Shameful Otaku Secret!

Her future’s so bright…

I still don’t know what to make of this show. Masamune Shirow and Production IG put their heads together and give us fanservice first, then filler?

Recap

An avatar called Iron Schwartz (I shit you not) from the Metal built for streetfighting, with a propensity for dislocating his opponents’ joints after defeating them, gets uploaded into an android. That android subsequently goes berserk dislocating random shoppers at the mall.

Minamo happens to be in the mall at the time, looking for expensive antique diving sunglasses she can give to Haru. But when she finds them, Schwartz-bot thinks they’re his and starts chasing her all over the place. After a bit of chase scene action, Nyamo-chan runs into a real-fight club where her brother is sitting with Holon, grilling her over her fighting techniques.

Souta, with some help from Holon, manages to give himself an ego boost by defeating the unbeatable Schwartz, but not until after Minamo tries to stop the fight by giving the robot the glasses. Unfortunately, the expensive glasses break, but at the end, Haru bestows his own old ones on her.

Thoughts

There were actually a couple laughs in this episode, mostly from the hilariously brutal droid with the hilariously ridonkulous name, Iron Schwartz. His habit of dislocation is so over the top and gnarly that it’s actually funny, as is the moment when a patron of the fight club tries to shake his hand and gets his head kicked in. It’s like when punches in Fist of the North Star go through people’s faces. You just have to laugh a little. Minamo’s little sunglasses war when she first meets Schwartz has great comic timing too.

But what are they playing at, anyway? Five episodes in, we’ve just barely established the gist of the series, and already we’re blessed with filler? I can’t see how this will have any bearing on the overall story — it didn’t even really have Haru in it. And while we’re complaining: if it can’t have any meaningful plot, why not a little touch of fanservice? You know, outside of those now-infamous and oddly satisfying Real Drive thighs. But Shirow is Shirow, and true to I.G. form, even this episode looked fantastic, so I’d be silly to quit now when they could have so much more in store.

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?

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. Ranka in the carrot suit. Nuff said.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Virtual Harisen time

Everyone is still all hopped up on Geass — There are almost as many people blogging it as are subbing it, even though I’m pretty sure the shark is just a distant memory at this point. And don’t even get me started on Not-So-Special-A, which for some reason people seem to like.

Anyway, here’s where I tell you what I like, then casually berate you.

1. Kure-nai

Yes, it has occurred to me that people are in fact watching Kure-nai, but it’s so good that everyone should be watching. This is a treat, a treasure. It’s an unexpected gem, and much like True Tears last season, it snuck up on me. It’s a show of contrasts. The bouncy poppy OP and ED conflict with the sober, eerie shamisen during the next episode previews. The ultra-cute interaction between Shinkurou and Murasaki (and their bizarre neighbors) contrasts with the ultraviolence that occasionally crops up, and the lighthearted nature of many episodes is the ultimate contrast with the seriousness of the plot. It looks like next episode will really bring that home as the two sides clash like they haven’t since early on.

Why you aren’t watching? Murasaki is a real child, no a loli. You sick fucks.

2. The Daughter of 20 Faces

Come on, everyone. You love Aya, don’t you? Of course you do. I’m sure you also love a good caper. And who in their right mind doesn’t love an airship (Hindenberg aside)? Twenty Faces may look like Roger from Big O, but he’s your classic thief with a heart of gold, and while there aren’t Geass-level (read: ridiculous) plot twists, it’s a clever show with an awesome Aya Hirano lead character.

Why aren’t you watching? Because Bones put the entire 2008 fiscal year budget into Soul Eater. Or perhaps you’re too busy buying Pizza Hut to care, aren’t you? You make Aya cry. Happy? UPDATE: I just watched the newest episode, and enough people died to make even you degenerates happy.

3. Real Drive

Absolutely zero love for Real Drive, what’s up people? Is it because Stand Alone Complex is a little racist? Have we given up on Masumune Shirow forever? We’re Americans, we’re supposed to love Shirow no matter how much he hates us. Production IG has even thrown us an olive branch — a young girl lead character — and given us panty shots for peace offerings. I thought as western anime lovers we were supposed to be raised on this Gibson-esque cyberpunk shit.

Why aren’t you watching? Perhaps the Age of Moe really is upon us. You’re all a bunch of pansies! Also, everyone seems to have stopped subbing it. Audible sigh.

4. Allison and Lillia

Much like Real Drive, Shinsen seems to have given up subbing this in favor of stuff 8 other teams are already working on, but AniYoshi is still trucking, thankfully. And much like 20 Faces, this is a nice slice of retro adventure. It’s got a laid-back feel, and a casual romance element that never gets in the way of the fun. Plots move by incredibly fast, and sometimes with way-too-easy resolutions, but it doesn’t dampen the bright charm of the series.

Why aren’t you watching? It’s just not flashy, the art style is retro, and of course, they skip right over the parts where people are in high school. Really, you can go without uniforms for 20 minutes a week, can’t you?  You ungrateful philistines ought to be ashamed. Or you ought to go watch me blog the show at Yukan.

5. Kaiba

I can’t say it enough, people. Kaiba is a monster. It seems to prompt a lot of people to analyze it, but for me it works largely on the emotional level.

Why aren’t you watching? Not enough talking? Too round? I don’t know! I swear to god one episode had panties! Are you watching it yet? No? You disgust me.

We should be bowing low and thanking whatever deity we believe in that we live in the era of instant fansubs, and we should be enjoying those fruits.

Are there any shows out there that you feel aren’t getting enough love from the otakusphere?