The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Say, is there any interview with Keiko Nobumoto that goes into her involvement with Macross Plus and her thought on it? In light of her death, I've seen people discussing her works, and some even said that had she helmed Macross Zero's script, it wouldn't have ended up that bad.

To think about it, Macross Plus was as much a Nobumoto's show as Macross 7 a Sukehiro Tomita's show.
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John-Luck Pickerd
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Nice about the macross music being avilable
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Mon Dec 13, 2021 9:01 am Say, is there any interview with Keiko Nobumoto that goes into her involvement with Macross Plus and her thought on it? In light of her death, I've seen people discussing her works, and some even said that had she helmed Macross Zero's script, it wouldn't have ended up that bad.

To think about it, Macross Plus was as much a Nobumoto's show as Macross 7 a Sukehiro Tomita's show.
I'm sure there are some, though offhand I would have to go digging... interviews tend to get spread out across lots of different magazines and seldom get collated the way technical data does.
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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

We all know the debacles with Harmony Gold/Robotech and FASA/Battletech, but was there anything on the Transformers front? I mean, Jetfire's design was copied from the VF-1, right? Was there any difficulty when G1 was brought to Japan?
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 9:32 am We all know the debacles with Harmony Gold/Robotech and FASA/Battletech, but was there anything on the Transformers front? I mean, Jetfire's design was copied from the VF-1, right? Was there any difficulty when G1 was brought to Japan?
As I understand it, the creators of the Transformers understood from the outset or a very early point that they were not able to sell their redeco of the Takatoku VF-1 toy in Japan or use the design in animation... and that their solution was to redesign "Jetfire" as the non-infringing "Skyfire" for the animated series.

From my research, it seems like the first actual Jetfire toy available in Japan was the Generation 2 version that was modeled on the (cancelled) US Navy version of the F-22 Raptor.

AFAIK, they didn't run into any real trouble because of it until the 2000s, with a SDCC-exclusive Jetfire figure based on an existing GI Joe toy, which triggered a lawsuit from Harmony Gold.
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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Say, was there any creators who got their start doing Macross fan arts/doujins/etc.? A friend recently recommended me some Saint Seiya doujins made by CLAMP before their professional debut, so I just want to ask.

Now think about it, a good number of mechanical designers started out as fan artists or hobbyist modellers. And I did remember reading a Yasuhiko interview which he said that Tomino wanted to bring as many young designers as possible into Zeta.
Mafty
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Not as far as I can tell, at least not well known ones, because there are so many Doujin writers out there. It is worth noting however Macross's original creators started as Doujin artists. Gunsight One (which not coincidentally is the name for the Macross's bridge) is named for a Gundam Doujin by them.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 7:59 am Say, was there any creators who got their start doing Macross fan arts/doujins/etc.?
Oddly, the Macross franchise hasn't really got a huge presence in thinbooks... apart from the inevitable h-doujinshi you'd expect from any popular series.

The first noteworthy Macross doujinshi was penned by M.A.T. - originally styled "Multi-configuration Analysis Team", later changed to "Macross Attack Team" - a circle established up by Studio Nue staff member and Macross setting coordinator Masahiro Chiba. Chiba wanted to do something similar to the setting material that Kawamori et. al. did for Gundam in their doujinshi Gun Sight that was a major influence on Gundam Century. So M.A.T. did the four volumes of Sky Angels, including the infamous Macross Journal Extra that was the first tech manual in the franchise's history. The members of M.A.T. included Studio Nue's Masahiro Chiba, producer Minoru Takanashi, and a young Hajime Katoki (yes, that Hajime Katoki... "Ver.KA" Katoki).

Tenjin Hidetaka got his start as a Macross fan artist, but he published his work (inspired by the model kit box art of Yoshiyuki Takani) on a personal website called "VF-1 Valkyrie Maniax", which brought him to the attention of Kawamori and got him a job doing the box art for Macross VF-X2.) He had already been working as a freelance illustrator for some time though.
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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Seto Kaiba wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:45 pm Oddly, the Macross franchise hasn't really got a huge presence in thinbooks... apart from the inevitable h-doujinshi you'd expect from any popular series.

The first noteworthy Macross doujinshi was penned by M.A.T. - originally styled "Multi-configuration Analysis Team", later changed to "Macross Attack Team" - a circle established up by Studio Nue staff member and Macross setting coordinator Masahiro Chiba. Chiba wanted to do something similar to the setting material that Kawamori et. al. did for Gundam in their doujinshi Gun Sight that was a major influence on Gundam Century. So M.A.T. did the four volumes of Sky Angels, including the infamous Macross Journal Extra that was the first tech manual in the franchise's history. The members of M.A.T. included Studio Nue's Masahiro Chiba, producer Minoru Takanashi, and a young Hajime Katoki (yes, that Hajime Katoki... "Ver.KA" Katoki).

Tenjin Hidetaka got his start as a Macross fan artist, but he published his work (inspired by the model kit box art of Yoshiyuki Takani) on a personal website called "VF-1 Valkyrie Maniax", which brought him to the attention of Kawamori and got him a job doing the box art for Macross VF-X2.) He had already been working as a freelance illustrator for some time though.
I think something similar happened to Gundam, with some information on the setting were written by Sunrise/Bandai staffers on magazines without any major sanction or oversight from Tomino. But an entire book series is more impressive.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Mon Jan 31, 2022 10:18 pm I think something similar happened to Gundam, with some information on the setting were written by Sunrise/Bandai staffers on magazines without any major sanction or oversight from Tomino. But an entire book series is more impressive.
It's more explicable in Macross, which was an anime enthusiast passion project by folks like Kawamori and Miyatake. A fair amount of the spec in the VF-1 Valkyrie Special Edition doujin made it into official specs due to Chiba's involvement.

It's also worth noting that the Sky Angels doujinshi series by M.A.T. is one of the few doujinshi around to have a continuation/new edition in the form of an OFFICIAL publication. Variable Fighter Master File was/is a direct continuation of that project.
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DragoMaster009
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Technically it's the wrong season of Macross, but here's a translation of an interview about Fire Bomber America. Let's just say there's a good reason why their only album's equivalent in "our" universe is ENGLISH FIRE...
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

DragoMaster009 wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 8:41 pm Technically it's the wrong season of Macross, but here's a translation of an interview about Fire Bomber America. Let's just say there's a good reason why their only album's equivalent in "our" universe is ENGLISH FIRE...
Ah, yes... this. There is a fairly popular fan theory surrounding this album and the comments in its liner notes that posits that it's a massive and rather unsubtle dig at Carl Macek and "his" Robotech series for their attempts to claim credit for the work of Macross's creators and their many later cases of copyright infringement. :lol:
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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

So on Twitter a few people are talking about why Kawamori did so many guest spots as a mechanical designers for things like Gundam, Cyber Formula, etc. The posts basically said that after the Bubble Era, most studios just wanted to bank on established franchise. Eventually Kawamori fed up with it and came back to Studio Nue. He asked them to allow him to take total control of an entirely new Macross project, which was Plus.

Is there any truth to this?
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Wed Feb 09, 2022 11:32 pm So on Twitter a few people are talking about why Kawamori did so many guest spots as a mechanical designers for things like Gundam, Cyber Formula, etc.
That's pretty normal, you don't really see a lot of designers who only work on one title their entire careers.


False Prophet wrote: Wed Feb 09, 2022 11:32 pm The posts basically said that after the Bubble Era, most studios just wanted to bank on established franchise. Eventually Kawamori fed up with it and came back to Studio Nue. He asked them to allow him to take total control of an entirely new Macross project, which was Plus.
Sort of? Kawamori originally distanced himself from the Macross series after Flash Back 2012 because he considered it a finished work and wasn't interested in trying to develop sequels (e.g. Macross II). He designed for various other titles, but didn't really become involved in Macross again until he was brought in to discuss a proposed Hollywood live action Macross movie that ultimately ended up falling through. He had a couple non-Macross series concepts he wanted to get produced but couldn't get anyone to finance. He initially rejected a proposal to produce a new Macross series around that time, but changed his mind and pitched a new concept he'd developed about a protagonist who doesn't actually fight. That, combined with his unused work Air Cavalry Chronicles, became Macross 7 and the unused Advanced Valkyrie became Macross Plus.

(Basically, Kawamori's return to Macross was motivated in part by the fact that Big West and Bandai were willing to fund his less conventional ideas.)
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False Prophet
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

I wonder if any of the Macross money went into Earth Maiden Arjuna... Also, was idea or design in Aquarion originated from Kawamori's unused concepts?

Also, was the discussion on the movie adaptation helmed by Studio Nue or Bandai? I recently heard some hearsay that after the OVA market passed its prime, Bandai began losing their trust on animation and so were looking into expanding their IP to other mediums (A.K.A. G-Saviour being made).
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

From prior posts by Kaiba it seems like a lot of Kawamori's works were in fact retooled during production. Air Cavalry Chronicles started out as a story dealing with countries fighting the Zaibach Empire. Ultimately fantasy elements were added and the story became the genesis for Vision of Escaflowne: the mechs themselves would be recycled across numerous other series, The A-9B Invader is recycled into the VA-3M Invader in the video game Macross VF-X2, the LV-7 Valorious Rapier "Excalibur" much later becomes the Sv-262Ba Draken III from Macross Delta, as does the Fz-109G SturmZorn, And the Fz-109F Panzer Zorn is modified into a few units in Macross 7.

Macross Plus started out as a concept called Advanced Valkyrie, which was then modified into Macross Plus for funding purposes. The core concept of rival pilots at American Air Base in the 2000s, was modified into a new planet (with a New Edwards Airbase) and the addition of a love triangle.

Really a lot of Kawamori's work finds a way to include Transforming Plane Robot's in one way or another( Aquarion, Unit Pandora) or just mechs ( Nobunaga the fool, M3, AKB0048 to a degree) so you can see how it's a bit easier to modify these stories , compare this with Dunbine which originally didn't even have Mecha, but was modified to be basically a Fantasy Proto Isekai Real Robot series.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

False Prophet wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:54 am I wonder if any of the Macross money went into Earth Maiden Arjuna... Also, was idea or design in Aquarion originated from Kawamori's unused concepts?
On that, I have no idea.


False Prophet wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 7:54 am Also, was the discussion on the movie adaptation helmed by Studio Nue or Bandai? I recently heard some hearsay that after the OVA market passed its prime, Bandai began losing their trust on animation and so were looking into expanding their IP to other mediums (A.K.A. G-Saviour being made).
Nominally, it was led by Bandai's producer Minoru Takanashi, in partnership with Studio Nue and Galaxy Films.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Mafty wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:24 am From prior posts by Kaiba it seems like a lot of Kawamori's works were in fact retooled during production.
That's normal, though.

It's very, VERY rare for a series concept to not be heavily workshopped, polished, etc. during its development...

It is quite a bit rarer for a designer to seemingly never throw a design away the way Kawamori does.

Mafty wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:24 am Really a lot of Kawamori's work finds a way to include Transforming Plane Robot's in one way or another( Aquarion, Unit Pandora) or just mechs ( Nobunaga the fool, M3, AKB0048 to a degree) so you can see how it's a bit easier to modify these stories , compare this with Dunbine which originally didn't even have Mecha, but was modified to be basically a Fantasy Proto Isekai Real Robot series.
Kawamori's a known aviation enthusiast, so you could say it reflects his personal tastes/hobbies.
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Mafty
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

Gundam comes a bit close to that in continually recycling unused designs from MSV and putting them in later high quality OVA episodes.

Also is there any word on the possible international release of Macross, now that the legal issues have seemingly been settled?
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Re: The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

How popular was Macross II when it came to the States anyway? I recently listened to a podcast talking about Plus, and it seems like for a lot of fans back then put Plus on the pedestal.
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