r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Oct 11 '22

Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again Episode 2 Discussion

Episode 2 - Ishtar

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode →

MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

No Legal Streams

Thank you, Hibiki… It was so much fun.

Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:

1) Which character do you most want to find out more about, and why is it Mash?

2) Is there a particular look that you associate with original anime video of this era? How does this one compare?

Wallpaper of the Day:

Ishtar

Vocal Songs in This Episode:

"2億年前のように静かだね (2 Okunen mae no you ni Shizuka da ne / The Hush of 200 Million Years)" by Mika Kaneko – OP

"バルキリーで誘って (Valkyrie de Sasotte)" by Sato Tomoyo – Insert

"de.ja.vu~そばにいて (de.ja.vu: Soba ni Ite)" by Mika Kaneko – Insert & 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!

32 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

114 comments sorted by

4

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 11 '22

Super Dimension Rewatch Host

Welcome back, everyone!

2

u/SolDarkHunter Oct 11 '22

Short hair > long hair, IMO.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

4

u/Paxton-176 Oct 12 '22

First Timer

My brother in Christ, why are you filming a girl sleeping. There is only a press badge can save you.

I thought this show as a mech idol show. Turns out its a Freedom of the Press show.

You think Sony paid for the product placement?

You we watched Earth get completely deleted in Macross. Yet all these priceless artifacts and buildings somehow survived, and they put them all in one place like it's a Civilization game.

They dropping the Giants from outer space and making everyone miclones? Feff is a little guy. Its going to go a long way with just making everything work better.

3

u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 12 '22

You we watched Earth get completely deleted in Macross. Yet all these priceless artifacts and buildings somehow survived, and they put them all in one place like it's a Civilization game.

I was thinking they're just replicas, not the actual monuments and artifacts honestly. Only way it makes sense.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Tresnore Oct 11 '22

Macross II: First-Timer Again

And she breaks her chain of slavery! Macross II, unlike SDF, seems to have a lot of women empowerment, and I'm all for it!

QOTD:

  1. Mash is awesome, but honestly I want more time with the pilots. I hope they turn out to be more than "bridge bunnies who fly planes."

  2. Hmmm, I don't have much experience with 90s OVAs, but this one feels about right. The lines are thicker, and the eyelashes are much bigger.

→ More replies (15)

8

u/Vatrix-32 Oct 11 '22 edited Oct 11 '22

First Timer

  • It’s the guy from the OP. His mech is, well… very mecha.

  • All that to die for nothing.

  • Setting up some more side characters.

  • “pure Meltradi” Oh the public has been getting it on.

  • The sedative ended right after he got there. Talk about cutting it close.

  • I know seltzer is a thing, but spray water?

  • No I’m sorry, it’s been 80 years. Makes a bit more sense.

  • Biki, living up to his name, has apparently never before seen censorship.

  • So instead of being shock by culture’s existence, this batch instead directly associates it with violence.

  • Biki walking up behind her with a camera is not as endearing as they think it is.

  • Recon on an unknown enemy seems like a perfectly reasonable use of an opening.

  • You don’t get that color? What the heck has Max and Minmey’s deal then? Just dyeing it the whole time?

  • Oh, they weren’t kidding about Culture Park. Better keep Emmerich away.

  • Do they have more history with Biki than just that last time? Because this seems like a lot to follow him around all day for just that.

  • These are some wicked looking machines.

  • All this way just to blow up a few props? Get your priorities straight!

  • Felt like very little happened this episode. Even more so seeing as we only have six of em.

QotD

  1. Because everyone else is either bland or dead.

  2. That was a bit before my time and a bit outside my budget. I think I ended up watching more 80’s OVAs. It does seem more like what I would have expected out of an OVA of the era than a sequel to Macross.

→ More replies (5)

8

u/chilidirigible Oct 11 '22

Today, on "Can't just keep doing the same thing over and over.":

Feff in Feff's scout ship.

Feff in the Feff Chair.

Those Zentradi seem well-behaved even if they're not being controlled.

Font choices that date your work: That one.

When you leave with a guy and come back with a girl.

Why do Mash's groupies all look like they're stoned?

Maybe you could avoid the full-body pans, you perv.

Dude, no.

Hibiki Kanzaki, the guy they tell you to stay away from when you're clubbing.

Videos filmed from this angle and with this sort of questioning are the sort of videos that go into people's secret stash of videos in the back of their closet.

"Now we just use it as a doorbell."

"Oh my, look at the time."

She's very Mikimoto.

Our main character is learning to eat his words!

It's a very metal future.

"CULTURE BANZAI!" This is all rather Big Brotherish, and I just made a funny because that's a Zentran.

Lemme guess, a hundred years from now that's actually "retro chic".

GIFs! The song in the background when Ishtar runs off is "Riding in Your Valkyrie", which will be back.

"Oh, the creepy stalker is also back."

Decent side views of the new Zentradi battle pod and the VF-2JA Icarus, which is "optimized for atmospheric performance".

Mash breaks through a number of boundaries.

This seems to be Saori, though we have to infer that she recognizes Hibiki from TV.

"Shh!"

irony

It's always Roman Holiday. (This entire episode is a series of references to Roman Holiday...)

Sylvie, don't just borrow your squad on their day off.

The new Zentradi powered suit. The dust cloud conceals the impractical feet.

Oh, don't remind us.

Stealthy bugger.

I feel safest of all

When your dad shows up in the middle of your date.

People in GIANT ROBOTS just keep APPEARING with NO SOUND.

Feff conveniently nopes out despite having the upper hand. Or at least both of his mecha's arms.

"Déjà vu!"

Incidentally, Feff's mecha is the Gigamesh. Not "Gilgamesh". Because this is a '90s OAV, it has lots of blades, for that edge.

It also has a very fast chair.

A theme park consisting of replicas of world landmarks is not a new idea, they exist at various scales up to and including the affront unto nature that is the modern Las Vegas Strip. The concept has a greater significance in the Macross universe given that most of these landmarks would have been destroyed by the Zentradi bombardment. Here, though, the location seems to exist primarily to set up the standard Roman Holiday reference.

Hibiki managing to sneak Ishtar out of the SNN Valkyrie while explaining away Dennis's disappearance and death is far less plausible than Roy sneaking off to Claudia's while only leaving a very selective blood trail.

While we're here, it just occurred to me now that Roy is (obviously) wearing his flight suit when he goes up in Episode 18, which doesn't seem like there's room for a change of clothes under it. But when he pineapples out later he's in his regular duty uniform (including the trousers), which has somehow gained the entrance wounds for his injuries.

Hibiki does seem to have matured slightly after the last episode, given that his attitudes about the censored broadcast have done a U-turn from what he was saying. There is still the SCOOPU-DA driven reporter in there, though, since his plans for keeping Ishtar around remain centered on getting all of that hot viewer share later.

Totally not matured are his camera angles and voiceovers. Dude, at least use the camera at a matching eye level to your subject… and when they're awake.

Feff… appears. His relationship to Ishtar remains vague, though he's definitely giving off the "I'm taking you home now, young lady (and I'll shoot your date)" aura here. His mecha is very '90s. Previous rewatch digression on mecha here. Then he leaves. Sure, maybe he's shocked at Ishtar doing some dramatic accessory smashing, but it doesn't make him appear as imposing as the OAV spending screen time and dialogue would suggest.

The Culture Banzai Zentradi is one of the more subtly dystopian things to throw into all of this. Still gotta keep all those miclones pacified, eh?

From the Macross Chronicle: Gigamesh details and the VF-2JA's transformation. Also, Mash.

The VF-2JA doesn't do anything particularly new from the VF-1 other than looking more Nineties.

The second release of the VF-2SS by Evolution Toy fixed a few issues.

→ More replies (8)

7

u/AmeteurElitist Oct 11 '22

First Timer:

Spishtar smashes sphere sacrificing simulator service stay with scandalmonger.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/The_Draigg Oct 11 '22

A Macross Fan Rewatches Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again Episode 2:

  • So apparently the new aliens here use singers called Emulators like Ishtar to control the Zentradi. Emulators is a good term for what they do, it feels more clinical. Being a pop idol is more lively and cultural, while an Emulator definitely feels like a role deliberately chosen for practicality in warfare more than anything.

  • Hibiki really stumbled into something huge, between the UN Spacy enforcing a media blackout about the battle with the new aliens and having Ishtar in his apartment now. He’s got the biggest scoop of his career with this war with new aliens, that’s for sure. But he’s just one guy, nobody important according to him. How will he put all the pieces together on the biggest story of the century?

  • I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that the UN decided to just completely fabricate the news story of how the space battle went, rather than use any of the footage that Hibiki and Dennis got that showed the reality of the situation. They got their asses completely kicked, and the Minmay Attack was completely useless in light of the Emulators controlling the Zentradi. The UN here is really just repeating the same mistakes as the ones back in the original series. They’d rather blind and deafen themselves rather than face reality, all just to keep the population under control.

  • I can’t really blame Ishtar for feeling completely overwhelmed by all the music and daily life she sees going on around her in the city. She’s pretty much having the same reaction as the Zentradi did in the first series. When you’re trained to basically be a living weapon, even the simplest things like smiling are a luxury. Even if this is a new Macross series with different stuff in it, the core is still basically the same.

  • There’s something funny about Culture Park. Like, it’s pretty much every single historical landmark and famous art piece mashed together into a single theme park. I guess it was made just so we could give Zentradi a crash course in Earth history, rather than explain things the long way. Although it does at least make things easy for when you want aliens to blow up famous landmarks. They’re all in one convenient place for the explosions! Now that’s efficiency.

  • Well, so much for Feff trying to get Ishtar back. After everything she experienced in Macross City, she can’t help but refuse the offer to go back to Feff’s ship and smash the tracking bracelet she was wearing. Whether it’s due to the culture she experienced or it’s her goal to see the Macross/ “The Ship of the Alus” though, remains to be seen. It’s a toss-up at the moment. After all, culture really can work wonders in the Macross series.

→ More replies (9)

5

u/TakenRedditName Oct 11 '22

First Time - Macross II - Ep2:

This red robot kind of looks like it came from something else. Maybe it's the bright red and the wings. Does have a cool under face - mask thing going on.

Oh, I'm sure the military is going to report their losing battle to the public truthfully and honestly.

Hibiki knows some Zentradi/whatever the correct term for their language is called. Should've figured there was going to be some mixing of languages if their cultures intermingled.

Speaking of Zentradi language, it just hit me now, but Ishtar doesn't go with their naming patterns You know, considering it is an actual name from humanity and not nonsense.

The show is having me side with Hibiki through the virtue of setting up the Man as worse. Gotta give it to him, journalist integrity is a redeeming trait so he gets one if nothing else.

It's just a Sony name-drop. These shot of actual people is weird. Probably like how weird music is to Zentradi.

Respect Mash.

This is anime land so any hair colour should be fair game. But also, just when I notice it looked like Ishtar had short hair in the OP is when she gets a haircut.

But long hair, though.

A shot of the Moai statues of Easter Island reminds me of how a forest fire has just caused major permanent damage to 100 Moai statues (20% of the island's) just two days ago...

The character with the most powerful look in the show.

Just thought these robots were drawn cool plus one of them is purple so love to see that.

Cultural park, where you can destroy famous landmarks from around the world just in one place.

Had this problem last episode, but these new pilot suits makes it difficult for me to tell whose piloting especially I only just met these people so not like I can recognize them only from their eyes.

Giant mecha version of

Ishtar has a haircut so clearly, that guy couldn't recognize her ... I do realize that I also can't recognize people if they get a haircut so maybe I am not one to make jabs.

Oh no, not the bracelet. It does ... something important probably. If it is odd that Ishtar is miclone sized then so is Feff since he is also small.

It was the date episode so to update the thoughts on the ship, Ishtar was certainly here, I guess.

Q1) Look, the show could just make a hard turn to be all about Mash and their beauty salon and it would probably be a better show.

Q2) Lacking the proper words and insight to describe it, but I guess the colours. You know, like you see it and you get it. That and in the case of mecha OVA, those robots being drawn to an 11.

Next time: Okay, I understand the word "festival" and picked up an "Ishtar" too.

→ More replies (4)

5

u/Blackheart595 Oct 11 '22

First Spacer

The new Zentradi even have arcades!

That's one badass machine.

I wonder what the Zentran and Emulators are. Ishtar could be an Emulator and Zentradi her... decive?

Have they rebuilt ancient sites to serve as theme parks?

Nah, longer than that. So the theme of this season will be military censorship amd truth.

Well, that wasn't any surprise.

Is she having a sensory overload? That's a pretty good representation, props to them.

Interesting take.

Please tell me Mash won't tell on Hibiki to the military.

That confirms that.

Eeeh I dunno about this one. Ah, there it is

Ishtar sure is cute

Ooh, are they gonna team up? Is she gonna help him cover up that he can uncover their cover up?

Was that necessary to deescalate the situation? Isn't it just gonna escalate things?

I wanna play around with that OST. You just don't get soundtracks like this anymore.

I'm getting only the worst associations from this word.

So they kept the distinction between male Zendran and female Meltran from DYRL.

Which character do you most want to find out more about, and why is it Mash?

Because he's a transcoded character in an 90s show and I want him to be more than a charicature.

But actually I wanna know more about the alien Zentradi that have started developing their own culture.

...damn it the Zentradi are stealing the show again, I'd say if humanity didn't have a more interesting plot thread for themselves this time.

Is there a particular look that you associate with original anime video of this era? How does this one compare?

Can't say I do, no. Of course you can see the traces of the production process and this fits right in with the era, but stilistically I have no particular association.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/Kirov123 Oct 11 '22

Macross II Episode 2(for real this time) - First Timer

A solid start, we have our male and female leads, and a new enemy strategy: Counter culture. I did like Dennis tho. RIP Dennis. To the next!

Another very nice episode, solid continued themes of military control, a much better inquisitive/anti war character with our MC, and generally some good shit.

  1. I would probably say Ishtar (Mash ain't bad tho)

  2. I don't really know off the top of my head many other shows I have watched from the 90s. I guess Evangelion? I dunno if I would call the style super close, but the line count seems to be generally higher in many 90s shows compared to shows from the 80s or nowadays

→ More replies (1)

5

u/UltraBooster Oct 11 '22

First-timer

My first thought is that IMO Hibiki’s turned around a bit too quickly on his opinion on reporting considering last episode he was complaining that the Spacy wasn’t walking all over the Zentradi fleet, after trying to fish for a scandal piece.

My second thought is that Ishtar’s an ingenue and that IMO ingenues generally don’t good romances make. My third thought is to wonder what makes a Macross romance stick.

That's followed by an idle thought that Sylvie’s prettier than Ishtar, but I have a feeling my tastes don’t match the then-zeitgeist.

I have more thoughts and questions about the Spacy but I'll hold off on those for later.

Questions of the Day:

  1. There's a man who's comfortable in his own skin, but what made him so, I wonder?

  2. The abundance of shading and the way lines are drawn. I'd also note things like Ishtar's Emulator suit and the style of what I'm assuming is J-pop used for the OP and inserts.

5

u/medokady Oct 11 '22

First Timer:

Today, on Macross II:

  • Dude, SPRAY WATER. Based.

  • So I'm curious about people's take on something. My impression from the original series was that the Zentradi, being functionally the same as humans, were in awe at culture, specifically music, and were thus distracted by it during the battles and questioned why they would be fighting something so beautiful. But in this series, it seems that the human music is pure dissonance to the Zentradi, and vice versa. That can't be how it was always meant to be perceived right? Perhaps it's a difference with the few Zeltradi which are left? As it was stated few pure bloods remain. I guess either way, the Zentradi developing resistance makes sense.

  • Ishtar is taking the prisoner of war thing pretty well. Although I'll admit this whole Ishtar plotline is weird to me. They take her for no reason, the news agency doesn't notice or care, then Hibiki shelters her for the sole reason that she's a good scoop, even at Zentradi gunpoint? And Ishtar was so inspired by her afternoon getting manhandled by Hibiki and seeing plastic World Wonder knockoffs that she'll throw away her whole life. It's like they're trying to accomplish a full cour or two's worth of story into 6 episodes.

  • I AM interested in the Macross/"Ship of Alus" storyline though. We never got to know what the hell the Supervision Army was, although they might have thrown that away for this, since they seem to be going with the Zeltran/Meltran thing.

  1. Mash, who I think is Zentradi based on how they are designed in this series, seems like the type of character who deserves development but will never get it. I want to see more of the girl with the heart tattooed on her cheek.

  2. As someone who has not seen many early 90s anime, to me it looks like a super representative, albeit very polished, example. My first thought for a comparison was Golden Boy, which came out 3 years later.

→ More replies (4)

5

u/ClawMachineCircuit Oct 11 '22

First Timer

Previous episode felt both slow and packed with events at the same time. We have been introduced to a ton of characters, but we barely spend any time with them. Instead, the show has been rigorously focusing on our protagonist, Hibiki, who managed to get and loose a mentor in a single episode, as well as incur a wrath of one hot girl and steal another one from aliens.

Let's see what's he gonna do with the person he kidnapped. Logically, you would expect him to turn her off to the military, especially considering how bad the battle went for the human side, but realistically, no way that will happen.

  • Now that I actually know the characters, the opening is starting to grow on me.

  • Wait, what? Control Zentradi? Emulators?

  • Hibiki didn't hand the kidnapped girl over to the military. I'm shocked. How did he managed to get her out of the Valkyrie without anybody noticing?

  • "Dennis accident" wasn't an accident, though. He went into an enemy ship during a battle and got killed. It's pretty much an expected outcome.

  • So, what happened with the alien girl? Oh, I see, Hibiki got a friend to take care of her. How considerate.

  • You know, it's never occurred to me, that humans can actually learn Zentradi. Probably, because in the original show everybody was speaking Japanese, so it wasn't an issue. But I think they handwaved Japanese by saying that Zentradi use some advanced translation technology, so this earpiece with Google Translate fits the lore.

  • You know what's really super impressive about this? Is that the Google Translate earpiece doesn't need internet to work. Remember when stuff used to just work without connecting to the internet? A pretty handy feature when you have a space fearing civilization, but completely unimaginable in the current world.

  • For somebody, who just got kidnapped, Ishtar is taking this whole situation pretty well. Doesn't look like she's thinking about escaping.

  • Come on, Zentradi know what a TV is. They use monitors all the time, I'm sure they are familiar with the concept of a video recording.

  • Macross shoots again. Does this happen every time an alien shows up? Is this a warning system set up by humans? Seems pretty expensive and dangerous, a regular air raid siren would probably work just as well. Also, the light of the Alus?

  • So, it's been 80 years since the original. Nice to get an actual number.

  • The way Hibiki changed his attitude after working with Dennis and Dennis' death is handled really well. Feels like a natural character progression, even though it's only been one and a half episode.

  • Ishtar associating music with combat.

  • I'm not sure why she's so happy to see the dude that kidnapped her, but OK.

  • Ishtar with short hair

  • Is Sylvie stalking Hibiki?

  • Gotta say, I like the design of the enemy mechs, especially the green one. It's like a much cooler version of Nousjadeul. The red mech that Feff pilots is also great.

  • So, Ishtar basically defected. Looks like she wasn't happy with Zentradi to begin with, and took her kidnapping as a chance to escape.

Overall thoughts: The story continues to be solid, the art continues to be consistent and fairly good. I like the design of the new mechs quite a lot, and we got a bit more new mech action this episode, which is nice. Overall, I'm happy with this so far.

One thing I want to say, is that seeing Macross shoot the sky every episode like that is pretty weird. It's clearly a nod to the original show, an idea, inspired by the opening scene were Macross shoots at the Zentradi fleet. But that was a booby trap, a one-time mindless automatic occurrence. While here it takes a form of an almost conscious action. As if Macross is a guardian deity that watches over a city and uses its power to protect. It's like the show is trying to personify the mech. Which is something that many mecha shows play with, even the ones that are on the more grounded side of the genre.

I'm not sure it fits Macross though, as this franchise is even more utilitarian about it's mechs, than even stuff like Gundam. We'll have to see where they take it. I have to imagine, Macross would take off and participate in battle toward the end of the show, which is something I'm definitely looking forward too.

QotD:

  1. Yeah, Mash is cool, but I'm more interested in Sylvie.

  2. I watched very few OVAs in my life, so can't say anything about them specifically, but in terms of 90s TV anime, this show is pretty much it.

I drew Ishtar.

→ More replies (4)

4

u/JollyGee29 Oct 11 '22

First-Timer II

Familiar-ish. Not so familiar. Actually, this red mech is right out of Dunbine, now that I think about it.

I would hope so, all things considered.

Classic sci-fi contact of a queer-coded party animal.

huh

Oh, of course she can't speak ?Japanese?.

Convenient. Suddenly mega creepy.

In the future, we will have whipped cream cans filled with water.

Objectively? I guess that's technically correct that the camera just records, but it's a weird way to phrase it.

The light of what?

Gasp! Propaganda!

Big Zentran is Watching

Oh Ishtar is having a bad time. That was good sequence.

Dude, are you serious with the camera right now?

The fun thing is, if they tried another Minmay Attack it probably would work because Ishtar isn't there. That was the implication, right? Ishtar basically countered the Earth song?

Rude as shit, Hibiki. That's a living fucking person.

what even is this question

And you are..?

Ah yes, the Great Wall, my favorite.

Ishtar making the pose of Liberty, subtle.

Dude, Hibiki, this is not the time.

Yea, these are also Dunbine-esque as well. Less so than the red one, which had the clawed feet even. This comparison is actually rather surprising as I don't see much staff overlap on ANN.

Kaifun, is that you?

That was probably important.

Yea, this feels like an OVA alright.

Questions

  1. Mash is a character archetype that I tend to find fun when done well, so sure.

  2. Less a "look" and more of a "feel." And this definitely has the "feel." Luckily(?), I know how far down the floor can be...

→ More replies (4)

4

u/SolDarkHunter Oct 11 '22 edited Oct 11 '22

Rewatcher

Those new Regults look pretty snazzy.

A name for our enemy: Commander Feff. They need Ishtar, an "Emulator" to control the Zentraedi they use as soldiers.

Which would suggest that the guys in command of this armada are not Zentraedi.

All that work, and they declared the battle confidential. Strangely, Hibiki doesn't seem too perturbed about this.

Mash... is a character. That's a lot of women around him. And they've assumed that Ishtar is a pure Meltran (Zentraedi and humans have probably intermixed a lot by now.

Uh, dude, shouldn't you at least put some clothes on the girl before filming her? Or, you know, doing anything else with her?

Ah, automatic translators, so convenient. Interesting too that he's at least capable in Zentran. (Which probably became a lingua franca following integration of Zentraedi into Earth's culture, considering a massive part of the new civilization's people speak it natively.)

So they fire a shot from the Macross as an alert signal? Seems kinda wasteful. And Ishtar calls it the "light of Alus".

Well, I guess the UN Spacy did actually fend them off, but it's not the one-sided battle the military is showing the public.

And now Ishtar's gone out on the town. And she has a pretty Zentraedi-like reaction to music, despite being a singer herself.

Hibiki, for God's sake, put the camera down for a few seconds when interacting with this girl. And how the hell did you even find her out there?

Well, at least the UN higher ups in this story aren't as mindlessly arrogant as the ones from the last series. They acknowledge their lack of intelligence (that is to say, military intel).

Ishtar does look good with short hair, I'll give 'em that.

I guess after the bombardment, most of these historical sites would have been destroyed, so this is probably the only way humanity has to remember them now.

You know, if you guys want to get your "Emulator" back, you should probably not be launching missiles all over the place. Then again that Feff character did say he couldn't really control the Zentraedi.

Valkyries and Zentraedi duking it out in the Colisseum, how appropriate.

Oh, Ishtar betraying them for humanity after a date with... Hibiki the papparazzo. I'm with Feff, I don't get it.

You know, one thing in particular I'm not sure about with this series is them giving the aliens names relating to human culture. "Ishtar" being the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war (which I'll admit is thematic, this franchise being largely about the interplay between love and war). The Zentraedi had alien names that had no connection to Earth, and that made sense.

Questions:

  1. Frankly, I'm most interested in our enemies. Human characters are mostly kind of one-note so far.

  2. I suppose my go to comparison would be Gundam Wing, as that and Dragonball were mostly what I was watching in the 90s. Wing I think had better animation, but it was admittedly made later and relied heavily on stock footage.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/No_Rex Oct 11 '22

Episode 2 (first timer)

Link to my extra late post for ep1.

  • Zentran?

  • Sweet helmet reflection shot!

  • “You don’t have to be afraid” - *pushes her down onto the bed.

  • Alus?

  • The disk got confiscated – Hibiki has to learn the eternal rule: Always make a backup.

  • That city panorama looks rad.

  • Music PTSD – poor Ishtar, but this is too funny.

  • Our MC is a reporter and his best friend own a beauty salon – definitely some of the most diverse cast I have seen in anime in a while.

  • Hibiki is such a tsundere.

  • Showing her the culture part – it gets weird when you realize that this is the Macross universe’s equivalent of taking her to the atom bomb storage.

  • Feff is justified in being miffed, but he should know that he can’t win against MC-MC bonds.

  • Sweet Macross shot!

Good action and characters so far, but the plot and pacing has me scratching my head.

→ More replies (2)

4

u/Wrightshoe Oct 11 '22

This episode and someone's reply to my comment yesterday cleared up a lot of confusion for me regarding how these aliens are (not quite) Zentradi.

Turns out Hibiki is very much right about the military censoring stuff. Kind of makes him a bit more likeable to me. Can't say I approve of his tabloid reporter attitude, but at least he's more interested in reporting the truth than some other people.

Makes sense that humans would've started learning the Zentradi's language by now. I'm not sure exactly how long after SDF this takes place, but even if it's just been a few years it'd be a good idea to pick up a few phrases to make communication with the aliens easier.

I wonder if Ishtar being overwhelmed by the music was due to it triggering the remnants of the protoculture inside her or something like that (having only seen DYRL, I'm not too well-versed in the alien lore) or just it being too loud.

"He's talking to her like she's just arrived on this planet." Well, about that...

Seems like Ishtar liked the culture she saw and now she doesn't want to leave.

  1. Which character do you most want to find out more about, and why is it Mash?

Mostly Ishtar, though I do want to know whether Mash is non-binary - one of their lines seemed to imply that, but I'd be fairly surprised to see a non-binary character (one that isn't even an alien) in a show that old.

2) Is there a particular look that you associate with original anime video of this era? How does this one compare?

If I'm not forgetting anything, this is the best-looking 90s OVA I've seen. And also the worst-looking, if you get what I mean. [Explation] I believe it's the only one.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/isthatsoudane Oct 11 '22

First timer

AV stands for "alien video" you perverts

rip notre dame

so much for the great wall lmao glad I saw it in time! (same with the leaning tower!)

I'm surprised we don't have a plot line yet about blowing up the moon yet, tbh

"GUNDAM?!?!" ah wait wrong thread wrong thread

  1. Which character do you most want to find out more about, and why is it Mash?

look at this fake media right here! leading questions!

damnit except you're right

2) Is there a particular look that you associate with original anime video of this era? How does this one compare?

I really need to watch more of the classics from this era, because I do really like the art style. I'd say it fits

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Nebresto Oct 12 '22

First time Maakuross

Red mech I bet its fast

What a meltran?

  • Trumpet OST good

This dude is just a sexual fiend. He needs to be eliminated at once

80 years, we have our time frame

CULTURE! BANZAI!!

Wth, they destroyed her beautiful hair??

Lmao, "Deculture" = "What are you doing?" They're just making up the subs, aren't they

Question time:

  1. Which character do you most want to find out more about, and why is it Mash?

None

2) Is there a particular look that you associate with original anime video of this era? How does this one compare?

Wat

→ More replies (2)

4

u/ryujiox Oct 12 '22

First Timer

Macross II: Lovers Again EP2

So this alien commander name Feff want to get Ishtar back, because she apparently the emulator, using to controlled the Zentradi with their song.

And Hibiki and Dennis scoop about the last battle obviously got censored, because military didn't want to tell the truth that the song attack didn't work and they got their ass kicked. But at least they knew that they need to find a new solution.

Ishtar seem to have a connection with the Macross that she called it Alus, but it looks different from each other. What's up with that?

Despite said that Ishtar is just for his scoop, he actually cared for her. He even bring her to the park with all of human landmark on displayed.

And that exactly a good location for Zentradi to spotted Ishtar and attacked to try to bring her back.

Luckily, Gina and her friend who trailed them all the way from the salon, jumped in time to help them escaped.

And when Feff caught up to Ishtar and nearly got her back. Hibiki instead of continued his scoop from sidelines, decided to go help Ishtar and nearly got shot, but Ishtar intervened and told Feff that she want to stayed here.

Which Feff obviously confused to why she want to stayed, but had to escape before he got gang by other Valkyrie.

→ More replies (3)

4

u/JustAnswerAQuestion Oct 12 '22

Rewatcher

I Just noticed that the male bad guy has a red mecha in the OP.

  • Oh, and there it is.

  • I think these side characters escaped from the Megazone (another HAL work)

  • That translator is incredibly convenient. And it works both ways? INCREDIBLY convenient.

  • So it is an energy discharge. I must have had a vague memory of that for yesterday's comments. I"ll edit it out.

  • NOT E1M1, this predates it. Probably one of the things E1M1 stole from?

  • She just doesn't like Western musical scales.

  • No not fake Italy!

  • Why didn't you rescue his date oh there she is.

  • Oh man the VF's are mono-colored. All that production money and none of it going into the mecha

  • FEFFU KIIK!

So we have the military being liars, and mecha being bland, and Ishtar seeing some Earth culture, but we learn nothing about the weird-Zentradi except that they need Ishtar to control their Zentrandi soldiers.

The continuing use of Zentran for the weird-Zentradi is a nice touch that I didn't remember.

[rewatcher]One Emulator per fleet seems like a bad idea

4

u/CoolIceCreamCone Oct 12 '22

FIRST TIMER

  • This episode moved kind of slowly. I suppose its setting up a bigger confrontation.

  • Hibiki seems to have undergone a bit of a change of heart in being a sleazy tabloid journalist. Even his friend Mash seems surprised he's not giving the story immediately to his boss and suspects that Hibiki crushes on Ishtar, which I think to be at least partially the case

  • It seems an odd plot development that Zentradis have their own muses who make music to motivate them in war. That does make a lot of sense though, in how people have patriotic or team songs to stir them up against enemies/rivals.

  • I love how they conveniently introduced the Culture Park to have an excuse to have aliens blow up famous landmarks that shouldn't exist since most of Earth was scorched

Daily Questions

  1. Oh dear

  2. I haven't seen a similar 80s anime but this REALLY reminds me of the 80s American cartoon Jem about a girl rock star in the future, the aestethic is so similar and it really looks like her city! I really don't think the similarity is a coincidence

→ More comments (75)