Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
I actually really liked this. It wasn't so hot to start, but I liked the slow pace and when it was good it was really good. The ending wasn't really an ending so much as a stopping point because, hey, needed to stop somewhere, right? Kinda hoping this gets another season, but if not, well. The adventures are clearly going to continue, just without an audience.
Erased
Interesting premise. The last couple of episodes did take a turn I wasn't quite expecting which was nice, and I think that the ending did actually shore up the whole enterprise, which is rare but welcome.
Gate
This one is entirely guilty pleasure. There are times when you really get this sense of similarity between Japan and the US. This story where you've got a gateway from the modern day world to this fantasy world is one, since the protagonists are the noble soldiers of the SDF and a trio of magic using ladies who have conveniently fallen for the main, a surprisingly badass first Lt. Of course, there's plenty of war and fighting, but it's all really one sided because apparently the imperial army doesn't use combat magic, or have any of the local archmages or demigods chipping in. Nah, those are all siding with the Japanese or staying neutral. They've got an entirely mundane army based off of the Roman Empire at its height, complete with an army of vassals that can be called in to supplement. And numbers, boy howdy have they got numbers. But, like I said, all mundane. I wouldn't give Julius Caesar much odds against any of the major modern nations either, and every major fight is a curbstomping. Of course, the empire still exists because the glorious SDF is this perfect institution of glory and honour, and their political leadership is this paragon of virtue that doesn't want to conquer by force, despite this place apparently being lousy in farm land, mineral resources, and oil. And up until that last sentence, you could swap SDF for US Army, and you'd have a pretty good jingoistic American premise.
So, there isn't really any tension in relations between the empire and the Japanese. But, they do manage to get some interesting stuff going on with the plot by splitting its focus in two primary ways. First, you have the adventures of the First Lt and his crew. Which, is light world building kinda stuff, as he goes around on the small scale doing acts of heroism and getting to know the locals, or escort/bodyguard some of them when they pay a visit to the modern world. ((Though, that trip gets me to another guilty please bit, portrayal of the US from a non-NA PoV. This US government is not sympathetically portrayed, and you get this crazy 4-way fight between American, Russian, and Chinese operatives and a demigoddess at a hot springs at one point. ))
The other plotline, and this is the one I kinda non-guiltily like, is the power struggle amongst the Imperial nobility. Essentially, there's three children of the emperor, each with their own power base. And over season 2, each of them develops a bit and comes to have their own response to, effectively, this overpowering military force that can tear them to pieces whenever it wants to. Granted, there is pretty clearly a favoured one we're supposed to sympathise with. And it's not especially deep. But, it's a touch interesting at least.
Macross Delta
So, I heard this existed. Not too much to say yet because I've only seen two episodes, but.... but....
Ok, confession time, I haven't seen 7 or Zero yet, so maybe these will invalidate some of what I'm saying. And I'll admit, Macross has always been a franchise where they really, really believe in the power of song and they always have some tremendous feat accomplished by singing. Even if it is Macross Plus, where it's the villain pulling off the crazy musical stunts. But... this one seems to have gone full magical girl idols? Really?
Seriously, the core premise is something I get. Crazy potential illness, potential space transcending madness inducing song that can be healed with the power of song? That is something at the heart of the series. Having them protected by armed force while they do this? Both done with great effect in previous iterations and really sensible. But it's always been that even when they're in a combat zone, all the singers do is sing. The song is all they need, and they've got soldiers around for the actual fighting. I'm hoping that there's an explanation soon about how this is a lot of crazy prepped special effects, because... yeah.
Moving on the the male lead, he also gets his share of not very good stuff. Namely, Macross has always been decent at subverting the falling into the cockpit trope. They did it in the original, they did it in Frontier ((not in Plus, there they start with one of the best pilots in the fleet)) and in both cases they find themselves in the middle of a sudden attack, with a civilian in need of saving, and a valkyrie right in front of them either without a pilot, or a recently dead pilot. In one case, you have a professional, though young, stunt pilot, and in the other you have a gifted prodigy with two years of training at a prestigious piloting school. In both cases, they prove to be crap at fighting in their first fight, but top notch at flying well enough to carry the civilian to safety and not getting hit. Here... you have an aimless drifter who typically works as a warehouse worker. Sure, he's shown to be good at using one of those to move freight around, but it's freight hauling. So yeah, unlike the others he does get shot down and needs to actually be caught before he crashes, but given he has no experience flying it's still kinda jarring. Also, his special skill that lets him stand out is apparently he's great at mech dancing. Seriously, he hops into one, notes the controls are just like what he's used to ((Frontier does the same thing, but again, two years of pilot training, and heck, it even gives a reason as to why he's wearing a pilot's uniform/valkyrie ignition suit when the attack hits)) and then starts battle dancing to surprising effect. Of course, even before this, the support valkyries that have trained pilots were doing synchronized combat in time with the music. And don't even get me started on the military outfit that's perfectly fine with a recruit who openly states disdain for military protocol and refuses to abide by it.
I'm gonna watch it, because it's Macross. I'm going to be hoping that some of this will be mitigated as the series goes on, that the ending won't be too stupid. Who knows, maybe I'll even get around to watching 7, or 0, to see if it has some kind of roots in those two, despite not really expecting to care too much for either of them.
I will say two things to finish. First, I find it interesting. This is the third time I've seen them have a love triangle involving a pilot and a young, innocentish pop-star wannabe. But I think this is the first time I've preferred him winding up with the pop-star wannabe. Probably a mix of not liking him so much, thinking the other prong of the love triangle is getting dragged into this because they need a third leg for the standard Macross love triangle and she really doesn't need the complication, and because I think there's actual chemistry in that pairing this time. Secondly, Zentraedi battleship captain. Bout damned time, and I look forward to seeing more of him. Heck, he even looks like a green version of your standard battleship captain, so I am hoping to see him be badass.
