Guilty Pleasures: Macross 7, Fleet of the Strongest Women
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and even a terrible TV series can produce at least one likable episode. “Fleet of the Strongest Women”, an extra video-only episode of Macross 7, (part of the three-episode “Macross 7: Encore”) is one of only two things in Macross 7’s entire body of work that I could stomach a second time, and a third, and a fourth. In fact, I actually like it, awkwardly-translated title notwithstanding.
I like it because there’s little of what makes Macross 7 grating, because it delves into elements from the older series, because there’s lots of Zentraedi in it, and because the three returning characters from the SDF-1 era are actually being fun and useful for a change. If you’re feeling generous, it might even be argued that “Fleet of the Strongest Women” is the older characters’ story as much as it is that of the main characters in the series.
If you've never seen Macross 7, here is the gist: Aboard a Macross colony fleet, struggling J-rocker Nekki Basara is trying to get his band Fire Bomber off the ground. But he's no ordinary musician: he's got his own mecha, which he pilots with a guitar controller, and he wants anybody to "Listen to my song!" even attacking aliens, and he'll jump his machine into the middle of a space battle to get heard. It’s discovered that the band's music has a powerful effect on the Protodevlin, energy vampires in the bodies of humans and genetic constructs, who are threatening the fleet. All this, and the normal trials of trying to get a good gig....
You won't be seeing much of this guy in this review
Yeah. At the point in the series at which this episode roughly takes place (we’re not given specific numbers), Fire Bomber has become so important they've been given their own mecha along the lines of Basara's: bright and colourful machines with instrument-like controllers and all the fixins' to play their music in space.
Fortunately, there are no Protodevlin here (which is good, ‘cause I really hate those bastards). Instead, in "Fleet of the Strongest Women", the Macross 7 fleet runs into a rogue female Zentraedi group whose commander, Chlore (rhymes with “floor ray”) is an old rival of Milia's (Miriya's). You see, unlike in Robotech, the Macross universe the fleet that Bodolza (Dolza) sent to Earth was not the sum total of the Zentraedi forces: by the end of the first series, there are still Zentraedi fleets scattered throughout the galaxy, and supplemental material suggests that several have been encountered by the time this episode takes place.
I’m one of those poor suckers who watched Macross 7 for the older characters: while others chose Max and Milia Jenius, I was in it for Exsedol Folmo (Exedore Formo, though now unrecognizable in a completely new design and a slightly different personality). Nobody else would say they watched Macross 7 for Exsedol, because of his very small role, because of his extreme alteration, and because he’s just not popular. But that was the truth in my case: I was fresh off discovering Robotech, and Exedore was my favourite character in it. I had see how he ended up, no matter how stupid it was.
Naturally I wasn’t very happy with what I got. But I maintained an inexplicable attachment to the character, and I guess I also had a soft spot for Max and Milia, since I found their older personalities to be almost as objectionable as Exsedol’s, though at least the Jenii were physically recognizable and got to move around more often. “Fleet of the Strongest Women” can’t compensate for all this mess, but it allows them something more than usual.
Though the Jenius (Sterling) couple is now estranged (how or why is only vaguely and briefly addressed in the series), they journey together to the female Zentraedi flagship to meet with Chlore. To demonstrate the new life that humans can offer to the Zentraedi, Max and Milia explain briefly what the state of affairs is, and then stage a kiss for them. The female Zentraedi react pretty much the same way the males in the old series did: screaming and freaking out (Chlore even fires her gun into the air to try to make them stop).
While Max and Milia’s actions prove futile in the plot sense, they let the two characters act different from their Macross 7 norm. Normally, I find the Macross 7 Milia to be a shrewish piece of comic relief, embodying all the worst stereotypes of a middle-aged woman and bitter ex and often played for laughs. Max I found rather wooden, undertaking a lot of generic commander action without much individuality at all, though he had some moments which said otherwise.
In this episode, viewers see Max and Milia standing stoically on the Battle 7 bridge without any sitcom antics, and can feel the unspoken tension between the two of them as they discuss going to Chlore’s ship. It’s one of the few times that the couple’s relationship is seen in any kind of deep or dignified way. It’s no longer just Milia screaming at Max for his failure as commander to protect the fleet.
The two of them are also taking an active role in the story, instead of being in the background. Their normal physical status can be excused by their ages, though, and it’s really more their personalities which are the issue.
For his part, Max Jenius gets to smirk gently at Milia’s reminder that they are just acting for Chlore’s group, and to put more passion into his movement on Milia than was needed or expected of him, embracing her and pulling her closer as they kiss, something that surprises Milia for a moment, but which she seems to go ahead with.
Max and Milia also enter this scene in their trademark blue and red mecha, though now they’re piloting modern models. When they first disembark and reveal themselves to Chlore’s fleet, the scene is a very direct lift of a similar scene in episode 30 of the original series, including Milia being the one to introduce Max and explain the concept of parentage to the surrounding Zentraedi. Later episodes show that these nostalgic and romantic touches are not fleeting, though their portrayals aren’t totally salvaged, and I honestly can’t remember anything standing out except for Max entering battle more often.
But Neo-Exsedol’s shockingly good showing is also where this episode shines. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and again, and again): one of the many reasons I dislike Neo-Exsedol is that he looks sad and apathetic, and lacks the quirky, nerdy aspects of Classic Exsedol, and his original incarnation’s potential for emotional growth. Normally Exsedol in Macross 7 does nothing but sit around provide needless exposition or act cowardly and pessimistic.
But here, though still just a big head on the bridge (whoever thought that image was a good idea?) Neo-Exsedol decides to take initiative. When he is ordered by his superiors to fire on Chlore’s fleet, even though Exsedol and the now-absent Max would have preferred to negotiate, Exsedol pretends he is going to do obey, but, without any change in expression, orders firing co-ordinates that mean the cannon will fire up, leaving Basara the chance to fly in and convert the female Zentraedi with the POWER OF RAWK.
After this action is a roaring success, Exsedol smiles for the first and only time in the series, and two of the female bridge crew, Sally and Miho, congratulate him on his strategy. Sally jokingly tells Exsedol that they should go on a date sometime, prompting Exsedol to blush and exclaim, “You’re embarrassing this old man”. (So cute!)
I actually first saw this episode before viewing the rest of Macross 7. A lack of context, and of comfort with the Macross continuity, lead to it not standing out in my mind as much as it did the second time, even with regards to Exsedol. Also, for the fansub that I first viewed, one of Exsedol’s lines was translated as “It appears the culture shock strategy is working” instead of the one that I later saw, which uses, “Well, I’m not used to giving orders, so I was a little bit off”. I stick with the second translation, because throughout the whole episode, the phrase “culture shock” was spoken in English, and it’s not heard in Exsedol’s dialogue.
Furthermore, the second translation also provoked a more immediate reaction in me. It’s almost as if Exsedol is playing off the impression of dullness and weakness he gives off, to use it as a flimsy excuse against his action, all the while subverting that same impression.
The whole affair is not really something I could picture Classic Exsedol doing, but that’s also part of the point. When watching the original series, I wanted to see Exsedol’s character develop more, but Neo-Exsedol seemed to be on a permanent “low” setting, unfamiliar in a way that didn’t seem a good progression from Classic Exsedol (assuming his SDF1-era characterization was still the same in this new Macross interpretation’s of the original series). A more positive development, such as Neo-Exsedol’s actions here, was greatly needed. And even if he was retconned to be always this way (who can tell with this franchise?), it was still needed.
(Another little moment I liked is when a scene is cut so it suggests that Exsedol is looking worriedly at Max’s now-empty command chair, as if he misses his friend and doesn’t want to see him get blown up. Aw. The series is always very brief in suggesting that Max and Exsedol are friends, but I appreciate the effort)
The opening for this episode explains how peace between the humans (whom the Zentraedi refer to as “Microns” or “Miclones”) and Zentraedi was established. A newbie to the retconned Macross universe notices that the character designs and general artwork are derived from the movie Do You Remember Love?, including the appearances of Exsedol and Britai. This will show up in every Macross work but the original TV show, leading fans to conclude that the series has been retconned to look like DYRL, even if the events of the movie are not canon. However, this has not been confirmed by most sources, leaving things up in the air, which is extremely frustrating and a big reason why I’m only a grudging Macross fan.
(The episode also opens with Mylene Flare Jenius, Max and Milia’s seventh daughter and a main character in the show, singing the iconic title song from that film)
And in another parallel to the original TV series, the female Zentraedi all become Basra’s squealing groupies, including a scene where their delighted shrieks are emanating from a pack of mecha in space, unloading their missile payloads and flocking around Basara’s mecha like curious seagulls. It’s hilarious.
The gender reversal is one of the most fun parts of the episode, because it’s hilarious, and because it shows some self-awareness. Deprived of the notions of love, tender emotions, and sexuality, the male Zentraedi from the original series were sickened and terrified at the sight of a simple kiss. Though the female characters never saw this, one would imagine that their reactions would have been about the same, and “Fleet of the Strongest Women” confirms it.
I can’t help but feel that the lack of exploration of the female Zentraedi in the franchise, especially in the cultural transition aspect, has to do with a certain level of chauvinism, that the audience might have been thought to find it too upsetting to see females fearing love and romance that it was left out of the original series. But it really needs to be shown, for it to be made clear that the sexes are equal in loss, and “Fleet of the Strongest Women” in a small way makes up for that narrative deficiency.
However, the episode also undermines its own presentation of this when Exsedol is explicitly worried that without Minmei they might not be unable to persuade these Zentraedi to accept “culture”. It’s part of a theme in the latter-day Macross universe: that Minmei wasn’t merely a symbol of culture, and an important historical figure, but is herself said to have had a literal power, even though she was just a pop singer. There’s no blatant examples of this particular aspect in this episode, but Exsedol’s line is a callback to it (those sentiments are also echoed here by the character Dr. Chiba, but he’s a raging Minmei otaku, though also the one to push the notion that she had her own special power).
(There's the meme in Macross fandom that Exsedol is a Minmei fanboy himself, but I don't see any strong evidence for it in the official material, and I think after twenty years or so, he'd be able to tell the difference between cultural significance and nigh-supernatural song power)
It’s annoying, because it seems like a pushy demand is being made by the narrative to worship Minmei. And it kills the thematic power of the original series: “culture” is not to be congratulated for freeing the Zentraedi: it’s just Minmei, Minmei, Minmei, damn Minmei.
Chlore and her advisor, Tranquil (rhymes with “rankle”, though I think it’s supposed to be like the English word), are based on the female Zentraedi designs established in Do You Remember Love?. They wear slight variations on that movie’s “candy cane” female Zentraedi pilot’s uniforms, including having with shoulder things and capes. The female soldiers wear blue and gold and white outfits that are clearly meant to evoke those same DYRL flight suits, though with a long list of superficial differences. Overall the colour scheme of the outfits is very garish and somehow stereotypically feminine.
Their ships are now dark inside as the male ships in DRYL were, but the design is largely the same as the DYRL female ships, with a lot of open space inside, and a bridge structure that seems lifted from the movie. Their mecha are dark blue instead of the dark green of the TV series, but still look better than the lavender and magenta machines from Do You Remember Love?
(If the Zentraedi are de-individualized, why does Chlore have her blinged-out Quedlan-Rau?)
Once again, the character designers miss out on the opportunity to create “exotic” types of female Zentraedi. While male Zentraedi can be handsome, average, ugly, or merely oddly-coloured, female Zentraedi have been to a woman gorgeous and with natural skin tones. These new female Zentraedi do look unnaturally pale and with greenish-tinged skin, but that might be an artefact of the lighting, and not meant to be part of their real design.
The double standard is really egregious with Advisor Tranquil, who has the same position as Exsedol once did, but does not have a huge swollen head and looks just like a normal woman. She could be hiding something under that crazy sunglasses/mask/helmet thing she’s got on, but when she squeals over Basara, the audience sees that the right side of her face is perfect, and from the side view anything below the ear is also perfect. I’m thinking she wasn’t meant to have a hideous left side, a la Dr. Blight from Captain Planet.
(Also, I hate the name “Tranquil”. Having some Zentraedi around with English nouns for names makes no sense; at least give it an exotic spelling like “Trankl” or something)
In any case, I still maintain that the original TV series ship and uniform designs for both Zentraedi genders looked much more appealing and snappy. I dislike the Do You Remember Love? take on the Zentraedi so much that I pretty much refuse to use the term “Meltrandi”, the term the movie invented for female Zentraedi which has been picked up in later Macross iterations and by the fandom as a whole. This episode uses the term “Meltran”, the short form of “Meltrandi”, to refer to Chlore’s fleet, and it might be the first time this crops up in a non-DYRL context.
It’s damming proof when only two works in a series body are enjoyable (the other being episode 37 of the original series, where Exsedol actually leaves the ship and gets to do something), and the goodness of this one has nothing to do with what’s actually the series’ main focus, or anything else new.
Still, the moment can’t be spoiled. For fans whose sole interest in Macross 7 lies with the “old guard”, “Fleet of the Strongest Women is like an oasis in the desert. It by no means pays for the rest of the series, but might be something to revisit on its own.
Notes:
I could have done without the panty shot on the “Flower Girl” (you know, the silent girl in period dress who keeps following Basara around, trying to give him flowers, in a running gag)
In addition to the flashbacks depicting his current design as the original one, Chlore and Tranquil appear to recognize Exsedol on sight, which further pokes holes in the early piece of information that suggested Exsedol was a modification from the TV series version. Thus, the yanking of the chain began.
Milia has a TV series pilot’s uniform when she’s at the controls of her modern mecha. The Macross continuity should pick one design set and stick with it.
If Chlore is a commander and Milia was a pilot, why are they rivals? Can a pilot be promoted to commander? We really don't know enough about the Zentraedi chain of command to be sure.
You can see this episode on youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3