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The Ranka Lee nendoroid, it may have taken them six years but it has arrived! This is the figure I was hoping for and had nearly given up on, so it is great to finally see it made. Not only that but it is number 350 in the nendoroid product line which I think makes it at least a tiny bit more special. However sadly it did not fully live up to my expectations in every way as I’ll get into more later. Read on to find out more about what I think of the Ranka Lee nendoroid.
Yup, I got two of them and that is the first time for me and maybe the only time I’ll ever buy two of any figure that is not cheap (I do actually own a couple of ichiban kuji kyuncharas). Anyways the box is a nice orange color that goes well with Ranka, I like this decision. You can see the difference faces on the back here, they are all faces you’ll find from her Seikan Hikou scene from the TV series. I love them all although would have chosen a blushing Ranka and a straight happy Ranka face if it were up to me.
One thing I noticed and confirmed they only started doing recently (also was on my miku 2.0) is they now have a small line of English text on the back about arranging face plates. I think that is a rather notable thing to mention because perhaps they are getting enough overseas sales that we are starting to get a small influence on figures!
For the nendo itself the first impression I had is SO CUTE. I love the little stars on her kira hand, they are a very nice touch. Even though I have many Rankas of the same size from Ichiban Kuji prizes nobody makes chibi figures like Good Smile Company. This is why I wanted this figure more than anything else since I started collecting figures.
Here is the one and only accessory that came with the Ranka nendo the stage. This is where the major complaints I have are as first off while the stage is not horrible it’s really just kind of boring. I could forgive that if they had added in other stuff but sadly this was not the case. One of the things that make nendos great are the accessories and one reason I looked forward to a Ranka nendo is due to all the cool accessories she has that would be perfect for a nendo.
Where was Ai-kun, her phone and her cute valk backpack just to list some of the more major things associated with her. Basically this nendo looks like someone just watched a video of her famous Seikan Hikou scene and designed it around that. While that is not a bad thing it is also not taking full advantage of her potential. To be honest I wonder if they did not design this to fit with the Sheryl nendo in order to pair them up and increase sales among Macross fans. I can’t blame them but I’m sad they did not do more. My cynical side thinks that they just didn’t want to make the Ranka nendo stand out more than the Sheryl one because Ranka has so much more potential when it comes to a nendoroid. lol
They made the cute ribbon in back detachable which is a nice touch. It is not the same as having poseable hair which was one thing on my list but hopefully people will find a way to play with this.
Both my Ranka’s together with different poses, this makes me happy I got two. I had to go with the kira for my first one and then the “embrace each other until the ends of the galaxy” face with the other. One reason I had to get another was because I knew I’d never be able to not use the kira pose if I only had one so my other is for playing around with.
Ranka and Gumi side by side both doing of the kira of course. Perhaps I can switch my pose on Gumi now that I have Ranka to get my nendo kira fix.
All my Rankas in her famous orange outfit together doing a kira! You’d probably think I’d have more of this by now, I was a little surprised I only had four out of my 35 or so.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet the real reason good smile company started making Macross figures this year is to advertise all the stuff coming out now in this 30th anniversary. I think this is the first nendo I got with an ad inside. Not sure if that is common and my other 8 just didn’t have it but I imagine not likely. Basically all this stuff out right now is about advertising the Macross F BD box coming out end of December.
The other side of the ad, you’d think a Ranka nendo would have ads tailored for Ranka fans.
Overall I’m happy with the Ranka nendoroid, despite my complaints. I feel that even though it barely touched the possibilities it’s still a nendo and it’s still very cute. I hope that they make a few more and maybe with more accessories next time but realistically I am not holding my breath on any of that. I’d recommend this to any Ranka fan and to anyone who likes nendoroid.
Reki's blog 
Ahhhhhh, I’m not usually a fan of Nendo’s as I prefer full scale figures, but she is absolutely adorable! Ranka just lends herself so well to the small chibi form.
Hopefully I can pick her up after xmas so she can be my first nendo.
I hope you can pick her up as well. I know nendos aren’t as nice as a scaled figure but I find them fun to pose and such and it’s cool you can interchange parts if you have a lot of them and make some fun stuff out of it. ^_^
This is on my Nendoroid wish list, along with Shinku from Rozen Maiden. There’s something about Nendoroids that seems like it’s more of a uniting of anime characters rather than just a company that happens to be making many figures.
Showing up with an off toic question as there is something I really want to know the “devoted Ranka fan perspective” on.
There is that situation in the TV series (not movies) where Ranka acts really strange. Taking off with Ai-kun right after Michel was killed by the Vajra. Falling for Grace’s rather simple trick. Many people actually hate her for that, but they are probably missing the point. But what is really happening?
I have an idea what might be happening to her at that point, which I did recount elsewhere, but now I realize I’d rather have your opinion on this.
My opinion is it’s the bravest thing anyone in the show did if not in Macross history and it was so poorly written that it required people to be paying attention more which sadly was not the case. In fact the next article will likely be on this topic because it’s so insane how badly people have got this all wrong. Yes it’s not really clear right away what is going on and that’s because she doesn’t say what shes doing until episode 23 which was trying to find a peaceful solution to two sides who were killing each other because their differences made it hard to understand each other. That is a basic theme to Macross and it’s sad people didn’t really get it.
To be more specific Ranka is acting strange because she started to understand that the Vajra were not the enemies because she was starting to understand her powers better (to put it simply) but she didn’t really completely understand everything (her memory was the key to ending the war after all). She basically took off with the one person she thought she could trust more than anyone which was Brera because she wanted to stop both sides from killing each other rather than just watch and do nothing while everyone is dying around her. Not sure how anything Grace did was a simple trick either seemed rather well planned out and Ranka had no reason to suspect her. Really the only person that could’ve changed Ranka’s decisions and been a big help in stopping Grace before she completed her plan was Sheryl who knew more about Grace than anyone else and Sheryl never did alert Ranka about anything. Not that I really blame Sheryl that much but she is really the only one that could have done more in the situation (at the very least warn Ranka that Grace was not to be trusted) and didn’t, yet since it’s less obvious and what Ranka does is an easier target Ranka gets the criticism.
The really funny thing is in the movies they could have completely improved upon this and made it more clear to the average viewer and yet for reasons I can only account for because of the swap in character roles/love they instead just made Alto the Vajra peacemaker this time and had Ranka randomly get her memory back and also aware of the other threats. So in movie version she is able to go to the SMS this time with all the knowledge she didn’t have last time and then sit back and sing in the background while everything else is going on rather than the original (better) version. Anyways as much as I hate how Sheryl/Ranka roles were swapped in the movies if I could have one thing everyone understand better it would be how heroic Ranka was and not someone to be hated.
Thank you very much for your reply! I am trying to build a well-rounded view of the events and I was really missing the “Ranka fan” version.
Sheryl indeed seems to have failed to alert Ranka, though it’s understandable given the shape Sheryl was in. (It seems to sink any Sheryl/Ranka ship in the TV series version, at least up until that point; Sheryl seems to have forgotten about Ranka entirely).
However it’s not clear to me how it would have changed things. Up until the first concert, Ranka openly rebelling on Frontier would only cause Mishima’s forces to get in motion, along with a controlled Brera, so she would be recaptured. And at that monent on the Vajra planet where Grace manipulated Ranka, it seems very clear to me the girl was not in control of herself; she would not remember any words by Sheryl amd I’m not sure she even realized it was Grace talking to her. I suspect the cause of her state is not Grace herself but proximity to a huge amount of Vajra, whose information/emotion stream overwhelmed her; Grace has calculated this would happen and used her state to guilt-trip her. (The guilt-tripping is what I called a simple trick, but of course the planning for it was far from simple).
Your line presupposes that by this time she actually understood the Vajra consciously. In this case, yes, it makes most sense, but did she? I was thinking that because of Vajra emotional feedback through her V-type microbes – feedback that was very real but that she was not aware of – she was in a state when her logic would be somewhta different from those around her…
…much like a real teenage girl in a hormone storm. I now suspect that was the idea of the creators (yes, switching to a Doylist view here). At first it did not make sense in a shonen series, but then, why not actually explain to the boys how it really can be for girls, instead of just giving them an endless stream of fan service? I’m trying to investigate this line of thought and preliminary results (that is, what I could learn from one RL teenage girl who did not watch the series) seem to confirm. She described a feeling of heat in the stomach (!!) and actually gave “save a puppy” as an example of what one can do in this state (hel-lo, Ai-kun)… I’m suspecting Kawamori did this first – interviewed an actual girl – I’m just trying to retrace his steps.
Yet, your version makes a lot of sense too. It seems to be these things working together, come to think of it. She understands certain things about the Vajra, but not the full extent of the way she is linked to them? She does not want them killed but thinks it’s just her having real empathy while the rest of the world just concentrates on their own kind, while the emotional feedback from the Vajra enables this line of thought?
Now I am trying to get the view of a teenage, or recently teenage, girl who watched the series. Not an easy task, given the very obvious shonen bias in the presentation of the series (space fights, gratuitous boobs…), but I’m hoping to get there.
P.S. I hope you realize I *don’t* hate Ranka Lee. Her haters seem to be the kind who dislike this type of girl in real life. I actually have a soft spot for them – as friends, of course. A real life Ranka, and yes they exist (but usually don’t sing so well, though many do try), can save one from a lot of gloom or fatigue and this has happened to me more than once.
As far as Sheryl warning Ranka goes I think it might have changed things in that Ranka may have been a little more cautious before going off alone with Brera. I think she might have seeked help with the SMS like in the movie version if she felt there were possibly more threats out there than just the Vajra. But if Ranka was hesitant to go to the Vajra home world that may have delayed her getting her memories back and thus being able to find a peaceful end to the war which would have made things worse. Outside of that it’s really hard to judge the other factors you mentioned, who really knows for sure.
For the guilt tripping I am actually a bit foggy on it, it’s been a while and does not come up much in discussions I’ve had. If I remember right Ranka was just captured and Grace used her, I didn’t see any willingness in it. Ranka was fighting internally during this time with the end result was overcoming her childhood trauma and getting her memories back. It’s very likely that being near the Vajra helped with her getting her memories back but also put her into information overload, I like this theory this way.
But back to possible changed decisions overall this is all so hindsight it’s hard to know really what would be best but I just don’t think you can fault any of them really. I feel like the blame that gets passed around is more because when things get bad fandom wants either someone strong to latch on to or something to blame for it all so this is that result. They are really just upset because they want the heroes to be stronger but I feel this was a tale of growth and things are not perfect when you grow.
Which leads to your hormone theory, I find that interesting and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something of that idea put into this. It is a story of growth and I do feel the intent was to show Ranka blossoming into a woman who can make her own choices and lead her own life with her own beliefs (it is said by Ozma that Ranka chose her own path in ep 22 and Alto should do the same as well). Anyways I do not think Ranka was literally effected by hormones it was just the Vajra emotional feedback but I more or less feel you more accurately described what I’ve been trying to say with this:
Also didn’t get the sense you hated Ranka, mostly just letting out frustration when talking about this after seeing so much nonsense written about it calling her everything from a traitor to a failure of an idol.
OK, rewatched… She does seem to know a lot about herself feeling the Vajra by the time of her flight. She mentioned to Brera that “Ai-kun says” something about directions to the planet.
And I just realized that her refusal to sing at the funeral was sheer brilliance – and moreover, Mishima was being an idiot (quite separate from being a scheming usurper). I mean, she just sang on Islabd 3, resulting in a lot of Vajra flocking there. If she were to sing again at the funeral they would likely get a new Vajra wave there and then folding in from somewhere. And Mishima of all people should have guessed that far!
(The comment was sent before I finished it somehow…)
I’m not sure that a warning about Grace would have influenced her not to go with Brera. All Sheryl knew at the point was that Grace was a heartless b*tch set on using singers…
…wait, that’s what managers from record/media companies actually do! Oh Kawamori, you TROLL. Getting THIS past the radar in a totally corporate dominated anime world, while really there’s a bit of Grace in every Sony etc manager who deals with real life idols. But it’s an anime with loads of fan service and Grace is a cyborg villain bent on world domination so no one noticed the realistic part…
Anyway, Sheryl did not know Grace was a cyborg villain bent on world domination. She only knew Grace was another of those greedy corporate types – Sheryl saw a lot of those on Galaxy and they tended to be cyborgs to a certain degree anyway.
So I cam imagine Sheryl sending Ranka a mail onto her cute green phone. “Grace is a b*tch who double-crossed me. Don’t trust her, she’ll dump anyone who is no longer useful”. It would not tell Ranka that Grace, as opposed to Mishima or some army general, controls Brera. It would not even tell her there is another big threat. It would just push Ranka further away from this crappy Frontier place where she is used by an idiot of a president AND by a b*tch of a manager.
Come to think of it, it might even have happened offscreen for all we know and would not change a thing. At least on the “Ranka leaving” part. If Ranka new Sheryl was dying, it might put Ranka’s encounter of Sheryl in Alto’s arms into perspective… But we know what Sheryl is like. She would never tell Ranka *that*, even if she were to warn her about Grace.
Ranka still did fail to explain to Alto what she was really doing – after calling him in the middle of the night. But that is simply realistic. She could not articulate her feelings and even thoughts clearly at that point. (Oh. and I’m not saying Ranka was affected by hormones inworld. Rather I’m saying that “Ranka affected by Vajra-originating feelings” was modeled by the writers after “real life girl affected by hormones”).
About the part where Grace manipulated Ranka – the location of Ranka is an interesting question. Shortly before Grace acted, we see Ai-kun whisking Ranka away in space (she ejected from Brera’s Valk; of course she has a space suit). But after that she did end up inside Battle Galaxy, where Alto eventually liberated her. The anime does not show how Grace got her transferred from a firm grip of a Vajra into Galaxy. But it does appear that Grace contacted Ranka first, through her fold capabilities, and guilt-tripped her based on her recovered memory (misinterpreted as “it was all my fault”). Then Grace, through the control granted by Ranka, got into the head of the Vajra Queen. But how, and at which point, Ranka ended up inside Galaxy is not clear to me at all.
I think the main fault in the Macross F writing is that it’s more written towards purpose rather than how they likely would act. I mean yes you can find reasoning in most all of it but it’s sometimes shaky or poorly shown and that allows people to pick it apart if they so choose. Sheryl definitely knew Grace was not a good person as Grace told her she was going to die which is probably cause enough to suspect her and warn others and such but it was more written towards setting up the rooftop scene which was needed to move forward the plot and develop Ranka.
Same with the method by which Ranka left frontier, while it was going to happen one way or another they definitely wanted to set it up so that Alto would have to confront his feelings about the Vajra against Ranka. After all a lot of his hatred for the Vajra came from what they did to Ranka and while at the same time most of what he was doing was to protect her from the Vajra so this definitely was a big push for him to have to decide things (and eventually get past his blindness for the previous 21 episodes). Yeah it might make more sense for Ranka to tell Alto everything she knew but that would get in the way of this purpose and thus we don’t find out until episode 23 what she is doing. While I don’t disagree with your take on it I just think they were more thinking along those lines when creating these scenes and the why came second. Finally like it’s already been said Grace captured and used Ranka in order to setup the climax and the old Princess/Love rescue bit, I don’t see that much wrong about it nor anything to fault Ranka with here at all but since the why is second it’s easy enough to over think it if that makes any sense.
Anyways that is mostly how I view these scenes however making sense within the story is good too just I put a limit on how much I look into the why cause at a certain point we are probably going beyond what was intended or written.
We did not know it at the time, but Grace was already installed inside the Vajira queen at that point (but not influencing the entire Vajira network yet), and controlled Ai-kun suddenly, forcing him to take Ranka to Grace. We can see the abrupt shift in his “face”.
Ranka was unconscious for an extended period with Grace, and even when conscious she was hypnotized or drugged inside a machine that was linked to her mind for both transmission outward, and likely able to influence her in return.
As far as “little girl hormones” model I will strongly disagree. This is Macross. It has always carried a message of peace and ending war. Earlier Ranka had personally felt the deaths of a few million Vajira that she lured to save others; and shortly thereafter decided to leave family, love, and safety to find a way to end the war.
Acting to stop needless war is not selfish or hormones. It is a noble, brave, and mature action. It’s never a “bad move” to try.
If Grace wasn’t there, it likely would have worked. But it would have made for a very anti-climatic story.
I’m not saying it was selfish. But a hormone-influenced move is not necessarily selfish; an RL girl I asked about it gave “saving a puppy” as an example. It’s more about following emotions rather than an explainable logic (and she did fail to explain to Alto what was going on), whatever logic is there being quite different from what people around her see (sometimes actually better), and acting quickly. That’s as far as I know for now; I’m working on a way to ask professionals.
So Grace already installed herself into the Vajra queen’s head, and this could control Ai-kun enough for him to carry Ranka straight to Galaxy? This does explain things but where is the source for this? (Novels?)
Ranka said in episode 23 she came to find a way to end the war I think I wouldn’t really call this off emotion of wanting to save a puppy when so much life is on the line including all your friends but more so she had limited knowledge but did know they were not evil and definitely wanted to save everyone. Basically limited knowledge would be more accurate to say. I still think it more goes back to my previous comment that this stuff was more written for purpose so you can sometimes you can find things that aren’t really there.
Grace was there, inside the Vajira queen the next time we see Ranka and Grace.
Something controlled Ai-kun suddenly when they neared the Vajira queen, and too Ranka to Grace.
I don’t think Ranka could explain in detail her plan to Alto at the time. She still at that point did not know fully how to use her abilities. But that does not matter: even if she did he sure the hell wasn’t listening while in a shoot first listen later mood; with his pistol drawn and aimed – and SHOT his pistol within inches of her face.
>”But a hormone-influenced move is not necessarily selfish; an RL girl I asked about it gave “saving a puppy” as an example.”
Returning Ai-kun it wasn’t her full reason as stated in ep 23. She said in ep 21:
“I *at least* want to return this guy to his kind” (せめて)
Not her full reason, but even if she was unsuccessful in stopping the war she could save one sentient life after being responsible for luring all the other to a fold fault bomb.
Ai-kun wasn’t just a pet, they show him actually comforting her, Ai-kun placing a hand on her shoulder after Alto tried to shoot him, knowing that Ranka was making a difficult decision.
I sat down and wrote a description, with timings, of all the sequences with Ranka from the moment she ejects from Brera’s Valk until Alto sees she is in Battle Galaxy. I still failed to work out when or how she was transferred, as it seems she was inside the Vajra Queen at one point (the place where Grace was later tentacle-connected, and yet later killed).
Here are my notes and I would very much appreciate help in understanding when and how that transfer happened.
ep23
13:56 Ranka sees Ai-kun, ejects; before this moment she was in Brera’s Valk at all times. Tries to talk to Ai-kun
14:06 Ai-kun’s eyes glow red and shortly he grabs her with a tentacle. Ranka screams; Brera cries out “Ranka” – he did NOT expect this. Ranka regains some of her memories as she cries out “Onii-chan”
14:28-14:29 Ranka still held by Ai-kun who is riding, apparently, a bigger Vajra, but of a colour I don’t remember. http://hkar.ru/qNXl http://hkar.ru/qNXh . Brera is shown trying to follow in his Valk but pushed away from her by another Vajra and fighting them
14:50 Grace talks to Brera from big humanoid mecha with a green glowing band on “head” at the level of “eyes”, probably her own Valk as size is comparable to Brera’s. Shortly after 15:00 she says “seems the Vajra have noticed us – how these bugs annoy me” according to the subs I have. This seems to mean she does not control Vajra at the point
15:29 Grace clicks fingers to take control of Brera (after his “controlled now” sequence the anime cuts to Frontier, and we go to next scene with Ranka/Grace/Brera)
17:37 Ranka on screen again, and she apears to be flying with Brera again though it is probably Alto thinking of her flying with Brera, as she onky appears for a few seconds while he looks at a picture of her.
17:50 we see a Vajra thing with red dots (head of the Queen?) and then immediately we see Ranka who looks like she is laid on a web of something. So it appears she was pulled into the Queen? She says “forgive me brother” and gets the key memory – she is singing as a child, Brera playing harmonica, Vajra appear, then battle then she sees her brother in a hatch etc. Back to present Ranka who now says it’s all her fault.
18:29 cut to Grace who sees Ranka as if hanging in space, says “we awaited this moment, I hear her, the Little Queen, now we…” and we see a green apparentl fold-network spring into action and expand intoa spiral, then Grace says “it’s tjhe moment of truth” and cut to Alto wih Klan. That scene leads to Alto telling Klan he will kill Ranka if she is turned by Vajra into a tool against humanity, with Klan responsing “so this is your love” and Sheryl reacting (wait, both Klan and Sheryl have time for the triange stuff while THIS CRAP is happening? Though they don’t know…).
Shortly after we see the same planet on Mishima;s screen but no Ranka. Episode ends.
Ep24 starts with the attack on the 117th fleet starting with child!Ranka singing then showing Grace burning and cursing Vajra. Then, after a brief appearance of Ozma, child!Brera is seen saying to child!Ranka “don’t tell anyone they came for your song” (not exactly very wise but he’s how many years old here…)
01:04 today’s Ranka in unclear space saying it’s her fault. Grace answers that it is correct and proceeds to guilt-trip her – not yet into action, but into “opening up fully” (making the information overload worse, presumably). Cut to Ozma after that, then opening and the SMS searching the old Macross on Galia-4. (Wait, Alto found it was all erased – bt I guess they got better computer tech there and unerased it all)
06:44 we see Ranka again and she is crucified now, held by those rings. She will remain in this pose until freed by Alto. Brera reports to Grace that the analysis of the quantum protocol is nearly complete, then flashback to a burning Grace who says that Ranshe’s and Mao’s blood will soon start burning them from the inside and people will know Grace was right. (Does not exactly make sense to me). Cut to SMS.
17:10 we get Ranka again, crucified anc clearly not in control of herself though conscious. Grace is guilt-trippoijng Ranka into defending this lovely planet from the invasion. Controlled Brera hekos at 17:27.
18:20 we see Ranka singing to rally the Vajra, and it seems like the giant hologram of her appears but I am not sure
18:38 the giant hologram appears for sure.
20:00 we see Grace flying without a space suit (well she’s a cyborg) and right into some sort of Vajra mesh as she is saying “your key is in my hands, the throne is mine, let me in”
20:17 we see the same Vajra thing with red dots as in ep23 17:50; Grace flying towards it. Cut to battle, Alto flying around the big hologram.
20:35 Alto flies throuhg holographic Ranka’s eye and sees Brera’s Valk or Battle Galaxy? Colour is the same) and aparently realizes Ranka is holographic, followed by Alto being shot by Brera, then Sheryl appears briefly, ALto and Brera fight while having a chat focusing on whether the humans are invaders (a bit close to current politics…). The Meltran (Klan?) joining the fight also joins the debate. The fold network is so like Teh Internets!
21:53 damaged Alto’s Valk wkirts arm of holographic Ranka, episode ends shortly
ep25
beginning recaps what was at the end of last ep but no new footage of Ranka
0:47 SMS folds in and Ozma immediately lands a strike on Brera breaking his implant. SMS shortly reveals the Galaxy plot.
2:08 Alto says the holographic Ranka is not the real Ranka (I wonder if anyone thought it was the real Ranka grown to THAT size) so tells them to shoot at her
2:23 projection destroyed by Macross cannon strike from Macross quarter, revealing Battle Galaxy. (Intact after a direct hit from the cannon? The holographic projection doubled as an energy barrier that absorbed the hit?)
2:52 we see the Vajra thing with red dots again.
2:59 Grace is inside, discussing being discovered.
3:04 Grace connects to Vajra netwirk with tentacles. Ranka not in sight. Immediately after. Phantoms start shooring from Battle Galaxy.
4:30 “at that moment I heard you” (appparently Alto is also a narrator telling of these events as past”. We see crucified Ranka and hear her “Save me”.
6:18 we see crucified Ranka again trying to open here eyes
6:34 she succeeds
6:43 Vajra red dotted thing again, Grace inside with web of tentacles in ecstasy, NOW she controls Vajra as shwn by them changing colour
7:56 a voice says the Little Queen is no longer needed
8:30 Ozma fires rockets at the red dotted Vajra thing – rockets consumed by fold barrier. This is followed by a long epic sequence with Vajra and Grace but no Ranka
10:46 we hear Ranka singing as herself, and Alto clearly sees she is inside Battle Galaxy.
So the big question – at which point and how, did Ranka get physically transferred from the Vajra Queen into Battle Galaxy?
(Also posted to MacrossWorld).
You wanna talk hormones, talk about Alto in a killing mood and unable to listen.
THAT would be the hormone driven character in ep 21.
Basically most fans don’t view Vajra life as equal to humans so can’t understand the desire to want to save one as valid as someone rampage against them. If you think of both sides as having equal worth your view of this show really starts to change. It’s really a matter of perspective here as to why people react to Alto, Sheryl and Ranka’s actions deferentially. Heck even if you view Vajra as worthless it’d still save more lives finding a peaceful solution than just singing until they are all killed.
It’s not hormones, it’s the aftermath of Michel’s death. It’s one thing to be on a side in a war, its another when these “things” have just killed your sempai who was trying to protect his love. Of course he could only think of shooting.
(In fact some Ranka haters say that she should have been thinking the same because Michel was a friend to her too. But he was not THAT close a friend and besides she did not see him killed, while Alto did, and also she has that “feeling them” part which she apparently started to understand. Alto has none, he is not even wearing a fold quartz earring at the time).
To be honest seems a bit silly to criticize Ranka for not having more vengeance, do they realize that only 3 days later or so the war ends and seemingly everyone is ok now with the Vajra, Alto doesn’t charge after them in blind rage or anything either in episode 25. This is a prime case of selective criticism. Anyways Alto had always hated the Vajra it was setup that way from the beginning when he saw what they did after the first attack and then heard what happen to Ranka’s old family, Michael dying isn’t going to add much more to it. I heard Kawamori said Michael died in order to make Alto mature but I don’t really see how it did that much outside of couple conversations with Klan and if it did it wasn’t shown very well.
Anyways there is not much more I can add, I feel like this has gone into nitpicking details to confirm an agenda which is annoying to deal with (in response to ranka hater comments anyways). I’m not directing this at you though but it is really annoying in general to deal with Macross F fans sometimes as “seeing what you want to see” makes many people rather blind and they just won’t listen to reason and rather stick to what they wanted the show to be. The show is ultimately about peace and not war or vengeance and definitely was not written to have Ranka go murder every last Vajra even if this was lost of many people. To that point I really wish this show was not popular sometimes.
Well yeah I;m trying to get through the details, honestly because there is fanfic brewing where I want to close some plot holes and add some resolution – with Ranka at center stage.
You have indeed revealed a very different side of Ranka’s actions, so I’m happy I asked you.
And yeah I’m much more interested in analyzing her actual adventures and motives, sometimes in minute detail, than in debating the triangle, as in “who the hime chooses”.
Oh, thanks for pointing out the “everyone ok with Vajra” part. Now, there may be a reason for that in that the Vajra protected Island 1. Or there may be a plot hole, which they fixed in the movies by having all Vajra safely folded out.
Glad you are going for an accurate Macross F fanfic, I really don’t read any because I have little faith in accurate representation heck even the mangas and such that are “official” don’t seem to do a very good job in some areas. I consider Kiss in the Galaxy a Sheryl lovers fanfic. lol Also I am glad you are less into debating the love triangle, I only bring it up here simply because I believe it is so closely tied into understanding the characters actions and their growth so it’s important into insight of the characters (also why I complain about the removal of the resolution of it in the TV series).
One other thing I do believe the Vajra folded out in the TV series but still no one was gunning after them when they came to Frontiers side you’d think there would be some conflicted feelings after everything. In Alto’s case you could write him off as just being happy Ranka is back at the time. Either way if they were going for the vengeance route they would have definitely played that aspect more in the final episodes so I just don’t think that was suppose to be on their minds as much as it may first appear.
>>”15:00 she says “seems the Vajra have noticed us – how these bugs annoy me” according to the subs I have. This seems to mean she does not control Vajra at the point”
Correct. That’s why I said she did not have control of (all) the Vajira.
Grace was continually working on communication & control of the Vajira for decades.
I knew that she did not have full control of the Vajira “hivemind” – but control of a small number of Vajira, such as just Ai-kun and an escort… That could be possible.
In any case, for some reason Ai-kun did *exactly* what Grace needed him to do, when she needed him to, with a sudden and abrupt change in face and behavior.
Then Grace states that the Vajira “Noticed us”
They noticed Brera well before this.
My best guess is that Grace (with limited ability to do so) focused on taking control of a small number of Vajira specifically Ai kun temporarily, had them kidnap Ranka, deliver her to where she could be restrained. Then the Vajira hivemind “Noticed” Grace – specifically noticing her control, and shut her out.
—
Ranka was housed in Battle Galaxy, and a hologram was formed around it.
Grace was inside the queen.
If they were both in the queen, then Ranka was moved; or if they were both in Galaxy, then Grace moved to the queen it does not make much difference. It happened before we saw it.
It hardly matters to Grace where Grace is, she likely could be fully in control of Galaxy even when not there considering her cybernetic abilities.
—
>>”we see Grace flying without a space suit (well she’s a cyborg) ”
This was not the physical form of Grace, it was her consciousness.
Much like when Alto, Ranka, or Sheryl project their consciousness into foldspace with the crystals. (Ranka does this quite a bit in the series, Alto and Sheryl only rarely at times of great concentration or assistance from Ranka; in the movies Alto does with the help of the YF-29 fold quartz system) They are always portrayed as a single color and glowy when doing this. Think of it like astral projection.
Always watch for that single color effect, people are usually outside their bodies at the time, or at least projecting and receiving fold waves strongly.
In Grace or Brera’s case, they at times do this when cyberneticaly connected and receiving input outside their senses (basically the same effect as reciving fold waves)
In ep 24, for Grace it was likely both when she was connecting her consciousness to the queen.
—-
>”It’s not hormones, it’s the aftermath of Michel’s death. It’s one thing to be on a side in a war, its another when these “things” have just killed your sempai who was trying to protect his love. Of course he could only think of shooting.”
Rage? Unable to listen to reason? Sudden violence? Yep, you could call that testosterone.
No offense, and not being completely serious; I am just trying to make a point.
I just found it odd that you chose to explain Ranka’s planned and thought out actions demonstrating the entire moral point of Macross with a “girl hormone” analogy.
But when Alto acts suddenly and unreasonably, that’s not hormones?
…actually on some thought your point is valid re Alto.
One of Frontier’s main topics is gender, another is growing into an adult. And in this scene the creators seem to have both Ranka and Alto behave in ways very much linked to their genders and to their stages of growing up. For Alto it’s the ages-old male bonding in combat, grief over a fallen comrade and hatred towards the common enemy, that pushes him into manhood (and having to be the “older”, supporting man for a very broken Sheryl in the next episode goes right into it). For Ranka it is the separation from others, conviction that authority is flawed, recognition of life in ts various forms, the desire to present herself coupled with problems explaining herself – a teenage girl crisis.
Sadly they are unable to see eye to eye, both of them close to the peak of their own critical situations.
(At least none of them is the outright idiot, that honour goes to Leon “let’s summon the Vajra to the funeral” Mishima).
I am still not really convinced on how much Michael’s death was key to making him a man but it was in there among many different things that happen but the only thing I’d really say didn’t actually make him grow up is the broken sheryl in episode 22. If anything he was his rebound after failing everyone else (michael dying and ranka leaving) and it’s pretty clear to me that afterwards he still was confused just look at the end of the episode and I think he realized that being there for Sheryl was no substitute either for his “failings” and I think that was the main point shown in his resolve the next episode. But on the scale of things that made Alto grow up I’d still put Ranka leaving first, Michael’s death a good second and pretty much everything else that was going a very close third.
Anyways even if Alto didn’t understand Ranka at the time I think in the overall story it was important or nothing would have moved in motion and he’d have still be a clueless guy running away at the end. I think I mostly just hate this idea of Alto giving up on Ranka and running to Sheryl which is what a lot of shippers want to believe trying to push the whole sex idea (and it being important) and that he wanted to kill her (but just saved Ranka cause Sheryl asked) which would make him pretty much the worst main character ever if the shippers are right not to mention make Alto a very small man but I digress.
“Did Alto and Sheryl have sex?”
Ah the ep 22 Alto/Sheryl sex rumor. Ridiculous. I believe there was a thing on TV Tropes (now deleted), somebody *completely made up* an entire translated staff interview for evidence of it. People there were quite shocked that somebody would go that far about such a thing.
Even if it was true, it would have been the most disgusting Dr Phil worthy episode ever.
Ranka dumps Alto, leaves. Within an hour, Alto goes to Sheryl (rebound much?), knows she’s dying, has her wear Alto’s dead mother’s kimono, and theoretically borks her in the same place he used to sit with his now dead mom. While wearing her clothes. CREEPY. I mean majorly creepy.
This is really what Sheryl fans want to think happened? That is some messed up head canon.
Apparently not just head canon, novel canon. (This is quite separate from the Shaloom fake translations).
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=2814894#post2814894
It seems from the text that *Sheryl* demanded it and Alto went along. She had a solid reason, she did not want to die a virgin. Makes sense after spending, as she thinks at the moment, her entire lifetime presenting a sexy image.
Whether novels are “canon” is a useless question in Kawamori-verse. There are interviews (and these ones are confirmed) stating he does not wish to formulate a canon. He describes all the anime as historical movies/series existing inside that universe, and “the real Macross is somewhere out there”. So, by that logic, the novel text is speculation by an inworld author; whether said author talked to Sheryl and/or Alto is not known, but even if he did, Sheryl being Sheryl (and no longer ill), she could well have sexed the story up.
You can’t really prove *anything* in Kawamori-verse when people are concerned (the original questions were about SDFM and DYRL differences). Mecha are more detailed 🙂
I’ll be honest the novels have always sounded like complete BS and what you’ve said just adds to my idea. Like you said in Kawamori-verse anything is game, they can write a novel stating that Alto became king of Jupiter and write it off as just someone’s perspective. The demanding to not die a virgin seems realllllly silly, I mean really silly and sounds like an excuse for Sheryl shippers to fantasize even though it sounds far more pathetic then even meaning a single thing other then Sheryl is utterly messed up at this point (not to mention I can’t even see this fitting in in the TV anime). As far as I’m concerned the novel mean absolutely nothing on the TV series, likely written by someone who liked Sheryl and for Sheryl fans and passed off through the anything can happen in Macross verse. I think the Kiss in the Galaxy manga is far more effective at showing the idea that just cause it’s approved doesn’t mean it means anything.
It just annoys me cause I we have all these versions written after the TV series that do nothing but seem to delude what happen in the original story and it just gives everyone the wrong ideas. I mean setting aside the love triangle that sex thing just screws with the characters so much.
Whatever about the ships and whether Alto had sex with Sheryl, the idea that he only saved Ranka because Sheryl asked does not appeal to me.
According to the novels it was Sheryl’s view when she asked him to save her. She thought that if he were to say “I love you” to Sheryl – even if it was a lie to soothe a dying woman – he would then kill Ranka out of principle.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=2827036#post2827036
But it is depicted from Sheryl’s POV and, with the state she was in, she might well have been delusional. She’s good at singing and at sheer willpower, but not at analysis, and she admittedly knows very little about men. I really don’t think Alto *wanted* to kill Ranka, he accepted it as a last resort only and would have jumped at the chance to save her anyway – quite separately from any resolution the triangle, he obviously cared for both of them.
Well I will say this, this does not add up in my opinion because I think Sheryl did know how Alto felt and just as I am sure Ranka knew how Alto felt in the movies. It’s fairly standard writing for the rejected girl to know how the person feels all along. Mac F writing when it comes to love doesn’t deviate at all from cliches so I can’t see this aspect either especially when it’s more or less confirmed as a writing technique in the movie version to me. So I don’t think she ever thought Alto was trying to kill Ranka and I don’t think Sheryl was commanding him to save Ranka. I mean it seemed way more like something where two people were already in agreement, if not Alto would have had a more conflicted face or needed to show some signs of “wait she wants me to save Ranka but I just resolved to give up on her.” Cause lets face it he just made his big resolve as a character.
Plus next thing you know he is asking her for help in order to wake up Ranka, that theory doesn’t add up regardless who he picks. Nah while the novel is on the edge of BS here it’s still clearly trying to get away with as much as possible to put doubt into the situation while not totally making stuff up. I mean I agree he might have said I love you just to soothe her, I feel like Ranka felt the same in the movie just Alto would say I love you there too just cause of the situation but killing Ranka out of principle that is so wrong.
After thinking some I have decided to take this as Sheryl thinking that Alto would respond to her with I love you regardless how he really feels because he already made it his duty to stick with her until the very end. To that point Sheryl through what she did here is making it so he is let go of his obligation he made to her (in ep 22) and thus he can follow his heart. Otherwise he’d probably shut out his feelings towards Ranka in doing this and not be able to rescue her (because he would be more about protecting Sheryl). That text is pretty poorly translated though, would not be surprised if a lot of meaning was lost in translation.
In this sense it sticks more with how I view everything and what I think her point of view was while not interfering at all with what I think Alto’s was. I doubt even if he responded it’d shake his resolve but who knows that is only Sheryl’s pov so doesn’t matter really. Still like we said even within the canon universe who knows how accurate any of these thoughts are it could just be some random writer who is just writing what he/she thought was going on in her mind without knowing and that is why in the end you can’t really apply this to the TV anime at all imo.
Did a bit more review of ep 24-25
Ep 24
At 19:43 we see a Cruiser from the Galaxy fleet skimming the Vajira planet ring, heading to the center. These Vajira stay still as if they are paralized or made docile.
19:53 we see the glowy Grace consciousness “Rez in”, the cruiser in the background overhead.
20:00 Glowy Grace gains access to the queen at the center of the Vajira planetary ring.
Seems as if Grace was in this cruiser, projecting her senses and influence outward.
Would have been a great time to transfer while everyone was so busy dealing with Holo Ranka & Battle Galaxy and the Vajira doing what comes naturally, being “told” by drugged Ranka to defend against the “enemy” – all of them but the few directly in the area around Grace. Again making it look like Grace can have limited short range control of a few Vajira when they are “Distracted”.
Ep 25:
2:52 – We see the queen again, now flanked by a large number of Galaxy YF-27’s *Non-glowy* Grace lowers herself into a Queen eye, she connects.
6:49 Now Grace controls all the Vajira fully.
Again just want to make the distinction clear: rough temporary control of a limited number of Vajira vs controlling all of them everywhere.
Thanks a lot – problem solved!