Macross Frontier

Well dang. This was an unexpected surprise to find available on Disney+. Months after announcing that Disney's service would be the international home for the Macross franchise, a step that many of us thought would be limited to Asian markets, on Thursday July 11th The Mouse dropped both of the latest entries - Macross Frontier & Macross Delta - followed by the associated movies for each the following day. Although oddly only here in the UK. Friends who also have D+ in Europe and the US have all told me that the only search result they get for “Macross” is Phineas & Ferb. Which is kinda funny 😀

Anyway, as a result I figured I may as well finally (and legally!) get through both these shows so began with Frontier, and I’ve come away wanting much, much more as this was pretty danged great!

The story takes the typical Macross love triangle and throws in its own flavour. This time we have two idols; Ranka Lee, a waitress with dreams of attaining stardom like her hero Sheryl Nome, the haughty songstress who dubs herself "The Galactic Fairy". The object of their affection is pilot-in-training Alto Saotome, a beautiful young man who often plays females in his family's Kabuki theatre, much to his chagrin. When his school flight team are booked to provide additional entertainment during Sheryl's impending concert, an attack by a space-faring insect-like menace called the Vajra sets the story in motion, the three are destined to cross paths. Alto joins the NUNS freelance Valkyrie squad and becomes central to the conflict, while Ranka chases her dreams and Sheryl becomes an unwitting pawn in a larger game.

Alto using his jetpack to dry off Ranka's dress in episode one is just such a great little scene...

Doing a bit of Wiki-Fu prior watching I found out that Frontier was part of the 25th anniversary celebration of Macross in 2008, and watching the show with that knowledge having watched at least some of the prior entries (mainly Macross as it was reworked into Robotech, as well as Macross: Do You Remember Love? Macross Plus and Macross Zero) it becomes readily apparent that the team behind it took great delight in making shoutouts & callbacks. More than just nostalgia for nostalgias sake, these references often subvert the original outcomes. A few examples of which:

• When Saitoma remote controls his Valkyrie, his hand motions are reminiscent of Isamu's visualisation technique prior to flying the YF-19 for the first time in Plus. 

• Whereas Macross had Minmay begin her rise to stardom with a role in a martial arts movie, in Frontier Ranka gets cast in a movie adapting the events of Macross Zero.

• Oscar is very much the Roy Fokker stand-in, lampshaded even more when he gets wounded in a very similar way.

• A trio of Zentradi officers are the spitting image of Breetai, Exodore & Khyron.

As is probably apparent, I really dug this show. Everything about it screamed quality - Animation was on point and looks great even 16 years later; The story was incredibly sweet and earnest, which bleeds into the characters, especially our core trio of Alto, Ranka and Sheryl; Mecha designs are excellent, and whilst the YF-25 is a great bit of design that I dig a lot, I absolutely adore the Macross Quarter - a pocket battleship a fraction of the size of the typical Super Dimensional Fortress that really lets the animation team go nuts having it do things the more traditional-sized  SDF’s really would look off doing.

Mech action is slick and plentiful in Macross Frontier

The songs, oh the songs. Says it all that I am still humming a lot of the tunes from Frontier. They are real earworms and I love it. May'n, the singer for Sheryl Nome, is an absolute blast, with soaring vocals set to pounding beats, ably accompanied at times by Megumi Nakajima, the talented voice actress who made her debut in the industry as Ranka Lee - what a way to start! Take a look at some of the concerts, especially featuring Lion, to see a crowd go nuts. 

The story is really the crowning achievement. It manages to place sympathetic and engaging characters into a mystery that leads to conspiracy and danger, with the stakes feeling suitably high. Backed be jaw-dropping dogfights, space battles and surprising outcomes, it's a genuine "just one more episode" anime that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately the movies have rather eclipsed the series as they offer higher quality animation and a more conclusive ending, but this is where it started and it's still awesome.

Oh, and special shout out to the Valkyrie Bomber, which transforms into a freakin’ Monster Destroid. I won’t lie, I kinda lost my mind when that happened…