Macross Delta: Zettai Live!!!!!!

W: Spoilers ahead!

Macross Delta was my first entry into the franchise.

I have bought the vanilla wafers, collected the cards, bought key-chains, and even figures. Macross Delta was a crucial part of a specific phase of my life.

It was a journey I set sail on. I cheered, I sang, and I cried with Freyja.

The CG was a massive improvement from what we have seen in Gekijou no Walküre. From the facial structure to the movements, the camera angles and even the variable fighters looked polished more than ever.`` I myself have watched Do You Remember Love?, the TV series of Frontier and the movies, but I could never compare each entry to each other as they seemed to be good for their own reasons. Macross Delta seemed to get the short end of the stick by the western community (sadly, I haven't much to do with the asian community). Naming one example would have been the "transformation sequences" that were already introduced in Do You Remember Love? as hologram outfits, way before Delta.

For me, Macross Delta had me by the first episode. And I watched as the anime debuted, following each episode eagerly as they aired.

The first movie changed a few things about how Hayate and Freyja met, and as it was mostly a recap of the original TV series, the character developments we have witnessed in Zettai Live were very fresh and seeing these sides of the characters felt amazing (at least, to me).

The interactions between characters felt genuine, real and emotional. My favorite scene that shocked me the most was by Mikumo, when she approached Freyja after she overexerted herself. Her worry for Freyja, and her honesty about wanting to sing with her was a whole different side to the stoic Mikumo I was used to, personally. But it felt so great to see Mikumo approach Freyja. It was a very memorable scene.

In the TV series, and Gekijou no Walküre, her condition as Windermerean was clear to us from the start. While the TV series did not reach a definite conclusion about the effects of what it meant to "risk her life", Zettai Live did.

And even though it left -what I assume is many of us- heartbroken, this was the only ending that made the most sense. From the warnings, from the foreshadowing, from the damage onwards, this was how the story had to be tied.

I never realized how much I had really liked Freyja until tears started to roll down my face. A part of me still hoped the small sliver of hope, that maybe, somehow, her condition could be regressed, and even though I knew it was coming, it was a pain followed with emptiness after.
But the ending was still satisfying in a way. There was nothing else left. No questions.

This journey wasn't about Freyja living forever and singing with Walküre. This journey was about how Freyja would live what was left of her life.

It was clear from the start, and yet...

From the start, Freyja lived her life without hesitation. She stepped forward to make the best of her life, and to sing. She has always been risking herself and many other things. Just for the sake of singing.

But even though she is gone, Freyja's songs will stay.

She lived.

Freyja lived with everyone.

And she lived. Absolutely.

There are no spare lives. You and me, to the limit.
Right?