Tochiro

I dont know if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but two live clips from the recent Animelo special have popped up on youtube May'n - Baby Pink Monsoon May'n & Megumi Nakajima - Lion Not too bad - Baby Pink Monsoon wasnt on the Budokan DVD/BR (because it wasnt out yet) so this is the first time a lot of people outside of Japan have gotten to see it live. (Whereas Ivm seeing it live for the 4th time on the 24th...heeheehee ;-)

I honestly wouldnt do it in an office environment in Australia either. Just seems childish to me, sorry. But hey, to each their own. Having said which... this has gotten way off topic. So, uhm.. what were we talking about? The Frontier flick? I kinda went to see it AGAIN lol :-) And then followed it up with one of THESE :-)

New poster is out - manage to grab one on an auction :-) Heres hoping that theres plenty more new posters and stuff on the way! :-)

Work is work. My private life is my private life. Keeping one's uchi and soto separate is one of the keys to being accepted in a company. Besides which, its socially expected that you pretty much quit hobbies such as games and anime when you enter a company. So its best to keep those interests to your friends. Co-workers are for drinking and work. And occasionally some karaoke.

I can't see why they would since the main appeal of the show is the characters, mecha and music - all of which have been covered pretty extensively in past publications (books, mooks and magazines).

Well I'm at work so I can't check the cover, but from memory its just a sampler for a full song thats due to be in the second movie.

Wow thats pretty sweet. Looks like those are the stick poster sets that were sold at the Crossover Live. Looking at the site I noticed that the upcoming Minmay and Mylene figures have both sold out on preorder alone, hahahaha. Good thing I get mine from Amazon (yay free shipping!). Anyways, with the Macross F movie getting an expanded theatrical run this year, the F-tama club just announced that new goods would be produced too, including a new Sherryl tshirt. No pics yet, but keep an eye on the regular and cinema only good pages for updates: http://www.macrossf.com/movie/goods_goods.html http://www.macrossf.com/movie/goods_theater.html

Well it depends who you are showing it too and why, I suppose. The first question that comes to my mind is why on earth you feel the need to show people. I think most anime fans go through the whole 'I have to convert my friends' stage when they are in, say, junior high or so, but co-workers?? If they were anime fans to begin with, then I dont see what the problem is. Fanservice has always been a big part of anime and while it seems to be more blatant now than in the past, it was always there - the Knight Sabers in their underwear in BGC, the catgirls in Dominion Tank Police, etc. The thing is, while I think a lot of the fanservice in Macross F is overdone, the Sherryl stuff usually isnt imo. She is supposed to be a popular pop idol and they DO tend to dress rather skimpily in music videos. I mean, compare Sherryl to, say, a Kumi Koda music video for example! Sherryl is a pretty accurate representation of what pop singers dress like, just like all the CM songs that Ranka does in the movie are pretty damn similar to what an idol singer has to do to build up a career. I think its pretty interesting that this is an angle that is portrayed in Macross F, not just the typical 1 dimensional idol singer cutout kinda character. Then again, I wouldnt try to introduce friends to anime. They like their stuff, I like mine. And if I DID, I sure as hell wouldnt use something as niche as Macross F. Hmmm... Id probably try something like Summer Wars actually.

Wow, you pretty much pegged the concert in a nutshell! lol. It was a good, yet mixed concert. The sound mixing was better than either the Crossover Live or the Firebomber Reunion imo. The venue was tiny and I was able to get pretty close to the front. Having said that, I was a little disappointed by the lack of Macross songs. I know Fukuyama has a long recording career but we got maybe 6 Macross songs in a 3 hr concert which is not really a goof representation of the role those songs played in his career. And I'm only really familiar with his Hummingbird and Fire Bomber stuff. We did get a few Hummingbird songs too - must admit I never thought Id get to hear Dream Jack live! :-) Also, a nice extended Nekokoshan !!!! :-D Possibly the best live version of Burning Fire Ive heard as well - because the audience got to sing all the Mylene parts! lol. Also, at one point Fukuyama broke into some Enter Sandman which was very...surreal. Overall a fun time and great value for only 4500yen. I just wish I had gone in with somewhat different expectations (ie, not expecting more Macross songs). Will be better prepared for his next gig ;-)

I think Nanoplasm just answered your question, hahaha. Yes its one of several gigs she does on her way up the ladder of stardom to her first real debut. In the Daruma Seminar CM she is actually wearing a big Daruma costume, hehehehe.

Awww, dont be like that Dex! This year has been THE year for Macross music and while Im sure that there are a few good concerts coming up next year, no other year will ever rival 2009 in terms of Macross concerts and music imo. Will try to report back on the Fukuyama gig tomorrow..... damn I just realised how small its gonna be - only 600ppl?!?!?! Wow... this should be interesting...

Could this be the REAL ending to Macross Frontier? lol real_ending.bmp Ranka with the candle....damn I laughed so hard...^^;

Did anyone grab the CM Ranka album? I think its really cute and am personally a fan of the Daruma Seminar jingle. I can imagine that the songs, most being CM jingles, must seem a bit strange if you havent seen the movie though ^^;

The 2nd issue of the F-tama fanclab zine DECULTURE! had this collage of the Crossover Live - I thought it was pretty nice altho Arai and Kasahara are noticeably absent. Crossover.pdf Back to Firebomber - I managed to grab a couple of last minute tics to see Fukuyama tonight. Will be right up the back but hey, its all good as long as I can get my BURNING FIRE on! Anyone else going?

Sorry guys. With a whole 4 days off for Xmas, Ive been ensconced in my apartment with beer, a mountain of home-made yakisoba and FF13 and Borderlands ^^; As for whats on the promo DVD, its nothing major - just a 5 min promo for the machine. Actually, I found it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPYF_9ciYdI

Ok, managed to win myself one of those DVDs. Will take a week or so to get here. Im sure the only thing on it is the live action commercials, but will tell all when it finally comes. Damn yahoo auctions...my wallet cries, hahahaha.

Wow, this discussion has been somewhat...sidetracked? lol Personally I enjoyed the heck out of the movie. Even more so the 2nd time. But I got exactly what I was expecting. Actually no, I retract that. In a way I got MORE than what I was expecting. I was expecting a clip movie, much like the 00 Gundam or Gundam Seed or Turn A Gundam ones. What I got was 50%-60% new footage, increased detail in some of the reused footage (ie, cockpit detail) and an entire mini-albums worth of awesome new songs (which made me change my mind about Mayn's Budokan concert in January and now Im desperately bidding in half a dozen auctions for tickets ^^; ) I got big explosions. I got eye candy on the big screen. And that was what I was expecting. Seriously, anyone expecting MORE character development out of a 2 hr movie that covers half of a 26 (25?) episode series is just being unreasonable. Was a LOT of the character interaction and development cut? Yes, undoubtedly. It was cut to cram the basics into a much shorter format. But this is not DYRL, nor did it ever claim to be a similar sort of product. Its a repackaging of the story, not a retelling. Who is it aimed at then? Easy question. The existing fanbase. Those who know the original intricately and are interested i seeing how it gets changed, what is added, what is taken away. Despite Kawamori's comment that he HOPED that the movies would allow those who had missed the series to experience Frontier (documentary on MUF bonus UMD) this is not who it has been made for or even marketed at. The fun of a show like this IS the changes and thats what the audience was totally digging both times I saw it. They know the characters and this knowledge is taken as a given. Hence the movie gets away with not explaining a whole lot of background stuff that it possibly should have. It still, however, manages to make better sense to a new viewer than trying to watch the latest Naruto or PureCure theatrical release without knowing any of those series respective backstories. Once the first movie was revealed to be a clip movie, I expected way less than it ultimately provided due to many years of bad experience with other series clip-fests. It isnt meant to be a stand alone feature. And I think thats where a lot of opinion gets divided (although the split is USUALLY between those who see it in Japan along with all the marketing, tv coverage, concerts and tie ins and those who see it in the vacuum of watching it online...or anywhere outside of Japan pretty much). For the record, I view the series as immensly superior to the movie, however the movie does add some very good stuff to existing scenes which needed some fleshing out as well as adding some eye candy and fan service. Think of it less as DYRL and more like a cross betwen Evangelion 2.0 and the Z Gundam New Translations - a lot of pretty new animation on a story you already know and a few big WTF moments. As for what happened to Nakajimas voice - she aged. Simple as that. She was 18 when she recorded the series and is 20 now. Her take on Ranka seems a little older now, but is still quite good (heck she was even doing a slightly deeper Ranka during the in character bits of the Budokan concert - check out the DVD or BR!) Personally one of the biggest things about the movie for me was how they rerecorded ALL the dialogue. Some scenes came across quite differently and both Ranka and Sherryl had a lot more confidence (much like the Eva rebuilds). This is probably why I never noticed the pacing issues that some have been complaining about. Yes, the action DID all happen at the beginning and the end, but I was too entranced by the dialogue in the middle to really take notice. Or, maybe everyone else has ADD. Who knows? Maybe the reasoning above seems like a copout to some of you, but I think its necessary just to enjoy the movie for what it IS. And the first step of that process is realising what it ISNT. It ISNT DYRL and it ISNT a substitute for the original series. IT IS a HELL of a lot of FUN though.

Veffidas - thanks for that! It was late and I was a little lazy. And yes, Id say it is twice the size of a regular theatrical poster. Awesome banner! I resolved a while back to get one of those! The problem being that most are in use outside of pachinko halls at the moment... ^^; And who needs a stand when you could just hang it from the ceiling?!?! lol. Im off to play a bit with some guys from the office this weekend actually :-) Am hoping they release some cool little Macross themed trinkets as prizes for the game (like with Eva).

Mines all packed away, but I got it on auction much like this one: http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/aucti...1836#enlargeimg

Sorry, I have no idea since I didnt manage to get my hands on one. Having said that, I highly doubt it would be any of the new footage (which would have inevitably found its way on line by now anyway). More likely its the TV commercials plus some sort of introduction to or play guide for the game. I DID manage to score one of those posters though. Very cool. And BIG! ;-)

Ah! Ive been keeping an eye out for one of these (I used to buy the Evangelion ones waaay back when) but so far my local stores have only had general pachinko mags with only a page or 2 dedicated to the Macross machine. Will pick this up. Thanks for the heads up.

I pop out after work to catch the Macros F movie again and look what happens to this thread while I am gone! lol. I think I enjoyed it more the second time around :-) Altho I still think the fan service is a bit much at times (like Sherryl keeping her vibrating phone between her...well, you'll see^^ There was also a decent selection of merch available, but nothing much of interest (a towel, jigsaw puzzle, etc. They did have (for some reason) 2 spare Macross Chronicles binders though, which I snapped up since those things are getting damn rare. One more and my set will be covered. yay! Anyways.... Sergorn - excellent point. It IS the case with most Japanese BR that have English subs. Macross_Fanboy - the non-rental BR of Chars Counterattack doesnt have Eng subs, sorry. Nor does F91 or ANY Gundam BR for that matter. The GitS movies and SAC compilations DID have Eng subs - once again because they already existed. The SAC BR tv boxsets however do not. (heck, Eng subs are actually REMOVED from a lot of movies - like anything from HK/China for instance - ie, Red Cliff). Bri - ah the optimism of the naive. I hope what you are suggesting happens, and it probably will...someday. But there is still very little impetus for change within the establish anime industry and all the structures it contains. Yes, there are a few experiments like Crunchyroll, but these are the exception rather than the rule. In fact, instead of looking for more ways to distribute internationally, most Japanese companies are falling back and looking for ways to maximise the local market. Digital distribution? Well at the moment the government is cracking down on illegal file sharing - 10 uploaders were arrested just last week and from Jan 1 2010 it will be illegal to download any copyrighted mateial. This is a last gasp attempt to guard the local physical medium based industry and while it will probably fail in the long run it makes anime companies and consumers alike more afraid about digital distribution in the short-medium turn. And things will have to get worse domestically before a serious look is taken at the international market - as is reflected by the price of anime BR/DVD here, the basic business model is structured so that all costs are recouped and a profit is made from domestic sales alone. International deals were always just icing on the cake if they could be negotiated (I dealt with this attitude a lot when I did some freelance translating for TMS long ago). Also, and please dont take this the wrong way, you are assuming a familiarity with technology, awareness of foreign markets and willingness to adapt that just doesnt exist in large Japanese corporations, even media-related ones. Doing subtitles requires dealing, in many cases, with foreigners and this is something that many companies just want to avoid. I deal with this on a daily basis. If someone calls my office in English, panicked reactions ensue, as well as what I like to call musical phone - where the cal is transferred from freaked out person to person until it eventually gets to me. And while anime isnt one of our main products, it is something we do as well. We even have a small translation team (with ONE native speaker) who do an awesome job with what limited resources they have, but are unknown of by many. Things like Crunchyroll only happen through external influence (and economic pressure) and even in the current slump I cant see many similar experiments happening. As for BR regions - its not like BR is region-free. Japan and the US share the same region, sure, but what about England and Australia? Putting Eng subs on a Japanese-made BR does not open it up to the wider international audience, only to the US and some parts of asia (which dont really count because most asian markets either get separate local licensing deals or else are boycotted altogether due to rampant piracy). this leaves just the US - and sales to a handful of hardcore US otaku would not, as Sergorn mentioned, even cover the costs that doing Eng subs would incur. Then theres the whole HG issue when it comes to Macross - and while even HG themselves have said that they are no longer impeding the release of Macross in the West, 20+ years of legal conflict has made Bandai/Big West very wary. And dont even get me started on the lack of Japanese lawyers who understand US copyright law and vice versa. Its good to dream, sure. But in this case Id say it would be quicker to learn Japanese. Seriously. After growing up with raw VHS imports, I taught myself the basics of the language before taking it as a major in university and, after graduation, have now lived here for 8 years. The few years needed to obtain the language are a fraction of the time HG has kept Macross tied up in legal limbo - and provides a fun, rewarding and enriching experience as well :-) It will also let you see just how flat out WRONG most fansubs are (often being done by a bunch of university students with 6 months of study under their belt and a kanji dictionary under one arm) . ;-)

Both of those are using existing deals and distribution networks. Unicorn is a worldwide release, not just a JPN release with English subs. Apart from things like this, the only Japanese blurays with subs are things like Patlabor and GitS which Bandai just rereleased with different covers in the US (and sold dismally because they expected fans to pay Japanese prices and didnt adopt their pricing structure for the US market). Good subtitling requires far more than a passive knowledge of any language since it not only translated but also interprets meaning into more natural sounding language when necessary. Besides which, there are practically NO English speakers in the anime industry in Japan. The few that are in related industries tend to be employed at game companies but even then the translating and subtitling work (when needed) is often outsourced. Not to mention the fact that they probably would have subtitled the Japanese Bluray release of the series as well if they intended to adopt the approach you are suggesting. Sorry, I dont mean to shoot down your hopes here but there are ZERO chances of English subs on Mac F BRs occurring. In a perfect world we would use the extra capacity of BR discs to include subs in every language. But we dont and the anime industry in general is a very closed and domestic one. (And they are RAKING the money in with Mac F so theres no financial impetus to look to foreign sources of revenue anyway).

Yes, I doubt regional languages like Mandarin or Cantonese would be addeed because the series/movie gets officially licensed in these regions so doing so would lessen the value of licensing the product. As for English subs though, not a chance. Not only would they be useless for 99.99% of the population, a 3rd party would have to be brought in to do them (no way they could be done in-house). And that would cost money. I mean, many Japanese BD/DVD dont even have Japanese subs for the hearing impaired even.

Sorry, I typed "asshats" and my iphone "corrected" it. Seriously, people with half a dozen shirts. It was ridiculous. It looks like they got a few more boxes in after the concert but id already gotten a grey firebomber hoodie so that will do. As as venues go, CC Lemon Hall is tiny. Bigger than Zepp but smaller than Tokyo International Forum. 2084 seats. We crammed more people than that into the last Mayn concert and that place didnt even have seats! lol. The shirts that sold out were black with the big red fire bomber logo on em - great stuff. Hopefully they'll go on sale online at a later date. As for the concert - there were still some sound issues, but overall it was great! Will post more detailed impressions later. We did have one very important special guest tho - the flower girl!