Mecha, Macross Frontier, and crappy idiots

Posted: August 23, 2010 | Author: flomu | Filed under: Uncategorized |5 Comments »

I recently watched Macross Frontier.

It sucked.

…which got me thinking, “What do I really want to see in mecha?”

Or rather, “Why do I think Macross Frontier sucks when everybody else in the May’n panel room at AX 2010 thought otherwise?”

Before I go into anything else, you have to know that I’m not a crazy mecha fan (i.e. ghostlightning, etc.), nor am I an idiot, devoting himself to a series because of a single character. Honestly, I’m not. Mikoto is amazing, but neither of the To Aru series has been.

I say this because crazy mecha fans will be crazy mecha fans. A lot of them were fawning over crappy Shin Mazinger Z’s crappy first episode last year, even though it was clearly crappy. Crazy mecha fans love all mecha, good and bad and crappy.

I also say this because idiots love all crappy series (Saki, K-ON!, Bakemonogatari, etc.), not just crappy mecha ones. They also hate good series because their crappy brains can’t crappy their crappy crappy. Many of the fanboys in that May’n panel were idiots. Especially the ones who went up and tried to ask questions in broken Japanese. They were the really crappy idiots crappy.

So first, the action sucked. Second, the themes sucked. Third, the anime sucked.

When I’m watching an action anime, I expect a decent amount of action. TOO BAD MACROSS WAS ALL ABOUT MUSIC.

Blah blah blah music can save the day because we need more concert scenes!!1one

NO, music can NOT save the day. And NO, you do NOT need more concert scenes!!1one

YES, themes like “the power of friendship,” “the power of love,” and “if you try hard enough, you win for some strange, unexplainable reason” are overused, but that’s no excuse to go off and use a theme [incredibly central to the story] that leaves much to be desired.

Gurren Lagann went with the “if you try hard enough, you win for some strange, unexplainable reason” and ramped up the action until it became ridiculous. Code Geass didn’t even bother to look at themes, plowing through its story so fast (except that one robot-pizza filler) that it didn’t even matter. Eureka Seven was a lot slower than these other two, but had such a build-up with its “power of love” theme that made the long, fifty-episode journey feel satisfying.

Macross Frontier, on the other hand, was both slow, boring, and stupid (kind of like me). Ohhhh wowwww, Ranka’s song affects the aliens… Ohhhh wowwww, Sheryl’s brain disease affects her song which affects the aliens… Ohhh wowwww, Ranka’s song affects Sheryl’s brain disease which affects her (Sheryl’s) song which affects the aliens. And now Sheryl ends up with a stomach disease instead of a brain disease and everybody lives happily ever after. Except Sheryl, because the disease is now in her stomach.

The bottom line: “the power of music” just doesn’t cut it. Especially when the music itself is horrendous. All the May’n/Sheryl songs sound alike and the Megumi/Ranka songs sound like the May’n/Sheryl ones.

Also, Macross Frontier was very predictable. The storyline was so bland and devoid of any real plot twists (or at least, plot twists that mattered) that I could see the ending from the first episode. It was just a tug-of-war between Alto x Ranka and Alto x Sheryl and Music x Music x Aliens x Brain Disease. The minute Ranka becomes popular, Sheryl gets depressed, her CDs go in the bargain bin, and she’s left out in the rain half-naked. Now, stop for a minute. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Gosh, those Frontier citizens must have a three-second memory span. Last I checked, Sheryl was still a crazy popular st-

Oh, she got popular again. But wait, why is Ranka so sad after seeing Sheryl and Alto together?

Wait, Ranka’s the popular one again? And Sheryl is jealous of Rank-

Sheryl’s popular AGAIN? Jeez, this anime has SO MANY interesting ups and downs to it!

Either Alto is the ficklest man ever and Sheryl and Ranka have pea-sized brains, or this anime is a total waste of time!

Oh, and how come the mecha pilots can kill the aliens with their guns AFTER they say that the guns don’t work anymore? It’s never mentioned that the regular old guns get stronger, but you see all the mecha using them in that pitiful excuse of a final battle… and WINNING?!

Bah.

---