MacrossReviews

Macross Ep. 19: Burst Point

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Summary

The Macross flies over a large city, and Global is told by U.N. Spacy that such flights are prohibited except in case of emergencies. Global insists that it is an emergency because he has 56,000 civilians aboard and can’t fight to his full potential if he has to worry about them. He asks for permission to have them disembark, and he is instead ordered to fly out to the sea. Global says he can’t do that because the gravity control system isn’t perfected yet and the ship may crash over a city. While Global didn’t get anything from U.N. Spacy, he started the dispute over radio over the hopes that some autonomous region not under the control of U.N. Spacy might be listening. Claudia decides to leave for a coffee break, and everyone sees that she is trying to hide her grief over Roy. Misa enters one of the observation lounges and finds Claudia sitting by herself, and she walks over when she spots Hikaru standing by himself. Minmay’s “Shanghai Dandy” plays on the radio, and she asks him if Minmay will leave with the rest of the civilians when they find a place for them. He says she’s going to stay with her aunt, uncle and Kaifun. Hikaru asks about the new barrier developed to replace the pinpoint barrier, and Misa says it’s more effective but doesn’t last as long. In the city, Minmay returns to her dressing room and collapses from exhaustion in Kaifun’s arms. On the bridge, Shammy informs Global of a message from the North American Ontario Autonomous Region stating that they will take in all of the civilians. Global orders Claudia to change course immediately and head for Ontario. In space, Kamjin argues with Laplamiz about why he can’t attack the Macross. Laplamiz says she doesn’t understand what’s going on, but her orders are not to attack until the spies return. Laplamiz asks Milia to stop Kamjin again, and Milia stuns her by saying she wants to be a miclone spy. As Milia is resized in the cloning chamber, she thinks to herself that she must defeat Max. In the Macross hangar, Max and Kakizaki find Hikaru working on Roy’s Valkyrie, which is now his plane. Hikaru finds it odd that the plane of an ace like Roy now belongs to a guy who is always getting shot down. They tell him that the civilians will be dropped off in Ontario and decide to celebrate. In space, Kamjin launches in his booster-equipped Glaug, followed by a large squad of Gnerls. As they eat, Hikaru and the others are recalled to base and launch in their Valkyries.

After launching, Hikaru asks Max and Kakizaki to keep their guard up and make sure they don’t get killed. Kamjin’s forces enter the atmosphere and begin their attack. Hikaru is chased by three Gnerls, so he transforms into GERWALK and lets them overtake him so that he can destroy them from behind. Kakizaki compliments him on his skill, and Max saves him from being destroyed by a Fighter Pod. In the middle of the battle, a Queadluun-Rau delivers micloned Milia to the Macross. Kamjin calls Oigul to bring the ships down from space, and Vanessa picks up the ships entering the atmosphere. Global orders the omni-directional barrier to be placed on standby, and Claudia objects because they can’t use their own weapons with the barrier up. Global says that now that they’ve found a place for the civilians that the priority is to protect them. Hikaru and the others fly over a mountain and encounter Kamjin’s battleships. Global has the barrier activated, and Kamjin returns to his ship and orders Oigul to fire. The attack is deflected by the barrier, and Kamjin orders Oigul to keep firing. The barrier begins to become unstable, and Misa orders Hikaru to take out the battleships before they cause anymore damage to the barrier. Hikaru and the others land on the surface of the Zentradi ships and begin destroying gun turrets. Energy output begins to fall, and the barrier system begins to overload. Shammy reports that it will explode, and Misa orders all the Valkyrie teams to escape immediately. The barrier explodes and sends out a massive shock wave that engulfs and destroys several Zentradi ships. Kamjin’s ship escapes without damage, and Kakizaki is killed when his Valkyrie lags behind and is caught in the shockwave. The Macross emerges from a crater that used to be a city, and Claudia reports that the surface has been destroyed in a 50 kilometer radius. The Ontario Autonomous Region calls the ship and now refuses to take the civilians. At the hospital, Kaifun is questioned by reporters about Minmay, and he makes an anti-war statement. Claudia and Misa don’t agree with what he says, but the three spies watch the interview and find that they do agree with him. Hikaru is paged by Minmay, who asks him to visit her at the hospital. He ignores her and simply hangs up the phone.

Commentary

Roy’s death in the previous episode came as a surprise, but to follow it up with Kakizaki in this episode is unexpected. With the consecutive deaths of two major characters, you’d think Yoshiyuki Tomino was working on this series. Despite that, Kakizaki’s death was inevitable, and I’m somewhat surprised he lasted so long. For someone who talks a lot and has no piloting skills, he managed to last a while, but there was no way he could have survived to the end of the series. The mood around the ship was already dark, and this destructive battle only adds to that. The hope of finding a safe haven for the civilians is dashed when the barrier overload destroys a whole city.

Original Review: May 1, 2000

Overall Rating
5/5
Macross Info


Director:
Noboru Ishiguro

Writer(s):
Hiroshi Ohnogi
Shoji Kawamori
Noboru Ishiguro
Sukehiro Tomita
Kenichi Matsuzaki

Mechanical Designer(s):
Shoji Kawamori
Kazutaka Miyatake

Character Designer:
Haruhiko Mikimoto

Musical Composer:
Kentaroh Haneda

Format:
36 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 10.03.1982 – 06.26.1983

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