chrono

LOL! Now I see where your problem mainly lies. Part of it's your assuming. "People" call 3D CG, CG because that's what they 'generally' associate it with. Anime fans have known for a while now that most anime is done on computer. But your main issue is Human made vs Computer made(generated). The designs are ALL Human made, thus ALL of the CG is Human made, but generated on the Computer. The Computer's don't make anything except what they are told to make. Save your brain and consider the computer as today's pencil. Well until Singularity hits then we're all screwed! *facepalm* 3D cg vs 2D hand generated. You can not compare mechanical 3D vs mechanical 2D. One is technical 'perfect' everytime vs one that 'perfect' from an artistic viewpoint. *sigh* (gods i hate that stupid kindergarden debate) Choreography is the ONLY viable way to compare, and then that's full on subjective. IMO. You should go watch Moonlight Mile.

Online Word of mouth or actual public word of mouth? But anyways ep 7 had plenty of feeling like a mid-series show, including the op & ed changes. I'm looking for a much accelerated story to push through whatever they are attempting. The flat out lack of story driving underlying plot is the gapping sekku(spl) of this series. The 3D hasn't changed a wit, still jarring changes between 2D scenes & 3D ones. Also it looked like quite a close copy of Mai-Hime ep7 with the rescue scene & the magical girl transform BS during the concert/battle. Nearly ROFL'ed outta my chair at how bad it was. Only REAL neat thing was that they've turned each Macross Fleet into a bunch of mini-nations that show that the NUN is about as worthless as it's original roots (kawa really has a beef with govt doesn't he!). So the situation could easily be considered an anime version of THE CULTURE, except for the fighter planes....

Given how it was only a different VP on the Giant Monster that's high praise!

I'm not surprised. Given how the ratings have been low since the beginning and the "plot" has only kicked in. Throw in the multiple other "School Drama's" that have come before and that they have been less flat and far more engrossing than M:F. AND that it's also being shown when Gundam 00, and CodeG are also on. The low ratings are not surprising at all! Music & Mecha action can only carry an anime so far and the characters and story have to carry it the rest of the way.

The way that M:F is going I wouldn't doubt that for a second!!

It's handwavium Graham, nothing more. Michel's rifle didn't kill the yellow one that was chasing down Alto in the beginning and it only "killed" the red one because it was a "head shot" handwavium hax. I'd buy the "different tatics" argument if the red one in the city wasn't killed of with a hax "laxor knife" via Gundam. The 'enemy' is only as tough as the plot needs it to be. (aka Plot Armor)

After watching M7 and Mai Hime, would you expect anything else? Besides with low expectations if it turns "good" then you are pleasantly suprised!

I suggest that you re-read those SW "Art of..." books because many, if not all, of those models were concept sculpts and not practical models. Sculpts that were then scanned into digital by the folks at ILM. Lucas learned a lot from Ep 1 and eps 2 & 3 show that with a better mixture of FX. Also those SW were polished by digital artists to ensure it worked. @JsARCLIGHT, I completely agree with you! That 'impossible shot' tends to break the immersion that the producer/director/writer intents with the scene/world. Very distracting.

None of the above. I just wanna watch to see if it turns into a Train Wreck like M7 was (though if "music" was up there...). It's off to a great start too!! Should go completely south well before ep 12.

CG is Computer Generated and ALL digital work IS cg. Plenty of positive uses, just a continuing lack of time, money, and talent to be of use. Especially today when not even CG work is fast or cheap enough.

The "cat" is just to far outta the bag for the AUN to play much of a part anymore.

3D in anime is extremely hard to get 'right'. Strain got the closest before they brought in the spaceships then it went down hill. Old school SDF has line detail that "implies" something else and a new 3D versions have huge amounts of easily seen detail. So far the 2 design ideals just haven't met. Macross Frontier is a clean example of mismatched ideals. With it's low end character detail and it's high end mechanical detail. In time when the 20's-30's somethings have died off and they are willing to throw money at getting it right.

The art in NOEIN had issues as fast as the second episode. The quality jumps and fluxs through it and well before & by ep 10 was showing a lack of quality. As for it's art style it was the manga author's style. Not a budgetary or for artistic reasons. Strain was slightly more consistent, but like all anime it suffered as well. Consistence is a myth in art and anime. BAWHAHAHAHA!!

Klan is about the only character in MF that is likable because she doesn't put up a front and is the physical embodiment of the tsundere. edit: No graphic or vulgar descriptions/depictions of sex or sexual content. (ie typical mod stupidity. it was censored!)

Yeah Ep 4 was QUALITY anime. As for the differences between the 3 eps.. The issue is distance from viewpoint, "Hey the audience doesn't need fine detail when the face is nearly 100-150 meters away.", and a lack of QC'ing. It's all stuff that usually gets touched up on the post TV releases.

PRO's - THE MUSIC!. Which rates right up there with BONES. I look forward to buying the compilation discs. CON's - Basically every thing else. - The character designs & characters themselves are unimpressive and without anymore depth than in episode 1 even when at episode 4 and clearly is continuing the M7 tradition of lifeless shallow characters. Sadly not even the slightly good secondary Klein Klan (however the correct name is spelled) can over come this. What you see is literally what you get. - The story, when it raises it's microscopic head, is even worse because it is across the board lacking in any deep. But when the story isn't there the entire show basically falls apart into a visual organism of landscape panning, dog fighting with deus Mechania(spl) monster fighting, and sparse, shallow school yard chatter. - The 3D CGI is grossly over used to the point of visual distraction because of it's lacking scene integration and destroys the disbelieve that the show attempts to build. The fights come off as about Super Robot as they can get equaling SHMUPS, ie shallow, lacking, & meaningless twitch-fests where you pray that the final boss is worth the effort of playing. You literally don't care who wins in any fight. So far it's PERFECTLY continuing the Macross Seven & Mai Hime premises in every way.

Hey this is Stark your talking about! He's lucky to still have a functioning liver.

Over analyzing & over defended. Episode 4 is about as pure homage as you can get without directly copying it as are nearly all of the episodes and even the one that aren't completely homage identical themes run through them leaving a "been there" after taste that is often slightly "wtf!". At least with the original there was an underlaying forward driving plot element. Right now it's just school-dickery with Macross elements thrown in. But anyways I gave it 4 episodes to prove itself and it simply hasn't, so moving on...

Agreed! Mandarin only works with build-up, but even then the Rings throw a nasty curve into the equation. IM works because it has a plausible reality to it. However Mandarin has a quite problematic "supervillian" magic issue that would throw IM into "WTF!?!?"-ville for many non fans in the audience. If they stick with plausible and semi-realistic villains, which IM has in spades, then it would be great. Using A.I.M. in the next film along with the Black Widow stealing the IM plans for "mother russia" would be good, because it would allow for plenty of potential "Armor Wars" later on.

I feel the same way. None of the mains have much depth beyond their stereotypes and are usually boring to watch. Virtually no plot other than "We're expanding to perverse humanity." theme, and to boot the only "interesting" bit is Klan who is little more than a gimmick secondary character. So far it's Macross 7.1. But you really can't expect much from a scriptwriter who has little history beyond the My-Hime and Code Geass animes...

*golf claps* Yeah costs are tight. However the costs involved with those shows also went towards realism (realism costs), and that's something anime doesn't have to worry about overly much. As for the CG B5 is roughly half to equal the same amount of polygons amounts that they have on M:F. Game level models today and each had a one week limit in which it had to be done. 2-10 computers with 1/20th of last years power on APPLES! It's flat out lack of experience with 3D... OR.... They are intentionally using 1 level of model so they can use the perceived "time saved" for extra 2D-3D integration. Aka 'polishing'. However even then it's silly given how fast it takes to make a L.O.D. model (as fast as the renderer can swap out models). ----- @DrunkenMaster2, Hell yeah!!! Bring'm on! 45 foot tall... tight 'armor' BDU... 5' 6" audience... LOL!

Yep he's correct that it's on a budget and a weekly series. However that near stopped Enterprise, TNG, Babylon 5, Aeon Kid(US title), and most major shows from using a high poly model or multi-LOD models to get great quality within budget. The whole "1 model" system never worked (except for physical models) and shows the inexperience that anime makers have with 3D. It is their inexperience because nearly every major professional package can make LOD's with ease and it's a simple matter of picking the LOD for the shot. But we'll see how ep 2 is. Can't wait to see the Loli Zentraedi.

The worst part of the situation with the first episode is that there will also be the DVD edited episode. So the fan base will have to juggle 3 first episode shows.

I think that they are over reaching in reaction to how long and empty M7 was. Which can mean many things from a coherent plot line and story to a slaughters-fest like Gundam 00 has become. There's enough good designs here to pull a 52 ep series and have plenty of story material. As for the white haired person and Alto being kabuki's at one time.... well there's the yaoi fetish. Personally I hope that it's 25's AI, especially if M2 is officially part of the history.

Is that white haired he/she an actual physical character or Battle 25's AI? Bridge Bunny's FTW!!!