SDF Macross 25-27: For Honour, For Glory, For Kawamori

Now I see where all the amazing backbreaking work for the art and animation went.

These episodes rock. Macross rocks!

Episode 25 “Virgin Road”

• Max is off to meet Milia “with a heart filled with hope” – good luck Mr. Ace Pilot
• Milia looks different (what happened to her face?)
• And the date’s already off to a passionate start with Milia tossing a knife at Max and challenging him to a duel (a bit old-fashioned, but I’m receptive to different sorts of courtship)
• More LOLKAWAMORI off-model faces (the eyes are hauntingly separated here *shudders*)
• Max is so confused and trying not to fight
• He ends up winning anyway, of course, because he’s Maximillian Jenius
• Milia wants to die after losing, but Max still wants to get laid, so he wins her over with a Prince Charming kiss (contrived romance? Undoubtedly, yes. Hilariously so? Absofrickinglutely!)
• The three spies are worried about their refugee status and the possibility of them being cast out into space – Shammy tries to ease their concerns though (with little success)
• One date and Max is already dead set on marrying Milia… wow
• Didn’t take much to convince Hikaru to believe it was a good idea – Max: She used to be Zentradi pilot. Hikaru: Our enemy?! No. No way! I forbid it! Max: Here she is now. Milia: [turns up in a pink dress]. Hikaru: What a fantastic idea! When’s the wedding? What flavour cake? (LOL)
• They’re already doing it?! AHAHAHA!
• Valkyrie space salutes + a flight across a rainbow bridge to the ceremony? Best. Wedding. Ever.
• Britai’s watching the ceremony and seems to be okay with the whole Miia getting hitched thing, albeit still confused by the concept (lol)

• Awesome toast/speech from Global – he’s using the marriage between Max and Milia as impetus to propel support of “peace in space” – clever tactic, but doesn’t seem to have won over everyone with the way he handled it
• Zentradi leader (Bodolzaa), meanwhile, is ordering for the destruction of Macross to prevent any further “disorder” among his people
• Minmay’s singing the ending theme! YES!

• Max and Milia fly off to do a few victory laps of laughing death in the face by participating in the defense wave against the attacking Zentradi fleet
• Milia backseat pilots by telling Max to shoot where they can disable the enemy ships without killing them (if anyone can do such a brave and kind awesome act without dying it’s these two)
• Hikaru joins in
• Epic Zentradi mutiny!
• Britai’s starting to come around and listen to reason, it seems
• Trouble with the married life already? (cooking failure lol)

Max and Milia getting together was somehow nowhere near as cathartic as I had hoped and yet everything I could have ever wanted at the same time. The shot of the knife reflecting them kissing is ace.

Episode 26 “Messenger”

• One Zentradi ship approaches Macross – understandably everyone is still on edge from the last encounter and prepares the main canons
• Shammy romanticizes the confrontation as the two sides settling things with a good old-fashioned one-on-one fight (drawing reference from comic books lol)
• Britai radios for a ceasefire, and when Kamujin’s fighters appear ahead at full speed ready to attack Macross, he promptly has them destroyed – then awesomely reprimands Kamujin, rejecting his violent stratagem with reason (though Kamujin is still too stubborn in his warrior ways to ever entertain the idea of an alternative path, regardless of circumstances)

• The escort scenes are WIN and all, but what is up with the disappearing and reappearing car around the 6:08-6:11 mark? (“Hohohoho?”)
• LMAO he Archivist is “culture” shocked by a billboard pin-up
• “Ah, a military secret, eh? I see, I see.” LOL
• Global leaves Claudia in charge with permission to fire should the enemy ship move – he’s really gotten a handle on things and not taking any chances now, isn’t he
• Milia enters the scene with Max and confirms the Archivist’s assumption that they have “mated” – Max is baffled by what they mean lol; likely indicating that they haven’t taken their “love” to the next stage yet
• Everyone’s gathered now and–oh dear god the Archivist is doing an impression of Minmay’s singing–MAKE IT STOP!

• Global shoots down Kaifun mid-lecture (+1,000,000 respect)
• A Macross/Zentradi union is formed to prepare to fight the rest of the Zentradi fleet heading to wipe out Protoculture (aka humanity)
• Kamujin bails out like a bitch (for once) because he says it’s a lost battle, but mostly because he hates Macross so much to stay and help Britai and the others survive
• Macross + one thousand Zentradi ships vs. 4.8 million other enemy Zentradi ships… yes, this may very well end up being quite the ferocious battle indeed…
• I know this is SERIOUS BUSINESS, but the shocked/worried faces at the size of the main fleet showing up are just too funny

Seeing Britai and Exsedol making negotiations with Team Macross was awesome. Seeing them make peace and join forces through civil discussion, the power of culture, and absolute urgency in response to Bodolzaa’s panic-driven call to annihilate the Earth and protoculture along with Britai’s command was unexpected and tremendously satisfying. But seeing the Zentradi main fleet encroaching on Earth was chilling.

Episode 27 “Love Flows By”

• To battle stations!
• Hikaru confesses his love to Minmay now that he may never get another chance
• Minmay’s expression here is priceless
• Awesome Hikaru salute
• Beautiful shots of two jets flying and trailing smoke over a starry moonlit sky
• Minmay confesses back to Hikaru that she only saw him as a friend, and while it is a heartbreaking exchange for Hikaru and I feel for him, the scene concludes with a hilariously misplaced (?) super dramatic sound clip and it’s the funniest thing ever HAHAHAHA! (so sorry, Hikaru *snickers*)
• Jesus, that’s A LOT of Zentradi ships… my god…

• Minmay likes Kaifun? Is there still hope for Misa x Hikaru, after all?
• O fuck, Earth is getting decimated
• Minmay tries to sing the worry and grief away, but it’s too much for her
• Since a head-on battle is a lost cause at this point, the new plan is to weaponize Minmay’s songs (along with another kind of demonstration of love) to give the enemy Zentradi a taste of “culture shock”… brilliant, I love it
• Kissing: “the most effective method of delivering a psychological shock to us Zentradi”
• Whoa… The Grand Cannon is a frightening weapon to behold (eradicated a large section of the enormous fleet in one fell swoop)
• So. Much. Awesome. Space battle action!
• Max/Milia team-up attack! AAAAA! SO GOOD!
• Oh… Minmay and Hikaru kissed after all… (sigh)
• Kamujin had a change of heart after hearing Minmay’s song… It’s space music miracle! (They say Kamujin’s heart grew three sizes that day)
• Hikaru arrives to save a trapped Misa in one of the coolest ways a Valkyrie has ever been used
• She’s sitting across his lap and smiling! (yesss)

• Oh my god the Macross is just ploughing right through the giant-ass Zentradi warship with Minmay still singing at window view and it’s the best damn thing ever!
• Rockets ahoy! Energy field up! EXPLOSION!
• …Victory?

True feelings are brought into light, the Earth’s surface is obliterated along with the lives of over 6 billion human beings, psychological warfare (in the form of song and lip-locking) is employed, Kamujin (of all people) comes to Macross’s aide, many explosions follow, Max saves Misa after getting knocked out of the action, and the Macross pays back Bodolzaa by razing his mothership. Love (with the assistance of some well-needed giant robot violence), in all its hilarious frustrating lighthearted foolishness, has taken the reigns of history and seized the day.

There’s not much more I can say given my shocked state. I’m utterly wowed by what I’ve seen and feel like I’ll need to rewatch the series in order to properly organize my thoughts and ideas about it. But for now, I wholeheartedly agree with An Eye for Things here:

This episode is one of my favorites. Lots of action, lots of tense emotional moments, great Minmay songs, wonderful artwork, and some great cinematic shots.

Easily one of the best episodes yet. Amazed at how much thoroughly great stuff these loves stories are providing me. Keep it coming, Macross!

Further Reading

My posts barely scratch the surface of this show. I cannot recommend these blogs enough. Excellent reads!

ghostlightning [->]

An Eye for Things [ep 25], [ep 26], [ep 27]

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NOTE: If anyone knows of other blogs with posts about Macross, I encourage you to comment links to them below. Thank you.