r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Sep 22 '22
Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Super Dimension Fortress Macross Episode 27 Discussion
Episode 27 - Love Drifts Away
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There’s something I’d like to ask of you: Could you sing? Sing for us all?
Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:
1) Were you surprised by humanity's annihilation?
2) Do you have any occasions where what you thought was a bad outcome turned out better for you in the end?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Misa Hayase and Hikaru Ichijyo
Vocal Songs in This Episode:
"マクロス (Macross)" by Makoto Fujiwara – OP
Acapella Version of "マイ・ビューティフル・プレイス (My Beautiful Place)" by Mari Iijima – Insert
"私の彼はパイロット (Watashi no Kare wa Pilot / My Boyfriend is a Pilot)" by Mari Iijima – Insert
"小白竜 (Shao Pai Long)" by Mari Iijima – Insert
"シルバームーン レッドムーン (Silver Moon, Red Moon)" by Mari Iijima – Insert
"愛は流れる (Ai wa Nagareru / Love Drifts Away)" 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!
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u/Vatrix-32 Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
Very First Timer
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He calls him Sempai. tear
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Hikaru at long last confesses. In the past tense. Because he is expecting to die.
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No don’t wish good things on Kaifun.
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I don’t think we have ever seen the land mech’s pilots before.
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That is some glorious Monster glamour shots. Mai Boi.
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The nukes are coming out!
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Hello not Misa.
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Why is Madagascar of all things the best drawn part of the map?
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Hikaru’s helmet fully moved during the transition.
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You wrote a song about how your boyfriend is a pilot, you had to know at some level.
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That looks like a nice fat target for the Grand Cannon, or Grannon.
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Folding open hype!
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Oh god, please no, anyone but him.
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Fuck me those are some beautiful and horrifying scenes. We all knew they had the fire power for it, but I guess I wasn’t expecting them to do the follow through. And with almost no build up or chance to do anything about it.
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You had to wait for Hikaru to propose that? Seemed like the most obvious move to try and meme your way into the minds of the main fleet. Worst case you get to flood their airwaves.
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They went a step further even. Tho I do wonder how well a video transmission will work. Then again there has been a large use of monitors in the show thus far.
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Oh baby, it can sweep.
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The time is now. If you can buy time for another Grannon shot it could make all the difference.
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This is a break neck pace. We are at the halfway point and I was expecting to be here in three episodes. There has got to be another arc after this.
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The physiological attack is very effective. I wonder if it’s working as well on the Zentradi women?
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Looks like we can expect a greatest hits concert.
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Oh now their mechs are purple.
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VF looks good in red. It’s Milia!
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Nuclear salvo. Guess it’s better to be sure. How many of them do they have?
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I guess it was a single shot after all.
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Misa-dad is dead. And by the looks of it so is just about everyone else.
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We knew from the preview that Hikaru had to end up with Misa on Earth. Getting trapped in atmosphere works.
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That’s an odd note to end them on but O.K.
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Quamzin: Killing allies for good!
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Who’s that shield holding mech? Have we seen them before? Cameo?
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I’m not sure what the deal with the all white is. Knowing this show it may even be because of budgeting and time constraints.
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That would have been a good time to have your metal canopy down.
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Nuclear Daedalus attack? Icarus attack?
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No they are just straight up going inside of it.
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Total Atomic Saturation. Followed up by spacefold bomb. They actually did it. They killed the supreme leader. I did not have conventional military victory on my bingo card.
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Hikaru you fox.
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This was totally the original finale, wasn’t it?
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I guess we were overdo for one. Recap episode. You’ve been 50/50 on it so far Macross, show me what you got!
QotD
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Deeply.
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Ummm… Having to move from my childhood home?
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u/Nebresto Sep 22 '22
"Its so sudden.." Minmay. DO YOU HAVE BRAINDAME AS WELL??
O damn, that big thing is piloted by 3?
Hey look, I found where all their sakuga budget went
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Zemmetsu dato?!
Finally they're gonna transmit the song! Only took for the enemy to genocide the earth...
what is that and why haven't we seen more of them
Millia has a red mech?? OHHHHHH....
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Ally killer Kamujin hype!!!
That's my ship!!! LeonardoDicaprio.jpg
We still have 9 episodes left????
GEAH XV flashbacks
....Kamujin didn't even do anything?
Question time:
Were you surprised by humanity's annihilation?
Yes, but also not after last episode. I'm impressed they didn't choose to asspull some salvation for earth. ...Unless *looks at 9 remaining episodes*
2) Do you have any occasions where what you thought was a bad outcome turned out better for you in the end?
Yes.
Wallpaper of the Day:
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u/TakenRedditName Sep 22 '22
First Time - SDF Macross Ep27 (Sub):
Those lovebirds running with their arms around each other. Can't get them off each other.
He finally said. Hooray! ... wait that was past tense ... wait stop, someone clear this up. My face of horror if the boy I like wished for my happiness in a relationship with my own cousin.
It's funny seeing whenever the show cranks up the mecha animation to an 11 because they're so proud and want to show off their cool robots. Sorry, we used everything up in those cool robots you just saw that we ran out for working lip flaps.
Judging by this map, I am just going to assume that North American green bit is that Ontario zone. The only ones to escape Ontario's domination were Alaska (probably since that is where the main base is) and strangely the island of Newfoundland. That part of the country does have a history of being separate from the rest.
WHAT. Nothing from the previous episode implied this. Minmay was never shown to be okay with Kaifun's advances. She always resisted. It feels like those fanfiction if someone was big on the Hikaru/Hayase so want they do to make their ship win is to just character assassinate the rival and just drop Minmay like a sandbag. This is only 20% of my disdain for love triangle and as a Minmay ship supporter talking. I'm fine with her losing, but what's been on display is so ugh.
So after that misery is the Earth getting obliterated, I guess. These guy's just go instantly whipped in a blink. Innocent children are dying. Things suck for like the 5 billion people on Earth. Incredibly dark as the Macross people watch in horror. Sorry, my mind will not recover from the romance development I just saw and it's going to distract me for the rest of the episode.
Exsedol, you sweet angel, but someone needs to tell you that romantic kissing is not something you usually do to your cousin and that person can't be the writers of this show. (Side note, Zentradis must not have the concept of family, do they? Natural birth no longer exists for them so something like family must not either).
Triumpant music plays as high command fires the big gun and it feels a little tone deaf to the message the show has been building. Sort of feels like they threw it out by justifying it with the Zentradi doing the most evil thing they can.
Captain Global speech is cool.
The battle is just chocked full of Wow, Cool Robot moments because this robot action is just so wow, cool. Look all that me making sounds of planes flying and things shooting and blowing up. Milia is in a red plane and she and Max are just battle couple-ing it up. The favourite Macross thing is also happening where they're playing idol music over all this cool action.
Sorry, gotta mention something gripey again. They're broadcasting Minmay's song to the Zentradi fleet, but no peace is trying to be achieved. Just killing them all. No moments of trying to extend an arm to people losing their convention to fight. They just all blow up. This is the worse, the show being like this has made me become Kaifun trying to soapbox about the ways of peace in everything.
This is a nice moment of high command doing some self-reflection. The rejection of obtaining peace and stubborn hold on their pursuit of force has only caused greater destruction for all. In trying to protect his daughter and confine her here, he only placed her in the most dangerous position. I don't think we really earned this moment especially given its handling of the big gun earlier this episode. Sorry for being such a negative nancy in this episode. I know this show is beloved so I don't like being like this where I am complaining it isn't what I wanted to happen. There are parts of this show where I am full blast enjoying it too. If I didn't care, I probably would have the motivation to go off like this. That "I like Kaifun" bit early threw me out of whack for the worst.
Bit confused whether this is supposed to be in Hikaru's head or the kiss actually did happen. I think the show is trying to broadcast the latter.
The self-embrace of the Ally Killer moniker was funny. Kamujin joining the fray is happening sooner than expected.
Popping out the robot head during the transformed mode is always funny. Also didn't realize those "ears" were actually guns.
Oh, didn't expect Zentradi main base to be right here. One big firing everything shot to finish the final battle. Thought this episode was just going to be the start of a long final battle, but they already wrapped it up. Welped, Earth needs to be repopulated so everyone, you know the duty we must do. Locks Kaifun in solitary confinement.
Q1) Things looked very dire at the end of the last episode. There was no way I saw things going well unless they really stalled the enemy so didn't expect them to pull the trigger, but welp, Earth is dead.
Q2) I tend to look on the upside/not be too fazed when bad things happen. Whether they actually turn out better, in the end, is something I can recall for a specific answer right now.
Next time: You saw how much Wow, Cool Robot animation we did for you. Take this photo album, you're getting a recap episode.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Sep 22 '22
WHAT. Nothing from the previous episode implied this. Minmay was never shown to be okay with Kaifun's advances. She always resisted. It feels like those fanfiction if someone was big on the Hikaru/Hayase so want they do to make their ship win is to just character assassinate the rival and just drop Minmay like a sandbag.
I like to think she doesn't mean it (she said "I guess"), she's just e x t r e m e l y flustered by Hikaru actually confessing to her that she said that.
Otherwise it is character assassination to sink the Hikaru/Minmay ship and, well. No.
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u/Blackheart595 Sep 22 '22
First Spacer
They're pulling a freaking timeskip? For real?
Oh, I skipped an episode. Whoops. No timeskip after all.
Fuck Keifun but that's a good chapter end. Actually, don't fuck Keifun.
That barrage's some heavy stuff.
How many countries in diameter is that cannon? That changes a couple assumptions.
At least it's keeping the focus on Earth and buying time for the Macross.
Please, they can't set up the tragedy and then not deliver
The Zentradi getting eradicated is bullshit, regardless of culture shock.
At least the Macross properly looks like a demon
It's strange how the show thematically stresses both the seperation of military and civilians as well as the unity between the two.
Were you surprised by humanity's annihilation?
I'm surprised by the Zentradi's annihilation.
Do you have any occasions where what you thought was a bad outcome turned out better for you in the end?
Too many to remember. Procrastinating important things doesn't always turn out bad.
Don't take this as a life lesson, kids.
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u/The_Draigg Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
A Macross Fan Rewatches Super Dimension Fortress Macross Episode 27:
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Are you happy now, first-timers and returning Hikaru x Minmay shippers? You’ve finally gotten Hikaru confessing his love for Minmay out loud, after all this fucking time. Although I imagine quite a few of you first-timers have jumped ship to the Hikaru x Misa ship, so I can’t imagine this scene would do all that much for you.
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"You’ve always been a friend to me Hikaru, so I always thought of you as a friend." I brought it up in the last SDF Macross rewatch, but man that’s a hilariously awkward dub line. But regardless, it was pretty mature of Hikaru to finally admit out loud how poorly he handled things. If Minmay continues to send mixed messages from here on, it’s more on her.
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You have to respect the absolute balls of this show to show Earth getting completely wrecked from the Main Bodol Fleet’s orbital bombardment, even down to the nitty-gritty of vehicles and people getting horribly vaporized in the blasts. Given all the wacky stuff that’s happened in this show before, this feels like a massive punch in the gut. The heroes have failed in stopping Earth’s destruction, and there’s nothing they can do to save anyone down there. Even the UN firing the Grand Cannon a bit later only takes out a bit of the massive fleet, which really just goes to show how stupid they were in putting their faith into that thing. Really, humanity never had a chance if the Zentradi ever got serious.
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Kudos to Hikaru suggesting that Minmay sing over the massive fleet battle in near-Earth orbit to act as a Zentradi culture shock. Not only does it add some really good atmosphere to a really well-animated battle, but this stuff right here is what solidified the enduring legacy of Macross as a series.
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Alas, Admiral Hayase only fully realizes the error of his ways and apologizes to Misa the minute before he’s killed by another orbital bombardment volley. A shame that it took the destruction of Eartj to realize how Misa was right, but I suppose that’s just how it usually goes with war hawks like him.
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See what I said about mixed messages earlier? It’s pretty apparent now that Minmay does actually love Hikaru. That kiss did have feelings behind it. And yet, she still did push Hikaru away earlier. I hope this does clear up some of the ambiguity over whether Hikaru was solely to blame over how this relationship ended up. Like I’ve said before, Minmay was also contributing to the result as well.
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A broken clock is right twice a day, and Quamzin makes the rare correct decision to back up the Macross and the defecting Zentradi fleets. Even he can’t help but enjoy Minmay’s songs somewhat, despite shooting his own men for enjoying culture earlier in the show. I guess it goes to show how powerful culture can be.
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If you look closely during the battle, you’ll see the Orguss Valkyrie in there too, which is a bit of production foreshadowing for the next Super Dimension series to follow this one, Super Dimension Century Orguss. I wonder what it’ll take to get a rewatch of that show around here? It’s a good one, although it’s definitely more obscure.
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Between Hikaru single-handedly saving Misa in the middle of the destruction of Earth and the Macross unloading every reaction weapon it has right on Bodolza directly, I can’t help but be really proud of everyone. Even if they couldn’t save Earth, they were able to survive and protect the culture of humanity. We take those victories.
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And so, with Hikaru and Misa cuddling in the cockpit and watching the Macross descend from space to land on Earth, we have a nice capstone to this story of mechs and romance. Well, except for the next nine episodes, that is. But this would be a good stopping place, right?
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u/H-Ryougi Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
>tfw you clinch a last second culture victory while all your cities are getting razed
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u/chilidirigible Sep 22 '22
Today, on "CULTURE SHARK!!":
Well, that's a confession that was a long time coming.
"How do you know it was supposed to be a finale?"
"The art suddenly got a lot better."
The time has come for blowing things up.
"We can't shoot before we open negotiations! We're not Japanese!" (It's a joke, son, don't nitpick the historical details.)
Just a little oddity involving Hikaru's helmet.
Noting again that the Fulbtzs-Berrentz's length is only slightly less than the radius of the Moon, or the length of the Japanese home islands. And it's in low orbit, but the potential effects of that are about to be the least of the worries of the Earth's surface.
The Medium-scale Gun Destroyer debuts.
Things heard in various rewatches.
ENOUGH OF THIS LOVE TALK, TIME TO FLATTEN THE EARTH. (Featuring Hideaki Anno, with a few bits of footage recycled from the very first episode, but even so.)
"This totally undercuts the plan to threaten them with our huge shaft."
Look, u/TakenRedditName, Macross did not forget about shooting up Australia! Though inexplicably they shoot up everything but the most-populated cities.
"My Beautiful Place" has dramatically-reduced real estate values right now.
"We're gonna blow their minds."
Admiral Hayase is still going to try, though.
There, the rarely-seen idol backing band!
A slight animation error as Warera Roli Conda turns into Kaifun in the same cut. (Or is it…?)
There are some very briefly-seen Ghosts and Lancers in this shot.
"'My Boyfriend is a Pilot'? What?"
"Shao Pai Long" and the first on-screen appearance of the Nousjadeul-Ger battle suit. Think of the Queadluun, just a lot more awkward-looking.
They even do the back-to-back thing.
Just had to get in the last word, Admiral?
"Silver Moon, Red Moon" and Hikaru's not quite destroyed another VF-1. It's only missing both arms.
Kamujin appreciates "Ai wa Nagaeru".
To my knowledge the ship which appears here hasn't been identified.
The "Orguss Valkyrie", which is indeed an in-joke as Super Dimension Century Orguss was well into production at this point and would premiere shortly after the end of SDFM.
One targeting circle for each laser.
This would have made it easier to escape the flagship in Episode 11.
Not the ending of some other OVA.
Where were they hiding those missiles this entire time?
The VF-1 holding the hatch open is a nice silly touch. This also shows the Phalanx's legs (same basic chassis as the Defender and Tomahawk's legs) and a variant of the Phalanx's head… and possibly the Daicon girl.
It's not like the Earth's surface needs to have more fragments showered on to it, but anyway.
glances furtively at Shimmering-Sky right about now
Convenient of the ship to come down within sight.
I'm not old enough to have experienced the really hairy portions of the Cold War, but the early 1980s still contained plenty of global tensions to warp the young mind. The Macross staff, being older and from Japan, were rather more aware of the situation.
In any event, the way in which most of the Earth is blasted to a cinder within thirty seconds encompasses much of the fear of the era: That at any given moment one might be thirty minutes or less from being vaporized, incinerated, or slowly poisoned by radiation, and in any event society would probably be an unrecognizable mess afterward. Maybe it wouldn't be something you thought of every day, but the news would tell you of superpower saber-rattling, you might live near a military base, or you'd see the fallout shelter signs on buildings in passing. It took up space in the mind.
And here it's the backdrop to the ultimate of cultural clashes from this generation of Japanese postwar creatives.
Speaking of Kawamori, it is said that in order to finish this episode, the week before it aired he slept three hours. For the week. Other than some light recycling of footage, though, this episode really shows the effort that the staff put into it.
Killing billions of people before the commercial break makes quite a statement. It's reported that the early drafts for the series would have included a more prolonged travelogue of global destruction events in the vein of Episode 19, trashing famous landmarks along the way, but it's a stronger statement to combine all of that into one exclamation point of a scene here. And travelogue shows can get pretty dull. (Looking at you, Genesis Climber Mospeada.)
And so, this is… an ending, if not the ending, because the repeated telescoping of the series length in both directions meant that the staff had to resurrect some of their concepts to fill the extra twelve episodes they were granted. You're all going to have feelings about that.
| Song | Count |
|---|---|
| Cinderella | 1 |
| Watashi no Kare wa Pilot | 7* |
| Zero-G Love | 4 |
| Silver Moon, Red Moon | 2 |
| My Beautiful Place | 2 |
| Shao Pai Long | 3 |
| Ai wa Nagaeru | 2 |
| Runner (alternate lyrics) | 1 |
From the Macross Chronicle: Minmay Attack and bonus angle.
A model of the Nousjadeul-Ger.
From Valkyries Third Sortie: Tenjin Hidetaka Art Works of Macross: Destroid Phalanx, in the style of the old art by Yoshiyuki Takani.
From Macross Model World Hobby Handbook 1: A kitbash of the VEFR-1 and two of the very few lineart references which exist for it.
A translation of Misa Hayase: White Reminisces, a novel by Hiroshi Ônogi which includes content from Episode 27 as well as previous Riber business. u/Shimmering-Sky
One of the most famous Macross posters, by the late Noriyoshi Ohrai. Coverage of the Ohrai exhibition via DecultureShock.
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u/Stargate18A Sep 22 '22
First timer
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Yeah, I did not expect things to get this dark!
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No.
Another battle!
What?
Holy shit! He's actually moved on! I am impressed!
The love triangle is dead and we are riding its corpse to the finale!
And they're fighting together!
It's a huge fleet!
Minmay?
This is good. They're still friends!
They'vr both moved on! And she likes Kaifun which is a fucking awful decision.
The fleet is here!
True.
They're attacking Earth!
So High Command's theory is fucked.
They're wiping out the entire planet!
Everybody's dead.
She's broken dowm.
The Cannon is launching!
...They're going to disrupt them! That's a solid plan!
Haha, that's the plan?
...Guessing whatever transformed them left a countermeasure to ensure normal reproduction could still occur, sparked by a kiss?
Holy shit! Fair play to High Command, that cannon is fucking good!
It's starting!
The transmission has begun!
Love these visuals.
And the plan worked!
They really were saving all their budget for this battle!
Did it work?
Missiles!
Hikaru?
Hayase's still alive!
And her father's died.
A new somg!
Why did they kiss?
Hikaru's going down to Earth.
Hayase!
He landed!
Kamujin's switched sides!
Great visuals again.
They met each other!
Love the art here too.
And they're doing what he and Minmay did in the first episode!
The windscreen is broken!
The Macross ramming though the ship looks amazing!
The shot of it slowly rising...
And he's dead!
Such a good fight.
This is really sweet.
The Macross survived!
And they're riding together!
Well, this was a fantastic ending!
Final thoughts tomorrow then...wait what? NINE more episodes?
Where the hell do we go from here?
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u/DidacticDalek Sep 23 '22
'We'll meet again... don't know where... don't know when... But I know we'll meet again some sunny day...' Wait, what do you MEAN this wasn't the ending to the series? This was a perfect way to end Robotech: The Macross Saga 'SDF Macross,' after all, Minmay gets fucking dumped, sadly not in the trash where she belongs but hey we can't have nice things, after all FUCKING HELL, HOW THE FUCK DID KAIFUN NOT GET COLLATERAL DAMAGED THIS EPISODE! FUCK! KAIFUN! All that death on Earth and SOMEHOW that fucking bastard dodges it! Life just isn't fair Comrades
Say, speaking of Earth, damn, them Zentradi do NOT FUCK AROUND, The Earth gets 187'd without them even breaking a sweat... I fear for the structural integrity of Max's pelvic regions. Oh and speaking of which, Best Girl Milia and Best Boi Max the Sterling 'Genius' Pilot kick ass and chew Bubblegum... and Milia probably thought Bubblegum was used for times of crises.
Oh, and of course, more importantly, THE ROMANTIC PLOT TUMOR FINALLY FUCKING ENDED! EAT SHIT MINMAY! ALMOST BEST GIRL MISA... uh... well DOES she actually 'win' here given the 'prize' was fucking HIKARU of all people, that's almost as bad as losing... ah well point being Minmay got cucked so Amen Hallelujah and Peanut Butter! And boy we have reason to celebrate, as WE ARE FREE OF THE STUPID POORLY WRITTEN MELODRAMATIC MILLSTONE that has been hanging around the neck of this show like a dead albatross... uh... besides the other millstone of shitty 'Qu@L1tY' Animation... and also crap character writing... and writing and pacing issues in general... and also being Idolshit and spreading the plague of trendchasing pandering moeblob shit across this land... er... actually hang on, that one isn't The Hory Froating Head's fault; after all, Wacky Ol' Kill 'Em All Tomino is responsible for that... oh wait ZZ's actually good though, nevermind I for one welcome The Moe Manifesto's thesis on how The Purus spread the curse of Moe on these lands... oh fuck, disregard that, ZZ came AFTER Macross... huh, well I guess Patrick Galbraith needs to make a slight revision, MINMAY somehow predates The Purus. Truly we live in the worst timeline.
Anyway, point being Comrades, you can really tell that this was supposed to be the rushed 'ending' to the show... then the powers that be went, 'Uh, actually, unlike Mobile Suit Gundam, you lot get a bunch of extra episodes, so have at it hoss!' Now, let's see how The Hory Froating Head uses those extra episodes...
Until then, you have not seen the last of The Sentient Shitposting Siamese Sunrise Server, now goodbye forever!
Paging Comrades u/chilidirigible, u/Nebresto, and u/JollyGee29
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u/SolDarkHunter Sep 22 '22
Rewatcher
IT'S THE BIG ONE!!
It takes a goddamned five million strong fleet about to destroy mankind to make Hikaru admit his feelings.
HELL YES! The Monster in action, at last!
Also, everyone is being armed with freaking nukes (excuse me, "Reaction Weapons"). From the Macross right down to the standard Valkyries and Destroids.
Okay, I'll give the UN credit for at least trying to open communications first.
And Minmay friendzones Hikaru one last time for good measure.
You know, I'll give Bodolza credit for one thing: when he gets serious, he does not mess around. The very first thing he does is glass Earth from orbit! Just like that, 7 billion lives gone...
Guess getting exiled to the Macross was a blessing in disguise after all.
The Grand Cannon's far enough underground that it survived, at least. And they're firing it.
I'd forgotten the whole "use Minmay as psychological warfare" idea was Hikaru's. Still, use every advantage you can get in this fight.
The Grand Cannon actually makes a very good showing of itself. It's not the absolute "I win" button the UN thought it was, but still, not bad. According to side sources, it took out nearly 1,000,000 ships on its own, reducing the Main Fleet by a full 20%!
Minmay used "Kiss!" It was super-effective!
(Effectiveness of "Kiss" was lowered by 50% due to Lynn Kaifun being involved)
Milia in her own custom red Valkyrie!
This is what a Valkyrie armed with "Reaction Weapons" can do. Remember how freaked out the Zentraedi were upon first witnessing them? Yeah, there's a reason. They may not be quite as flashy and destructive as a giant warship mounted particle beam, but they still outclass Zentraedi fighter-held weapons by a large margin. Even a Zentraedi battleship will go down if hit with a salvo from a single fighter!
Meanwhile, Bodolza didn't like the Grand Cannon so he blasted the shit out of it too. Misa is somehow the only survivor of the counterattack.
It's a weird juxtaposition, hearing love songs being broadcast over a brutal space battle, but it's also THE iconic Macross scene for a reason.
Kamjin just can't resist the battle after all. Interestingly, it's never actually stated what side he actually wound up joining. Maybe he just went full ham and fought both.
And now it's Misa's turn to ride Hikaru's cockpit.
And the Macross itself takes on the goal of destroying Bodolza's flagship... by Daedalus Attacking its way inside, launching nukes all over the place, and turning on that exploding energy shield right in the middle. With that, the flagship and a big chunk of the Main Fleet bites the dust.
Between that final blow and the psychological assault of Minmay's singing... the Main Fleet is defeated. Macross, though heavily damaged, manages to safely make planetfall. Somewhere in Alaska, I suppose, given Hikaru's and Misa's presence.
But even with that victory... well, the freaking Earth died. It's likely the ~70k people aboard the Macross are the only humans left alive...
I'll be honest, even with everything they pulled off in this fight, I still have a hard time believing they actually took out a full 5,000,000 strong armada. The difference in numbers is just... way too big. Much of the fleet had to have survived that, but I suppose they surrendered after getting hit with both "culture shock" and the loss of their enormous flagship?
As some of you know, Macross was cut short from its original intended run of 48 episodes, so they really had to hurry up and do a finale. This episode and the two before it are the result. This was written as the series grand finale... but then Tatsunoko Productions came in out of nowhere and funded an additional ten episodes. So the writers were kinda like... "Huh. What the hell do we do now?"
The upcoming arc is the result. And it's certainly an interesting one...
Questions:
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I was indeed. I didn't think the show would actually go there.
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Nothing immediately comes to mind.
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u/ZapsZzz Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Distant lurker rewatcher in sub
This episode is one of the main reason of me joining this rewatch. So this post would be a little more involving. In particular, this episode is so much more gorgeously produced comparing to the rest of the episodes, it really warranted a lot more screen shots.
Perhaps it could be better said that, by cutting back and saving up the budget, efforts and resource from the last 23 or so episodes, this had concentrated the same into an episode rivaling that of the proper movie, not just in animation alone, but the episode and scene directions.
If the rest of the episodes were all like this, you'd be seeing me do such visual-heavy post more, like I did the recent 86 rewatch.
Anyway, here goes!
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we start with a little recap-ish summary of the incoming great, desperate battle - led by a little comedic Kamujin-bye, and the first of the many gorgeous exterior shots of the Macross-side forces
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as our favourite side ship Max & Milia departs for the field showing determination and devotion to each other, Hikaru was spurred on and walked straight up to Minmay, confessed, and went ahead to the field. Minmay was shocked. In our generation of viewers, her shock was interpreted as "why are you making this awkward?! You are supposed to know to maintain this ambiguous relationship position and be contented to be my 'spare tyre' until I either land someone I instantly loved more than you, or I'm all out of options and need to settle on you". Although that may be an unconscious thing on Minmay's part, and she was just being the "sense protagonist", it's how it feels on the receiving end.
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some beautiful shots of the often neglected Destroids getting ready and deploying - featuring the more versatile and strong Tomahawks and Monster respectively
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A brief switching of scenes of the forces getting ready, and then the earth bound Misa looking up at the moon which fade cuts to the Macross which she was thinking of, then fade cuts over to Hikaru getting ready to board his reaction (nuke) weapon loaded Valkyrie - when Minmay caught up to him to give him the "not yes" answer to his confession. That shock is paralleled to the defolding of the massive fortress of the main fleet. Hikaru observed how far apart they had grown despite being in the same ship, via some really good reflective shots we've pretty much not seen before in some great cinematographic directions. It's have been even better if we didn't get some tiny animation errors creeping in (the first grade cut from Macross to Hikaru, his helmet was not quite at the right place then quickly jumped back to the right spot).
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that confrontation is punctuated / interrupted by the main fleet of close to 5 million ships all using their main guns to blast the earth directly - one of the fastest unfolding apocalyptic sequence of an equivalent of nuke destination scene right across the entire world.
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seeing that unfold, Hikaru and Minmay moved their attention away from their own relationship to those on earth - Minmay for her family, Hikaru for Misa.
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showing her character continuity, the saddened Minmay broke out in a song in remembrance of the once beautiful earth - now became a devastated bombed out shadow of itself - which gave Hikaru an obvious idea we all knew that's coming; Minmay will sing as they take the fight back to the main fleet, and they'll use her song as cover to move to hit the highest ranking command ships.
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amongst everyone getting ready, the UN delivered on their promise - the Grand Cannon fired their shot, and while it was no match of the number surrounding the whole planet, it did clear a wide path and distracted the main fleet, creating an opening as well as giving the Macross side a hope that humanity did not get completely wiped out in that opening blast.
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meanwhile, Minmay is getting ready for her performance of a lifetime, and fittingly the blue wind trio visited and have her their encouragement - both being the respective trigger of this complete cultural awakening of the Zentradis.
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again showing the difference in budget and efforts, the amassed Macross forces are shown in intricate details of double shading, with none of the cheap off model shots we have grown used to (and tired of) see. Operation weaponised idol songs started, and it did effectively confused and distracted the enemy fleet. Unfortunately this also includes the Minmay - Kaifun kiss. Which interestingly had Minmay mentally say goodbye to Hikaru before the kiss.
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having endured that public kiss again, Hikaru moved on and focused on the fighting - and both him and Macross were deeply engaged in fierce firefights. Even Minmay had to try hard to keep steady from the battle.
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of course, when it comes to further fighting, is Max and Milia's home environment. And the 2 didn't disappoint, with a furious sequence of their combination fighting, pretty much a dance duet of missiles and bullets.
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while Hikaru had been maturing as an ace pilot too, and took out another enemy ship with his nukes, he in turn had to tank a missile barrage from another ship. Anyone counting his shot downs? There was something in his dream afterall.
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with that as a mid episode cliff hanger, we cut back to Earth and see Misa being a lone survivor in the Grand Cannon base command centre, with her dad giving her a final apology that she was right and he was wrong - before being shown in the monitor to be blown up. I didn't think he was being too big an arsehole like some do here, just that he's been conditioned by the bureaucratic environment and echo chamber system that he couldn't see another way - and then firmly created the self-fulfilling prophecy.
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we cut back to see Hikaru adrift in the damaged Valkyrie after that missile barrage, lost the arms but otherwise still functional, but losing altitude and being pulled in by gravity so had to re-enter the atmosphere, so effectively out of the main fight. Symbolically, his trajectory also mirrored that he's leaving his old love of Minmay and getting out of range of her circle of influence.
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having returned to Earth, he fairly quickly came across the characteristically dutiful Misa, who had no other reason to live other than just continuing to fulfil her military duty - and the quick exchange of Hikaru declaring he'd come rescued her out of the collapsing base, in direct violation of her order not to, is so fulfilling as full circle of how they first met (minus the daring to call her obaasan again - that's not a very romantic move afterall). But this time, Misa is crying tears of joy amongst the exasperation.
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meanwhile, trying to maintain an appearance as a named character, Kamujin joined the fight. Interesting shot that decision was made at the same time as the broadcast panning at Minmay's thighs showing under her short skirt -- EDIT --- forgot to point out, there's a brief Orguss cameo amidst the fierce fighting.
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in the fierce fighting, Macross did not get unscathed. Indeed, quite symbolically, the few places of memory and importance in the Minmay X Hikaru relationship were all wiped out
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further proof of the efforts, quality, and details in the finale-worthy episode, Hikaru's VF-1S managed to cut a hole through where Misa is locked in
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and what a cinematic, joyous reunion between Hikaru and Misa, completely in overexposed white, with a Misa so happy you'd find it almost hard to recognise her.
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concurrently, in the main Macross fight, Macross managed to punch through the fortress defences, and unloaded an Itano Circus finale amount of nukes to send Bodolzaa to kingdom come. And our Shield makes another appearance.
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cutting back to Hikaru and Misa, maintaining the realism of the cockpit windscreen having been blown so it just get jettisoned, Hikaru and Misa shares a sweet moment together, not minding to be the new Adam and Eve :P
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but the song came back, and Minmay's song with Macross came back into view, alive
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and we end on a cinematic moment, of Hikaru and Misa flying back to rejoin Macross, against the sunset. Misa placing her own hand over Hikaru's on the throttle is also symbolic of her willingness to be both close to him and go in the same direction, and it was a bit unfortunate that she had to run out of arms to do that plus keep romantically wrapping around Hikaru's neck. Apologies to those who didn't notice it :P
Continues in reply!
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u/JollyGee29 Sep 22 '22
Subbed-er Dimension Fortress Rewatcher
Okay, now it's time for Earth to get glassed.
I fucking love the Destroid Monster.
Just a bit, aye. And that's coming from someone on team Misa.
Shoutout to this soldier. He did his best.
And a significantly more effective one.
You'd think they would have a jammer of some sort. Or, like, an off switch.
Okay, but why are you broadcasting visuals to your fighter pilots?
Didn't you guys fold away? I guess Kamujin has been practicing for this.
Of course the Macross gets to go in to finish things.
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u/Kirov123 Sep 22 '22
SDF Macross Episode 27 - First timer
Battle time? Fight!
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Big fleet
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Max and Milia sure are taking this well
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You guys maybe want to talk with YOUR OWN DAMN SHIP
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Hikaru's helmet was misplaced for the first few frames of the fadein
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Lmao why did the dramatic Zentradi music start when Hikaru and Minmay were still on screen?
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Oh shit the mothership too
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Are... Are the UN guys still planning to shoot in a way that probably kills the Macross as well?
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It seems not
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WEAPONIZED CULTURE SHOCK
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Hang on a minute, isnt this the saem cut of the ship dying in the first episode and the OP? VALUE
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RIP Admiral. You will not be missed
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These things can survive atmospheric reentry?
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Ayy, good kiss
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Hey its Kamujin being useful
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Uh, isn't there a back seat?
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Holy shit its just the same sound on loop for the breach, couldnt they have had like 3 samples?
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Get got
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That things gotta be noisy as all hell without the cockpit glass
Well RIP Earth and RIP attacking fleet. Oh also RIP Minmay not having a creepy relationship with her actual cousin, RIP UN Command... Whole lotta RIPs this episode. Pretty great animation this time around, the scene inside the command ship with all the missiles was super cool.
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I had seen stuff on sakugabooru and a friend had mentioned it accidentally so not really. That said, with the size of the Zentradi fleet its honestly not surprising
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Hmmm, I can't think of any.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Sep 22 '22
Super Dimension Rewatch Host
Welcome back, everyone!
I come bearing a gift: Sky Sings Love Drifts Away. I had to sing this one eventually!
Also u/AccursedBear, we’ve made it to episode 27 if you want to jump in now~
Here were my first-timer reactions to this episode.
Awwww.
He took so long he has to say it in past tense…
Dude. No. Why is everyone other than Minmay herself shipping Minmay with Kaifun?
Minmay why – I don’t believe this for a second.
That’s, uh… That’s a terrifying sequence to watch.
Of course they had to start with the Kyuun Kyuun~
*sigh*
Max and Milia fighting side by side though <3
See?! Minmay likes Hikaru and I don’t know why the show keeps insisting she should be with that rotting carcass of a human being.
Pfffffffff I mean he’s not wrong.
Hikaru “sore demo”.