“Once upon a time, there was a war with a race of alien giants called Zentradis. Having experienced the threat of destruction from their first contact with a ET, humanity entrusted its future to expansion into outer space, and set sail for new lands all across the galaxy. And in 2059, the 27th vast colony fleet to be created, Macross Frontier, was continuing its journey toward the center of the galaxy.”
Thus starts the story of boy in the Macross Frontier who wanted to fly.
Saotome Alto was born into the prestigious family of the Saotome, a Kabuki household. Now anyone who knows anything about the ancient Japanese theater, Kabuki, is that, it’s a family business. The only people that can act in a Kabuki are the men of the Saotome household and the male apprentices that disciple themselves to the troupe. Which means if you’re a male that’s born into a kabuki family, you will be a kabuki actor, no questions asked. To Alto, the words, “We lived through the war. It was by the power of the culture that human beings have. The core of culture is kabuki, thus we must spread and carry it on to the ends of the galaxy,” were his lullaby. It was those words he was raised up with.
And that is how Alto grew up. Saotome Alto was to be a kabuki actor and the next to inherit the Musashi-ya name. It was just like how people knew they had to breathe to live. Ever since he was wee babby Alto was trained by his father to eat, live, and breathe acting. One of his youngest memories was being told to read Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, Beckett, Aristotle and other writings by 3 days and recite to his father what the meaning of all the books were. Until then he wasn’t allowed out of the warehouse. It was a natural occurrence for his father to throw him or a fan at him (never hitting his face of course. the face was an actor’s living) whenever young Alto messed up. It might be considered child abuse to some, but this was teaching and discipline in the Saotome family. His father ruled the household with an iron grip, grinding into Alto the concept that “acting was living”.
This might be the reason why Alto became so close to his mother. His mother was nothing like his stern, scary father. She was soft, and gentle. She loved him with all she had. Alto’s mother was a sickly person, and she knew would not live to see her son grow into a man. Therefore, she gave him as much love as she could for his lifetime. It can be assumed that Alto is a mother’s boy, with him always carrying his mother’s good luck charm around his neck, and the fact that when he sees one of his love interests wearing his mother’s kimono, he sees her as his mother for a moment.
Another major thing he was taught to be as a child was to become a woman. Alto was an oyama, a kabuki actor that played the role of a female. Thus, he was raised to depict the perfect epitome of a “woman”. The “perfect woman” was someone who was the perfect housewife and the perfect prostitute at the same time. A mix between a saintly and a sinful female. He was raised to have all the skills needed to be a housewife, to be a woman. Every practice he altered his movement to become a woman, he wore a girl’s kimono, stuck an ornamental hairpin in his hair, went to the women’s toilet, and held a doll while sleeping. There was no shred of “male” in Saotome Alto’s childhood.
Alto debuted on stage at the age of 10, and immediately become known as “the genius young oyama”. At 12, he played the lead in Sakura-Hime Azuma Bunshou, in which his acting was considered legendary and gathered fans from other galaxies. His future as the next head of the Saotome troupe was set.
However, while he was still young (presumed to be when he was 13 or 14 years old) his mother had passed away, leaving Alto with only his strict father, the caretakers, and the numerous disciples of the Saotome troupe. While they all treated Alto with respect and care, it was still not the same for him. He was lonely. He had no friends of the same age, all that came close was for the Saotome name. Nobody looked at him as Alto, but only as Saotome Alto, the future head. Life just became a routine of acting, practice, dancing, and training. He felt stifled, and soon he became to hate the life he lived. He hated his family that only cared for acting, he hated his blood lineage that tied him down, he hated only being seen as a female, he hated acting as someone else, he hated the Macross Frontier with its roof, and most of all he hated his father that did nothing and just continued practicing his act even when his mother had died. All the love and ambition he had for acting, became a hate and trauma for him.
It was during this period when he was about to graduate middle school, when he stumbled upon the Space Flight Studies of Mihoshi Academy. After a fight with his future best friend, he ends up flying in an Ex-Gear as a bet. An Ex-Gear in short are powered-suit that traces the wearer’s movements and combined with its engine and wings, it allows the wearer to glide through the air like they have wings. Ex-Gears are known to be hard to pilot as they distribute several times the power with just minimal movement, making the bet practically a set-up for Alto to lose. But lo-and-behold, he manages to fly in the sky (wearing a dress since he was practicing for Romeo and Juliet fft). There he remembered how much he loved flying, and his mother’s words about a real sky. A sky with no bounds, that had no roof or end.
His love for flying became greater each day, enough to the point that he transferred from the Entertainment course to the Space Flight Studies as soon as he entered high school without a word to his family. Upon on being accepted, he told his father that he was no longer going to act, but become a pilot. This of course, started a row between the two, and ended up in Alto leaving the house and his father disowning him. But that was no matter to Alto, as he moved to an apartment and beginning to live a life of his own. To do what he truly wished to do. He finally had the first step to true freedom. The rest would come when he could burst out of the 6,000 feet sky, and fly as high as he wanted without any restraints.
The opportunity for the next step towards a sky was when he became a second year at Mihoshi Academy. By then, Alto was the second in his class and part of the trio that was known to fly most skillfully. Several students were to do an acrobatic performance during the live of the Galaxy Fairy, Songstress Sheryl Nome. There, Alto met two girls that would change his life forever.
The first was Ranka Lee, a girl of his age that longed to be a singer. She was someone who made the “male” in Alto want to protect her at all costs. She was someone that was like a sister and a love interest at the same time. He was often soothed by her presence and her singing, and he was the one that encouraged her to take a step forward and debut later on.
The second was the famed Sheryl Nome, a girl of his age that was the top of the galaxy. Everyone knew her name, and her songs. Although at first Alto had no interest in her and only thought of her as a selfish, queen-type girl that was only famous for her looks. But as he got to know her through series of events, he found out that she was just a normal girl too. Still queen-type and all, but nice at heart and a hard worker. Singing was her life, as flying (and acting previously) was his. She was someone who made the “male” in him become...well a male. (If you know what I mean...) Although he often bickers and fight with her, she stimulates his pride as a pilot and at times, a fellow entertainer, and in front of her, Alto feels free to say anything he wants.
On the same day he met these two, there were two incidents that also changed his life forever.
One was the attack of the Vajras, an unknown space bug that was thought to be a bioweapon of some sorts. It was this that allowed Alto to pilot an unmanned Valkyrie (VF-25 Messiah), a variable fighter that transforms in to three forms: a humanoid giant robot called Battroid, an in between type of a plane and a Battroid called Gerwalk , and the normal plane type called the Fighter, to save Ranka from the Vajras.
This leads to the other incident, him finding out about the SMS (Strategic Military Services), a Private Military Provider in the form of security group for transportation corporation. They were basically ex-soldiers and pilots that don’t fit in to the military or dislike it. Alto finds out his two best friends, Michael Blan and Luca Angeloni are pilots in the SMS. After a taste of the Valkyries and knowing the existence of Vajras, Alto decides to join as well. First for the reason of wanting to fly in a sky with no roof, though it may be a battlefield. But as the series goes on, he begins to wish to be able to protect his friends, and the Macross Frontier fleet.
After Michel’s death and the separation from SMS, Alto joins the military (U.N. Spacy) and he becomes the squad leader, despite his short history as a fighter pilot. This was because the fleet was low on people that had actually gone to the battlefield. There, he threw himself into work, not wanting to focus on the deaths and separations. He was known as the Demon Instructor for his drill sergeant ways of teaching the people of his squad. During these days, he would hate to have idle, down time and would try to find something to do.
He had detested the Vajra when the last battle for the planet of Vajra began, especially when the member of his squad had died. But after the realization that the Vajra was controlled by someone else, he had come to at least forgive it, and thank for its help on protecting the fleet in the end.
Through relationships with Ranka and Sheryl, and the people of SMS, Alto learns to mature and to care about the Macross Frontier. To love people again. He realizes he is no longer a child that blamed all his sufferings on his blood lineage and environment, but that if he doesn’t fight for it, nothing will change.
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no subject
basic history here. adding on to his past...
“Once upon a time, there was a war with a race of alien giants called Zentradis. Having experienced the threat of destruction from their first contact with a ET, humanity entrusted its future to expansion into outer space, and set sail for new lands all across the galaxy. And in 2059, the 27th vast colony fleet to be created, Macross Frontier, was continuing its journey toward the center of the galaxy.”
Thus starts the story of boy in the Macross Frontier who wanted to fly.
Saotome Alto was born into the prestigious family of the Saotome, a Kabuki household. Now anyone who knows anything about the ancient Japanese theater, Kabuki, is that, it’s a family business. The only people that can act in a Kabuki are the men of the Saotome household and the male apprentices that disciple themselves to the troupe. Which means if you’re a male that’s born into a kabuki family, you will be a kabuki actor, no questions asked. To Alto, the words, “We lived through the war. It was by the power of the culture that human beings have. The core of culture is kabuki, thus we must spread and carry it on to the ends of the galaxy,” were his lullaby. It was those words he was raised up with.
And that is how Alto grew up. Saotome Alto was to be a kabuki actor and the next to inherit the Musashi-ya name. It was just like how people knew they had to breathe to live. Ever since he was wee babby Alto was trained by his father to eat, live, and breathe acting. One of his youngest memories was being told to read Shakespeare, Stanislavsky, Beckett, Aristotle and other writings by 3 days and recite to his father what the meaning of all the books were. Until then he wasn’t allowed out of the warehouse. It was a natural occurrence for his father to throw him or a fan at him (never hitting his face of course. the face was an actor’s living) whenever young Alto messed up. It might be considered child abuse to some, but this was teaching and discipline in the Saotome family. His father ruled the household with an iron grip, grinding into Alto the concept that “acting was living”.
This might be the reason why Alto became so close to his mother. His mother was nothing like his stern, scary father. She was soft, and gentle. She loved him with all she had. Alto’s mother was a sickly person, and she knew would not live to see her son grow into a man. Therefore, she gave him as much love as she could for his lifetime. It can be assumed that Alto is a mother’s boy, with him always carrying his mother’s good luck charm around his neck, and the fact that when he sees one of his love interests wearing his mother’s kimono, he sees her as his mother for a moment.
Another major thing he was taught to be as a child was to become a woman. Alto was an oyama, a kabuki actor that played the role of a female. Thus, he was raised to depict the perfect epitome of a “woman”. The “perfect woman” was someone who was the perfect housewife and the perfect prostitute at the same time. A mix between a saintly and a sinful female. He was raised to have all the skills needed to be a housewife, to be a woman. Every practice he altered his movement to become a woman, he wore a girl’s kimono, stuck an ornamental hairpin in his hair, went to the women’s toilet, and held a doll while sleeping. There was no shred of “male” in Saotome Alto’s childhood.
Alto debuted on stage at the age of 10, and immediately become known as “the genius young oyama”. At 12, he played the lead in Sakura-Hime Azuma Bunshou, in which his acting was considered legendary and gathered fans from other galaxies. His future as the next head of the Saotome troupe was set.
However, while he was still young (presumed to be when he was 13 or 14 years old) his mother had passed away, leaving Alto with only his strict father, the caretakers, and the numerous disciples of the Saotome troupe. While they all treated Alto with respect and care, it was still not the same for him. He was lonely. He had no friends of the same age, all that came close was for the Saotome name. Nobody looked at him as Alto, but only as Saotome Alto, the future head. Life just became a routine of acting, practice, dancing, and training. He felt stifled, and soon he became to hate the life he lived. He hated his family that only cared for acting, he hated his blood lineage that tied him down, he hated only being seen as a female, he hated acting as someone else, he hated the Macross Frontier with its roof, and most of all he hated his father that did nothing and just continued practicing his act even when his mother had died. All the love and ambition he had for acting, became a hate and trauma for him.
It was during this period when he was about to graduate middle school, when he stumbled upon the Space Flight Studies of Mihoshi Academy. After a fight with his future best friend, he ends up flying in an Ex-Gear as a bet. An Ex-Gear in short are powered-suit that traces the wearer’s movements and combined with its engine and wings, it allows the wearer to glide through the air like they have wings. Ex-Gears are known to be hard to pilot as they distribute several times the power with just minimal movement, making the bet practically a set-up for Alto to lose. But lo-and-behold, he manages to fly in the sky (wearing a dress since he was practicing for Romeo and Juliet fft). There he remembered how much he loved flying, and his mother’s words about a real sky. A sky with no bounds, that had no roof or end.
His love for flying became greater each day, enough to the point that he transferred from the Entertainment course to the Space Flight Studies as soon as he entered high school without a word to his family. Upon on being accepted, he told his father that he was no longer going to act, but become a pilot. This of course, started a row between the two, and ended up in Alto leaving the house and his father disowning him. But that was no matter to Alto, as he moved to an apartment and beginning to live a life of his own. To do what he truly wished to do. He finally had the first step to true freedom. The rest would come when he could burst out of the 6,000 feet sky, and fly as high as he wanted without any restraints.
The opportunity for the next step towards a sky was when he became a second year at Mihoshi Academy. By then, Alto was the second in his class and part of the trio that was known to fly most skillfully. Several students were to do an acrobatic performance during the live of the Galaxy Fairy, Songstress Sheryl Nome. There, Alto met two girls that would change his life forever.
The first was Ranka Lee, a girl of his age that longed to be a singer. She was someone who made the “male” in Alto want to protect her at all costs. She was someone that was like a sister and a love interest at the same time. He was often soothed by her presence and her singing, and he was the one that encouraged her to take a step forward and debut later on.
The second was the famed Sheryl Nome, a girl of his age that was the top of the galaxy. Everyone knew her name, and her songs. Although at first Alto had no interest in her and only thought of her as a selfish, queen-type girl that was only famous for her looks. But as he got to know her through series of events, he found out that she was just a normal girl too. Still queen-type and all, but nice at heart and a hard worker. Singing was her life, as flying (and acting previously) was his. She was someone who made the “male” in him become...well a male. (If you know what I mean...) Although he often bickers and fight with her, she stimulates his pride as a pilot and at times, a fellow entertainer, and in front of her, Alto feels free to say anything he wants.
On the same day he met these two, there were two incidents that also changed his life forever.
One was the attack of the Vajras, an unknown space bug that was thought to be a bioweapon of some sorts. It was this that allowed Alto to pilot an unmanned Valkyrie (VF-25 Messiah), a variable fighter that transforms in to three forms: a humanoid giant robot called Battroid, an in between type of a plane and a Battroid called Gerwalk , and the normal plane type called the Fighter, to save Ranka from the Vajras.
This leads to the other incident, him finding out about the SMS (Strategic Military Services), a Private Military Provider in the form of security group for transportation corporation. They were basically ex-soldiers and pilots that don’t fit in to the military or dislike it. Alto finds out his two best friends, Michael Blan and Luca Angeloni are pilots in the SMS. After a taste of the Valkyries and knowing the existence of Vajras, Alto decides to join as well. First for the reason of wanting to fly in a sky with no roof, though it may be a battlefield. But as the series goes on, he begins to wish to be able to protect his friends, and the Macross Frontier fleet.
After Michel’s death and the separation from SMS, Alto joins the military (U.N. Spacy) and he becomes the squad leader, despite his short history as a fighter pilot. This was because the fleet was low on people that had actually gone to the battlefield. There, he threw himself into work, not wanting to focus on the deaths and separations. He was known as the Demon Instructor for his drill sergeant ways of teaching the people of his squad. During these days, he would hate to have idle, down time and would try to find something to do.
He had detested the Vajra when the last battle for the planet of Vajra began, especially when the member of his squad had died. But after the realization that the Vajra was controlled by someone else, he had come to at least forgive it, and thank for its help on protecting the fleet in the end.
Through relationships with Ranka and Sheryl, and the people of SMS, Alto learns to mature and to care about the Macross Frontier. To love people again. He realizes he is no longer a child that blamed all his sufferings on his blood lineage and environment, but that if he doesn’t fight for it, nothing will change.