Episode 4: Lynn Minmei
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross
On air date: 1982.10.24
Story
(translation pending)
Staff
(translation pending)
Commentary
A unique episode that doesn't have a battle scene and specializes in getting to the bottom of Minmei's insides via Hikaru and Minmei's survival life. Incidentally, Director Ishiguro Noboru personally volunteered himself to write this episode (the director also took the lead in inserting the shower scene). Also, when directing the behaviour of Minmei, who is a 14 to 15 year old girl, the director of this episode—Takayama Fumihiko—requested opinions from the female staff (because Minmei's performance would be awkward if it was produced by men). Even though human emotions and various feelings are thrown at Hikaru in the latter half of the episode, those feelings are shown as soon as they are rescued, and he forgets them when he sees Minmei's smiling face. One could say that Minmei's life-sized "girl-ness", is the crystallization of each staff member's zeal. Consequently, this episode invited a large viewer reaction from the time of its original broadcast, and a controversy arose among some of the show's male fans concerning Minmei's heroine image.
On the other hand, the scenes with Misa and the rest of the bridge crew—which are squeezed into intervals—form a detailed foreshadowing with such things as dialogue that suggests the union of the Prometheus, the Daedalus, and the Macross, and the shortage of pilots.
Cast
(translation pending)
Song
"Cinderella" Lynn Minmei (Ijima Marī)
Characters and Mechanic that appear
Character
Ichijō Hikaru / Lynn Minmei / Hayase Misa / Roy Fokker / Claudia LaSalle / Bruno J. Global
Kim Kabirov / Shammy Milliome / Vanessa Leyard / Maximillian Jīnasu / Kakizaki Hayao / Miria Farīna Jīnasu / Lynn Kaifun
Buritai Kuridaniku / Exsedor Formo / Warera/Rory/Konda / Kamujin Kraveshera / Rapu Ramizu / Bodoruzā
Minmei's uncle / Town Council Chairman / Yotchan
Mechanic
Macross / VF-1J (Hikaru) / VF-1J (Max) / VF-1J (Miria) / VF-1S / VF-1A (general)
VF-1A (Max) / VF-1A (Kakizaki) / Tomahawk / Defender / Phalanx / Spartan / Monster
Rigādo / Gurāji / Nūjaderu-Gā / Quadoran-Rō / Buritai's Ship
VF-1D /
Fan Racer
N: Normal, S: Super Valkyrie, A: Armoured Valkyrie
[Captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
[More captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
Episode 4: Lynn Minmei
[Captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
Topics—The Detailed Depiction of the Weightlessness of Space
In the scene where he captures a Pacific Bluefin tuna, Hikaru carries pieces of scrap in both hands. Even though Hikaru doesn't have a propulsion device—such as a rocket—the pieces of scrap were something that Hikaru came up with in order to move in any direction in the weightlessness of space. When Hikaru threw the scrap in the opposite direction to his objective, a "reaction" is generated in his body, and he is naturally propelled in the target direction (the two pieces of scrap he held were for "going" and "returning"). Such a depiction of weightlessness was unusual in anime produced at the time, and one could say that aside from this series, the other anime didn't fuss over reality as SF anime.
[More captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
[Captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
Topics—"The 80's Language" that "Macross" Propagated
In this and the third episode, Hikaru and Minmei occasionally call each other "otaku*". This is something that was adopted by the show from the speech of the young people in the Tokyo city area at the time—one theory is that that way of referring to another person spread to anime fans throughout Japan via this series. Although the word "otaku" (meaning enthusiast) was something born from anime fans mutually calling each other "otaku*", the foundation for that may have been "Macross".
* Translator's note: the original usage here is the polite term for "you", "your family", "your home", "your husband", or "your organization".
[More captions and quotes from the episode (translation pending)]
Preview of the Next Episode
The town-scape is restored inside the Macross. Hikaru is perplexed by the speed that Minmei changes her mind. A scout ship from the enemy fleet detects the Macross. Will the crew's desperate measure used to fill the gap produced by the destruction of the space fold system succeed? Next time, "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross", "Transformation".