be singing like this in the new MF songs that are going to be featured in the movie, of course I could be wrong but let's just call it a gut feeling xD

[Swampstorm]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

The main concern I have, however, is that the show didn't acknowledge her actions as mistakes.

While the idea of poetic justice isn't alien to MF, I don't think the story sets itself up as a form of moral commentary. With the exception of Grace and Leon, none of the actions of the main cast are specifically painted as either noble or reprehensible. As such, it's left up to the imaginations of the viewers to decide what is a "mistake" and what isn't.

That being said, I don't believe that good judgement is a quality that strongly influences my enjoyment of a character. Sheryl, in particular, consistantly went against the grain in terms of how I understand decision making. These "mistakes" were part of what made her both wildly appealing and frustrating. The main reason that Sheryl's appeal always won out over her flaws for me was that she was always engaging to watch; even if the story wasn't designed to focus on her, my attention invariably did. I think that matters to the viewer is not that a character always do the right thing, but instead that they're charismatic enough that we forgive them when they don't.

An example of this can be seen by contrasting the general reaction to Grace's actions with those of Ranka, late in the series. One common point that I see raised against Ranka is about the consequences that her decisions in episodes twenty and twenty-one have on Frontier. But why doesn't Grace's deliberate plot against Frontier provoke an even larger outcry? The answer is simple: we tend to see it an ongoing part of her simple charm as the identifiable villain of the story. Ranka, however, isn't designed to be irreverantly evil; and it unfortunately comes at a point where the audience is impatiently waiting for her to intentionally do something inspirational for the story.

I think that the August interview with Ohnogi brings up an interesting observation in this regard. The problem isn't in what Ranka is, but in what we expect her to become. His analogy of "the child of a famous actor" illustrates the audience's expectations for Ranka's character, based entirely on her status as a protagonist. But while her character quickly peaks in the process of establishing her innate talent as a singer (culminating in the Galia arc), the story doesn't really seem to know how to develop her futher, and that particular storyline quickly becomes a bit stale.

If you're not fully invested in her character before that point, then it isn't surprising if she does something that sets you off, sooner or later. But again, this has much less to do with moral fibre than it does entertainment value.

[BetoJR]

Wow, Swampstorm... That was a real thought-out post. Congratulations on your rationalization - and I think you're right. However, it still ticks me off that most of the characters themselves do not acknowledge certain of Ranka's actions at the end. Sure, Grace's "just as planned" shtick (like 4Tran mentioned) can be seen as validation of at least one of her mistakes, but... that's not the only stance. And that's my problem, regarding the character.

[zalem]

Originally Posted by DeX-kun

To be honest I like Megumi's voice, even with her Ranka version but that is just the way I feel about it. Anato No Oto was pretty good song, as well as Ao No Ether. Of course none of her songs reached the level of Diamond Crevasse but I enjoyed all of Ranka's songs.

I get the feeling that Megumi might be singing like this in the new MF songs that are going to be featured in the movie, of course I could be wrong but let's just call it a gut feeling xD

Oh don't get me wrong, it's not that I think her Ranka voice is bad. It's cute and I think it suits the character. She is young and just starting out in her career, slowly gaining experience. It makes sense that she doesn't have some super awesome perfectly trained singing voice. More realistic. But I do wish there was a bit more emotion in her Ranka singing voice.

Eh, anata no oto is not a good example for me. I really hate that song. Guess it's way too cutesy for me and just not my style. Ao no ether is lovely though and of course I love Aimo (in all its various incarnations).

But not even Sheryl is perfect. I really don't like What about my star at all. It annoys me for some reason. That's the one song of hers I just can't listen to.
*runs away from fellow Sheryl fans*