Macross Frontier 22: To be a Man
[I did watch 21, it’s just I want to talk about 22.]
Spoilers spoilers spoilers!
OK, how should I put it? I’m ambivalent about the way things unfolded in the first half of this episode (pun intended, kyahahaha!).
Sheryl’s illness, caused by the Vajra, becomes a weapon against the same beings once a certain advanced stage is reached. This is awesome, this is poetic justice. Forget the justice bit, this is poetic plain and simple.
So Sheryl pops the big question to the newly minted president (and bearer of a wondrous name as, honestly, the writer who came up with the guy’s name should have gotten a raise just for that): “Does this mean little Ranka is on the same boat???”
And the answer is of course: “Y-No, actually, no. Her case is different.” Say what?! The poetry collapses. Where’s the harmony now?? I’m all for simple and elegant solutions. Now we’re stuck instead with some wacky reason..probably to the effect that she has green hair because she’s part Vajra due to some failed experiment or something. Whatever.
Alto, all too Alto
I wouldn’t have handled the talk with Sheryl the way he did. I would have actually said I loved her. And if she even begun to look as if she suspected I was saying it out of pity for her situation, I would have added that I always loved her and that I just hadn’t dared say it earlier. This, my friends, is what the AK code of manliness requires (whether Alto truly feels that way for her or not being utterly beside the point). Then again, this is why Alto is Alto and AK is AK, and I’ll be darned if I say I wouldn’t rather be Alto sometimes!
Anyways, it is a testament to Sheryl’s despair that she accepts Alto’s weak consolation.
P.S. Love Ozma’s line: “I’m not an adult. I’m a man!” 😀
Kritik der Animationskraft 
Ozma had the best line in the show.
Alto, you can say is gutted as a character in the series because his choosing one or the other is strung out and/or delayed for the sake of romantic tension or whatever.
This has to do with all these characters remaining pure/heroic or whatever, despite Sheryl’s provocativeness.
They totally do have sex anyway, much to the angry wails and gnashing of teeth in total denial by the you-know-whos.
It’s a sharp contrast to 1983-84 where the purity of the characters weren’t a premium and their appeal isn’t too dependent on it. As such, SDF Macross’ characters are far more fallible, human, and full of fail — in a way that I really like (so many people dislike Hikaru for being a dick, but as a man with a penis he is far more believably human than Alto).
Yeah, this is a terribly important issue in anime history, isn’t it? The purity trend and how it guts characters.
Hmm, I was wondering if Alto and Sheryl did it that time. I figured I’d withhold judgment until I saw the next episode. I mean, if they did have sexual relations then I would expect their relationship to look and feel very different from now on.
Ghostlightning
Alto (or at least TV series Alto) had his share of very human failures as well, his failures were just different from Hikaru’s. Can you imagine how different SDF would have been had Hikaru reacted to Millia the same way Alto reacted to a certain development?
AK:
The TV series doesn’t outright confirm that Sheryl and Alto had sex. The novel version makes it pretty clear they did, but the novels reportedly differ somewhat from the TV series at times. On the other hand… do you really think the TV series would have thrown in all those hints without a reason?
What you say makes sense but still, it’s so hard for me to picture Alto engaging in sexual acts 😀
I think the AK code of manliness and the wishy-washy male romantic anime lead are not compatible.
Any man with a fully functioning nervous system would have told Sheryl that not only did he love her to bits, but was looking forward to sharing her bed for the next 50 years and popping out 5 bishoujo daughters with her.
Oh and that was me by the way. Forgot to log in. Sorry,
Hmm, I don’t know about Sheryl’s looks in 50 years..
She’ll still be a distinguished and classy oba-san…
I guess you could miclonize her at that point and bring her back down to 30-40 years of age..
To be honest, I thought that what Alto said was appropriate under the circumstances. I think he should have told her he loved her at some point, but at that particular moment saying he’d be there for her seemed like the right thing to do to me.
Hmmmmmmm… I guess it is a sweet thing to say.
LOL, that pun. There is a kind of weird inconsistency between Sheryl and Ranka’s “powers” and it was a bit convoluted imo. Anyway, Alto is defunct as a man; I guess he is still young, but not that young!
Mentioning Ozma’s line there, I loved how in one of the earlier episodes he was declared “enka.” Amusing stuff, but he is one swag character. There’s no one better to have taken care of Ranka all those years.
Ozma’s hip. I could see Ozma and Michel making a great combo out on the clubbing scene. Alto can stay home and make paper airplanes.