Renato

We arranged the very first MW podcast last year to be filmed, and it was. We had a whole thing set up, and we talked around a large table adorned with Hidetaka Tenjin posters and stuff, and a Microman GunRobo (original black pre-Megatron), which I used to shoot people whose opinions I did not care for. Unfortunately, something happened, I don't know what, and we were left with audio only. I proposed to try again from the second cast onwards, but it didn't happen.

Believe it or not -- There IS a Mari song called "Don't Call Me Minmay!" AFAIK It's not on any albums, I think it was a remix of soundclips by some guy, and actually it's not bad at all. The chorus is sung, and the verses are mostly made up of interview soundbites. Some of the lyrics have her referencing Robotech, too. I do have it somewhere, but I don't have any confidence in finding it any time soon among all the junk I have now...

Specifically she married one of the American musicians who was working as a back-up band on her 6th album, and moved to the US after that, with her contract with the record company in Japan continuing until 1999, by which point she had at least 15 original albums. It was after that that she went "independent".

One last thing, I think Keith is on the right track in terms of the idea that May'n and Megumi are "playing the game" and Mari outright refused. There is a bit of that happening. But I'm absolutely certain she would have been completely unhappy doing that.

How did you come to that conclusion? The world has changed a lot and perceptions of fame might not even be comparable any more. Anyway, Mari from the first album was trying to promote herself as a singer-songwriter -- all of her non-Macross songs were written by herself. She was frustrated that it didn't pan out as she wished. It is true, she was on music shows with Kuroyanagi Tetsuko and people like that, but at the end of the day, I think she was probably too ahead of her time. Female songwriters like Angela Aki and Yui are popular these days, but idol culture ruled back in the early 80s (and it's come right back around today, thanks to the fragmentation of musical tastes in society), and I think she got trapped in the middle of it, and although she had full control over her music for the most part, she was without full control over her marketed image. She believed singer-songwriters do not get that treatment in the US, and so she left to pursue the dream, only to be faced with more challenges, like cultural ones. I think the entire "mainstream" (if there is such a thing any more... which I doubt) music industry in Japan is not conducive to creativity at all, and has not been for over three decades... However, if you make the right connections, it is segmented enough that a particular band or musician can now find his/her audience using a variety of tools and networks, both online and off-. I think that is something Mari did not have the fortune of being able to take advantage of back in the day.

I heard it recently on Facebook -- some of his designs are involved somehow in Cube Design, as is your Thunder hammer Armor, Exo. I thought both of you guys had something to do with that?

I just listened to the first few minutes -- you're right, we didn't introduce our handle names. Huh. That's really odd, we usually do. Sorry about that!

Thanks for all the feedback, people. I'm not in charge of the way it is presented, recorded, formatted, nor uploaded but rest assured that your input is read and taken into consideration. This is the third and longest episode so far -- the reason being that it is actually two episodes in one, just to fit in the Tim Eldred interview. The length is certainly an issue -- this is likely going to be the exception rather than the rule. Also I think from now on we will start sectioning off the cast into three or four different parts to make it more streamlined and reduce the rambling. I believe the "what are you watching now" thing was supposed to be an attempt at that. Mr March, thank you for your points. However, I thought we did introduce ourselves..? I believe that's the first thing we do at the beginning of each episode, introducing our real names and MW handles, although sometimes it might be hard to hear (especially since we don't use the handles in conversation). Roy Focker, I know how you feel. We actually have a specific goal with this, and I personally don't like to do anything that just anybody can do -- I would rather leave it to someone who's better at it. The purpose of this podcast is to open a window into Macross fandom within Japan. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I think the fact that we are based in Japan and our experiences here give us a unique insight, just as a matter of fact. So we would like to share our experiences with those who are not fortunate enough, say, to attend the Macross Exhibition with the 1/1 Valk, or attend all the really cool concerts, or speak to Kawamori or Tenjin or Ishiguro, etc. Those are experiences that we would like to share with you, like stupid things that we said to Mikimoto, dumb jokes that Chie Kajiura made about Tochiro on Twitter, etc. I don't even remember who first pitched the idea for doing this, but I'm pretty sure it was Tochiro, and his reasons were sound, so I joined. We're trying to give you a sense of how active, organic and actually productive the Macross fan community is at the moment. The best way of doing that we decided would be just to get together and have a chat. We still have a ways to go, and I really hope that things become a bit more streamlined in terms of frequency and length, but hey, we're all doing our part. Thanks again for listening! I'm watching it... But it's really not my kind of thing, so I didn't talk about it. Either that, or I just forgot.

Yeeeaaaaaahh!! You'll love ours. That's why it's a podcast. Don't worry -- we're f*cking JENIUSES. No danger of that -- all our casts have been half a year late. Guess again -- none of it is worthwhile. Like I said, it was all posted months ago. Literally. Actually... This is a valid point. Some other podcasts give you a time breakdown menu, so you know at what point to fast-forward to. YEEEAAHAaahhh!

That's true, but they actually describe the other items as specific posters whereas they only refer to the book as an actual book. The other posters are quite specific in terms of description: furoku posters, shanai-zuri (for trains), etc. But if there was one about the book there is no description. Also... It looks like the page was updated since I posted the link. The book is no longer listed! I guess they got one or more entries from owners (myself included). The funny thing is, because my name is obviously that of a foreigner, unless I'm the sole owner of the book, I really doubt that they would choose me as the "donor" -- since I imagine that they'll probably just assume they have to deal with international shipping. Oh well... We'll see how this pans out.

Aw. Can't we all just get along?

Hmm. I don't. Maybe it's the browser? I'm using Firefox. I already downloaded it a few days ago through the Dashboard thanks to admin privileges; maybe something needs to be changed for it to be publicly downloadable?

Well, that's constructive.

Tochiro, for one. Seriously, though, in some ways it is becoming more mainstream, but we would also have to redefine "mainstream" to fit the Japanese social landscape... Yep, my thoughts exactly. In fact, I wrote as much in the "Front Page" version of my post on this thread -- btw, does anyone actually check the front page? As for the collectors -- I can certainly see people refusing to cooperate even if they own that stuff. I had no idea that the Postcard Book was so rare, I'm thinking of actually sending it in, since I'm really not anal about those things, as long as I get it back. As added insurance, I might get in touch with a friend at BV to keep an eye on it...

OK, now THIS is insane. http://b.bngi-channel.jp/macross/ As we know, Bandai Visual are including a bucketload of reproduction posters with the DYRL box. However, there are some ultra-rare things that they are still trying to hunt down -- AND THEY'VE CALLED UPON THE FANS FOR HELP. So, like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack, get in contact if you have any of the following: Skylark Restaurants "Do you Remember the Taste?" promotional posters DYRL promotional poster for trains Posters included with My Anime 1984 August and October issues Animage October and December 84 issue promotional train posters (Holy crap, they advertised Animage on the TRAINS -- who says anime is becoming more mainstream now??) DYRL Postcard book (Hey, I have that one!) ...Or any other rarity that you feel has some value -- SEND IT IN! Ban-Visi will scan it and put it in the box. If your contribution gets used, you shall have it returned, possibly in a less pristine, more damaged version than before, but they will also reward you with a free copy of the DYRL Ultimate Bluray Megabox... which, you obviously were going to buy anyway. You have until 15th May 2012 to part with your goodies. Yay?

Frack that sheet.

I missed the first episode but the second one was on over the weekend and it sucked. Oh dear god, it pulverized my teeth from all the grating. And for god's sake spell SATELIGHT properly. I haven't said anything up to now but honestly... Tsk, tsk! BTW, the spherical radar is in Aquarion Evol, too, so I think they are reusing lots of design elements.

You know that won't do -- by the time someone does a review there will be no supply of valks left. Gotta agree with everything here.

http://tamashii.jp/item/item.php?eid=01723&pref=301 OK, let's analyze this, shall we. Who else thinks that they may have left out the backwards-swing motion in the heels? That Gerwalk is leaning way too far forward for comfort. And those "flying/hovering" poses they have put the Gerwalk into in those previous promo photos all have shown the heels pointing forwards... Is this going to be like Yamato's "pretty much ruined the whole toy" Fire Valk heels/ankles? Argh. Only one way to find out -- GAMBLE SOME HARD-EARNED CASH.

OVAs usually don't have merchandising to go with them anyway, and the marketing is acutely aimed at the otaku. By the way, everything that Shinichiro Watanabe has ever done has been a flop in Japan -- hopefully Kids on the Slope will turn that tide.

It's referring to the 20th Anniversary of the debut of Yoshiki Fukuyama, which was last year.

Stuff, innit: http://www.macrossworld.com/1958/more-miscellaneous-30th-anniversary-promotionscampaigns/#more-1958

Stuff: http://www.macrossworld.com/1958/more-miscellaneous-30th-anniversary-promotionscampaigns/#more-1958

Cool, I don't think I've ever heard of Arrow Flash before. But I love shooters, so I'll try it out.

Sure thing. Don't be too disappointed if he refuses, though, understandably he reserves the right to keep it all from spreading across the net -- if he wanted that he probably would be doing it himself right now.