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Saruta

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  1. Saruta
    Maybe... talking to Mari about Minmay IRL is like talking to Minmay inworld about Space War I? That one incident that made her famous and overshadows anything she might do later? The kind of glory from which Minmay ultimately escaped into the unknown void of space? The Genghis Cohen being a Chinese restaurant makes things even weirder. It's *hard* not to see Minmay in Mari, though really Mari is the original, Minmay is, maybe and to a degree, the portrait. But: ignoring Mari's later work is just silly even if one does "see her as Minmay". People always ask what happened to Minmay... but the answer was right under our noses all along? The songs she wrote, the only answer that matters? If I had a chance to see her live and ask her to perform one song from her entire repertoire, it would not be any canonical Macross song, it would be "Survivor". I can't find an embeddable link. but it is playable in Spority etc, and one can google it and see it on YouTube Music with an ad. And what should not be so hard is not to bug *her* with Macross, as she very correctly points out. What one has as a "headcanon" is one thing, how one treats a living person is another. Especially if the equivalent treatment of the actual inworld Minmay (asking yet another question about That One Concert For The Enemy) would be just as insensitive.
  2. Saruta
    I wanted to mention "Protoculture remnant colony" but was beaten to it I have a fanfic out in Russian where Minmay (with the rest of the Megaroad) is actually stuck on a Protoculture remnant colony. I guess it would be too much to see that as canon... but protoculture something anyway My personal preference for music would be symphonic metal, a la Tarja, which could be presented as "serious Protoculture business". But I don't know if the subgenre even exists in Japan to start with.
  3. Saruta
    A kinda Love Live/Macross crossover happened Two Love Live Nijigasaki seiyuu, Chiemi (Rina Tennoji) and Kaorin (Shizuku Osaka), recorded a drunk karaoke cover of Lion.
  4. Saruta
    Thanks a lot! I wonder - are the cameras manned/staffed, or just controlled from a remote camera operator room?
  5. Saruta
    Question: how are live concerts filmed? There are many different takes of a stage that in some cases appears to be surrounded by people on all sides. Here is an example: So where do all those camera angles come from? Are there drones flying above the spectators? Are there some kind of long arms around the edges of the hall, with high-zoom cameras on them? And/or some other ways? (I would expect camera isles in the crowd, but can't detect these on the video? besides some angles seem to be above the crowd?)
  6. Saruta
    Thanks for the tip about the new release. Looks hopeful. I'm still hoping for more Walkure character development and now it might actually happen.
  7. Saruta
    Wait, he began at four years old. That's actually a scene in the movies. I don't think the moment with Alto's childhood photos as a stage girl was present in the series though? Perhaps this was pure coincidence in the series, then they found out about it and added stuff from his biography in the movies? And I do wonder what Taichi - being 17 when Macross F was ongoing - thought when he saw "a version of himself" on the screen, same name and all. Perhaps some interviewer asked him? One would need to be able to google in Japanese to find out, though. (A google in English shows that tvtropes has already noticed this)
  8. Saruta
    Hello, I just learned about Taichi Saotome, a kabuki-style actor active since 1995 (when he was a teenager). Saotome is a chosen stage name, apparently a Ranma 1/2 reference. But he was a young onnagata-style actor, who also was not actually very happy about being famous for female roles and wants to do something else... Might Alto be a hidden-in-plain-sight reference to a real similar actor? And I also wonder what Taichi himself thought of all that. (Though Alto is really not the worst anime counterpart to have, being a rather good pilot and having all of two singers in love with him). Wikipedia about Taichi Saotome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taichi_Saotome
  9. Saruta
    You got me Well Walkure, unlike Nagisa in AKB0048, do have personal gear for that (apparently involving anti-gravity, which is definitely a thing in the Macross world since SDFM), but what with the *actual raging battle*, it's still broadly in the same box.
  10. Saruta
    AKB0048, however, seems to pride itself on fun unrealistic antics, starting with literally jumping onto a moving plane from a bicycle. It was outdone by Zombieland Saga but that took a few years. I don't think there's much of that with Walkure Also I just realized that the title "Ultimate Live" might mean we are going to see a generations movie after all. If so... please. Please let Mari Iijima outright write the new Minmay song (realistically there can probably be just one new Minmay song, what with the time all the others need). There is simply nobody who would understand older!Minmay as a musician any better, except perhaps major music dignitaries like Yoko Kanno and Yuki Kajiura, who are unlikely to be involved. It would also book-end the story; the very first Minmay song we get to hear (SDFM ep4) is written by Mari Iiijima and this would be the last one. The performer writing major stuff for Macross is not unprecedented (Yoshiki Fukuyama).
  11. Saruta
    With everyone wanting more Valks, I'll be the odd one out as I want proper characterizations and character development for four Walkure members (sans Freyja who already got hers in the series, it being probably the only decent writing work there). Darnit. A passionate and beautiful woman who is actually three years old and a clone, but at the beginning does not seem to remember here recent past at all - but seems to be trained in martial arts apart from singing. Not the most original character out there but definitely a worthy one. I want to know more of her story, of her training, of her eventual realization of what she is. (In the movie version, seems like the realization happened already in Windermere custody and helped "break" her into their aims for a time, as opposed to "klaatu barada nikto" doing all the work?? Makes sense, and might be a callback to Ranka).
  12. Saruta
    Regarding ranks, I'm coning in from a global perspective (originally from Russia) and I would suggest a hypothesis that kinda mixes these things, and, I think, works with everything on-screen. - In 2009, the officers on the restored Macross are all Air Force and use Air Force ranks similar to army (we see some of those on the Cat's Eye). But Global was pulled in from the Navy and retains his Navy-style ranking for the time being. - At some later date, post the 2010 catastrophe, there is a merger of all remaining forces, with all ranks restyled based on Air Force, but translation of ranks was not done by Americans. This explains the "warrant officer" status of Alto. This is not the modern American Warrant Officer - they simply redesignated the former naval rank of Ensign as Warrant Officer. It might not make much sense in NATO terms, but there could well be a dictionary mess somewhere. In Russian terms, where a "praporschik" (commonly translated as warrant officer) is equal in rank to a "michman" (a naval rank that is functionally a warrant officer, but is often translated as ensign). As an aside, while in English there is no inherent clarity in what a "colonel" commands, Slavic languages do have such clarity. A Colonel is a "polkovnik" in Russian, and "polk" is a regiment. So the rank is basically "regiment-man".
  13. Saruta
    I still want some effective storytelling and character development and interesting and emotional arcs. And I'm fine with them being about an idol group fighting a galaxy-wide danger (beats fighting closure of a school, at least).
  14. Saruta
    Well for me another memorable - perhaps the most memorable - song is "Walkure wa Uragiranai" and in that particular case, as well as Absolute 5 surrounding it, the lyrics actually have a lot of relevance to the story. But this was the movie. Apparently, they realized the problem and this was a fix. There is a great song from the series with lyrics relevant to the story, though! It's "Bokura no Senjou", an actual song about aerial warfare for a change. But I don't even remember *where it is* in the series. (Another one I really like is "Love Thunder Glow" but not sure if it even was in the series at all. It appears to be a JUNNA solo, the only difference from other JUNNA solos like "Vai Ya Vai" being its release via Walkure? And yes I just want more JUNNA solos and am trying to work out how to buy them off iTunes given that I use Linux). The lyrics dissonance seems to be one of the story points they, so far, missed the chance to explore. So we see this power-clone Mikumo sing a song about being madly in love in a very, er, sexually engaged way, "Ikenai Borderline", while kicking some bigtime ass. But - she never was. She never could be. She is three years old! Yet she speaks Japanese (or whatever language she sings in, if "translation convention" is in use) so knows what she is singing about. What is this doing to her? What is it like to power the world with emotions you have no experience, nor education, to understand? Yes, this thing explicitly happened to her in the Sigur Valens... but it was also going on *from the start of the series* and no writer batted an eyelid to tell us any detail? Perhaps *that* is why the baddies could use her comparatively easily? (One sincerely hopes JUNNA also never was by the time she recorded the song, being 14 and all, so it is yet another "close to home" moment). If they were to explore this all in the second movie it would be great. They would need to provide for some mecha action for it to be Macross and to pull a triangle from their, er, backside - or give Mirage a knife already. But whatever. Mikumo is the one I really want to know about, whether or not she is in a triangle. (I do doubt they would go for my preferred triangle with Mikumo - Freyja - Hayate in THAT order, but whatever, just Mikumo and the huge level of angst this story calls for).
  15. Saruta
    I have just done a binge listen of Love Live (both generations) and Idolmaster (Cinderella) music for my own research purposes. The obvious difference from Walkure is a far narrower emotional range. Walkure can be angsty. Waklure can be mad-power-tripping. These girls can only be cute and/or inspiring and/or happy and/or hopeful, and perhaps slightly sad, despite having many more songs than Walkure does, and despite some of the creator names involved being the same (Takuya Watanabe, whose work I liked in "Absolute 5" and "Uragiranai", also wrote "Happy Party Train" for Aquors). This, of course, might be because of the "cute girls doing cute things" trope, heavily used by the LL and Idolm@s franchises and pointedly defied from the very beginning by the Macross franchise. So I wonder - are there any Japanese idol groups that would actually have an emotional range comparable to (or greater than) Walkure? I really don't know much outside those that got animated (the latter includes AKB48 thanks to Kawamori but I'm not through too much of their work yet but they do seem rather narrow emotionally from what I saw so far). What, if anything, *should* I be looking at? Japan only, not Korea.
  16. Saruta
    The entire Hitler discussion seems to ignore World War I, which *was* totally a meaningless conflict of sides that just refused to talk to each other. And more wars are like WWI than like WW2. In a fictional universe, one has to *work* on a genocidal dictator the size of Hitler being logical and not cartoonish. By the way I think SDFM did a decent job with Boddol Zer, his "wipe the Earth" attempt actually makes sense. Also re grimdark. Macross, post SDFM ep 27 is a post-apocalyptic universe. And they managed to make *that* upbeat, despite the setting being typical grimdark. I don't really see a chance of going full-on grimdark after this, you probably can't top that level of destruction (and still have a plot). Unless they actually go for a "Macross the First" style SDFM reboot, then the destruction of Earth and its aftermath could be shown in a more realistic style which would be grimdark enough. Card-carrying villains are not as easy evein in SW. I know a few Star Wars Empire fans. I think the logic goes that the Republic, with the Jedi, is just an endless squabble that makes humanity defenseless in the face of enemies like the Yuuzhan Vong. The Empire is a way, imperfect as it may be, to unite galactic humanity for its survival. I don't really have a dog in the Star Wars fight, but from what I know of the fandom, it's far from one-sided.
  17. Saruta
    Is there a play-by-play of the Delta movie big battle somewhere? I have rewatched a few times but still don't really understand who shoots at whom at what moment, or how Walkure got protected from an Itano Circus aimed at them, or exactly how Roid and Keith are facing each other in person moments after sword-fighting in mecha, etc, etc.
  18. Saruta
    A lady who speaks fluent Japanese helped me find his Japanese Wikipedia page with a list of his works: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/渡辺拓也 And one name jumped out at me. Our old friend May'n! So here is Sheryl Nome, er, May'n singing something by the same composer as Walkure.
  19. Saruta
    Could anyone tell me where o find more Takuya Watanabe works? His (her?) two Walkure songs rock and I think the composer has more somewhere but where?
  20. Saruta
    So I'm writing English lyrics for at least one Walkure song that some ladies want to sing. But while my English is good it's still not fully native, and besides most everything benefits from a beta read. Is anyone here understanding enough of English-language poetry to have a look over? Or else, where should I go to find one? Thanks!
  21. Saruta
    Hello, Seeing as I like "Walkure wa Uragiranai" and "Absolute 5" most of all Walkure tracks, I'd like to hear more works by Takuya Watanabe. No idea if he is a next-Kanno candidate or a one-trick pony or something in between, but would love to know. I would appreciate references to his works, ideally something one can hear online (youtube, nico, crunchyroll, etc)
  22. Saruta
    Re the writing issues... Re-reading "My fair Minmay", in Gubaba's excellent translation. It seems that "having drafts for good stingy writing with character development, then DROPPING them before final version" is a time-honored Macross tradition. I would really love to know what they had in the drafts for Walkure.
  23. Saruta
    Well the comparison was AKB stuff, as the "quintessential" idol group, largely as seen through the 0048 anime but I've seen some videos of lives too. I am not a musician and so this is a listener's unprofessional opinion. Walkure manages to be an unmistakable idol group while, musically not just visually, actually highlighting the individual qualities of members - not subsuming them into an overwhelming "idol machine". Probably because of this, Walkure works convey a more dynamic emotional power. Initially, they had a tendency to highlight just Freyja and Mikumo and the contrast between "Mikumo and the rest" (with the exception of character songs like AXIA or Silent Hacker); they have strongly improved on this in recent works, very notably Walkure wa Uragiranai (as I understand they brought in a new composer team?) The premises of the respective animes might even highlight the difference. One can imagine, say, Makina dying from her wound and being replaced and Walkure surviving and rising to kick ass again. One can *not* imagine the new member becoming "Makina II". There is a Freyja/Mikumo sync, quite evident in Episode 22, which appears to be a Fold Receptor coherence (not really a full Ranka/Sheryl thing in canon, though one *could* argue Ranka/Sheryl feeling in Frontier was really the result of them both having fold infection). But even that sync does not "make them one" in the AKB way.
  24. Saruta
    There was a scene in Delta series where a NUNS flotilla was immune to Var and kicked some Windbag ass, apparently, according to some sources. But I totally forgot it. Could anyone please share the episode number? (If it's true of course)
  25. Saruta
    I gotta say Walkure music is growing on me as I see what the general Japanese idol scene is like. I really don't know how they found a composer (group?) that could hold up the banner after Kanno but they did, and the concept seems similar to Frontier: take current trends, make them better.
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