Kawamori Interview from Otona Anime # 9

[Zinjo]

Not sure if this was posted before, it didn't come up in my search.

Granted this is a translation from Otona Anime Mag#9 from December 2008 posted at the Akiba Station website, but it does give some insights into the universe from the man himself..,

Interview with Shōji Kawamori from volume 9

Title: We ask Supervising Director Kawamori! The Macross Frontier World

Interviewer - Although we covered many topics during the previous interview, I’d like to specifically ask questions about how the world of Macross F is set up.

Kawamori - (laughs) There probably are things that I either can’t talk about, don’t have a definite answer, or have to keep secret.

Interviewer - Is that so? (laughs) Then I’ll probably ask questions about topics which I probably shouldn’t ask about…

Kawamori - Well then, in those cases, my responses are off the record. (laugh)

Interviewer - Let’s begin then. Currently in space, we know that there are a number of Macross ships present, including first generation and Galaxy class ships. How many Macross class Colonial Fleets are currently active?

Kawamori - Well, if we combine the large and small fleets, there are dozens that are active. This includes the Megaroad type and colonial fleets which do not have Macross class ships. Within these fleets, I would say that there are dozens of Macross class ships that are making the voyage. If first generation fleets are present, then there are also Macross 7 size fleets, and there are, of course, Frontier size fleets present.

Interviewer - Then the ships in a fleet are constantly being replaced with newer types?

Kawamori - It’s not so much a matter of replacing, it’s more a matter of adding new ships to what’s already there. This also happens in real life. Since the life span of a ship is so long, it’s a losing proposition if you don’t use the ship for dozens of years. (laughs)

Interviewer - Making the ships for dozens of active fleets in a span of 50 years starting from the year 2009 is quite a feat of mass production, isn’t it?

Kawamori - That’s true. You would be able to manufacture ships yourself once the Zentradi factory ships were modified. That is a prerequisite for sure. Without that, mass production would be difficult.

Interviewer - Then earth’s resources weren’t being used?

Kawamori - Human resources were definitely being used, but since that would be insufficient, Zentradi technology was also used. Originally, since the Zentradi had a limited culture and limited practical skills due to Protoculture, humanity was better able to modify Zentradi technolgy. At that time, Zentradi technology, like the fold system, was modified to be easier to use by humans and in common use.

Interviewer - Are repaired Zentradi ships being used?

Kawamori - Yes, they are. There are colonial ships which are just the modified insides of Zentradi ships. It’s just that I didn’t want them to appear on screen because it would be too confusing. (laughs) If you mixed in Zentradi designed ships, you would no longer be able to tell who the good guys and bad guys were with just a quick glance. For people who are watching Macross F for the first time, this part of the story would be lost. That’s why Zentradi ships don’t appear in the series with the exception of episode 12. There are actually colonial ships which are made from modified Zentradi ships. If those are taken into account, I would say there are about 100 Zentradi ships.

Interviewer - Then there are colonial ships which are made up of just Zentradis?

Kawamori - Yes, of course. Since the ships were originally made for Zentradis, modifications would be quick and easy.

Interviewer - How many people live in the Macross Frontier fleet?

Kawamori - About 10,000,000 people.

Interviewer - 10,000,000 doesn’t really sound like that many people…it’s about the population of a Japanese prefecture.

Kawamori - Yes, that’s true, isn’t it? It couldn’t have been an enormous population considering that Sheryl was the premiere star of the Galaxy Network, which covered every colonial fleet and planet and the Earth

Interviewer - How big of a star was she? In the story, her popularity on Macross Frontier was dropping, and she actually seemed more like a local celebrity.

Kawamori - Although she was known as the queen of the Galaxy Net, your popularity soon drops if you don’t release songs and you don’t get exposure, just like in real life. Things were going well for her during the time of the Galaxy Tour, but once the war began, it became really difficult for her to promote herself. Since the Galaxy Network was no longer broadcasting information that let people know that she was still around, her fame was fading due to the lack of promotion.

Interviewer - There is a time lag involved when sending information by current light wave communication technology. If the Galaxy Net does not have such a time lag, does this mean that all the colonial fleets in all of space are always in synch?

Kawamori - Although the fold transmission wave is utilized, a time lag does occur whenever you send information over hundreds or thousands of light years. A time lag can also develop due to fold faults. Although the fold transmission wave is clearly faster than a ship’s fold system, I would have to say that there is a limit even to that.

Interviewer - Then it’s an all space network that isn’t always consistent?

Kawamori - Yes. When it’s slow, messages take several months to arrive. When it’s really bad, it takes a year and information can be out of date. Because of various factors like the location of fold faults, it’s not unusual that a connection which just worked the other day no longer works.

Interviewer - I’ve never heard of fold faults until now. Was it not present until now or was it just the fact that the colonial fleets were scattered across space that made it easier to discover?

Kawamori - In the past, the existence of fold faults themselves could not be confirmed. In the real world, it was said not too long ago that the mass of the galaxy was insufficient due to the existence of black holes, but due to advances in astronomical observation techniques, the cause was later attributed to the existence of dark matter. Eventually, as technology advanced, the idea that dark energy accounts for the majority of the missing mass of the universe became the accepted theory.

Interviewer - Then this means that it was a new discovery that happened only when humanity applied its powers of observation to the Zentradi’s technology, since the Zentradi’s powers of obervation were lacking?

Kawamori - Although the phenomena appeared on Zentradi sensors, they simply had no curiosity about it. Since they were only able to think in terms of “Why is it there?”, “Is it friend or foe?”, and “Should we attack?”, they cannot think beyond these terms even if they are ordered to. They simply haven’t been taught to think in a different manner.

Interviewer - There ability to think when it came to such things as culture and music was limited.

Kawamori - It was limited. Since there ability to think was limited, I kind of think their society really resembles modern day society. (laughs)

Interviewer - (laughs) Since the existence of fold faults was not confirmed, does this mean that the technology of the civilian corporations was able to provide a breakthrough in this area like in episode 12?

Kawamori - Actually, the Vajra had something to do with that technology.

Interviewer - Although the colonial fleets are scattered all over space, the first planet that was reached was Eden, correct?

Kawamori - It’s been established that Eden’s sun was located the closest to Earth.

Interviewer - The planet Eden was reached in the year 2015, wasn’t it?

Kawamori - Was that the date? (laughs) There are plans from the early stages you keep in mind whenever you’re having story problems, although it’s not like having a plan A, plan B, and plan C. Although these plans are present, whenever you are doing things like the continuity for a scernario you created, you don’t always remember what has already been established. Viewers remember things because they watch the final outcomes as they are shown on TV. In my case, since I sometimes work on things which are still in progress, there are times when I think, “How did that go?”

Interviewer - The first planet was Eden. Will the number of habitable planets steadily increase?

Kawamori - Hmmmmmm. The biggest problem is the level of astronomical observation technology since it’s already been established that terra forming isn’t really used that often. If terra forming was really used,

it would require a lot of time and that’s why it’s not really done. There are things like dark mattter and fold faults that can’t be seen that might be near the future Earth.

Interviewer - Was “Frontier” a part of the title because people were going to travel to the areas beyond the fold faults?

Kawamori - It wasn’t just the fold faults, it was also the feeling of stepping out into unknown territory.

Interviewer - Then what is the destination of the Macross Frontier fleet?

Kawamori - It’s actually heading for the center of the galaxy. It’s a voyage that is being made to search for the things which brought about the revolution in fold technology. Officially, the citizens of the Macross Frontier fleet aren’t told of this and also don’t know of the fact that the voyage is influenced by Richard Bilrer, sponsor of the S.M.S and shadow sponsor of the Frontier Fleet.

Interviewer - Then Frontier is an experimental model?

Kawamori - It’s not so much an experimental model, but more like a ship that is sent off on a voyage to discover the new world. Frontier’s voyage is being made to search for raw materials which will allow a great revolution, one that is on par with the Industrial Revolution, to occur. The purpose of this revolution would be to create the newest technology of the current age.

Interviewer - The citizens are involved yet they know nothing of it?

Kawamori - Yes

Interviewer - Whether it’s the S.M.S or the Macross Galaxy, the civilian corporations seem to have become much more powerful than the government in the Macross world.

Kawamori - In the real world, corporations have become powerful, haven’t they? On a related aspect, it’s a feeling inside of me that the notion of “nation” is already merely an illusion that was created by skillful propaganda. In other words, haven’t “nations” already become puppets of multi-national corporations and the capitalist groups who back them? Using the word “nation” means that various things are being skillfully manipulated.

Interviewer - Then there are civilian corporations that have more power than a Macross class Colonial Fleet, and those civilian corporations manipulate everything according to their hidden agendas?

Kawamori - Yes, that’s right. In secret, the civilian corporations and pivotal members of the groups that back them use various people in order to achieve their goals.

Interviewer - So although they are following the unified goals of the citizens, they also have their own agenda which the citizens never see.

Kawamori - Yes. In the real world, there are mutli-national corporations that are part of other group organizations that invest in other multi-national corporations.

Interviewer - Then that is fundamental to the story, isn’t it?

Kawamori - It is.

Interviewer - Sheryl’s manager, Grace, is doing some really suspicious things….Anyways, let’s return to the story for a bit. There was a lot of contact between the colonial fleets. Is there a standard style of exchange?

Kawamori - Yes, there is. High speed crafts that travel using folds are the main method, but since fold travel is much slower than fold communication, transporting goods is very slow, and this method is very limited. For those fleets which are close to each other, they use a relay system when sending things back and forth, which also includes using Earth as a relay point.

Interviewer - Although the network broadcasts to many locations, is it still being expanded?

Kawamori - The information net is advanced to a certain extent, but it’s like only having the internet during an Age of Discovery. It’s that type of world. (laughs)

Interviewer - (laughs) Then money and information are pretty much the only things that move around freely?

Kawamori - Yes, that’s true. The Valkyrie VF-25 itself wasn’t developed on the Frontier. Plans and development test data for the YF-24, which was developed on Earth and Eden, were given to the Frontier and LAI created a version of the YF-24, the VF-25. With the same data, the Galaxy created the VF-27.

Interviewer - They’re all based on the same Valkyrie design?

Kawamori - Yes, they are all off-shoots of the YF-24.

Interviewer - That also appeared in Macross 7, didn’t it? There were fighters like the VF-19 which were based on another fighter.

Kawamori - Some are developed from scratch by the fleets themselves, but things like running tests on the fighters would understandably be extremely difficult engineering wise. Keeping that in mind, that’s why development occurs on Earth or colonized planets. Once the majority of the tests and experiments are completed, the respective fleets can than take that information and decide what type of fighter to create from the data. Even in real life, it’s the same as when the US military buys Israeli fuselages that have gone through many actual battles and then improves on the design to create a more powerful fighter.

Interviewer - Then since the military factories and companies are competing fiercely for business, new generation Valkyries are always replacing the older models?

Kawamori - It’s not so much a matter of replacing, it’s more a matter of adding to what you already have. There are probably some fleets out there that are still using the VF-19s as VF-19s.

Interviewer - In the Macross world, do the colonial fleets have currency? If they do, is it standardized?

Kawamori - It hasn’t reached a point where it’s like the modern day Euro. Each fleet has a currency and I would say that the denominations and currency rate are probably different.

Interviewer - Then are there rate changes and currency mergers?

Kawamori - There are. The reason why the old government became the New Unity Government is that constituency of the old government had become too spread out and the government could not unify them into one body. The civilians became too strong and nations started to fall apart. The old government started changing into the New Unity Government.

Interviewer - Then there was no coup d’ etat? It was just a breakdown of the old government?

Kawamori - It no longer fit in with the realities of the Macross world.

Interviewer - You have the planet Eden, which has a colonial fleet administration. Is it run like a colonial fleet?

Kawamori - It’s become an independent administration of sorts. It’s like a privatized country.

Interviewer - Has power become decentralized? In other words, similar to countries in modern times, each colonial fleet would be a different country?

Kawamori - Macross Frontier is still like a country since it has a president, but Macross Galaxy is a corporate entity.

Interviewer - Becasue it’s developing implant technology?

Kawamori - Yes. Although I can’t give an exact date, the ban on implants themselves has recently been completely lifted. It’s said that technological innovation is happening inside the Galaxy. There was a big dispute over whether or not implants should be legalized, and in the end, the implant supporters won out.

Interviewer - What is the Earth’s position on all of this?

Kawamori - The Earth is still managing to do things as the Earth. (laughs)

Interviewer - Doesn’t the Earth have any power over the Colonial Fleets like the old unity government?

Kawamori - It doesn’t have anything like absoulte authority. It’s more symbolic.

Interviewer - So it’s not like the old Soviet Union or modern day America, it’s more like the European Union?

Kawamori - That’s probably the most similar, but the distance between the Earth and the Colonial Fleets is such that if you tried to return to Earth, it would take 10 years.

Interviewer - It’s not too far for sending information, but too far to actually go there.

Kawamori - Yes. That’s why Vajira power started becoming necessary in order to shrink the distance. The Vajira had Super High Speed Fold technology which was able to ignore the fold faults. The Super High Speed Fold System that was used in episode 12 was a system that used Vajira abilities. The system could be built because a corpse of a Vajira was obtained.

Interviewer - I see. Things were happening in the background and there were suspicious things happening.

Kawamori - Since I wanted to do things like that for the later half, I did the school campus things during the first half. (laughs)

Interviewer - (laughs) Everyone was cheerful and having a good time. So what about the human aspects of the Macross world? Alto’s family is an old family that is Japanese, isn’t it?

Kawamori - They’re not so much Japanese as they are people of Japan. Since Japan dissolved as a nation, I guess you could say that they are of Japanese descent.

Interviewer - In the Macross world, are the traditional arts preserved?

Kawamori - Since the first devastation of the Earth, there has been trauma concerned with that time, so there has been a movement to preserve Earth culture from the beginning year of the 21st century to the year 2009. Right after World War 2, after Europe had been severely bombed, it was rebuilt just like it originally was. It’s like they were trying to pass on it’s history and tradition.

Interviewer - Then it was similar to having things like living national trasures and intangible cultural assets?

Kawamori - It’s similar to having those things, but even then it’s not like everyone goes to see those things. When it comes to popularity, everyone is critical.

- There was still lots to talk about, but the contents were so in depth that we couldn’t fit them into this issue. To be continued in the next issue.

Kawamori Shouji Profile: Born in 1960 in Toyama prefecture. Active as a mecha designer since his student days and was the leading person who introduced the tranformation ability of the Valkyrie. At the age of 24, he made his directorial debut with the movie “Macross Do You Remember Love?” (co-directed with Ishiguro Noburo). A “Vision Creator” who has worked in a wide variety of roles including original story writer, director, producer, script writer, storyboard artist, and mecha designer on such series as Macross Plus, Arjuna, Aquarion, Macross Zero, and Aquarion The Movie.

[PetarB]

Fascinating read, thanks for posting that.

Wouldn't it be nice to see what a VF-24 looked like....

[edwin3060]

Interesting! I certainly haven't read this before. Do you know if they ever posted the rest of the interview? As to the interview itself, I guess SK really sounds like one of those conspiracy theorists who go on about how MNCs are going to take over the world.

Also, as to this: "Even in real life, it’s the same as when the US military buys Israeli fuselages that have gone through many actual battles and then improves on the design to create a more powerful fighter."

That doesn't even have any connection to reality that I know of!

[VFTF1]

Thank you for sharing this interview. Kawamori certainly seems to be a very conscious and intelligent individual. Great stuff.

Pete

[DarkReaper]

Well, at least we now know how NUNS came about. So it's more like a confederation of loose colony states, instead of the previous centralized government.

Also, as to this: "Even in real life, it’s the same as when the US military buys Israeli fuselages that have gone through many actual battles and then improves on the design to create a more powerful fighter."

Yeah I doubt the authenticity of that statement. At most the USAF asked the Israeli government if they could send some engineers over to check the long-term effects of constant engagements on old aircraft frames.

Edited February 24, 2009 by DarkReaper

[polidread]

i like the part about preserving the arts and culture.

im sure most of us have observed that the various city colonies have reproductions of famous historical landmarks, structures, public sculptures and artworks in general.

Macross 7 has a Tokyo/NewYork/Brooklyn feel to it, & Frontier has recreated San Francisco and Shibuya.

[TheLoneWolf]

This was an excellent interview, I love how it's filled with a bunch of nerd questions that only die-hard Macross fans can appreciate. Thanks for posting it, Zinjo!

Just curious, but who's responsible for the translation?

[RedWolf]

Well, at least we now know how NUNS came about. So it's more like a confederation of loose colony states, instead of the previous centralized government.

That's NUN or New United Nations not NUNS or New UN Spacy.

UN Spacy and NUNS are the military.

Converting Zentradi ships into colony vessels is intriguing.

I suppose the Nupetiet-Vergnitzs with Megaroad 1 and the Neo Nupetiet-Vergnitzs with Macross 5 aren't simple warships anymore but also colony vessels.

Since it has been finalize by Macross Chronicle that the Megaroad Class is 1600 meters while Nupetiet-Vergnitzs is 4000 meters.

Nupetiet-Vergnitzs has more space than a Megaroad if modified for miclones.

[The Saint]

I don't really understand why Kawamori thinks the resurgence of super corporations post SW-I makes a lot of sense.

The current corporate structures developed out of centuries of socio-political-economic foundations that were basically wiped clean by the Bodol Zer Main Fleet's bombardment of Earth. With the distinction/support between private and public wealth essentially destroyed, and the government becoming sole remaining stable provider, I would've expected something more like the United Federation of Planets to develop. In the rush to rebuild, it doesn't seem like it'd make a lot of sense to devote time and effort into re-establishing banking and self-owned private firms.

Score one for corporatist culture mentality in modern Japan, I guess.

[Mr March]

Very interesting article. It answers a lot of questions about ships, fold technology and other specifics that we've not yet had clarified.

It's also funny how Kawamori doesn't always remember everything he creates, which is a good reminder of the true nature of the writing process for all the overly-nitpicking fans

That part about the Macross Frontier fleet being influenced by Richard Bilrer as a shadow sponsor was interesting information that could have been made clearer in the series. I suppose Kawamori can hide behind "we don't always know all the facts in real life" but for the sake of narrative flow and coherency, it would have made much more sense to expand upon this connection in the series. Especially since the power between corporations vs. government is a very compelling issue to explore in fiction.

Of course, myself and other YF-19/VF-19 Excalibur & YF-21/VF-22 Sturmvogel II fans are sure to be happy at the news that Kawamori has confirmed fleets exist that use these fighters.

I must say that the New Unity Government of Macross is even more decentralized than I realized.

Well thanks for posting this Zinwonderful. This was a fantastic read from an anthropological view

[Vifam7]

Also, as to this: "Even in real life, it’s the same as when the US military buys Israeli fuselages that have gone through many actual battles and then improves on the design to create a more powerful fighter."

Translation mistake or Kawamori getting it backwards. I think it was meant to say that the Israeli airforce bought US airframes and improved them. Like the F-4 Phantoms being renovated by the Israelis to become the Kurnass 2000.

[DarkReaper]

Very likely as japanese tends to reverse sentence structure compared to english.

[magnuskn]

Wonderful interview. Thanks, Zinjo!

[Killer Robot]

I don't really understand why Kawamori thinks the resurgence of super corporations post SW-I makes a lot of sense.

The current corporate structures developed out of centuries of socio-political-economic foundations that were basically wiped clean by the Bodol Zer Main Fleet's bombardment of Earth. With the distinction/support between private and public wealth essentially destroyed, and the government becoming sole remaining stable provider, I would've expected something more like the United Federation of Planets to develop. In the rush to rebuild, it doesn't seem like it'd make a lot of sense to devote time and effort into re-establishing banking and self-owned private firms.

One might as well ask why, when the foundations of civilian government were similarly destroyed, the military authorities which remained didn't simply take over. Or why individual cultural traditions are still being fostered in a society that has been reduced to small numbers, unified, and split up again in a way having little to do with their initial nationalities?

The issue was covered right from the original series, when rather than the refugees just eating ship's rations, Minmay and her aunt and uncle got the restaurant restarted. It was an effort to give people their normal lives back: working, doing business, what have you. This moved to setting up an economy, with shops and luxury goods(such as they could manage), entertainment venues, coin-eating arcades, and what have you.

It's not hard to envision the survivors after the war taking this further: the towns set up, the work to be done...people wanting to feel like they had more part in their lives than taking military rations and doing work under military authority was much of how things got back to normal. The world's surface got wiped clean, but the humans that were left didn't...and culture is more than just singing. Their laws, their customs, their interactions: all of these were done in recreation of the world they knew. Maybe trying to fix some past problems along the way, but "let's throw away the whole notion of private business" wasn't on that list.

To sum up, after the war, Global and others in authority were perceptive and ethical enough to want to distance the combined future of humans and Zentradi from the Zentradi's uncultured past, and to want humanity back to some semblance of normal life after the ordeal. Obviously they considered private enterprise as part of that culture right along with the arts and elected civilian government, and there's nothing in the setting to suggest that wasn't a reasonable or likely choice.

[RogueTrooper]

Great read, thanks you for sharing.

Cool to hear about the old Valks being used and the Zentradi ships being retrofitted.

"Zentradi factory ships" More than one factory satalite?

The new industrial revolution would be cool to see any future macross.

Edited February 24, 2009 by RogueTrooper

[Zinjo]

This was an excellent interview, I love how it's filled with a bunch of nerd questions that only die-hard Macross fans can appreciate. Thanks for posting it, Zinjo!

Just curious, but who's responsible for the translation?

Here's the link.

http://www.akiba-station.com/blog/?p=3308

I haven't seen the second part of the interview yet...

[DarkReaper]

Hell they even built and sold cars on the SDF, no idea how they managed to do that without the machinery needed for such a task.

[Zinjo]

One might as well ask why, when the foundations of civilian government were similarly destroyed, the military authorities which remained didn't simply take over. Or why individual cultural traditions are still being fostered in a society that has been reduced to small numbers, unified, and split up again in a way having little to do with their initial nationalities?

The issue was covered right from the original series, when rather than the refugees just eating ship's rations, Minmay and her aunt and uncle got the restaurant restarted. It was an effort to give people their normal lives back: working, doing business, what have you. This moved to setting up an economy, with shops and luxury goods(such as they could manage), entertainment venues, coin-eating arcades, and what have you.

It's not hard to envision the survivors after the war taking this further: the towns set up, the work to be done...people wanting to feel like they had more part in their lives than taking military rations and doing work under military authority was much of how things got back to normal. The world's surface got wiped clean, but the humans that were left didn't...and culture is more than just singing. Their laws, their customs, their interactions: all of these were done in recreation of the world they knew. Maybe trying to fix some past problems along the way, but "let's throw away the whole notion of private business" wasn't on that list.

To sum up, after the war, Global and others in authority were perceptive and ethical enough to want to distance the combined future of humans and Zentradi from the Zentradi's uncultured past, and to want humanity back to some semblance of normal life after the ordeal. Obviously they considered private enterprise as part of that culture right along with the arts and elected civilian government, and there's nothing in the setting to suggest that wasn't a reasonable or likely choice.

Also keep in mind that when immigrants come to a new land they always either congregate with those of their home culture or set up places where they could enjoy their heritage. This is a rather human trait that is perpetuated in Macross.

As for multi-stellar corporations, it makes sense to me. Any government would have finite resources to take on the task the size of the emigration project and large corporations would see it as an opportunity to "sponsor" fleets to further their own adgendas. Galaxy is an extreme example of this, being run like a mobile corporate headquarters as opposed to a democratic republic.

One thing that I like is that the colonies had evolved into city-states, falling under the umbrella of the NUNG confederation, yet remaining independent nations.

[Beltane70]

Great interview! I can't wait to see the second part of it!

Hell they even built and sold cars on the SDF, no idea how they managed to do that without the machinery needed for such a task.

Who knows, maybe South Atalia Island had an automobile factory on it that they salvaged after the Macross folded with the island.

[UN Spacy]

Superb read.

[wolfx]

Nice read. Thanks Zinjo. And God bless you mr. interviewer for asking such nerdy questions!

It's also funny how Kawamori doesn't always remember everything he creates, which is a good reminder of the true nature of the writing process for all the overly-nitpicking fans

Kawamori has a point and I didn't see it that way until now. He has all this ideas in his head for a story in progress and sometimes you just don't know what was canon and what is. It seems he is also less critical on the dates on when things happened etc. Kawamori probably needs a little black diary to note down stuff that he has decided on canon.

That part about the Macross Frontier fleet being influenced by Richard Bilrer as a shadow sponsor was interesting information that could have been made clearer in the series. I suppose Kawamori can hide behind "we don't always know all the facts in real life" but for the sake of narrative flow and coherency, it would have made much more sense to expand upon this connection in the series. Especially since the power between corporations vs. government is a very compelling issue to explore in fiction.

Hmmm....i always knew Bilrer was the shadow sponsor since all decisions made by the president also had to go through Mr Bilrer.....although agreed they should've expanded more on the "political intrigue" of the Bilrer's relationship with the Frontier administration.

[David Hingtgen]

Fascinating read, thanks for posting that.

Wouldn't it be nice to see what a VF-24 looked like....

Just a quick note--there is no VF-24, only the YF-24. And we see it very briefly in ep 15. (first half I think).

[Graham]

Interviewer - Then since the military factories and companies are competing fiercely for business, new generation Valkyries are always replacing the older models?

Kawamori - It’s not so much a matter of replacing, it’s more a matter of adding to what you already have. There are probably some fleets out there that are still using the VF-19s as VF-19s.

I find the above question and answer very interesting.

I've always thought that given the sheer number of VFs in an average colony fleet (thousands of VFs), changing to a new model must be quite a long, slow process. Not only do you actually have manufacturer the new VFs, but you also need to do conversion training for all your pilots.

Likely, new VFs are introduced as attrition replacements, except in time of war against a superior enemy, when production of the new model is likely fast-tracked.

Kawamori's answer is telling, in that I read ithe "probably some fleets out there that are still using the VF-19s" as implying that the VF-19 is considered quite an old model (as it should be as it's a near 20 year old design) and only a few "some" fleets are still using it.

Graham

[RedWolf]

Just sponsoring the Frontier fleet makes you think how filthy rich Richard Bilrer is. Macross Galaxy is corporation composed of executives. Bilrer does it like a philantrophist. Which is mind boggling his ultimate motive for Macross Frontier's course is to find Minmay.

This is the guy who owns a PMC which is the Macross universe's version of FedEx.

[REbirth]

Really a fantastic interview, I want to hug the interviewers for asking such good questions and Kawamori for giving the valid answers.

It seems, like the modern world, the Macross world is also processing into a new age. Giant corporations and PMC are taking over the standard government like the NUNS little by little. And the fact that the Vajra is not a meaningless (albeit generic) addition to the series at all, because with their help, the Macross world is entering a entirely new age with new ways of fold traveling and fold communication.

About the "what Valk they used for each Macross Fleet" problem, I think it depends on just the "taste" of each fleet, really, with stuff like VFX2, when people still use VF1-X (a modernized version of VF-1) to do secret operation, I think they can custom/upgrade the VF-19's capacity to even surpass the VF-25.

And the YF-24 is indeed developed in Earth-Eden, much like the previous AVF plan (YF-19/21). Man, I'm so wish for a YF-24's OVA in Macross Plus-style.

This is the linart of the YF-24 Evolution as showed in the recap episode of Frontier:

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/4318/yf24.jpg

[Macross007]

Love that part of the interview :

"Kawamori - There are. The reason why the old government became the New Unity Government is that constituency of the old government had become too spread out and the government could not unify them into one body. The civilians became too strong and nations started to fall apart. The old government started changing into the New Unity Government."

Canon status of Macross VF-X2 jeopardized ?

[RedWolf]

Love that part of the interview :

"Kawamori - There are. The reason why the old government became the New Unity Government is that constituency of the old government had become too spread out and the government could not unify them into one body. The civilians became too strong and nations started to fall apart. The old government started changing into the New Unity Government."

Canon status of Macross VF-X2 jeopardized ?

No it isn't. I've been saying The New UN Government or New Unity Government has always been called that post Space War 1. Pre-Space War 1 was called the UN Government or Unity Government.

What changed is the military. During Macross 7 the military UN Spacy was still taking orders from Earth.

Wilbur Garland wanted a more centralized NUNG thus starting his coup on Earth.

After several incidences of douche UN Spacy officers they finally had enough and reformed UN Spacy into NUNS. Placing them under the supervision of local governments.

Edited February 25, 2009 by RedWolf

[Zinjo]

Just a quick note--there is no VF-24, only the YF-24. And we see it very briefly in ep 15. (first half I think).

We don't know if no VF-24's exist or will exist... yet.

A non-modified YF-24 put into production essentially becomes a VF-24, much like the YF-19 became the VF-19 since no substantial changes were made between the test and production models. The YF-21 became the VF-22 because many of the bleeding edge technologies of the YF were never given to the VF-22.

The VF-25 & 27 saw many improvements and design changes over the YF-24, thus earned new designations.

Just sponsoring the Frontier fleet makes you think how filthy rich Richard Bilrer is. Macross Galaxy is corporation composed of executives. Bilrer does it like a philantrophist. Which is mind boggling his ultimate motive for Macross Frontier's course is to find Minmay.

This is the guy who owns a PMC which is the Macross universe's version of FedEx.

Consider how long a Zentreadi lives and then couple that with running a business for an extended amount of time. I get the impression that Briler was part of Vritai's fleet and personally witnessed Minmay in action. Now consider him running a business for 50 years. Humans would have retired after maybe 30 years, but Briler is still going strong and clearly has the acumen to make money in the post SW1 era of expansion.

Mega projects like the emigration project, colonization & galalctic defence are prime opportunities for someone who knows how to make a buck.

I doubt Briler is the only trillionare in the Macross universe, only the first we've met.

Edited February 25, 2009 by Zinjo

[edwin3060]

Consider how long a Zentreadi lives and then couple that with running a business for an extended amount of time. I get the impression that Briler was part of Vritai's fleet and personally witnessed Minmay in action. Now consider him running a business for 50 years. Humans would have retired after maybe 30 years, but Briler is still going strong and clearly has the acumen to make money in the post SW1 era of expansion.

Mega projects like the emigration project, colonization & galalctic defence are prime opportunities for someone who knows how to make a buck.

I doubt Briler is the only trillionare in the Macross universe, only the first we've met.

Humans can work for 50+ years now, I don't see a stretch there! Also, considering the post-war boom that had to have occurred (in order to produce the Macross we see subsequently) I'm pretty sure there are more than a handful of people who were either smart, or lucky or both, who rode the boom to multi-gazillionaire status, enough for them to indulge their fetish in goth servantmaids and toy trains

[azrael]

No it isn't. I've been saying The New UN Government or New Unity Government has always been called that post Space War 1. Pre-Space War 1 was called the UN Government or Unity Government.

What changed is the military. During Macross 7 the military UN Spacy was still taking orders from Earth.

Wilbur Garland wanted a more centralized NUNG thus starting his coup on Earth.

After several incidences of douche UN Spacy officers they finally had enough and reformed UN Spacy into NUNS. Placing them under the supervision of local governments.

Actually, I would say the events of VF-X2 was the olde boys trying to hold onto the old power structure.

What Kawamori says makes sense. As the UN grew into space, governing became harder since there's now a considerable distance between Earth and the new worlds (much like the British Empire and the American colonies). It moved to some more like the real-world UN model. Each world has its own government, own economy, etc. which can survive on its own with minimal affect on the rest of the galaxy. I'm sure the NUN has a General Assembly, Security council, galactic court of justice, etc., which deals with affairs affecting the galaxy (like certain lady trying to take over the galaxy with a bee-like race)

I'm guessing as well that since the NUN is a city-state/decentralized government, corporations don't have to go before the UN command and make proposals for new mechs. They can just head straight to the local governments and pitch their ideas, which is why we have the VF-25 and VF-27. There's no Earth-middle man and designs don't have to come from the top down. Local governments can create their own VFs without having to wait for the larger NUN body to approve the design and have it passed down. They can create localized VFs if they want (now there is a problem there, if you think about it) or keep current VFs like the VF-19, VF-11, VF-5000, or VF-171.

[Mr March]

Shinsei Industries sent out the YF-24 Evolution plans to each fleet. To my mind, that means the YF-24 Evolution is done the prototype stage and is obviously ready for mass production. You don't disseminate fighter plans among your entire military for a fighter that is not yet finalized. The addition of the "V" would be a mere formality at that point.

Going a step further into speculation, it is especially telling of the YF-24 Evolution time frame that both the Macross Galaxy and Macross Frontier fleets had time to study the YF-24 at length. These fleets then had time to design entirely new fighters, which went into limited mass production prior to 2059. I'd tend to think that for all this to jive, VF-24 Evolutions have already been flying in active service for several years when the events of the Macross Frontier series begin in 2059.

[edwin3060]

I'm guessing as well that since the NUN is a city-state/decentralized government, corporations don't have to go before the UN command and make proposals for new mechs. They can just head straight to the local governments and pitch their ideas, which is why we have the VF-25 and VF-27. There's no Earth-middle man and designs don't have to come from the top down. Local governments can create their own VFs without having to wait for the larger NUN body to approve the design and have it passed down. They can create localized VFs if they want (now there is a problem there, if you think about it) or keep current VFs like the VF-19, VF-11, VF-5000, or VF-171.

I would say that this incarnation of the NUN has been a long time in coming!

[RedWolf]

Shinsei Industries sent out the YF-24 Evolution plans to each fleet. To my mind, that means the YF-24 Evolution is done the prototype stage and is obviously ready for mass production. You don't disseminate fighter plans among your entire military for a fighter that is not yet finalized. The addition of the "V" would be a mere formality at that point.

Going a step further into speculation, it is especially telling of the YF-24 Evolution time frame that both the Macross Galaxy and Macross Frontier fleets had time to study the YF-24 at length. These fleets then had time to design entirely new fighters, which went into limited mass production prior to 2059. I'd tend to think that for all this to jive, VF-24 Evolutions have already been flying in active service for several years when the events of the Macross Frontier series begin in 2059.

Funny from a VF dubbed Evolution would spawn two VFs with the names Messiah and Lucifer.

Given the nature of the Macross universe where human evolution theory and creationist theory would be up the creek.

[sketchley]

Going a step further into speculation, it is especially telling of the YF-24 Evolution time frame that both the Macross Galaxy and Macross Frontier fleets had time to study the YF-24 at length. These fleets then had time to design entirely new fighters, which went into limited mass production prior to 2059. I'd tend to think that for all this to jive, VF-24 Evolutions have already been flying in active service for several years when the events of the Macross Frontier series begin in 2059.

I distinctly remember someone (Gubaba? Azrael?) mentioning that the YF-24 Evolution had been made into a VF-24; with no further information (such as name, capability changes/improvements, whatever.) It might have been on the VF-25 Chronicle Sheet.

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmmn. I believed the fact that the "production" version of the YF-24 seems to be the VF-25, indicated the YF-24 never went beyond prototype stage, and the VF-24 was skipped. Just like the YF-17 became the F-18 with no production F-17. The changes from YF-24 to VF-25 are similar.