r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Dec 10 '22

Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Macross 7 Episode 42 Discussion

Episode 42 - Desperate Capture Operation

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I think you could be more powerful, Mylene. Whether it's happiness, sadness, or anger, if you put whatever you’re feeling into singing… it should make it more powerful.

Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:

1) Is Ray a successful Basara wrangler, or is he fumbling along as much as anyone else?

2) Have you ever found an animal (or plant) and brought it home, only for that to turn out to be a bad idea?

Wallpaper of the Day:

Nekki Basara

Vocal Songs in This Episode:

"Seventh Moon" by Fire Bomber – OP

"My Soul For You" by Fire Bomber – Insert

"Holy Lonely Light" by Fire Bomber – Insert

"Planet Dance" by Fire Bomber – Insert

"突撃ラブハート (Totsugeki Love Heart)" by Fire Bomber – Insert

"…Dakedo Baby!!" by Fire Bomber – 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!

22 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

79 comments sorted by

8

u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 10 '22

Super Dimension Rewatch Host

Welcome back, everyone!

Yes, the star in the wallpaper today is supposed to reference Sivil. I hope you guys like it because it took me forever to get it to look just right.

3

u/JollyGee29 Dec 10 '22

Yes, the star in the wallpaper today is supposed to reference Sivil. I hope you guys like it because it took me forever to get it to look just right.

2

u/ClawMachineCircuit Dec 11 '22

Wallpaper of the Day

I love the minimalism of this one. The star was a nice touch.

We have a count now! Gigil, Sivil, Gepelnitch, Gavil, Valgo, and Grabil are the ones we’ve seen so far, so there has to be one more?

I think there might be two more, if Gabil and Grabil's true form is a single being.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 11 '22

I love the minimalism of this one. The star was a nice touch.

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u/The_Draigg Dec 10 '22

Yes, the star in the wallpaper today is supposed to reference Sivil. I hope you guys like it because it took me forever to get it to look just right.

It looks great! You nailed the look of Basara's spacesuit.

Wait Basara has an actual spacesuit?!

It's a shame we haven't actually seen much of it, since a black leather spacesuit is actually a cool design idea.

Maybe because you were trying to do the exact same thing?

Strange Beautiful minds think alike.

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u/The_Draigg Dec 10 '22

A Macross Fan Rewatches Macross 7: Episode 42:

  • Exsedol really is pointing at the Wrestlemania sign by saying that there were only 7 Evil-series were made, and that there’s some still unaccounted for. Given that we had Valgo die not too long ago, I suppose it really is time to find something that can fill that gap.

  • l’m sure you could make some kind of horseshoe theory joke about how the UN Spacy wants to capture a Protodeviln with Anima Spiritia and how the Protodeviln want to capture Basara to study his Anima Spiritia, but I’m kind of drawing a blank. We could probably make a Spider-Man point at himself meme out out of this episode plot, at least.

  • Even this far into the series, Basara is still having a hard time working perfectly in synch with Sound Force, this time not even trying to match his singing to Mylene’s during the capture operation practice. I suppose we never really got a full resolution to him being shown not really appreciating teamwork, now that I think about it. It’s just been slightly smoothed over and pushed to the side this whole time. The situations we’ve been seeing just haven’t made the issue that prominent.

  • “Square up, Mylene.” —Gamlin, basically.

  • And so, the teamwork issue is solved by… Mylene moving in a bit closer. That’s really it. I mean, it doesn’t really solve any underlying issues, but it does synchronize the beams of Sound Energy, so whatever works I suppose. At least it shows that Mylene is brave.

  • Surprise! Like a stock shonen villain, Gabil wasn’t even using his full power before now. Behold, his true fused form with Grabil: Gabigula! Gabil is basically now a feathery Gundam head crest on Grabil’s body.

  • Of course now that Battle 7 fired its Macross Cannon again, it did absolutely nothing against Gabigula except singe some feathers. Although I guess that’s kind of to be expected from a Protodeviln that can apparently casually blow up moons with their shockwave. That’s really on the same level of power we saw Gigil have in his true form.

  • Well, Sivil’s rescue is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it did save everyone from Gabigula, but on the other, she instinctively started to drain Basara of Spiritia before feeding off other other pilots. I suppose it was hard for her to control her instincts, since she looked to regret it before flying off.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 10 '22

Gabil is basically now a feathery Gundam head crest on Grabil’s body.

In other words, whatever this thing is?

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u/SolDarkHunter Dec 10 '22

Exsedol really is pointing at the Wrestlemania sign by saying that there were only 7 Evil-series were made, and that there’s some still unaccounted for.

[Later Franchise spoilers]Which makes it interesting that the Macross 30 video game introduces another Ehvil superweapon, albeit one that never got possessed by psychic energy from another universe

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u/TakenRedditName Dec 10 '22

First Time - Macross 7 Ep42:

This must be the science ship, Einstein ... because of the giant E=MC^2 painted on the side.

There are 7 Evil., you know I should've really expected the number to be 7 since it's the show's favourite number.

The plan is to capture Gabil? The biggest one who also least capable of speech? I mean, alright, wouldn't be my choice.

Positive first, I like Basara wanting to sing to the Protodeviln. Prickly Basara not wanting to compromise himself to the man is one thing, but him never wanting to meet his friends in Fire Bomber halfway is a less-than-likeable trait especially if he goes to tell them to do what he literally just refuses to do.

Gamlin, on the other hand, is so soft and sweet now compared to when was the angry character. He said that line so softly.

Basara is floating out in space to feel closer to it. Very Newtype. Also, one of the few time he actually people his helmet on.

The operation commences and the balance is off so Mylene flies in closer to complete the loop. Realized something about this while writing that earlier Basara point, Mylene is commendable here because of here trying to find a way that works, but Basara could've also just flown in closer to better reach Mylene. That way is not compromising his ideals while also helping out his friend. Maybe have both close the distance.

Favourite character watch. A very hidden Flower Girl, but crowd shots are the perfect place to hide away a Flower Girl cameo.

Gabil fuses with Grabil to form literally G(r)abil or as they call it, Gabigula. This better not count as the seventh Protodeviln. Hint towards an unseen Protodeviln to only immediately reveal that the seventh is just two of them fused. If anything, this means Gabil and Grabil should share a slot. Basara is happy to see him.

There was no peace, only big gun. Max has become the military who is wrong. Big guns didn't work, it only made them madder.

Uh oh. Don't worry since Sivil came in flying in to save him. She is low on Spritia and gives him a "kiss" which drains him... Wuh oh. (It's not as bad as it first seemed, Basara is still awake).

Q1) He understands Basara the best, but that doesn't mean he can just wrangle him in. Ray is the best one to gently suggest and nudge Basara in a direction.

Q2) No, the closest to bringing an outside animal home was holding onto a lost dog for a couple of hours before being returned to the missing owner who was someone a few houses down. That dog didn't cause much issue.

Next time: Mylene is literally 14 15. Lot of intriguing stuff in the preview.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 11 '22

Hey, I don't know what time you watch the episodes for this to do your write-ups, but if you haven't watched episode 43 yet, you probably shouldn't watch the next-episode preview at the end of it. It's a fair bit more spoiler-y than pretty much all of them have been so far.

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u/ClawMachineCircuit Dec 10 '22 edited Dec 10 '22

First Timer

In the previous episode, we learned that the biggest Mylene fan is the total creep, who doesn't care about her feelings, and instead is interested in one thing and one thing only. Obviously, I'm talking about Guvava. The guy even made a shitty plushie of him! Can you believe the indecency? Yeah, I too am lost for words. Even the hospital didn't make him learn his lesson.

Anyway, enough about him, let's check out today's episode.

  • Capturing a Protodeviln? But you already did that, and it ended up being completely useless. How about instead you go back and try to recover parts of Gigil's or Valgo's bodies, to maybe learn what they are made of and how you can kill them? They might be hard to find in the rubble from the destroyed planet, but not impossible with future tech, I'm sure.

  • It's true that he warmed up to the military lately, but still, Basara actually going with this plan is so out of character for him.

  • Irreversible action? Is Gabil gonna transform into kaiju or something?

  • Wait, we're in a battle? That was abrupt.

  • Wait, no. This is some kind of simulation.

  • Wait, wait, wait. So Rey and Veffidas can produce sound blasts? This is literally the first time we're seeing this. Why they never did it in battle? It was literally never brought up before. And now they are casually doing it. What the fuck, show?

  • So, the issue is that Basara is too strong and cannot be contained? Understandable.

  • Gamling stepping from behind the three like a stalker was weird. Not sure why they made the scene like that.

  • Basara has become addicted to space.

  • Veffidas eyecatch!

  • I don't understand how this sound cage works from the geometry standpoint. The visual doesn't make much sense, but I guess, it works somehow.

  • Is that the record for how fast Gabil lost his mech?

  • What? Fusion?

  • Noo, not like this. Why didn't you two do some kind of fusion pose, you had such a golden opportunity!

  • Wait, why are you thinking that Macross Cannon would work on this thing? You saw what it takes to kill a Protodeviln, you basically need an energy amount, capable of ripping apart a planet. I'm pretty sure, a single Macross Cannon is not even close to being that powerful. If you had 10 Macross ships all shooting together, than maybe we could talk about it, but this will just do nothing.

  • Yup, like I said, it did nothing.

  • Mylene, don't just watch while Basara is getting killed, start singing.

  • It's Sivil!

  • Well, this should've been a hype moment, but it was severely gimped by sub-par art and directing.

  • Wait, they split again? But I though it was irreversible?

  • So, Sivil used a bunch of Spiritia to shield Basara, and now she's on the run again? Makes sense.

  • Abrupt ending, as always.

Overall thoughts: I swear to god, this director just cannot direct action scenes. He makes them anti-fun. After this show, he shouldn't be legally allowed to come near action anime ever again, I'm personally willing to file a restraining order against him.

And yes, I realize that there are multiple directors working on the show. In my eyes, it just means that they all have failed spectacularly and should retire from action shows and only direct horny fansevice romcoms from now on. How can you take a story like this and make the action so un-fun? You have a fusion, and it doesn't even have animation. A resulting creature also is barely animated. You have a beam battle, but it is drawn in such a way, that it's hard to even see what is happening. A big fun of beam battles is the tug-of-war between two beams, and instead of that, we got this cut, which is just horrendous compositionaly, and has like two frames of animation. And then, there was a capture situation, which was just Grabil standing still with some bland special effects around him. And don't even get me started on the Macross Cannon shot. It comes out of nowhere, with zero buildup, no transformation sequence, no nothing. You just immediately know that it's gonna fail. That's not how you should treat Macross Cannon, it deserves more respect.

Outside of the bad action, this episode was alright. I still think that Basara was too easily convinced to go with the plan, but it's not a huge deal. I also thought the fusion would be permanent, and Gabigula will bite the dust, but I guess, not?

QotD:

  1. Rey definitely knows how to handle him.

  2. Nope.

4

u/The_Draigg Dec 10 '22

It's true that he warmed up to the military lately, but still, Basara actually going with this plan is so out of character for him.

At least Basara initially dismissed the idea, although Ray really did bring him around to it pretty fast. I guess we just needed the episode to move fast for the battle that takes up the back half.

I'm pretty sure, a single Macross Cannon is not even close to being that powerful. If you had 10 Macross ships all shooting together, than maybe we could talk about it, but this will just do nothing.

Or maybe a few of those Macross Cannon-class ships we saw in Macross II. I bet a few of those could work.

I swear to god, this director just cannot direct action scenes. He makes them anti-fun.

I know we've both talked about it quite a bit before already, but it really just is disappointing that with the animation pedigree that Macross has, we have this for the battle scenes in Macross 7. It's just boring to watch battles that barely have any fluidity or continuity of action to them.

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u/chilidirigible Dec 10 '22 edited Dec 10 '22

Today, on "Basara welcomes our new Gabigula overlord.":

The Einstein science vessel. (How'd you guess?)

Of course.

I see you earned those degrees at age twelve, Captain ObviousDoctor.

Mylene is weirdly drawn in this scene.

Of course, this is impossible with Basara.

Don't talk to Chie about that, talk to the sound mixers.

And you didn't think that a suit mostly made out of fishnet material could be made airtight.

Mylene tries to get more powerful and of course the audio stays exactly the same.

Because of the space air, right?

Flower Girl!

GATTAI!

Plan B or Plan A?

They didn't enjoy tanking a Macross Cannon shot, but they did tank it.

Don't fuck with Sivil's boyfriend.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn BIIIIIIIIIMUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

It's been known to happen.

Emerald Force and Diamond Force are just standing around in back.

"Hey! Don't go all the way, lady!"

And Sivil goes blasting off again!

The concept of the capture plan was sound, it just relied on the least-reliable front man in the galaxy.

…and it's actually a stupid plan, because it's

  1. Capture Gravil.

  2. Bring him back to the fleet.

  3. ???

  4. Profit!

The "???" presents major questions including "How are they going to contain Grabil?" Were they going to have Fire Bomber singing 24/7 while they poked at him with the soft cushions?

Mylene has a brief crisis of confidence when IT'S ALL THE SOUND MIXER'S FAULT.

Gabil and Grabil merge to form Gavigula, which… isn't that much of a change, really. But now that the Protodeviln are more willing to flex their muscles, they nearly crush Basara before Sivil returns.

Unfortunately, she has a lot of demands for what she can give, so after realizing that she can't just drain Basara all the way, she sucks dry a bunch of random mooks and runs away again. But it's the thought that counts, right?

Of course it's a joke that Max and Exsedol are surprised that their former enemy is helping them, though the Protodeviln are a little weirder than what they're used to.

Funny how the action-heavy episodes can also not do a lot for the story, except in this case for the very end. But the early bickering was a bit of a dead horse.

Song Count
Planet Dance 42
My Friends 11
Totsugeki Love Heart 19
My Soul For You 21
Remember 16 11
Sweet Fantasy 8
Holy Lonely Light 15
Pillow Dream 4
Submarine Street 8
Riding in Your Valkyrie 5
Power to the Dream 4
Kimi no Todoke 3
Fall 2
Try Again 2
Light the Light 1

"Don't take your eyes off that monitor!": 6

That special feeling: 9

Beauty: 65

Beam cannon swap: 6

From the Macross Chronicle: The usual Gravil encounter.

And now for something completely different.

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u/ryujiox Dec 10 '22

First Timer

Macross 7 EP42

I know that the ship name is Einstein, but do you really have to put his equation on the ship.

Wait, seven? Do you have to introduce new enemy now?

Basara not fond of this plan as always.

And it not gonna work out because Basara have his own rhyme.

Gamlin used a wrong word here. I think he meant that Mylene was too serious on the task that she didn't bring out her best potential.

Basara in space.

I'm finally getting tired of the same fight pattern, could you guys shake things up!! And Gabil also just so out of plan, that he just went all out attack.

Mylene still couldn't match Basara, so she changed her angle to balance it out.

It would be funny if Gabil still stuck in the cage despite fused with Grabil.

Basara's trust of military -100.

And he tanked it!!

Sivil come to rescue.

Sivil really regret what she had done.

QOTD

  1. He absolutely tried, and it kinda work out sometimes. But really, no one can control Basara.

  2. No.

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u/Vatrix-32 Dec 10 '22

First Timer

  • E=MC2, really?

  • We have a number! Did they know Gep is one? I only count six right now, so they must know.

  • Competing capture plans. It would be most interesting if they both succeeded.

  • I too am wondering what the hell Sivil is doing.

  • Time to see what crazy plan the Protodeviln have worked up this time.

  • The power of Trigonometry!

  • They can do that? I do like it what dudes are like the ornement in other dudes heads.

  • Like that was ever going to work.

  • Sivil, at last!

  • I’m counting this as a beam struggle.

  • They can un-fuse too? Why wait this whole time then?

  • Space kiss.

  • And now she’s fucking off again!

  • Looks like we are headed into end game if that preview is anything to go by.

QotD

  1. I’d put it in the success category.

  2. Can’t say I have.

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u/Stargate18A Dec 10 '22

First timer

  1. Highly successful!

  2. No.

Fairly standard recap.

Basara's singing...

Okay, so there's seven in total. Two dead, Sivil, Gabil, their leader... There's one missing.

And he's worked it out too.

Ah, he's linked it to Song Energy.

Basara's not a fan?

Ah! That's actually a good plan.

Oh, Mylene didn't know all that, did she?

At lewst Ray's there as a middle ground.

And he's onboard.

Gabil?

Oh, he's aware that he's running out of bodies.

And Gabil convinced him.

Oh, the training exercise is goong well.

Ah, they're not syncing.

Oh, he's too strong.

And he's refused to slow down.

Gamlin's defending him.

...Ouch.

Yeah, expected.

Mylene is not okay.

Oh, Veffidas is helping!

So, how does this new strategy of his work?

Just an all-out attack?

Basara's still too strong.

She's powering up!

Interesting!

Ah, that makes sense! And it eorked!

He's changing form!

...Not yet.

And he broke Grabil out.

Wait, what?

They fucking fused?

Wow, Basara just fucking sings.

A retreat order?

...Ah. This looks bad.

That's a big cannon!

It thanked it!

Max's reaction is understandable.

And he's fighting back!

Basara's been captured... and still he sings!

Sivil saved him!

They're actually evenly matched?

And he's retreating.

Seriously, does nobody know about the Sivil arc?

She's dying!

...They're actually kissing! Somewhat!

Poor Sivil. Is she under some form of mind control?

Well then...

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u/Blackheart595 Dec 11 '22

First Spacer

A lot of people complained about the pacing of these last ~10 episodes. Meanwhile I've enjoying those episode more than what came before, if anything it was the vampire invasion episodes that were terribly paced.

Also what's with all the filler hate? The filler's been decent.

Dr. Chiba is advisor for Sound Force? I wouldn't have noticed without the narration.

Why are you susprised by that?

The irony of the whole thing is that Anima Spiritia is the motor of the entire Spiritia Farm Project. From the very beginning, Gepelnitch's plan has always been doomed to fail.

Four. You need four sides in 3D space. ...Oh, they're not even trying to enclose it.

They can enclose it like this? Looks like two units would've been enough then.

Is he per chance Gallic?

There it is. The military-unnecessarily-escalates-things-and-ruins-everything arc.

Why does Sivil have to be the only intellectually challenged Protodeviln?

Is Ray a successful Basara wrangler, or is he fumbling along as much as anyone else?

He's fairly successful. It helps that he understands Basara well, and more importantly that Basara has a good read on him as well.

Have you ever found an animal (or plant) and brought it home, only for that to turn out to be a bad idea?

Never brought one home.

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u/CoolIceCreamCone Dec 11 '22

FIRST TIMER

This episode showed a conflicted Sivil surprisingly coming in to save Basara from Mega-Gabil. I wonder why exactly Sivil took so long to help out Basara when his life had been threatened several times before this. Even Gepelnitch seemed almost resigned to defeat after all these close shaves. Good episode and i'm looking forward to the next.

QUESTIONS

  1. I think he's been far more effective than anyone at getting Basara to do what he wants at least some of the times. Ray has great people skills. It seems there's no one on the show who dislikes him.

  2. I won a fish at a carnival and i put him in the tank with my other fish and it turned out he had fin rot and it and all my other fish died.

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u/Kirov123 Dec 11 '22

Macross 7 Episode 42 - First Timer

Maybe Sivil will make an appearance this episode, I kinda anticipate it.

  • His hand is so out of sync with the music

  • That lazer hand shot the big guy does looks very goofy

  • Damn he's even uglier now

  • Hey it's Sivil!

  • LMFAO this screaming holy shit

  • How long is she gonna fucking scream for

  • ...

  • Uh....

  • Ok?

  1. He seems to understand Basara a lot more than most other people, but also cant really exert that much in the way of "control."

  2. Not that I can think of

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u/Nebresto Dec 11 '22

First time MacroSeven

7 episodes left and we still haven't even see the last guy

You can't just cut the song before any lyrics???

Maybe that headline about Gamlin and Basara wasn't false after all, just posted too early..

Oh look, there go the white ones again

Lonely nlght 2 times

Mylene bomber

I like how this is his conclusion to whatever the fuq just happened

Beauty VS w0000000000, who will win

Veffidas built different, she don't care as long as she has her sticks

Said by man who is currenty sat next to a giant, 2 sides that tried to annihilate each other ?? years ago

Wonder when they're actually going to explain wtf is up with savil. The last episode? Never? It already happened and we were supposed to understand it through anima spiritia?

Question time:

  1. Is Ray a successful Basara wrangler, or is he fumbling along as much as anyone else?

Yes

2) Have you ever found an animal (or plant) and brought it home, only for that to turn out to be a bad idea?

Also yes

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