kazuo

yes, they have beautiful box art, but I think they are not there, because they are bootleg/pirated DVDs,

and Shawn doesn't want to advertise bootlegs as long as legal ones are available.

(or because the video section (too) hasn!t been updated in a while )

Ya, well, a boot is a boot is a boot, regardless of whether or not there are legitimate alternatives.

Besides, he's not adverstiing where to get them, merely cataloging them because they have wonderful box art (which they do -- better than the AnimEigo release by far).

I'd love to have a poster of the first boxset cover that I posted.. wow.

Great frakkin' artwork.

I've also seen different Macross 7 sets than the ones on the video section... they have good boxart as well.

And just because I'm so biased for R2 cover art.... (I know they're small but they dont have fullsize images)

Macross DVD artwork... HAL! Gasp.

Even the M7 covers make the show look good... :/

I was perusing the Video section or whatever, where the various versions of Macross on VHS/DVD/VCD are posted... I noticed there aren't any of the HK sets posted despite the fact that some of them have beautiful box art (like some of the Macross box sets).

Also I noticed Mecha Graffiti isn't in the VHS section. I can scan the cover if need be.

I know there's probably too many versions of the bootlegs, but it'd be nice to see the various covers. I'd be more than willing to submit what I've found around.

Examples.

THIS is the one I love (and the way I'd like to see the animation designs for a new Macross series look )

These are cooltoo but not as cool as the above.

That's the thing about this upcoming Mangle crap about their Macross boxset. Are they gonna use the newer/updated R2-versions or are they just gonna re-package the old crap. My guess is they're just gonna repackage their old crap.

--treatment--

Good guess.

They can't use Region 2 source as it is not a part of the licensing agreement. They would need to get the rights to that seperately.

Not that they would if they could, or even attempt to... Mangle is a shitty company.

Yes, all of Mangle's discs suck... that is why I do not buy them.

Money talks...

Anyway, the R2 of Macross Plus Movie is leaps and bounds over the R1 disc. Also doesn't have the shitty "5.1" mix, which is really just the stereo mix with an echo.... how lame.

Also has a better bitrate and no hardsubs... but also has no english subtitles in general.

The box art is also wonderful.

Are you sure that the image your friend gave you isn't downsampled? Because the disc is a DVD9 so if it was an image on your HDD it should be like 6-8GB.... downsampling and re-encoding of the video will result in a decrease in video quality... as well as the sound...

The Macross Plus R2 set comes in two seperate boxes (one ep per disc IIRC). Video quality is supposed to be better but still only has a stereo mix for Japanese dialogue. Also much MUCH better box art (as per usual). No english subs but has the English 5.1 channel mix.

Macross II is very good as far as the video goes. Nice box art too. No subtitles. Comes as seperate OVAs and not a stupid combined "Movie" version.

None of the Hong Kong bootlegs are direct copies of the Japanese discs because the Japanese discs are DVD9. The FlashBack disc MIGHT be a DVD5 but I am too lazy to put it in and check.

I personally own the R2 of FlashBack, as well as the Macross Movie (Summer '84). I also have the R2 of the 20th Anniversary Disc.

I'm planning on purchasing the R2 versions of Macross Plus but I'm being lazy

But all in all, if you want the best quality you have to get the R2s... the R1s suck, and the Hong Kong discs are downsampled...

Let me know if you have any other questions.

EDIT: In case you're curious about the box art... it's like night and day

Macross Plus Movie art

Macross Plus BOX 1

Macross Plus BOX 2

I'm thinking of buying the Japanese Macross TV DVDs and putting the Animeigo discs in the nice Japanese cases. Going too far?

No, because the AnimEigo box art is junk...

I was thinking of doing the same thing to be honest with you. I might be able to get a friend to buy the R2 discs on the cheap... but I'm too lazy. Don't wanna put forth the effort required for it.

The box art for the Hong Kong Macross set looks GREAT... wow.

Thats the character design style I want to see in actual animation.

The UN civil war idea is making me think of the AEUG and the Titans...

I wasn't thinking about that when I mentioned MS Gundam, I was leaning more towards One Year War, eg the Earth Federation vs Zion... because the Zionist movement was about separating themselves from the Earth Federation (until the Zabi family hijacked it and made it about Spacenoid superiority).

AEUG vs the Titans was more about the Federation essentially allowing a gang of thugs to throw their weight around and effectively "crush" any kind of opposition, and free speech as a whole, and that even includes non-Zionist movements (eg. The Titans gassed an entire colony that was protesting Earth Federation policy... now if that isn't just totally fraked up, I don't know what is).... the Titans were originally formed to hunt down and destroy what was left of Zion after Operation Stardust.

But you get the idea.

This is the next logical step for Macross to go in since it makes sense...

But I was also thinking about the Supervision army, or another Zentradi fleet (it has been said there were fleets bigger than Bodolzaa's running around), but clearly the seperatist plot is more interesting (always has been!)

It could go either way though.. its all in the execution.

Discuss!

What I want out of a Macross sequel...

OVA. No TV series. I don't want production values going to crap (like M7).

I want it to be serious. (Unlike M7)

I don't ever want to see Hikaru/Misa/Minmei ever again (because its just wrong... leave them in peace, don't bastardize them like you did Max and Milia)

Write off M7. Entirely. Forget it ever happen, relegate it to red-headed-stepchild status like Macross II...

I want HAL doing character design. And I want to see his style implemented in the animation. No MASAYUKI pointy noses (even tho I kind of like it), no junky M7 style big googly eyed anime hoo-ha, I want HAL's designs in action... Macross II I felt, despite the fact that it sucked, easily had the best character art in the animation.

Yoko Kanno and Hajime Mizoguchi doing music. As if you ever needed to ask.

I did like the idea of Max being the Captain of a ship though... it seems to suit his personailty. It could also work as a sub-plot about how he's dealing with the fact that he can't fly anymore.

Milia leading her own squadron with her VF-1 souped up... Milia lose her VF-1. What kind of crap is that. "Mayor Milia"... what kind of crap is that?

(As you can tell, I have a frothing dislike for M7)

And, as much as I hate to say it... for the plot, MS Gundam is the source to look to. Once you start getting into colonization, with far-off "oppressive" governments trying to tell you what to do... civil wars are bound to pop up.

Now I'm not talking "One Year War" scale where we have psychos dropping colonies on Earth, but... the insurgency should get bad enough that the UN Government is threatened, and some bad crap should happen, but... nothing major.

It should be more about the characters and about their lives than it should about battles or anything like that.

And of course we need a musical element... I'm leaning towards Mylene, since I actually like her music... they should just apply the good ole "I-wanna-be-like-Minmei" treatment and get Kajiura Chie to do the music... god damn I love her voice.

Anyway, thats my idea. Feel free to disagree.

It's "Milia."

I'm not touching "Minmei/Minmay" even though I lean towards Minmei for obvious reasons (She's Chinese)...

The obvious stuff people already pointed out. Japanese have no "L" sound (its a funny "rolled" L/R thing), Kanji is the Chinese chatacter system, not a dialect or speech, yes Japanese have different dialects andshit (Kansai-ben and Oki-talk come to mind ), and so on and so on.

Egan Loo says its "Milia" and I can live with that.

Also you can never go by the Japanese nd what they put on their products because even they are inconsistent as hell... for example especially with MS Gundam products, you see Zion, Jeon, Jion, and now we have Zeon since it has been determined that it is the official pronounciation of the seperatist movement.

Shrugh.

It's "Milia."

Wow.

1) http://www.animesuki.com/

Download Macross Zero for free there.

2) Macross Zero will be coming out on Region 1 DVD. It's just a matter of the time. Harmony Gold's whining will have little or no effect on the show being licensed. The Summer '84 movie ever being released in Region 1 is the only one you can even suggest will "never" come out here.

There are already several companies who have extended offers for Zero.

3) All of the Hong King discs are trash. Period. End of story. They should not be purchased because the subtitles are generally terrible, or in worst case scenarios, ripped from fansubs (like Initial D -- this is why Central Anime doesnt release scripts anymore), the video quality is not that good (as the bitrate is lowered to compensate for the fact that its a DVD-5) and the same applies for th audio.

I've heard they're starting to use DVD-9 but either way I'm not spending my money on their junk.

4) If you want to see Zero with good subtitles, download it from the 'net. For the guy who was complaining about wanting it in surround sound and on his TV, well, the bootleg discs have shitty audio quality, and the digisubs I have feature 5.1 audio and legible, readable subtitles... hmm. That's a toughie.

You do the math.