Megazone 23 - 1986 - Lost Footage

[Area88]

Megazone 23 - Lost Clip 1

Megazone 23 - Lost Clip 2

Despite the changing production teams and seeing a huge change character designs between part 1 and part 2 of Megazone 23 OVA's. Apparently this footage shows rare animation footage apparently either animated for the English Education Edition of Megazone 23 or the never released Robotech the movie. Which one is it?

Clip 1 shows us a great trip through space with some excellent music, then we get some new animation that starts from and extends the ending of Megazone 23 Part 1, we also briefly see some reused shots shortly after.

Clip 2 has some really great new animation, with the occasion reusing of a background form Part 1. The funky electronic BGM music track is pretty cool. It's a shame the real Part 2 of Megazone 23 didn't turn out into anything even remotely similiar to this.

I love those hover bikes and the more intense military style to it. Enjoy!

[lord_breetai]

Those were both created for Robotech the Untold Story to give it a more concrete and also happy ending. So there's your answer it was definitely original material for RT:TUS

[lord_breetai]

oops meant to edit but quoted myself instead...

And it's not quite true that RT:TUS was never released, it did get a VHS release in several countries just not the US.

Edited December 16, 2007 by lord_breetai

[terry the lone wolf]

Area 88, can you make a copy the ending? I have the edited version on ROBOTECH: The Movie but I love to get the laserdisc version.

[Ginrai]

I have a rip of the ending from the LD, but be warned, it does not include the dialogue, has silly Japanese narration explaining what the hell this is, and has Japanese subtitles. Got anywhere for me to dump the file? An FTP site or something?

And yes, this is definitely the Robotech The Movie ending, which totally SUCKS and completely ruins the cool downbeat ending of Megazone 23 Part One. It is not at ALL a shame that Part 2 of Megazone 23 didn't turn out like Robotech The Movie. Yuck.

Edited December 17, 2007 by Ginrai

[Save]

Here is part of an article I wrote for a now defunct anime site that never saw the lite of day. I hope to put up the whole article up somewhere else soon.

This was the same footage show at this years celebration for Megazone23’s twenty-third anniversary. In attendance was sound director Honda Yasunori, voice actress Tominaga Mina (Tomomi Murashita in Part 1), director Ishigoro Noboru and mechanical designer Kakinuma Hideki. The presentation was broken up into two parts and in the second half opened with the Megaszone23 ending popularly known as the “Happy End.” What was shown happened to be the additional ending footage Harmony Gold had Tatsunoko produce for Robotech: The Untold Story, virtually unknown in Japan. There was absolutely no mention of Robotech or Harmony Gold, only that it was officially called the “International Version.” Ishigoro and Kakinuma responded to questions about the “Happy End” with cautious, but clear disdain.

Ishigoro: "This is very interesting," he said, guardedly. "I knew nothing about this work. This ending doesn't seem to fit at all, though."

Kakinuma: "Why must you go and make it a happy end against all odds? I think the original ending was very truthful by comparison." He also jokingly said it was a rip-off and they should "give us our money."

We stated during the Q&A that the “International Version” was never widely shown or sold in any form in the United States. It did how ever get released in Europe, and more recently the same production company also produced a continuation of where Mospeada left off.

Kakinuma: “Robotech The Shadow Chronicles, yes I know about it, but I had nothing to do with the production at all.”

[lord_breetai]

I have a rip of the ending from the LD, but be warned, it does not include the dialogue, has silly Japanese narration explaining what the hell this is, and has Japanese subtitles. Got anywhere for me to dump the file? An FTP site or something?

And yes, this is definitely the Robotech The Movie ending, which totally SUCKS and completely ruins the cool downbeat ending of Megazone 23 Part One. It is not at ALL a shame that Part 2 of Megazone 23 didn't turn out like Robotech The Movie. Yuck.

Ginrai, how big is it? I might let you put it up on my domain.

[Ginrai]

It's in DVD format, high quality, 867 megs.

[lord_breetai]

okay I'll see if I've got room to host it... if so I'd only keep it on there for about a week so anyone who wants it would have to be ready for it.

[1st Border Red Devil]

I thought the damn battle/riot armour helmets from Shadow Chronicles looked vaguely familiar! Its rather similar to the helmets the soldiers guarding the fighter are wearing.

I used to have a videotape of MegaZone 23 Part II from way back when I bought The Sentinels on tape (circa 1989) and I remembered thinking this was a cool opening because they used Led Zeppelin for some of the music. BTW, if you look at BD in MegaZone 23 Part I, you can see a somewhat resemblance to TR Edwards (originally called BD Edwards, since it was supposed to be The Untold Story's BD), minus the 'half cowl' and blonde hair the latter is sporting (since that was the original idea of how he got fragged up was at the hands of Mark Landry).

[terry the lone wolf]

okay I'll see if I've got room to host it... if so I'd only keep it on there for about a week so anyone who wants it would have to be ready for it.

lord_breetai can you post a link?

[danth]

I've seen this before, somewhere, long ago. But what really strikes me is how rich and artistic the animation is.

God I miss good animation from the eighties. After watching this, I watched the beginning of Yotoden for the first time, and the art and animation were just beautiful. I've decided, all those people who say japanese animation back then was no better than anime today -- they're retarded and I hate them.

Sure, there was crap back then, and there's crap now, but the state of the art back then was much better than the best stuff today. We've lost artistic quality, style, and animation techniques that made animation look cool, and the only thing we've gained are computer techniques to make animation cheaper.

Anyway, cool find, Area88. If only you had, oh I dunno, a blog or something you could for all these cool things you find.