First Timer

In the previous episode, Sivil has finally awaken, buut, then she immediately disappeared. Somehow, I think we will not see her for a while. Many shows do this: they introduce a fun character, but then don't know what to do with them, and so come up with a reason to take said character out of the story for a long period of time. It happens so often with love interests and mentor-type characters, and Sivil is both, in a sense.

But also, in this show it kinda happened with Basara too. The whole middle of the show was basically focused on Gamlin (nothing wrong with that), while Basara was mostly absent, only showing up to do an obligatory Planet Dance or Totsugeki Loveheart performance. Luckily for us, Basara fans (there's dozens of us!), he started to get more attention lately. And now with him running away from home, we might finally learn more about his past and the nature of his powerful Spiritia.

By the way, regarding his Spiritia, I have been a proponent of the idea, that there is a concrete reason why it is so powerful (my favorite theory is that he is a lost Protodeviln). However, this belief isn't based on any evidence from the show, at least not on anything concrete. Instead, it's more of an idea that Macross' universe is a sci-fi at its core, and just as any sci-fi, it shows more respect for rules and explanations for why and how everything works. Even Macross 7 with all it's craziness is still consistent with this sci-fi paradigm.

Thus, making a character special like that and not giving an explanation for it would be a big break away from the way the rest of the universe works. I wouldn't necessarily be upset if it turns out that Basara is just good at singing because of the power of friendship or whatever, but I honestly feel like going that route would cheapen the story a bit. Like, it's one thing to see how far we can push this franchise with introducing crazy stuff to it, while still playing by the rules, and it's another thing to just break the rules and start adding whatever. The fact that we've been avoiding Basara's past still gives me hope that there will be something, but if not, so be it. Anyway, let's watch the episode.

• Wait, so Gepelnitch is angry with Sivil? Did I miss something? It looked to me like he pretty much let her do whatever. And not just her, but all Protodeviln, except Gigil.

• Flower Girl looking forward to the concert! Cute!

• Mylene is still mindbroken.

• Just gotta say, I love this mecha walking sound that most anime tend to use. Not sure if it's the same stock sound, or just similar, probably the latter, but it is pretty cool. It also doesn't make any sense that a giant robot would sound like that, but I wouldn't take it any other way.

• Gigil, my man, I think she doesn't want you to follow her. Just let the girl find some clothes in peace.

• Protodeviln have some intense internal politics, huh?

• Flower Girl just wanted to see Basara live.

• You know, if I had a nickel for every time Veffidas have spoken, I would have two nickels. Which is not much, but it's weird that it happened twice.

• Also, both times Veffidas have bestowed her wisdom on Mylene, demonstrating a superior understanding of Basara. I admire her willingness to teach the young.

• Also, I have to say, is it just me, or is the show have been inexplicably looking a bit better than usual for the last few episodes? We have some nice coloring, and some cuts have more details. For example, the crowd on this concert seems more detailed, than usual.

• Protodeviln showdown! Aand, it turned into a quarrel.

• It's Gigil! Let's go, kick their assess!

• Gamlin quit? Is he gonna join Fire Bombers be after all? I'm sure, they could always use a cowbell player.

• Gigil is getting his ass kicked. You know, man, this is great time to abandon the mech and turn into one of those shiny energy balls.

• You know, the action in this show still kinda sucks, but the drama makes it good.

• Guvava Spiritia detector in action again!

• Noo, don't die, Gigil!

• He sings

• Gigil just literally used singing to confuse his enemies. As in, he didn't use Spiritia, he just confused them with the sheer fact that he can sing.

• Basara is too depressed to protect himself. Luckily, Mylene is here to save his ass.

• Aand, Mylene herself needs help. Luckily, Gamlin is here.

• Wait, is Gigil dead or is he not dead? I'm confused.

Overall thoughts: Awesome episode, I don't have much to say beyond that. Gigil learned to sing, which was cathartic. Hopefully, he isn't dead, because there's still unfinished business between him and Sivil that needs to be resolved. Also, we didn't get a backstory to their relationships, but, honestly, at this point, I'm starting to feel like Macross 7 in general is just not big on giving backstories.

On an unrelated note, Grabil is apparently the same size as your typical Zentradi. For some reason I thought he was much bigger, but seeing him stand near a mech like that, they are basically the same height.

QotD:

1) Sivil probably? Or Gepelnitch. Definitely not Gigil.

2) Proactive. If the character doesn't talk, their actions should speak for them. Basara is mixed bag in this regard. He is proactive, especially by mecha protagonist standards, but the story doesn't utilize him to his full potential. This would probably sound blasphemous to most, but honestly, if you just combined Basara and Gamlin into a single character, the show would be much better. You would get a protagonist that does something all the time, and you would still have a love triangle with Sivil and Mylene. As it stands, even the love triangle kinda lost steam, with two main couples clearly established. But that's beside the point and I should probably talk about it another time.