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Xard

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  1. Xard
    Yeah I'm looking forward to this podcast a lot. Can't wait.
  2. Xard
    Well, since you guys seem to be so curious about how a finn can know about futaba et al... One, study japanese for year or two up to the point you can read most sites without problem (with help from dictionary in case of difficult words/kanji). Two, be anime fan involved with English speaking sphere of anime fandom. It won't take you long on 4chan or other sites like it to become aware of japanese sites and fandom activities within. Three, when you're Macross fan you find far more discussion, info and activities in japanese speaking fandom than in English speaking one. Forming habits for checking certain threads on 2ch or 2chan and like isn't that weird. I usually check twitter, certain threads on 2ch, couple of matome sites and nijigen boards on futaba semi-regularly. So when tweets about Megumi's "break" started to appear in number it was quite easy to do following reading. I also happen to own both of her solo albums as well as few singles (not to mention quite few japanese Macross BDs/DVDs though yes, I don't own FB7) so I wish japanese fans were a bit less eager with rampant leecher accusations...
  3. Xard
    Wow my feelings are so split right now. First of all I'm extremely happy these films get subbed releases. This is sheer awesomeness. For one this is first time Macross title has got new official subs in a loooooong time (excluding Plus awfulness, but that doesn't really count because Plus isn't "new" title to get English release). Second the films were great so I don't mind buying them per se. Third this might imply more subbed releases in future. On the other hand I feel considerable irritation for them not doing subbed releases in the first place. Now I have to buy film BDs again and the horrid japanese prices aren't exactly cheap. Considering I just shelved 250 euros on the tv series BD box + shipping I'm not exactly looking forward to fulfilling my fan "obligations" all over again. Especially since there's no quality guarantee for the subs present. They might be just as bad as those for Macross Plus film. Tochiro, weren't those film subs new? They significantly differ from ones I remember seeing on DVD back in the day. "Bromance" wtf.
  4. Xard
    Thanks for nice and informative podcast (even if it was ********* long, jeez. Are podcasts typically this lenghty?). Especially liked the live show discussion. Even if it was that hot and sweaty I would've wanted to be there. What's up with all those May'n stabs though? Lol. Since I've never been to any live nor do I live in Japan I don't know but does she act like aloof diva or something?
  5. Xard
    Thanks for nice and informative podcast (even if it was ********* long, jeez. Are podcasts typically this lenghty?). Especially liked the live show discussion. Even if it was that hot and sweaty I would've wanted to be there. What's up with all those May'n stabs though? Lol. Since I've never been to any live nor do I live in Japan I don't know but does she act like aloof diva or something? edit: WRONG TOPIC! GAHH
  6. Xard
    If some rabid antis on 2ch bothered her that much wouldn't she have bailed out in 2009 or something when it was much harsher than nowadays? Looking at responses to these news at yahoo, 2ch, futaba and twitter there's very little bashing going on. Megumi and/or Ranka fans go without saying but beyond that the general reaction seem to be it's a huge pity and loss of good singing voice. Not much vicious gloating you might've expected at more stormy time in MacF's short history.
  7. Xard
    Well, this sure came out of bloody nowhere. What a day ruining bummer. I've been more of a outlier to Macross fandom for a change but thanks to luring couple of friends into hivemind recently I've been going through a lot Macross related stuff last couple of weeks. Heck, I've been listening to Frontier (and 7) songs as my main musical diet again after a while, basking in the awesomeness and wishing last summer's live concert would come out on BD or something. Logical next step was checking out what May'n and Megumi were up to right now and to my delight I saw talk about new album and even live BD in Megumi's recent blog posts. Because I really liked her second solo album (Rasmus Faber and Tamayura tracks in particular were quite exquisite), first time I can say this of May'n/Megumi solo stuff, I was getting pretty hyped. Then this. "Final album" tag is just too depressing and out of the blue. I can't help but wonder what the hell happened. Her career has been going strong and steady for past years in terms of sales and roles, she just appeared in Animelo Summer Live for first time... hell, I just learned there's even Ranka & Basara version of Remember 16 as one of the prices for recent Ichiban Kuji lottery! So I can't imagine this has anything to do with doing poorly or having problems with her agency (in that case they're putting out one helluva goodbye to someone soon leaving them - and they don't do that on acrimonous splits). Looking at Megumi's blog post on the subject and the official announcement this really looks like something she initiated herself. I just don't get why but surely something has happened, given that singing was always her main love, not voice acting. Burnout maybe? Unwillingness to deal with idol industry bullshit that comes with being 'seiyuu idol' product? Well, I'll probably never known, given japanese discreteness on matters like this. She's grown as seiyuu quite a bit and can do good professional work nowadays but it's singer part of singer-seiyuu that has been her main draw, I think. Sad news in any case. I hope she gets her thoughts and what she wants to do with her life sorted out. As for Macross related consequences, I'm not sure if this rules out more songs done under character name or will Remember 16 cover be last Ranka-something ever... but this sure does seem to imply she won't be doing any live as long as this "hiatus" continues. So, no proper live version of Sayonara no Tsubasa ever that might even get a release.
  8. Xard
    He's related the story before as part of hilarious "shitty luck" ramble in Arjuna's R1 DVD bonuses
  9. Xard
    Do we know how old Misa and Riber are supposed to be in Misa's flashback in episode 7 of SDFM? Also do we have any idea when did Riber die?
  10. Xard
    Yeah, and the two have very differrent songs and styles overall which means the series has quite bit variety on its on. Frontier's BGM was certainly good, but Kanno was aiming a bit more to general epic SF featre style than I cared for. I prefer her more melodramatic, classically influenced material on Escaflowne and Aquarion. Though what we got fit Frontier to a tee and it's great shame there's so much unreleased BGM around. The jazzy, saxophone-centric rendition of Alto's theme, for example. In the end Macross franchise is about pop music as comes through well Misa's famous final line in DYRL. If one can't like pop music there's not much to be done about it. Excluding Zero which gives very little role for music in general all of its entries are strictly pop and I don't think that will ever change (inb4 someone comes and tries to make nonsense separation between 7's rock and pop music despite rock being the dominating form of popular music in second half of 20th century) re::0048 Kawamori was not AKB48 fan before the project and knew them only very generally.
  11. Xard
    Name of game is j-pop, idol pop in particular. Frontier limits itself largerly within the constraints of mainstream pop music but what it does within those limits is pretty bloody amazing and damn varied. In fact the variety of songs provided by Ranka and Sheryl thriumphs that provided in any other Macross title easily. Sharon Apple has more ecclectic Kanno compositions but even her electro-pop doesn't really cover wider ground than Sheryl's does on Universal Bunny CD. Ranka was essentially the 80s idol girl and her music reflects that. Seikan Hikou is incredibly 90s J-Pop song, for example. In contrast Sheryl's music is much more modern and contemporary pop music, fitting the way she was conceived as modern day pop diva. Either way the girls have great number of songs from slow ballads to CM songs to RnB to Perfume-esque electropop. In particular Ranka's song profile is very varied. Koi no Dogfight is Kanno's take on Perfumesque electro-pop while Anata no Oto could be classic Macca composition from 60s with its largerly acoustic arrangement, catchy melodies and horn sections. Seikan Hikou in turn is as mentioned before extremely retro pop song harkening back to j-pop sound of 90s and even has a winking reference to Smoke on the Blue Water to drive the retro spirit home. Niji Iro Kuma Kuma is utterly zany, atypical as hell mahou shoujo song combining vaudeville feel and musicals. Houkago Overflow could've fit GitS:SAC with different lyrics and vocals while Aimo is THE essential Kanno composition on the soundtrack, the mystical lullaby with haunting melody. Add on top of that number of golden piano ballads, catchy and often ridiculous CM tunes, old school Macross covers and classic Maaya Sakamoto song on the run in form of Songbird and the music given to greenhead has pretty amazing range on level far beyond most "real" idols. Just see Morning Musume, AKB48, Berrytz etc. just how much richer the selection Frontier offers in comparison to most of the subgenre. This all while touching only one side of the coin (with Sheryl too Iteza is nothing like Yousei which is nothing like Diamond Crevasse which is nothing like pink monsoon which is nothing like Kindan no Elixir etc. - speaking of Kindan no Elixir, the prog rocky keyboard parts and chord progressions always amuse me in a goodd way) and leaving aside duets. Really, I think Macross Frontier's vocal song covers the full range offered by female vocalist pop music incredibly well and whether or not one likes the music presented (I think nearly all of it is fantastic) denying its *range* is utter non-sequitur. Original Macross with its strict 80s idol pop and 7 with its buttrock are far more uniform in character and sound. also lol at Yuki frakking Kajiura who has been self-plagiarizing herself for 10+ years. Kalafina, FictionJunction etc. have ridiculously little variety in them and same goes for most of her soundtracks. Frontier's music has far more variety - and I am Kajiura fan to boot. In short I think you are grumbling about "limitations" of pop music in general. Frontier does incredible range of stuff within the constraints of this no-namer and if you don't like pop music...well really, tough luck. Not much to be done. If you seriously expect Can's Taco Mago's or Swans from pop singers (or better yet, Ornette Coleman or Arvo Pärt's tintinnabulis) you're doing it way wrong. Given most "innovations" within music are mostly skin deep and to astonishingly, overwhelmingly large degree it's all the "same crap" you must have hard time finding enjoyable music. Then again you do seem to see Kajiura's stuff as particularly original or something and toy with idea of Kalafina being a "deconstruction" of pop music despite being very much straightforward pop, well... As someone who listens a lot to music from wide variety of genres from black metal to fluffy pop, from free jazz farting to classical I don't really have many genres I downright dislike (not that "pop music" is genre in the first place). What makes a good pop song is very different from what makes a good frame for jazz improvisation and what makes Death Grips great samplers. I think Frontier is full of great, well composed and arranged pop songs and I enjoy them for what they are, just like I enjoy Pharaoh Sanders's Karma as succesful endeavour to build on foundation laid down by John Coltrane instead of worrying about how all this material stays within confines of their "genres". That and there's nohing wrong with sticking to same old, as AC/DC shows. What matters is the execution.
  12. Xard
    It's not 1-1 but yeah, reallly funny little nod.
  13. Xard
    Excluding covers by multitude of musicians not directly affiliated with Macross it's not like there should be other covers of song in the first place...? But yeah anyway, I'm big fan of Kanno's arrangements of AiObo for Frontier. Bless the little queen is haunting with its floating keys and heavily echoed production while the manipulated Iijima vocals for coda in Deculture edition was a stroke of genius. I also like Megumi's clear voice a lot, especially in the surprisingly "dark", sad tone she uses for bless the little queen. It's just that I'm retarded for cheesy 80s production and the original's take on MOOO HITOOORIIIIIIBOCCHI JYAAANAIIII is untoppable so I'd put original first followed closely by Bless the little queen version. Order after that doesn't reallly matter much.
  14. Xard
    Has it been confirmed only film version of Plus has English subs? If so, any reason for this? Not that I mind since Film > OVA but anyway
  15. Xard
    Well honestly, I'm probably buying it later when I have better monetary position but I'd really like to see it soon regardless. I have all Frontier films on BD, DYRL, Macross 30, some cool DYRL DVD that has packaging like Vinyl I got from Japan as well as bunch of other Macross DVDs and BDs but even for these I have torrented versions on my HD. It's not matter of just subs, it's just way easier to just play the files on PC so I'd like a rip avalaible regardless of buying FB7 or not. Anyway, my point is more perplexment at lack of rip than "waahhhh where's muh free animu". These days pretty much any film ends on internet the moment it comes out on DVD/BD and only reason I can think of this not happening to FB7 is if it's really under radar and sold badly (which would not be surprising given what I've heard of it)
  16. Xard
    So did this sell like crap thus showcasing no one really cares about Macross 7 compilation film or is there some other explanation how the should-be-inevitable RAW rip still hasn't appeared. I'd really rather not spend money on this just to see one scene
  17. Xard
    Macross Zero strongly implies he joined out of will to revenge death of his friend in bombing by anti-UN faction
  18. Xard
    Pretty amazing you haven't been banned yet
  19. Xard
    So, no rip of the BD yet on the internet? At least can't find one (yeahhh I haven't bought this as choice between Plus box and this wasn't exactly hard)
  20. Xard
    Yeah, this is reason why I got kind of ticked by hybrid packs not getting listed in official BD sales because it was always clear the short playstation games were more of a omake addition to film release rather than vice versa, just like with DYRL (I doubt anyone bought DYRL for the game per se). What surprised me were the gains in sales since last time I watched. I knew Frontier films sold pretty insane numbers but last time I saw only Utahime was above 200k but now they both are and Sayonara has 10k higher sales which is incredible. I knew handheld gaming is big thing but I must admit I really underestimated the market size. I haven't owned handheld since Gameboy Advance days nor am I in Japan so I've been out of the loop for long time anyway... Still, I didn't expect development had gone so far. On other hand it doesn't surprise me too much.
  21. Xard
    Thanks. To be perfectly honest I'm very surprised the PSP games performed so much better. Does this just come down to Frontier's general popularity and visibility when series was still continuing or is this simply case of less marketing... Very strange. Well, I just got my copy of Macross 30 today. Looking forward to playing it regardless Wait, in other words Sayonara's BD release has also crossed 200k mark by now? Whoa.
  22. Xard
    Not sure if this is the right place to ask but how well has Macross 30 sold so far?
  23. Xard
    it's Biglobe poll. Biglobe is piece of crap japanese equivalent of MAL - only twice worse somehow. It's also dominate by teenage girls and fujoshi to ridiculous degree. These are pretty odd results all in all, Diamond Crevasse winning is to be expected as well as Northern Cross and Iteza in top five but whole top ten all Sheryl? That... is out of line. Usually the most popular Macross song in polls these days is Lion anyway so I'm a bit puzzled how not even it made it in top ten Frontier dominance comes as a matter of fact given that it happens to have the most popular music in the franchise (using pure maths so this isn't opinion question) and - more importantly - most current Macross fans in Japan seem to not be too familiar with other entries. In other words they're Frontier newfags on average, especially the biglobe crowd.
  24. Xard
    Setlist?
  25. Xard
    So, "important": Do Ranka and Sheryl ever end up wearing those costumes on key art? Those were pretty smexy
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