Macross Delta 7: Behind Enemy Lines
Whew~ Caught up! Didn't believe I could do it, did you?
Walkure Update: I always want to use Mikumo but these two keep finding their way back here, for like...obvious reasons.
The episode opens with discussions about the origins of Protoculture, a race of people who left the Milky Way galaxy 500,000 years ago and created all the humanoid races we see today: humans, Zentradi, the Ragna, and the Kingdom of Windemere. This is especially interesting to me because these guys really haven't been brought up this much since the original Macross series, and since we're hearing about them so much there's a chance Delta might finally delve deeper into their origins.
This latest episode of Delta might have the neatest fake hacker scene I've ever seen. It's still not "real", but it just looks so darn cool that you don't care. Plus Reina's future hacking, so who knows--there might be some accuracy in it. As a sidenote, I might actually have to get Walkure's first album if they keep cranking out such catchy music. This week the song comes directly from Makina and Reina, if I'm not mistaken--which is actually a longtime coming. This team was a group before Freyja came along, after all.
As a fairly huge fan of cats, kittens, and *most* cat-like creatures, this episode is off to a good start, with part of Delta Platoon and Walkure infiltrating Planet Voldor--a planet with genetically modified feline humans. As much as I hate to say it, if Macross ever delved into some of its sci-fi aspects and left the piloting/idol crap to the side it could actually be a pretty good cyberpunk series at this point.
This is where we learn just how powerful the Var is--as the team quickly learns that just about all of Planet Voldor's military and political system are under the control of Windemere. I'm sure there's some sob story coming sooner or later about what the people of Windemere have *really* gone through, but at this point it doesn't matter one way or the other--they're basically using whole planets of people to get their way. We've gone from morally grey right back to solid villainy.
Apparently Walkure does more than idol classes, which actually makes a lot of sense given their presence on the battlefield. You'd think they'd be useless outside of singing songs, but honestly they're a martial arts belt away from being pretty useful spies.
Of course, yet again Freyja's spy capabilities are almost non-existent, and she nearly gets herself caught chasing after a pair of kids who's parent is being mind-controlled by the Var. Fortunately, Mikumo stops her, managing to once again knock the idiot ball from her hand while also revealing that she's implanted multiple drones in a hi-tech government facility in order to listen in on the Windemere kingdom's plans.
The conversation between Roid and what I presume to be the elder of the city is actually quite illuminating, with the eler admitting that the New United Government wasn't really bad--offering jobs and technology in exchange for resources. But given that the people of Windemere are apparently prone to using what's probably PLANET WRECKING dimensional weapons, he decides to play along. You get the feeling he'd probably bend his knee to far less threatening methods, but the fact that Planet Voldor's choices were unequivocably robbed from them is clear.
At the same time, something else is revealed--the Brisingr planetary cluster is believed to be the final resting place of the Protoculture, which is why Roid happens to find the people of Windemere their "true" heirs. And apparently, while Planet Voldor has zero strategic value, there ARE some ruins that lie on the planet which at one point must have housed the Protoculture.
On the way to the ruins, The gaping hole from the end of the last episode--initially believed to be something NUNS did during the war with Windemere, is revealed in this episode to be something that was self-inflicted, with the lie perpetuated to give the people of Windemere a reason to fight. This is kinda like an army sending a suicide bomber to attack people and then getting mad the guy died. At this point, I have to believe there's a deeper reason behind all this, because the Windemere Kingdom legitimately sounds absurd now.
There's a second song bit in this episode while Makina and Reina hack/lockpick/Batman their way into the ruins, which are heavily guarded. It's...not the best, as now we're singing in moments that don't require singing, but they *do* reveal that initially Reina and Makina didn't get along like this--they even had shows canceled because the two disliked each other so much. Cards on table, I'm hoping the reason they got on each other's nerves was that they were both in love with the other and couldn't get over the dislike until they accepted it.
In any case, rather than EVEN MORE dimensional weapons inside the ruins, what they find are..."regular" water and apples directly from Windemere, two things which combined create the necessary conditions in the body to cultivate the Var. A pretty smart plot, all things considered, and it explains why normal people USUALLY aren't infected.
While Mikumo finds a different set of ruins that seem to be directly connected to the Protoculture, Freyja, Mirage, and Hayate find themselves captured by the Aerial Knights. Predicting the flow of this show is surprisingly easy, but if I'm being honest I've always hated this plot line. There's something..."weird" about being captured by the villains. For one thing, as prisoners of war you should just be offed once they find you.
But even if you set that aside, they should probably dump you in the deepest, darkest hole they can find but they never do, and the escapes always feel so...forced and "lucky". I'm guessing the three either escape on their own, someone from Freyja's past saves them, or Mikumo pops in. I'm hoping for the latter 'cause...honestly, it's kinda sorta her fault.
Walkure Update: I always want to use Mikumo but these two keep finding their way back here, for like...obvious reasons.
The episode opens with discussions about the origins of Protoculture, a race of people who left the Milky Way galaxy 500,000 years ago and created all the humanoid races we see today: humans, Zentradi, the Ragna, and the Kingdom of Windemere. This is especially interesting to me because these guys really haven't been brought up this much since the original Macross series, and since we're hearing about them so much there's a chance Delta might finally delve deeper into their origins.
This latest episode of Delta might have the neatest fake hacker scene I've ever seen. It's still not "real", but it just looks so darn cool that you don't care. Plus Reina's future hacking, so who knows--there might be some accuracy in it. As a sidenote, I might actually have to get Walkure's first album if they keep cranking out such catchy music. This week the song comes directly from Makina and Reina, if I'm not mistaken--which is actually a longtime coming. This team was a group before Freyja came along, after all.
This is where we learn just how powerful the Var is--as the team quickly learns that just about all of Planet Voldor's military and political system are under the control of Windemere. I'm sure there's some sob story coming sooner or later about what the people of Windemere have *really* gone through, but at this point it doesn't matter one way or the other--they're basically using whole planets of people to get their way. We've gone from morally grey right back to solid villainy.
Of course, yet again Freyja's spy capabilities are almost non-existent, and she nearly gets herself caught chasing after a pair of kids who's parent is being mind-controlled by the Var. Fortunately, Mikumo stops her, managing to once again knock the idiot ball from her hand while also revealing that she's implanted multiple drones in a hi-tech government facility in order to listen in on the Windemere kingdom's plans.
At the same time, something else is revealed--the Brisingr planetary cluster is believed to be the final resting place of the Protoculture, which is why Roid happens to find the people of Windemere their "true" heirs. And apparently, while Planet Voldor has zero strategic value, there ARE some ruins that lie on the planet which at one point must have housed the Protoculture.
On the way to the ruins, The gaping hole from the end of the last episode--initially believed to be something NUNS did during the war with Windemere, is revealed in this episode to be something that was self-inflicted, with the lie perpetuated to give the people of Windemere a reason to fight. This is kinda like an army sending a suicide bomber to attack people and then getting mad the guy died. At this point, I have to believe there's a deeper reason behind all this, because the Windemere Kingdom legitimately sounds absurd now.
There's a second song bit in this episode while Makina and Reina hack/lockpick/Batman their way into the ruins, which are heavily guarded. It's...not the best, as now we're singing in moments that don't require singing, but they *do* reveal that initially Reina and Makina didn't get along like this--they even had shows canceled because the two disliked each other so much. Cards on table, I'm hoping the reason they got on each other's nerves was that they were both in love with the other and couldn't get over the dislike until they accepted it.
In any case, rather than EVEN MORE dimensional weapons inside the ruins, what they find are..."regular" water and apples directly from Windemere, two things which combined create the necessary conditions in the body to cultivate the Var. A pretty smart plot, all things considered, and it explains why normal people USUALLY aren't infected.
But even if you set that aside, they should probably dump you in the deepest, darkest hole they can find but they never do, and the escapes always feel so...forced and "lucky". I'm guessing the three either escape on their own, someone from Freyja's past saves them, or Mikumo pops in. I'm hoping for the latter 'cause...honestly, it's kinda sorta her fault.
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