sketchley

Translations really depend on the availability of other translators in the area, and difficulty of the text. http://www.google.ca/search?hl=ja&q=translation+costs The first link that I accessed gave a rough quote of $0.25 USD per word, for most European languages (with a discount for more than 75-100 pages ordered.) The other thing to take note is that the translations will vary depending on the translators knowledge of Macross. If you check Egan Loo's website, there are even contradicting translations. Try a google search on his site for Supervision Army and Inspection Army. We all know that they stem from the same Japanese word, yet they both appear in his site, in different places. I have done Macross translations before, but due to running into individuals that demanded B/S 'translations in triplet'* and other headaches mostly involving denial and disbelief, I decline to do any more (plus I'm busy with baby, and getting my own manga off the ground.) You'll be able to find some of the translations I've done in the statistics discussion forum of this PBP-RPG: http://macrossroleplay.org/forums/index.php?board=8.0 as well as my own translations (mixed with stats from the Macross Compendium, and some RPG conventions): http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/Statistics/VF11.htm http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/S...ai/VF11DKai.htm http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/Statistics/VF22.htm and http://unsd.macrossroleplay.org/untamed.html (though I revised the translations, and sent them to the author of the page, and he hasn't revised it.) All are as is (it's safe to say that most of the background description isn't canon. Refer to the Compendium for more accurate background descriptions.) If possibile, I can try to answer any questions about them, but it has been a few months to years... Re: Nanashi - his policy of claiming rights over images under someone else's copyright is a bit too much, IMHO. Asking for credit where credit is due (a la Egan Loo's policy with the Compendium) is more than enough, IMHO. As it's all material that is under someone else's copyright, claiming ownership is, well, violating a law, somewhere. That said, I thought the biggest greivance with him is his lack of citing his source material(s) in some kind of a bibliography. I may be mistaken mind you. Internet and hearsay, et al... * by three different people

So, you're saying that spiritia = qi? In other words, the producers of Macross merely extrapolated and embellished a concept that's been around for thousands of years?

Agreed about the other stuff. As time passes, and new things are learned/discovered/experienced, stories and the way that stories are told change. As for spiritia in the real world - when I first heard of spiritia, I thought it was merely a renamed version of qi (æ°—), something that has been around for 3,000 years, more or less. Though, with further viewing of Macross 7 (and other Macross shows that have spiritia,) that view has changed somewhat - spiritia is similar to qi, but different from qi. I think qi could be described as life energy, whereas spiritia is more akin to motivation energy. (I want to say motivational energy, but that makes it sound like it is something that is needed prior to doing something, when by appearances, it is the opposite: the motivation to do something creates spiritia.) The interesting thing is that the Japanese word for motivation, ã‚„ã‚‹æ°—, is a combination of "to do" + "energy" (as I'm losing my English, somewhat, it was the word that came to mind to describe spiritia. Funny... needed a language translator... ) So yes, Kawamori didn't discover spiritia, he created it - but it is grounded in Japanese, if not Asian, concepts. Maybe that's why it takes on 'magical' properties for Occidental viewers?

Not all emmigration fleets consist of only one New Macross Class ship - the 5th fleet in Macross 7 proves this! The bottom picture is, if I remember correctly, when the 5th New Macross colonization fleet landed on planet Rax. All three pictures in the set are from the same episode. I think the 1 colony ship per fleet is a fallicy propogated by those that haven't seen the series...

Try here: http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/books/_books_menu.htm

If, on the non-Jwin CD, you do not have a Japanese IME installed, all of the text will be illegible. Even with the J-IME installed, there's a strong possibility that Japanese text won't be visible, especially in dialogue windows. Otherwise, there shouldn't be any problems other than the standard ones involving file interoperatability.

Wasn't the VF-19 (and it's derivitives, VF-19F, P, and S) written and portrayed in both Macross 7 and Plus as being superior to all preceeding VFs? Doesn't Gamlin and co in Diamond Force pilot the VF-17, which predates the development of the VF-19? In other words, yes Basara does have good piloting skills, but shouldn't we also consider the machine used as potentially inhibiting the actual abilities of the pilot? In addition, as great a pilot as Gamlin is, look how easily he gets distracted (at least in the first few episodes) by Basara's appearance on the battlefield? I translate his ease of distraction, and obsession about the appearance of a civilian VF as making Gamlin a lesser pilot. If anything, the CO of Diamond Force is the *real* skilled pilot (he retains his focus despite the Fire Valkyrie), and Gamlin is the focus because his angst, conflict, and character growth experienced in the series makes for more interesting storytelling.

VF-X2

I didn't say it's because he has a VF. I said it's because he has access to a magical VF that is beyond the uber VFs of Macross Plus, despite it's lack of weapons. There is an explanation in Macross 7, if I remember correctly. The Fire VF was some kind of military experiment at first - call it torturing the enemy, if you will.

Let's keep that discussion out of this thread. Agreed that the Birdman has the power to take control (and possibly power) machines that are derivatives of Protoculture technology, and that it is "uber" powerful. That said, isn't this thread supposed to be on Macross II and 7? (or is that 2 and VII?) Agreed that II has plenty of magic - magic to suspend the viewers disbelief about how shockingly bad the story is. Journalist has access to civilian VF that is not only able to fly undetected by the enemy, but penetrate an enemy ship in the midst of it's explosive destruction, and return to Earth unscathed with an alien girl in it. Wait... didn't that battle happen at the orbit of Jupiter? Then there are his friends who can singlehandedly operate the SDF-1 when it required a whole crew in DYRL and the original series... don't get me wrong, Macross 7 isn't fine literature either, but at least there's adequate explanations that are relevant to in-universe concepts and situations. The way I see Macross 7 is, in the first half at least, a show about a rock band during a time of war with aliens, and transforming jets, and the leader of the rock band is doing the cliched rock band thing of protesting something. In this case - war (hey wait - wasn't that what the original TV series and DYRL were about too?) Macross II... I can't think of a theme for the entire series. I think it's basically about big ships making bigger explosions - on those terms it's passably okay, but is a let down in the final chapter. As far as stories in general go - a story without a theme isn't much of a story.

The signature (underwing) looks like HAL. In other words, I believe it was penned by Haruhiko Mikimoto way back in the day. ã¨ã‚‚よåˆå£ translates as "the stern is a daggar". Though that doesn't make much sense... maybe it's an inside joke?

Come to think of it... the 'interface' Sara had with the Birdman - tenticles - looks basically the same as the tenticles seen in the Zentraedi ships in DYRL. I think Aegis!'s arguement about a different means of communication with machines has merit. Hey, isn't that what M7 had too (a different means of communicating with a machine - in the form of a guitar)?

Agreed. Nothing for early to mid 2007. However, it is entirely possible for something to appear from mid-to late 2007. Though, my guess is it may end up being something more akin to "Macross 20th Anniversary" - a video collection with only a little bit of new animation, and possibly an announcement of something to come in the next year or two - Kawamori Shoji is apparently popular and a demanded mecha designer, so he's pretty busy. Though, honestly, the franchise has gone a bit cold these past few years... PS1 3 games, PS2 1 game... though, the franchise could be semi-cyclical, and we may just be nearing the end of one of the down points on the cusp of the next upwards turn, like when Macross 7 and Plus were released...

Tomoyo! I can't read the kanji as it's illegible. It also doesn't appear to be a Kawamori original - probably one of the staff artists.

I think Alpha 1 and Omega 1 are the codenames for the YF-19 and YF-21. Though I could be mistaken. Scream man, my point is not that Star Trek isn't popular, but that it isn't wildly popular and as big a moneymaker as less intelligent shows.

Fan art. It's very good, but lacks Kawamori's or Miyatake's inks.

*cough* don't confuse live action American movies and TV series aimed at 15 to 30 year olds for animated Japanese TV series aimed at 5 to 15 year olds *cough* I have trouble understanding your post. Could be the grammar, could be the spelling, could be both.

Ok, thank you for the list of callsigns (the disputed ones are fun reading too.) Though, I did answer your question in my earlier post. To repost the answer in other terms: the KISS principle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle The original Macross (which is what the original question appears to be directed at) is primarily a non-serious war show marketed at kids and teenagers. The KISS principle is very important when dealing with that demographic. Or, as the original Gundam was mentioned - what is Amuro Rei's callsign in the original Gundam TV series? And yes, viewers are stupid*. It's easier to create a succesful story for the lowest common denominator that way. An example of a show where the audience isn't treated as being stupid is Star Trek. But is that show really that popular? Compare the success of any one of it's movies to a movie like "Armaggedon", which does treat it's audience as stupid, and is, frankly, offensive to those who do understand a little bit about science and physics - yet the movie made $553,709,788**. *To clarify, I don't mean that they really are stupid. I mean that when they watch the show, they turn off their brains. Entertainment is escapism. If you want to escape from a complicated life, you tend to seek out simple distractions. Japan = complicated life in spades. ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(film)#Box_office Star Trek: First Contact $150,000,000 http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/StarTrek.php

BSG? Battlestar Galactica? Top Gun? Movie? Please provide another Japanese produced anime with callsigns. Let's not mix differing cultures when it comes to entertainment.

It would confuse the heck out of the viewer. 1 less-than thirty minute episode once every seven days in a very busy life - it's demanding enough to ask the viewer to remember the names and the events that happened in the preceeding week! It is also one of the reasons why every hero has their unique vehicle and colours. Did Hikaru deserve a VF-1J when he joined? No. But it made him unique and visibly distinct from the legions of brownie VF-1A, and the yellow-black VF-1S. Later, Jenius in his blue trimmed VF-1A...

Enemies using UN Spacy equipment appears to be de rigeur in Macross. Macross 7 has the Varuta, VF-X and VF-X2 have enemies using UNS ships and VFs, Macross Plus has the stolen Ghost X-9 and SDF-1... I guess this is one thing that makes Macross II not Macross - enemies that do not using stolen UN Spacy equipment!

Also, is the market large enough to make it worthwhile? Of course there's the legal bills, but what I am mostly referring to is recouping the investment needed to create, manufacture, market, and sell enough DVDs to make a profit. In Japan, the DVD has a sticker price of ï¿¥7,800*, which is very expensive. Implying that it had a low print run, and even of those produced, they still can be found new, gathering dust, a couple of years after their release. Not a big seller in any sense of the word. * Comparissions (some prices as of 2006.11.12, and subject to change) Ghost in the Shell (movie) ï¿¥3,800 Macross Zero ï¿¥5,000 MI:3 ï¿¥3,134 Divinci Code ï¿¥3,343 Pirates of the Caribbean ï¿¥1,200 The Usual Suspects ï¿¥1,200 Sound of Music ï¿¥1,000 Superman 1 & 2 Set ï¿¥2,222

Ammo, in gunpods, is generally around the barrel. With the VF-11, it is clearly seen at the start of Eps. 01 when Isamu ejects the spent ammo cartridge, and replaces it with a fully loaded one (mounted on the rear of the arm shield.) If I'm not mistaken, the gun pod of the VF-11 carries 200 rounds (though it could be anywhere from 400 to 600 rounds! It's the GU-11 that definitely carries 200 rounds.) Not much when one considers that the GU-11 fires at a rate of 1,200 rounds per minute. Even with 600 rounds, that's only 30 seconds of continuous fire... doesn't Isamu do something like that when he pounds that one power suit from behind?

I'm not a 100% expert on it, but I believe that Photoshop will let you do it - using channels, if I'm not mistaken. Believe you me, Photoshop is one powerful piece of software. It's only *real* drawback, is that sometimes the file sizes are really, really, massive. But hey, that's a drawback to all programs that use raster graphics...

Maybe they just didn't have any spare glass panel remaining? It could also be that the designers didn't expect an enemy to penetrate right into the command bubble of the command center (and still have the ship, well, operate. Command center attacks usually mean the end of a ship.) I like the arguement of 'place box A into slot 1'. It makes a lot of sense, explains a lot of things (the general state of disrepair evident in the ships - leaky water pipes being harder to replace, etc..) We must keep in mind, above all else, that the Zentraedi are warriors above everything else. I bet they have extensive training in building things like foxholes and ground fortifications, and setting up radios, etc., too...