Author: Renato

Final batch of Macross Movies Blu-ray discs are OUT!

Post author By Renato
Post date January 28, 2016

Today sees the release of the remaining three Macross movies in their sleeker, stand-alone, new editions: Macross: Do You Remember Love, Macross Plus: Movie Edition, and Macross 7: The Galaxy is Calling Me. Following on from the release of the two Macross Frontier movies, The False Diva and The Wings of Farewell, these last three releases also boast brand-new art by staff members, namely Koji Morimoto (Plus), Haruhiko Mikimoto (DYRL and 7) and Hidetaka Tenjin (er, all the things), as well as newly recorded audio commentaries, featuring Mika Doi (Misa Hayase), Akira Kamiya (Roy Focker), Yasunori Honda (DYRL sound producer), Shoji Kawamori, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Takumi Yamazaki (Isamu Dyson), Unshou Ishizuka (Guld Bowman), Ichiro Itano, Keiko Nobumoto (Plus screenwriter), Michiko Nemoto (Emilia Jenius), Tetsuro Amino (M7 director) and many MORE.

But of course, the one thing that is on everyone’s mind is whether or not the censorship that plagued the original release of DYRL on BD is still there or not. I can happily report that it has been removed and so the movie is just the way you remember it. DO YOU REMEMBER GORE?

Now there’s absolutely no excuse not to own these classics, looking better than ever. Though in the case of the Frontier movies, I would say the Shudista boxset is still better value, since it’s jam-packed with bonus content, and you get a bunch of books as well as English subtitles, which the new releases sadly lack.

Books Movies and TV Series Production History staff interviews

Miyatake interview from “SDF-1 Macross: Thorough Dissection”

Post author By Renato
Post date September 19, 2015

As we board the hype train leading up to Kazutaka Miyatake’s exhibition of original artworks, let us look at a recent interview with him conducted earlier this year for the “SDF-1 Macross: Thorough Dissection” book — you know, the one which also doubles as an enormous 1/2400 scale papercraft model of the Fortress Exceeding Space and Time itself (the cover of the book stoically assures us that it is genuine “Deculture Scale”, no less).

The translation starts right after the jump! (I tried to be as accurate as possible, and that is why the four in-text notes are oddly numbered: there are two #3’s, and there is no #1. 😛 )

Books Fan Works Movies and TV Series

New Translation of “The Plundering Fleet” from Macross: Perfect Memory, by Kenichi Matsuzaki, Trans.: Gubaba

Post author By Renato
Post date September 14, 2015

MW member and Macross SpeakerPODcast partner-in-crime Gubaba has provided us with another new translation! I’ll leave it to him to introduce it… Download link at the bottom!

The Plundering Fleet is one of two short stories included in the Macross Perfect Memory book from 1983, in the section “Macross Outside Story” (by which, they mean “side stories”). It was written by Kenichi Matsuzaki, who was the script editor for the series and also wrote plenty of episodes, including the first three and “Love Drifts Away.”

You may remember that in Episode 15 of the series, Global tells Misa a story about her father pulling off some wild scheme involving pretending to be Anti-Unification Forces and raiding a UN storehouse. That’s what this story is about, but really, only partially.

I’ve always been kind of curious about the story. MW member Roycommi posted a version over a decade ago, but since that was only two pages long, and the story in Japanese covers four pages of extremely small, dense text, there was clearly a lot missing. I started the translation in late 2011, while still working on the Misa novel. I did most of the first section, and then put it away for a few years, picking it up a little less than a year ago. I worked on it sporadically this year, and finally finished it yesterday (mostly… There will be a slightly revised version coming later). Honestly, I found it a real slog. Fun to read, I hope, but really difficult to translate. Neil Nadelman and Frank Reynolds helped with the submarine terminology, and my old housemate in Tokyo, Irina, helped confirm that the “Russian” names in the story aren’t actually Russian, and okayed my spelling of them. Any errors that remain, however, are my own.

Download HERE: The Plundering Fleet

Discuss on the forums HERE

Events Production History staff interviews

Kazutaka Miyatake exhibition coming in October

Post author By Renato
Post date September 12, 2015

Stop the presses — it’s the BIG ONE!

The City of Yokosuka will hold a Kazutaka Miyatake exhibition from next month — on an actual BATTLESHIP.

Kazutaka Miyatake is a living legend. He, along with Kunio Okawara (who incidentally currently has his own exhibition running at the Ueno Royal Museum until the end of September), practically created the “mechanic designer” position in the animation industry.

He is famous for having worked on the Powered Suit design for the Japanese editions of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers — immensely influential in the history of Japanese animation as it informed every robot design in anime thereafter including Mobile Suit Gundam. He is renowned for his design work on Space Cruiser Yamato, Super Dimension Century Orguss, Aura Battler Dunbine and of course, pretty much every Macross series: SDF, DYRL, Seven, Dynamite, Zero, Frontier, and most of the games (except Macross II 😛 ).

As bonus trivia, his credit in Macross: Do You Remember Love was “Production Design” — in other words, he created the entire world of the theatrical Macross movie from scratch, a feat that traverses the boundaries of “mechanic design”.

A talk show will be held on the 24th of October with guests Miyatake-sensei and fellow Studio Nue member, the legendary SF illustrator Naoyuki Kato!

The Kazutaka Miyatake Gengaten will be held from October 24th to November 23rd at the HIJMS Memorial Battleship “Mikasa”.

Info about the Mikasa in English here:
http://www.kinenkan-mikasa.or.jp/en/build_of_mikasa.html

Info on the event in Japanese here:
http://www.city.yokosuka.kanagawa.jp/4450/nagekomi/20150911.html

Collectors Production History staff interviews Toys

“Why are Arcadia Products so Expensive?” by Mr. K

Post author By Renato
Post date September 2, 2015

We’ve all thought about it, some of us more vocally than others, and on Thursday last week, the mysterious Mr. K from Arcadia — previously Yamato — took some time to publish a long blog post on the topic of why Arcadia’s products are so highly priced.

The really high quality transforming Macross toys have never been cheap. No, not even the Takatoku 1/55. But Arcadia’s recent offerings have finally broken the 30,000 yen barrier. Some of us in the forums felt that Arcadia had gone insane. Well, this here is a unique opportunity to peek at what actually goes into producing a Valkyrie toy and give a bit more context to the figures.

Original article:
http://ameblo.jp/arcadiaac/entry-12066413053.html

Feel free to discuss this in the MW forums!

Why are Arcadia toys so expensive? By Mr. K (Translated by Renato)

Why are Arcadia toys so expensive?

Our Macross items are currently on a Macross Zero boom (according to myself).
We’re putting out several UN Spacy birds in turn, but I (personally) want to do Anti-UN ones as well.

However, there is a growing difference between the way things are today and years ago, so the truth is that we cannot do things like in the old days.

“How can we make these products a reality…?” I’m constantly struggling with that thought.

Of course, the same goes for other projects, too, but it is a constant, everyday struggle.

Hello. My name is Mr. K, the struggling project developer of this company.

For years now the Chinese factories have been raising their fees and we have seen that influence the price of our products.

This is not just a hit on our company, but also on the manufacturing industry as a whole. So yeah, of course it’s a struggle!!

So I thought I would take some time to think about the reason for that struggle, which is the issue of high price point products, and how that relates to profit margins.

That said, it’s not like I can actually talk about the profit bottom line or anything, so let’s just think about it in the following way…

I will call it: “Why do people say our products are expensive…?” (And yes, as I write this my heart can’t help but feel heavy).

Toys

Arcadia YF-19 coming in 2014

Post author By Renato
Post date June 19, 2013

Oh yeah. In my excitement over the Orguss Blu-Ray announcement, I didn’t notice this little thing hidden inside the Macross Plus boxset.

I’ll just put this here and let you guys in the Toy Forum discuss and speculate for about a year or so. 😛

30th Anniversary Collectors Movies and TV Series

Macross Plus arrives on Blu-ray!

Post author By Renato
Post date June 19, 2013

So, technically the official release date of Macross Plus on BD is not until tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peek at some of the goodies on their way to you original roughnecks of Dalmatian High School who pre-ordered.

30th Anniversary Collectors Movies and TV Series Music

New FB7 Package art revealed!

Post author By Renato
Post date March 27, 2013

This one sneaked in under the radar — Amazon JP has revealed the new box art for the “Macross FB7 Ore no Uta wo Kike!” movie Blu-ray set. Oh, and it’s FANTASTIC.

Are you a Mikimoto fan, or an Ebata fan? Why choose — HAVE BOTH!

FB7 is out on April 24th, 2013.

GO, Thread, GO

Collectors Podcast Toys

Podcast: Retrospective on Yamato Macross Toys

Post author By Renato
Post date February 19, 2013

As previously reported HERE, Yamato, the company that brought fans the greatest Macross toys ever is undergoing some changes and forthcoming Macross-licensed items will now be sold under the Arcadia brand.

The evolution of Yamato’s Macross products have always been somewhat synchronous with the growth of Macrossworld as a fansite, seeing as they both began at around the same time, making this transition all the more poignant.

This sign of the changing times gives us an opportunity to look backand reminisce all the elation and/or frustration that Yamato’s products have given us over their 13-year journey exceeding time and space.

Thus MW member VF5SS and I (Renato from the Macross Speaker Podcast) got together for a talk session where we powered through Yamato’s entire back-catalogue, with a smattering of insights on the company philosophy and the changing nature of the market taken from an interview I personally conducted with Yamato Toys staff in June 2012.

The host page on CollectionDX, including a long list of links to every Yamato Valkyrie review on the site is here:

Veef_Show_Episode_51:_Retrospective_Yamato_Toys

Direct download links are here:

The_Veef_Show_051_Part_1

The_Veef_Show_051_Part_2

And discussion threads are HERE (Movies and Series Forum) and HERE (Toys Forum)