Macross F: The ultimate fanservice series?
No gimmicks this week, I drug out the soap box instead
If you can’t make a crazy generalization or inflammatory statement every once in a while, there’s not much point in blogging, now, is there?
Seriously though, bear with me. Yes, I realize all too well that Kanokon is happening this season, but I sometimes think Macross Frontier is the most brazenly fan-pandering anime show out there. Why?
- So far, though it is a classic franchise series, it’s catering somewhat obviously to the trends of the day, including high school harems, moe, lolis, implications of yuri, you name it.
- At the same time, it panders almost as shamelessly to classic Macross fans, with its near-infinite parallels to previous series. From Catherine Glass’s uncanny resemblance to Misa Hayase or the Macross-shaped high school, to the inclusion of “My Boyfriend is a Pilot” and the little easter eggs like a Minmay doll flying at Ozma’s head — the more references you can spot, the more enjoyment you get out of the series.
Fanservice is, as we all know, not necessarily about upskirts and 10% breast coverage, although Sheryl seems to have the latter under control. Protracted transformation scenes, techno-babble speak, obscure references, and missile spam are all the kinds of things that anime fans feed on, thus they’re fanservice. I think Gainax taught us that pretty well.
Overreaction?
This isn’t a new situation for the franchise. After all, every Macross series has had a captain who looks exactly like Bruno Global, and every series has had gratuitous references to Minmay. Hell, Macross 7’s characters even watched Do You Remember Love?
Something about Macross F is starting to rub me the wrong way, though — it’s starting to feel like it’s not as much about the story as it is about getting franchise fans to approve, or getting new fans to embrace the franchise. The past two episodes are perfect examples.
Episode seven sees a massive space fight juxtaposed against a Sheryl concert. That trick is old as the hills, though every time it’s done right, a Valkyrie gets its wings. If an old-school Macross fan didn’t enjoy episode seven, he should just turn in his card now.
Episode eight, however, revolves heavily around the kind of high school love comedy plot that I see enough of outside of my favorite franchise, and don’t really care to see in it. Every time Sheryl upstages Ranka, I feel the warm wave of moe and think, well that’s the intent, isn’t it? I don’t want to get into the Moe Problem (the poison that’s killing our plotlines) just yet, that’s for a different day.
Today there is plenty of time to rant instead on the fact that five minutes of what used to be my favorite twenty of the week was devoted to chasing after a cute green creature in possession of a main character’s panties. Dear lord, when does the Naked Misunderstanding happen? Is Sheryl going to show up naked in Alto’s bed? Oh, goodie, now that Sheryl’s in the school too, do we get a school festival episode?
I originally heard this was a 13-episode series, is that true? If so, I’m extra pissed to have the story dicking around and the production company so poorly mismanaging the budget, but it really seems like I have some false info there.
Just for balance
Here are the things I liked a lot about Episode 8:
- Ranka in the carrot suit. Nuff said.
- Ranka’s long path to stardom. Life was easy for Minmay: The SDF Macross population was small, everyone was going to die, and not that many people could sing. But Ranka has to do what Sheryl told her to do: work hard. Now she’s living that lesson.
- Sheryl sticking around, dicking up Ranka’s life. As much as that brings the moe, and the emo (anagram! holy cow! who knew? probably everyone but me…), it’s the kind of conflict that needs to happen for real drama. Alto is not enough because he’s showed zero interest in Ranka and very little in Sheryl. Only her persistence has cracked his disinterested facade a little. But if Sheryl hurts Ranka’s budding career, it’s only going to amplify the Alto factor for our green friend.
- Harmonica kid. I rarely think new characters are the answer, especially when some existing ones (Cathy, Leon, Ozma) are just starting to get development time. But this show could use a good shake.
So… Macross F… my midseason evaluation for you is getting shaky compared to that mind-boggling start, but as a famous cowboy once said, I can’t quit you.
- otou-san out!
May 27th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Full Macross Panic: Frontier!
What I heard was that Frontier would be a two-cour (or whatever they’re called) show, so 24-6 episodes, and the rumour went that if it did well it might be extended. But this is all probably tenth-hand. I do wish it had a better budget so that stuff like this episode could be as nice as the previous one.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:06 am
What’s with the bad airbrushing on that blonde’s hair?
May 28th, 2008 at 10:16 am
@IKnight I’d be perfectly happy if they cut the battle episodes just a bit in order to make these a little more watchable.
@Jason that’s pretty much what we’re talking about with the budget. Sheryl has kind of iridescent hair on big budget days, but just crappy two-tone hair on other days.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:32 am
“but as a famous cowboy once said, I can’t quit you.”
First of all it was “I wish I could quit you”.
Second of all I agree with you on how fanservice isn’t just related to sex, it can equally be related to other things. Much like how the mascot cat-suit in Azumanga Daioh is fanservice, or the way the close ups of the cool gadgets of the Mach-5 are fanservice in Speed Racer.
Pretty much a carrot suit with a moe character wearing it would be fanservice.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:56 am
There is an abundance of fanart featuring Ranka in a carrot suit, but not one of Sherly in a dominatrix outfit ): Also, I officially love Luca now, not just because he’s a delicious shouta type character, mind you.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
@newgeek sorry about that, never actually saw it. I tend to stay away from movies that win too many oscars (coen brothers aside…). But yeah, this is all true. I guess my convoluted point I’m trying to make is that I never thought about nostalgia as fanservice before, but clearly we have it here.
@Shin what sad times we live in when a dominatrix is less sexy than a carrot. That said, I am amazed by anime fans’ vast array of perversions. Take you, for instance
May 28th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I could only feel sorry for Ranka the entire time *sob sob*
May 29th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I had high hopes for the show after the first 2 episodes, but I’m beginning to wonder if it’ll be worth following. There’s nothing wrong with a filler here and there, but the most recent episode was pretty dismal. Surely the people who brought us Vision of Escaflowne can do better than this!
May 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
@blissmo something tells me she’s gonna do ok, even if she has to emo through the series for a while
@Lyi And hopefully the franchise can do a little better too. I’m still holding out hope, and it’s still a lot better than Macross 7…
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
[...] week I’m bothered by Macross F’s constant fan-pandering. Again. And I’m a fan. Why am I so bothered? Let me put it in bullet points since I’ve been [...]