Macross Frontier (TV Series)

MACROSS FRONTIER

(TV SERIES)

The third and latest TV series from the Macross Saga, set aboard the 25th Macross-class colony ship, Frontier. Created as a tribute to the 25th anniversary of the release of the first series, Frontier features many small Homages to the previous series and OVA's, primarily the ones I've reviewed.

OVERVIEW - Set in 2059, the 25th Macross-class colony fleet, Frontier, is deep into its planned voyage towards the Galactic core. The current top galactic songstress, Sheryl Nome, is set to perform the last few shows of her galactic tour onboard the Frontier but as her concert gets underway, the fleet comes under attack. In a story that will change the face of the Macross universe forever, we follow Sheryl, A pilot called Alto Saotome and a young wannabe singer called Ranka Lee as they face the ups, downs and emotional whirlwind of the life-changing events happening around and to them.


REVIEW - With our feet firmly back into Solid production, good storywriting, realistic physics and likable characters, we're also then treated to the joyous reunion between the macross saga and Yoko Kanno. Finally we can put the nightmare of Macross 7 behind us! (mostly....)


The plot is frankly huge, and to try and give you a blow-by-blow account would likely take me several days of solid typing. it basically follows the conflict between The Frontier fleet and a race of insectoid aliens known as the vajra, the political machinations behind the scenes over the conflict and a new resource victory awards, a type of crystal that enables almost instant communication and movement through the fold process, a crystal found embedded inside the vajra. The politicians of Frontier seek this resource as it would enable them to effectively control the economics of the whole galaxy, while another group from the Sister-fleet "Galaxy", home fleet of Sheryl Nome, are planning something much more sinister. The two groups interact between the political aide, Leon, from frontier and Sheryl's manager Grace, each side trying to play the other into being the fall-guy while reaping the rewards for themselves.

Caught in the middle of this is a trio of people, The "Galactic Fairy" and current favoured songstress, Sheryl Nome, the disowned son of a famous Kabuki actor and pilot in training Alto Saotome and the 1/4th Zentradi girl Ranka Lee, who dreams of being a singer like her idol Sheryl. In a series of events and co-incidences the three become increasingly tangled in each other's lives, as Alto joins a private military company, The Strategic Military Services, or SMS to protect his friends, Ranka's past, the tragedies and pain as well as a very important secret and Sheryl's collapsing fame and health collide in the most pronounced love triangle of the series so far. 

There is tragedy, there is betrayal, there is intrigue and mystery and the manipulation of dreams. Ranka's rise to fame is in her eyes, due to Alto's support, even if it keeps her away from him, unknown to Ranka though is the fact that it is all created to make use of her unique birthright, and as Sheryl's fame collapses and the truth behind her manager's schemes comes to light she finds herself leaning more and more on Alto, her true feelings for him becoming her driving force as her health also begins to fail. Alto is oblivious to the depth of feeling the two girls have for him, seeking only to protect them and their dreams yet finding himself questioning his actions again and again. As friendships fade and long hidden truths come to light, the motives of the group from The Galaxy fleet come to light, but too late to prevent Frontier's almost suicidal all out attack on the Vajra homeworld. Alto comes to realise the real truth about himself, the battles, the vajra and the feelings of the two girls always seeking to be by his side during this battle, and as the plots of both the Galaxy group and the political aide Leon unravel during the heat of battle, and understanding is reached between the Vajra and humankind thanks to the music of the two singers, the Frontier touches down on what is to become their new home. 

All of this is played out through scenes that shine above anything before it in the macross saga. Backdrops are lovingly created and highly detailed, The Valkyries all rendered in stunning cel-shaded 3D and taking the dogfighting of PLUS and ZERO to a new level. The concerts are closer to the massive audience-interactive shows seen in PLUS from Sharon Apple rather than the "episodic mass-seizure-fests" seen in 7, and while some of the "ground" action scenes are made in that horrible, blurry/distorted animation style common in anime for the most part the show is fantastic for keeping a "real" feel to it. 

Backed by a soundtrack and insert songs composed by Yoko Kanno, an anime goddess of phonics, and with the exceptions of the "nods" to previous series (Ozma's a fan of firebomber, Ranka sings a couple Minmay songs) Kanno's music laces the whole series with a sense of "Epic" most TV shows never approach. From the piece "Big Boys" to the John William's-esque "Tally ho" with their huge orchestral feel through to little pieces like "high school life" which is likely to evoke feelings of another Kanno-scored piece (cowboy beebop) the soundtrack is immense, and skillfully used to really pump up the scenes. Responsible also for all of Ranka's and Sheryl's "original" songs, Kanno's diversity is obvious to see when comparing the two, such as Ranka's song "Anata no oto" and Sheryl's later anthem, "Northern Cross". The two singers also have themes relating to their home fleet's focus, with Ranka coming from Frontier, her music is more organic, natural and Sheryl from the Chemical plant fleet Galaxy having a more Electronic, dance-like feel, themes kept at all times by the respective singers, even when performing each other's pieces, such as Ranka's impromptu song in the Zentradi Mall, originally one of Sheryl's. The concert's songs are also often used as backing for a battle happening at the same time, to massive effect. None more so than the (Kanno arranged) "Nyan Nyan service medley" used in the very final battle of the series, a 12 minute long mix of all the major songs of the series, including the Kanno-written openers and closing themes. Its in this series that the premise of a "Space Opera" really comes into full force, with an epic tale skillfully backed with equally epic music played out with amazing visuals. 

One of the best anime series out there, easily the best Macross series, its even more enjoyable once you've seen all that comes before, as you notice the Homage's made to the previous series and appreciate how well integrated the whole saga is into this series. This is how mecha/space battle anime's should always be made.

MACROSS LOVE TRIANGLE

The most pronounced and obvious triangle of the series, fueled mostly by Alto's kindness and obliviousness. His encouragement and support of Ranka leads her to fall for him, and his way of treating Sheryl as any other person at the height of her fame, and his refusual to let her give up when she is at her lowest is what causes her to fall for him. The series never resolves this, with the ending literally being Ranka telling Sheryl "i wont lose to you, not in singing or in love", to which Sheryl replies "I accept your challenge" and Alto's feelings never being made clear other than his decleration that "the two of you are my wings". Many fans dislike this, feeling Alto should have made a choice between the two, but I for one like the idea of leaving it unresolved. Both female leads are strong, caring women with opposing styles and personalities, neither one really being a "wrong choice", and while he shows compassion for Sheryl, taking care of her while Ranka is searching for the Vajra homeworld, his statement that he wouldnt let Ranka be used as a weapon against humanity (due to manipulation by Leon) and if it came to it he would kill her himself is noted by both Sheryl and Klan Klan (to whom he's talking directly with) as an indication of how deep his love for Ranka is.

While not overpowering of the action, the interactions of the three is a large part of the show, and its exceptionally hard not to see it, and how it affects the whole plot. For me its one of the more interesting love triangles out there, because its not resolved, and if it ever was, it'd be heartbreaking.


SUMMARY -

Story - A peice that mixes everyday life, invading aliens, frantic combat, singing and the associated fame and behind-closed-doors style political intrigue, Frontier's story reaches for many buttons, and hits them all. Building on the history of the Macross saga while also managing to be a complete story in itself its characters are well written, develop well and generate honest, emotive responses. Larger in scale than previous series, with the literal fate of all mankind on the line due to the deliberate actions of one person its never so grand that the individuals feel small and forgotten to the action. Well paced with revelation and shock coming exactly when needed its ending feels a little weak, possibly left for sequels or OVA's to follow and continue the tale. 9/10

Production - Head and shoulders above the rest of the saga, its also above par with its contemporary shows, with only a couple of instances of unpleasant, distorting/blurry action animation to mar it, it makes heavy use of well blended CG, with all the Valkyrie, mechs and ships being rendered this way, along with 90% of all the alien animations. Voice acting is superb, with Ranka's voice actress in her break-through role being one of the first female voice actresses of late who give a genuine, natural feel to the parts, rather than the more regulated feel of some (compare Ranka's infectious enthusiastic style against Grace's vocal style for example) which in my opinion is exactly what every anime needs. 9/10

Music -  Yoko Kanno - no more needs be said. 10/10 (but for the sake of fairness.. I've already discussed how amazingly apt the music is here, perfectly written to convey and enhance emotive scenes. Kanno also wrote all the insert music save for the "classic" pieces, as well as the intro/outro pieces. Those pieces tend to change depending on the version you watch, but the openers are generally a duet between Ranka and Sheryl, and the endings are mostly Sheryl pieces, as her singer is a larger star. Talking of, Sheryl's singing voice is provided by a different person to her normal vocal actress, but the normal feeling of discontinuity that happens when this is done isnt here, because the voices gel so well, you can barely tell that its not the same person. All of Ranka's vocals were provided by the then-18-yr-old Megumi Nakajima in her first acting and singing roles. its a testement to how good she is that her singing can match up with the professional singer May'n who sang for Sheryl. Many of the singles released by these two charted in Japan's top ten)

Accessability -  A little tricky to call, the Kabuki referances wont make much sense without a little research, but overal there's no other real cultural referances that wont make sense to a western fan of the Macross saga, as most of it referances things already common in the macross world. 9/10

Overall Impression - While steeped in the macross history, filled with little tributes to the past series, the story of Macross Frontier is strong enough to stand alone without the macross tie-in. Visually impressive in its battle scenes and with a great sense of humour (like Sheryl telling Alto who'd accidently seen her naked chest that if he distributes the optical data she'd kill him, but if he just wants to "use it for yourself just for tonight" thats ok... XD) and with its heroes slowly drawn out from the every day life into events that will shape the galaxy for generations to come, its just one of those stories you cant get enough of. The music stands alone as a thing of admiration, beauty and an unbeatable skill of composition that no-one i've come across can compare to, and its so well worked in to the series, in its scenes, in its very story, that it simply brings an amazing piece of work into the realm of a true timeless classic. One to watch, NOW! 10/10


Final Score - 47/50