Sergorn

Yeah - while Macross certainly has its "cult status", it's nowhere close to have the popularity of a Gundam or a Code Geass... espesially in the west (thank you Robotech !). The fact that there hasn't been any licensed released anywhere outside Japan of Macross since Plus doesn't help either. Oh well we can always hope that Macross Frontier will be a smash it give Macross the popularity it deserves -Sergorn

I'm not quite sure about that. It seemed to me Sheryl actually wanted to continue singing even with the alert, but that this Major (?) Glass pretty much forced here out. Sure she appears quite cold to Alto after that, but it's to early to make a judgement call about her I'd say. -Sergorn

I thought the ending piece was way more Kanno-ish than the opening theme. I loved it. -Sergorn

You really shouldn't compare an anime series with a live action TV-show though..... it's very different in term of how it's done and budgeted Personally I don't see what's the problem some people have with some 3D models. Overall Macross Frontier is *highly* impressive - and I couldn't name a single anime TV Series that offers such quality in term of 3D and how it blends with traditional animation (eek... it's even more impressive than some OAVs and movies...) -Sergorn

I don't think so. There are times where they basically drop the opening and ending themes in order to cut in extra animation (It happened on some Aquarion episodes for that matter), but i don't recall of specificailly longer episodes like the DC Edition was. Of course it's not that big a deal in this case, the DE Episode still exists so..... Though I'd love to have a "definitive version" that would combine both since there are some cool stuff on the broadcast version too. -Sergorn

Oh yeah I forgot to add : the eyecatch was downright awesome -Sergorn

Just saw the RAW. Awww well it was good... I probably wouldn't have any beef with it if I hadn't seen the Deculture Edition but... yeah I thought the DE was much better. The DE did a good of establishing the characters in the first few minutes - here everything is pretty cut so it doesn't establish much and feels kinda rushed. The addition at the concert were neat but COME ON.... the whole Don't Be Late/Mecha action scene was a marvel of action and editing in the DE - why did they changed it ? And they cut some of the VF-171 action with it ! Can't wait for Episode 2 anyway, but I'd argue they should just have stuck the DE as the actual first épisode. Oh well... -Sergorn

Well I liked both the opening and the ending I can't wait to see the full episodes ! And transforming fortresse : that rox

Well obviously - Robotech. I really fell in love with the series as a kid when they aired it in France in the '80 - and of course particularily with the Macross Saga. I always felt Robotech Masters was the poorer of the bunch though I liked Mospeada quite a lot too (hey the Veritech were back !). To be honest the first I heard that Robotech was just three different series mixed up together... I thought it was a bunch of crap My first real taste of Macross was in 93, when we got a release of DYRL here... though the french version (unlike Robotech which had an excellent dub) was soso... with a totaly off translation, with weird names (Hikaru became Hikari, Minmay became Migmei, Focker became Foster :-P)... but that was still a blast... i was blown away by the animation and the film... so I guess that's when I became an actual "Macross" fans. One year later we also got to see Macross II and Macross Plus and I enjoyed the eck of both of them at the time. But while DYRL gave my first real taste of Macross, it really is Robotech which made a fan, I was a huge fan of the Macross Saga (I watched every episodes over and over) and learning it was part of another license license is what made me want to check out the other Macross stuff (even if now I'm not sure I could watch Robotech anymore after tasting the original series) -Sergorn

Well... I was coming to ask if anyone know what was this "Ippatsu Gyakuten-Hen" Theatrical Feature - I guess I have the answer now Anyone know if there is a fansub somewhere ? I only managed to find a RAW -Sergorn

I'd really like some older character to appear, though I'm not sure who. I really liked how Macross 7 used Max & Milia to bridge the series to the original SDFM, and ditto with Macross Zero and Roy. I'm sure if anyone could fill that role for Macross Frontier though. -Sergorn

While I liked Macross Plus a lot - I pretty much have to agree. It doesn't feel very Macross-ish (except for the Valkyrie fighters obviously) and it could pretty much work in any other universe (indeed - didn't the Macross Plus project started as an entirely unrelated project, and Kawamori ended up making it part of Macross because it was the only way he could get the funding ?). That's also why I like Macross 7 and Macross Zero more than Macross Plus... while Plus is a pretty great side-story; it isn't more that that : a side story. While in the end Macross 7 really is (like it or not) the direct continuation of the original series, and Macross Zero remains tied with the "bigger picture" of the Protoculture. -Sergorn

The point is - it's just a matter of *personal* preference ; and the fact that SDFM was the original has litterally *no* relevance as to wether or not it is the best one - regardless of its historical significance. Or to put a non-Macross exemple ; as great as the original Mobile Suit Gundam is, I still think Zeta Gundam is the better series even though it doesn't have the same historical significance as the original. (And personally I like DYRL and Macross Zero better than the original series actually - and I love Macross 7 just as much as the original). -Sergorn

Heh, I must say I've never been a huge fan of Macross Dynamite 7. Sure it was great technically, but the plot was rather meh. It didn't have much going for it as far as I'm concerned except for the pleasure of seeing the Macross 7 characters again and hearing new Fire Bombers songs. I thought the series was a lot better. -Sergorn

Yeah that's the thing. I'd argue that Macross Plus was created to aim at the original grown-up SDFM fans, while Macross 7 was simply created to aime at the teenagers of its time and essentially create a new generation of fans. That's also why they both are so radically different even though they were basically doing both at the same time. -Sergorn

I certainly wouldn't mind a full blown Macross F quality remake personally - as long as it remains true to the story of the original, and the original is still available to be seen of course. I doubt it will ever happen, though it's pretty clear if it's ever done it'll only end getting highly contrersial with the fans. Personally though I think my "dream Macross" - would be a simple updated version of the original ; same story, same everything - except with DYRL image/animation quality. Now *that* would make a perfect version of Macross IMO. As much as I love Macross I have to admit that there are times when it really is painful to watch in that respect. That being said I think some sort of update that would mix '80 and update 2000 animation would be a terrible idea. I'd say the Zeta Gundam movies pretty proved how much that just doesn't work. -Sergorn

I'm not sure what's your point here - I don't see anyone arguing against that, and I'm sure we're all aware of that That being said, just because SDFM was the beginning of it all, doesn't necessarilly means that it's the better series though. -Sergorn

Oh Macross 7 *was* very popular in Japan. It ranked really high in Animage's Anime Grand Prix (which has always been a good indicator of the most popular shows) coming 4th in 1994 and 5th in 1995 or perhaps the other way around (and 1995 that was the Evangelion year). And while never claiming the top spot, it also ranked highly on most other categories as well (ie : best character, best seiyus, best opening, best episode plot...). No it's no wonder Macross 7 got a movie and a later OAV series - it really had a great success (and much more than Macross Plus for that matter) even if it might seems hard to believe to some fans. Macross Plus also brought Yoko Kanno to the spotlight. Just for that : thanks you Kawamori-san -Sergorn

I'd the main difference between Gundam and Macross IMO... and that Gundam tend to be more... "political"... it often have a lot of political intrigue and manipulation... lots of twist and turn in the story, ambiguous characters and so on... in a way I would say it feels more "thought provocking" than Macross... but Macross IMO is just how to put it... more emotionnal there's just this "something" in Macross that just seems to touch your heart and your soul in a way that no Gundam series ever did (and yet I'm a huge Gundam fan...) -Sergorn

Well I'll say I pretty much loved every Macross Sequel. The only one I'd be willing to discard is Macross II - and I don't even think it is *that* bad to begin with. It had some neat ideas and cool designs... it only suffered from being rather poor on a technical standpoint, and falling in the usual "sequel trap" (ie. just doing a rehash of the original). But all in all i'd argue it's pretty decent. Which brings me to the others series - I loved each one of them, and basically what I like about the Macross sequels is how Kawamori never did the same mistake than Macross II - none of them felt like a rehash of the original series (like well... a *lot* of Gundam series were, even within the UC sequels), and each brought something unique to the table, with its own feel and style. Sure you can argue Macross 7 was stupid and silly, but you can't argue that it is a rather unique series - I think its general crazyness and sillyness is part of its charm personally. At the risk of shocking some people, yeah I love Macross 7 just as much as the original SDF Macross... I thought it was a wonderful sequel to the original series... furthering the same thematics that it did. I'd say I like it more than Macross Plus for this same reason (I loved Macross Plus... but unlike the other sequels it really just a side story so all in all it doesn't feel as connecte or interesting thanthe other series). My only complain about Macross 7 is that really... too much repeat animation. And Macross Zero that's pretty close to flawless in my book (flawess would me DYRL... which I consider an actual masterpiece, moreso than the original series)... I only wish it had one more episode, since the last one felt a tad too rushed So no I must say I'm glad Macross is continuing... I thought eveyrthign Kawamori sequel brought something new and interesting to the univers and were great fun to watch - considering I also loved most of Kawamori's non-Macross' work... seing him doing another Macross series just bring me great joy If Macross Frontier manage to remain just as good as its premiere for 26 episodes eck, it could very much become the best Macross series in my book. Meh. I don't know what's the general opinions on the Gundam series around here, but I happened to like a *lot* said Gundam series (granted Wing was my first Gundam, but still...) - I think the franchise has produced a lot worse... and eck some of the worst Gundam came from Tomino within the UC IMO (But all was forgiven with Turn A Gundam) -Sergorn

The thing with Mikimoto, is that he really isn't interested in doing character design anymore. He didn't set up to be a character designer in the first place - it just kinda "happened", but he always pictured himself more of an illustrator than a character designer - that's why he's gradually been doing less and less character design work over the years. Even with Macross 7 he only did the original character design and worked little on the series per se (you can really tell the difference between the actual designs in the series, and the various Macross 7 illustrations he has done himself), and that was still enough work to prevent him for working on Macross Plus (which was the original plan). And yeah he basically became a mangaka now... he's been doing "Gundam - L'Ecole du Ciel" since 2002, and it's still going on to this day... so in any case it would seems unlikely that he would have the time to work on a new Macross TV Series ; admitting he'd even want to. -Sergorn

The thing even weirder about that - is that we actally see a shell-down countdown on the controle screen -Sergorn

It really didn't seemed "rough" to me... I must say I have no idea what they could cut to shorten the episode to 25 minutes... it was pretty much perfect as it is IMO -Sergorn

I'd say he was surprised to see such a long close shot of her on TV (which happened because Alto seemed to be staring at ther) -Sergorn

Yeah I agree... and as far a 2D/3D blending I'd have a hard time naming any anime series - or even OAV - that looks as good or even better. Geez just look at the kind of animation we produce in the west for TV anime series... not to beat a dead horse or anything... but just look a Shadow Freaking Chronicles.... If Macross Frontier's a near total failure in term of CG and 2D/3D blending, what's to say about the latest Robotech then -Sergorn