Category: Production History

“The Men Who Made Macross” Special Airs

Post author By Renato
Post date July 8, 2012

An hour-long TV special documentary aired on July 8th at 8pm on the Tokyo MX station as part of the Macross 30th Anniversary celebrations and to promote the upcoming “Macross: Do You Remember Love?” Blu-Ray release.

The show was well made, with plenty of interesting information about the production of the original TV series from the first “Battle City Megaroad” concept, to the production of the “DYRL” feature film, all straight from the mouths of Shoji Kawamori, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Ichiro Itano, Kazutaka Miyatake and Yasunori Honda (sound director) as they reminisce their younger days.

Some screencaps for your viewing pleasure, and more info, follow after the jump.

Music Podcast Production History

Podcast — Macross Music in the 1980’s

Post author By Renato
Post date July 8, 2012

Member VF5SS/Andrew/Veef from CollectionDX and Macross World has a new episode of his podcast, “The Veef Show”!

Episode 43 features MW member Gubaba/Richard as a guest, discussing not only the music of the original Macross TV show, but also contextualizing it by giving us insight on idols and the pop music environment in Japan at around the time.

Download it from here:

The Veef Show Episode 43 – Macross Music in the 1980’s

Movies and TV Series Production History staff interviews

1983 Interview with Hiroshi Iwata

Post author By Renato
Post date February 19, 2012

Time to break up the toy news for a bit and take a little history lesson.

Hiroshi Iwata was a producer for the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series – a series beloved and berated by fans for its at-times-incredible, at-times-abysmal visuals, the result of round-the-clock blood sweat and tears. The book “Macross Graffiti” features an intriguing interview detailing his impressions regarding his experiences working on the show. It is always fascinating to read about the production history of the series and here we have another fine example, encapsulated in time, of the sentiments of the Macross staff as they look back on their struggle, still fresh in their memory.

Podcast Production History staff interviews Toys

The History of the Takatoku 1/55 VF-1 Valkyrie Toy

Post author By Renato
Post date February 1, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, VF5SS and I got together to discuss the 1/55 VF-1 Valkyrie toy, a highly influential, internationally bestselling and memorable toy from 1982, with a highly complex background to match.

For your listening pleasure, we hereby present the story of Takatoku’s masterpiece, the 1/55 VF-1, from prototype to toy, to bootleg, to reissue.

I believe a great deal of this information is new to English-speakers, since a lot of it is taken from the following Japanese sources: Figure Oh #130, #77 and #134; Model Graphix #318, and Shoji Kawamori Macross Design Works.

LISTEN HERE: Streaming version on Youtube.

MP3 version direct download

Noburo Ishiguro at Otakon 2011

Post author By TheLoneWolf
Post date February 1, 2012

Last year, Noburo Ishiguro attended Otakon 2011, so I decided to report on some of his activities at the convention. One of the events that he was participating in was a Q & A session, so Mechamaniac and I decided to solicit Macross World members for questions to ask him. We only got one question, and that was from Xard. As it would turn out, there was only enough time to ask Ishiguro one question, so it worked out perfectly. Xard wanted to know if Ishiguro stood back and let Shoji Kawamori have full reign over Macross: Do You Remember Love?, or if the movie was a collaborative effort between the two. A good question since both men are credited as the directors of the movie, but fans don’t know who exactly did what.

Also included in my report is the complete transcript of Ishiguro’s speech and Q & A session, as well as my account of his autograph session, and the items that he donated to Otakon’s charity auction for the 2011 Japan Relief. One of which was a Macross watercolor sketch by Haruhiko Mikimoto. I do not believe that this particular watercolor sketch has ever been published in any art book or magazine.

Click on the jump for the complete report and pictures.