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sketchley

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Everything posted by sketchley

  1. sketchley
    I wouldn't quite call that a fiasco. It's nothing like, say, the epic space Battle Of Tannhauser Gate, which briefly appears in the TV spots for "Soldier", and doesn't appear at all in the theatrical release (I don't think it was even mentioned in dialogue...). I give Rogue One a pass on the differences simply because they filmed two alternate endings (something that's not uncommon with movies): the happy ending (everyone lives, what we saw in the trailer), and the unhappy ending (what we saw in the theatrical release).
  2. sketchley
    Yes, but there are a couple of things to consider: - still in the release cycle of SW8 - the troubled development of the film
  3. sketchley
    Yes, with the aforementioned 'Engrish' nod to make it more accessible to the lowest common denominator. :wink:
  4. sketchley
    It's been a busy year, and in cleaning up my desk, I found I haven't provided pocket reviews of the following! Great Mechanics G: 2017 Summer Released: 2017.06.17 In short, no Macross coverage. Though, there is a big article on Yamato 2202. Alas, there isn't even any 'Macross-y' news! Great Mechanics G: 2017 Summer Released: 2017.06.17 In short, no Macross coverage. Faintly 'Macross-y', the article "The Setting" features some of Kawamori san's designs for Eurika 7.
  5. sketchley
    http://www.tbs.co.jp/news23/
  6. sketchley
    I'm not disagreeing about the creators. My point is about the ultimate consumer. ... and Kawamori-san has made a point of deliberately avoiding anything that can confuse the casual viewer. E.g.: the portrayal of Zentradi ships after the conclusion of the First Interstellar War, or the unexpected appearance of the VF-171 as the main fighter - a visual design choice that necessitated a lot of retcon changes.
  7. sketchley
    Nah. It happens too consistently in things that are NOT related (E.g: the aforementioned "News 23 (Two-three)"). One must keep in mind that most people who consume anime in Japan (the target audience), are not English majors (let alone military nuts), and the content is geared for them (dare I say it? The lowest common denominator). Us English speaking fans of Macross are quite the polar opposite, as many of us have both a deep interest in learning Japanese, as well as being military nuts!
  8. sketchley
    Another thing to consider is how it's sent: 3. surface mail - how often the boat leaves I don't know the specifics in this case, but when I was living in Vancouver (the main port of entry for Canada), surface mail generally took 30 days between Vancouver and Japan, and if you (literally) missed the boat, it can take up to an additional 30 days. Adding to the seasonal traffic, my parents (again, in Western Canada), sent 3 packages to me (in Japan) AT THE SAME TIME for Christmas last year. The first arrived in Jan., the second in Feb., and the last, in Mar.! Weird, but true. (In that case, it would have had to have been on the Canada Post side, as the Japanese side is very efficient and prompt. E.g.: we get mail delivered twice a day!)
  9. sketchley
    No, it doesn't. In fact, 29 being mispronounced as two-nine is simply because someone (or some people) on the production side hasn't learned English numbers correctly. E.g.: "News 23" is spoken as "News Two-Three", yet it airs daily at 23:00.
  10. sketchley
    Hasn't Disney already been doing that? SW7 is essentially SW4. They fired the directors of both this Han Solo movie AND SW9, because the directors' visions didn't match with their own. I'd like to say that Rogue One is the exception, but even that is loaded with SW vanilla (in different words: SW nostalgia)...
  11. sketchley
    The other thing that most North Americans tend to overlook is that high school is not mandatory in Japan. As such, the high school experience is VERY different from the North American version. Seto is correct in identifying it as a vocational school. It's somewhere in between a 2 to 3 year technical college and a high school. So, while the protagonists are young, from the Japanese perspective, it is plausible.
  12. sketchley
    Please don't consider this overkill on my part... Out of curiosity (due to my work and language studies), I looked up the IPA for the kana in question. Interestingly, the IPA rendition of the sound is also with /r/. The Wikipedia article* goes a bit further, and describes it as a "liquid /r/", though the common pronunciation is a /ɾ/. Which may may explain why that consonant has always mainly sounded like a cross between an /r/ and an /l/ sound to my ears, but still enables some native speakers to pronounce it with something akin to a "rolled r". So, it's definitely not an /l/ sound, but not quite the hard /r/ sound in English, either. Learned something today. Thanks for the debate/discussion! * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology ** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental,_alveolar_and_postalveolar_flaps
  13. sketchley
    Yes, and no. The standard romanizations* all use "r". * Hepburn, Nihon-shiki, Kunrei-shiki (not that you'd ever, ever, ever want to use anything but Hepburn. ).
  14. sketchley
    The name, in all the Japanese sources I've come across, is literally "Vajra Homeworld". You could, of course, play with the terminology a lot to get such things as "the homeworld of the Vajra", "the Vajra's homeworld" and so on. But for the sake of brevity, and the lack of any other name, "Vajra Homeworld" works best.
  15. sketchley
    Good point. Perhaps it's a PAK FA weapon pallet inserted into a J-20 that's been split down the middle?
  16. sketchley
    Those two are inspired by the Su-57 (PAK FA). It's most noticeable in the between-engine-nacelle weapons container.
  17. sketchley
    If memory serves, that was in reference to the distance between the Frontier Fleet and Earth. The Frontier Fleet was in the vicinity of the center of the galaxy (again, if memory serves), making it a 10 year one-way trip. The Super Fold Booster reduces that to a tenth (thus: a 1 year one-way trip). Isn't Ragna located on the opposite side of the galaxy? If so, then it would be a 20 year one-way trip (normal Fold drive) or 2 year one-way trip (Super Fold Drive). It should also be stressed that Super Fold drives aren't common by any means, and due to the Fold Quartz requirements, are rather expensive to produce - perhaps impossible on a scale needed for the larger Emigrant Ships.
  18. sketchley
    Thanks for the heads-up, guys. Yes, a couple of days ago, the main page (and ONLY the main page) was spawning a 403. Turns out that it was due to a broken link in the 'Tools' section to another site. Sadly, the current host isn't good at providing documentation on why. So, it took a couple dozen minutes to troubleshoot, and remove the offending link. >.< The only thing that comes to mind is something said in passing about the Macross Frontier setting by Mr Kawamori: "It's like the Age Of Exploration, with e-mail". If we take that to mean the sailing ships of yore are synonymous with the Emigrant Fleets, then the communication between them and back home is nigh instantaneous. Of course, as the context was about the general setting of Macross F, we have to take that with a grain of salt.
  19. sketchley
    In truth, there are actually two schools of thought on that. There are some who believe that the English romanization should be used as-is in all translated materials - even though a healthy portion of it comes from, IMHO, dubious sources, like model kit boxes, which may or may not have been approved by the creators of Macross. But that is a debate for a different venue. (1) There are others (like me) who believe that as we are translating Japanese into English (and not Japanese into the fictitious Zentrādi language), we should not use the pain-and-suffering inducing allegedly correct romanization that the creators themselves don't even use in their native language! And let's not even get into the romanization errors that creep in from the vowel reduction in the spoken Tokyo dialect, which is not present in most other Japanese dialects! (2) Due to the confusion, over the years I've attempted to create a glossary of alternate romanizations. I hope you (and others) use it to, at the very least, sort out the confusion stemming from the sheer variety of alternative romanizations in the translations produced over the years by a variety of people from both schools of thought: http://monkeybacon.mywebcommunity.org/Glossary.php (It's an eternal work in progress. There's bound to be some errors - and any assistance or additional terminology would be much appreciated!) ======================== (1) some of them make a bit more sense if one includes the pronunciation rules of other European languages that use Latin script. However, it's still an atrocious hodgepodge of French, German, and American English pronunciation rules! (2) here's a link with just a glimpse of what I'm referring to (I can't find something more exhaustive): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai_dialect#Vowels
  20. sketchley
    Short answer? Took a year in H/S, a couple of years in university, attended a Japanese university for a few months, and have been living in Japan for approx. 14+ years. If you are planning to take a stab on translating Macross, it helps to have a rudimentary background in the culture (for characters), and science or pseudo-science (for the mecha; if you can watch ST:TNG, DS9, etc. and get the gist of what they're saying when they speak in engineering jargon, you should have no problem with the Macross equivalent. ). Have you tried the Duolingo App? They've recently started rolling out language courses in Japanese and Korean (not sure if its all users, or just us in Japan). If you can, you may find it extremely helpful in re-balancing your vocabulary (it's currently geared for tourists coming for the Tokyo olympics. So, lots of everyday conversation. The stuff that doesn't tend to crop up much in mecha translations! ).
  21. sketchley
    On the fence about buying this one - mostly because I already have the majority of the line art in other books. For those that need more convincing, check out Amazon JP for some picts of the book's interior: https://www.amazon.co.jp/マクロス-ヴァリアブルファイター-デザイナーズノート-GA-Graphic/dp/4797393696 Most of the other sites I checked out had the same, or similar content. However, this one is intriguing: http://www.amiami.jp/top/detail/detail?gcode=MED-BOOK-010579 If I'm not mistaken, that looks like line art for the VF-11 drone that appeared in Macross Plus! (lower right)
  22. sketchley
    Heh... tell me about it. (^_^;) I'm in the same boat. I'm currently bogged down in transferring the remaining content from the MRG (before it disappears into the either), despite my strong interest in pumping out translations of stuff that hasn't been translated yet. On the one hand, it's nice to go back and revise the translations, but on the other hand, as I'm striving for perfection, it takes a lot more time than I have available... >.<;;;
  23. sketchley
    That definitely highlights one of the greatest aspects of the overall Macross series: the diversity and tonal shifts between each individual series or production.
  24. sketchley
    Great summary. I think that's one of the biggest reasons why I like M7 - it is an evolution of SDFM/DYRL. That said, I do see where some of the complaints about it come from (evolution not being more of the same), and I personally think the production team could have handled a few things better. Nevertheless, M7 has an undeniably great, original setting!
  25. sketchley
    Erm... one of the Kawamori-san interviews I translated paints a different picture. In short, its a convenient way to lump 'elite' warriors together. Realistically speaking, it is one way to have the heroes of a show being everywhere and doing everything... (not that I like it either. The whole RL concept of PMC leaves a bad taste in my mouth).
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