Macross Frontier Ep 21 – deculture!

Didn’t see that coming…?

So, last week was one heck of an episode. Wasting no time, we’re immediately shown Leon taking advantage of the situation and taking command of the Frontier fleet (now that the President is out of the way). His first command is to detach the Battle Frontier from the main fleet, which causes some people to…

...freak out!

Back on the main fleet, we see Alto and Luca running out of the facility and Klan pissed as hell, pumped to fight, ready to…

...kick some insane Vajra ass!

In the meanwhile Luca comes up with a brilliant plan, to use Ranka as bait and then switch her out with a ‘space-collapsing-nuke’ at the last moment, thus destroying the Vajra (along with the entire Island 3) and saving the day. Obviously, Alto isn’t down with the whole bait & switch with Ranka & a nuke, but these are desperate times. Ranka decides to sing of course. And damn does she sing…

...her heart out!

Anyways, the plan works. Vajra come to her like moths to a light on a warm summer night, and they end up with the…

...same fate.

Glorious as the day’s events were, Leon decides to hold a press conference at the cemetery. Although his speech is completely devoid of any emotion, the words he speaks of human loss and it’s repercussions are true. The bastard then requests Ranka to sing a song! Ranka obviously sucker punched him (and all the haters) by announcing that…

...she won't sing anymore.

Later in the night, we see her being reunited with her special friend pet, Ai-kun. So she decides to call Alto. After the two meet up and have a heart to heart, Ranka introduces Alto to the…

...new and improved Ai-kun!

Understandably Alto completely freaks out and tries to shoot down the damn Vajra, when he’s suddenly interrupted by Ranka Brera. Instead of kicking Alto’s ass, he asks Ranka what she truly desires; which turns out to be leaving everyone apparently. On her way out, she finally confessed her love to Alto…

...for reals!

The episode ends with a new song, Azure Ether, and the new…

...ending.

This episode had a lot of emo themes going on, especially around Ranka. Thankfully this was not overdone and she and Alto got the majority of screen time. In the first half, when she decides to sing again, I’m thinking ‘oh man, not Aimo battle dub again!’ Thankfully, it was the original mix, apt for the situation too. An no matter how many times I hear the original mix, I’ll still love it, it’s just that good!

The new Ed was also nice, going well with the rather melancholic theme of this episode. Things are finally shaping up for the final arc. Let’s see what the future holds in store for us! And on that promising note…