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Macross 7 Ep. 14: Fighting Woman Mayor Milia

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Summary

With the fold control room under guard, Milia is informed that the citizens don’t seem to have noticed that City 7 folded again. She asks her aide if they’ve been able to contact Battle 7 yet, but he tells her that they’re still attempting to determine their coordinates, and a disturbance in space is hindering them. In another location, the Varauta commander examines a picture of Basara and is told there’s a 99 percent chance Basara will interfere with their future plans. The vampires secretly monitor the repairs to the fold system, which are about 20 percent complete. The commanders orders his units to launch and kill Basara on sight. Ray tells Basara that he’s booked a new show for them at a place called Silver Paradise, but Basara’s never heard of it. Mylene arrives and tells them that “Planet Dance” is up to number eight on the city’s music charts, but he writes it off as being due to the Minmay TV special. He says there’s more to music than just climbing the charts, but an angered Mylene tells him he’s always negative and runs off. Later, the band heads to Silver Paradise because their concert was pushed up a week. Basara complains about having to do the show, but Ray reminds him that it’s good money. Basara argues again with Mylene, and she tells him they have to persevere under tough conditions. The band arrives at Silver Paradise, and Basara is shocked to see that it’s a retirement home for veterans. Basara says that Ray must’ve known this before, and Ray answers that the old folks want to hear their music too. Several old men approach Mylene and tell her that they saw her on TV in the Minmay movie. Basara is then begrudgingly roped into taking pictures of the old men with Mylene. One of the old men is pleased with the picture and says he’ll value it as much as a picture he took with the real Minmay 35 years ago. After setting up, Fire Bomber begins its show, and Basara tells the crowd that a classic song can reach people across the ages, and he wants Fire Bomber’s music to do that. The band opens the show with “Planet Dance,” and the old folks are fired up. On Battle 7, Kinryu reports to Max about what happened, and Max tells him it wasn’t his fault they lost City 7 again. Gamlin watches the Minmay movie and is interrupted by Physica, who reports on the status of readjusting the fold boosters. Gamlin asks Physica what it is that makes women lie and uses the example of Mylene lying to him about being in Fire Bomber. Physica says she probably doesn’t love him, because if she did, she wouldn’t hide anything from him. Gamlin then wonders if perhaps Mylene was lying out of shame of being associated with someone obnoxious like Basara.

Later, Gamlin visits Docker, and Chiba reports that he’s recovering well. Gamlin asks Chiba why he’s playing the Minmay movie in the patients’ rooms, and Chiba answers that he believes there’s a link between Basara’s music and their recoveries. Gamlin later visits Chiba in his room, and he’s put off by Chiba’s strange outfit and the room being covered in Minmay posters. Chiba straps Gamlin into a chair and explains that he has a new machine that can react to people’s emotions. Gamlin isn’t happy about being in the machine, but Chiba says it’s the key to people recovering. Gamlin begins to scream when Chiba plays “Planet Dance,” and Chiba says he always wondered about the power behind Minmay’s music. He says he has a theory regarding energy and is developing a device to use that energy. He’s surprised when he looks at Gamlin’s data and sees that the reactions are all negative, and Gamlin screams for him to stop the music. On City 7, Fire Bomber heads for its next gig, and Ray promises that this time it’s a much younger audience that’s looking forward to seeing Basara in his Excalibur. Basara says he’s not about that, and Mylene yells at him about his complaining. Several vampires spot them and report back to the commander. After arriving at the concert, Basara and Mylene are shocked to see the audience is a bunch of kids. Ray explains that he didn’t know this time, and the concert promoter tells Basara that the kids are looking forward to Basara’s acrobat show. Basara tells the promoter that he’s all wrong and he wants to leave, but suddenly an Elgersoln squad appears in the sky and approaches. Basara jumps into his cockpit and takes off, dodging enemy fire. He opens his shoulder speakers and begins singing “Charging Love Heart” for the kids. Mylene says that the kids are in danger, but Basara leads the Elgersolns away. Milia is informed of the enemy appearance and takes off in her Valkyrie. Basara flies through the city and continues to dodge enemy fire. Milia then attacks the Elgersolns and tells Basara to switch to GERWALK mode since he’s in a narrow area. Basara attempts to fly out of the area and crashes into a building. As he falls to the ground, Milia criticizes his skills and tells him what to do. The Elgersolns resume their attack, and Milia returns fire on them. Basara begins singing “Planet Dance” while she continues to damage them, and the remaining units escape. One pilot stumbles out of his cockpit, and Milia moves in to capture him. The pilot shoots her in the leg, and Basara rushes in to help him. The police arrive, and Basara takes off to return to the show.

Commentary

The fleet is no closer to finding City 7, and in the meantime, the Varauta are still continuing with their plan. There’s some hijinks as Basara gets roped into playing two very strange shows for a bunch of old people and school kids. As usual, he’s arguing with Mylene again about anything and everything. Attentive listeners will notice that music from Macross II is again used in the background here. We learn that Chiba is a weird Minmay fanboy, but he also has a theory about music being able to heal the pilots who have had their Spiritia sapped away. Gamlin certainly doesn’t like being his guinea pig, especially when the music is Fire Bomber. We also get to see Basara come under criticism for some clumsy piloting, and Milia gets injured while trying to capture a Varauta pilot. This arc certainly isn’t over yet, although there wasn’t much movement forward in this episode.

Original Review: May 13, 2000

Overall Rating
3/5

Macross 7 Info

Director:
Tetsuro Amino

Writer(s):
Sukehiro Tomita
Minto Hajime

Mechanical Designer(s):
Shoji Kawamori
Kazutaka Miyatake
Hiroshi Ogawa
Munehori Nawa
Meijo Maeda

Character Designer:
Haruhiko Mikimoto

Musical Composer:
Fire Bomber

Format:
49 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 10.16.1994 – 09.24.1995

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