Merry Christmas, your present is this post about a good anime!
Macross Frontier
Space Operas and Auteur Spectacle
I wish more anime were directed like these two productions.
Idol Incubation: The Circumstances of Fledging Idols in Macross
The question is: are idols born, or are they made of the circumstances of their universe? In Macross, you might say it’s a little of both.
Song of a Distant Idol: Performance Intimacy and Love Triangles in Macross Frontier
Love songs are a weird thing. By nature, they’re an expression of the most intimate of emotions, but the majority of the time they’re conveyed at a distance—sung from a radio, through headphones, or on a stage—and as a performance object to be heard by many, not one, thus stripping them of the personal emotion they ought to host.
But, for a little under two minutes in the middle of Macross Frontier, a love song connects.
Mage in a Barrel 