Renato

It's a course on "Astrosociology", a new field which looks at space not (only) from a physics perspective but from a human sciences one. Here's the ongoing blog (although most of it is in Japanse, sorry) -- And yes, that's me in the spacesuit http://mieruka.meiji.jp/2010/shinuchu2010/

Both: they are on alternate sides of the same disc. As for Orguss 02, I actually didn't like it back in the day, but I can really appreciate it now. The space elevator and the Mu appear in the first episode, which is really cool -- when I first saw it, I had no knowledge of the original series so I didn't understand that whole deal.

Wow, this is actually the first time I've entered this thread, and you guys are talking about Orguss. That is awesome, as not only is it probably my favourite anime series of all time, but I bought the single on vinyl just yesterday. RIP Casey Rankin. As for what I'm watching right now, well, I did actually watch Orguss recently for a bit because believe it or not, I used it in a lesson a couple of weeks ago as I was teaching my students the concept of the Space Elevator. Apart from that, I'm watching Kawamori's "Earth Girl Arjuna". It's surpisingly good, I thought the preachiness would put me off, but so far the only thing I've found annoying has been a little prick called "Chris". I'm still only on episode 5 or so, but so far, so good. Also, I recently saw Megazone 23 again, as I am writing an article on that at the moment. Awesome, awesome stuff, every time. And of course, I've gone back to watching Macross 7, too, to keep up with VFTF1's thread. Today on the Shinkansen I saw episode 24, so I will write up my thoughts there soon. Anyone who hasn't seen Orguss, Megazone or Arjuna -- all are highly recommended!

The Tomino quote is not a response to Nishizaki's passing, it is older. There seems to be some confusion surrounding that, I hope it doesn't spread into a fully-propagated fallacy (aw, who am I kidding, this is the net -- "Anime Friend sucks!!" etc..). In any case, RIP Nishizaki. Too many great legends are falling recently, and there's few left to fill their shoes.

That was the gala premiere, with the staff and cast, the press, celebrity types, etc. Doesn't go on general release until next month. Unfortunately, it's not as easy for me to go join the crowds at these events as it used to be in the olden days of Leicester Square in London. I think the last one I went to there was for the "Australia" movie with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Then again, I can totally live without seeing Kimura Takuya up close.

Japan.

That was also basically the finale to "Eerie, Indiana" if anyone remembers that show.

So, the glamorous premiere of this movie was the other day, and there was a lot of TV coverage, but mostly in terms of interviews with Kimura Takuya, who is the only thing anyone cares about in this movie. Meanwhile Leiji Matsumoto has an exhibition of his work on right now which they also plugged as a "oh by the way" kind of thing. I still haven't seen anything but the first short teaser, although that Steve Tyler song is on the radio quite a bit now. I think it's a good song, but it's really obvious that they're going for a recreation of the "Armageddon effect" for this one. I just hope I don't get sick of hearing this song all the time, too.

Hmm. A lot of deaths in the toy world recently. Meanwhile, I see that the 1/48s are back! They just re-released Roy and Hikaru in new, SMALLER packaging! I forgot to check if the price was the same as before, though I suppose it was. Back on topic, I got a couple of GNUs quite a while back because they were 980 yen each. To be honest, I don't think they're worth any more than that.

You are right in terms of the situation in the US, but we were talking about the UK. Totally different releases. Freiflug88: Thanks for the pics. I will compare them with my DVDs. Gubaba: Yeah, I had both Kiseki's DYRL releases, the "Spacefortress/Clash" dub and the DYRL sub, and while the dub was awful and extremely dark, the sub was at times nonsensical. "My engine blocks are angry at me"? Argh. Those were the days.

While I agree locations in Tokyo are really hard to find, the example which you used is sort of an exception, because Bathing Ape originally was located out of the way on purpose. It was part of the underground culture back in the day, and wearing his label's stuff made you cool to the eyes of people in the know, of which there weren't many. Now that he has gone mainstream, many avant-garde fashion Harajuku folk don't care for him much and think of him as a sell-out, but there are always many others to take his place. The idea is that they don't really want the whole world to know where they get all this cool gear from, they just want to preserve their subculture as their own.

Incredible. Also, kudos to your ingenious method of using an OHP. Somebody should show Kawamori this.

I have the Australian DVD boxset. It's very nice. Do you have it? If so, how is the picture quality on the "Bye-bye Mars" episode? On mine the visuals are quite grainy and the colours not as vibrant as most other episodes, and even in the preview for it in the previous episode you can tell that the footage looks much cleaner. I always thought they neglected to restore that one for some reason, or used a different master. That has always bugged me. Actually, I would like to see a comparison with the Animeigo release, seeing as they are supposedly the same thing.

You forgot Macross II, distributed on VHS by Kiseki and split into two episodes per tape (3 volumes), dubbed. Also there was the Macross II graphic novel by Viz, but I'm not sure if that was just an imported edition from the US. I don't think so. Also, the "Superspace Fortress Macross" Toho-commissioned dub was released in very similar packaging to the Kiseki DYRL release, under the title "Macross: Clash of the Bionoids". This was not the same CotB that the Americans are used to because it did not have any cuts, with all the scenes intact. However, it does not include the ending concert scene, which is included in the subbed DYRL release you mentioned.

I think we're starting to see the beginning of that situation right now. Come on, man, we discussed this recently in another thread. You know exactly what he means.

"All your bas..." Blah, you know the rest.

Well, while I knew deep down inside it would turn out like this, I was still hoping we would at least get MacPlus stuff. Goddammit. How reliable is the source of your info, Jenius?

"Macross 7 Trash" also made the transition from manga to radio show back in the 90s, and neither had Valkyries (except for maybe one or two pages of the first manga volume, just to fill in the background).

Also Mikimoto has hinted that the story will probably end at the conclusion of Space War I, without going into the aftermath chapter of the original story. Of course, no-one (not even himself) knows for sure yet.

Good question. I think it used to be about transforming robot planes beating up giant aliens, but I think now it's about androgynous high-school kids complaining? I'm glad we have a choice. I'm OK with rock bands in space flying robots with guitars. As I mentioned in the other thread, be prepared for the next series featuring sumo-wrestlers-turned-opera-tenors in space. Ah the ever-expanding world of Muh-CROSS.

I would say so; that is why pestering Kawamori to explain what happened with the Megaroad will never, ever bring about any results.

I saw that video the day it came out. Watching something online does not equal knowing all the details. I don't know, maybe you're right in that he was overtly reckless, but I always get angry at the emergency services here in Japan because they're too damn cautious. Especially ambulances. They have their sirens blaring plus shout "Please move, this is an ambulance, please move over" (I'm NOT kidding) through the megaphone and they still go slower than the rest of the traffic because stupid idiots are always in the way, like pedestrians who want to cross because they think they ought to be prioritized over someone who is most likely dying. So maybe it's just another extreme. Whatever, anyway, the movie. So I read last night that diBonaventura said that this movie will have more comedy, and the characters will be more mature, all in one breath. Unless they re-defined their concept of comedy, I have no reason to be optimistic about that statement.

Oh God, yes. And they should come with tiny Ein and Momo-san figures.

Cool. Shame Malaysia can make a Ride-Armor-inspired movie faster than Japan can make a proper Mospeada movie, sequel, or anything at all.

Yeah, that's the only EDF I know. As for it being a generic name, yeah I can see why people would think that (it even sounds like a parody!), but at the end of the day what might seem done-to-death for us geeks is still fresh and snappy to the general public to whom this movie should appeal.