Macross 7 Trash (1996)

[マクロス7 トラッシュ]

Volume 3

Author/Artist: Haruhiko Mikimoto
Publisher: Kadokawa Comics A

Synopsis:
As Shiba heads back to rejoin his team, Mahara tries to uncover the truth behind Colonel Vacheron's plot.

Story/Characters:
I have to only think about what's presented here and look at it with respect to the payoff in the end. We learn more about Colonel Vacheron's shady dealings, but he'd be a little easier to take seriously if he wasn't such a moustache-twirling villain. I don't really see how he can get away with what he's doing, but whatever.

Now that we're bringing in the idea of using T-Crush as a way to screen pilot candidates, we also get this new enhancement system that resembles the control system for the YF-21 in Macross Plus. This could be interesting if it was explored in any depth, but don't get your hopes up for that.

It seems like Shiba starts to gravitate more toward Mahara while Enika sets out on her musical career. Spoiler alert: Like everything else in this series, it's only going be half-baked. Up to the very end, I never got a clear handle on Shiba's feelings. For that matter, Mahara ends up being fairly ambiguous too.

Art:
The art continues to be the main saving grace of this series. Action scenes are well done and there are a number of other nice panels.

Other:
Fans of the main series will like the intermission with appearances by the members of Fire Bomber and the flower girl.

Conclusion:
If I didn't know where this was going, I'd say that we get a decent setup for the next leg of the story. However, we're already starting to see signs of the payoff coming up short and it's not going to get any better. Give it a read if you're interested, but if you weren't hooked by now, you may want to drop out.

Rating:
50/50