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Macross Delta Mission 21: Desired Secret

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Summary

Heinz starts singing the Wind Song in the Temple of Time, which creates Bio-Fold Waves and delta wave reactions on Al Shahal, making all the people stop where they’re standing. Heinz then collapses, as do all the people in the city. On the Macross Elysion, Ernest informs Delta Flight and Freyja that they hacked a surveillance satellite and found that the Wind Song made 85 percent of the people in Al Shahal City fall into a coma. In addition, Windermere is collecting the coma victims for further study. Chuck asks why they didn’t turn Var, and Arad answers that all they know is that they detected Bio-Fold Waves that exceeded anything they previously recorded. Mirage wonders if the Wind Song is becoming stronger, and Hayate asks about Walkure being held in custody for breaking into the Medical Ship. Freyja asks if they’ll be released soon, and Ernest responds that they’re waiting for Lady M’s decision. Makina complains in her jail cell about wanting to take a bath, while Kaname and Reina complain about the bad food. Makina asks Kaname to remind her when she quit being an idol, and Kaname answers that it was four years ago. After that she was hired by Xaos, which had just started its music division. Kaname thinks back to 2063, when Ernest interviewed her for the job and asked if she had combat experience due to growing up on the civil war-torn planet Divide. After being brought on, Kaname was told about fold receptors and how she would be the instructor and manager for the members of a new tactical sound unit. Kaname asked about recruitment, and Ernest told her that all human employees of Xaos would first be tested for fold receptors. Later, he told her that they found she was one such person, as was someone in the Intelligence Division’s Cyber Department: Reina. Ernest explained that Reina was a genius hacker and had been hacking companies and government agencies since childhood. When she was caught hacking Xaos’ servers, she was recruited instead of being handed over to the authorities. Makina asks Kaname if she didn’t think of declining to join Walkure, and Kaname answers she only thought about the chance to sing again. Kaname then recalls their expansion in 2064, when they brought in Lydie Le Gloan, Claire Paddle and Makina. Kaname asks Makina why she didn’t decline the offer to join Walkure, and Makina answers that although she came from a long line of mechanics and loves mecha, she started to love singing and dancing as she got older. She figured joining Walkure would let her fulfill both dreams, but it was tougher than she expected. The Walkure training proved intense, consisting not only of singing and dancing lessons, but also battlefield drills, wilderness survival and parachuting out of the Shuttle. In the early days, Makina was mad at Reina for showing no motivation, which Reina explains was due to not having any interest at the time in singing. Lydie then quit the group, and in 2065 it was decided that the four of them would make their official debut as Walkure. However, although they were deployed to counter many Var outbreaks among Zentradi soldiers, their songs had no impact. In one battle, Kairos pilot Arad saved Kaname from an attacking Queadluun-Rhea. Afterward, Arad proposed to Kaname that they have pilots work together with Walkure to draw out their potential, including having air shows to liven up concerts. Makina mentions that she thought about quitting because she wondered why she was putting herself through this. However, when Lady M declared that Walkure would be disbanded if their next mission was a failure, Makina made costumes for everyone because she didn’t like performing in field gear. In their next performance against rampaging Zentradi, they were able to stop the Var outbreak, which led to many successful missions. After the Var outbreak on Alfheim, Messer was brought onto the team. The stress of Walkure proved too much for Claire, but around that same time Mikumo showed up.

Kaname, Makina and Reina talked about new member Mikumo and how she didn’t have to audition. They introduced themselves to her, but she responded only by singing “Giraffe Blues,” which moved all of them. Reina felt that it was the first time a song had moved her so deeply. Kaname thought that Mikumo was on a completely different level than her, but it didn’t bother her. On Windermere, Keith barges into Heinz’s bedroom and is shocked when he pulls open Heinz’s shirt and sees his chest covered with crusted white skin. Roid wonders what is missing from his equation and why Mikumo can sing the way she does. Keith confronts Roid and explains that he had Theo and Xao track down Heinz’s former doctor and get information out of him, including that Grammier died by stabbing, not an explosion. Roid admits that he killed Grammier, but only as an act of mercy because there was no other way to help him. Keith asks if Grammier’s final will was also a lie, and Roid insists there was no mistaking what he felt through his runes. Keith demands to know what other secrets Roid is hiding, but Roid states that he has no other secrets. Roid says his feelings for Windermere are true, and if Keith doesn’t believe him, he can kill him. Keith answers that he’ll do so if he thinks Roid has betrayed them. Ernest tells Arad that he always suspected something was different about Mikumo, and he also reveals that they’re going straight to Windermere to destroy the Protoculture system. Arad notes that it will be difficult to navigate the dimensional fault around Windermere, but Ernest answers that they have a plan to do so that takes them through Alfheim. Kaname, Makina and Reina are released from custody and reunited with Mikumo, who apologizes for making them worry. Mikumo asks them what they discovered from hacking Xaos, but Reina says she found nothing. Mikumo states that she heard Lady M and headquarters decided the truth couldn’t be kept secret any longer. As a result, now Mikumo knows why she has no memories of her past, as she was created only three years ago. She says that coming into contact with Heinz created an anomaly because her senses are sharper than a normal human’s. She says she doesn’t care if she’s a human or a clone because she plans to continue singing. Roid gets a call from Berger, who reports that when the people on Al Shahal had their delta waves synchronize, it created a network effect that went beyond simple mind control. Such an effect could unite the consciousness of all mankind, and Berger wonders if this is what Roid has been up to all along. Roid answers that it’s none of Berger’s business and tells him to keep up with his investigation as ordered. Roid’s runes react inside the Temple of Time, and he mutters “Rudanjaar Rom Mayan,” which causes the temple to transform around him and display an image of the Singer of the Stars.

Commentary

With three of Walkure’s members in jail after the failed raid on the Medical Ship, their reminiscences amount to a flashback origin about how Walkure was formed. We’d heard bits of it before, but now we see examples of things like the initial bad relationship between Makina and Reina. This flashback seems like an odd choice so late in the series. For the entire series, all the members of Walkure have basically just been character archetypes, and nothing that we learn here provides any significant insight or development. Mikumo, for instance, still has no personality, except that now we’re told the reason for that is that she’s literally three years old. Having these flashbacks earlier in the series and continued development from there would’ve been better, but at this point it’s too late to make any difference. In addition, the really important things happening in the present are shoved to the side. I’d rather hear more about Heinz putting people into comas with his singing. On top of that, the revelation of Roid’s plan is tucked all the way in the epilogue. I would add that on top of this revelation being hidden away at the end, the substance of that revelation is disappointing. By using the Wind Song and Protoculture system to create a network of linked minds, Roid is literally just copying Grace O’Connor’s plan from Macross Frontier. Given that Frontier is the immediate predecessor to this series, it’s pretty uninspired to have the exact same secret plan twice in a row. I had been hoping all this time that Roid’s secret plan would be something far more interesting than this.

Overall Rating
2.5/5
Macross Delta Info


Director(s):
Kenji Yasuda
Shoji Kawamori

Writer(s):
Toshizo Nemoto
Tatsuto Higuchi
Ukyo Kodachi
Touko Machida

Mechanical Designer(s):
Shoji Kawamori
Hidetaka Tenjin
Stanislas Brunet

Character Designer(s):
Chisato Mita
Majiro
Masaru Shindo

Musical Composer(s):
Saeko Suzuki
TOMISIRO
Mina Kubota

Format:
26 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 04.03.2016 – 09.25.2016

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