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silverthunder) wrote2012-09-20 10:35 am
silverthunder) wrote2012-09-20 10:35 am
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Macross Frontier and the (unresolved?) love triangle
So, I finished watching Macross Frontier a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty good - decent enough plot, and lots of mecha fighting mixed with song and stage performance. Unfortunately, my set of subs would replace what characters were saying with the translation of the singing in the background in some places, which was kind of irritating. But it still really got you pumped when you were watching the combination of a huge battle with lots of explosions and the performance of a good song.
One of the things I'd heard about this series before watching it was that it had a love triangle (one guy, two girls) which never got any kind of resolution by the end, so I guess you were supposed to just imagine the ending with whichever pairing you preferred. I read into it a bit more, and found that there was supposed to be a resolution, but it was kiboshed at the last minute so that they could squeeze that much more money from viewers in the movie remakes by billing them as "resolving the love triangle". I haven't watched the movies, but I do know which girl "wins" based on triumphant shippers gloating over it, and... well. Let's just say I wasn't surprised, because the series might as well have had a resolution in my opinion. The other half of the triangle just felt completely one-sided.
I'll start with circumstantial evidence. I've seen some of "Robotech", the English translation of the original Macross, and Frontier parallels it in a number of very obvious places. One of those is Ranka Lee. She works at a Chinese restaurant, competes in Miss Macross (granted, she doesn't win), and launches a successful singing career seemingly out of nowhere. Even her involvement in the series' first battle is so beat-you-over-the-head-with-it similar to a certain someone's in the original Macross that you just can't ignore it.
On the other hand, Alto's first meeting with Sheryl Nome, while nowhere near as dead obvious a parallel, involves him screwing up and her telling him to at least act like he knows what he's doing. She's a famous singer and not a military woman, but the relationship of bicker-bicker-tender-moment is just so very similar to a certain other one in the original Macross. I even had the same impression of both of the ladies in question in the initial episodes: "What a bitch!" This obviously changes later as the characters get some development, but still.
Unlike Frontier, the original Macross did explicitly resolve its triangle. I deliberately chose to ignore this and decided that they wouldn't take the parallel that far, because in the inital episodes, I wanted Ranka to be the winner! She was so much nicer, and seemed like a brighter choice. Alto (the hero) is kind of an ill-tempered brat, so maybe a little sunshine in his life would soften him up and provide a nice contrast.
More and more as the series went on (and I started to like Sheryl much better), I started to feel like Ranka's was a lost case. While there is some effort to keep Alto's feelings ambiguous, the glaring difference between the scenes with Sheryl and the scenes with Ranka just kept leaping out at me. With Ranka, Alto's personality felt suppressed - dulled, even - like he just couldn't fully be himself. He rarely showed any physical interest (blushes and the like), and what seemed to compel him about her was a need to protect or shelter (even from himself). On the other hand, with Sheryl, he seemed more open and their rapore felt much more natural. There was hardly any doubt of physical attraction there, and his concern for her felt less like a need to shelter or protect her than it was a genuine worry for her mental or physical well-being. It's such a subtle difference, but it felt so significant.
The scene in episode 24 kind of clinched it; it seemed pretty obvious to me that his speech about "you can't fly by yourself" was a love confession that she just wouldn't let him finish. So yeah, I don't feel like the resolution of the love triangle was all that ambiguous. It was pretty clear to me who the "winner" was going to be, even before I heard that the movie confirmed it.
Anyway, the series is really good, and I think most people would probably enjoy it, because the music and the action are pretty awesome.
I'm now about 10 episodes into an anime series called Fantastic Children, which I originally thought was a fantasy-adventure story aimed at kids. Upon watching more than the first couple of episodes, I have come to the realization that this... is most definitely not a kids' show at all. It's pretty good so far, though.
One of the things I'd heard about this series before watching it was that it had a love triangle (one guy, two girls) which never got any kind of resolution by the end, so I guess you were supposed to just imagine the ending with whichever pairing you preferred. I read into it a bit more, and found that there was supposed to be a resolution, but it was kiboshed at the last minute so that they could squeeze that much more money from viewers in the movie remakes by billing them as "resolving the love triangle". I haven't watched the movies, but I do know which girl "wins" based on triumphant shippers gloating over it, and... well. Let's just say I wasn't surprised, because the series might as well have had a resolution in my opinion. The other half of the triangle just felt completely one-sided.
I'll start with circumstantial evidence. I've seen some of "Robotech", the English translation of the original Macross, and Frontier parallels it in a number of very obvious places. One of those is Ranka Lee. She works at a Chinese restaurant, competes in Miss Macross (granted, she doesn't win), and launches a successful singing career seemingly out of nowhere. Even her involvement in the series' first battle is so beat-you-over-the-head-with-it similar to a certain someone's in the original Macross that you just can't ignore it.
On the other hand, Alto's first meeting with Sheryl Nome, while nowhere near as dead obvious a parallel, involves him screwing up and her telling him to at least act like he knows what he's doing. She's a famous singer and not a military woman, but the relationship of bicker-bicker-tender-moment is just so very similar to a certain other one in the original Macross. I even had the same impression of both of the ladies in question in the initial episodes: "What a bitch!" This obviously changes later as the characters get some development, but still.
Unlike Frontier, the original Macross did explicitly resolve its triangle. I deliberately chose to ignore this and decided that they wouldn't take the parallel that far, because in the inital episodes, I wanted Ranka to be the winner! She was so much nicer, and seemed like a brighter choice. Alto (the hero) is kind of an ill-tempered brat, so maybe a little sunshine in his life would soften him up and provide a nice contrast.
More and more as the series went on (and I started to like Sheryl much better), I started to feel like Ranka's was a lost case. While there is some effort to keep Alto's feelings ambiguous, the glaring difference between the scenes with Sheryl and the scenes with Ranka just kept leaping out at me. With Ranka, Alto's personality felt suppressed - dulled, even - like he just couldn't fully be himself. He rarely showed any physical interest (blushes and the like), and what seemed to compel him about her was a need to protect or shelter (even from himself). On the other hand, with Sheryl, he seemed more open and their rapore felt much more natural. There was hardly any doubt of physical attraction there, and his concern for her felt less like a need to shelter or protect her than it was a genuine worry for her mental or physical well-being. It's such a subtle difference, but it felt so significant.
The scene in episode 24 kind of clinched it; it seemed pretty obvious to me that his speech about "you can't fly by yourself" was a love confession that she just wouldn't let him finish. So yeah, I don't feel like the resolution of the love triangle was all that ambiguous. It was pretty clear to me who the "winner" was going to be, even before I heard that the movie confirmed it.
Anyway, the series is really good, and I think most people would probably enjoy it, because the music and the action are pretty awesome.
I'm now about 10 episodes into an anime series called Fantastic Children, which I originally thought was a fantasy-adventure story aimed at kids. Upon watching more than the first couple of episodes, I have come to the realization that this... is most definitely not a kids' show at all. It's pretty good so far, though.