Which do you find to be better?
| I meant to write a review discussing this problem but it apparently goes against MAL's guidelines to mention other users' reviews and community scores, so I'll make it a forum topic instead. Now, I'm someone who's completely against following community scores and other people's reviews, and think that features like those serve no purpose other than further encouraging herd mentality and closed-mindedness among users. Heck, you may have already seen me around MAL as one of the main "anti-score/review activists". I generally don't even pay attention to those things, but every once in a while, I'll come across a show that was done so dirty by its haterbase and is so downplayed that the damage is irreparable. Macross Δ is a prime example. If you check out the top 4 reviews for this series, you'll already have a nice grasp of what the hate for this show boils down to. First, you get 2 reviews which seem competent at first glance because of the fluff, but essentially boil down to "I hate that they made Macross a bright idol show", "I didn't care for the characters", and "I wish Macross ended already and didn't have all these sequels that dare deviate from the original". Then, you have the same thing in the form of a literal senseless rant (which 47 people have apparently found helpful, lol) , and lastly, you have an all-over-the-place review from someone who seems to have only seen Frontier. As you can see, the common theme among at least 3 of those is closed-mindedness. In reality, Macross Δ is some of the best, if not the best the franchise has to offer. Its characters are handled with a great deal of care and nobody ends up feeling shallow. It explores themes such as responsibility, the fleetingness of life, and the importance of living in the present with such ease and maturity that I found myself emotional nearly every episode. Even though the series is coated in an air of lightheartedness/poppiness, the writing never fails to be complex, and the gray characterization and corruption of the UN (or, in this case, the NUN) are explored much more thoroughly than in both Macross Zero and Macross Frontier. The concepts it introduces are all sensibly incorporated and fleshed out. I feel like the main strength of the Macross franchise over the years has been the fact that main man Kawamori has remained either a director or supervisor for every Macross series so far, preventing a Star Wars-type situation where constant retconning and carelessness by different creators turn the franchise into a mess. Apparently though, not even this is enough for the haters... Finally, the visuals are by far the best in terms of modern Macross. It gave me a new appreciation for Satelight, as both Zero and Frontier look okay at best and fairly bad at worst (both in terms of 2D art/animation and CG) while Δ remains consistent throughout and never fails to be visually immersive. I was pleasantly surprised just by how gorgeous the show was. All in all, I'd say Macross Δ surpasses the ever-beloved Macross Frontier by a landslide in virtually every aspect and is the only Macross series which truly rivals SDF Macross. So it's a shame that the show became another victim of the everlasting toxic closed-mindedness that's a staple of the modern anime community at this point... I'd love to hear people's opinions on this and see how many of you agree with me. Also threw in a poll to see just how many people who've seen both truly think Frontier is the better show of the two. |
| I completed the whole Macross franchise in December 2019 - January 2020. As for me, Frontier is the worst one (even Lovers Again is much better) and Delta is the best one lul. Yeah, weird opinion, I know. Frontier has everything that I hate in 00th mechas: rough visuals and character designs (typical screenshot: https://clck.ru/QUhP5) with an outdated CGI. Ranka is an annoying little puppy, Sheryl is unlikable at all, a lot of copy-pasted scenes from the original 1982 show, harem cliche (school and race for the panties in one of the episodes), et cetera. Delta is enjoyable, funny, colorful, well-drawn, with awesome songs and epic dogfights. I watched all of 26 episodes per two days and never understood why it's so hated. You are not alone :D |
TenshiTobacco said: Oh, for real? I watched SDF, DYRL, Lovers Again, Plus, and the first half of 7 around this time last year and then finished it all up this summer, haha. And yeah, Δ is my third favorite after SDF and DYRL. I completed the whole Macross franchise in December 2019 - January 2020. As for me, Frontier is the worst one (even Lovers Again is much better) and Delta is the best one lul. Yeah, weird opinion, I know. Frontier has everything that I hate in 00th mechas: rough visuals and character designs (typical screenshot: https://clck.ru/QUhP5) with an outdated CGI. Ranka is an annoying little puppy, Sheryl is unlikable at all, a lot of copy-pasted scenes from the original 1982 show, harem cliche (school and race for the panties in one of the episodes), et cetera. Delta is enjoyable, funny, colorful, well-drawn, with awesome songs and epic dogfights. I watched all of 26 episodes per two days and never understood why it's so hated. You are not alone :D I've had people tell me Δ was "wasted potential", saying its characters were underdeveloped, a ton of shit was left unanswered, and that the ending was disappointing. Funny thing is, I feel that exact way about Frontier. The visuals are obviously and objectively bad, it features easily the worst Macross love triangle, Alto isn't exactly the best protagonist, the story is all over the place and somehow lacks focus, even though it's on an infinitely smaller scale than Δ's, and both Grace and Leon are pretty underwhelming villains imo. Also, this falls under personal preference, but I don't find myself going back to any of Sheryl's solo songs... just sayin' Δ is just such a more mature, complete, original, focused, tight show that's a gift that keeps on giving, up until the very end. For the record, I don't hate Frontier by any means, but I would call it my least favorite Macross series. I still love Ranka with all my heart <3 |
| I didn't like delta's characters as much as I liked frontier's and the MC is the worst MC in the franchise. I thought the series was a decent exoansion of the macross world though. I like a lot of the songs, I have probably listened to them hundreds of times because of uta macross, although frontier is better in that department as well. The thing that delta does undeniably better than frontier are the visuals. Frontier had some really shitty CG at times. |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
GENDSAMA said: I mean, you ain't wrong...Just my opinion thou but I think Macross 7 > Frontier&Delta. come on guys, Nothing can beat Fire Bomber. POWEEEEEER TO THE DREEEEAM |
| Like everything, it's question of taste and subjectivity. The problem with Delta is that after a solid first half, the second half of the series turned into a mess. Bad directing, bad writing, plotpoints going nowhere and characters doing nonsensical things (the Scooby Doo detective chapters). By comparison Frontier feels better written. Other than the silly Sheryl panties episode it's just a much more compelling watch all around. Delta also suffers from having the most uninspiring antagonists in Macross history. The Knights are meh at best. There's never any sense of tension and by removing the malice element from them, they feel unthreatening and stale. By comparison Frontier has the Vajra, that much like the Zentradi in SDFM convey a true sense of fear and palpable dread into the proceedings. Don't get me started on the characterizations of some of the elements of Walkure. Reyna and Makina's characters can be written on a napkin. Kawamori hasn't made a real good series in ages. Delta works well as an advertisement for a music group so far, but will not age well like 7, SDFM and yes even Frontier has. Let's hope the sequel film is better. |
| Delta took everything that made Macross a successful franchise and shat on it. The first 9 episodes were okay (too much idol girl focus, and the main character Hayate has the personality of a napkin), but I was hopeful. Then everything just took a rapid nose dive, I began to hate any Windermere character (despite by best efforts to not) and their embarrassingly stupid lifespan shit and hair emote thing. I can't even remember the resolution to this cruddy show aside from the resolution to the love triangle (non existent). It didn't feel or watch like a macross series, it felt cheap, cliché in the worst way possible, and it was chalk full of UGUUUU anime lolis. Mikumo should have been the main girl character, not Frejya. In fact all Windermerians never should have been in the show in the first place! Garbage idea, Garbage characters. (And I don't even like Mikumo but she actually had something going on with her character/her va can actually sing.) |
Ericonator said: By definition, everything is retro since by the time you realize something has happened it's already in the past.  |
| there is no debate, delta is just another anime compared to frontier. lesbian idols are boring and the love story was also lacking. they should have just named it differently and call it a day. on its own, delta is decent and fun but it's not on par with the other entries |
    |
| After watching more of Macross Frontier and Delta, I have no idea how anyone can prefer Frontier. |
| その目だれの目？ |
More topics from this board
» Movie vs TV SeriesReshiram_IX - Jan 16, 2023 |
9 |
by donnascherer
»»
Mar 16, 4:21 AM |
|
Poll: » Macross Δ Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Stark700 - Dec 31, 2015 |
447 |
by Zekkenshin
»»
Jan 1, 10:09 PM |
|
Poll: » Macross Δ Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 )Stark700 - Sep 25, 2016 |
246 |
by AdrianShephardt
»»
Mar 7, 2023 9:01 AM |
|
Poll: » Macross Δ Episode 23 DiscussionStark700 - Sep 4, 2016 |
35 |
by SilverCrono
»»
Oct 17, 2022 9:10 AM |
|
» Macross Delta underrated? ( 1 2 )SaltyShoebill - Apr 26, 2016 |
66 |
by procion
»»
Aug 31, 2022 12:51 AM |