Mr March

I'm from Canada so I can't say for sure about the U.S., but I ordered my Tenjin Macross Art from Amazon Japan without incident.

No doubt I'm somewhat stubborn, but do give me the benefit of the doubt. The fact that NGE is caught in this debate is really inconsequential. It could be any old anime for all I care. The point is, anyone is free to either enjoy it or criticize it at anytime without some "best before" date invalidating their opinion I do respect Oshii very much, how could I not as a fan of his many films. But his politics are not necessarily my own. Come to think of it, I've yet to find a filmmaker I admire who's love of film is quite as broad or diverse as my own. They all seem to hate something I love

That website is fantastic. "No kicking of balls" is a great sign

Wow, what a fantastic website! Damn, I wish we had something that cool in english. Those russians really know how to make a fansite. There's so much good stuff on that website, including some pictures and lineart I've never seen before. Thanks a bunch GreatMoose!

Sorry, but your arguement is just degrading into a debate about semantics. The idea that affinity for a given anime can be quanitifed using vagaries like "as much or more" or "bet you would have" is pure nonsense. There is no formula you can apply carte blanche that explains why someone was dissappointed with an overrated anime that you just happen to adore. Your arguement has already failed to stand against even the most cursory examples that contradict it, yet it continues down this silly slope. Needless to say, Isoquant is far from "dead wrong" and his opinion of NGE formed 9 years after the last of the releases is just as relevant and valid as any. Rationalize however you must, but you're far from a persuasive arguement if you continue debating with such reasoning fallacies.

Fantastic review! Thank you so much Graham. I'm really glad I took a chance and ordered mine from Amazon Japan because this book has everything I was hoping it would for Macross Zero. Tons of great quality lineart from the new series, these are the pictures I have been eagerly awaiting. Plus lineart of some other favorites including Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Gundam 0083 and Armored Core. I can't wait until my copy comes in. Shipping notice just came in today. Should have it soon

oh... *feels silly*

Very true and mostly it's a factor at low speeds. Given the VTOL of ability of the Valkyries, this might not even be an issue. As for the weight of valkyries, it actually gets worse as they advance. The original VF-1 was 13 tons empty, the YF-19 - a much larger aircraft - is 8 tons bone dry

The analogy to film is sound. Anime (especially in the case of tv series) has not progressed to such a degree that one see's Anime Friend watching NGE but is expecting GITS 2. Debating how much or how little one would enjoy an anime seen during release or years after is superfluous. All that matters is what NGE is worth to a new audience right now, and it's obviously found wanting. The blame for NGE's lack of sustainability rests upon it's own shoulders and Isoquant's opinion of NGE is as valid as that of anyone else. Btw, I'd love to take your money on Seven Samurai. Unless you have a time machine "hidden in that bodice of yours - unlikely - " I'll be only to happy to supply my paypal addy so you may make a deposit

Oshii's opinions are like anyone else's and this is coming from a man who dislikes Myazaiki's work (of which I'm a fan), so I'll trust in my own opinion. Regardless, this is not a debate over impact on anime fandom or Mamoru Oshii's personal anime film top forty. The arguement that Isoquant (or anyone for that matter) is incapable of forming a valid opinion about NGE because he didn't watch the thing upon release is ridiculous, not to mention a position impossible to support or prove. Many would use the NGE films arguement as analgous to book adaptations, and have in the case of films like Akira. Again, we are forced to analyze the worth of the original production on it's own merit (or lack thereof), without the movies. If additional explanation is required via movies, the series has failed to communicate meaning. Again, this is the sign of poor work. If NGE is so weak an anime that it fails to inspire an audience a mere 10 years after release, that is the fault of NGE, not Isoquant or any other potentially disgruntled would-be viewers. And speaking as someone who watched NGE only 5 years after release, I can assure you my opinion would not change from distaste to adoration if I watched it back in 1995...but you'll have to take my word for it You can at least trust that.

Who is to say? It could go either way; taken in by the hype of the moment or turned off by fan praise for such a lousy anime. Such an anachronistic arguement is mental masturbation at best. You do realize that black and white films are still made yes? I point to Schindler's List as an easily recognizable film which I did see upon release. But I do wonder, how would you collect your bet for Seven Samurai? Rest assured, NGE will never suffer the label of "art"

Sounds encouraging. It's been too long since I've enjoyed a good anime film, so this talk has me interested again. I gotta go rent something tomorrow

This is a very good question and I hope the aeronautical tech heads come by this thread soon to answer. For my part, I can already imagine several problems/solutions. IMO, any of the Valkyries (VF-4, YF-19, and YF-21 included) that lose limbs are going to be affected both in atmospheric and space flight. The degree to which the Valkyrie's flight is affected is the important factor and just because a compromised valkyrie can still fly, doesn't mean it can do so well. The biggest thing that comes to my mind is the effect of weight distribution. As a flying vehicle, the Valkyrie is designed to operate within certain weight limits/balance. Naturally the vehicle itself is designed soundly for weight distribution, but also fuel and armament come into play. The fighter is designed to fly fully loaded and continue to do so when fuel and armament are expended. But blast a chunk off its hull and the fighter becomes fore/rear/flank heavy due to loss of mass, reducing speed, worsening manuverability, and all kinds of other problems. Even on a fighter like the VF-1, loosing an arm may not seem like such a big deal since the craft still has engines and wings, but now the mass is not evenly distributed across the craft. On the flip side, many modern fighter aircraft are designed with inherent instability, as a compromise for achieving faster velocity or greater manuverability. Advanced digital fly-by-wire systems are used to actually fly an unstable aircraft which would be impossible to control manually. Assuming these systems enjoy even more advancement in the Macross eras, it may be possible for the Valkyries to suffer damage/loss to the hull and still remain in flight, damage that would crash any conventional fighter. There are some fringe technologies in use right now, like IFCS (Intelligent Flight Control System) that can compensate for serious failures on an aircraft and still keep it flying. Given the advancement of computers and artificial intelligence in the Macross Plus era, a very advanced form of this technology is certainly within reach. Of course, if flight in the Valkyrie's fighter mode is hampered to such a degree that the danger of a crash is imminent, a Valkyrie can always fly in Gerwalk mode. I see no reason why the VF-4 shouldn't be able to fly in gerwalk with one or both arms missing. Sure it isn't mach, but it's faster than walking

I have to say Isoquant is on the level about NGE and viewing a series 10 years after initial release is certainly no excuse for poor quality anime. By that logic, no one should ever enjoy an anime more than 10 years old, nor should one ever enjoy an older anime over a newer one. The anime I enjoy fails such an absurd benchmark time and again. Hell, I'm a big fan of film and I adore black and white films made 10-30 years before I was even born. Some even have those precious "special effects" so important to the fellows of my generation. Many of those old films compete quite well against their modern contemporaries, a little too well I'm sad to say for the state of film art. Quite frankly, if the quality of any anime series is dependant upon watching it no later than a few years after initial release, that's a big warning sign it's a poor anime series. That sort of brevity earns justifiable labels like forgettable and expired.

It must have gone up just recently. I never owned the book during its original print run, but I obtained a copy online for about $40 just 2 or so years back. Maybe the release of some new products in the last few years raised the price on collectibles. They did re-release the films on DVD recently and of course the Aoshima Dropship just came out. Maybe everyone is just hanging on to their copy

Aaarrrggghhh! How the heck did you get passes? *so jealous*

Took a chance and decided to order the book. If nothing else, I'll appreciate the Macross Zero art that I've been waiting for.

No problem. Send me your e-mail in a PM and I can forward the stuff off to ya.

*gasps for air* You have got to be kidding me! How stupid could those people be? For two and half thousand dollars, one could hire the best toy maker in the business to build a custom mecha with so much more detail and accuracy than that chunk of toilet-seat scrap being sold on ebay. Even better, you'd be the evny of every collector with a custom creation. Where is the win? "What a piece of junk!"

Oh, I agree. In fact, I think the VF-4 battroid would be awkward in spite of the mass distribution in the legs. The hips are just so damn narrow, leading to a small stance in battroid mode. Worse still, the torso is spread all over the place, probably the broadest shoulders of any of the Valkyries (and those two big engines on the outmost of each shoulder wouldn't help). The VF-4 might have been an improvement over the old VF-1, but I bet the UN Spacy suffers when it has to pay the maintenance cost to keep that poor contraption walking I don't even recall the Gerwalkroid from Macross II, though this isn't surprising since I don't own the show and haven't watched it in years. I'd tend to agree that the mecha is built to suit a heavy weapons, low-altitude anti-mecha role just based on the stout design.

Satoshi Kon's work is very good, but I'm sad to say I've seen too little. Millenium Actress is the only film I've seen in full, catching just bits and pieces of Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers. I will see Perfect Blue in full very soon, because it's on my list of films to see (I am also a big fan of thrillers). I'm up to 101 films so far this year To be honest, I didn't really like Voices of A Distant Star. It appealed to me more on a compositional level rather than the story itself. However, I do acknowledge that Makoto Shinkai is an innovative director worth watching. I'd like to see "Kumo no mukô, yakusoku no basho" simply because the setting is so damn interesting.

All I have is the extra material that Chris gave me, they are pages and pictures that didn't make it into the final published book. One of these pictures is the Dropship schematic featured on the cover of the Tech Manual, but note the difference from the interior schematic. The Dropship schematic inside the book is far better and more detailed. Alas, this is all I have http://www3.telus.net/amdaddict/DshipSchematic.jpg I agree the tech book is fantastic. It's so well researched, well written, and filled with everything you could ever want to know about the technologies and vehicles of the Cameron film. An indispensable asset for the hardcore "Aliens" fan

It's such a simple design, yet so damn efficient. It was indeed a tragedy that my nation's fighter aircraft industry was decimated over the Avro debacle. The loss was quite a blow, not least of which was my generation growing up without realized dreams of Canadian built fighter craft. Probably why I was attracted to Macross at such an early age

The GBP armor options were made basically to give the Valkyrie the option of heavy firepower similar to the Destroids in a ground combat role. It turns the Valkyrie into a walking tank of sorts, much like some of the Gundams or Battletech mecha. Although I agree it takes away much of the manuverability of the otherwise nimble Valkyries, the GBP for the VF-1, VF-0, and VF-11 does enhance the versatility of the UN Spacy's standard mecha and enables the Valkyrie to maintain a very important role in the combined arms of the UN forces. I've never really liked the VF-4 all that much. The fighter mode looks good, but the battroid mode is awkward in my eyes. I agree tt does appear very top heavy, unlike most of the Valkyries. You bring up another point that I really liked about the Macross Valkyries as mecha. Most of the designs transform in such a way that the engines are in the lower legs. Likely the engines would be the heaviest part of the fighter, which would give most of the Valkyries a low center of gravity in battroid configuration. This is certainly an advantage for a tall standing vehicle and a nice ancillary design benefit which makes the Valkyries a smart design.

Did anyone ever make those elastic band guns when they were kids? Damn, that was some fun! The really primitive ones were just long sticks (often old hockey sticks) over which you'd stretch elastic bands. They were typically only one or two shot and the bands had to be held in place by hand. Later, my old friends and I got it in our head to design some really good elastic band guns. Using things like wooden clothes pins to hold the elastics in place, we started making all kinds of guns, some capable of eight or more shots. Then came those big industrial elastic bands that they use for bundling and piping. The bands themselves were like half a meter long. When they hit you, they hurt like a damn Ahhh, good times