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veffidas

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  1. One burning question I have is if they've decided whether Freya's hair appendage/organ is attached from the top of the heart or the bottom. Much of the animation seems to suggest it's from the top, but it definitely looks like it's attached at the bottom tip towards the end of the episode. I'd like them to clear that up for the continuity.
  2. Regarding the animation, yes, it's pretty clear that corners were cut in the less important scenes, e.g shots of the dock workers. As for the idol theme, it's an extension of the Sheryl Nome extravagance that started in Macross Frontier. Only, instead of concerts and dogfights being separate entities taking place at different times, they are now commingled. Opposed to simply hijacking/flooding ships' monitors and communication airwaves in Minmay's time, the drones serve the role of bringing the concert venue infrastructure to the battlefield, allowing the whole performance atmosphere itself to become an active weapon and distraction. Sure, Macross 7's Sound Force were active players, but they weren't able put on a show; Walkure can, with their drones. It would be interesting to see what kind of show Freya experiences with her synesthesia. What I like about Walkure as a unit is that they're frontline "combatants" themselves, apart from the Delta pilots (unlike the Jamming Birds); while their role so far appears primarily defensive (protecting the citizens), Mikumo shows herself to be an attacker, too, subduing a Queadluun one-on-one with the help of drones. It would be nice to see the other members of Walkure be able to take on offensive roles individually as well. It was humorous seeing Hayate comment on Mirage's performance not exactly being up to par with what her lineage would suggest. It's also interesting seeing the new type of aliens being brought into the lore, from Macross 7, Dynamite 7, Frontier, and now Delta. Would I like a Macross series that hearkens back to storytelling more in line with SDF: Macross? Sure. Nonetheless, overall, this was a fun episode.
  3. It appears it sold. Unfortunately, I believe the winner to have a dud. It helps to have a digital copy of the movie to step through. Upon inspection, there are more than enough discrepancies (missing highlight/shadow, hair color filled in where it should not be) to question its authenticity - should it be purported from the movie (which it appears it was), rather than a hanken. While I do not believe there is a valid market to counterfeit cels now, it does still stand to reason to be wary of counterfeits produced when there was indeed a market for them.
  4. That's what's referred to as (line) fading. Black ink fades into red/brown when stored in less than ideal conditions.
  5. I unfortunately felt that Mr. Mikimoto wasn't quite as engaged as he could have been. I certainly don't know his personality well enough to state that as truth, but he did state he didn't know what his second individual panel was really about (besides also being late to it). Both his individual panels, "Macross Behind the Scenes" and "Beautiful Girls of Haruhiko Mikimoto," were Q&A only (no presentation), with Toshifumi Yoshida (another Animazement guest) emceeing and translating. Yoshida was a little overbearing and actually abused his position as MC at times to geek out ask his own questions, one of which was the hackneyed question, "Misa or Minmay?" Both the other two illustration-oriented guests, Yoichi Kotabe and Koichi Tsunoda, took drawing implements to their hands and had prepared visuals during at least one of their panels. Mikimoto did not have anything except for the original artwork prints that he signed, which only showed up during his planned (and surprise) autographs sessions. The "Beautiful Girls of Haruhiko Mikimoto" panel would have been an excellent forum to display his artwork, new and old, but no effort appeared to be made. And, yet, during his remarks during the closing ceremonies, he stated that, while he was appreciative that his 30-year-old work (i.e. Minmay) was still celebrated enough to fetch $3,200 for charity, he'd like to be able to talk about his new work next time he visits. That raises questions. Why couldn't or didn't he? Did the staff not allow him; do the fans lack interest? Perhaps he has feelings similar to those of Mari Iijima, grateful to Macross for launching his career but uneasy about the contraints its fandom has imposed. It might also be fair to say he may have enjoyed his time reminiscing at the panel with Mrs. Ishiguro and Hiroshi Nagahama ("Memories of Director Ishiguro") more than his own panels.
  6. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_auction#A_second_item_auction . Also, "Highest Bidder: None" can still occur when there are bidders but the reserve has yet to be met.
  7. Kazutaka Miyatake's. In Kanji: 宮武一貴.
  8. The images and clips at the following links are the promotional materials Sankyo distributed through their website some time ago to pachinko parlor owners to advertise the Macross Fever game (see flyer posted by Maiden Japan). Wanted to get these files out so they could be preserved by other fans, too. http://dropcanvas.com/l48au (370MB) - unzipped JPGs (for previewing) http://dropcanvas.com/kobds (300MB) - zipped JPGs, (all files were distributed zipped) http://dropcanvas.com/xvavl (1.45 GB) - zipped PSDs and WMVs (graphic artists will likely prefer the Photoshop Documents) To keep bases covered, though, the following is the legal text that was posted on the download page: 「超時空要塞マクロス」の版権元と株式会社SANKYOとのロゴ・キャラクタ使用許諾契約により、当コーナー記載内容のご使用にあたっては、以下の内容の禁止事項があります。 当コーナーの記載内容を店内外広告物以外で使用すること。 当コーナーに記載されているロゴ・(C)表記・キャラクタを変更して使用すること。 当コーナー以外のページの内容を転載、もしくは変更して使用すること。(但し、本体画像についてはこの限りではありません。) 当コーナーの記載内容を、「フィーバー超時空要塞マクロス」の販促目的以外(店舗自体の広告等)で使用すること。 また、当コーナーに掲載されている素材以外の使用(機種紹介ページからの転載)、各登場キャラクタを手描きすること、キャラクタのイメージを損なうような 扱いをすることも禁止されています。これらに違反して使用した場合、使用者は著作権法違反として刑事責任、民事責任を問われることがありますのでご注意く ださい。 著作権についてご不明な点がございましたら、お問い合せページからお問い合せください。 ※「フィーバー超時空要塞マクロス」のキャラクタ及び本体画像をご使用の際は必ず、(C)表記をご使用ください。
  9. Hi-resolution version for everyone's viewing pleasure: Uploaded with ImageShack.us
  10. The "Top 5" of the Broccoli Special Edition set:
  11. Cover of Macross Ace Vol. 8. Also, does anyone have any detailed information of the contents of マクロス コミックゼントラ盛り, which was released alongside Vol. 8 this weekend?
  12. High resolution version of the cover of Macross Ace Vol. 7.
  13. The majority of consumers should focus on maximizing the capacity (GB) of RAM over speed when factoring in cost, when focusing on RAM exclusively. In general terms. the relation between the speed of the components of the computer is: CPU (cache) > RAM >>> Disk. Note that ">>" means "much faster," and that relative speeds between components of the same type is negligible in the average case usage (e.g. 4-4-4-12 RAM and 5-5-5-18 RAM are both RAM and RAM1 == RAM2 in speed). Thus, to maximize the performance of the overall system, the user wants to have the leftward components have as much capacity as possible (1) while keeping the speeds of the rightmost components as fast as possible (2). The reasoning for (1) is this: the more capacity the faster components have, the less time the system has to spend time shuffling data across the system to the brain (CPU), e.g. disk to RAM to CPU, and performing at the slower component speeds, since the faster components can hold more stuff and spend more of their time working on the stuff they have at the faster speeds. The rationale behind (2) is that since the stuff you want to access is actually on the slower components (which actually have the capacity to store what you want in whole), increasing the speed of these components will decrease the amount of time you spend waiting on these things (since you're forced to access them a number of times anyway). ----- In the specific case for RAM, as RAM >> Disk, RAM falls more to the "left" (in terms of present day speeds); therefore, capacity should be of more priority. Part Speed: CPU (cache) > RAM >> Disk Position: ~~~~~~(Left)~~~~~~ | ~(Right)~ Focus: ~~~~(Capacity)~~~~ | ~(Speed)~ The only reason you see the focus the other way around in industry and cost/accessibility is because high capacity at high speed is difficult and expensive. The above of course all depends on the type of workload the system is performing, but most consumers want stuff from their disk (e.g. movies) so that *any* RAM in general will act as a high speed buffer between the disk and the CPU, and more of it (RAM) will only help. If you're willing to look outside RAM, have the budget, and don't already have one: buy an SSD to replace your (slower) disk. (Do upgrade to a minimum of 4GB RAM of any speed first.)
  14. In terms of the fan service movie concert, I'll speak to the complaint directly within Macross Frontier and the movie. At least three points of Sheryl's character are evident within the movie: (1) she does whatever sells, (2) she understands (and perhaps cherishes) her status as a sex symbol, and (3) she likes to push people's buttons. Regarding the first, reference her conversation with Alto after he was scolding her for jumping off stage: she basically says she jumped to entertain the audience. For the second, reference her conversation on the trolley during the date with Alto, she teases Alto about her body being all natural and states that it's one of her selling points. Finally, the third: she shot her heart ammo at Alto and jumped off the stage, completely annoying him in the process of both. Now, let's take the "fan service" of the concert within this context. Many have already stated that you thought it was included it just to get more viewers - thus, the case for this first aspect is already made with regard to her character. The sapphic imagery and her prominent bosom and bottom, i.e. fan service, in the concert easily evoke feelings of sexuality; the second aspect of her character through the concert is evident. For the third, the fact that Sheryl has managed to make many complain, effectively breaking the fourth wall and making the viewers' uncomfortable, proves she pushes people's buttons. Therefore, her concert was completely in tune with her character and was a resounding success. The say otherwise is to possibly cherry pick and perhaps not fully appreciate Sheryl's character. (Plus, the movie completely rid itself of Nanase, who arguably had a larger chest than Sheryl's!) ----- Regarding the Macross Plus points: so, just because Sharon Apple is a box in the wall, she's allowed to exploit the audience's sexual desires? But because Sheryl Nome is a real person, she can't? That seems rather unfair since the audience in both cases are humans. Additionally, Macross Plus itself had plenty of of its own fan service. When Sharon was playing mind games with Myung, did she really need to appear nude with one of her visual representations? (After all, Sharon had intimate knowledge of Myung's past and knew she wasn't homosexual.) When Sharon finally got around to strangling Myung, bondage-style, was it really necessary to have close ups of the Myung's bosom and bottom being wrapped around and through and tightened by the cables? Was that really tasteful?
  15. I've seen a lot of complaints about the "fan service" and nudity, although I don't understand why it's most vocal when it comes to Macross Frontier (perhaps because it's most recent). Both have been consistently featured minor elements in Macross and its later works from nearly the beginning. Concert "Fan Service": In Macross Plus, Sharon Apple has her entire body in the audience's face during her concerts, too. She's even arguably in the nude at times. Nudity (with clearly evident areola): In Macross DYRL, when Hikaru and Minmay are trapped, Minmay takes a shower; I believe to the tune of "0-G Love". In Macross Dynamite 7, Elma is shown jumping into the hot springs nude while dragging Basara there to help him recover from his wounds. In Macross Zero, Sara Nome sings in the nude, floating some rocks in the process while Shin watches. Nudity and sexuality are everyday occurrences. Viewers shouldn't allow a small few minutes, perhaps less than 5% of the movie, ruin the rest experience for them. Additionally, I've seen a lot of complaints about not being able to understand the movie, should the viewer have no knowledge of the TV Series. Was DYRL really any different? A large portion of the background was assumed and you really had to know the Macross TV story to appreciate its movie adaption as well; yet, DYRL is often hailed as a, if not the, Macross masterpiece. Those are primarily the complaints that I've seen which I think are to common to Macross and a number of its other productions, yet simply aren't really called out (enough) with respect their individual pieces. If one's going to fault this particular movie for these faults, Macross in its entirety should be held accountable for them as well.
  16. let my guess, Ozma Taking out Ranka to sing to a horde of vajra? Actually, if you consider the possibility that both movies are taking major events right out of the DYRL playbook (as I've written up here), and make the last battle of the first movie the analogue to DYRL's kidnapping chase arc (with backup coming to help), it works well if this custom VF-1 is Ozma's: it facilitates a scene for the "big brother" character of the hero(ine) to be killed off (a la Kinryu's use of a special valkyrie for his last stand in Macross 7). Then, by implication from my other post, the second movie focuses on the Ozma's death (split from any kidnapping arc), the history of the Vajra, and the final battle, i.e. the major parallels to DYRL that the first movie hasn't covered. (I know the TV series and Keith would elude to Michel dying in the second movie, but I can't see that as having as much of a theatrical impact.) Ozma's death just makes more sense for a movie and the current character developments, as well as for the DYRL parallels. The "big brother" figure dies, taking an emotional toll on the hero(ine), with the character analogues being Ozma, Ranka, & Cathy vs. Roy, Hikaru, & Claudia. Makes sense to me, but I wouldn't necessarily bet on it; I thought the first movie was close enough of a DYRL copy on its own.
  17. (Meant to edit above instead of reply, but I'll add a further comment.) To provide a real conclusion as to why Itsuwari No Utahime (and by implication Macross Frontier) aren't necessarily as well liked as Do You Remember Love? (and SDF: Macross), in my judgement, I believe Macross Frontier relied too heavily on exaggerated archetypes. Macross and DYRL has more mundane yet relatable characters; the characters fit the mold of the average joe/jane. Those of Macross Frontier are romanticized celebrity characters that everybody enjoys fantasizing/dreaming about but simply aren't "us" (the average person); consequently, while entertaining, there's a little less of a sincere emotional connection with the Frontier characters/series.
  18. I've skimmed the major sections of the movie (I've yet to have time to sit down and watch the entire thing), but I'm surprised it was panned as it was by early reviews (e.g. Otaku2.com). Itsuwari No Utahime is a pretty much near-faithful derivation of Do You Remember Love? with slight elements of later Macross works. Do You Remember Love? parallels: Streamlined relationship for group of friends: Roy, Hikaru, Max, Hayao - Klan, Alto, Michel, Luca. Focus on main love traingle and characters: Hikaru, Misa, Minmay - Alto, Sheryl, Ranka. Interruption of the heroine's concert: Minmay - Sheryl. Saving the heroine(s) brings the hero (further) into the armed forces: Hikaru saving Minmay causes him more interaction with Misa/UN Spacy - Alto saves Sheryl/Ranka and joins S.M.S. Hero goes on date with heroine who is wearing an obviously lacking disguise: Hikaru and Minmay - Alto and Sheryl. (Three) "spies"/"ambassadors" (prelude and) provide information that results in the main battle: Warera, Loli, Conda - Grace, Sheryl, (Brera). Near death experience of one half of the secondary couple: Milia - Michel. The two main heroines recognize the other in a meaningful manner at the end: Sheryl and Ranka - Misa and Minmay. Shower scene with frontal nudity: Minmay - Grace. (Only the second most important parallel.) Final song (sequence before ending credits) is preceded by the sound of feet running up flights of stairs: Hikaru - Sheryl. (**The most important one.**) Some elements from other Macross Series: Extravagant concerts (Macross Plus): Sharon - Sheryl. Tailing of a main heroine (Macross 7): Brera on Sheryl/Ranka - Michael on Mylene. Overprotective parenting (Macross 7): Ozma with Ranka - Milia with Mylene. Person overly concerned about broadcasting Song Energy (Macross 7): Dr. Chiba - Grace. The only real major elements of Do You Remember Love? I thought were missing from Itsuwari No Utahime were Roy's death and the Protoculture history lesson. The Vajra history lesson is likely to come in the next movie, but Ozma is unlikely to face death due to his parent-like relationship with Ranka. (Sarcastic) Conclusion: The only thing preventing Itsuwari No Utahime from being a DYRL-class movie was the lack of Ozma' death. Ozma should've died!
  19. Large resolution cover of Macross Ace Vol. 6. (Edit: Thanks for catching the numerical typo, Gubaba.)
  20. Kawamori has done a couple interviews about the Pachislot machine, which have recently been posted: http://henkei.jp/models/slot/interview.html .
  21. You'll want to look for it on or about Sept. 25, 2010.
  22. High resolution cover of Macross Ace Vol. 5.
  23. The publisher has confirmed the date of Jun 26, 2010: マクロスエース Vol.005.
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