Summary:

After having heard Ranka singing at the mall, an agent from Vector Promotion named Elmo Kridanik sets up a meeting with Ozma to ask him to allow Ranka to be taken in by the agency. Sometime later, Alto is in class looking at the earring that he had finally found, and Mikhail teases him about it being a present for his girlfriend. Mikhail thinks that Alto had been on a date with Sheryl, and when Alto denies that it was a date, Mikhail brings up the kiss. What Mikhail is more concerned about is the kind of relationship Alto has with Ranka, and while they’re talking, Nanase comes running with news about Ranka being scouted. The group joins Ranka for drinks to congratulate her, and Nanase is so thrilled that she announces the formation of the Ranka Lee Fan Club. While the others are talking, Ranka apologizes to Alto because she wanted to tell him first but also didn’t want to bother him. Alto uses the chance to reveal that he had been at the mall, but he claims that he was alone at the time. He also gives Ranka the ticket to Sheryl’s farewell concert.

Shortly thereafter, the group’s attention is turned to a message being broadcast throughout the colony ship by the Frontier President Howard Glass. To everyone’s surprise, he makes public the existence the Vajra and how the Vajra have attacked the Macross Galaxy fleet. While the President is speaking, Mikhail gets a call from Ozma ordering them back to base. Ozma also calls up Ranka to reassure her that neither he nor any of the other pilots are going to die. After returning to his bunk at the SMS, Alto watches a press conference held by Sheryl where she asserts her belief that the Macross Galaxy fleet – her home – is safe. She also insists that her concert tonight will go forward as planned and that she’ll return to the Galaxy fleet. Hearing all this motivates Alto to go see her at the concert hall. The staff there try to stop him backstage, but Sheryl hears the commotion and declares that Alto is her friend.

Once the two are alone, Sheryl reveals that the earrings are a memento from her mother. She then asks Alto if he likes this ship, and he answers that he hates it because there is no sky there. Though he asks her back the same question with regard to the Macross Galaxy, she doesn’t get to respond because he suddenly gets a phone call. Mikhail is the one who called and wants Alto to return immediately because they’re being sent to one of the surviving Galaxy ships that was discovered along with a large swarm of Vajra. After Mikhail hangs up, Sheryl asks if Alto is going, and so he reminds her that he’s a pilot. He then tries to return the earring, but Sheryl decides that he should hold on to it since it’s a good-luck charm. She goes on to admit that she actually hated Macross Galaxy since she didn’t have any relatives there, and seeing her talk like this causes Alto to tell her to give him a break because he has a hard time reacting to it. Regardless, he takes the earring as good luck, and Sheryl makes it clear that she’s only lending it to him.

Alto quickly heads back to the SMS ship where launch preparations are already well underway, and he ends up hanging the earring in his VF-25’s cockpit. As the SMS ship is launching, Ozma tells Kanaria of his promise to Ranka not to die, and he informs all of his pilots that none of them are allowed to die either. While this is going on, Ranka is racing towards the concert hall where Sheryl has already begun performing Diamond Crevasse, and she happens to see the ships make the space fold jump to their destination.

Preview

Well, this felt like a set-up episode – the calm before the storm of battle so to speak. There’s not a lot that happens action-wise, but the big things that do happen are that Ranka took another step to stardom, the SMS prepared to engage in a major battle, and Alto and Sheryl got a little closer. My favorite part was in the final five minutes or so (including all of the ED) which had a straight play-through of Diamond Crevasse as part of Sheryl’s concert, all while the warships were launching. Given the lyrics of the song, it almost feels like she was singing to them (or more specifically to Alto) instead of to her concert audience. On a side note, now that they’ve showcased the entire song, it wouldn’t surprise me if we got a new ED soon, especially since the current one ends with a shot of Sheryl’s concert. And speaking of which, Sheryl/Nakabayashi May‘s single debuted yesterday at #2 on the Oricon daily charts and is #3 today.

Since Alto has the earring for luck, I’m willing to bet that he gets to keep it for much of the rest of the series, and it’ll remain one of the bonds between him and Sheryl. Sheryl’s role in the story is still somewhat unclear to me though. I’m not sure being one of Alto’s love interests by itself is enough to carry her through the series, and unlike Ranka, there haven’t been tons of hints that she’s connected with the Vajra in any significant way. Perhaps she’ll use her celebrity status to rally the Frontier people using the brand of determination she already demonstrated in this episode, even while she shows her more vulnerable side to Alto. There’s still a little voice in my head though that wonders if she could be killed off late in the series. It’s probably too early to be thinking about that though, and for the time being, I’m more interested in seeing what happens in next week’s battle.

109 Comments

  1. lol woo, the series is long and everything can happen. And as we all know anime (Canvas2 people!) you can never be 100% sure till the end.

    No big surprise as for this episode, however this scene https://randomc.net/image/Macross/Macross%20Frontier%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2028.jpg shows that there’s definitely something between Michael and Klan Klein (you know that “klein” means small in German?^^). Looking forward to the subs, seems a pretty dialogue heavy episode. And big fighting next week – damn, so tense 🙂

  2. I just watched the raw. Love the melancholy in the end when the ships enter hyperspace – with everyone being ready to fight.

    @tsuchiro
    Seems so, but maybe she starts singing herself? Sheryll looks kind surprised to me.
    We’ll know next week.

    As for the the scene with Michael and Klan Klein I just misinterpreted the screenshot. Michael just calls Alto and Klan happens to be checking her mech in that moment. Still think there’ll be something between those two though.

  3. Wow …. those final 8 minutes … wow those were so awsome. the singing and the parts beeing shown during the song were so beautifully tuned. This makes me sooooo anxious of episode 7

    Whispo
  4. Show Spoiler ▼

    But right now Ranka is obviously ahead and was the “sure thing” from the first episode. We’ll see. I wasn’t being serious anyway.

    Watched the episode. It was pretty good. Nothing much went on and the drawings weren’t great. Probably a money saving episode for next week. Can’t wait.

    woo
  5. @Melchior

    That was never the case, you need to rewatch the original over. It was up in the air. You could see that by the time she decided to even think about him it was too late.

    GP
  6. They better not pull a RankaXAlto ending at the last second of the series because SherylXAlto is so much better they have such great chemistry. Also, that earing scene was beautiful.

    :P
  7. Personally I think that a AltoXRanka would be really weird. I sense more a brother-sister chemistry between them or at least from Alto’s perspective and pairing those two together doesn’t sit well in my mind.

    Cloud
  8. It was a good episode even though the production quality wasn’t up to part to the previous weeks.

    In any case… I like the AltoXSheryl pairing. I have to agree with someone that said their chemistry seems more like a brother sister relationship at the moment. But then again, we have many more episodes to go so I’ll wait.

    Twilighthack
  9. it looks more and more like a Sheyrl x Alto with Alto taking over the big brother role for Ranka BUT for her it’ll be conflicted because she has feelings for him.

    Their chemistry is good, but I’m thinking Alto may be in for a personality hardening after some more combat time.

    Slade
  10. You guys /do/ realize that there’s still at least 20 episodes to go, right? Anything that happens now could be totally thrown to the wind through God-knows-what kind of situations/events occur in the next 20 episodes, so trying to explain away AltoxRanka out of the picture so early in the series is /incredibly/ premature.

    Shinji103
  11. Aside from the shipping war I’ve got to say Ranka in her hippopajamas looked adorable and Captain Global sure knows how to handle his female staff. Finally a smart man who properly makes use of the babes on his bridge.

    Also am I the only one who thinks that that earring Alto has is bound to shatter in some kind of cliffhanger where Alto either gets critically injured or captured by the enemy?

    One funny mess-up were those empty fighters on the flightdeck of the SMS vessel. Not only did they appear between one shot and the next completely out of nowhere, but whoever thought them up should have spend a second thinking about how ridiculous boarding a fighter plane in open space is.

    bearzerger
  12. The last ten minutes were simply beautiful.

    The mix of ED and Macross Quarter folding away was done REALLY WELL.

    I’m really starting to like Sheryl and Alto.

    pinoy78
  13. @Shinji103

    It is too early to say for sure, but most people have said that they feel Alto with one or the other looks/feels/seems better to them. It’s just a simple opinion.

    I don’t hate Ranka or anything but I just feel like Alto x Sheryl works out more to me.

    Only time will tell.

    GP
  14. I think a nonincentous BrotherxSister relationship with the lil sis crushing on the big bro (who is too dense/stupid to notice and gets involved with another girl leaving lil sis alone) is cute. Cliche and cute ^___^

    Anyway, for this episode, I like it. I just want them to NOT kill off Ozma.

    ani_d
  15. I am hoping this goes for 30 episodes actually… I don’t if they can pull it off but wishing thinking sometimes worked… I posted a while back about klien klan and mikaihl mainly because of her red mech and his blue mech reference from the original macross.

    Yay Valkyries can fold now, I am still a little skeptical about the hand knife, but I am hoping for a melee type Valkyrie which has laser tip wings with maybe a spear of sorts as a weapon and some minor projectiles.

    I am wondering if cathey and ozma will get back together later in the series? and introduction of other Valkyrie besides long ranged versions.

    Violett
  16. “Why? They have all suits, I don’t see a problem here. Furthermore they are just parked.”

    @mutio
    Yes, they have suits, but running around outside in space is still really stupid. The lack of gravity and the vacuum makes prepping a ship and boarding a rather inefficient procedure. It is a lot more difficult it takes far longer and is far more dangerous, especially in battle. In short it’s retarded.

    As for parking them, why would they park them there and not in the launch bay with all the other fighters? Especially since they won’t ever use them. I think someone sticked a bit too much to the aircraft carrier he used for the the design of that ship.

    bearzerger
  17. @Linage

    I know you didn’t say “manga > anime” or anything like that, but let’s not start with talking about how the anime differs from the manga, okay? I don’t really care how it differs, the anime is doing a great job either way.

    Shinji103
  18. @valkyrie SMS discussion: um, it’s a show. no big deal? ._. the entire concept of an f-14 look-alike with humanoid mode is unrealistic to begin with. Just watch and enjoy the show.

    Tmoo
  19. @linkinstreet

    That would be……only the best thing they could possibly do for this series. 😀

    And it’s “Ore no uta wo kike~~~!” 😛

    Frankly I don’t see it being /that/ out of the ballpark. This effect Ranka’s voice has on the Vajra seems at least a little similar to Song Energy, so it would make sense if the Macross Frontier government eventually called in Doctor Chiba and the (maybe ex-) Sound Force for help.

    Shinji103
  20. We’ll see how things go, but Alto and Sheryl now have the same depth of connection that Ranka and Alto picked up earlier on… so as the triangle goes, it’s moving along slowly. It’s STILL too early to talk about pairings, at least until Alto finds himself seriously attracted to one girl or the other… which hasn’t quite happened yet.

    Now, that agent gave off pedobear vibes when he hugged Ranka like that… or was I the only one who sensed it? 😉

    PS: Alto, make sure you avoid the pineapple salad in the mess. They don’t call it the ‘Focker Special’ for nothing.

    Haesslich
  21. is there a possibility of them making alot of chemistry go on between Alto and Sheryl early on in the series cause Sheryl might die soon?, maybe on her way back to galaxy?.

    ezza
  22. @Shinji103
    Yeah, it has been 4 years since I last watched Macross 7, so I forgot what he actually said lol.
    Anyways, Sheryl needs to live, at least for the love triangle to go on. And besides, a tsundere is always better than a loli lol

  23. Wow, Macross F keeps surprising me. I just get more and more impressed by it. This episode started out kinda slowly, but sped up a lot starting form the press conference – even though it’s just mostly setting up for the next episode.

    The final ending sequence, with the Macross quarter separating from the colony, and accompanied with Diamon Crevasse. What a great transition! What an incredible way to end the episode. Instead of just looking forward to Geass R2 every week, I get look forward to Geass R2 and Macross F every week.

    I am not going to call who’s going to win (Sheryl or Ranka) but I am just going to say that I am becoming more and more drawn to Sheryl’s side. I started out as a fan for Ranka but Sheryl just seems so…deep a character. She’s very strong and determined, but has her softer and more playful sides. That’s a complete character to me.

    W-General
  24. the combination of diamond crevasse and showing SMS’s ship departing has got to be one of the most emotionally-packed scenes ever.

    @ nugundam93

    Exactly, what a beautifull scene. It felt like a sad scene, though it packed so much confidence from the characters. It was really amazingly done, like the fighting sequence in the deculture edition of episode 1.

    Whispo
  25. Wow.. it took forever to get through due to that server problem. Yay it’s back!

    I loved all of Alto’s scenes (coz it was obvious Sheryl was always on his mind… awww*_*), he even lied to Ranka about being with Sheryl (tee of the hee^_^). Of’corse I especially loved Alto x Sheryl’s scene behind the stage and the earring part, which made me squeal when Alto hung the earring in the cockpit – because he made this really gentle face – then the scene blended to Sheryl rising to her concert (so pretty!). I also squealed when Sheryl sang “at least I wanted to hug you one last time” and the scene suddenly shifted to show Alto. I haven’t loved a couple this much for a while, Alto x Sheryl are just so cute. ^_^!!

    If Ranka was leading in the love triangle before, she’s definately behind now. Mainly because of the earring and the kiss. It’s still way to early to conclude anything, since Macross seems to be really emphasizing this triangle thing. Somehow I can picture Alto choosing to protect Ranka after something terrible happens to her (e.g.Ozma RIP or/and she recalls her past tragedy) and he’ll return the earring to Sheryl (hope not though, it’s actually so cliche)

    And another scene of Grace using her implant. I still speculate Ranka has one with Vajra research data in it. If implants aren’t important to the plot, kick me.

    Yukiruchan
  26. Never knew Vlritwhai had kids. Though with the purple hair, cybernetic eye and baldness maybe Mr. Viller is his brother. I was hoping that the mysterious Mr. Viller was Vlritwhai.

    RedWolf
  27. Oh god, please keep the Macross 7 OUT OF Macross F kthx. The last thing we need is everyone fighting with music. Macross needs it’s trademark VF missile fights or it’s just not macross. Sorry to say for any mac7 fans, but I really didn’t like it. And I’m a die-hard Macross fan.

    As for Osma dying?, I think it’s too early right now. maybe if this was up around ep10 or so then yeah. Right now when Ranka is close to starting her singing live for Ozma to die would totally throw her off and depressed and so on. I still think he’ll die but just not in the next episode or 2.

    GP
  28. Episode 7 gonna be so freaking awesome. Even this episode with the singing and the scene so well match that definitely make Macross the best show this season, if not maybe best anime in years.

    John
  29. @lol: RC’s the first blog that pops up when i type in an anime episode number. any blogs stupid enough to copy are committing reputational suicide IMO. the majority of blog-tards like us know where the articles originated.

    Tmoo
  30. if it goes the way of “megafortress” that will be dope!!! especially with the “mega-rejection” ending… there are a lot of similarities….but who knows

    BROOKLYN otaku
  31. Sheryl’s far ahead of Ranka atm… I think that shot at the end beautifully summed up that Ranka is far away from both Sheryl and Alto at the current stage of the show. I suspect this will be as big a gap Sheryl opens up on Ranka at least for the first half of the show. One thing Frontier is doing a lot better than the original is integrating the love triangle from the start.

    Also I really don’t think Ozma will bite the bullet this series… or at least for the first 20 or so episodes.. originally I thought he would go around the midpoint which would give his Valkyrie to Alto.. which would also go with the 2nd op if they did one.. but this secondary triangle of Ozma/Kathy/Leon probably ensures his survival… at least for most of the series.

    AltoXSheryl & OzmaXKathy ftw.

    Westlo
  32. errrr…thats not Battle ‘Frontier’ that folded, thats a smaller ‘SMS Ship’, like omni said in his review.
    Check the size of the 2 ships if you all don’t believe me
    (as well as the SMS Ship’s launch point, where you can see a part of the City ‘Frontier”s hinge of the cover)

    info600
  33. Who called it Battle Frontier?

    The SMS ship IS called Macross Quarter.

    Four additional fold gates were also shown in addition to the two Guantanamo Class Carriers and Macross Quarter.

    pinoy78
  34. Nobody did it physically but it seems like Ranka’s being kicked around lately. I think the writer is onto something. =| Green girl prolly will grow a backbone soon. She should dump Alto while she’s at it and end this stupid triangle. I want to see more action. I bet she’ll find out she’s the cause of Vajra attacks and will take responsibility for it.

    As for Sheryl, she already has charmed Alto this early in the series with Ranka being obviously neglected. For someone like Alto all I can say is Nice Boat.

    Derrick
  35. You know what for some reason, even though SherylXAlto is cute, I am stuck on RankaXAlto. I think its because at the beginning of the series I decided that I wanted them to be together and I tend to not be able to change my pairings of characters. Just like in kimi ga Nozomu Eien I wanted TakayukiXMitsuki when everyone wanted TakayukiXHaruka (but I got what I wished anyway!).

    Nano
  36. Wow Nano my sentiments exactly. Even with Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. First impressions always get me. Sure AltoxSheryl has great chemistry, but I feel like AltoxRanka chemistry will get more interesting if AltoxSheryl do happen. I know there’s a lot more in store for the future so I don’t want to get ahead of myself =/ I’ll just silently wave my Ranka flag here. Also like Derrick said, I think Ranka will sprout a backbone later. Sheryl’s absolutely glittering these days.

    Ricaryx
  37. yeay!! @nano and ricaryx
    finally somebody who thinks like me!my housemate and i both lobe ranka x alto^^ and i love takayuki x mitsuki too! we will keep wave the flags for ranka no matter what!ranka will definitely grow some backbone.i dont feel that she’ll end up being a songstress really..

    audishah
  38. @mutio: according to macross compendium your acutally right about her singing “Sheryl sings with all her heart and even Ranka Lee joins her in singing from the audience seats”.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    tsuchiro
  39. i think Sheryl will dead at the mid of the series. So the earring she gave to Alto will be a momento. Ranka will be a great singer at the end of the series…..fat chance……….
    Alto X Ranka is the answer of this series. (i have a stong feeling about it)

    shincus
  40. Okay people you do not do a love triangle by killing off a member of it halfway through the show and Ranka has a much higher chance of dying than Sheryl due to her Varja connection… and also if anyone dies it will be near the end.

    “She should dump Alto while she’s at it and end this stupid triangle.”

    Alto’s isn’t hers to dump since to anyone who isn’t a blind RankaXAlto shipper they never went out in the first place. Ranka fans are a riot when using words like betray, dump, affair and boyfriend when talking about Alto.

    Westlo
  41. i follow the Jp wiki for otaku’ sake… compendium has much for gamers…
    no hard feelings, i used to be into them games too.

    a little abt the Frontier – 25th New Macross class ship refered to as – flagship of Frontier fleet:
    . Battle 25 may remain the same size as Battle-7, City 25 however is really almost exceeding 15km in length as opposed to City-7’s 6km (woah). it can carry more than 10 million.
    . the Galaxy is the 21st New Macross S…. (blah blah blah)
    . in this age when space fold is getting trivial… the big headache is when (if, ever) the next fold destination will be it – same thing that happened to Megaroad-01 may just happen to whoever.
    . what i’m thinking is – is this the ‘it’? it does explain why the Zentradi have the ‘Retreat and rendevous with other Grand Fleets if the Flagship is lost’ standing order…

    NUNS, S.M.S, where’s Miss Maria? ZHiME (okay, we can laugh…)

    tonbo
  42. Hm… I have this feeling that sheryl will be lure away by her emotions into another man’s arm while Alto freaks out and wet his pants crying. Ranka is also a likely candidate for this role, but it’s still not clear, and prediction can turn sour at best with a long-running series.

    Sheryl and/or Ranka …
    1. will face a cruel fate (likely death).
    2. will turn to another man for security.
    3. will turn into a disloyal, two-timing slut, or an abusive cheating bitch.
    4. will both end up as an additive for Alto’s harem.
    5. will live happily with Alto, forming a polygamy bond.

    Alto …
    1. will die protecting mankind.
    2. will fall for someone.
    3. will grow attach to another woman half-way through the series.
    4. will lose faith (e.g., purpose? why? ….)
    5. will lose his sanity.
    6. will become an evildoer.

    etc….

    andynai
  43. Whoa chill it Westlo lmfao You prolly will be happier if I say Ranka is better off shunning Alto from now on, eh? I don’t care about the LT, hella didn’t see anyone here say this, but don’t hate on peeps for calling Alto a betraying, affair-ing, lying bloke. The guy’s a playa if you haven’t been watching Michael insinuate that in the show. He’ll get hated, he’ll get loved so deal with it.

    SMS interests me better than any pimps in this show.Frontier’s a sitting duck right now.

    @Shincus-Don’t say Sheryl will die. You don’t want anymore hardcore Sheryl fans eating you alive, dude.

    Derrick
  44. “Btw is that a Vajra ship in the preview? The one firing the big green beam …”

    I was under the impression that it was a Zentradi battleship, probably a Nupetiet-Vergnitzs class ship …

    J. B.
  45. If anyone draws the Minmay x Hikaru connection from the original macross. Might I note that Minmay was decidedly immature the entire series. You can probably parallel that with Ranka. If anything at least Sheryl shows she’s a little more than a pretty face and a ditz here and there.

    ren
  46. With the way Ozma kept insisting that he ain’t going to die, it just seems to be a premonition that he will eventually.I have a feeling that Alto will end up MIA sometime also but will eventaully be ok with Sheryl’s “good luck charm”.

    tabs05
  47. Maybe there will be a third girl, cause in the last few seconds of the op (3:08-3:10) they show a character we haven’t seen yet. Looks to me that its a female, or a very pretty boy… So instead of a love Triangle we could prob end up with a SQUARE

    JT
  48. Excellent episode! I’m not about to draw any conclusions on who will die on the episodes to come but I agree with Westlo that it might be Ozma but it will probably be later in the series. I think Ranka needs to be a star before her brother dies so she can sing a sappy song to top the Oricon charts :p. Anyway I don’t think Sheryl will die, her character is not a straight laid out cookie cutter. So there’s more to her than 6 episodes entails. Heck maybe she and Ranka are sisters, since she can’t remember her mother and Ranka can’t remember her parents. I remember in the previous episode someone posted an interesting theory that maybe Ranka has a memory embedded on her that’s why the Vajra always reacts to her singing then someone refuted that memory like Grace’s only work by retaining pictures but Grace answered a call at the start of this episode so I’m guessing that the theory is plausible.

    chizwhiz
  49. @westlo, who is the girl that new guy connected to? kyaaa i want to know! no wait, i dont.i do i do i dooo~~ or maybe better not? where did u get the info anyway??

    audishah
  50. Here’s the translated spoilers for Episodes 7 thru 10.

    CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK! DECULTURE!

    Show Spoiler ▼

    pinoy78
  51. Can’t wait can;t wait can’t wait!!
    Can’t wait for Brera Sterne to appear!!(Is he a star/another singer? He sure looks like one from the end of the Deculture Ep.1)

    Nor can I wait for Ep.7

    Thx for the spoilers!
    Comments on spoilers
    I’m a bit disappointed that Alto and co will be back at Frontier as quick as Ep.8
    I thought with that long departure scene, they were leaving to save Galaxy..
    (My stupid Japanese didn’t register they were only going 10 light years away)

    Yukiruchan

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