Tochiro

The blu ray is selling fairly well for a domestic release: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-06-28/yamato-is-no.1-japanese-live-action-film-bd-to-date

A note regarding 2009's Yamato Rebirth - just got word that the extended directors cut has been completed. No word on when it will be released though. (And yes, 'directors cut' IS a bit of a misnomer considering Nishizaki is dead). To weigh in on the live action Yamato discussion (saw it twice late last year and managed to meet Leiji Matsumoto in the process), theres also an Australian distributor confirmed but for DVD only. Surely it will only be a matter of time before a US licensor is announced. For thos who cant wait - my personal opinion is grab the bluray and a plot summary. Dont feed the fansubbers if you can avoid it. To whomever was complaining about 'Chinglish' subtitles, fansubs are often equaly as wrong/bad - its just that their grammar is correct so ppl dont notice.

Came across a new Matt Alt article today in which he discusses Aki Uchiyama - a loli artist who was originally considered for the role of Southern Cross character designer. Theres a link to an early concept sketch too. http://altjapan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/06/lolicomplicated.html

Someone captured the livestream of Jamp Project Symphonic back in Feb, including Fukuyama's solo of I Love You. They left in one of his mistakes - it actually took him three attempts to get the song started! lol And yes, I was there of course ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT56IdgOZZ0

Gabriela Robin? Hehehe, comeon, just write Yoko Kanno. Its shorter ;-) There was a problem in your list tho.... Fixed.

Agreed, given the right amount of attention, time and money, only theatrical anime can be made to look amazing on blu. Whether or not you are irked by being able to see some of the flaws more clearly is a personal thing - the blu ray remasters for Bubblegum Crisis actually make it possible to see a few seperate cells in a couple of shots, which i thought only added to the shows appeal given its age. thats the way it would have looked to the staff who were making it, rather than the blurry vhs english dub I ended up having to put up with years later. And if i have to choose between a subjective sense of nostalgia and seeing something the way the creators originally intended and in the clearest image possible - well the nostalgia gets taken out behind the tool shed, shot in the head and left to rot with the other dead hookers imo.

Thanks for keeping up on all the Ride related news! Am really glad these are getting reprinted as books - I dont have enough space to keep buying dengeki hobby. Not to mention they are damn heavy! June 25th is looking like a big shopping day though!

Its captain Wilder.... in 3DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! http://relievos.appspot.com/Gzs

Todays issue of Famitsu announced DLC for Ace Combat Assault Horizon - planes designed in collaboration with Macross creator/designer Shoji Kawamori! The sketches they showed looked very YF-29 influenced.

Updated the review with a few new pictures at the end.

Resized and added pics that went rogue from an old Flickr account.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah the sound levels appear to have worked out better for the 2nd podcast recording. The problem was also that the noisiest (Im looking at you Renato! lol) people were in front of the mic and the quietest ones werent. Oh well, like I said its a work in progress :-)

Someone is obviously enjoying the book! http://parkablogs.com/node/6289

Finally, it's here! Below is a megaupload link for the first episode of Macross SpeakerPodCAST - a semi-regular podcast where we gather MWers and Macross fans together for a bit of a chat on all things Macross. This, being Episode 0, is somewhat of a test - the room has an echo, sound levels are still being worked out, Renato manages to melt the mic down on several occasions. It's like that first-run Valk where the leg breaks off when you try to transform it (note: Macros SpeakerPodCAST is not endorsed by Yamato toys in any way^^ . So please bear with us as we discuss the 2nd Frontier movie - The Wings of Farewell. This was actually recorded the weekend after the movie was released - sorry for the delay in getting it posted. We are actually due to record the next podcast tonight, although I have no idea when it will be ready for public consumption as of yet. Being a Megaupload file, this will probably only be available for the next month or so, but I am hoping to get some sort of dedicated site together for it at some point (anyone interested in hosting these???). Since this is a discussion of The Wings of Farewell, there ARE spoilers however we have limited all spoilers to the second half of the podcast. Please note - the non-spoiler discussion ends at the 50minute mark. There is some music in there to separate the spoiler-free/spoilerific sections. Please feel free to leave any questions, comments, ideas or feedback in this thread - any and all input is welcome! http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5GY37EAT

Quick pic I took while going past the local Pachinko hall yesterday. The Mac F machine is definately getting some promotion (although I doubt it will have any longevity unfortunately).

Thanks Renato! Great writeup! Fukuyama’s concert started a little earlier than Chie’s - the doors opened at 15:30 and the gig itself started at 16:30. Unlike the previous day it was pissing down cats and dogs and my phone decided take a smoke break on the way to the venue and never returned. Despite communications issues, I arrived just as they were calling my numbers - perfect timing! Going through the lobby I could already see more of the usual suspects from the Japanese fan club. But the doors were open and the hall was already half filled, so there was no time for idle chit-chat. I manage to squeeze my way as close to the front as possible - there were about 8 or 9 people between me and the stage I’d say. Save managed to turn up about 20 mins later. The crowd was CHARGED - ost of the people in front of me were sporting Fukuyama t-shirts or, at the very least, JAM Project ones - and the hall was utterly PACKED. By the time the doors shut and Fukuyama came out I doubt they could have squeezed another person in. I squinted up to the cordoned-off guest section upstairs and thought I spied Chie up there for a moment but I could have been wrong. Without too much in the way of ceremony, Fukuyama came out on-stage, along with regular consorts Tetsuro (bass) and Pon-chan (keyboard and sometimes guitar), collectively known as tha F-band, and the show began. Now I have to admit, while I am a Hummingbird fan, I’m more of a fan of Fukuyama’s Macross stuff. And, given that the bulk of Macross fans would be attending on the night I was there, I was expecting some Macross stuff. At the very least I was looking forward to hearding the first 2 songs from his new album ‘SYNAPSE’ and maybe ‘Dreamjack’ (does anyone else remember that? The old City Hunter song?). As luck would have it, these two songs were played the night before, as was ‘Dreamjack’, so I didnt get any of the songs I’d hoped for. But that didnt make the gig any less rockin. (A two-day setlist I put together, along with romanisation of song titles in case anyone wants to look them up) It had been a while since I’d listened to much Hummingbird, to be honest. A still have their album ‘1.2.3’ lying around and keep in in regular playlist rotation, but my copy of their best-hits album was, unfortunately, swallowed by a friends CD player that obviously had rather discerning taste. I showed it just how discerning by taking to it with a hammer and chisel, but alas the CD was long gone. So was the aforementioned friend. But a lot of those songs would coming rushing back to me over the course of the night. The first of the concerts three parts dealt mainly with Fukuyama’s solo stuff and was a surprisingly good selection. He opened strongly with ‘Hajimari no hi’, although my favourite songs from this set had to be ‘Tsukisusume My Life’, ‘Fukugan’ and ‘Zero ni nare’. Tsukisusume my life totally went OFF, and had the crowd jumping up and down. Similarly, Zero ni nare got some serious fist pumping action. Fukuyama has always been one to talk quite a bit while on stage. I enjoy this - it brings character to the concert and he often says some pretty funny stuff - but I soon noticed he was talking even more than usual. At one point we were averaging one MC segment between every song! Meh, it was HIS 20th anniversary so I figured he intended to make the most of it. Towards the end of ‘NA NA NA’, the band started making jokes - ‘you’re all obviously waiting for SOMEONE......you want us to just leave now, right?’ But leave they did, clearing space for Toshiyuki Furuya to take the stage, greeted by deafening cheers - Hummingbird was back! (photo © Yoshiki Fukuyama via his blog) Thus began the second part of the concert, the Hummingbird Set, and the tension did not drop one iota from start to finish. My picks were ‘Mada ma ni au sa’ (the original version of ‘Power to the Dream’) which I don’t think I’d ever had the chance to hear perfored live before, along with ‘FLY AWAY.’ I’d heard ‘FLY AWAY’ performed back at Fukuyama’s Christmas concert but man that song never gets old. I always see the old PS1 game opening movie in my head whenever I hear it. Remember how good that CG SEEMED back in the day? (photo © Yoshiki Fukuyama via his blog) One thing I noticed was the difference in sound that Furuya brought to the Hummingbird songs. Since he often sang, the result was a more refined sound, whereas Fukuyama tends to go for an all out rawer kind of approach - I’ve seen him perform with five electric guitarists in the one song...thats right, FIVE. Couldnt hear the lyrics (or anything else for that matter) but damn it was fun. In contrast Furuya is more about duet melodies and keeps the vocals at a higher pitch (which he probably does to keep Fukuyama under control ^^; ). The rawest song in the Hummingbird set was probably the Juukee Ranger song. The crowd got pretty loud for this one. But the loudest song of the night happened after Furuya left the stage after 12 songs and the F-band reclaimed their rightful place in the third section - and immediately went into “Makkana Chikai.’ I thought this song was loud with 12000people when Fukuyama did it at Animelo, yet the smaller venue and excitement this time made it seem even louder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UjgahRsh9w The concert was finished with Furuya joining F-band for a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ - again, a song I never thought I’d get to hear done live. By the end, Fukuyama had been singing for just under 3.5 hours straight. The night before he was only 10 mins short of hitting the 4hr mark. The fact that he pulled off two huge gigs like this back to back was testament to the spirit that had kept him going over the past 20 years - the spirit of rock. On the way out I managed to get a better look at the lobby. The new Fire Valkyrie was on sale, and a glass case held what would hopefully be the production model of Yamato’s new Basara guitar replica. It looked a heck of a lot better than the wood mock-up I’d seen at Yamato’s showroom 6 months earlier! Unfortunately there was no price on it ....yet. I hate to think what they will get away with pricing the damn thing at - I’d love to get one (if only to hang on my apartment wall) but I’m expecting the cost to be in the several thousand dollars range, so for now all I can do is look at the pics I took with envy. The night ended on a bit of a downer for me personally. A camera near the exit had been set up for fans to record messages to Fukuyama on the way out. The line for the camera stretched back into the hall at one point. Overjoyed that I’d finally get a chance to leave some well-wishes behind for the big man and....totally flubbed my Japanese. Maybe I was tired from two nights worth of concerts, maybe it was the excitement, I don’t know. I do know that I stuffed what I was hoping to say, but before I could go for a retake the line surged forward and the chance was lost. I coul’ve kicked myself. In fact I did, several times, as I left the hall. Along with the wall, a trashcan, and several lamp posts as I headed back into Shibuya to get a beer or three. Fortunately, by this point the rain had finally stopped. Fukuyama mentioned earlier during the concert that whenever he performed solo the weather was always fine, but back in the day it had rained almost everytime Hummingbird had performed. So apparently someone upstairs had taken notice of the band’s long-awaited reunion as well. img-523123204.pdf img-523123226.pdf Fortunately for everyone (but possibly unfortunately for me if they include the above ^^; ) the entire two night performance will be released on DVD later this year. Fukuyama has said that he doesnt intend to cut anything - not even some of the sillier banter in between songs - all 57 of them!

Damn you Renato! I spent my entire lunchbreak writing those up in a proper grid format to post because I didnt want to cut and paste em directly from Fukuyamas site! :-p

Marketplace sellers on Amazon are charging almost 9000yen for this now! Its bloody insane!

Oh boy, finally! An event that some other MWers also got to go to! Makes my job a lot easier! Since both Gubaba and Renato have got some thoughts up, we’ve agreed to get them all together in this thread, making it a group review for a change. The reports from this thread will be updated with pics and setlist corrections as they come in. What is it exactly that we went to? Well, I like to call it ‘Humming Bomber Weekend.’ ;-) Back in Dec-Jan during his previous tour (which I have a review of sorts on the way), Fukuyama revealed that he would be having a 20th Anniversary concert in May. The concert would be spread over two nights on May 21-22, and would feature the reunion of his original band ‘Hummingbird.’ In principle, no song would be performed twice, no-matter how popular. A 20th Anniversary best of compilation album would be released in the leadup to the concert. Titled ‘’20 Flight Rock’, this album would feature a massive 3CDs and 1 DVD, at an equally massive price. Then in February, just after her ‘Mylene Night’ concert with Toko Sakurai, Chie Kajiura announced that her next gig ‘Laboratory #05’ would be held on May 21. Wait….. surely she wasn’t going to hold it at the exact same time as the first night of Fukuyama’s gig, right? ....... ….......she was. To make things even more complicated, soon afterwards the Macross F fanclub announced that a special screening of ‘The Wings of Farewell’, with special guests from the cast in attendance, would be held….on the evening of May 21. Obviously a bit of a lack of communication here, no? I spoke with some Japanese fans and found that most had chosen the same combination of events that I had: Chie on the 21st and Fukuyama on the 22nd. ____________________________________________ Chie’s concert was held at the Star Lounge in Shibuya - a relatively new location having only opened in September 2010. Apparently the owner was an acquaintance of Chie’s. It was the sort of small live house that I liked - pokey, hand-decorated and with a max capacity of 250 ppl (standing) you could get a clear view of the stage from anywhere in the room. It was intimate. A small counter out front sold beers and a few last-minute tickets. All tickets were made and autographed by Chie herself. Save and I arrived at around 17:40. Doors were due to open at 18:00 and the concert would begin at 19:00. We had started preparing for the performance earlier in the day with a bottle of red wine and an old copy of Venus Wars on DVD. This choice was of no particular significance and probably had more to do with the wine than anything else. The doors opened a little late so we grabbed some beers while we waited. The usual suspects from the Japanese fanclub all turned up, save for one who had chosen to go to the movie screening, and Gubaba soon joined us. Since the last major concert Chie had given in February was 100% Macross, I was not expecting there to be a heap of Macross songs performed. Chie had all but confirmed my suspiscions a few days earlier when she posted a blog about how she has changed the setlist to better reflect her feelings about the March 11 earthquake. She wanted to do stuff that was soothing and would heal. These are not words I normally use to describe Mylene songs. Save and I got through the door before Gubaba (entry was based on ticket numbering) and immediately got as close to the stage as we could. We were in the third row from the front. This was the closest I’d ever been to the front at a Chie concert and really added to the overall sense of intimacy that the venue itself had already created. With a good 30mins or so to wait, Save grabbed us a couple more beers and I had a chat to Japanese fan I knew about Mari Iijima’s upcoming concert in July (there was some drama regarding the recent article in the LA Weekly) and before too long the concert began. Damn, Chie was...close! She was sporting her usual all-black style (I’m SUCH a fan - so very 90’s) and long Sadako ‘I’m gonna crawl out of your tv and kill you but I’ll sing at you first’ hair. The podium she had her music on included a build in smoke machine of some sort - it constantly looked like her music was on fire. (photo ©Chie Kajiura via her blog) As I had predicted we didnt get too much in the way of Macross songs. The set list (and this is still a work in progress) was as follows: (1) Opening (2) Breathe (3) love letter (4) かたまり (Katamari) (5) Feel it (Kate Bush cover) (6) →シロとクロ← (Shiro to Kuro) (7) Pillow Dream ( セッション (Session) (9) 2moon (10) ピアニカ (Pianika) (11) 睡眠HEAVEN (Suimin HEAVEN) MC (12) 僕は？ (Boku wa?) (13) ???? (14) Rubberband Girl (Kate Bush cover) (15) PLASTICS (16) Ready Go　 ENCORE (17) Feel it (18) 君に届け (Kimi ni todoke) MC モーツァルトの子守唄 (Mozart’s Lullaby) The standouts for me were Pillow Dream, Love Letter, Plastics and, of course, Kimi ni todoke, which is always good live. Personally I was a little disappointed that we didnt get Free and Flowers or Dakedo Baby, but it’s not like I hadnt heard these done live before anyway. What really caught me by surprise was the inclusion of not one, but TWO English songs in the form of Kate Bush covers, ‘Feel It’ and ‘Rubberband Girl.’ Chie has tried ‘Feel It’ at a previous gig, although she seemed much more confident with the lyrics this time. ‘Rubberband Girl’ was a new one for her and she was obviously enjoying it - in fact, Chie smiled more during these two songs than I have ever seen her smile, period. I think I was worried she was going to crack her face open like an eggshell at one point - so different did she look from the scowling, goth-looking Chie that I’m used to. Hmm... would she be considered a grumpy hippy or a mild-tempered goth? I think I’ll have to give some thought to that one.... Anyway, Gubaba was pretty impressed by her performance as well: (photo ©Chie Kajiura via her blog) After the concert I kinda slipped up. As Gubaba mentioned, Chie manned the merchandise table personally to sell stuff to the fans. I already had most of the merch on sale and the venue staff were clearing anyone who wasnt buying out of the room. Save and I decided to wait out front. 10 mins passed. Then 20. No-one was coming out. What the hell was taking them so long? There was no way for us to know that those who remained in line had been treated to an accoustic rendition of ‘Friends-Jikuu o Koete.’ About 30mins had gone by before Gubaba stumbled out of the hall with a huge grin on his face. If only I had known!!!! ____________________________________________ This brings us to Sunday, May 22nd - and three and a half hours of rocking out to Yoshiki Fukuyama! While I didn’t buy 20th Flight Rock prior to Fukuyama’s 20th anniversary gig (opting to pick up his latest album ‘Synapse’ instead…well actually I was brainwashed into doing so by Renato. He is a very very good salesman) the track list was interesting in that it featured no Firebomber songs. It had songs from Hummingbird that had been repurposed for Macross 7, but no Actual Firebomber songs. This probably should have tipped me off, but after the way Fukuyama had featured so much Macross 7 at his other recent concerts, and since this WAS a 20th Anniversary gig (and the huge influence of Macross 7 on his career being a point that I don’t think anyone can really contest) I was fairly confident going in that we would get at least a smattering of Basra’s greatest tunes. I was wrong. This isn’t to say it was a bad concert. Far, far from it. But it was first and foremost a celebration of Fukuyama’s solo stuff. It was also quite possibly the greatest Hummingbird performance in the last decade. …….well okay, it was the ONLY Hummingbird performance in the last decade. You got me. This being the case, we should start this review off with the opinions of the biggest Hummingbird fan I know. Renato, would you mind?

I just picked this up today - has been a total pain to find. Looks like theres still plenty of Macross F fans around because even Amazon has sold out (that link only has 2nd hand copies). Mistakes or not there appears to be some meat to the article and Im looking forward to digging in ;-)

Some Macross F love spotted at a recent itasha (basically otaku cars) festival over at Odaiba. Could do without the crossdressing Sheryl though ^^; (edited to add more pics)

Looks like its shaping up to be a good tour! She's has been pumping the upcoming Asia Tour on her Twitter recently too. I gotta say - I love the logo design. Very cool. I hope she offers those tshirts for sale in Japan at some point. Heres pre-tour message from May'n where she teaches how to do the 'XYZ' dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YHeX6ItgXmA

Great find! In case anyone missed them in amongst all the screencaps, heres direct links to the two animation passes in the article that Terry found: http://download.autodesk.com/largefiles/jp/customer_story/20110427_MacrossF/Missile_drawing/Missile_drawing.html http://download.autodesk.com/largefiles/jp/customer_story/20110427_MacrossF/Missile_Softimage/Missile_Softimage.html

Wow... will Macross Ace continue? Macross The First is going to be published in a new magazine - I wonder if it will be a reprinting or not? Because if Macross Ace loses Macross The First then the publication is as good as finished imo..... http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-05-23/new-kadokawa-manga-magazine-to-run-5+anime-tie-ins

Updated! That should be the bulk of Macross concerts in the Tokyo area for the summer...I think.