Macross Delta - Episode 2 Discussion / Poll

[Darthtabby]

I waited for subs. Didn't want to spoil everything by watching a version where I only half understood what was going on.

Anyway, in general I really liked this episode. Great world building. I though it was awfully convenient that the Vars guy stood over Freyja and waited for her to sing rather than attacking her, but that ended up making sense in the end.

I didn't like Mirage decking Hayate though. It might have been intended as a shout out to Ozma decking Alto in episode 2 of Frontier but I think she should have just chewed him out instead. (The scene with Ozma decking Alto in Frontier was awesome because of the way it subverted the audience's expectations. This scene didn't have that.)

Actually in general I think this show should be careful about doing shout outs to scenes from Frontier. One of my complaints about Episode 1 was that the scene where Hayate jumps into an abandoned Valkyrie and rescues Freyja reminded me too much of the bit where Alto jumps into an abandoned Valkyrie and rescues Ranka in Frontier. (Break dancing notwithstanding.)

Overall however I think I consider myself sold. Bring on episode three!

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Aw, c'mon, they always were very gay for each other, like Maverick and Ice.

Anyway, I was vastly amused at the Zentradi captains name being E(a)rnest Johnson. I presume Long John Silver or Dick Miller was taken?

The only thing missing from Plus was some good ol' beach volleyball.

Johnson, like most of the other cast, is named after a fighter pilot. I just can't find the link to specifically which one at the moment, there are a few notable Johnsons to choose from.

[Darthtabby]

There was also a famous aeronautical engineer called Kelly Johnson. He headed Lockheed's "Skunk Works."

A lot of the character names in this series are taken from planes or plane manufacturers. Arado, Nakajima, Mustang, Prowler, Mirage...

The name that stands out as odd to me is actually Kaname Buccaneer. It's probably a reference to the old Blackburn Buccaneer attack aircraft. But who the heck would ever have "Buccaneer" as a last name? (Prowler is a bit odd too.)

[Fairy Water]

I quite like Mirage already but I was expecting Mikumo to join the love triangle...

How should I deal with this disappointment? Expecting it since the visual first out and now they totally let me down...

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

No one's brought up the street urchins flashing Ranka's KIRA~ handsign, and selling the same type of phone that she used?

On the other hand, no My Boyfriend Is A Pilot. I am sad.

I did noticed the phone

I really want to hear at least a song from previous series

[crimsonflair]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

Actually in general I think this show should be careful about doing shout outs to scenes from Frontier. One of my complaints about Episode 1 was that the scene where Hayate jumps into an abandoned Valkyrie and rescues Freyja reminded me too much of the bit where Alto jumps into an abandoned Valkyrie and rescues Ranka in Frontier. (Break dancing notwithstanding.)

Those scenes are a shout out to the original Macross.

[Boukenxha]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I don't necessarily mind Hayate's response to Mirage here. Like you wrote, it's understandable.

But there's two things that add to it to give me a "he's a jerk" current take on Hayate.

1. Him basically telling Freyja that she's going to fail. I suspect this is supposed to seem like cute teasing leading into an anime romance, but this early on, it just seems callous to me. This is a big deal to Freyja, and it's not like her and Hayate are already an item that have developed a certain chemistry where they tease each other just for fun.

2. Him giving off this "too cool for school" vibe to me. He's already acting like some ace hotshot that the military should bend/break all of its rules for. I'd have much less issue with it if he truly saved the day, but the guy needed to have his own butt bailed out at the start of this episode. And it's not like the antagonists were soundly defeated. Like one of them said, it seemed to me that they might have won if they had pressed on.


Hopefully the Hayate/Mirage dynamic ends up being a well-balanced one, and it results in me liking them both more. But for now, the Freyja side of the story is far and away what I like most about Macross Delta.

Hmm with regards to the first point, I think it is worth noting that alone and sad in the monorail, we were shown Freyja thinking of Hayate and wondering how he was doing. She appeared to not have taken to heart what Hayate said, that being rather consistent with her genki and dorky nature which kinda make her an easy target actually. Besides, Hayate did save her twice, once from being captured as a stowaway and the second time from getting stomped by a Gluag. They have talked about their dreams (or the lack thereof) and probably interacted more while traveling offscreen to Ragna. Not disagreeing that it seem callous of Hayate, but I think there are reasons to believe he was acting within expectancy of their growing relationship.

The second point though, I fully agree. Mirage must be mad that such a frivolous and irresponsible person is given a chance to join the Delta squadron, her opinion that is... for me I'm surprised that Arad unconditionally allowed it to happen, it's like the next episode he is going to give the ultra-cliche reason that Hayate reminds him of when he was younger. Well, at least from the ultra-short preview of ep 3, seems the insufferable genius is going to taste some humility.

[Darthtabby]

Originally Posted by crimsonflair

Those scenes are a shout out to the original Macross.

I'm well aware that the scene in Frontier was a shout out to a scene from the original Macross. The problem is that the scene in Delta reminds me of the scene in Frontier more than the scene in the original that Frontier was referencing. Granted some of that may be because Frontier was my gateway Macross and I've watched it a lot, but there really is a pretty strong resemblance between the two scenes. Freyja reminding me of Ranka probably does not help.

[magnuskn]

To be honest, the only thing which wasn't really good about this episode is that they completely handwaved how Hayate and Freyya got to Ragna. Well, probably he spent his last paycheck.

BTW, do we have any idea what name the Frontier crew gave the former Vajra homeworld? I'd love to know if the planets listed off in this episode, where Hayate already was before, include that planet. ^^

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

Freyja reminding me of Ranka probably does not help.

While her character design is obviously inspired by Ranka, her personality seems like a mix of self-confident Sheryl and genki Ranka.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

A lot of the character names in this series are taken from planes or plane manufacturers. Arado, Nakajima, Mustang, Prowler, Mirage...

Of all those names, I like Hayate's "Immelmann" the most coz I like that air maneuver and it also reminds me of Dio from Last Exile where he often shouts "Immelmann tuuuuurrrrnn!!!" when piloting a vanship .

Originally Posted by Fairy Water

I was expecting Mikumo to join the love triangle...How should I deal with this disappointment? Expecting it since the visual first out and now they totally let me down...

Write a fanfic about MikumoxHayate?

[magnuskn]

Well, Mirage already has an advantage with me for having purple as her chosen color.

[crimsonflair]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

I'm well aware that the scene in Frontier was a shout out to a scene from the original Macross. The problem is that the scene in Delta reminds me of the scene in Frontier more than the scene in the original that Frontier was referencing. Granted some of that may be because Frontier was my gateway Macross and I've watched it a lot, but there really is a pretty strong resemblance between the two scenes. Freyja reminding me of Ranka probably does not help.

That is a fair point. I can see why after watching a few episodes of Frontier. To be honest, Macross Delta is my gateway to the Macross franchise. I'm currently watching the original Macross series, so the shout out in Delta reminded me more of the one in the original.

[Anh_Minh]

I find Freyja a bit too Ranka-ish, but well, I'll give it time. (Not that I didn't like Ranka, I'm just hoping for something different.)

Not really liking how Mirage takes out her own insecurities on Hayate.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

2. Him giving off this "too cool for school" vibe to me. He's already acting like some ace hotshot that the military should bend/break all of its rules for. I'd have much less issue with it if he truly saved the day, but the guy needed to have his own butt bailed out at the start of this episode. And it's not like the antagonists were soundly defeated. Like one of them said, it seemed to me that they might have won if they had pressed on.

There's that, but he's also giving them a fair warning. That's how he is, and he's not going to change, not even for his dream job. It's their chance to tell him they don't want him after all.

[Arya]

Better and less over the top episode. Very good one. We are still in the set up stages so I'm not bothered at all by details. We already knew Freyja and hayate would have been recruited so better go there straight.
As far as the magical girl side of the show wont be too prominent I'm probably sold.

Mirage and Hayate dynamics are so far what I was hoping for, there's all the time for them to fight each other until they soften up and eventually grow up and come to terms later.

Cutest things of the episode surely those mermaid cats.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Arya

Cutest things of the episode surely those mermaid cats.

I thought they were pretty creepy. Aquatic cats are so wrong.

[magnuskn]

What is giving me great hope for Mirage is that the writers also tried to make Sheryl unlikeable in episode 1 of Frontier (and then utterly failed to extend that even to the second episode ^^). So there will probably be a huge turnaround for Mirage.

[Darthtabby]

IIRC, the idea with Sheryl in the preview and broadcast versions of Frontier's first episode was actually for one version to show her cute side, and for the other to make the audience almost hate her.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Darthtabby

and for the other to make the audience almost hate her.

Though I loved her immediately. Gosh, I am such a M.

- Tak

[Dop]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

Of all those names, I like Hayate's "Immelmann" the most coz I like that air maneuver and it also reminds me of Dio from Last Exile where he often shouts "Immelmann tuuuuurrrrnn!!!" when piloting a vanship .

Yeah. Immelmann is a good name for a pilot.

Actually I do like Kaname Buccaneer who's obviously named after the Blackburn Buccaneer - which was so sturdily built that a pilot said "Once I'd run out of bombs I went around looking for something to ram". Cold war British jets FTW.

I do kind of like aeronautically apt naming.

[azarhal]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

What is giving me great hope for Mirage is that the writers also tried to make Sheryl unlikeable in episode 1 of Frontier (and then utterly failed to extend that even to the second episode ^^). So there will probably be a huge turnaround for Mirage.

But Mirage is totally likable so far.

She's my favorite character already.



Hayate on then other side, what a selfish prick.

[magnuskn]

Well, I'm okay with her overzealousness, too, but I'm sure that when ship-to-ship combat breaks out, her behaviour in these early episodes will be brought up by some to explain their dislike of her. Just as what happened with Sheryl.

As for Sheryl, I was totally on her side as soon as she said "Strawberry Pie-wa". I was just stating that the writers probably wanted her to come off badly at the start of the series, hence her sorta off-putting behaviour when confronting Cathy. Which, really, was the only time she really behaved badly in the entire series, and even that was kinda understandable because she was concerned about the professional standards of the student pilots.