Boy, are they taking their sweet time with the pacing of this battle. Throughout the entire episode, I was just anxiously waiting for the trigger to be pulled, but nope- it was yet another calm before the storm episode. While this may be excruciatingly slow for some, I don’t particularly mind this tempo because they are doing a fairly good job of making use of this time to finally address a couple of plot relevant cookies that has been in front of us the entire time. For one I was so glad we finally got to get some back-story on Hayate’s necklace. His necklace is a memento from his father, who was soldier always away on duty, so he would send Hayate gifts and souvenirs from the planets he has been appointed to. Anyone familiar with the Macross series are already aware of what makes the Quartz so important, but perhaps it may play a role further down the line of which planet it came from.
The next cookie was the debut of the NUNS. I’m not entirely certain if they are part of the New Unified Government we have been hearing about, but it seems like they are as they the authority to go ahead and do whatever they like- which in this case, they want to destroy the ruins (wow that sounds like such a BRILLIANT idea! What could possibly go wrong?!). In fact they were attempting to do just that without Ragna’s consent until Lady M (I’m guessing it is Mikumo) managed to persuade them to hold off blowing up the ruins until their battle operation is over. However seeing their messenger’s attitude, I hardly expect them to keep their word and I am honestly expecting it to backfire- BIG TIME.
In the mean time, after having successfully taken over Al-Shahal within 15 minutes time (that’s insane!) King Gramia had in fact encouraged Prince Heinz to take his time and rest until the next battle. This was particularly refreshing to see since it felt as though they were ready to run him dry (Keith at the very least shows very little remorse over Heinz’s frail health). But perhaps the most interesting thing we learned from this was how Mikumo is aware of how great of a burden the power of the Wing Song is on the singer. She takes it a step further, explaining she knows better than anyone. 
While Kaname followed up with providing the record how after using the song of the wind, Winderemere has never attacked within the following twenty-four hours period- this is furthering my suspicion that Mikumo may be suffering from the same problem as Heinz, the songs she sings takes a massive toll on her health. Kaname had already hinted this as well as they are hoping they can find someone, like Freyja perhaps to help step up to the place to relieve the weight Mikumo carries as the lead singer. Another thing I wanted to point out was Mikumo wondering if the wind will flow through her again. Now I am not entirely sure what she means by that, but man she just keeps on becoming more and more mysterious!
On the other-side of the table, Lord Roid continues to try and persuade Keith, fearing the prince will not be able to survive for much longer if they are to keep up with the pace they are at. It is very clear that their disagreements on how to proceed from here on out are causing a rift in their once what appeared to be a tight partnership. With Sigar Valens proving to be far more powerful than Roid had initially anticipated (heck it even made him horrified by its capabilities), he uses this as his argument that they don’t need to use the Wind Song anymore. Keith of course disagrees and what he wants to do is get revenge on the Earthings for tainting the wind. As the tension continues to growsbetween them, I am very curious of what will become of these two, and what actions will Roid take on his own. Will be continue to be a by-stander or will try to initiate something?
Lastly, Mirage was in for an unexpected surprise of being promoted to second-in commander. Man, usually I would be happy for my favourites to get promotions, but gosh- Mirage has so much on her plate right now. The weight of living up to the expectations and having the ability to perform her task efficiently is literally crushing her (and don’t even get me started on what’s happening with her feelings right now). Her lack of confidence is really hurting her, so it makes me worried about the upcoming right. Mirage revealed to Hayate and Freyja how she feels he and the others are far more talented than she is, and she has to work twice as hard to keep up with them. Honestly, I don’t know exactly what Arad was thinking to appoint her as the second-in command since without Messer it certainly seems clear she would be one of the few candidates to choose from. Perhaps this is his own way of trying to help boost her confidence, but frankly even that is naive idea considering the circumstances they are in. Anyhow, I hope she will do okay. If it goes south, without a doubt in my mind she is going to blame herself for her incompetence.
Next week the battle we have been waiting for is about to begin, and the Delta Platoon are already in a bad spot as King Gramia successfully sensed their departure and were able to beat them to the punch, by being right there in front of them as soon as they arrive. So much for a surprise eh? This looks like it is going to be one hell of a messy and nasty fight. It is time to see how Macross Elysion will fare against Sigar Valens… Yikes.
The NUNS or the New United Nations Spacy is the military arm of the NUG based on Earth. They’ve been often depicted as cold and highly pompous overseers especially with their higher ranking officers. Though they aren’t evil the NUNS have done some shady and despicable stuff in the name of humanity and maintaining order.
What I find disturbing in this episode is that the NUNS representative said that they don’t need their permission to act on their operation to destroy the ruins on Ragna since government has been decentralized since the mid 2040s. Unless those colonized planets in their sector are somehow indebted to the NUG since their worlds were discovered prior to decentralization.
Thanks for the clarification 🙂
Yeah I didn’t like how they can do whatever the heck they want, shady as hell. Either way, I can’t imagine destroying the ruins being beneficial to anyone, something will probably go terribly wrong. Needless to say I am very curious to see whether or not the Delta Platoon will have a change of opinions about the NUG and Winderemere’s mission to liberate the planets who are part the NUG depending on the actions which the NUNS/NUG take.
No problem. I’ve been a big fan of Macross for the past 30 years and Delta has rekindled my love for the franchise.
Out of curiosity is this your first Macross series or have you watched previous ones like Frontier? If you haven’t seen any of them and are interested I highly recommend you watch the original TV series Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and its movie retelling “Do You Remember Love?” if you have the time. It will give you the scope of origin of Macross and humanity’s first stellar war against the Zentradi.
Macross Frontier was my first macross series and I fell in love with it, I think I loved the movie more though ahahaha. As I am watching this series I am also trying to during marathon Macross (only about five episodes in though, ^^; my schedule has been packed this year). But it looks like based on your suggestion I should try to marathon the whole thing ASAP! Either way, I hope to eventually be able to watch all of the series. = v =