Macross Delta takes place in 2067 AD, begins the story on Planet Al Shahal where Var Syndrome (responsible for destabilizing people’s minds and reduces them to violent zombies mobs) Outbreaks have been rising. There Hayate who was just fired from the job finds Freyja, who snuck into the cargo in hopes to reach Planet Ragna to audition in hopes to join the Walkure Unit. However she snuck into the wrong cargo, so she’s out of luck- or so she thought. Turns out due to a rising of Var Syndrome outbreaks, the Walkure Unit team are in the same city, where then as expected, an outbreak occurs.

Eva’s First Impression

Well… That was interesting. If I had to choose one word to describe what I thought about this premiere, I would choose: Weird. The episode starts off on a creepy note, so I actually had covered my eyes because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and whether or not a super violent scene was about to take place, (a lesson learned after watching Psycho-Pass). But the tensions behind the threat virtually vanished as the episode progressed. Macross Delta Ep 1 Img 0015Once the anticipated conflict arose, I could not take the fight seriously. In fact, the conflict started off on a very bad note. I know it is more or less part of the norm in Macross or any of similar series to have the citizens just stop running and shift into Fan-Mode when it comes to their idols performing, but I could think of is, ‘GIRL, THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO FANGIRL!’. And then the performance’s prelude started… Man… I cannot tell you how much I cringed. “Welcome to Walkure World” was so bad! I sincerely hope this is not going to be something we hear every time they transform. (Just, no, you don’t need it, leave it out- please.) And if THAT wasn’t bad enough, well then the first song finally came around and once again I cringed. The prelude was a red-flag about the song-choice that was going to follow, because it was horrible. Now I don’t think the singers are the problem (far from it in fact), I think they are great- but it’s the actual song that I disliked the most. Thankfully however, the second song was MUCH BETTER.

Since this is the first episode, I won’t eat them alive for the song choice qualityand hopefully they won’t give me anymore reasons to do so in the future. But as of right now, it is fair to say it was a huge letdown, causing many of us who loved Macross Frontier for its amazing songs to drop the bar in regards of song quality expectations.

While all of this is happening, both Hayate’s and Freyja’s response to the Var Syndrome Outbreak was simply bizarre. I understand Freyja has this reaction thing going on with the song, but goodness, I don’t know how anyone is supposed to take them seriously when they are acting like they were high– and in a way they were. Once or twice Freyja would suddenly sober up because she would be in a dangerous situation, but then bam- once she was hooked in again, but this time, Hayate too was affected. And this experience probably gave him some sense of direction of what he wants to strive for.

That being said, while there were a lot of things that disappointed me, there are three things that are keeping me on the line. The first is Hayate- which might be a strange choice to some, but to me, he alone is an intriguing fellow. Macross Delta Ep 1 Img 0001Hayate doesn’t have a dream or passion because he doesn’t know what he wants. He travels around to places but it’s still the same old the same old. He is a fairly laid-back fellow, but lacks motivation and (probably) has a routine of being fired for constantly slacking off on the job. With those traits he would undoubtedly be considered as a generic, boring character… but he has something unique about him that he himself doesn’t actually appear to be conscious of. He is a dancer. He is constantly dancing, but not on his own two-feet, but with machines. That is what makes him interesting to me. Why? Well it’s pretty simple, I found it pretty funny and entertaining- even when I was in the middle of internally complaining of how silly is looked when he was fighting. But most importantly, it makes me curious to see how he got into this habit in the first place. Frejya however, is a different story. She is very much like the usual cut out character who runaways in hopes to succeed in an audition to become an idol- in this case, join the Walkture a tactical unit. She is a perky character, but based on my first impression of her, she appeared bland to me- and apparently she’s a Windermerman- whatever that is.

Macross Delta Ep 1 Img 0011The second thing which caught my attention was The Ominous Voice. I am tagging it as ‘Ominous’ because it appears to be what triggers the Var Syndrome in the first place, while  Walkure Unit sings to purify the Var Syndrome. So it appears one of the enemies Walkure Unit is dealing with is this Ominous Voice. This made me curious to see if there is going to be a sing-off at some point.

The final factor were the Aerial Knights from the Wind Kingdom (I think). I was shocked by how instead of going after the those affected by the Var Syndrome, they are actively pursuing the Walkure unit. We will have to wait until next week to see if they will provide us any explanation of why they are so hostile towards them.

Despite its bizarre premiere, I am willing to give this series at least three episodes to prove to me whether or not it is worth covering, let alone watching. Hopefully the songs will improve and the rest of the characters will perk enough interest and curiosity to make me start caring sooner than later.

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate Starting with three episodes to see how it goes.

Eva

Blogging Anime since Summer 2009, & Founder of AngryAnimeBitches Anime Blog ...I may or may not be addicted to writing