Macross TV Dub

[Keith]

My vol 1 + box has apparently shipped, so I should have it by friday. I'm actually anxious to see what ADV did & didn't mess up with this release

355504[/snapback]

Already? Where did you order from?

355566[/snapback]

Rightstuf.com

[valk1j]

A new trailer, and an interview with Mari on ADV's site

[Hikuro]

Muh cross???!!! WTF? That better be just for the trailer.

Nope, your going to hear it again, and again and again for 36 episodes. And I'm being very serious.

[Keith]

Got my box vol 1 today, and I'll try to start watching it tonight (though I'll probably fall asleep first). It is indeed 2 disc's, though the hubs are on either side of the case, and the vol 1 insert covers the first disc....will probably move that to the vol 2 box once it's out...or maybe just swap the box's to a regular style 2 disc, haven't decided yet.

The insert has the lyrics to the opening theme, and that's pretty much it. The box comes with a large insert (to hold the disc in place that advertises Eva on one side, the huge blue robotech box on the other side, and the picture of Minmay in uniform standing in front of a VF-1 from the series (I hope that becomes one of the disc covers). Still not super fond of the box art choices, but it is a pretty box.

Edited December 30, 2005 by Keith

[Pat Payne]

Got my box  vol 1 today, and I'll try to start watching it tonight (though I'll probably fall asleep first). It is indeed 2 disc's, though the hubs are on either side of the case, and the vol 1 insert covers the first disc

What kind of hubs do they use, Keith? Are they the ones that grip the discs with a deathlock, increasing the risk of breakage, or do they have gentler hubs?

EDIT IN: I'm lookign at the new Official ADV site...and they spelled Hikaru's name wrong a couple of times (as "Hikaro"). I hope they have better proofreaders on the subs...

Also, it looks like the online character profiles were lifted from Egan Loo's liner notes for the Animeigo release.

Edited December 30, 2005 by Pat Payne

[Gaijin]

Muh cross???!!! WTF? That better be just for the trailer.

Nope, your going to hear it again, and again and again for 36 episodes. And I'm being very serious.

356059[/snapback]

Wantd to support Mari...but Muh cross....tough one.

Edit: The new trailer says Macross correctly. Keith? What do they say on the discs?

Edited December 30, 2005 by Gaijin

[Hikuro]

Well the new trailer wasn't bad, it did say Macross correctly until the announcer pronounced Hikaru wrong.......oh well........from my sources I guess ADV is nearing bankrubtcy and there are alot of unhappy employee's and VA's working under the ADV name......bah oh well.

[JValk]

A new trailer, and an interview with Mari on ADV's site

356033[/snapback]

thanks for the heads up, i enjoyed that- and learned something new about her too!

Episode 4 “Lynn Minmay†(February 2009)

The song that Minmay hums while showering was not made for Macross itself, but was written and composed by Minmay's voice actress herself. “Marin†can be found on “Rosé,†Mari Iijima's debut solo album.

The first song Minmay ever sings (while she and Hikaru are resting for the “nightâ€) is “Cinderella†– also written and composed by Mari Iijima herself. In fact, this is one of the songs that reportedly won Mari Iijima her casting audition in a real-life parallel (for she was the only Minmay candidate that not only sang but wrote her own songs).

[Keith]

Got my box  vol 1 today, and I'll try to start watching it tonight (though I'll probably fall asleep first). It is indeed 2 disc's, though the hubs are on either side of the case, and the vol 1 insert covers the first disc

What kind of hubs do they use, Keith? Are they the ones that grip the discs with a deathlock, increasing the risk of breakage, or do they have gentler hubs?

EDIT IN: I'm lookign at the new Official ADV site...and they spelled Hikaru's name wrong a couple of times (as "Hikaro"). I hope they have better proofreaders on the subs...

Also, it looks like the online character profiles were lifted from Egan Loo's liner notes for the Animeigo release.

356193[/snapback]

It's a Scavino case, with round hollow hubs. They hold the disc's in firm enough, not too loose, not too tight.

I watched the first episode last night, and everything seems ok so far. The video (without popping in my AnimEigo disc to compare) seems the same, but the Japanese audio has more noise in it than I remember from the AnimEigo release. I'll do a comparison during the week, but it definately has more hiss in it than I remember. Perhaps AnimEigo held on to their audio masters since they went themselves and got those from Big West, who knows. The subtitles definately seem a bit different, can't really say they're better or worse yet, just a bit "different." Mind you I haven't watched my AnimEigo set in a year though. The English audio is interesting, though the music is a bit tinny sounding. I can't help but wonder why if they couldn't get clean audio why the music in the dub doesn't sound tinny at all....hmm.

[Keith]

Muh cross???!!! WTF? That better be just for the trailer.

Nope, your going to hear it again, and again and again for 36 episodes. And I'm being very serious.

356059[/snapback]

Wantd to support Mari...but Muh cross....tough one.

Edit: The new trailer says Macross correctly. Keith? What do they say on the discs?

356282[/snapback]

Nope, so far it's "muk-ross"....what the hell were they thinking?

[Gaijin]

Muh cross???!!! WTF? That better be just for the trailer.

Nope, your going to hear it again, and again and again for 36 episodes. And I'm being very serious.

356059[/snapback]

Wantd to support Mari...but Muh cross....tough one.

Edit: The new trailer says Macross correctly. Keith? What do they say on the discs?

356282[/snapback]

Nope, so far it's "muk-ross"....what the hell were they thinking?

356388[/snapback]

Well, I know what I'm not purchasing. That's just too stupid.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

ADV just released a promo torrent. It includes a trailer and Mari interview, along with some other things. It's probably the same stuff on the site.

Speaking of which, is anyone else a bit disgusted with the front page? The whole "As any true anime fan knows, Macross was one of the series that spawned the legendary series Robotech" is a given and all, but they act like that's all the show was good for. As if Robotech was the only way it impacted anime as a whole.

Though what irks me is the whole, "For the first time, anime fans can enjoy Macross as it was originally presented to Japanese audiences more than twenty years ago". Can they really blantently lie like that? It's kind of one thing to forget the whole Robotech Perfect Collection, but quite another to totally diss Animeigo's release as if it didn't even exist. Especially since the majority of this release is probably exactly the same. Newtype USA's review on the site says that ADV's release "finally gives it the care and attention it deserves", because we all know ADV's generic extras and usual 5.1 remixing of their dubs far outweighs the full video overhaul Animeigo poured into it. I somehow doubt ADV would've bothered there. There's more to "care and attention" than some lame interviews. I'm reminded why I stopped reading Newtype after the first issue.

I just find that incredibly insulting.

Edited December 31, 2005 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Hikuro]

I'm not surprised ADV's choice of words are that honestly. Afterall you don't see them milking much of any other shows over and over and over again. Robotech while we may think is just god awful for what they did to three seperate shows, really had a strong following.

It's like I said about subtitles, some people just can't stand the Japanese language and don't wanna read the subs, they wanna absorb it in English......thus you got those who just wanna follow Robotech and wont look at the others.

It's like that in politics too...

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Well, like I said, I can understand the whole Robotech bit. Like it or not, it's what Macross is known for here, at least in terms to the original. That, and it is free advertising to another title of theirs and not to Manga, which has Macross Plus and II. So I'm not surprised either, I just wish that they'd let the uninformed that come to their site know that there's more to Macross's legacy than being part of one of the most infamous butcherings in anime history. ;;

Like I said, I'm more annoyed at the fact that they seem to go out of their way to rob Animeigo of absolutely any credit, even when they're using Animeigo's liner notes on their website. That's really what bothers me.

I'm all for them making Macross more accessible to the more common fan, but give credit where credits due, and don't pat yourself on the back so much when all you did was dub it. Though this is ADV we're talking about so oh well...

Edited December 31, 2005 by Mercurial Morpheus

[Hikuro]

It could be in AnimEgo's case when they got to do Macross was "What's mine is yours, and what was yours will always be mine"

[Panon]

Though what irks me is the whole, "For the first time, anime fans can enjoy Macross as it was originally presented to Japanese audiences more than twenty years ago". Can they really blantently lie like that?

Where's the lie? It is the first time people can just watch the show the way the Japanese did, rather than reading a subtitled translation of it.

[Keith]

Um, maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Japanese didn't listen to it with a 00's era english dub? Or that the Japanese didn't originally watch it with AnimEigo's video remaster which included reclaiming more of the picture from the overscan area? I could go on...

But anyway, back to Vol 1, I checked out the extra features last night, and the Mari interview is a surprisingly good interview. Most notably what she had to say about Arihiro Hase. She genuinly talks about how close they were during the original recording sessions, how they kept in touch afterwards (and how he would pop up with flowers at her concerts), and how she keeps in contact with his mom now that he's passed. She even mentions feeling his presense as she does the new recordings, it's a very (for lack of better words) sweet sentiment.

Next I watched the interview about the translation, and I'll be god damned if I can figure out why someone in one breath can talk listening to the Japanese audio reoeatedly to maintain utmost translation accuracy, and in the next pronunce "Macross" in two completely different ways, neither of them right. I think it's pretty safe to assume that the muh-cross pronunciation comes from this guy. As does the choice in pronuncing "Focker" as "fah-ker".

This naturally lead me to finally deciding to check out some of the dub, so I listened to various scenes on the second disc (eps 5 & 6). The thing that struck me first, was that Roy sounds more like Scooby Doo than anything. Misa sounds like a grown up Lucy from Peanuts. Hikaru sounds exactly the same as the voice actor does in FMA, which is too bad since that guy has a nasty habbit of coming off as whiny when Hikaru should sound more laid back. As far as Minmay, while Mari in English is definately a bit disorienting at first, after watching the interview I quickly realized this is just how Mari speaks english. The most pleasant thing about hearing Mari in the English dub is that while she definately sounds older, and her English is just this side of broken, her voice just sounds "right." Especially when you hear her saying character names (Mari quite obviously ignores her american counterparts in their chosen mangling of the names, and says them properly), it's very comforting to hear Minmay call out Hikaru's name exactly how it's supposed to be pronunced. Kinda hard to explain, but it's just something I never thought I'd hear in a dub. If broken english was the only thing we'd have to contend with, then I say let all english dubs be done by the original Japanese seiyuu. The only thing I haven't heard Mari say so far in the dub is "macross," but I'm sure she says it correctly.

The new sound effects are ass, probably the same ones used for the robotech remastered release, they sound stupid, and aren't worth it just to fake a 5.1 mix. The music sounds tinny, and all the great classic SFX are gone, why ADV loves doing this is anyones guess.

All things considered, despite Scooby Doo Roy, crappy new SFX, and whiny Hikaru, this dub is still better than super melodrama & exposition robotech version. Both are inferior to the Hong Kong DYRL dub (the only thing that one lacks is Mari). The dub here isn't anything I'd listen to over the Japanese audio, but Mari ads just as much novelty to it as I expected she would.

[Hurin]

Just watched the 2nd trailer. I have to give ADV credit, it was cool of them to say that this is the "real story", thus implying that RT is not.

I'm going to buy this set (though Hikaru's voice grates on me). If only in the naive hope that doing so will encourage HG to further divorce Macross from RT and celebrate it (and release products for it) in its own right.

H

[Hikuro]

Both are inferior to the Hong Kong DYRL dub

Now see, with that, I don't know if I can ever take you seriously ever again.

[Keith]

Oh come on, the HK dub has the best english Roy ever...NOW WATCH JET JOCKEY!

[Mercurial Morpheus]

The dub features new sound effects? Nice of them to mention. It's reasons like that that I think most studios should leave well enough alone and not try remixing something that was never intended for anything beyond two channels.

Panon, when they claim that it's available for the first time as the Japanese saw, that means that they're saying it's the first time it's been available outside of Robotech. That, as we know, isn't true. Not even ADV is so messed up as to equate watching a dub as seeing it the way "the japanese did". Just turn off the subs on the japanese track for that.

[crasis]

The new sound effects are ass, probably the same ones used for the robotech remastered release, they sound stupid, and aren't worth it just to fake a 5.1 mix. The music sounds tinny, and all the great classic SFX are gone, why ADV loves doing this is anyones guess.

NEW sound FX? PLEASE tell me this is on the dub track ONLY! The mispronunciations are insult enough, nevermind messing with the classic SFX. Ugh. So far, besides the extras disc, there's nothing here that entices me to buy this, based on the reviews (and those horrific dub snippets). This is sad, as I was looking forward to this for Mari's contribution alone.

I was thinking curiosity would lead me to redeem one of my xmas gift certificates on vol 1, but after hearing about this SFX thing...

I love my Animeigo set, thank you very much. Call me crazy, but there's something to be said about not BUTCHERING the original show.

[JB0]

Though what irks me is the whole, "For the first time, anime fans can enjoy Macross as it was originally presented to Japanese audiences more than twenty years ago". Can they really blantently lie like that?

Where's the lie? It is the first time people can just watch the show the way the Japanese did, rather than reading a subtitled translation of it.

356681[/snapback]

"As it was originally presented" means, among other things, "in the original language."

The japanese are not in the habit of airing domestically-produced programming in english.

You could make an argument for a similar experience, but the original presentation is diffrent unless you're using the japanese audio track with subtitles disabled.

Some of the other things implied by as originaly presented would be with the 1st airing opening, ending, and commercial cut. Speaking of commercials, "originally presented" implies the existence of vintage ads in those cuts, too. And 1 episode a week.

So it's not really a similar experience either.

It's just more marketing buzzwords. What they MEAN to say is that it's the first time Macross has been available as not-Robotech. Which is a bald-faced lie. It might be the first widely-distributed english RealMacross release, but it's not the first.

Edited January 2, 2006 by JB0

[Keith]

The new SFX are localized to the dub track, if they were anywhere near the original Japanese audio I'd have melted the disc in a microwave. I just find it strange considering AnimEigo had an easy enough time finding seperate music & SFX tracks, that ADV couldn't come up with anything better than their crappy new robotech sfx. Even worse yet, you can still kinda hear the original SFX muffled in the background...

[Keith]

Took another listen to the dub, and it looks like I jumped the gun with calling the SFX new, they're just so badly echo'd that they don't sound right

Also listened to both commentaries, and it sounds like despite the stupidity of chosen pronunciations, they at least wanted to try to make things somewhat accurate. The major selling point of this release is by far the Mari interviews though (that, and the non-cracking of the discs).

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Took another listen to the dub, and it looks like I jumped the gun with calling the SFX new, they're just so badly echo'd that they don't sound right

357090[/snapback]

Exactly the reason why I stay away from 5.1 remixes. Sure, it may envelop you now, but it sounds nothing like what it's supposed to.

[azrael]

Took another listen to the dub, and it looks like I jumped the gun with calling the SFX new, they're just so badly echo'd that they don't sound right

357090[/snapback]

Exactly the reason why I stay away from 5.1 remixes. Sure, it may envelop you now, but it sounds nothing like what it's supposed to.

357115[/snapback]

At least with Animeigo, they just mirrored the audio for plain-olde stereo instead of 5.1. Considering the original track was mono....

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Checking the ADV site, it looks like the email I wrote them worked. I didn't recieve a reply, though it's possible it went to my spam box, which means I deleted it. They've added the words, "in an English Dub" to the end of the sentence. So at least it's not a bald-faced lie anymore.

[JB0]

Took another listen to the dub, and it looks like I jumped the gun with calling the SFX new, they're just so badly echo'd that they don't sound right

357090[/snapback]

Exactly the reason why I stay away from 5.1 remixes. Sure, it may envelop you now, but it sounds nothing like what it's supposed to.

357115[/snapback]

At least with Animeigo, they just mirrored the audio for plain-olde stereo instead of 5.1. Considering the original track was mono....

357125[/snapback]

Really? I thought Animeigo just released it in mono. That's what the package claims it's encoded as, though I didn't actually check.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

well, he said that they mirrored it. So I'm guessing they just had the same thing coming out of both channels. That's how most mono shows are. Though there are some that just comes through the center on a surround setup.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

So is it worth gettting? I bet Harmony gold and ADV was behind the conspiracy. Probably don't want anyone knowing another version of non-robotech macross exists, kind of the way they censor the forums so people don't talk about non-toynami valks. hehe..

I might get this but I would like to hear review from someone other than keith. I don't know keith, I thought Robotech Roy was pretty good but you say that voices here are better? I thought the voices were a little bit overacted in some areas from the mp3s that were linked to earlier. (roy just came off as just a little bit hyperactive hehe.. Kind of have this image of crash bandicoot from that playstation game or something each time I hear it ) meh. I will probably cave in in future anyway, if I have any money left after buying all these yamato toys.

Edited January 4, 2006 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[azrael]

well, he said that they mirrored it. So I'm guessing they just had the same thing coming out of both channels. That's how most mono shows are. Though there are some that just comes through the center on a surround setup.

357235[/snapback]

Bingo. IIRC, at a Animeigo or Macross Panel, Shin Kurokawa mentioned that they would attempt to provide some better sound out of the original mono track. But considering it was mono and they spent most of the time cleaning the video, they were still pondering trying to get it 5.1 but in the end, they opted for just a stereo sound and just mirrored the audio track on the other channel. I don't recall if Mr. Kurokawa said if it could be done or if it was worth doing. I'm guessing the latter.

[Keith]

Robotech voices were bad, new macross dub voices aren't great, but not as bad as the old robotech voices. Why? if for no other reason, they don't have all of that cheesey as all hell exposition dialogue. And the Japanese audio is definately inferior on the ADV release. As I suspected, the AnimEigo audio sounds cleaner & clearer (as they claim to have gotten fresh audio masters from Japan). Chances are that ADV used the audio masters Harmony Gold had around (as AnimEigo probably only shared their remastered video, sly bastards!).

Is it worth getting? If you don't have a version of Macross already, then yeah, it's worth it. If you fear your AnimEigo discs may crack in the future, then it's worth it. If you want to see & hear more about Mari Iijima, then it's definately worth it. If for some crazy reason, you've always wanted a Macross dub....well, it's there. But if you're happy with your AnimEigo discs, and are sure they'll last, then there's no reason to get this (aside from the Mari extra's). Video is identical, audio is inferior, I haven't decided if the subtitles are better or not yet, and despite the stupid mis-pronunciations, everyone kinda seems to care what they're doing.

Oh, and if you want something other than robotech to show your kids as a dubbed version of Macross, then this is definately the preferable version. At first, I walked into this release just wanting a back up version of Macross, but after hearing the Mari interview & commentaries, I also want to support her in this project, she's just so likable & you can tell it's something she really wants to do, not just to cash another paycheck.

[apaje]

Robotech voices were bad, new macross dub voices aren't great, but not as bad as the old robotech voices. Why? if for no other reason, they don't have all of that cheesey as all hell exposition dialogue. And the Japanese audio is definately inferior on the ADV release. As I suspected, the AnimEigo audio sounds cleaner & clearer (as they claim to have gotten fresh audio masters from Japan). Chances are that ADV used the audio masters Harmony Gold had around (as AnimEigo probably only shared their remastered video, sly bastards!).

Is it worth getting? If you don't have a version of Macross already, then yeah, it's worth it. If you fear your AnimEigo discs may crack in the future, then it's worth it. If you want to see & hear more about Mari Iijima, then it's definately worth it. If for some crazy reason, you've always wanted a Macross dub....well, it's there. But if you're happy with your AnimEigo discs, and are sure they'll last, then there's no reason to get this (aside from the Mari extra's). Video is identical, audio is inferior, I haven't decided if the subtitles are better or not yet, and despite the stupid mis-pronunciations, everyone kinda seems to care what they're doing.

Oh, and if you want something other than robotech to show your kids as a dubbed version of Macross, then this is definately the preferable version. At first, I walked into this release just wanting a back up version of Macross, but after hearing the Mari interview & commentaries, I also want to support her in this project, she's just so likable & you can tell it's something she really wants to do, not just to cash another paycheck.

357286[/snapback]

So I went to my local Best Buy in San Diego, CA hoping to pick up a copy of Samurai 7 Vol. 1. All they had was Vol. 2... but right on the upper rack was: Macross Volume 1 (English Dub). So I picked it up and watched the first episode.

I was first introduced to Macross via Robotech. Then Macross Plus came along and blew me away. Since then I got a hold of DYRL, FB 2012, and then more recently Macross Zero (I skipped M7 and don't really care to check it out). I eventually got the Animeigo set of Macross remastered.

I have always been a fan of dubs. Macross Plus IMHO is one of the best anime dubs out there. Ghost In The Shell and Akira are also on my list. So I have to be honest and say that since I grew up with Robotech first, I couldn't really get into my Animeigo set of Macross subtitled.

So after watching the first episode of Macross Vol. 1 with the new English dub, I can finally watch the original Macross series the way I want to watch it... in it's (VISUAL) original form and dubbed.

You might all think I am crazy, but since the new set also has the japanese audio track, I will be getting rid of my Animeigo set. Too bad I got rid of the box and the dvd cases

[Keith]

Don't jump the gun and get rid of your animeigo set so soon, chances are the director's commentary won't make it into this release, which is a worthy extra.