Bri

Again, why buy episodes of a show when I can download it for free? Why do I have to waste my money on buying something I can just get for free? And if I want a piece of merchandise, I can just wait for it to come down in price or wait for a store to put a 10%-off sticker on it. I don't waste money on a show and I get merchandise for cheaper.

Then raise the prices and offer something exclusive that downloading can't provide in terms of quality or extras. Stop trying to sell anime trough large retailers that will dump the product for bargain prices and ruin the market.

The problem is, too many have become accustomed to getting the whole thing for free. Samples of one or 2 episodes doesn't cut it for this new breed of fans. No, they want all the episodes for free.

Yes, but is that a problem? These new "fans" have zero marginal cost to the industry. An extra person watching a stream or downloading does not add to the production costs. In fact if one of them becomes a paying customer (or true fan) it's a net gain to the industry. It's a fallacy to assume that any person watching anime for free would have paid for this content if the free option was not available. Unfortunately it's impossible to determine the number of people who stopped buying due to the free option, in relation to the new paying customers drawn in by watching free content first.

There will always be folks who are willing to spend money. The question is whether there is enough of us. The industry won't survive if there aren't enough fans willing to spend money. Hard to determine anything from sampling MW, as MW is a small community dedicated to a specific property with a large emphasis on related merchandise.

I agree, it's the big question. And yes, it's not possible to draw conclusions for the whole industry based on Macross. Still if the merchandise pages on some anime forums are an indication of what fans are spending on discs and merchandise, I'm not too afraid for the future in financial terms. Biggest threat IMO is that anime is turned to much inward lately(self referencing, otaku centered etc.) as mentioned by others in this thread. Making it hard to attract new fans.

Yup. Chicken or egg. Fans resort to download because the distributors fail to provide avenues for easy (and immediate) access. Distributors won't put in the effort (and money) for distribution because the users download them for free anyway.

As Jimi Hendrix hopes, "there must be some kind of way out of here."

The answer is creating added value to a product, though it's easier said then done.

With the internet around, adding subtitles to what essentially is a Japanese TV commercial and then demand that consumers buy it unseen, months after it's initial release is not just bad business, it's a bad joke.

For all it's flaws Funimation is the only licensee that is investing in innovation. While dubbed sanitized shows aren't my cup of tea, there is a market for that type of material, same with their online experiments and TV licensing. At least they understand that free samples lead to more purchases not less.

I do not believe people are not prepared to spend money on their hobby, just look at the amounts of cash that MW members splash out on Macross. As long as there is a group of patrons prepared to spend serious money to get something exclusive then there will be artists providing what they seek.

In mainstream media terms this report wasn't all that bad and it lacked the usual condescending tone. They also managed to show a few of the problems, but also misrepresented quite a lot, not sure if that was intentionally or just not quite understanding what they were talking about. Mixing up late night anime with hentai, calling it a major industry, throwing moe and soft-core on one heap, telling that downloading hurts the industry and then show a downloaded daytime show, just a few examples.

The teacher from Battle Royale

The president from Salo, though the movie itself is as disturbing as it gets.

Where on Earth did you come up with "60 million"? That certainly isn't what I said, nor is it in the Compendium. The total number of survivors has pretty consistently been identified as being between a few hundred thousand and 1 million, who survived the orbital bombardment in Grand Cannon III, Grand Cannon V, the moon colony, space colonies, and inside the Macross itself.

To clarify, the Roycommi translation of The Lost Two Years by Kawamori from the Minori's Macross Perfect Memory (1984) puts the number down as less then 1% of the population surviving SW I hence a number somewhere between 0 and 68 million. I cannot verify how accurate the translation is and what other sources say.

The compendium speaks of 100k to 1 million survivors in the grand cannons, the moon base and space colonies. Which is consistent with the Lost Two Years, but puts the number at the lower end of the interval. The Lost Two Years only mentions underground survivors which does not necessarily mean only people from the Grand Cannons (possibly mines, underground bunkers, tunnels, submarines etc). Unfortunately the compendium does not cite any sources making it hard to verify where it's numbers came from. Since the Perfect Memory predates the Nue time line sequels, it is possible later material specifies the number more clearly. The Chronicle time line sheets should have information in: 19 - The Conclusion of Space War I and 20 - Reconstruction of Earth on this subject.

Where in the bloody blue did you get that carp? I work on GH and could it be used for that, yesz, will it, no, get your conspiracy junk out of here.

Refers to this article I think: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...rror-cells.html

Though it's MI5 and GCHQ seeking to replace it's Brittan-Norman Islander planes with GH drones to monitor it's citizens.

Yeah, but try to turn those 300,000 into millions like they seem to have done in Macross and you are going to end up with a lot of similar looking people.

Is there any mention of the total Human population since they started to recover from the attack?

JBO once posted a translation of "The lost two years."

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&p=699893

In short less then 1% of the human population and 8 million Zentradi, who sided with UN Spacy, survived. (By today's numbers that would mean less then 68 million human survivors)

It is unknown how many of the Zentradi forces that fought on Bodolzas side (that automatically folded out when their command ships were destroyed as mentioned in SDFM) later joined up with UN Spacy, though Klan Klan specifically mentions them during Frontier.

It's possible the Chronicle has provided more accurate/reliable updates in the mean time, but I have no knowledge of those.

After the zentradi attacked the Earth the planet turned into a barren wasteland, but what is the current status during the Frontier timeline?

In the original Macross there are a few shots that show some treens and grass but for the most part everything is barren

During Macross Plus Isamu and Guld were fighting over barren terrain so the planet had not recovered but I was wondering if there had ever been anything mentioned regarding the conditions of the environment. Has the planet returned to being a green planet like Eden or does it continue to be a dead planet.

Plot wise Macross uses the near destruction of earth as an incentive for humanity to spread out across space as a survival strategy. Whatever happens to the planet after really isn't that important. The current status of earth might be left pretty much undetermined until it is needed as a future story setting.

Interestingly the question whether earths resources can sustain humanity does not seem to occur in Macross and becomes a non issue after the acquisition of the manufacturing satellite. I guess the vagueness about earth, the reconstruction etc. is intentional as in Macross the story focus is pretty much always on travels and journeys and not so much about origins and destinations.

I'm kind of left in surprise after seeing Heroman. I have absolutely no idea whether I should call it good or bad but that doesn't really matter.

The concept: Spiderman, Tetsujin 28 and a blender. It has a strong American comics feel, yet is also still very much anime. Almost like they wrote the characters to resemble Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy and Flash Thompson but then casts Japanese actors to play the parts. The show is very recognizable and alienating at the same time, very odd feeling.

Does HG hold the rights for Macross in the UK?

Taksraven

If you mean, does HG have a trademark on Macross in the UK? Yes, they do have two trademarks, but only on merchandise. Not on the TV series.

's why one of the derisive nicknames I address RTSC by is Mospeada II: the Search for More Money. It picks up right where Mospeada left off, but the budget's half-assed, quality control is nonexistent, and the dialogue's like something cut and pasted from a bad Star Trek-Robotech crossover fiction.

This makes me wonder why Tatsunoko never went for a true sequel to Mospeada. It's foreign licensing would have been guaranteed with HG for RT and Mospeada has it's own small fanbase.

As for Macek, way before his time and my sympathies to his family. He was a pioneer in introducing audiences to anime and localizing content. A shame he let his pride get in the way of admitting that his methods did not stand the test of time, nor truly crediting the works of others he used.

Wow, I'm really happy with this news. I'll be grabbing both, two Roy TVs incoming.

Call me crazy but I'd buy two TV Roys. One to sit in TV super packs with Hikaru piloting to join Max and Maillia's 1Js and one with Roy without Superpacks to join Vermillion squad. Off course then I could leave my DYRL roy in DYRL superpacks to stay with the DYRL Skull squadron.

Apparently the RAF flew a Tornado GR4 strike mission over Afghanistan recently with a British pilot in front and a German - Luftwaffe - navigator in back. You can probably supply the in-cockpit banter...

I'm sure they have a lot to talk about

Callsign "Tom and Jerry 1" by any chance?

Also keep Verhoeven's hands off of it; the only good work to come out of him in a long time was that black comedy, the original Robocop.

Total Recall?? Starship Troopers?????? *Sigh*

Taksraven

I'm sure Taks is just having fun^_^ Still Verhoeven recently directed the WWII thriller "Black Book" which imo is his best movie in years.

Hmmm, "The plane was flying a mile every 1.6 seconds, well above our Mach 3.2 limit.". Thats 2250mph. Isn't that about Mach 3.2?

Depends on the altitude, the Mach number doesn't represent a constant speed.

Canaan and Angelbeats were both made by PAworks. A joint KEY/ASCII mediaworks property not done by Kyoani.

Edit: thought Key used Kyoani exclusively but thats not the case, given the earlier Toei Kanon series.

just watched 1s ep of Angel Beats. Feels very Haruhi + Clannad in the afterlife.

Yup, I agree, plus a tad of Gurren Lagan. Bit different animation wise from Canaan, except for the eyes. Think Miyuki Sawashiro was the singer of the band, glad they got her as a VA, her voice really has something.

I can't believe I've become a haruhi fan...watched the 2 "seasons" and looking for the theatrical version of disappearance with no luck, reading the translations too.

I can't believe myself! Like Pete, I used to think this was "another anime for lolicons" (as if I had enough "mileage" to know what generic means)...until I heard more and saw the Adventures of Mikuru Asahina on youtube. I now even have a figma nagato yuki figure and another revoltech version with Shamisen.

Hehe, welcome aboard!

I'm sure a lot of anime fans have been turned off by the hype and the moe reputation of this show initially, which is a shame but somehow it seems to convert people quite easily when they see the real deal.

I can see bipedal robots having a role within combined arms. In fact, their introduction is inevitable. [...] I can see a role for semi-human-scale heavy robotic infantry and more importantly, sub-human-scale robotic vehicles.

That would be the military's wet dream for asymmetric warfare. A sort of infantry version of the UAV that can be sent into urban or mountain/jungle environments without risking troops. In these times infantry casualties are becomming less and less acceptable. I guess Cameron's original vision in Terminator of future warfare wasn't that crazy. Terminator skeltons as infantry and hunter-killer UAV as air support.

Overrated: Lord of the Rings trilogy. Some terrible casting choices, Sauron is less threatening then a cartoon villian and Golum's about as irritating as Jar Jar.

Underrated: Pleasantville, love the acting and innovative use of color as a story element.

If everything was all written out in the original contract then why did they need to go court again?

Afaik Tats sued BW over the right to make sequels to SDFM.

Was BW trying to reclaim their merchandising rights after having given them to Tatsunoko? All this started after HG stopped Yamato's Us branch from selling Macross toys correct?

No, to my knowledge BW has respected the original contract so far, the issue revolved around toys (YF 19) based on Macross Plus, a sequel to SDFM, which the contracts do not cover, Toycom was planning to distribute them states side.

Did BW think they could sell Macross toys alongside the Robotech toys and it turned out they couldn't?

Toys based on Macross sequels and the sequels themselves could be sold without issue until HG acquired the trademark on the name Macross. In theory any Macross toy can be sold in the US under another name without issue.

There is also the speculation that HG can never use the original Macross designs in anything but merchandising, but is this a condition that was imposed from the beginning or is this what the recent lawsuits clarified?

That is no speculation, BW/Nue announced that they own the designs based on copyright law. HG never had access to them other then for merchandise. Tats challenged the notion that BW/Nue owned the copyrights in court due to Tats role in the production process but were unsuccessful. Tats did get greater rights in distribution, afaik Tats gained distribution rights to SDFM in Japan from the court case.

I have a question regarding this whole copyright mess between BW and Tatsunoko.

Assuming Tatsunoko had signed an agreement with HG to pass on all Macross rights to HG including the IP rights, what would happen to that contract once the Japanese courts rules that BW were the true holders of the IP.

Would the ruling be retroactive to cancel out anything contradicting in the original contract?

Would a Japanese ruling have any effect on a Contract written in America for an American company?

Seto pretty much explained everything but to expand on the issue:

HG can prevent the distribution of anything Macross outside of Japan trough the trademarks it acquired in the different anime markets outside Japan. The only realistic ways I can see that can change this are:

-Tatsunoko pulls HGs license and sells it to another party. Trademarks become invalid as HG can no longer sell Macross related material.

-HG goes out of business and no other party picks up the Tats license. Trademarks expire early.

-HG scraps everything Robotech and no longer renews license and trademarks/lets them expire early.

Ya'll talkin' crazy talk, Eureka Seven was awesome from start to finish.

Indeed, one of the very best, if not the best, mecha anime of the last decade.