Star Driver 25 (Unspoilerrific)

If this doesn't end a suicide I want my money back
If this doesn’t end a suicide I want my money back

KIRABOSHI☆! We shall never see its like again, for good or ill.

And so all falls back to shounen shouting, the one gimmick (or cliche) that never fails. All in all, the show has generally been disappointing if you consider it end to end, not least because it’s clearly 13 eps of content dumped into a 25 ep time block. Basically, Bones sold out and compromised its vision, and what’s worse, the 25 episodes allowed for a lackadaisical pacing with the episodic filler fights that made it far too late to rectify the gaping problems with the plot when the team realized the problem, if they ever did. As much as I love episode 24’s incredible setting of mood, if the price was having 25 being a nearly plot-free mess that depended almost entirely on flash (and low budget flash at that, it’s clear most of the animation time went into the last 5 min, which served as a great Macross Plus homage) while badly handling the bulk of the characters and then dropping the bag completely, I think the price is way too high. Still,  it’s fair to say this is a very average show that had some positively awesome and/or fabulous moments, and the sheer paucity of good execution doesn’t detract from the memories of those priceless bits. In the end, we have to be content with that.

More loony musing with spoilers in another post.

P.S: Wako is the most colorless female lead I’ve seen in ages. And to compound things, her gadawful monologue ruined half the climax of the show. Thanks a lot, you silly self-absorbed woman.

Macross Frontier YF-29 Durandal

The DX Chogokin toys from the second Macross Frontier movie were announced some time ago but I totally missed it. Proper photos have just been released though.

I got to say the machine is a little underwhelming. While it certainly isn’t ugly, it just looks like the VF-25 and the YF-19 from Macross Plus mashed together, only flashier than both in a bad way. A little too busy, perhaps. I quote:

In the production of Macross Frontier, the VF-171 was chosen as the main fighter of the New U.N. Spacy because it was felt that the previous main fighter, the VF-19 Excalibur, looked too much like a “hero” fighter…

This one looks more of a “hero” fighter to me.

The roots of the design is especially obvious in gerwalk mode. Compare:

Of course, it could be I’m just bitter at how poorly the Macross Frontier series ended.

Also:

  • 1/100 YF-29 Ranka Lee Version
  • 1/100 YF-29 Sheryl Nome Version

Yuck.

Picture sources: Gundam Model Kits and Figures, Mech9.com, Macross Mecha Manual