Bri

Hmm, maybe sue HG for emotional damages? Force them to set up a fund to assist traumatised Macross fans by subsidizing Yamato Valkyries puchases?

1) The 80s were definitly the peak period but that was during a time of daytime television broadcasts. Around the time of Evangelion the split between day time and night time anime slowly forced everything that wasn't animed at the family market out of the public eye to late night slots and cable TV. Anime as a medium became dependant on DVD and merchandise (collectors market) sales, advertising income and the childerens toy market disappeared. Post Eva, the number of mecha shows was limited but there were always some around. We can't really compare what happened before the mid nineties to the current situation as the market totally changed. 2) That's the weird part, if I check the sales charts on an annual basis Gundam and Macross do very well, especially on the Blu-ray format. But hardly any new mecha has been produced lately. This year I can name 7 titles: Sora Kake Girl, Vipers Creed, Ride Back, Basquash, Shin Mazinger, Asura Crying and Kiddy Girl, and half of these are more moe then mecha. 3)Hmm, mostly the well known titles like Eva, Gundam and Macross have good DVD, Blu-Ray sales and loads of new merchandise coming out reguarly but other titles not that much. I even wonder how the mecha modelkit/toys market in total compares to say the PVC figurine and posables market (thinking of Figma's, Nendroids, Revoltechs etc.) Hard to make sense of this, the old titles do well, but new ones do poorly or get rarely made. Wonder if it's more expensive/risky to produce a mecha show? If so it could be risk aversion on the producers side.

One interesting point brought up and was mentioned by Itano is that mecha doesn't sell anymore. I have heard this before but haven't heard any convincing reasons for it.

Ah the Economist's Big Mac index, fun way to get a rough approximation of purching power in different countries. For me a VF-1 after delivery and taxes would cost roughly 135 euro. (Western Europe) In Big mac's thats about 44, or alternatively if you mean combo meals then its 26 combo's. As for the discussion VTF-1 pretty much summed it up. Yamato is not a charity foundation, they charge the price that will maximize their returns. If the exhange rate turns unfavourable that is not something they or you can do anything about, it's a given. The only two options: accept it or wait till the exhange rate returns to more acceptable levels. For myself: as far as hobbies go I find Macross not particularly expensive. Sure valks are not cheap but a night out clubbing, a concert or dinner for two will set me back the same amount or more. It''s just about making choices.

I think we should separate the portrayal of Sheryl in Frontier from the way she is shown in the merchandise. In Frontier she is just a singer with a slightly tacky wardrobe (which is even holographically projected on her during concerts as she wears a full body suit) and undergoes the occasonal pantsu jokes but that's about it. For me it doesn't take anything away from the story but that's a personal opinion. The merchandise/figures focus far more on the erotic side, and like Mercurial Morpheus, I think some of it is over the top. This is one point where you can lay the blame on producers trying to exploit the characters for money. I would love to see some other figure producers like Alter, Wave or Maxfactory take a shot at the Frontier crew. Currently I only bought the Lucky Star/Frontier set as the rest are just too poorly rendered or tasteless for me.

At this size I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to buy it an airline seat instead of shipping it

Anime will never be mainstream, it's to much part of geek culture. The issue at the moment is that a lot of producers take the same safe formula time and time again to sell to a more hardcore part of the audience. This safe bet is done partly under pressure of sponsors and has caused resentment against "moe type" shows under both producers and fans. I don't mind fanservice and some of my favourite anime are definitely moe still I don't think its a good development that of the 40 or so anime released every quarter at least half would fall under one category. Zentradi (uncultured) are cloned, not born and don't go through childhood, Milia has been a soldier for 15 years(assuming they are cloned battle ready and don't need years of training). That's enough time to build up an impressive amount of sorties.

Not sure if catering to the moe and fujoshi crowds makes a series appeal to a wider audience or more towards women. I would associate moe and fujoshi fans with the hardcore male and female otakus rather then mainstream anime fans. Iirc Gundam Zeta in particular had a large female fan following while still being a classic mecha show, but I do think you are complely right on his irritation towards cute characters taking away the spot light from the mecha. Still it's hard to tell what exactly Itano's point is as he doesn't really elaborate on it. Nor do I know if his statements remain completely intact after translation. I find myself agreeing with his critique on Alto, he is far more dense and self absorbed then Minmay. The character also fails to generate any sympathy with me as he isn't really involved with the love triangle or the plot. I get the impression that the girls only like him based on his looks. Even his VA can't save the character; Yuuichi Nakamura showed with his previous role of Tomoya in Clannad that he can act the part of a likeable outcast extremely well. Can't help but respect Itano for speaking his mind. I'll take honesty over acting nice anytime. However I don't agree with everything he says, particularly about character driven mecha shows. Well established characters are essential for a good show, just take a look at the more recent AU Gundams to see that disposable characters and good looking mecha don't make great anime.

Nope, you can just skip from Endless Eight episode 1 to Endless Eight episode 8 without issue. I would heavily recommend the Sighs arc which comes after EE, these episodes are just as good as the best of season 1. Ah ok, I would never have noticed the aftershock thing, never experienced an earthquake. Agreed on the novel cover, still can't fault Yenn press to much after reading their reasons for doing this.

I understand you being carefull in the matter and I can only applaud you not jumping to conclusions as the translater. What convinces me that there is a connection between the novel and Frontier is the similarity in plot device: to keep the idol singer a noble character she needs protection from the harsh industry. In SDFM Minmay never showed any signs that her carreer was influenced by outside forces. The fact that this happened in this novel really surprised me as in DYRL Minmay is that more cynical individual. The novel provides the evidence that the writers of SDFM were aware of the unlikely rise of Minmay and showed that her carreer was being protected by an outside force. This proves that the protected carreer idea predates Frontier. A few jokes in Frontier show that the Miss Macross contest in SDFM at least really stuck with the writing crew (maybe because they had to write this novel), like Sheryl taking up a judge position contrary to Janice, Cathy being a former contender contrary to Misa and most importantly Ranka failing where Minmay succeded by acting moe. As mentioned before SDFM did not seem to suggest that Minmay won peoples hearts (and thereby the contest) by being cute and clumsy, the novel certainly did.

Thank you very much for translating this book Gubaba Read it this evening. The book really fleshes out the events surounding Minmay. I think it's quite interesting to see how writers created an envornment in which both Minmay and Hikaru could keep their innocence. In contrast to their more worldly surroundings. Focker acting like Cinderella's Fairy godmother and looking out for those two is SO in character. Really felt like I was seeing new episodes, a wonderful experience for a fan. I would agree that quite a few ideas from Fontier came from this. The way Janice is portrayed, she is pretty much a proto-Sheryl, but one that had to climb the ladder without help resulting in a bitter personality. The military realising Minmay's value early on and acting on that to prevent her to be exposed to the darker side of showbizz is mimicked in Frontier where Grace uses her own might to guide Sheryl through the ranks. Same way Ranka was not allowed to win the Macross contest ( even though she acts just as cute as Minmay) and could work her way up in relative safe obscurity until she was taken under the wings of Grace. I can't help but wonder how she would deal with Paparazzi

Received mine two days ago from HLJ, it's excellent.

Finished a couple of summer season anime: Tears of Tiara: rather odd fantasy story with nice characters. The story line is completly out of this world and takes a rather weird twist on Gaelic/Christian mythology. Essentially it's a play on the Arthur myth, with Arthur and Lucifer joining forces and take on Heaven to prevent armagedon. Tokyo 8.0:: Anime about the surviviors of an earth quake in Tokyo, who try to get home after the disaster. Refreshing in the sense that there is no fanservice what so ever and stays very close to reality. The supernatural addition feels forced and unneccesary. The show has rather poor character animation but the whole holds up quite well. Nice show that proves that you can make a different type of show. Canaan:: Fairly run of the mill assassin bad girl story. Nothing spectacular except for the top quality animation. PA works is a small studio and is making a name for themselves with True tears and Canaan. As a result they will be doing the animated version of Key's project: Angel Beats. Spice and Wolf II:: A character driven show set in the middleages with a Wolf god and a merchant act as venture capitalists on their travels. One of the very few anime that manages to create well rounded, spohisticated and believable characters. It is not without flaws, the animation is average and the second season doesn't add much to the total storyline, still easily one of the more interesting anime of the decade. Valkyria Chronicles: This could have been more but the abysmal storytelling and lack of character development killed it. Started of with excellent animation, but it looked like A1 gave up during the season, show got progressively worse and worse. Basquash : Quircky super robot show with nice blend of Japanese and French artstyles. Fresh aproach died after a few episodes when the standard save the world with basketball sponsored by Nike storyline got introduced. Forced focus on the idol trio of Sheryl, Ranka and Nanase wannabees sealed it's fate. Haruhi S2/expanded S1: Haruhi is the most over rated anime since Evangelion, don't let the hype fool you. It's clever and down to earth sci-fi blessed/cursed with a rabid fanbase that makes Robotech fans look good. The second season shocked the fanbase by the monster called "Endless Eight". I loved it but your milage may vary. If you don't like Nekki Basara you may have issues with Haruhi

Reading the article again I doubt the issue is sex but more the kind of sex. Itano specifically mentioned his dislike for retarded/moe and bishji characters and fujoshi in general. I would interpret that he is angry about the "feminisation"of MF and considers it unmanly/gay. Given his previous works as mentioned by other posters I doubt he has any problems with fanservice or explicit content.

Don't think Itano's criticism is aimed much at Macross but more on the direction of the industry. The popularity of stereotype romantic comedy characters and the pressure on producers to us them at the expense of all else in new shows is probably what pisses him off. He is not alone in that dislike, Miyazaki isn't particularly happy about the way charactes are depicted either. The sniper example on the other hand, does not make much sense. Macross has never been about realistic warfare.

747 comes in a little low at Maho Beach.

A few scenes really get to me: Field of Dreams : Ray meets his father No News from the Western Front(original version): Butterfly... Plague Dogs: Swim to the non existant island. As dark as animation gets. Air: Goal. Clannad AS: Cornfield Grave of the Fire Flies: Death of Setsuko

That's a shame. Annoying that freeriders like that kill a good thing. Would love to see OD offer SAL, credit card is fine imo. EMS is rarely an option for me as it nearly doubles the price (on a 1/60 VF-1 for example) due to taxes and service fees. SAL only has like a 10% chance to get caught in customs in Western Europe while EMS always gets hit.

It's not easy to find any background information on the styles and artists that have influenced the character designers that have worked on Macross. So it's a bit hard to compare them on anything but their track records and personal taste. Even with his long carreer I have no idea how important Mikimoto has been for other designers. Famous and influential are not neccesarily the same. Wonder if character designers base their designs on styles by contemporary works by mangaka or truly create their own. Characters designers often have a back ground in graphic design and often work as staff in anime production companies. They are rarely established manga artists themselves so I don't know if we can compare them in the way we would compare say manga or comic book artists.

Haruhiko Mikimoto. His style is easily recognised and he has defined the way Macross characters look. Along with a few others he dominated anime character design in the 80s. Risa Ebata is a relative new commer with only handfull of projects to her name (Gavion Zwei, Macross F, Prism Ark and some adult games, info from her wiki page) . Her style is ok, but does not stand out among other current anime. She is also held staff positons like animation director and is not only a designer/illustrator.

hmm, tough question. I think that Robotech is carried by the three anime it is made off. Robotech is little more then a container packaging linking the three good series together in a single universe. Not only Macross but Super Dimension Cavalry and Mospeada are really worth watching. RT also downplays the idol/singing part of Macross in favor of a pure military aproach wcich is certainly attractive to a part of the RT fanbase. Macek is a narrator (or hack if you prefer) that links three good stories together in one whole (which is not as good as the sum of its parts imo, also anything Robotech made outside of the original 85 eps has been utter shite). Combine this with the fact that RT is far easier to acces then Macross: no need to read subtitles or know Japanese, more recognisable names, character relations are simplified, three times the same theme and you might have an answer. Robotech also has some very decent voice acting compared to other dubbed anime, which in thruth says more about the quality (or lack there off) in said anime.

Amen, well spoken

According to their website: studio Satelight is a daughter company of Sankyo which is a major producer of Pachinko games. Makes the connection between Macross and a Pachinko game not that strange.

Don't think age has much to with it other then that peoples interests and tastes change over the times. Things you enjoyed while younger may or may not last the test of time. For me Macross is still every bit as enjoyable as when I first saw it but other things have faded. I can relate to Peter story if we are talking about Transformers. Only have some nostalgic feelings for it and tbh I only like G1 even if Beast Wars had a much better story, I just lost my ability to care for it. What fundamentally appeals to me in Macross is the characters and the universe they are placed in. Kawamori and co share a postive view on humans as rarely seen in Sci-fi. In a way they seem related to the vision on people by Roddenberry sans the camp factor. Also the sense of adventure in an expanding universe where mankind has left earth and eploring the galaxy while still living in a recognizable world. As long as they keep these two things (and variable jets) I'll remain hooked.

Good experiences with both HLJ and Over-Drive and both have good customer service. OD ships faster but that's not a major point for me as the customs and Dutch mail may slow things down. Worst experience I had was an EMS shipment delayed by 103 days, so few days difference in Japan doesn't concern me. Differences: 1) HLJ wins on price after shipping due to their SAL option. EMS always get caught by customs, and the mail service here adds a hefty charge for the expres service. VAT is calculated over combined shipping and purchasing cost. SAL is faster and a lot cheaper for me. 2) Over -Drive writes down a lower price on the package so gets hit for less at customs. Especially for expensive orders that require EMS shipping they have an advantage. 3) HLJ doesn't charge pre-orders immediately, OD does. Other then these two I have good experiences with HW Japan. Their order system is terrible and the selection isnt that large, however they package things nicely, have a SAL option and are usually cheaper then the other two.