Keith

Start with the movies obx set (don't be an animation bigot) and then go straight to Zeta which will rock your world. After that, its up to you.

It should, Kawamori hasn't failed yet to pack conclusiveness into his final episodes (Macross eps 27 & 36, the 5 minutes of footage in FB 2012, Plus episode 4, 7 episode 49, Dynamite episode 4), no reason to believe he'll fail this time.

Just watched episode 4, and honestly, I don't see any problem with wrapping up the story in another half hour. Think about it, with Mayan napalmed, Sara & Mao obviously peeved, and Roy & Shin's Zero's both taken out, all they need for setup is the head & body coming together, as well as Edgar to pop up with some VF-1's for the final battle. Only real questions are will DD & Nora remain enemies? Who will die (my vote goes to Aries). Will the survivors of Mayan (those left aboard the ship) move to South Atalia? And of course, who will sing the inevitable song that will save the day (by indications here, my guess is Shin will sing a song that will snap Sara out of destroying everything with the Birdman). All this can nicely fit into a half hour (just take a look at MPlus ep 4).

Animation wise, I'd definately say 7 tops its contemporary Gundam Wing. As far as Evangelion goes, they blew their budget before the series was over, did you not see the last 2 episodes?

Just got it from kevin today, seems to be an entirely different rip from the one earlier in this topic. For one thing, the menu is entirely different, and it actually has the Macross Zero Zero omake. Subtitles also seem to be different (my capture software doesn't do subtitles, just picture), a bit better than the ones shown here, but not perfect. No company logo on it either, but from my guess I'd say it's probably AV.

Kawamori has never let us down with an ending before, there's no reason to believe he'd start now. Besides, who says vol 5 will hold at 30 minutes?

Don't confuse re-used animation (something no anime series at the time wasn't guilty of) with bad animation. Macross 7 re-used launch & explosion scenes, something that's all too common, and as such you can hardly blame them for. How many ways can you re-animate something launching or exploding? When it comes to actual character detail however, Macross 7 stands up exceptionally well with its peers. Very consistent detail & character, mecha & BG art.

U.S. Renditions (the company that was releasing Orguss at the time) went under, and so did their project to translate Orguss. You can get a pretty good HK DVD set of the whole series (good to moderate subtitles), and should avoid Orguss 02 just as much as Macross II. Doubt there will ever be any more Orguss, nor should there be considering the way the series ended (not bad, just "final").

I only have a standard modem, so dowonloading isn't an option. I'm more than used to dealing iwth HK subs (and was fine with the first 3 volumes) so that's nto an issue. I do still need "some kind" of subtitle, which is why I'm going for the HK version, and of course if there turns out not to be an R1 release within a year or so, I'll get the R2's for quality. However, I highly reccomend everyone head over to the valkyrie exchange & snag a copy, otherwise you may be waiting another month or two to get it!

Unless of course you look at kevin's site....

Just got this from Casshan over at animaniacs. MI / AV have gone to ground because of recent troubles in Hong Kong. Customs last week seized about 80% of AV's stock and in reaction MI has all but halted productions and are lieing low.. it's gonna be as such for awhile and our supplier is not sure how long this will go on. BAH!

No, that can't be it. I watched the first 20 some episodes within the course of 3 days (ordered half of it on fansub first along with a couple other items because at the time ordering limit was 6 tapes), then immediately ordered the rest....love that 7. I just hope we get an official release soon as "real" subtitles do a much better job of conveying than HK subs ever will.

Wrote bandai last night...got a response today....still vague, but at least they know how much I want Zeta now! Dear Customer, We are very sorry to hear your concern over the Zeta Gundam release date. The Zeta Gundam L.E. Box Set’s exact release date is yet to be announced. As you know it was set at 9/14/04. The release of F-91 is planned for 11/9/04 but the exact date is not setup. We here at Bandai have a high level commitment in bringing the Gundam series here to the US. Thank you for your patience. Regards, support@bandai-ent.com

I've never seen HG try to claim creative rights to anything related to Macross. SN did sue to get the design work issue claified, sure. But, I've never heard of an instance where HG tried to exploit Macross in a manner only the creators would have the ability to. Even when HG attmepted to produce the Sentinels they did what was necessary in order to avoid infringing on the original work. And even now, HG is producing an animation that is based on a work that they can exploit, Mospeada, and not Macross. Except for that time that HG tried to claim no one can release tranforming Valkyrie toys in the U.S. because they own designs like the VF-1 & the U.N. Spacy insignia.... Or the time that HG said no one can release Macross sequels in the U.S. becasue they own them all....no HG has never tried to interere with anything creative in Macross!

Honestly, I don't see why they even bother with trying to do a robotech sequel. 3 DVD releases of the exact same material, and they expect a loyal fanbase? Sheesh!

Wait a minute? Free DVD's & toy? His dad better have hooked you up with extra hot water or a super high flow toilet. At least an offer for a free future plumbing fix.

Woah now. How does Big West contracting the creation of Macross II make them anywhere near as shady as HG. -Original Macross productiosn by Big West...many! -HG....zip! (the sentinels doesn't even count as that was never completed).

Love Macross right from the start, all the way through to the end. Awesome series. For those who complain about the first 12 or so episodes, remember that they're necessary for setup, a luxury that a long TV series has over a short OVA (as it wouldn't have even remotely worked in an OVA format).

At least I had the common sense to pick up the HK Zeta set last year. I foolishly believed Bandai when they said F91 would be out this year & figured I'd wait on that. Now the HK of that is nowehre to be found.............BAH!

Don't forget their attempts to claim rights to any children I father within that 20 year period, threatoning litigation against me or anyone else who talks to them instead of their robobabies.

Zeta gundam is delayed with no new release date yet...... FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!! (Note: mods should excuse the above use of profanity as it's the absolute only possible response to such news). In addition: If you want to see man faye walking around in all his manfaye glory, that's your business. But if it's ok to double standard against women walking around iwthout their shirts on, then it should just as much be ok to double standard against manfaye walking around uncovered. The only scary thing is that it add's an extra level of fear that me may flash somebody....

What'd be even funnier is if Harmony Gold re-dubbed that episode of Battlestar Galactica where Lloyd Bridges re-appears with his long lost ship and called THAT robotech shadow force

As for Tatsunoko & the DYRL dub, I believe that info is on the old SUPERDIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS VHS credits. The Yamato toy's are both asthetically & physically superior to anything Toynami has put out. Lastly, I'll be damned if I buy an HG condom. Next thing you know they'll be claiming rights to my sperm & combining it with someone who's eggs they purchased to make robobabies.

Has anyone seen episode 4 pop up at any of the reputable HK shops? I hate ebay, and I hate waiting just as much!

Aside from directing you over to the licensing debate, the gist of it is this: Big West is the actual creating company (as they have Studio Nue in tow), and the rights they fight for are the rightful creative rights such as designs, concepts, stories, etc. HG was involved in none of this, they got their rights from Tatsunoko whom paid for the production, but none of that included giving them ownership to creative copyrights, just distribution of what they helped pay to make (i.e. selling the TV series pre-existing animation, and apparently DYRL's as well). What they're trying to turn that into is that they own creative rights, and not just distribution rights (i.e. since they paid to help produce the animation from Macross, they somehow own the concepts, designs, & story there in, while all they actually own is just the produced product). So yes, is this matter Big West is the "nobler" side.