The Official Macross Delta Anime Thread Mk I

[yazi88]

Thanks for the info, I'll make sure to completely avoid the Macross wiki from now on... I never really used it for anything before, but I was a bit curious about character info, but I made the mistake of going there... Didn't think a wiki would be THAT poorly managed compared to the Gundam one which has some regulars from this forum that work on articles there...

[Seto Kaiba]

Finding good English-language Macross resources online can be a pain in the arse...

99% of Macross resources are only available in Japanese and the English-speaking fandom is a good deal smaller than Gundam's, so there aren't nearly as many bilingual fans available to translate. Unfortunately we also lack any real coordinated effort to translate large publications and the most active translators (myself included) tend to favor a particular era or subject matter... for myself and sketchley it's mecha, for Gubaba it's light novels and related materials. The fandom's most proficient translators unfortunately spend their free time doing a podcast instead.

The best online Macross resources tend to disproportionately favor the mecha, like the Macross Compendium, Macross Mecha Manual, and Sketchley's Macross Gateway. Gubabablog is the only one that really focuses on story over details.

I'm still working on getting my new project launched, since I've cornered a number of translators but haven't finished putting together the CSS framework for a more general reference site than the Mecha Manual.

[yazi88]

Sorry to hear that...

Looking forward to Macross Mecha Manual updates.

[Seto Kaiba]

Sorry to hear that...

That's life. I've cornered a number of translators who normally work on other shows in the hopes of doing something about that. We're still debating whether to start from the original series or Delta.

Looking forward to Macross Mecha Manual updates.

While I still handle the backend there, Mr. March is more or less working solo on updates there while I work on this new project.

[False Prophet]

Megumi Nakajima explained why did she go hiatus after Macross Frontier

I really hope that her depression is gone now. She is a talented voice actor and singer.

[Seto Kaiba]

Megumi Nakajima explained why did she go hiatus after Macross Frontier

I really hope that her depression is gone now. She is a talented voice actor and singer.

One thing that tends to get swept under the rug is that being a Japanese idol is a particularly unforgiving vocation that comes with health- and sanity-destroying levels of overwork and stress, as well as the constant crushing pressure of a life lived entirely under the pop culture social microscope. This is often not helped by managerial indifference, or even willful ignorance, towards the impact that kind of life makes on them as they try to maximize agency profits before the bubble bursts as they're something of a disposable commodity.

TL;DR the idol industry is ROUGH on idols

[pirx]

Found this interview with Kawamori:
https://www.decultureshock.com/shoji-ka ... akon-2018/
He mentions if the new Delta project is approved he would like to uncover who is Lady M.

[False Prophet]

One thing that tends to get swept under the rug is that being a Japanese idol is a particularly unforgiving vocation that comes with health- and sanity-destroying levels of overwork and stress, as well as the constant crushing pressure of a life lived entirely under the pop culture social microscope. This is often not helped by managerial indifference, or even willful ignorance, towards the impact that kind of life makes on them as they try to maximize agency profits before the bubble bursts as they're something of a disposable commodity.

TL;DR the idol industry is ROUGH on idols

Have that topic ever brought up in Macross? The closest thing I can think of is what happened to Sheryl after Ranka got more popular, but it's less of a systematic error.

Found this interview with Kawamori:
https://www.decultureshock.com/shoji-ka ... akon-2018/
He mentions if the new Delta project is approved he would like to uncover who is Lady M.

Kawamori knows one or two things about choreography? I guess it isn't much of a surprise. But has Macross ever have something like a "Music & Dance Director"?

On a related topic, has Kawamori written music? I know that Tomino writes lyrics sometimes, but don't know if there are any other anime director who does that.

[Seto Kaiba]

Found this interview with Kawamori:
https://www.decultureshock.com/shoji-ka ... akon-2018/
He mentions if the new Delta project is approved he would like to uncover who is Lady M.

Unless that new Macross Delta feature is going to be built on even worse plot holes than the ones Delta's TV series was built on, Lady M will be another "remember the new guy?" character like Richard Bilra, Naresuan, Timothy Daldhanton, or Millard Johnson.

He's been adamant for decades that he won't bring back the original main trio, and even Mari Iijima has confirmed that he's not open to Minmay returning even though she professed a willingness to reprise the role should the situation come up.

Have that topic ever brought up in Macross? The closest thing I can think of is what happened to Sheryl after Ranka got more popular, but it's less of a systematic error.

Never in its full ugliness. The original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series did show Minmay suffering from overwork during the war, including her having no time for anything but training and work and being so exhausted she'd passed out in Hikaru's hospital room after going to visit him. We did also get shades of the abusive manager from her cousin Kaifun, but only after the end of the First Space War and it was more him taking out his frustrations with Earth's situation on her until she fired him.

We did also see a little of it in Macross 7 with the Jamming Birds, whose training was a literal bootcamp under the supervision of Col. Barton.

There was also a little of it in Frontier, with Grace unceremoniously firing Sheryl after she was "used up".

Macross Delta acknowledged it, but only in a very backhanded way. The tryouts to join an already-successful idol group had standards set so high that nobody passed through normal channels and Freyja only passed because of the special treatment she'd been singled out for after Al Shahal. Kaname Buccaneer briefly alludes to the strain of having failed as a solo idol and being pushed out focus as Walkure's leader by a newcomer. The useless flashback episode's story reveals that Walkure's original lineup was a fractious and unsuccessful bunch, with Reina and Makina despising each other and two previously unmentioned members (Claire and Lydie) having quit because they couldn't take all the stress and for whom Mikumo and Freyja are replacements.

(If you want to see a show that plays it straighter, try Zombie Land Saga... Franchouchou's manager Kotaro is a shrieking martinet who routinely verbally abuses and overworks the idols he manages, though he acknowledges that he's able to get away with it consequence-free becuase the members of Franchouchou are undead and therefore are more or less exempt from fatigue, illness, and injury.)

Kawamori knows one or two things about choreography? I guess it isn't much of a surprise. But has Macross ever have something like a "Music & Dance Director"?

Since Macross is an animated franchise, that'd be more something the art director is responsible for.

The live-action stage play Macross the Musiculture had one though.

On a related topic, has Kawamori written music? I know that Tomino writes lyrics sometimes, but don't know if there are any other anime director who does that.

Not that I'm aware of.

[False Prophet]

Say, Kaiba, I am writing something about the early American anime fandom. From your memory, can you tell me anything about "Battle of the Planets" and its impact? At the time of its airing, it must had been quite successful, and from the awards it earned throughout the years, as well as the upcoming "Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas", people do have a fond memory of it. But have there been any point of time (around the time DYRL came out in America) that Battle of the Planets was dismissed by the Japanimation fandom?

[Seto Kaiba]

Say, Kaiba, I am writing something about the early American anime fandom. From your memory, can you tell me anything about "Battle of the Planets" and its impact?

Oh goodness, I remember watching that show on the big old CRT TVs at this kid-friendly restaurant my parents used to take me and my siblings to called The Ground Round.

I remember it having been fairly well-received. Enough so that it's at least vaguely remembered today, though I'm not sure how much of that may be due to it having done a brisk trade on that cable channel Boomerang back in the 90's.

At the time of its airing, it must had been quite successful, and from the awards it earned throughout the years, as well as the upcoming "Battle of the Planets: Phoenix Ninjas", people do have a fond memory of it. But have there been any point of time (around the time DYRL came out in America) that Battle of the Planets was dismissed by the Japanimation fandom?

Honestly, I don't recall Battle of the Planets having ever received the same kind of rancor as Robotech... which probably has a lot to do with most of the heavyhanded editing having been to make it kid-friendly and meet broadcast standards of the time rather than to totally reinvent the story.

[False Prophet]

Sai, Kaiba, were you familiar with Macross magazines/fanzines, or just Anime magazines in America back in the day? Have you read Protoculture Addicts or Mecha Press?

[Seto Kaiba]

Sai, Kaiba, were you familiar with Macross magazines/fanzines, or just Anime magazines in America back in the day? Have you read Protoculture Addicts or Mecha Press?

Oh yes, I have a bunch of old back-issues of stuff like Protoculture Addicts, Mecha Press, Mangazine, Animerica, etc.

Some are ones I got when the publications were new, and others were backissues ordered simply becuase I wanted to have every little publication about Macross II from when it was coming out. The coverage in most western hobby press was... entertainingly wrong. Animerica scored an interview with Haruhiko Mikimoto in its first issue though, which was pretty good.

My collection also includes a few doujinshi from when Macross was brand spankin' new like Macross Journal Extra: The Latest Edition of Sky Angels: VF-1 Valkyrie Special Edition. I still need to finish translating that one.

[False Prophet]

Oh yes, I have a bunch of old back-issues of stuff like Protoculture Addicts, Mecha Press, Mangazine, Animerica, etc.

Some are ones I got when the publications were new, and others were backissues ordered simply becuase I wanted to have every little publication about Macross II from when it was coming out. The coverage in most western hobby press was... entertainingly wrong. Animerica scored an interview with Haruhiko Mikimoto in its first issue though, which was pretty good.

My collection also includes a few doujinshi from when Macross was brand spankin' new like Macross Journal Extra: The Latest Edition of Sky Angels: VF-1 Valkyrie Special Edition. I still need to finish translating that one.

So, why the misinformation then? Wrong translation, made-up stuffs, Japanese studios being cagey, or else?

Also, if I remember correctly, there are some old doujinshi focus exclusively on mechanic for Gundam and Evangelion. Say, back then, were mechanic-focused publications common? Were MSV and Entertainment Bible-like books sold well? Were they bought to America?

[Seto Kaiba]

So, why the misinformation then? Wrong translation, made-up stuffs, Japanese studios being cagey, or else?

Well, a big part of the problem was that those old anime hobby magazines like Protoculture Addicts, Mecha Press, and Mangazine was that there was precious little in the way of actual journalism going on. A good portion of the "news" in those old rags was often-unauthorized reprinting of articles from Japanese anime hobby magazines such as Newtype, Animage, and B-Club with a rushed and imprecise English translation. They'd often only reprint part of the article so it wouldn't be as obvious what they were doing, but they were basically just printing inaccurate digests of the Japanese anime industry news.

For Macross II, all three of them reprinted chunks of an article from Bandai B-Club Magazine No.79 with various idiosyncracies and translation errors. Mangazine, for instance, insistently translated 地球統合政府 (Earth Unification Government) as "Earth Federation" instead. Mecha Press printed a whole bunch of supposition as fact.

Also, if I remember correctly, there are some old doujinshi focus exclusively on mechanic for Gundam and Evangelion. Say, back then, were mechanic-focused publications common?

Back in the heydey of mecha, HELL YES.

You could usually count on artbooks to gush over the mecha at great and tedious length, but the fans would also get in on that with doujinshi. One series, called Unnamed Unit Nth Squadron, was basically a rolling featurette about mecha in whatever show was popular that season. I have volumes for that series covering Genesis Climber MOSPEADA's VR-052 MOSPEADA and the L-Gaim from Heavy Metal L-Gaim.

Were MSV and Entertainment Bible-like books sold well?

Bandai's Entertainment Bible series had over 51 published volumes by 1993... and, well, you've seen Gundam UC. You KNOW the MSV books sold well, because we've had multiple shows now dedicated to using as many of them as humanly possible.

Were they bought to America?

Nope! America didn't start getting English language versions of anime artbooks until the mid-2000s when Viz Media started reprinting artbooks for titles like Bleach and Naruto for sale in bookstores.

The first professional English-language official artbook I remember seeing for a manga/anime property was the first of Tite Kubo's illustration collections for Bleach, titled All Colour but the Black... and that was in like 2007. Artbooks are starting to make their way to the US slowly but surely. Around Christmas I saw that Barnes and Noble was carrying illustration collections from [i[Fullmetal Alchemist[/i].

The lack of artbooks was one of the things that kept publications like Mecha Press afloat. They were essentially the ONLY way to get any kind of tech specs or other details about mecha in an anime series until the internet started to make fan translations of Japanese artbooks available.

[False Prophet]

Back in the heydey of mecha, HELL YES.

You could usually count on artbooks to gush over the mecha at great and tedious length, but the fans would also get in on that with doujinshi. One series, called Unnamed Unit Nth Squadron, was basically a rolling featurette about mecha in whatever show was popular that season. I have volumes for that series covering Genesis Climber MOSPEADA's VR-052 MOSPEADA and the L-Gaim from Heavy Metal L-Gaim.

Nope! America didn't start getting English language versions of anime artbooks until the mid-2000s when Viz Media started reprinting artbooks for titles like Bleach and Naruto for sale in bookstores.

The first professional English-language official artbook I remember seeing for a manga/anime property was the first of Tite Kubo's illustration collections for Bleach, titled All Colour but the Black... and that was in like 2007. Artbooks are starting to make their way to the US slowly but surely. Around Christmas I saw that Barnes and Noble was carrying illustration collections from [i[Fullmetal Alchemist[/i].

The lack of artbooks was one of the things that kept publications like Mecha Press afloat. They were essentially the ONLY way to get any kind of tech specs or other details about mecha in an anime series until the internet started to make fan translations of Japanese artbooks available.

Where did you buy those doujinshi? Did you go to Japan, or they were carried to America?

(I have always wondered how did Comiket look like in the 1990s.)

Protoculture Addicts were part of the anime magazine purge in the mid-2000s, right? I've read that Newtype USA and some other magazines were axed at the time. Did that actually cut down the amount of series whose information being made available in English, since fans would only focus on a few series to translate?

[Seto Kaiba]

Where did you buy those doujinshi? Did you go to Japan, or they were carried to America?

Technically they were all purchased in Japan...

That said, they're a mix of books I bought myself while in Japan on business, books purchased for me by some friends who work for a Japanese supplier and fly back and forth to Japan on a regular basis, and books obtained using online resources like Mandarake Earth, Yahoo! Japan Auctions, etc. Those same friends are also responsible for getting me event products for Macross events like the guidebooks that came with the last couple movies.

Finding doujinshi in the US can be pretty difficult. Doujinshi aren't usually published in large numbers or sold in proper bookstores, so unless you go to specialty stores (even in Japan) you're kind of SOL. The only specialty stores that are catering to doujinshi in the US that I'm aware of are in San Francisco's Japantown... so unless you live in SoCal, good luck. Vendors will sometimes do the convention circuit, like there's usually one or two doujinshi vendors at SDCon in Torrance, but most of what they carry is h-doujinshi not the more family-friendly stuff like fanmade technical material.

(I have always wondered how did Comiket look like in the 1990s.)

Much the same as it does now... crowded.

Protoculture Addicts were part of the anime magazine purge in the mid-2000s, right? I've read that Newtype USA and some other magazines were axed at the time. Did that actually cut down the amount of series whose information being made available in English, since fans would only focus on a few series to translate?

Protoculture Addicts was already on the way out when they were bought by Anime News Network in 2005, and when America's anime distribution industry went through one of its periodic recessions and periods of reorganization that resulted in Geneon USA and ADV FIlms both going under in 2008 they were shuttered as well because ANN's official website had already basically rendered them redundant. Newtype USA, PiQ, and couple other periodicals also bit the dust around the same time for the same reasons.

It wasn't much of a loss to the anime enthusiast community in the west because, well, ANN had already rendered the print magazines redundant anyway and fansubbers were generally on top of the season's big hits so in an age before simulcasts became commonly available there wasn't much point in reading the news on a two year delay in print.

[False Prophet]

Well, just as I expected, not many people in the States would be bother with technical manual. In my country, it is even worse. Every anime fan watch at least a Gundam or Macross, but you can count the number of people actually look into the specs on two hands.

(And did you go to Comiket back then?)0

Say, have Bandai, Yamato, Hasegawa, or any other toy company have released a Macross hangar model? Sometime ago I did see a Robotech hangar model made by Revell (I thing?)

(Also, among the three manufacturers I have mentioned, who have the best production quality? One of my friends had a 1/60 Yamato VF-1, and I remember I was not terribly impressed with the articulation.)

[Seto Kaiba]

Well, just as I expected, not many people in the States would be bother with technical manual. In my country, it is even worse. Every anime fan watch at least a Gundam or Macross, but you can count the number of people actually look into the specs on two hands.

In the US, it'd really depend on the franchise.

Star Trek and Star Wars both did a fairly brisk trade in tech manuals back in the day. Both still do, to a lesser extent than they used to. Star Trek's were even canon until Gene Roddenberry had a falling out with the guy who wrote the first one. Star Trek stopped for a while after the Deep Space Nine tech manual since Voyager didn't really introduce anything new and its ratings were in freefall. Once Enterprise came around it started to put out tech manuals and other reference books again. Not too long ago they did ones for the B'rel-class Bird of Prey and an overview one for the various classes of ship to bear the Enterprise name.

I think there might be a market for that kind of thing here if only Macross were a more established series... ie if the idiots at HG would kindly GTFO. Gundam could probably swing it. That show's mainstream enough here for them to sell gunpla in Barnes and Noble. Sadly the Gundam tech manuals are exclusively for UC "vintage" shows while the stuff airing in the US is mainly AUs. (Also, Build can f*ck right off... glorified toy commercial that it is.)

(And did you go to Comiket back then?)0

I was still in school in the 90's... but I've heard plenty of stories from my older colleagues who did go. The one thing they all liked to dwell on was how absolutely horrible the event smells every year. Too many people in too little space with no chance of adequate air conditioning...

Say, have Bandai, Yamato, Hasegawa, or any other toy company have released a Macross hangar model? Sometime ago I did see a Robotech hangar model made by Revell (I thing?)

There was one, bloody ages ago... but I don't know who made it. (I'm not really much of a toy collector.)

(Also, among the three manufacturers I have mentioned, who have the best production quality? One of my friends had a 1/60 Yamato VF-1, and I remember I was not terribly impressed with the articulation.)

Well, you have to remember the Yamatos are like twenty years behind the times now... and they're defunct, so they're not about to up their game. The reason the Yamatos are coveted is they did a bunch of stuff for shows that other companies haven't revisited... particularly the VF-11 Thunderbolt and VF-22 Sturmvogel II. Hasegawa's in model kits rather than transformable completed models, so they're in a different category altogether.

It's basically a two horse race between Bandai and Arcadia nowadays. Bandai's got the DX Chogokins and HiMetal Rs, and Arcadia has its line. All in all, I'd probably rank Arcadia higher than Bandai for quality, though Bandai's line covers a lot more territory and their build quality has made enormous strides in recent years. The DX Chogokin toys made for Macross Delta stand head and shoulders above Bandai/Tamashii's previous offerings for Macross Frontier in build quality.

[DragoMaster009]

I take it you're not a big fan of Build Fighters or its sequels?