LePoseur

Some people over at originaltrilogy.com are WAY AHEAD of you. I was working on a LD to DVD project from my old Definitive Collection set two years ago, that is, until I stumbled into their forums. Now I'm just waiting on the Zion discs so I can trash my TR47's.

Oddly, I had almost the opposite reaction. I thought the CG was the best thing of the show (then again I had the shitty "preview discs" of the toys to fully lower my anticipation beforehand). On the other hand I thought the story was tripe and a real spit in the face of the source material. Oh well, I hope with the TV show rumors/news we will end up with something like GitS did, ie ignore a lackluster movie version and backtrack closer to the characters of the original book.

Thought that was Sum 41 (no love lost on those guys) but if not, Jesus, that's pretty lame.

Japanese makes no distinction between the two letters in this case. Looking only at the writting in Katakana it can be written in English either way and be correct. And here you thought L and R were the only problem letters. Having said that, and even believing that Gloval is easier on the ears, I do like the use of Global to keep it apart from Robotech. Then again, does that mean Roy should be Loy?

Minmei made no mistake, nor was she confused. In Japanese it is normal to append -san on to military ranks, especially since you are refering to the person by their rank only and not using their name. Other examples would be Shachou-san (社長さん), which would never be Mr. Boss, but just Boss in a phrase like "Could you ask your boss?" Likewise, in this case, it should be just "Lieutenant" and not "Mr. Lieutenant." On a side note, things get really wierd when refering to bands and pop music in general, with the longer "B-Dash no mina-san" （B-Dashの皆さん） sometimes shortened to just B-Dash-san.

Just a quick bit on the Virgin Road thing: While I've never heard it called that, in fact I've never heard it called anything, everyone in Japan calls the aisle that the bride walks down with her father to meet the groom the "virgin road." Hence the name of the episode. We now return you to the topic of Cap's uber-cool mod that I'm kicking myself for not taking better care of my finances to afford. I mean, I could afford one, but it looks like most, if not all of my Yammies are in danger of falling on the auction block. Not much use it having a kit and nothing to use it on. Holding out against the wife as long as I can. Wish me luck.

I think Laughingman is the only one still doing them. In fact, the original laughingman has been replaced by his brother I think. Currently they are up to episode 19 or 20, with next promised soon .

Actually $90 for a 1/60 Super Max is about spot on with retail isn't it? Starting to lose memory cells in my old age but wasn't the pricing 7999 yen for the normal 1/60 and 9999 yen for the supers? Then again I could be wrong.

The other two are adult enough to wear nylons. Shammy is still a little on the girlie side I'd say. No proof, just my thoughts.

Sadly, the longer I live in Tokyo the more I find myself turning into a nature-obsessed tree hugger too. I think it's the almost total lack of nature(*) where I live really contributes to that. There's only so many rows of gray concrete buildings in the morning smog, all lined up like tombstones in a giant graveyard, that the soul can take before it either gives up or begins to seriously pine for some real nature. (*) To be sure, Tokyo does have some trees and whatnot, but it's all controlled and micromanaged to the point where I don't even know if you can call it nature anymore. I mean, do pruned potted plants count as nature. Skeleton trees? Never thought I could be a country person until I moved to this city. (we now return you to our regularly scheduled despair over Macross)

Yeah, but well, I'm more of a Asahi Super Dry fan than Bush myself (or Pig's Eye if I'm in Minnesota). Oh wait... Sorry. My mistake.

Reason #2 Valks are cheaper. (well, by a little bit I guess...) And welcome back Devin, hope all keeps going much better.

Or you could just route it to your TV using XBMC to stream it off your home LAN. Bingo, just like TV, but without the interruptions. Although it'll be a long time before Japan gets it, so I'll be waiting even longer than anyone for the DVD versions, and most likely paying twice the price. (sigh) Plus only two more episodes until the "long wait," then again, if I can wait for Macross, if I can wait for Serenity, well then I can wait for new BSG.

Rereading my post post seems like I'm try to piss on your parade, not the case at all, but just thought I'd throw this info out. No subs on an R2, not sure if you care, but just a warning. Plus I'll bet dollars to doughtnuts that you can pick up a R1 for full retail for less than what the three zeta boxes will run you at the lowest used price you can find (currently over $600 used at Amazon) or even the individual discs (13 discs at between $20-40 each used). I would have much rather have gotten the old LD art and not had this nonsense with the OP and ED credits, but unless there is some bigger error somewhere the R1 is still a killer deal.　

I for one am so glad that Macross has not gone the way of Gundam. It's been crap, crap, crap for almost 10 years now. The saddest thing about Gundam is even though it's completely devoid of any originality its marketing muscle smothers out smaller productions. While no one should be fooled into thinking that either show doesn't have making money in mind, I tend to view the Macross franchise as still having an artistic vision behind it. (except for Macross II which seems to me to have been a Gundam style money grab.) If Kawamori doesn't have a new story to tell, I'm glad he doesn't force it. One other side note, I love Mac 7, but I really was disappointed by Dynamite. Sure it looked nice, but... oh well. Anyhow the thing that interests me is that I've seen many people's ranking of the series and it seems that a lot of people who hate Mac 7, think the OVA was OK. Any reason behind that? Just curious.

Yeah, it is Zentraedi, from DYRL when they having them speak with subtitles.

While they might not be directly mastering or pressing the discs, it's the curse of the MEHN-GAH! Man I tell ya. Think I'm gonna wait until long after the dust settles.

Congrats to you and your wife Kevin! For all you've done for the community and us here, I hope you have the time to fully bask in this momment, as life can't get much better than a baby. Oh, and get moving on moving those toys to a higher shelf.

Whole-heartedly agree about the Matrix. Not that I thought it was the creative miscarriage that many believe, but I do think it had lots of room for improvement. Then again, until I make my own sprawling sci-fi story, I'll cut them some more slack. Also, to pick up on a earlier question as to why the directors never mentioned any Megazone influences, I believe it might be because they probably call it "You know, that show with the transforming motorcycle," or something like that. For all their anime influence, I get the feeling whenever I listen to them that they have a friend who's deep into anime and showed them stuff over beer or what not, but they were never hardcore fans themselves. I freely admit to being wrong, but that's just the impression they give me.

Just a few thoughts. While I agree with Keith, especially about B.D.'s final outcome, I believe framing his action in terms of go off to die might spark the ire of his fans. For me, B.D. is definitely set in his ways and realizes he and those of his mindset are not the future. A mindset, which is in my understanding, says the military, through any means necessary, has a mandate to defend, protect and even control humanity for it's own good. Once he realizes that the rules have changed though, he concedes control of that future to Shogo (which I believe is his salvation as a character study and shows his own nobility) - a lesser character, maybe one only focused on maintaining their control or status, could have just continued fought Shogo to the bitter end. B.D., as misguided as I think his ways might have been, really did take his duty seriously and as such holds true to his ideals and dies defending the Megazone as it passes through the last leg of it's journey. Realistically, I doubt their action might have achieved much, but that's inconsequential, they died defending the Megazone. Call it suicide, bravery, or just devotion to your ideas, I guess it all depends on your own point of view. For myself, I not only see it as B.D.'s only choice (he can't stay and go to Earth, nor can he run away from his duty), but one that he willingly would have decided on. One of my best friends, for example, loves B.D. and sees him as the best character in the series. Of course, he also has deep-rooted ideas about law and order, as well as a strong sense of duty and honor, so it really doesn't surprise me. I, on the other hand, have a more anti-authoritarian streak it seems, and see Shogo's ideals as more comfortable. In the end though, that's what I really love about part II, it puts a more human face on B.D. and shows us two people who are just trying to do what they think is best, rather than having an "evil" badguy and a "perfect" goodguy.

Don't know what help it is, but DeepDiscount DVD seems to have the lowest price for Zeta, with free domestic shipping and, for a price, international shipping too (yah!)

The funny thing is the Gundam otaku (like me I guess) must have been out in force in Tokyo. Out of the six konbini's I have around my home or work that carry Lemon Pepsi, all of them are picked clean (I bought the last two Diet bottles tonight). That was what? Just over a week or so? Didn't even finish either of the lines, although I got almost every one I wanted... so I shouldn't be greedy, I guess. A TITANS Mark II would have been cool though. Oh well, maybe I'll luck out an another shipment will come.

Just a little clearing up for the non-Megazone23 fans. (Without giving away plot points or spoilers) There was a "lightsaber" style weapon used by B.D. against the Garland in the first movie, but that was the first and the last you ever see of it. I assume that the original (coming out of the early 80's) had lightsabers and beam sabers squarely in the "cool" center of the brain. By the time Part II came out, all of this was dropped, and it wasn't until Part three until there were melee weapons (Eiji's knives) again.

Looks like they're calling it a "Ghost Booster" and yes, it appears to have micro missile pods

November 25th in Japan. (normal and Special editions) No idea for America. No mention about subs at Amazon, so I'm betting Japanese only. Still, since they have a translated version already available, it'd be cool if they decided to pack it all together... ah, who'm I fooling? We do get a commentary track though. Cool.