Summary:

As part of her new job, Ranka is doing a singing promotion for a carrot stand at the Zentradi mall, however no one is interested in what she’s selling. Her busy schedule keeps her from going to see Alto when he’s at the hospital, though she does manage to land a guest role on a television show. Ranka also ends up enrolling at Mihoshi Academy’s performing arts course, but on her first day, Sheryl shows up as well. Meanwhile, Leon informs Cathy that the ship they saved had disengaged soon after the Macross Galaxy was attacked, meaning that they still don’t know where the Galaxy currently is. Cathy in turn tells Leon about the mysterious Valkyrie that Alto saw, and right as Leon is changing the topic to having dinner tonight, Ozma walks in. This leads to Cathy hurriedly hanging up the phone, and she and Ozma end up trading barbs over the lateness of the report and her wrinkles. Back at the school, Sheryl insists on having Alto – who she refers to as her slave – show her around. The two of them attract a lot of attention, so Alto takes Sheryl to a private spot and tries to get her to stop calling him that. When Sheryl pretends to be grieving over the loss of her earring though, Alto panics and apologizes. He nevertheless questions if it’s okay for her to be acting so nonchalantly at a time like this, so Sheryl explains that she’s keeping faith in the Macross Galaxy.

Since Sheryl wants to try out an EX-Gear, Alto has no choice but to outfit her in Luca’s. She’s unable to control it very well though and ends up breaking several eggs. The girls are a mess because of this, so they all head into the shower, and Sheryl takes the chance to ask Ranka about how her job is going. She offers to put Ranka on her special program, but Nanase speaks up for Ranka because she feels that Ranka is fine without Sheryl’s help. Ranka ends up agreeing with Nanase, though she does thank Sheryl for the opportunity. Shortly after the girls emerge from the shower, a small green creature jumps out of Sheryl’s laundry basket with her panties on its head. It hops out of the laundry room and subsequently manages to evade the large group of guys who had realized that they could now get their hands on Sheryl’s underwear. Unwilling to stand around and do nothing, Sheryl puts on her dress without any panties on and chases after the animal too. In order to catch it, she hops back into Luca’s EX-Gear, however she forgets to engage the lock on it. And without any piloting skills, she manages to crash it repeatedly into the school walls, but she eventually finds the animal with her panties on the school’s rooftop. When the creature then jumps off the roof, Sheryl jumps with it. She succeeds in getting her underwear back, however the EX-Gear falls off while she’s airborne, leading her to plummet towards the ground. Fortunately, Alto catches her in his own EX-Gear, and Sheryl decides afterwards that she wants him to fly her around so that she can enjoy the view, all in exchange for her forgiveness for the earring.

The creature that caused Sheryl all these problems tracks down Ranka a little later that day at the monument by the cemetery overlooking the city. Having nowhere to go, Ranka starts to sing Aimo , and she’s surprised when, halfway through the song, a person nearby starts playing along with a harmonica – Brera. The following day, after having had Alto fly her around for quite a while the previous afternoon, Sheryl shocks everyone by enrolling into the pilot course at Mihoshi Academy.

Preview

Overall, I think this episode is comparable to (or even mirrors) the CODE GEASS episode where Arthur runs all over the school, except replace the mask with Sheryl’s underwear. It was amusing to see her going commando, but nothing really important happens here. Instead, there’s are a lot of little things like Sheryl forgiving Alto for losing the earring, Ranka running in to Brera, and Sheryl enrolling in the school’s pilot program. On that last point, I guess it’s now possible for Sheryl to become a pilot and Ranka to be the songstress who solves the universe’s problems with music. That’s just speculation on my part, but it certainly opens up a lot of possibilities.

And as expected, the animation quality this week was all over the place. The character designs in particular were very inconsistent, though most of the episode wasn’t too horrible. I swear one of those scenes made Sheryl look like a crack whore or something. Fortunately it looks like things will be back to normal next week with the focus turning to Mikhail and his past (I’m sure that’ll will make all the MikhailXKuran fans, including myself, happy), or so the preview would suggest anyway.

105 Comments

  1. The animation is not bad. The art is different from the other episodes and the characters are much more skinny, but it still a good episode. I’d disagree the designs were all over the place. They were pretty consistent throughout, but not the same as the other episodes. Watch the episode, you’ll enjoy it.

    aya
  2. So Sheryl has the possibility to pilot in future you say?…



    No, I just can’t see her as an all-singing, all-dancing, vajra-ass-kicking Valkyrie pilot anytime soon.

    nobody important
  3. Man, but some of them look like freaks now. Like Ranka when she’s screaming – if this didn’t have the title screen, I’d have assumed it was some Chinese ripoff copy of Macross Frontier, the character designs are so off. And I love how Sheryl seems able to make even the supposedly heterosexual women blush like that in the shower scene.

    As for the preview next week… chibi-Klein FTW.

    Haesslich
  4. This reminds me of Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann episode 4. In that episode they changed the art design then quickly switched back when they got a lot of negative feedback. Guess we may not be so lucky.

    Samurai Pumpkin
  5. Luca’s imagination is indeed 0.o Another funny thing about Luca is him crying all over his Ex-gear that he calls Samson, which Sheryl kept trashing.
    I think the preview screen #2 could be Mikhail’s sister in a flashback, based on some spoilers.

    RageTitus
  6. I dont know why but I’m supporting Brera and Ranka now ever since I watched the raw. But it was an okay filler but my favorite part was when she finally noticed Brera. XD

    Maya-san
  7. After proclaiming that her job was to sing last episode, I doubt Sheryl will suddenly do a 180 and join the SMS, Omni. =_=; I guess I don’t mind BreraxRanka too cuz he’s cute and Alto’s a jerk, so why not? He might be her brother though.;)

    “I swear Sheryl looked like a crack whore in one of the scenes.” LOL! I’ve no problem with animation. Sure there were crappy scenes, but they didn’t bother me much. It was funny actually.

    ani_d
  8. You already giving up on Alto x Ranka ani_d? I think things will definitely switch to her from say 11-18 but I expect Sheryl to pip her at the end.

    “After proclaiming that her job was to sing last episode, I doubt Sheryl will suddenly do a 180 and join the SMS, Omni. =_=;”

    *Predicts a line from episode 24*

    If it’s Rankas job to sing and Alto’s job to fight.. than it’s my job to do both! *fires speaker pods* LISTEN TO MY SONG!

    “And I love how Sheryl seems able to make even the supposedly heterosexual women blush like that in the shower scene.”

    Nanase blushed hardcore when Ranka held her hand. I support this pairing or Ranka and Brera!

    “I think the preview screen #2 could be Mikhail’s sister in a flashback, based on some spoilers.”

    I think you’re right.

    Westlo
  9. @Westlo- If Sheryl is going to do piloting and singing. I’m basically supporting both Alto and Brera for lil Ranka-chan. That’s all it is.;) If Brera turns bad later on, that’s okay too lol

    I forgot to ask, anyone know what the green animal is called? It’s creepingly cute. x_x

    ani_d
  10. Episodes like this just aren’t my cup of tea..
    I had the dry laugh face “HA HA” most of the time while watching until the part Sheryl saw the pretty sunset and started enjoying her flight with Alto (which is why I think she suddenly decided to enroll in the pilot course), while Ranka sang Aimo and Brera revealed himself. [Brera!!WHY?!didn’t you say something?!? I so wanted to hear you speak]

    ..Brera’s hair is blonde not green right?

    ..Alto didn’t even bother to pretend to look atleast a bit happier about Ranka’s transfer. Not like he’s attracted to Sheryl much either. Maybe our Hime actually likes Luca? (prolly not) But with all that’s going on, both Ranka and Sheryl clearly liking him, our Hime-sama still looks immune to love. Hard to know what will the outcome of this triangle will be.

    ..Luca. Is a weirdo. I bet he was seeing Ranka and Nanase blushing with a sparkly background. But Nanase was really blushing there..

    ..So much for the earring being important. Now Sheryl’s only going to wear one earring from now on? Alto should make her a new one.

    Yukiruchan
  11. The inevitable cool down episode. Time to take a breath after the big battle last week. As long as they don’t try to be too cute/crazy, I definitely enjoy some slower-paced character development, something I think Code Geass has been lacking as of late.

    Kadian1364
  12. He Diva you’re suppose to hate the lead and say stuff like “I’m glad Ranka didn’t end up with a jerk like Alto, she’s way too good for him” after the series ends.

    Westlo
  13. In my opinion Alto x Ranka won’t happen!

    This is a Mecha anime and in mecha animes only one girl is left at the end while the other one leaves, gives up, gets killed or joins the dark side (and gets killed after, hehe). And Ranka is the perfect candidate for becoming an antagonist. Her connection with the Vajra and her unknown past are too “ayashiii”! And her hair is green and moves!!!
    I think she will join the bad side at some point. Become the Vajra queen or something 😛

    As for today’s episode its just ugly but I hope they are saving the money for more action scenes later in the series.

    Kalessin
  14. Pretty fun episode. I second the poster who said that it was like the Code GEASS episode with Arthur. The strange creature/pet looks like Carbuncle from FF. I liked the SherylxAlto scenes but Alto did seem kinda annoying/rude/harsh in this episode. It almost erased the image of the cool, dependable look he had last episode. I like Sheryl’s constant teasing and her personality. It gives her a very realistic down-to-earth personality compared to the perfect Lacus Clyne (not that I don’t like her of course).

    nycs
  15. Dude…I feel bad for Ranka~

    No matter what she does, Sheryl keeps stealing her thunder. Poor newbie. It’s inevitable, I suppose. Hopefully the later episodes will make up for it.

    Kanki
  16. Oops. I realized I meant “maybe Alto-hime actually likes Mikhail” not Luca. Definately not Luca.

    Alto sure seems gay.

    I’m an Alto x Sheryl fan, but this episode made me lose interest in the triangle coz Alto-hime is being too dumb. Maybe I should change to Mikhail x Alto

    Yukiruchan
  17. Ranka fans shouldn’t worry too much, she’ll more than likely end up being more important than Sheryl as far as the plot goes. Of course that doesn’t mean she’ll end up with Alto… because while Minmei was more important to the plot Misa got her man. If you care about her character you shouldn’t be let down..

    Westlo
  18. I don’t get why people think Alto should be falling over either girl. He’s not interested in anything but being a pilot right now. He doesn’t owe Ranka anything. They are friends and he supported her, but anything else was imagined on her side. She should be getting some moments soon, though I do like SherylxAlto mainly and like their arguing relationship so far. Ranka needs to stand up for herself and be a success by herself, not relying on Alto to help her all the time. It’ll happen I’m sure.

    aya
  19. @aya

    I agree with you full. Lets just say the “fangirls/fanboys” for Ranka/Sheryl are in full force! This happens in every series that has a triangle though so it’s nothing new.

    As things stand Alto hasn’t shown that he likes/loves either of the two. The only difference is that he sees Sheryl as more of a women and Ranka as a friend/little sister. Also the fact he understands that Ranka is attached to him shows back in episode 6 when he lied to her about being with Sheryl. How you guys see him as a jerk/ass is odd, though I’ll admit I haven’t seen this ep yet, but still. He’s not clueless about either of the girls.

    As for who ends with who we don’t know yet, and until Alto shows who he likes himself we won’t know. As for Ranka being important to the plot, that’s obvious from episode 1, her time in the “spotlight” so to say will come soon, the show has to work out the other characters a bit before we move right into the main part. Next ep is about Mickiel and then episode 10 seems to kick things off for Ranka.

    GP
  20. Next episode is named friendly fire btw.

    Agree with GP, stop posting some nonsense about Alto being a jerk people.

    And Brera shows up in the end, bit surprising for me. Hope next week they’ll still show some scenes with him (although Michael’s past is very interesting too).

  21. Based on wikipedia….lol Misa got her man because she loved him more than Minmei. Minmei’s character got “bastardized” (I really don’t know another fitting term, my bad) when she dumped Hikaru for that other guy. Unless they bastardize Ranka’s character like that in the story, then that’s the time I’ll acknowledge a Sheryl ending. ^_^ Yes, yes, we all can agree Ranka’s going to be important later, but that important thing doesn’t necessarily have to be good. There seems to be some foreshadowing here about Ranka judging from Leon’s shady scenes, so I don’t really see that as another good thing for her. The light at the end of the tunnel is still far. I wanted to hug her when her manager told her her job was cancelled cuz Sheryl made a bigger wave at her school–something like that. Poor thing.

    I may be a fan of Brera, but we all know Alto will still be the resident pimp here. -_- Sadly. And that is why I agree that Alto is so gay in this episode. He’s been such a jerk despite all the good things happening, especially to Ranka. He’s definitely going to continue PMS-ing next episode, but the preview looks promising so I’ll leave it at that.

    I still like him though. Alto-hime just needs to get a clue.

    ani_d
  22. @ani_d

    Minmei didn’t leave Hikaru for the other guy, she was never with Hikaru from the start anyways. After she won miss macross and blew up to idol status her self centered mode kicked into over drive and she only thought of herself and her singing. By the time she realized he liked her it was too late since you had moved on with his life. That and trying to get him to stop doing what he loved “flying” was the final nail in her coffin. They didn’t “bastardized” her, it was just never meant to be when you ACTUALLY watch the original series. I love how many get info from wiki about shows. 😛

    GP
  23. @GP-I see. I see. It just struck me as though Hikaru and Minmei did click together but fame got to Minmei and they grew apart eventually. So her character wasn’t bastardized when she became self-centered and was blinded by fame. It was just…She just changed from the person she used to be before she won Ms. Macross. Something like that. If she stayed the same and actually answered Hikaru’s feelings, then Hikaru would just naturally have a change of heart and will still leave her for Misa ^_____^ Point taken. Me and my wiki won’t argue with you–who watched the whole thing–anymore.

    ani_d
  24. @ani_d,hahahahaaa…no offense westlo, u sure have lots of knowledge abt macross more than we do^^ plus,ur way of seeing and perceiving things are interesting:P

    anyway,ive watched the raw and i din think the animation was so set off.it still looks beautiful and pretty good.it started kinda weird to me, i dont want some cheap slow pace ep but well,it wasnt that bad esp when u have brera appearing in d end!!yeayy~~can they please put on some more actions?mecha-service please!!~~

    @yukiruchan, yes!!why couldnt brera just speak??!!i was waiting for his voice to just pop out!!XDXDXD err..does anything related to zentradi is always green?like ranka’s handphone and that cute animal thingy in this ep..maybe that animal belongs to brera.cool!

    audishah
  25. You really shouldn’t rely on wiki ani_db :\

    “I wanted to hug her when her manager told her her job was cancelled cuz Sheryl made a bigger wave at her school–something like that. Poor thing.”

    I don’t see why she doesn’t accept Sheryl’s offer of help, I mean it’s fine to want to make it on your own but most of the time it’s a case of who you know in addition to talent so not using Sheryl/Grace is stupid.. or perhaps I should say naive of her. Also she used a Sheryl song in the first place to make a splash at the Folmo mall which got Ranka her current manager… I still think Sheryl will play the main role in breaking Ranka into stardom though…

    Episode 10

    First off Sheryl is playing the star of the movie in Sara Nome while Ranka is only playing a minor role. Ranka only becomes the secondary female character Mao Nome after the original actress gets injured. Now Ranka is also signing the theme song… I wonder if Sheryl had a hand in that… if so she probably wrote the song anyway… I wonder if this track is Interstellar Flight which is the next cd single from Frontier.

    Westlo
  26. “I guess it’s now possible for Sheryl to become a pilot and Ranka to be the songstress who solves the universe’s problems with music”

    Well it’s either that or Sheryl boards a red VF-19 with speaker pods and a sound booster.
    Or Sheryl takes the stick and Ranka is her backseat partner in Jamming Bird-esque VF-25.

    In the words of a particular Fire Bomber.

    LISTEN TO SONG!

    RedWolf
  27. Don’t think too much about Sheryl wanting to be a pilot guys. She’s just doing it to be close to Alto. He’s the only person, or the first person to treat her like a normal person and not some super star idol. She says as much on their “date”. Aside from Alto now, she only really has Grace with her, besides that she’s also alone, like Ranka really, who only has Ozma and to an extent Alto though she really forces that bond more than anything.

    GP
  28. “like Ranka really, who only has Ozma and to an extent Alto though she really forces that bond more than anything.”

    If you had said that 4 episodes ago about 10 ranka fan boys/girls would have jumped on that, too bad the last 4 episodes have shown it’s true.

    wtb flashback to Ranka and Brera confrontation next episode, I’m curious how she knows him considering she had “lost” her memory..

    Westlo
  29. Oh yeah the little critter reminds me of a Zolan snake having three eyes. Zolan snakes are usualy wraped around the neck of a Zolan. A Zolan are a miclone race that joined the UN, which resemble elf eared Zentradi.

    Zolan snakes ae inteligent and can read Protoculture writings.(Macross Dynamite 7)

    Guess Zolan snakes are Protoculture genetically engineered pets.

    Though this one appears to be a ferret. I wouldn’t make it past that it’s a Zolan critter or former Protoculture pet.

    RedWolf
  30. I agree in that I also believe that Sheryl was influenced by Basara from Macross 7. That would actually make sense.

    Basara and Fire Bomber were doing well on the Galaxy Network Charts when Sheryl was younger, so Sheryl probably listened to quite a bit of his music growing up.

    Also, the fact that Basara saved the Macross 7 fleet with his singing makes him a hero-figure in the eyes of many people. Probably Sheryl included.

    We have already seen the influence of Basara/Fire Bomber in this anime.
    When Ozma was driving Alto to SMS the first time, we heard a Fire bomber song playing on the car radio. Ozma shouts out “Planet Dance” at the start of the episode 7 battle.

    So, I can see Sheryl being influenced alot by Basara. She has grown into a fairly strong-willed, independent young woman who tries her best to believe in herself and her abilities, and depend on others as little as possible. That being the case, I can imagine that she enrolling in pilot training is motivated by a few reasons:

    1.) To be closer to Alto.
    2.) Because her friend Ranka is also at the school.
    3.) Because her rival Ranka is also at the school.
    4.) She remembers Alto’s cell phone
    5.) She is unwilling to be totally dependent on others. When the Galaxy fleet was being attacked, she really had to sit back-stage and watch the fighter pilots try to save her home-fleet. Even though she was performing a concert, I can imagine her feeling helpless in regards to the Galaxy fleet situation. If she can become a pilot and help contribute directly during those types of situations, then I imagine her being the type of person who would pursue such training and do so.
    6.) Same as #5, except… with the focus being on Alto fighting, rather than the Galaxy fleet situation.

    Just my thoughts.

    “Planet Dance!”

    Kokoro
  31. I can imagine a few more reasons:

    1.)She was really impressed with the flight with Alto and wants to be able to fly by herself.
    2.)She doesn’t want to give up after breaking all those eggs during practice and losing control all over the school. She has to get it right coz she’s Sheryl.
    3.)She wants to understand why Alto likes flying so much and what it’s like to be a pilot. Duh. Same reason as Kokoro’s “To be closer to Alto”, just as like close in both physically and mentally.
    4.)To kill time before going back to Galaxy.
    5.)Her decision was on a whim. “katte ni”
    6.)Just the author’s intent to have Ranka join at the beginning, then Sheryl at the end.

    Yukiruchan
  32. Some random thoughts:

    1. No wonder one of the initial plots is “what if a Basara-type idol meets a Minmei-type
    idol” … right now, the two girls are both helping together. But on love matters, I can’t
    imagine how a Minmei-type idol win the heart of a lad whose heart is well into piloting,
    considering a Basara-type idol as her competition.
    2. After Luca, Simon, Peter, Johannes, Samson … and Messiah, I’m wondering what biblical
    name will Satelight use next?
    3. @Westlo: But I thought the UN Spacy kept those records on the Birdman as secretive as
    the records on the Megaroad-01?

    J. B.
  33. Eh, I’m still holding out for an AltoxRanka pairing, or at least hoping Alto doesn’t end up with Sheryl, since she’s a bimbo. She’s not quite as annoying as Minmay from the original Macross, but she seems to fulfill the same role. Hikaru was starstruck over her during the beginning and Minmay hung all over him, but eventually gravitated towards a more reasonable love interest, leaving Minmay with her crazy cousin (ha ha).

    Sheryl treats Alto much the same way Minmay treated Hikaru, which leaves me hoping that they won’t end up together in the end. Alto’s kind of a jerk, but I don’t think he deserves to be chained to that prima donna.

    Patches
  34. @Patches
    Ranka’s strength lies in genki, and her main problem right now is that she’s waaay too self-concious to pull it off. That Nyan-Nyan dance worked so well in the first episode because Ranka put her heart into it without worrying about whether it looked silly or not; that’s why it came across as awesomely cute, rather than stupid. If you contrast that with the carrot scene this episode, Ranka looked terribly self-concious, to the point where she’s hiding behind the carrot.

    The funny thing is, you’d expect Sheryl to be the more self-concious one of the two, given that she actually has a reputation to maintain. But yet she didn’t care about whether she looked silly or not chasing after that weird thing that took her panties. Despite the sheer absurdity of that chase scene, it’s hard not to admire how determined she can be when she sets her mind on something. If she was really a prima donna who cared about how she looked, crashing into walls would be the last thing she’d be caught doing. So even if that makes her a “bimbo”, Ranka would do well to internalize that sort of drive. Because that sort of spontanious behaviour should be Ranka’s greatest strength, not her weakness. Why on earth is Sheryl coming across as more playful than Ranka?

    That’s what mainly needs to change, methinks. Once Ranka makes that change she’ll do well.

    Starstruck is the last thing that I’d call Alto. He’s merely getting more and more entangled with a nuisance that he’s desperately trying to run away from. 😀

    famfiel
  35. well,i wont call sheryl a bimbo;she’s definitely an intelligent and strong woman.but you cant deny that ranka must be embarassed and has a LOT to learn to become successful.and it aint easy when you hv a galaxy songstress as ur friend,idol and rival.that’s what makes ranka and sheryl connection interesting^^ and sheryl’s spontaneous and brave determination is sth that should be praised;no matter how silly chasing that little animal is.i adore sheryl’s self-confident.just that some people wth self-confident can be interpret as arrogant sometimes.

    but well,still,go ranka!~~goo~~!

    audishah
  36. So the green thing Ranka was singing to can be called a quarter-Zentradi ferret? lol It looks so similar to her cellphone. I thought she was singing to her cellphone when I saw the preview for a split second.

    I think the simple solution here to Ranka’s problem is to voice what she’s feeling and have more confidence. I mean, when Nanase stepped up to Sheryl, she basically voiced what Ranka should be saying to her. Interesting enough, Ranka was dense enough to not notice that Nanase was actually doing it for her. If Alto is dense as a block, I guess Ranka is too in a way. That’s probably why Sheryl comfortably made her way in between them. Anyway, I still say Ranka’s feelings for Alto will not stray. I haven’t seen a decent RankaxAlto scene since episode 4. I’m going to enjoy every minute of it once it comes up again. Lately it’s been more like RankaxJerk Alto scenes haha

    Sheryl is oozing with confidence and charisma. Ranka’ll lose Alto at this rate if she doesn’t do SOMETHING. Yes, that is coming from a Ranka fan. I bet Sheryl will take the empty seat beside Alto in the classroom. I was all like, “Ranka why didn’t you sit there?” :p

    @Yukiru-chan-Brera’s hair didn’t seem blonde in this episode. It looks more like a yellow green to me. Was it because of the sunset? Now that there’s green in him, he might actually be a relative.:p I’m hoping not as much as I don’t want him to be a bad guy too.

    Btw. Did anyone notice Grace’s shady smile in this episode? While she was on the limo and Sheryl was running around with an ex gear. It’s suspicious.

    ani_d
  37. @audishah
    Don’t worry, I don’t think that Sheryl is a bimbo either. If anything, that scene in the first episode where she recovers from her fall and incorperates it into her performance shows how sharp she is. I can’t think of many people who can pull something like that off on the spur of the moment.

    Between episodes four and five, I had thought that Ranka had resolved most of her shyness in performing both with everyone listening and without anyone to listen. I’m not sure what’s holding her back this time around. I hope she finds her groove again soon, though. Sheryl seems very approachable, so Ranka will probably get over her initial feelings of intimidation soon enough.

    I wonder if anyone else felt this, but for some reason, watching that last scene with Sheryl at the blackboard with that smirk and hair toss gave me flashbacks of Eva. 😀

    famfiel
  38. While it’s true that the show has music from Macross 7, I think it’s a stretch on everyones part to think that Sheryl will turn into Basara 2.0. She just wants to be closer to Alto from the looks of it. And that’s as far as MacF should go with Mac7 tie-ins thank you very much. The last thing we need is VF’s flying around fighting the vajira with music.

    I was never a fan of that part of macf, I need and demand my missiles! They’re a trade mark of Macross, replacing cool fights like in episode 7 with music matches is the no in my book.

    But that aside this show has way more tie-in to the original series than any of the others before it.

    GP
  39. What did Nanase say? I thought that she was just declining Sheryl’s offer to help. And if anything, it suggested that she has an interest in Alto to begin with. Either way, the only thing that it accomplished was that it got her inducted into Sheryl’s harem. ^^;

    At this point, I really don’t think that there’s really a “them” for anyone to get between. Nobody has really expressed romantic interest so far. As far as we know, Ranka just thinks of Alto as a good friend whom she can unload her troubles with, and Sheryl very much enjoys messing around with him, seeing how tsundere he can get. We probably won’t see serious romantic attraction on either side until later.

    Jacobian
  40. @ani_d:
    What did Nanase say? I thought that she was just declining Sheryl’s offer to help. And if anything, it suggested that she has an interest in Alto to begin with. Either way, the only thing that it accomplished was that it got her inducted into Sheryl’s harem. ^^;

    At this point, I really don’t think that there’s really a “them” for anyone to get between. Nobody has really expressed romantic interest so far. As far as we know, Ranka just thinks of Alto as a good friend whom she can unload her troubles with, and Sheryl mainly enjoys messing around with him, seeing how tsundere he can get. We probably won’t see serious romantic attraction on either side until later.

    famfiel
  41. I really don’t know why people are saying Sheryl is coming in between Alto and Ranka when as far as Alto is concerned they’re just good friends. Also it should be obvious to Ranka that Sheryl likes Alto…

    “Sheryl treats Alto much the same way Minmay treated Hikaru”

    Not even close, I shouldn’t even bother explaining since it should be apparent to anyone who’s seen the series why this is wrong. The only similarities to that relationship is that the female’s an idol and the male’s the pilot. Sheryl’s shown more interest in Alto in the last 4 episodes than Minmei did with Hikaru for the majority of Macross when she was an idol. The Minmei and Hikaru problem was caused by time apart as well as Minmei dealing with becoming an idol. Sheryl is already an idol and just signed up to a piloting course to spend more time with Alto.

    Also Sheryl understands why Alto wants to fly (episode 5 conversation, episode 7 statement (If a pilot has to” etc and signing up to pilot herself) which is something Minmei never did.

    “3. @Westlo: But I thought the UN Spacy kept those records on the Birdman as secretive as
    the records on the Megaroad-01?”

    Been over 50 years now, records should be released.

    “What did Nanase say? I thought that she was just declining Sheryl’s offer to help. And if anything, it suggested that she has an interest in Alto to begin with. Either way, the only thing that it accomplished was that it got her inducted into Sheryl’s harem. ^^;”

    A poster on MW said the following when I asked why Ranka turned down Sheryl’s offer. “She just wants to do it on her own. Nanase gets a little indignant at the offer and complains a little about how Sheryl just came to the school and usurped Alto. Sheryl teases her about how she probably likes Alto and has nice body.”

    Westlo
  42. @Westlo:
    Hm. If she said it that way, then it definitely suggests that Nanase has her own little crush that she’s fighting for, rather than trying to stand up for any supposed interest on Ranka’s part; especially seeing as Nanase blushes right after Sheryl points out that Nanase is probably interested in Alto.

    I’m glad that Sheryl made the offer, though. It confirms her good intentions, if anything. There’s nothing wrong with achieving something on your own effort, but that doesn’t mean that you have to make the journey alone. 🙂

    famfiel
  43. When Sheryl diverted Nanase’s accusation back at her, I thought it was just a way for the writers to make the topic ambiguous since we never really did get a clear answer TO that. I’m quite surprised that I’m the only one who connnected Nanase’s indignant speech to Ranka’s feelings. It didn’t really strike me as Nanase saying that for herself.

    For the record you guys, Ranka and Alto’s bond IS platonic. It’s their friends (Nanase, Luca, and Michael) that’s been pushing them together and seeing them as a couple. The two are unaware of course, but that’s why I said her idol, Sheryl, getting closer to Alto plus her passive attitude mess up Ranka’s chances with Alto.:)

    @Famfiel- While I think Ranka shouldn’t always be a damsel in distress, she does owe Alto and his paper airplanes. His encouragement was a big influence, so I think that’s why she feels so close to him. I definitely don’t think Alto is just a Dr. Phil to her. I believe Ranka will return the favor later. Or maybe even better, she’ll grow a voice, a backbone, and tell him personally all the things she wants to tell him. She’ll make people happy.

    ani_d
  44. Yes anime the bond is purely platonic, manga version Ranka wants herself some of princess. She joins the school so her fream life with hime can start.

    Sheryl – Are you two going out?
    Ranka – No we aren
    Alto – OF COURSE NOT!!
    Ranka *sad face thinking “you didn’t have to deny it that strongly”*
    Sheryl grabs alto and runs

    Later on while Ranka and gang are looking for Alto/Sheryl Michael comments that those two could be doing “that” right now which depresses Ranka lol… and earns him a hit on the head from Nanase and Luca.

    Westlo
  45. No one knows what happened to Galaxy atm, probably got trashed by the Varja but who knows… By the time Frontier got the news it was 5 days since the Varja started the assault.

    Westlo
  46. @ani_d,somehow our lines of thinking is the same;at this stage i do agree that maybe both ranka and alto are clueless abt each other’s feelings; not to imply that alto has any romantic feelings for her;he hasnt as far as i see it and ranka is just sad that somebody that she thinks would listen to her is occupied wth sth or sb else, whatever it is. both are dense and thick as a brick.so yeah,it’s platonic from both side for now (refer to the manga scripts posted by westlo).i actually secretly could imagine ranka giving up alto for sheryl(nooooo~~~)

    and i did thought that nanase was voicing out what ranka wanted to say herself to sheryl.u know how smtimes when it comes to ur own love problems u donno anything abt it and somebody else will point it out to u?it din seem like nanase has any crushed on alto; i mean..naahh,couldnt be.like u said,it’s d way the creators kinda want to obscure the topic abt any possible LT etc3.

    and yes,no music matches.NO and NO and NO please.

    audishah
  47. Alto isn’t at all clueless about Rankas feelings for him, that’s why he didn’t tell her he was with Sheryl at the mall even though Ranka knows. The guy understands Ranka has a crush for him with all the obsessive calling and text messaging she’s done.

    GP
  48. @audishah-ranka might give alto up for sheryl but me thinks it won’t be because alto has dumped her for sheryl.>) vajra are fond of her for all we know she might sacrifice herself in the long run. i swear i heard a preview with ranka saying goodbye to someone she loved so much. i liked Ranka more cuz of that. if she were to have a happy ending, she’ll end up with alto. the girl who always gets jealous first always win in LT shows like this–goes to show ranka loved/like/became fond of alto first before sheryl. they even highlighted ranka’s jealous face here. ranka deserves alto. i feel so bad for her in this eppie. =(

    @GP-your interpretation of alto reminds me of a jerk who is so full of himself. i hope you are being sarcastic, i didn’t see him that way. ^^;

    Carol
  49. @GP-I reallyyy don’t think he’s like that….

    @audishah- Why can’t all girl friends be like Nanase?? lol She could have an interest in Alto too, but I doubt she opened her mouth thinking about her own feelings. Plus, Luca already had his eyes on her. Alto can’t steal her anymore.

    @Carol- “ranka deserves alto” <—Hell to the yea ^__~

    @Westlo- What chapter is that? Sheryl grabbing Alto and running away? I don’t think that was shown in the anime. Interesting.

    ani_d
  50. What in the world happened to the animation quality? it went right into the crapper this episode. I think they must be blowing their budget on the big stuff then skimping on the filler episodes which in the long run might be a good strategy for semi-high budget shows like this. I just wish it wasn’t “this” bad. 🙁

    Alto Hime
  51. lol and all hell breaks loose

    despite the drop in quality this episode was entertaining enough that the drop in quality didn’t seem to matter much

    can’t wait for the next episode

    zetatrain
  52. @ani-d:
    While I have no doubt that Nanase fully supports Ranka’s career goals, I have my doubts that Nanase is interested in setting up Alto with Ranka. If Nanase didn’t have her own interest in Alto to begin with, then she would never have blushed. It’s not surprising though; everyone succumbs to Alto’s trap charm at some point. Besides, if Ranka’s bond with Alto is platonic to begin with, then how can Nanase be “standing up” for Ranka? At best she would only be pushing for what she wants to see, not for what Ranka necessarily wants (for now).

    One thing that did strike me, though, was the combination of the dirty look that those random girls passing by the shower room gave in combination with Nanase’s arrival. While Sheryl may be popular amongst the guys, she’s bound to encounter some resentment from the girls until they see her for who she really is. That could play a part in Sheryl’s journey to discover what a “normal life” is like.

    @Westlo:
    Ah right! I’d forgotten about the manga. I actually read those five or so chapters that are out before I decided to start following the series. ^^;

    Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But I guess that the manga’s bound to be more compressed in terms of development, seeing as the releases are only monthly.

    @Carol:
    I don’t get the feeling that Ranka’s jealous, as jealousy is an angry emotion. More than anything else, Ranka looks sad at being “left out” by two of her newfound friends.

    If you consider her relationship with her brother, for example, she didn’t want him to pilot because she was worried that something would happen to him; having lost her family, she’s afraid of being alone. During Sheryl’s last concert, Ranka seemed somewhat bothered by the fact that she’d only just found out about her brother going off into battle, but Sheryl seemed to already know. Again, she feels like she’s been left out of the loop by the people around her.

    Aside: The exploration of that aspect of Ranka’s character might be better explored by setting up a relationship between Ranka and Alto, seeing as Sheryl already understands Alto’s passion for flying and the reason that he has to fight, while Ranka would have to learn to overcome her insecurities in order to allow Alto to go out and fight, seeing as she already has issues with her brother doing the same. That could definitely make for an interesting plot angle.

    @GP:
    From what I gathered, Alto probably decided to lie in order to protect Sheryl’s privacy. He doesn’t strike me as the sort to kiss and tell (metaphorically and literally). 😉

    Besides, his wingmen are there too. It’s not like he needs to give them any more ammo against him. ^^;

    I don’t think that Ranka is a stalker, either. She’s just looking for the support of friends. Now that she’s joined the same school as everyone else, she probably won’t feel as left out.

    famfiel
  53. @ ani_d: “Btw. Did anyone notice Grace’s shady smile in this episode? While she was on the limo and Sheryl was running around with an ex gear. It’s suspicious.”

    I think she was the reason Ranka’s program got caught

    Merle
  54. sorry for triple reply.. just rewatched the scene.. She was looking at all the shots of the messed up school (every place sheryl created a gigantor dent).. so she was commenting on Sheryl’s behavior

    Merle
  55. ๊@GP: “If you guys have a better reason for Alto not to tell Ranka he was with Sheryl other than not to hurt her feelings I’m all ears.”
    He thought it’d be less bothersome for him that way. Very Alto-hime reason.
    He wasn’t caring about Ranka’s feelings when he blurted out that Ranka’s agency was unheard of (which caused Mikhail and Luca to scold him) nor when he answered Ranka’s “yoroshiku ne” after transfering to the school.

    Instead of cheering a couple, I’ve become more interested in how the show will do the character development. Especially looking forward to Alto-hime’s and Ranka’s.

    umm.. I am still curious about Brera’s hair color.
    Since it was sunset and Ranka’s hair was blue in that scene,
    I don’t think Brera’s hair is really that yellow-green color.
    In the OP, which was kinda blue tinted, it looked blonde/yellow to me.

    This is a stupid thing to wonder about really, but I want to be able to imagine him correctly when I think/talk about him. He is a guy I look forward to seeing more of, especially hearing more of, coz well, I can’t help it being a Souichirou Hoshi fangirl.^^

    Ranka’s hair looks much better at sunset.

    Yukiruchan
  56. Sheryl DOES look a bit like a crackwhore in this one o__O Shame.

    And this is slightly off-topic, but I noticed you mentioned that Infinity sounded familiar? It sounds vaguely like See-Saw’s Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru – GSD’s 4th ED. Although I dunno if THAT’s what you were referring to…

    Taiyaki
  57. Sheryl a pilot?! This shocked me as much as it shocked Alto. I wonder if she will eventually fly a plane. I guess she is loving the sky Alto wants. I can already imagine it.A pink plane. lol. A pink plane with a communication dish on the top. And with that sing to the universe! lol.

    Falryu
  58. Hey ani_d read the spoilers I posted from MW on the Suki thread for it, check out episode 13. You should like it… or should you since it’s following the pattern I expected…

    Westlo
  59. i doubt anyone will read this but…!

    i smell rape in the air, or to be more specific, an event similar to (1) school days: emotional breakdown and vulnerability to rape, or a (2) familiar scene like Kimi ga Nozomu Eien where the female cast falls victim to “emo” and becomes ruptured by random penile artillery. those two will be my predictions and i will hold it true until the end. i’m always preparing myself for twisted fates the main character is thrust against. everyone, happy watching.

    andynai
  60. I have to say I’m rather disappointed at this episode. I thoroughly enjoyed watching every other one so far, even viewing them 2-3 times to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Sadly, I couldn’t wait till I was finished with this episode and washed out the bad taste it left by rewatching the battle scene of episode 7.

    noname
  61. This always happens in 24-26ep shows, they have 1 or maybe 2 eps that have lower animation quality compared to the other ones. It’s not a shock really. And for all the moaning about the quality the episode itself was a fun one. It’s too early to just dive head first into any drama, so after a big battle we have a little laid back humor.

    GP
  62. Random thought number 2:

    Leon, damn that chess player … he twice blocked Ranka’s way to being an idol. Is he covertly doing the “break the cutie” routine, considering that he knew her past? This is only speculation, but is he trying to control the “mindless” Vajra through Ranka? Did he know that kind of cheap tactic has a rather low success rate (in anime only, I think)?

    J. B.
  63. sorry to double post, but i just read a lot of those sheryl ranka and alto triangle posts…i’m leaning more towards sheryl for the pairing but i wouldn’t mind if ranka ended up with alto (brera seems like a hot choice for sheryl too :D). it’s just that it’s always possible that they will break the pattern from the other macross series’ and its basically still too early in the series to determine who alto will end up with. right now i’m seeing 50/50

    honeyblu
  64. i still think alto is clueless abt ranka and sheryl.because mikhail always call him an idiot.plus, alto seems like a very straight forward guy; he din tell ranka abt going out wth sheryl bcoz he wanted to protect sheryl’s privacy(he answered too fast to ranka’s question which left the option of whether he has decided beforehand to make it a secret or it slipped from his mouth)and avoid troublesome questions from mikhail/luca and simply,he just din think too much abt it.i need to see some insight scenes abt alto then i’ll make up some more opinions abt him.i cant read into him yet as they werent much abt him so far except that we know he loves flying and has bad experience wth his dad.sore dake.

    hopefully we’ll know what happened after brera appeared at the end;he popped up and we’re moved to the school next day.what happened with ranka??

    audishah
  65. This episode was a total waste of time. Shower scenes were a poor attempt to disguise the repeated use of stills. I skipped through to the end in disgust. Hopefully things will be back to normal next week.

    ichavod

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