Macross Frontier Ep 19

Why so serious?

A rather slow episode with a recurring plot device and low budget, hitting where it hurts.

After last weeks spectacular showing, I was expecting things to slow down a bit, but damn! This episode starts off with Ranka having a sad dream about being lost as a little child and her mother trying to comfort her (we only hear her). Also, we’re shown someone who vaguely resembles Sasuke…

...Brera...

…further strengthening the notion that he is in fact Ranka’s long lost brother.

Moving along, we see a nice parade in honour of Ranka because of how she basically saved the Frontier fleet in the previous episode. Now I know that Ranka is popular and has a lot of fans but…

...this is getting creepy!

Not everyone’s at this parade though, especially not Ranka. She’s busy finding her little green pet as it mysteriously disappeared during the night. Later one we see Kathy and Ozma on a date…

...an undercover mission...

to uncover the person behind all the recent questionably mysterious military actions. But look here, even Michael and Klan are on a date…

...having a stroll down the beachfront...

…discussing the finer points of Alto’s cowardly nature when it comes to girls. Speaking of the devil, on the other side of town, we’re shown Alto sneaking into his own mansion but getting caught by his brother. And being the always considerate one that he his, Alto’s brother doesn’t waste time rubbing in the fact that Alto finally had to give in and return to his home even though he swore not to. Moments later, when Alto enters his house, we are shown a disturbing scene where Sheryl is wearing a Kimono with her back turned to Alto, and he mistakes her for his mother, who died years before.

But that's not why she's so pissed.

The reason for Sheryl’s anger is because Alto aggravates her about not singing anymore and giving into fate. He tells her that he’ll be doing flyby stunts for Ranka’s concert in the afternoon where she should come.

This is the very concert where he finally…

...confesses!!!

Not! Come now, we all know at this point that Alto doesn’t posses the cojones to confess to Ranka, let alone in such a spectacular public display! This amusing turn of events leads Ranka into thinking that Alto also loves her and that, she too, will confess her feelings for him.

Quick cut to Ozma and Kathy, we’re shown that they finally have enough evidence on Leon to prosecute his scheming little ass; only to find out that they’re too late and his plan is already …

...set in motion.

Whilst leaving the viewer in a mild shock, we cut straight to Ranka running up the stairs (of her school) after the concert, to confess to Alto, because she knows all Emo kids he will be on the roof. This is the moment when I’m getting really excited because I know what’s gonna happen. And I must say, she…

...takes it better than I expected.

So yes, a lacklustre episode compared to the previous ones where epic battles and emotions were experienced. Some scenes (like her laughing at Brera’s surprised look) were decidedly pathetic. In between the sluggish plot development, I started to notice some signs of budgetary cuts during the episode, but after the break, we were treated to some really…

...quality...

...fucking...

...animation!

And on that freaky note…