Macross 7 Trash (1997)
[マクãƒã‚¹7 トラッシュ]
Volume 4
Author/Artist: Haruhiko Mikimoto
Publisher: Kadokawa Comics A
Synopsis:
Shiba and Movado meet one of their competitors ahead of their match.
Story/Characters:
A new challenger joins the story. Since they don't reveal her name for a while, I won't bring it up here. She does become quite important later. We also get Enika's replacement as manager, Pasha, who I find kinda worthless as a character. She's mostly there to moon over Shiba, which serves as a distraction from the core love triangle (but as that gets botched anyway, I guess we might as well add another branch that goes nowhere).
Given that the Macross franchise tends to romanticize the idol industry (though the better stories aren't so rosy), it's interesting that things take a bad turn for Enika. Her producer is a real dirtbag. There might be some real edge if it was pushed farther, but as usual, nothing ever goes all the way.
As for Shiba's big match, I don't even know how you can call it a competition when he's up against someone in a bulky exosuit. Changing the format to this one-on-one battle makes T-Crush feel even more pointless. The pilot screening angle falls short, too, because if they kept it as a team sport, it would have a better parallel with actual aviation operations. Ugh, it's like this series can't do anything right...
Art:
...Or so I say. The art still looks nice at least. I want to draw particular attention to the use of two-page spreads and Mikimoto's talent for dynamic paneling.
Conclusion:
With the competition heating up and Enika getting up to her neck in her new career, this should be the point where you feel really immersed in the story. Even before I knew where it would all end up, though, I wasn't really feeling it. I'm not all that invested in Enika's singing career and the new format of T-Crush isn't really compelling at all. Take it or leave it.
Rating:
50/50