Ah Macross F, where to begin? One of the animes that actually inspired me to blog, and what better way to start things off than episode 15, eh? Truth be told, there was much better stuff to write about for a first ‘real’ post. Like…
…Fat Princess for the PS3 or FF XIII coming to X360 or even making fun of Nintendo’s E3 press conference; but it’s all been done to death now. So let’s move onto more important things like…
...what is Alto looking at so intently?
Ahh…
...but of course!
So the episode begins with a rather peculiar flashback. Some authoritative voices discussing the events that have passed in the previous 14 episodes. Apparently the whole thing was…….’PLANNED’! Oh, and Sheryl is a freakin’ experiment!?!11
But damn, she's one fine specimen!
And they’re gonna dump her in favour of Ranka for their…..uhh….’bright future’. I wonder what her reaction is gonna be when she finds out about all this…
Say hello to my little friends!....??
Who knows? Maybe she can pull something like that off. I mean she did have all those training sessions didn’t she? Moving along, the ever elusive Grace is back to make sure that Sheryl is taken care of (but not just yet)
Sneaky bitch!
Since almost the entire first half of this episode was a flashback of sorts, I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have enough budget to make some nice scenes. Now I know they’re gonna be dumping Sheryl but…
Jeezus they didn't have to skimp on her animation that badly!
Anyhoo, things move quickly and we’re greeted by an impromptu duet of Sheryl and Ranka. Actually, the whole ordeal was triggered after Ranka’s being covered on the news and Sheryl gets jealous, and we’re greeted with scenes such as this.
I'll let your mind wonder as to what was *really* happening there.
The cheesiness of these scenes was enough to go head to head with some of the latest Bollywood movies! Thankfully, everything comes to an abrupt halt as Sheryl starts coughing violently because shes, you know, being killed and all. Meanwhile government agents come to take Ranka to the President’s office where she finds out about her new ‘project’. Grace (see Sneaky bitch above) is the leader and Brera is her bodyguard.
Hi, I'm more beautiful than you.
Meanwhile, Alto meets Richard Bilrer.
Wait, what?!
And on that confusing note, the episode ends. I like the variation of the ending song, very pleasant. Kinda like what they did with the Ed of episode 7.
You bet your ass we will!
And hopefully the animation will be back to normal.
deculture 
Erm, I’m pretty sure many people can say that the duet sequence was the best in the whole episode, and the animation didn’t particularly drop. I would say it improved.
^^You’re correct about the animation being better. However it seemed to me that the entire time Sheryl was in the hospital, the facial features/ proportions were not animated properly (for everyone, not just her). The rest of the episode, especially the duet, was back to normal; that is to say the OVA like quality that I have come to expect from Macross F!
As for the duet itself, I just thought that the spur of the moment in between which the whole thing started seemed cheesy. I felt pretty much like Alto did at that time…..’omg please stop!’ Once again the song itself was nicely done. Such a showdown between those two had to have happened sooner or later, so it’s all good.
Btw, thanks a lot Keiichi, you’re the first official commentor on our blog! ^_^