MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 36: Farewell To Tenderness

Iconic Scene: Minmay bids farewell to Hikaru and Misa and the love triangle is resolved... somehow.

Quotable Quotes: "When I find my reason for singing again, I'd like to come with you on your ship."

Best Character: Global for already being on the bridge, like a boss.

Best Death: Laplamiz and Kamujin. If ya gotta go, go with the one you love.

And so Super Dimension Fortress Macross ends. This last third of the series was much more mixed than the previous thirds. The setup and world-building of the Reconstruction Arc is good but the characters, specifically Hikaru, Misa and Minmay leave much to be desired.

For a more comprehensive review of the series (sort of, I wrote it back in 2011) see these previous posts--

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 35: Romanesque

Iconic Scene: Bad Santa indeed.

Quotable Quotes: "It's time to give them their Christmas presents."

Best Character: Kamujin, for getting to win again and actually coming up with a fairly elaborate plan.

Best Death: Poor old Santa Claus here. At least I assume he died.

The penultimate episode. Kamujin has a Reaction Engine and devastates a city. Hikaru seems to have chosen Minmay and Misa has lost all her self-respect. Time for for all threads to be pulled tight.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 34: Private Time

Iconic Scene: I'm pretty sure this is the only time in all of the Macross franchise we see a named character pilot a Destroid.

Quotable Quotes: "You gave this to the wrong person."

Best Character: Nobody because every character comes off badly in this episode

Best Death: Misa and Hikaru's relationship... at least for now.

Hoo boy, this episode... Honestly, I feel that in reality, there's probably not a lot of chance that Hikaru and Misa's relationship could possibly recover from this debacle. Oh and this the one where Kaifun finally leaves but that's really not what should have happened.

Also, this episode is where Minmay gets a lot of hate for trying to break up Misa and Hikaru... except that never happens at all. It's Hikaru who blows off his date with Misa to be with Minmay. And seriously, if I was on a date and my date's douchebag manager showed up and threw a glass of water in her face and basically treated her like a slave, he'd be slammed up against the wall faster than you can say "Hollywood Hulk Hogan."

Also, check out this post and this post for a much more detailed analysis of this episode.

Hikaru you are a stupid... stupid... STUPID... a word has yet to be invented to describe how much of stupid... you are.

THIS. IS. NOT. HOW. IT. SHOULD. HAVE. ENDED.

THIS is how it should have ended:

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 33: A Rainy Night

Iconic Scene: Roy and Claudia with the VF-X test models

Quotable Quotes: "Every time I go out there, I'm a little afraid."

Best Character: Roy, for baring his soul to Claudia.

Best Death: The Karyovin pilot that Roy shot down.

Probably the absolute best episode of the Reconstruction Arc... which is kinda weird since it's mostly flashback

This is also the only episode where we see these Unification Wars-era non-transforming fighters, the Unified Forces F-203 Dragon II and the Anti-UN Alliance MiM-31 Karyovin. You can read more about them at the Macross Mecha Manual

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 32: Broken Heart

Iconic Scene: HI-HO MONSTER! AWAY!

Quotable Quotes: "Aw, just when the culture was getting good..."

Best Character: Laplamiz, for turning Kaifun into a marrionette.

Best Death: Again, none worth noting


An interesting point is made here by Kamujin but I think it's more just that you can't expect a race like the Zentradi to wholly change and especially not in just two years. Plus if you follow expanded material this won't be the last Zentradi uprising and will even be something of a plot point in Macross Frontier.

Again, pity this didn't kill him... or at least cripple him permanently.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 31: Satan's Dolls

Iconic Scene: Aw gee, looks like that miclone chamber got stolen anyway. Where's your Kaifun to make a fancy speech now, ya mooks?

Quotable Quotes: WARISBADMILITARYISBADGOAWAYWENOLIKEYOU. (et cetera, ad nauseum, more Kaifun babbling)

Best Character: Hikaru for being the bigger man, one of the few smart things he does in this arc.

Best Death: Hopefully all the poor stupid fools who listened to Kaifun and Kamujin squashed on his way in.

The one where Kaifun and Kamujin are allowed to win. And everyone else loses.

Also: Karma sucks, don't it?  (yes I'm intentionally using bad grammar)

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 30: Viva Maria

Iconic Scene: THE BABY OF POWER!!!

Quotable Quotes: "This is the power of the protoculture!"

Best Character: Komilia, just for being the representation of the power of Protoculture or whatever.

Best Death: Nobody notable, really




Otherwise known as that episode where Max and Milia stick their baby in a space capsule and take her into the middle of a warzone.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 29: Lonely Song

Iconic Scene: We will heroically clean your laundry!

Quotable Quotes: "You suck but keep making me money!" (OK that's not what Kaifun really said but it's what it sounds like to me.)

Best Character: None really, this episode.

Best Death: Oh it's coming, I can feel it.




So these guys should be considered kinda like war heroes right? They did kinda help spread culture around the Zentradi, right? And the best they can do is bounce from job to job?

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 28: My Album

Iconic Scene: Misa's pictures

Quotable Quotes: So even out in this wasteland, new life can grow?"

Best Character: Minmay for sassing back to Kaifun. Unfortunately we'll only sort of see this one more time before it all fades away...

Best Death: None this time.




Suffice to say, the Reconstruction Arc or After-War Arc has become a decidedly mixed bag for me. We'll see why as we go through these episodes.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 27: LOVE DRIFTS AWAY

Iconic Scene: Quite a few really. Just see the following photos.

Quotable Quotes: The entire surface! It's been annihilated!

Best Character: Hikaru for finally giving up on Minmay... for now at least.

Best Death: Bodolza, of course.

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This was supposed to be the final episode of the series and it definitely shows it. The entire surface of the Earth (well maybe not all, see following episodes) gets glassed (a scifi term meaning it was blasted so much it turned into volcanic glass) and it's pretty much up to the Macross and their new Zentradi allies to save what's left. This was something of a leftover from when Macross had its much more apocalyptic 52 episode outline where the earth would be slowly devastated over the course of the series and pretty much only the crew of the Macross would be left. Also, the love triangle is SEEMINGLY resolved with Hikaru formally giving up on Minmay, and even doing a gallant rescue of Misa from where she was trapped in the ruins of the UN Spacy Alaska Base. Then they fly off into the sunset where the Macross stands silhouetted. All's well that ends well, right? RIGHT?!

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If this had been where the series ended, this would have been the ONLY time we would have seen an actual Destroid pilot.







Monster pilots. Perhaps even almost literally.







Is this a regular occurrence?







The mighty UN Spacy fleet... right before being totally annihilated.









War spares no one. Also, I find it hilarious that in the Robotech version of this episode they felt the need to stuff in some dialogue here even though the characters are on screen for all of 2 seconds.






The Grand Cannon is fired way too damn late but at least it gives Britai, Laplamiz and the Macross an opening.






Loli, Conda and Warera wish Minmay good luck. Also, Minmay has a derp face here.






All wings, standing by.






Finally some Nousjaduel-Ger! I'm pretty sure this is the only time besides the DYRL movie that they show up.






We also finally get to see the Macross's other weapons used in concert.






Max and Milia's Super VF-1Js going into battle!






Minmay, you're gonna really wish you were with Hikaru two years from now...






You know Hikaru, that's what the head lasers are for. Jeez, even in the final battle (sort of) he still sorta gets shot down.






The famous Orguss battroid






I don't think this Zentradi ship has any official lineart?






Damage to the Cafe Variation. Apparently the civilian population of the Macross was eventually whittled down from 58,000 to 40,000 and I would bet a lot of that happened here as the Macross took several bad hits.






Not sure why this was done in white and gray...






Go for the power regulator on the north tower, Wedge! Oh wait, wrong thing...






Should have left well enough alone, Bodolza.






Thanks to Star Wars now everyone has destroy large objects in space spectacularly






So if this really is where Macross City will be established... how did they get all that water to fill the lake?









So they're together now, right? RIGHT?

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 26: MESSENGER

ICONIC SCENE: The Macross and about 1,200 of Britai and Laplamiz's ships against 4,790,260 ships of the Bodol Main Fleet. Brown Trousers on standby.

QUOTABLE QUOTES: "What is the function of that flimsy garment? [lingerie]

BEST CHARACTER: Exedol, especially for his gloriously awful attempt at My Boyfriend Is A Pilot.

BEST DEATH: The Quamzin squad schmucks that Britai has to shoot down because Quamzin is himself a schmuck.

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The places are set, the roles cast, the deep breath before the plunge is taken. Exedol finally gets to meet directly with the command staff of the Macross, Misa, Hikaru, Max, Millia, Minmay and, unfortunately, Kaifun. Although, I do have to laugh uproariously at how even though this seems to be the exact kind of thing that Kaifun would want, i.e. the military sitting down with one of the leaders of their enemy to talk rather than fight, he remain so self-righteously stubborn about it all. He's even the first one to give up and declare things hopeless when the Bodol Main Fleet shows up! What a little pissant.
Anyway, even though it looks like the Britai/Laplamiz fleet will be calling a ceasefire with the Macross, it doesn't much matter as the massive bulk of the Bodol Main Fleet shows up in Earth orbit. Pants to be darkened.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 25: VIRGIN ROAD

Iconic Scene: Ya think ya got enough cake there?

Quotable Quotes: Our love is strong enough to conquer all that!!

Best Character: Global for his speech that starts out sounding like a blistering indictment against aliens... and then becomes a call for peace so much better than Kaifun's bawling.

Best Death: Nobody notable

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The various problems with this episode have been elaborated on at length by Richard Clark, so I'll just say that I really am not surprised Max and Milia have problems in their marriage in Macross 7 considering how "whirlwind" their romance is here. Seriously, it goes from attempted murder to matrimony in like five minutes.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | INTERLUDE THE SECOND

And so the second third of the series ends.

This is where the series really came into its own with a unique story that took the real robot concepts made famous by Mobile Suit Gundam and puts their own twist on it. The only negative would be the appearance of Kaifun. As I said before, if he was designed to be hated, they succeeded in SPADES.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 24: GOOD-BYE GIRL

Iconic Scene: Not a duck.

Quotable Quotes: Shammy! Launch the Booby Duck!

Best Character: Hikaru because not only does he fly the Super Valkyrie but he seems to finally be getting it that he and Misa have something much more tangible than emotional stress after being trapped for two weeks.

Best Death: Again, the poor Zentradi that messed with Max and his new VF-1J

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The beloved Super Valkyrie makes its debut and Hikaru now has another woman walk out of his life, sort of. At least he sort of seems to be getting that he has a thing with Misa.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 23: DROP OUT

Iconic Scene: Hikaru and Misa have a moment in the Nyan Nyan Cafe.

Quotable Quotes: Who knows? War is the only thing our enemy knows, right? But we'll put an end to it someday.

Best Character: Misa, for just being awesome this time around.

Best Death: Nobody notable.

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There's hope now in the form of the Zentradi defectors... and that Misa has FINALLY given up on that douche-nozzle Kaifun... even though she already did that back in episode 16... whatever.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 22: LOVE CONCERT

Iconic Scene: Did she have some head trauma? Nope, just animation trauma.

Quotable Quotes: There he is! No doubt about it, that's the ace who beat me!

Best Character: Kaifun for getting konked on the head by a stage light. Pity it didn't kill him.

Best Death: All the poor buggers that likely get killed as the Zentradi start blowing up the city.

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The thing that stood out to me the most about this episode was that this was the first of many, many stupid things that Kaifun will do. Since we're talking fiction I have no compunctions against saying that I kinda hope lots of people got their stupid selves killed listening to him. Oh who am I kidding, he'd just blame it on the military.

Actually no, the first stupid thing that Kaifun did was open his big, fat gob and start talking.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 21: MICRO-COSMOS

Iconic Scene: THIS IS THE LEGENDARY POWER!!

Quotable Quotes: Did you guys do stuff like that [kissing] with Minmay?!

Best Character: Hard to call in this one, Nobody really stands out. Maybe I'll say it's the three spies again, for blatantly lying about making out with Minmay.

Best Death: Again, no actual deaths except for maybe the death of the imaginary relationship Hikaru had with Minmay.

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Another link in the chain leading to what would have been the finale. Minmay and Kaifun's movie Shao-Pai-Long premieres... and somehow Britai and Exedol are able to watch it? What the heck? Last I checked, movies, especially in the 1980s, weren't broadcast. Maybe they are doing it on this occasion so all the crew of the Macross can see the premiere even if they're not actually there? Hikaru can't stomach the sight of Kaifun getting his incest on and runs into Misa (literally) and they get to have another moment. Given that Macross The First retconned in references to the Vajra, I'm actually not surprised that Britai and Exedol can believe that the miclones have the power supposedly demonstrated in the movie. They'll pass this along to Bodolza and it'll lead to his decision to attack Earth.
Incidentally, Shao Pai Long is my least favorite Minmay song, initially because it simply had something to do with Kaifun but now... I dunno I can't really point to anything specific, I just don't like it as much as some of her other songs like Silver Moon, Red Moon and My Boyfriend is a Pilot.

ADDENDUM: Concerning the crack I made in this post about Kaifun and Minmay getting their incest on, it's been brought to my attention that I missed a line of Hikaru in one episode that, combined with other evidence, very possibly means that Kaifun is not the son of Minmay's aunt and uncle but the son of her uncle from a previous marriage. This means that they are not blood cousins. This would make their romance not literally incestual but... it's still kinda squicky anyhow. And I still hate Kaifun.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 20: PARADISE LOST

Iconic Scene: What is this? A rummage sale for ANTS?!

Quotable Quotes: I guess we're Macrossians now?

Best Character: Loli, Conda and Warera for being the secret purveyors of culture. :)

Best Death: None in this episode, as I recall

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And another good build to the plot here. After the last episode where the characters are beat down with the hopelessness of their situation, it begins to spread to the civilians as well but they take a more optimistic view of it. With the Zentradi, Loli, Conda and Warera have begun their tenure as the Heralds of Culture, spreading it amongst the fleet.

Global has to break the news to the Macross's civilian population and his heartfelt speech helps to deflect some of the anger that might come his way and the way of the military crew as well as Minmay's speech and song, probably more on Minmay's part more than Global. Incidentally, the scene where Kaifun pats Global on the back... considering his attitude before now, after and during the after war arc makes me consider this action to be wholly out of character. Must have been a hiccup on the part of the writers' minds or somesuch.
Also, I wonder what the different colored stripes on the three spies' uniforms mean? Likely nothing as you can see more than a dozen and a half variations on the UN Spacy uniform on just the Macross.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 19: BURST POINT

I  think they must have blurred this out for the BD release.

I remember it being much more... graphic in the ADV dub.

Iconic Scene: So long, Kakizaki.

Quotable Quotes: The barrier is going to overload!

Best Character: Hard to say in this one but I think we can award this one to Kakizaki's widow, 20 oz. Porterhouse. :3

Best Death: Kakizaki is going away this time, although his death here is not nearly as gruesome as it will be in DYRL.

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Now THIS is a twist. Hot on the heels of Roy's death comes the death of Kakizaki and not JUST that but the final dashing of the hopes of getting the Macross's civilian population off the ship. This was a good place for this as we're nearing the end of the second third of the show and Macross was originally supposed to end eight episodes from now. It's time that the characters got kicked down and kicked again before they can rise back up. Hikaru has now lost not just his squadron leader but his sempai and now his wingman. Misa is depressed over various things, Minmay is being driven into exhaustion and generally there is an air of hopelessness. Certainly doesn't help that the UN Spacy brass has decided that a ship full of both thousands of their soldiers and thousands of civilians needs to be their sacrificial lamb.

MACROSS MEGA MARATHON | EPISODE 18: PINEAPPLE SALAD

Iconic Scene: The deadliest thing in the universe, an anti-plot armor equation.

Quotable Quotes: Hikaru's lucky, he's got a real ace on his team...

Best Character: C'mon, it's Roy. This is his going-away party and it's great.

Best Death: Do I even need to say?

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What else can be said about this episode except that it likely had a bigger impact here in the west than it did back in Japan. Sempai characters dying is not something new to anime (just looks at Ryu Jose from Gundam) and indeed the trope of mentor characters dying so the hero can stand on his own feet is about as old as stories themselves.
The one thing I do have to wonder about this episode is, why did Roy do what he did? Why go to Claudia's instead of the hospital? My theory is that he figured he was bad enough off that there was as much a chance of dying on the operating table as surviving and if this was his time to go, might as well spend it with his lady love than being cut open by the docs.