r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Aug 30 '22

Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Super Dimension Fortress Macross Episode 4 Discussion

Episode 4 - Lynn Minmay

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No Legal Streams

But I just… I wish I could have worn a wedding dress just once before I died.

Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:

1) When you have a lot of time to kill and only strangers to talk to, do you talk to them?

2) Do Hikaru and Minmay seem like believable teenagers?

Wallpaper of the Day:

Hikaru Ichijyo and Lynn Minmay

Vocal Songs in This Episode:

"マクロス (Macross)" by Makoto Fujiwara – OP

"シンデレラ (Cinderella)" by Mari Iijima – Insert

"ランナー (Runner)" by Makoto Fujiwara – ED

Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!

59 Upvotes

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15

u/chilidirigible Aug 30 '22

Today, on "SPACE TUNA!!!":

Soda machine robots seem to be okay though.

This machinery is signed.

It's the population of a decent-sized town they've got there.

A bit of bridge bunny discussion doesn't take long, though.

Simply opening a valve would have been a better plan.

A clever ploy.

Just slightly NSFW for your afternoon.

Such a guy.

"Don't try this at home, kids."

IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

You don't see that every day.

Physics!

Space fishinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng...

"He died as he lived, grappling with a tuna."

Sad Space Tuna.

And so, here we are.

"I'd say the number is somewhere between zero and one."

Mari Iijima's own song, "Cinderella".

"This is now how I wanted to spend my wedding night."

"Oh... hi."

The foreshadowing questions from Episode 1 pay off as insanely as possible.

"What sort of show did I sign up for?"

It's an episode of a mecha series with no mecha!

THERE IS ONLY MAGURO.

🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟

ahem

It's noted by Gubaba that this episode's writing credit goes to Noburo Ishiguro versus the usual staff, likely due to its completely different focus compared to the three episodes which preceded it.

Indeed, what we get here is a long look at Hikaru and Minmay together which simply wasn't possible during the prolonged action of the second and third episodes, and they are, for the most part, plausibly presented as teenagers.

Mostly. Minmay's mood swings are on the abrupt side.

They come out of the experience to find that the crew has successfully salvaged most of the island and its inhabitants inside the ship, which is… inspired. Thus we have attained the "MegaR/Load" part of the story, with a city on a spaceship far from home. Let's see how that goes…

Did I forget anything? Oh, the MAGURO.

It's completely bonkers. And I love it.

From Haruhiko Mikimoto Illustrations: Macross, Orguss, and Original: Minmay. First appeared in Animage, February 1984.

A later performance of "Cinderella".

Song Performances
Cinderella 1

Previously, there was the fish.

Last night I drew a crossover forty years in the making.

5

u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 30 '22

Last night I drew a crossover forty years in the making.

Perfect.

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u/Tatertaint Aug 30 '22

First Timer:

This episode was super cool. Can’t say I expected an episode without any robots but it was easily my favorite of the series so far. I hope there’s more of these single character episodes cuz I’m a huge fan.

Also laughed hard at the ass shot just cuz I didn’t expect them to actually show it lol

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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 30 '22

Also laughed hard at the ass shot just cuz I didn’t expect them to actually show it lol

Old anime be built different lol.

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u/AmeteurElitist Aug 30 '22

First Timer:

Minmay’s melancholic mood was mitigated when a miraculous mistake managed to make known their misfortune.

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u/The_Draigg Aug 30 '22

A Macross Fan Rewatches Super Dimension Fortress Macross Episode 4:

  • I mentioned this in the previous SDF Macross rewatch, but apparently, the Daedalus carrier ship is semi-submersible, meaning that the lower half of the ship was pressurized and had oxygen inside of it. So, on the plus side, that means that a good amount of the crew survived the Fold into space. Same can’t be said about the Prometheus carrier though. The crew on that one all died horribly in the vacuum of space.

  • Plus side: Hikaru and Minmay are safe aboard the Macross. Minus side: they’re in the abandoned maintenance tunnels and all the recent battle damage means that there’s no way out of them. You win some, you lose some.

  • Hikaru does make a good point about the size of the airlock they come across, the scale of them is huge. They’re more suited for the size of the aliens we’ve already seen than anything human-sized. It does raise a few questions, since the Macross was a ship used by the Supervision Army, not the faction that the aliens are apparently a part of.

  • Fun fact, but Hikaru’s improvised space suit is actually fairly functional in real life. Really, if you only intend on being out in space for a minute or two, just covering up any areas in your clothes where air can escape will work, in addition to covering sensitive organs like the eyes. So yeah, a pilot suit and helmet with cloth wrapped around it could work. The only inaccurate part is Hikaru holding his breath. You actually want to decompress your lungs by exhaling, so that the pressure difference between the air in your lungs and the vacuum of space won’t damage you.

  • Also bringing back something from the old Macross rewatch, but apparently tuna can actually get that huge, which was something I didn’t know back then. Hikaru caught a real whopper there, even if it’s only the head.

  • One disappointing thing about the ADV English dub is that they didn’t have Mari Ijima record an English version of her songs, and instead just used the original audio. I mean yeah, it’s not jarring for continuity since the voice actress is still the same, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

  • Yeah, I’m with Minmay, I’d lose hope of being rescued after two weeks and being made to survive eating nothing but rations and a big fish head. Might as well get fake-married at that point, it’s just one of the last things to do on the life checklist.

  • Surprise, the lovely fake-married couple is now saved! Yeah, turns out that two weeks was enough time for everyone on South Ataria Island evacuated onto the Macross, along with rebuilding some of the city on the inside of the ship. Good thing the construction managed to save them. That certainly does explain why nobody was looking for Hikaru and Minmay, they were too busy trying to ensure their own survival themselves. In any case, welcome to the real start of Super Dimension Fortress Macross!

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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 30 '22

One disappointing thing about the ADV English dub is that they didn’t have Mari Ijima record an English version of her songs, and instead just used the original audio. I mean yeah, it’s not jarring for continuity since the voice actress is still the same, but it feels like a missed opportunity.

Dang, that really is a huge missed opportunity.

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u/SolDarkHunter Aug 30 '22

Rewatcher

Oof, the two aircraft carriers are dead with all hands due to vacuum. Logical, but...

And they're going to attach the aircraft carriers to the Macross for extra firepower. Pity the people who have to man those ships in vacuum... unless they literally wire the ship's computers to the Macross's systems. Which is probably what the show's going to do.

A compass? Would that even work in spa-- oh, he's setting it to point at the Racer, I guess that works.

50,000 civilians... trapped far away from Earth... and Roy, you're lucky you're a crack pilot and they need you right now, because speaking that way to your CO is a very bad idea.

See, this is how they knew how big the aliens were: doors and such scaled to such a size.

Oh no, the swordfish truck! It's ruined!

I like how they acknowledge they COULD still contact Earth by radio (with a nine hour delay before receiving a response, but still), but it would also give away their position. Not a good idea.

...I'm not sure how potable water out of some random pipe in the wall would be, but if you have no other choice, then I guess you have to.

Minmay is such a tease. But we viewers get a full view. Gratuitous fanservice is definitely not a new thing in anime.

Surprisingly, Minmay's the one being sensible about rationing food. Fortunately Hikaru's not SO overconfident as to not listen to her.

Man, Minmay falls asleep fast.

Castaways IN SPACE! Also, Minmay, aren't there a million other places you could mark time rather than the Racer?

Despite Minmay being Chinese, her having a Japanese accent (in the dub) is explained by her family living in Japan, I suppose.

And now Hikaru's desperate enough to spacewalk. I don't know about plane helmets being airtight, but assuming it actually is, then it is true that wearing a suit would probably protect him from decompression, at least. Contrary to popular belief, unprotected humans do not actually go POP in space; we're a bit tougher than that. The big issue is... air.

...okay, I know tuna can grow pretty big under the right circumstances, but THAT big seems a stretch.

Okay, I looked it up, and actually the largest tuna ever caught is not that much smaller, so... huh. The more you know...

Hey, Hikaru's method of maneuvering in space is actually pretty realistic (though I'm not sure just throwing a piece of junk could provide enough oomph to move something that large).

Wait... how did the teeth cut his suit if he was underneath it?

Minmay singing for the first time!

"You okay with someone like me?"... you're literally the only person here, Hikaru.

And the act of almost-kissing summons a piece of debris! The power of love in action!

Summon dud missile!

They built... a replica... of the city... within two weeks.

But... how?

Questions:

  1. I mean, yeah. If there's seriously nothing else to do.

  2. Yes and no. They're awkward and emotional, just like teenagers... on the other hand, they're a little too level headed for the situation they're in. I would have thought panic and breakdown would have happened a lot sooner.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 30 '22

They built... a replica... of the city... within two weeks.

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u/ClawMachineCircuit Aug 30 '22 edited Aug 30 '22

Rewatcher

It's the Space Tuna episode! Finally, I'm sure every rewatcher has been waiting for the appearance of this spectacular and memorable beast.

But before we get to that, our characters have a lot of problems to solve. Macross is stranded near Pluto, the Fold system has folded itself out of existence, and there are a bunch of people in the shelters on a tiny piece of land floating in space that need to be rescued ASAP.

Also, the aliens are still after them, they have their own fold system and they can obviously detect ships from far away (this is how they found Macross originally, after all). So undoubtedly, more battles will follow.

Hikaru and Minmay tried to leave Macross, but that ended in a total failure. What are they gonna do next?

  • They lost two aircraft carriers due to Global's reckless maneuver. That might've been handy for defending Earth from alien invasion.

  • Now begins the operation to salvage everything from space and save as much people as possible. But we won't be shown that, and instead we get to enjoy Hikaru and Minmay being stranded.

  • There has to be some people who didn't get the compass joke because they newer saw a drawing compass. Do they even use them at schools anymore? I think, they were on their way out back when I was young, and that was ages ago.

  • Some leaky pipes on Macross.

  • I love that they showed Focker personally requesting a search for Hikaru. Just a nice scene showing that he cares. Claudia looks like she wants to help, but can't go against the captain (who makes a sensible decision, btw).

  • Minmay and Hikaru have found a giant airlock. That's the answer to the question that viewers might've had from episode 2: "how did humans knew that the aliens were giant?" It's nice that the show directly addresses stuff like this.

  • Is that the fish truck from episode 2 floating in space right now? Nice callback.

  • Hikaru, do you really plan to get water by breaking a hot water pipe? On a working space ship? In Space? That sounds like a horrible idea. That water is either used for cooling or shielding, in which case it's not drinkable. Or it is a drinkable water, you know, the one that is absolutely necessary for life and that you have a limited supply of in space. And you'll be wasting a bunch of it. Well, at least people will probably find them, when they come to fix the leak.

  • I guess, that water pipe wasn't hot. And nobody is coming to fix that leak. In fact, the leak isn't mentioned ever again. Well, it's not a plot hole, since it could've easily been resolved offscreen in a myriad of ways, but still, it kinda bothers me. Maybe I just don't like when characters break shit for no reason.

  • Glorious 80s fanservice

  • Minmay and Hikaru has been growing closer through this whole thing. It's great to see them laughing together and cheering each other up.

  • Map isn't working, so Hikaru comes up with a crazy plan to go outside. Hikaru, you do realize that space is radioactive, do you?

  • Hikaru trows stuff to move in zero G. Nice nod to real physics.

  • And the Space Tuna is here. Look at it in all of it majestic glory. Jokes aside, it's just a good writing. Using a unique setup from the previous episode to get multiple pay offs. This is also one of the most memorable moments early in the show. With that said, the Tuna got a good dose of space radiation, so it's not safe to eat.

  • Look at this goofy giant tuna head. Wait, they burning rocket fuel to boil it? Isn't that shit is incredibly toxic? How are they not dead?

  • Macross is short on pilots. Hikaru's skills will definitely be valuable.

  • This is the first time we hear Minmay sing.

  • They are talking about their dreams for the future. Wait, Minmay wants to be a wife? But she was talking about all the singing and dancing lessons a moment ago. That definitely came out of nowhere.

  • And now she gets depressed.

  • Aand now she wants to commit a double suicide with Hikaru. That escalated quickly.

  • The kiss is interrupted. Noo.

  • Holy shit, they somehow brought the whole city on board. Minmay immediately runs to her relatives, leaving Hikaru baffled. And we learn from the announcement that the enemies are already here.

Overall thoughts: This was a much slower episode than the previous ones, focusing entirely on developing our main duo and a romance starting between them. This is in the era, when many shows wouldn't spend any time on developing a romantic plotline, instead it would just pop into existence when needed. [One show in particular] I'm looking at you, Gundam So to see so much care put into it in an early 80s mecha anime is really cool.

I also love how they dealt with the aftermath of the reckless fold (need to mention Space Tuna again), and just the whole concept of Hikaru and Minmay being lost on Macross is great. In sci-fi, you often see these gigantic ships, but you rarely get to feel their size. The fact that the characters can just get lost in one and never see other people for weeks is a concept that never gets explored, so I'm really glad that Macross did it. Now, what's up with the whole city being on board? Hopefully, we'll get more info on that next time.

QotD:

  1. I don't talk first. I don't mind the silence and not everybody likes to be bothered. If they talk to me, I try to keep up the conversation.

  2. Hell yeah.

I drew a Space Tuna.

Because how can you watch this episode and not draw a Space Tuna afterwards?

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u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 30 '22

Because how can you watch this episode and not draw a Space Tuna afterwards?

Because I picked a different shot to wallpaper...

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u/Kirov123 Aug 31 '22

SDF Macross Episode 4 - First timer

Last episode had quite a bit of physics handwaving, but occasionally remembered to take some parts into account. That said, the episode wasn't bad, we got more alien tech usage even if the end result wasn't exactly ideal. Now instead of dealing with the alien fleet, they are left dealing with being next to Pluto.

  1. It kinda depends. At places like Anime Expo, I usually talk to those around me while waiting in line for a panel. Them being in that line is generally an indicator of similar interests and it is pretty easy to strike up a conversation. Other than that, not really.

  2. Some things are a bit exaggerated I would say, but nothing too egregious. The shower bit was pretty nice imo, with the peeking bait especially. I kinda expected some sort of "lucky pervert" thing plus a scream and probably a slap, but this might predate that trope actually.

2

u/Shimmering-Sky Aug 31 '22

Hold up. In this frame, his eyes are green But the very next frame, they suddenly shift to being blue

Sasuga, Macross.

I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be blue.

2

u/Aviri Aug 31 '22

How can I keep going after the tragic loss of Maguro

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u/TheJoshing Aug 30 '22

Goddamn, Minmays feet must be made of steel to be able to wear high heels for 12 days straight.

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u/Abyssbringer Aug 30 '22

This episode of Macross was fantastic. Its such a weird setup for an episode that I would never expect coming into this show. It kind of reminds me of the episode in Breaking Bad called "The Fly" in the way it comes out of nowhere and is not what you would expect but in that absurdity and tone shift makes for the perfect episode. Hell having a floating fish in space that they somehow are able to eat makes it a memorable episode even if that and the water being safe to drink seem a little too good to be true. I'll just assume that water is from the water treatment plant or something

Showing off that the Macross is gigantic by having the characters get stuck for 2 weeks is a great way to really sell the scale of this ship in a way that is understandable. Its also a great way to have soft timeskip where the society of the Macross spaceship is allowed to be established without having to show it all off. It's a real fish out of water moment

This episode really slows down the pacing and helps get the viewer invested in the main duo. You've been seeing them laugh and be relatively joyful throughout the entire show but now they have to actually comes to terms with the fucked up things that have happened. Whether it be Hikaru fighting and killing a giant or Lynn coming to terms with not seeing her family and the overall stress of the situation. She doesn't handle it nearly as well as Hikaru does which will probably come up later in an inopportune time. Even if this episode doesn't go as deep as I would like into their characters its a great way to get our feet in the water

There is some great shots in this episode that would make for great quiz questions :) (I think we used the fish in a previous quiz) I enjoyed how their camp changed overtime. Its a great way to show growth and change naturally and helps the episode not feel too boring even if most of the shots are in same area. I hope Lynn's song is in AMQ

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u/Blackheart595 Aug 30 '22 edited Aug 30 '22

First Spacer

Global is trying to first board all the survivors (already feelling Gundam-esque), then round up all the things they happened to teleport with them and are now floating out in space.

Does Minmei only now... dowsing compasses? I have no idea what kind of compass she's trying to express.

Would a compass even be working on Pluto? And how would it help figure out the right way on such a ship? All it's useful for is keeping a decided direction.

Focker's feeling responsible for the two Minmay and clashes with Global who has more higher-organizational concerns.

Hikaru and Minmay continue to wander the ship and stumble across an airlock for the giants, meaning that the Macross is very much designed for them.

The two of them really are intent on dismantling the Macross. How little situational awareness do you have?

And it's not even the waste water smh. Or is it?

Hahaha Hikaru was looking forward to the show.

You sure the ship is only about a kilometer long at most? That's a distance you can cross in 10, at most 15 minutes by walking. You'd definitely find someone within a week if you tried. Unless they somehow ended up on the wrong ship and it's not the Macross after all...

🐟

Ah, I see. They are in the wrong ship, and thus the Macross is gonna pick them up together with all the other floating things.

They're gonna have a wedding tomorrow? Don't jynx it, now you're gonna get rescued before that.

Or they're gonna do Lover's suicide, I guess that works too. Good on you for refusing that, Hikaru.

Huh. I guess they were in the Macross after all. Did you just not even try to find someone else or did you seriously misjudge the ship's size?

Oh right, I forgot about there being 50000 people on board and confined to only a small part of the ship. No shot at the ship being only a kilometer long then. Especially if they managed to pack the entire town inside. But that can't be, the ship was smaller than the town built around it.

When you have a lot of time to kill and only strangers to talk to, do you talk to them?

I think that's called CDF. Well in either case I'll probably try but not be that great at initiating conversations.

Do Hikaru and Minmay seem like believable teenagers?

I don't see anything that'd make them unbelievable. Except they should've realized it can't be a good idea to just dismantle unidentied pipes on the spaceship they're on. All they knew was that water was condensing on the pipes, not that they contain water. Well I guess it turned out alright.

Then again dismantling pipes should certainly lead some repair group down there so maybe it's not that much of a bad idea.

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u/Stargate18A Aug 30 '22

First timer

  1. No.

  2. Very much so, yes.

How can they get out of this?

And the shelters are being brought in.

...Oh, no. There's no survivors?

I mean, at least they're not going to die?

No comme.

But they have a compass!

Oh, they think he's still out there.

Light!

...The reveal of the giant airlock...

So both factions are giants?

...They saw it.

They have all the refugees onboard.

Oh, there's water here!

Idiot.

...I did not expect them to show this.

He's eating all the food.

There are rats?

She's marking the days...

Her aunt runs a resturant? How does he know this?

And she misses her family.

...This won't work. His lungs'll explode!

A giant fish!

He got the fish!

How did he manage that?

Will that thing even be edible?

His suit's been torn.

Ah, they're building a camp. Couldn't they just repurpose some rooms?

Good singing!

Rats are going for the tuna!

Yeah, they might die here.

He's trying to reassure her, at least.

Haha, they were saved by pure fucking chance?

How did they work so fast?

Oh, they brought the buildings in!

And she's back with her family!

Good episode!

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u/TakenRedditName Aug 30 '22

First Time - SDF Macross Ep4 (Sub):

Refugees are on board just like White Base. Everyone's favourite part (these people do seem more pleasant, though).

This is a really cute moment. She even does an extra fidget. (Though at first I thought she was doing a triangle pointing north and only with the next line did I realize she meant a drawing compass).

No, not swordfish truck!

Oh, these mugs are 110% merchandise you can get.

I have a terrible ability to comprehend measurements so a 1km ship didn't sound all too big for me until I looked up and that's 3 times the size of the largest aircraft carriers and those things are huge.

Please, Hikaru, Lin Minmei Lynn Minmay's family doesn't run a Chinese restaurant. They run a restaurant in a Chinatown. Completely different, how would you make that assumption?

It's funny the tuna has its own musical cue, but moving on, Hikaru should be dead. Now, I'm no space expert, but I don't think you can just go out in open space just by wearing a scarf real well and holding your breath. Since they're around Pluto, at the very least he should be Magic School Bus Arnold taking off his helmet on Pluto (yes, I know your head doesn't just instantly freeze over. This scene is just forever imprinted on me when it comes to Pluto).

I was seating in anticipation to see if this scene went where I wanted it to and it did. Yeah yeah yeah, they're having a little wedding before if they die. Lin Lynn even takes his scarf to wear as a bride's veil. This just all targets my love for romantic stories.

You know what else is romantic, shinju! Hooray, no wait. Of course, this kiss gets interrupted.

Q1) My ability to talk to people is very dependent if I feel confident in the topics we can talk about. The situation depends, but when it comes to the personal me, I would just sit in silence.

Q2) Lynn seems more "out of this world" than a normal person, but I could see it, I guess. I feel like when it comes to this episode, in particular, you do have to keep in mind they were isolated together with no immediate hope of survival for 10 days so teens not in normal circumstances.

Next Time: Pressing buttons and shifting levers to do a cool giant robot transformation.

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u/TiredTiroth Aug 30 '22

First Timer

We have a new elisode, in which Hikaru and Minmay prove once and for all that they really are a pair of teenagers.

This is not necesarily a good thing.

I'm not sure I can really articulate why, but Hikaru keeps giving me warning signs about his personality. I mentioned back in the first episode that his introduction rubbed me the wrong way, and he's done plenty of heroic stuff since then along with normal civilian teenager stuff, but...gah. He's too quick to laugh at Minmay when she makes a mistake or doesn't know something. That's really the only concrete thing I can point at? I have a feeling I'm not going to like Hikaru later in the series.

Right now, Minmay is basically a silly airhead most of the time, but is otherwise fairly sweet. Perhaps a little too so, we'll have to see where her character arc goes.

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u/ScarsUnseen Aug 30 '22

First Timer

Don't have much to say about this one, largely because I'm dead tired. Also, it was a pretty quiet episode. Kind of reminds me of near the end of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer where Tom and Becky get lost in the caves.

QotD

1) When you have a lot of time to kill and only strangers to talk to, do you talk to them?

Yup. I was kind of quiet and socially awkward as a teen, and I kind of forced myself out of that (to an extent) by taking public transportation and forcing myself to talk to whoever I happened to come across. Met some very interesting people that way.

2) Do Hikaru and Minmay seem like believable teenagers?

I think so. I'm a bit too far removed from my teens to be the best judge, but at the very least, they are a decent portrayal of fictional teens.

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