Macross Frontier, episodes 1-5.
So the Great Anime Catch-Up begins, only two months later than I intended. First on the list: Macross Frontier. Because it's pretty.
Episode 1
--Reaction to the OP: ...oh. This isn't a story about fighting aliens in mecha. It's a love story.
--Uh. Ranka really does have prehensile hair.
--I like how our first actual introduction to Sheryl is her boobs.
--The contrast between Sheryl's actual vulnerability from her busy, very public life and the haughty attitude she shows is interesting.
--Wow, other characters (or at least Michel) actually do call Alto "princess" and make references to him being girly.
--Oh jeez, even one of the girls who falls in love with him thought Alto was a girl at first. Maybe I'll get my yuri OT3 after all!
--Tentacles this early in the series? I guess I do have to keep watching it after all.
--And the ED is just weird.
Episode 2
--So wait, if both Luca and Michel are out there fighting, why does Alto have to grab some poor redshirt's VF?
--Alto sure emos easily. But I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation involving a terrible tragic backstory.
--So cute that Ranka describes him as "like a princess" even though she's never heard his nickname before.
--Oh. So that incredibly girly person that appears after Alto in the OP...is Alto. That is so great.
--Huh. So Sheryl is French?
--Sheryl telling Ranka she's cute = I ship it. Okay, not really, I don't ship anything yet, but I want to ship this.
--Watching the professional mercenaries (or whatever they are, I'm not too clear on it yet) manhandle Alto should not be so hilarious.
--Yeah, I really like the contrasting parts of Sheryl's character: the tightly-guarded vulnerability underneath it all, the bitchy exterior, and the sweet front she presents to her fans.
--How often does the ED change? That's pretty impressive.
Episode 3
--Kanaria is really hot. I hope to see more of her.
--Sheryl's boobs are characters in their own right, I see.
--It's too bad I'm spoiled somewhat on Grace, so I already know why sinister music plays when she asks for access to the shipboard network.
--Is Sheryl a little disappointed that her chance to finally do something for herself got thwarted by a rescue?
--"I'll wipe you out, socially and biologically." I really kind of love Sheryl.
--Ranka is cute, but I really hope she gets to do more than squeak and cry soon.
--I guess "have some interesting trauma" might count as "do more." But I'd prefer if she did something more active.
--Kanaria's hair is crazy. I like her even more.
--Ah, okay, after the second episode the ED stays the same for a while.
Episode 4
--Aww. Alto has daddy issues.
--You know, as much as I wanted Ranka to do something, it's a little sad that what she does has to be a beauty pageant. But I guess that's how a Macross series works.
--No, Alto's not that bright. Yeah, we have no actual ammunition, so let's attack the giant monsters with knives.
--Oh hey, there's Ranka's height and weight. Let's run it through a metric-to-imperial conversion program to see just how ridiculous it is. And...she's 5'1" and 92.5 pounds. That's, uh. Not quite as bad as it could be, I guess?
--Well, since Ranka lost the Miss Macross thing, hopefully that means when she actually does do something it'll be more interesting than winning a beauty pageant.
Episode 5
--I agree with Ranka. Ozma is a jerk for telling her she's too much of a coward to ever be a singer.
--For someone without hormones, Alto manages to get himself into hormone-exciting situations an awful lot.
--So Sheryl comes from a different colony ship? I was starting to wonder.
--Sheryl gets a song idea, so she grabs a giant pair of panties and starts writing it down? I really like her and the weird ways her different sides come together.
--Ranka starts singing and suddenly has a whole band? I think this may be one of those "it's Macross, go with it" moments.
--So the love triangle starts. I get the impression Sheryl doesn't mean anything serious by it yet, though, since she thinks she'll be going back to Galaxy soon.
If I keep going at this rate, I'll have it finished by the end of the week. We'll see how that works out. I may even watch another couple episodes tonight.
Episode 1
--Reaction to the OP: ...oh. This isn't a story about fighting aliens in mecha. It's a love story.
--Uh. Ranka really does have prehensile hair.
--I like how our first actual introduction to Sheryl is her boobs.
--The contrast between Sheryl's actual vulnerability from her busy, very public life and the haughty attitude she shows is interesting.
--Wow, other characters (or at least Michel) actually do call Alto "princess" and make references to him being girly.
--Oh jeez, even one of the girls who falls in love with him thought Alto was a girl at first. Maybe I'll get my yuri OT3 after all!
--Tentacles this early in the series? I guess I do have to keep watching it after all.
--And the ED is just weird.
Episode 2
--So wait, if both Luca and Michel are out there fighting, why does Alto have to grab some poor redshirt's VF?
--Alto sure emos easily. But I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation involving a terrible tragic backstory.
--So cute that Ranka describes him as "like a princess" even though she's never heard his nickname before.
--Oh. So that incredibly girly person that appears after Alto in the OP...is Alto. That is so great.
--Huh. So Sheryl is French?
--Sheryl telling Ranka she's cute = I ship it. Okay, not really, I don't ship anything yet, but I want to ship this.
--Watching the professional mercenaries (or whatever they are, I'm not too clear on it yet) manhandle Alto should not be so hilarious.
--Yeah, I really like the contrasting parts of Sheryl's character: the tightly-guarded vulnerability underneath it all, the bitchy exterior, and the sweet front she presents to her fans.
--How often does the ED change? That's pretty impressive.
Episode 3
--Kanaria is really hot. I hope to see more of her.
--Sheryl's boobs are characters in their own right, I see.
--It's too bad I'm spoiled somewhat on Grace, so I already know why sinister music plays when she asks for access to the shipboard network.
--Is Sheryl a little disappointed that her chance to finally do something for herself got thwarted by a rescue?
--"I'll wipe you out, socially and biologically." I really kind of love Sheryl.
--Ranka is cute, but I really hope she gets to do more than squeak and cry soon.
--I guess "have some interesting trauma" might count as "do more." But I'd prefer if she did something more active.
--Kanaria's hair is crazy. I like her even more.
--Ah, okay, after the second episode the ED stays the same for a while.
Episode 4
--Aww. Alto has daddy issues.
--You know, as much as I wanted Ranka to do something, it's a little sad that what she does has to be a beauty pageant. But I guess that's how a Macross series works.
--No, Alto's not that bright. Yeah, we have no actual ammunition, so let's attack the giant monsters with knives.
--Oh hey, there's Ranka's height and weight. Let's run it through a metric-to-imperial conversion program to see just how ridiculous it is. And...she's 5'1" and 92.5 pounds. That's, uh. Not quite as bad as it could be, I guess?
--Well, since Ranka lost the Miss Macross thing, hopefully that means when she actually does do something it'll be more interesting than winning a beauty pageant.
Episode 5
--I agree with Ranka. Ozma is a jerk for telling her she's too much of a coward to ever be a singer.
--For someone without hormones, Alto manages to get himself into hormone-exciting situations an awful lot.
--So Sheryl comes from a different colony ship? I was starting to wonder.
--Sheryl gets a song idea, so she grabs a giant pair of panties and starts writing it down? I really like her and the weird ways her different sides come together.
--Ranka starts singing and suddenly has a whole band? I think this may be one of those "it's Macross, go with it" moments.
--So the love triangle starts. I get the impression Sheryl doesn't mean anything serious by it yet, though, since she thinks she'll be going back to Galaxy soon.
If I keep going at this rate, I'll have it finished by the end of the week. We'll see how that works out. I may even watch another couple episodes tonight.