MacrossReviews

Macross Ep. 4: Lynn Minmay

0
Summary

On the Macross‘ bridge, Global gives out orders to settle the civilian refugees from South Ataria Island. He sees the aircraft carriers Prometheus and Daedalus floating nearby and orders Misa to have the work crews attach them to the ship. Since the ARMD carriers are gone, the aircraft carriers will serve as substitutes. Roy calls and wants to have a search party sent out to find Hikaru. Global says the priority is helping the 50,000 civilians, and Roy gets angry and cuts off the call. In the bowels of the ship, Hikaru tries to free his plane from the ropes it crashed into. Minmay says they should look for an exit, and they begin exploring the ship. She finds dripping pipes and accidentally burns herself. As they walk through the dark corridors, they eventually find a giant-sized airlock. Looking out the window, they see cars and buildings floating out in space. On the bridge, Kim makes coffee so that Misa and Claudia can take a short break. In the lower sections of the ship, Minmay tells Hikaru that she’s thirsty, and he gets an idea. They get a steel rod and break open the pipes she burned herself on earlier. Minmay decides to take a shower in the flowing water, and Hikaru gets excited. Minmay looks at him strangely, and he decides he will wait. She asks him to place a piece of metal nearby as a screen. When he peeks through a hole to get a look, she screams. Hikaru brings her some clothes, and they return to the plane. He starts digging into his food, and Minmay wonders if they should ration it out. He says they will find an exit tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter. Minmay falls asleep on Hikaru’s soldier, and when a rat jumps on her, she thinks he’s a pervert. When she goes over to lie on a sheet, she finds a bunch of rats. They laugh, and Hikaru jokes that he will make a deal with the rats to share the bed. Minmay falls asleep on his shoulder again.

Hikaru begins searching the area to make a map and find a way out. When he returns he finds Minmay cooking to extend their rations. He figures the daughter of chefs would do that, and Minmay explains that the owners of Nyan-Nyan are her aunt and uncle, not her parents. She tells him that her parents live in Yokohama, Japan, and run a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Hikaru continues searching the area, and seven days pass since their crash landing. As their food supplies run out, Hikaru decides to use the airlock to go out into space and call for help. Minmay is worried because he doesn’t have a spacesuit or an oxygen tank, but he believes he can hold his breath and use his flight suit. As he prepares to go out into space, Minmay spots a giant tuna. Hikaru goes out into space to capture the tuna. As he brings it back into the airlock, it falls on him and knocks him down. He breaks free and knocks on the door as he begins to suffocate. Minmay closes the airlock, which slices the tuna and leaves only the head inside. Hikaru can’t go back into space because his flight suit is ripped. Misa and Claudia eat in the mess hall, and Claudia tells Misa that the civilians have begun to build a refugee camp. After twelve days have passed, Hikaru and Minmay begin to despair. She sings the song “Cinderella”, and he tells her she has a lovely voice. She says she’s always wanted to be a bride, but that won’t happen now that they’re going to die. Hikaru says they’ll be okay, and he suggests they have a fake wedding ceremony. Minmay tells him they should get it over with and throw themselves into space so they can die together. He calls her crazy, and she apologizes and begins to cry. As he is about to kiss her, a dud Zentradi missile slams through the ceiling. The mayor and other civilians spot them and pull them out. Minmay is reunited with her family, and the mayor tells Hikaru that they rebuilt the city inside the ship. Hikaru collapses from malnutrition.

Commentary

After the nonstop fighting in the first three episodes, we get a break from that here. While this is a slow moving episode, there is some good character development here. It is in this episode that we see the beginning of Hikaru and Minmay’s friendship, and the beginning of Hikaru’s attraction to her. Also, it is the first time that Minmay sings, which will develop more later on. Minmay goes kinda batty at the end of the episode, which is understandable after twelve days of confinement in the ship. However, wanting to commit suicide in space is a bit TOO much. We also get to see Macross City again, which after being destroyed by the Zentradi has been rebuilt inside the ship. Now that this is all settled, the long journey to Earth begins.

Original Review: May 1, 2000

Overall Rating
3.5/5
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

Comments

Comments are closed.