Macross Delta 12
Macross Δ 12
マクロスΔ 12

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Windermere attacks Al Shahal with Sigur Valens and support ships, using Heinz’s singing to shield them from attack and activate Vars among the defending forces. The planet falls in fifteen minutes. Survivors from various attacks arrive at Ragna, where Captain Ernest lays out his plans to attack the new Windermere flagship at Al Shahal in the next 24 hours, especially since King Gramia is there. On Al Shahal, Roid and Keith again have words over Heinz’s condition and the war. Back on Ragna, NUNS sends Major Valan to inform Ernest that NUNS wants the Protoculture ruins destroyed. Further, NUNS has already put special forces on the planet to carry out this mission.

CHAOS leader Lady M stops NUNS from destroying the ruins until Delta Squad and Walküre have their mission on Al Shahal. Newly promoted Mirage sees Hayate and Freyja having lunch on one of the Macross Elysion decks, but hides and eavesdrops on their conversation. She’s busted when she gets called for a meeting. Despite Hayate’s encouragement, she reveals her insecurity at not being as talented as Hayate, but makes him promise to return as she won’t lose to him. She gives Freyja a look and leaves. Later, Macross Elysion lifts off from Ragna, transforming to space mode with carriers Aether and Hemera secured. Macross Elysion folds to Al Shahal, only to discover Sigur Valens and its fleet preparing to fold out.

Thoughts/Review:

Pretty convenient when the Windermere folks can psychically detect when things are going to happen and react accordingly in rapid order.

We finally got to see the connection between Ernest and Gramia.  It appears the king was trained by Ernest prior to Windermere’s war for independence. It is a convenient way to make the Windermere battle against CHAOS more personal.

Speaking of that conflict, as expected, Macross Elysion finally goes into action. However, combat will have to wait since it appears that Sigur Valens is going to get away, most likely to attack Ragna.

One of the things this episode reminded me of was the absolute silliness of the “Storm Attacker” mode that these giant, Macross ships have, whereby they transform from battleship mode to mecha mode. Yeah, giant mecha equals cool to look at. And in the original Macross, mecha mode was the only way SDF Macross could fight. But it never made sense to me for it to have a mecha mode. It makes even less sense now. But, giant mecha are cool, so…

To me, it is a shame we don’t have more story on the linkage between Protoculture and Windermere. We don’t even have context for the events that has Windermere all up in arms. We know there was a war, but so far, we have little beyond that. As such, it really is difficult to sympathize with Windermere’s position. Therefore, we are just left with a bunch of irritating bishounen fighters spouting about wind.

This episode did attempt to portray NUNS in a negative light by introducing the smarmy Major Valan. Until now, NUNS has always been the unmistakable good guy. Here, their unilateral decision to destroy the Protoculture ruins on Ragna make them look like giant bastards. However, that doesn’t mean NUNS is bad though.

There is sound logic in what NUNS want to do though. Since Windermere are using the ruins on planets to help them take over said planet, destroying ruins should stop this. Since NUNS thinks Ragna could only survive for 30 minutes, I guess that means that Walküre isn’t worth that much. 😉

Speaking of Walküre, I was shocked that we didn’t get a concert from them. I think the only singing came from Heinz.

I am glad to see Mirage got a promotion. She officially takes Messer’s place in the squad, and in my opinion, she deserves it. As such, her own attitude about not being as good as Hayate annoyed me. She may not be as reckless as Hayate, but that doesn’t make her inferior.

While we are on the subject of Mirage, I wanted to puke because we now officially have liftoff for the hideous love triangle. When Mirage hid because she saw Freyja having lunch with Hayate, I was not happy. I was not happy with Mirage’s dirty look to Freyja. I was not happy with Freyja’s sudden discomfort. And of course Hayate is oblivious.

In the end, Macross Delta 12 sets up the battle of the titans (as part of Operation Einherjar). We’ll see when that happens.