Macross Δ (Delta) Movie Gekijō no Walkūre (Passionate Walkure)

[jeniusornome]

I do want to note that the Japanese Macross Delta releases are also "Region A" - they're not region-free, but the blu-ray regions are more inclusive than the old DVD regions were.

The only other official releases you can get with English subtitles: the "Shudisuta" box set of both Frontier movies (which is an excellent box set btw, and the subtitles are great) and the special edition Macross Plus box set, but it is stupid expensive and the subtitles are... not very good. They're also only on the movie version, the OVA version includes the English audio track but no English subtitles. The Frontier set used to be relatively cheap (usually around $90) but it seems secondary market prices have gone up quite a lot.

The standalone blu-ray releases of the Plus and Frontier movies don't have English subtitles, though.

[Mommar]

I'd love to own all of the series/films on Blu Ray but Japanese media is so ludicrously overpriced I refuse to buy any of it.

[Tochiro]

On 5/18/2020 at 6:51 PM, Graham said:

Wasn't that announced like 2 years ago?

I'd pretty much given up on it already and assumed it was cancelled.

 

Since they unveiled a preliminary valk sketch last October, have an tie-in image single dropping this month, and it’s been mentioned on the Speakerpodcast how production is progressing, I’m not too sure where you’d get that impression from. 
Fortunately, it’s still happening :-)

[Tochiro]

On 5/20/2020 at 12:43 AM, jeniusornome said:

I do want to note that the Japanese Macross Delta releases are also "Region A" - they're not region-free, but the blu-ray regions are more inclusive than the old DVD regions were.

The only other official releases you can get with English subtitles: the "Shudisuta" box set of both Frontier movies (which is an excellent box set btw, and the subtitles are great) and the special edition Macross Plus box set, but it is stupid expensive and the subtitles are... not very good. They're also only on the movie version, the OVA version includes the English audio track but no English subtitles. The Frontier set used to be relatively cheap (usually around $90) but it seems secondary market prices have gone up quite a lot.

The standalone blu-ray releases of the Plus and Frontier movies don't have English subtitles, though.

Regardless of what the listing may say, I’ve tested Delta discs in Region B players and they worked fine, so it may be a case of the listing just ticking off the necessary boxes. 

[Tochiro]

22 hours ago, Mommar said:

I'd love to own all of the series/films on Blu Ray but Japanese media is so ludicrously overpriced I refuse to buy any of it.

Fortunately enough time has passed that prices on Delta discs has dropped considerably - look on the Japanese second hand market and they can be even more affordable with a bit of hunting :-)

[Mommar]

On 5/20/2020 at 6:40 PM, Tochiro said:

Fortunately enough time has passed that prices on Delta discs has dropped considerably - look on the Japanese second hand market and they can be even more affordable with a bit of hunting :-)

That wouldn’t be the series I’d choose...

[Tochiro]

Walkure’s latest single “The Future is for Women” is currently ranked No.1 seller on Amazon Japan. 
Neither Walkure nor Macross are stopping anytime soon :-)
(a certain Makina superfan and SpeakerPODcast contributor can also be heard during one of the tracks if you know where to listen;-)

 

[kajnrig]

Oh hey, Walkure are super popular, that's great.

SO WHERE THE FLUFF ARE MY WAIFU FIGURES!?!?!?!?

[Saruta]

Thanks for the tip about the new release. Looks hopeful. I'm still hoping for more Walkure character development and now it might actually happen.

[Tochiro]

‪Walkure’s latest single has topped the weekly Billboard sales chart in Japan, with 22,206 physical copies sold in its first week  :-)

http://www.billboard-japan.com/d_news/detail/88603/2

Edited June 2, 2020 by Tochiro

[Einherjar]

Not even a pandemic can stop them!

[Spunky]

Bear in mind, this is not a review of the complete movie as I am still in the process of viewing it.  So far, the point I stopped it at was the better handled Messer death in which he at least got to say his bit to Kaname.

 

The Hayate/Freyja relationship takes full circle so much but is given precious time to grow and flourish that I don't think we even need to worry about the lack of Mirage footage, at least I didn't.  One of the concert pieces namely the Freyja debut has some atrocious 3D/2D animation mixing that takes me out of being in an experience of Macross concert and more of a really bad drug induced dream.  I found it extremely touching to the point of tears not only Freyja's birthday given such a precious gift like Hayate's snow machine but also Mikumo initiating the Happy Birthday song, moments like these just make it all worthwhile.  I will be sure to add my thoughts on the remaining parts when I get the chance soon, don't worry.

[Spunky]

UPDATE:

 

The final act of the movie was so beautiful, I barely can put it into words.  If only this method of storytelling had been more relative in the television version, it would have had a better chance.  "Dancing in the Moonlight" is now my new favorite Walkure song with his disco homage and playfulness between the singers.  Also, Kaname gets more time in the spotlight given how Messer got a more memorable and honorable sendoff both in his death scene as well as the funeral where the art department really outdid itself on the jellyfish taking off into the air.  As a matter of fact, the animation department aside from that incompatible 3D computer/2D concert where Freyja debuted definitely deserves all the praise in the world for giving us the gift of spectacular visuals in the mech combat as well as the final battle concert where Mikumo finally breaks free of her Mary Sue/artificial human self and lets herself be inspired instead of usually being the one who gives the inspiration with her songs.  Overall, outstanding compilation Macross Delta story and would definitely watch it again!

[Thom]

Yeah, that game-inspired concert scene being just dropped in there really took me out of the 'moment.' They reused so much footage from the series, nicely altering backgrounds to fit the movie, that I think they could have either polished it up or made a band new scene. Esp with it being Freyja's debut I didn't get any feelings from the character such as nervousness or success. It really was just a 2D CG scene. Really disappointed there.

As for the 'triangle' there was very much a lack of one in Passionate Walkure, which I appreciated. Though I could always go for more Mirage, focusing on just the two characters made the love-arc tighter and definitely fitted better for a movie version. (Though I will say that Frontier's False Songstress did pull it off pretty good.)

Overall, I liked it. Still not as good as Frontier, but enjoyable.

[Zinjo]

From the comments I've seen it sounds like a 21st Century version of M7.  Heavy emphasis on the music, less on the story and action.  Unfortunate....

Edited April 9, 2021 by Zinjo

[Bolt]

Except M7 was 52 episodes long. Had a way more interesting story . Better overall music . And we got to see Max and Milia fly VF-22's..

[Seto Kaiba]

6 minutes ago, Zinjo said:

From the comments I've seen it sounds like a 21st Century version of M7.  Heavy emphasis on the music, less on the story and action.  Unfortunate....

That's a fair summation of Macross Delta in general, IMO... in both the positive and negative senses.

Questionable pacing, a story that's less serious and kind of threadbare-feeling, repetitive action, but a soundtrack full of absolute bangers.

[jenius]

Having received my DX VF-31J fold projection unit, I asked in the other thread about what episode it's from. Mommar pointed out it's in episode 6 (thank you Mommar!). It turns out episode 6 is also the basis for the first portion of Passionate Walkure so I watched it... and continued to watch the entire movie for the first time. I really didn't like it. Some of it is on me. The movie is called Passionate Walkure and clearly the focus is on the girls but I desperately wanted the focus to be on the plot. So many critical elements are resolved via a single sentence of exposition here or there that the whole thing just feels like a jumbled mess. Some of the transitions were LOL bad. Going from Messer's death at the ruins to the girls are prisoners and Hayate and Mirage are sneaking around on the ship was a fun "Oh, I guess this is how things are now" moment. Here's my suggestion for a Delta movie trying to stay true to the plot without sticking to what was animated (here comes the fan fiction baby!)

We open to Walkure performing while Delta quells a VAR uprising somewhere. Freija is already a member. It is revealed that this was Mikumo's first performance with the team and everyone is AMAZED at how well she did for a girl that just came out of no where. We get the backstory of Walkure and how it arrived at this point. The girls are trying to get to know Mikumo but she's a real mystery and she's got a professor type guy always tagging along and whisking her off when things get weird. Walkure receives an invitation to Windermere to perform for Heinz's birthday.

Windermere. It's the only planet that hasn't had a Var outbreak. NUNS has been kicked off the planet some years ago and is forbidden from approaching it. Walkure lands on Windermere and performs a concert with airshow. Obviously this should be animated totally different from the rest of the film and be way over the top as is Macross movie tradition. The aerial knights are unimpressed, little prince loves it. Roid uses the concert to confirm his suspicions that Walkure is using fold waves to combat Var AND that those fold waves have an effect on the Protoculture ruins on Windermere. Hayate goes on a date with Freija, sees the planet, gets the NUNS war backstory, sees the rift left from the bomb. They come back and it's the prince's birthday party at the palace. Bogue shows Hayate his father's VF-22 and impresses on him how much he'd like revenge. Mikumo spends quality time with the girls and seems like she's coming out of her shell. 

The next day Delta and Walkure head out to the Protoculture ruins just as a massive NUNS contingent is arriving at the planet. NUNS finally has proof that Windermere is responsible for VAR and is going to capture the planet. Mikumo is the Star Singer reborn and Delta needs to place her in the protoculture ruins so she can negate Windermere's ability to invoike Var/nullify the prince's control throughout the star system (this mission is why they accepted the invite to a non-VAR planet). When they get there, Roid is waiting with the Knights. The ruins launch as the Sigur Valens (or whatever it was called) capturing Walkure on board. Keith kills Messer. Delta drops back and regroups at Elision (or whatever it's called) while the Sigur lays waste to NUNS. Var impacted NUNS soldiers throughout the star system are also showing up and attacking the NUNS contingent from Earth (not impacted by VAR because they didn't eat the water and apples). While the prince's singing is enough to invoke VAR and control VAR afflicted individuals, he's not strong enough so Roid escalates to his unified mind plan. Mikumo awakens confused, on a stage, in some Protoculture induced dream, and is urged to sing. She begins singing and people begin losing their independent thought and the rest plays out like the finale did. She's reached by the other Walkure members singing, changes her tune, Keith defies Roid. 

We end with NUNS essentially having been obliterated from the star system and Windermere is free. There's some "who was the real bad guy" drama. Mikumo is like "Okay, what do I do now?" Roll credits. 

That's my stab at condensing all of Delta into a 90 minute movie ending with 30 minutes of hardcore mech porn peppered with J-pop. 

[Bolt]

lol. Bravo !  👍🏼

[ZOR prime]

Glad I didn't dl it

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2022 by ZOR prime
None

[Seto Kaiba]

Eh... Passionate Walkure IS a compilation movie, so the jumbled-ness is an understandable state of affairs given that it is almost literally the Spark Notes version of the story.

It certainly did not help that Macross Delta's story was already kind of threadbare and full of arbitrary and poorly-explained plot twists that shuffled a cast of undeveloped expies of the Macross Frontier cast and shallow stock characters around from one Walkure concert to the next before giving up and just stealing the entire ending of Macross Frontier whole cloth.

The TV anime's lackluster writing is probably mostly the blame for the compilation movie's plot changing gears rather less fluidly than a transmission that hadn't seen oil since the Reagan administration.

[ZOR prime]

I like macross frontier better more action

[Chronocidal]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Eh... Passionate Walkure IS a compilation movie, so the jumbled-ness is an understandable state of affairs given that it is almost literally the Spark Notes version of the story.

It certainly did not help that Macross Delta's story was already kind of threadbare and full of arbitrary and poorly-explained plot twists that shuffled a cast of undeveloped expies of the Macross Frontier cast and shallow stock characters around from one Walkure concert to the next before giving up and just stealing the entire ending of Macross Frontier whole cloth.

The TV anime's lackluster writing is probably mostly the blame for the compilation movie's plot changing gears rather less fluidly than a transmission that hadn't seen oil since the Reagan administration.

I'd have to watch them both back to back (or maybe not, I'm not sure I can take that much plot-based spinal readjustment), but I still feel like the movie did the plot a favor by condensing the extraneous elements into something more coherent as a whole.

Probably just a relative thing, because it introduced its own problems.. maybe it just felt less offensive because it was over faster?

[davidwhangchoi]

I like that Messer’s battle is portrayed better with Keith and nerfed the blue hair boy to being not as good against White Knight.

[ZOR prime]

I liked macross delta the series better.

Wonder if they are planning another series?

[Raikkonen]

Apologies for sounding like a utter Noob-bot. But recently started to rekindle Macross after a 10 MIA, and catching up with this Delta saga.

Question, is there something that I missed between Frontier and Delta? Frontier feels like a homage of the original Macross on new territory, but Delta... is like completely aimed at a whole different fanbase of anime.

[no3Ljm]

23 minutes ago, Raikkonen said:

Apologies for sounding like a utter Noob-bot. But recently started to rekindle Macross after a 10 MIA, and catching up with this Delta saga.

Question, is there something that I missed between Frontier and Delta? Frontier feels like a homage of the original Macross on new territory, but Delta... is like completely aimed at a whole different fanbase of anime.

Macross is always been composed of 3 things: Love Triangle, Music, and Mechas. Delta's the same thing too in a weird kind of way. Initially, it has the reaction of Macross plus Sailor Moons. In which I think they capitalize much due to that 'fanbase' group. Delta was produced during the time where girl group thing is in its highest peak in Japan. So it hit that fanbase specific but making the old fanbase feel weird.  

And to be honest, I'm just in now for the Valkyries. 

 

[Bolt]

30 minutes ago, Raikkonen said:

Apologies for sounding like a utter Noob-bot. But recently started to rekindle Macross after a 10 MIA, and catching up with this Delta saga.

Question, is there something that I missed between Frontier and Delta? Frontier feels like a homage of the original Macross on new territory, but Delta... is like completely aimed at a whole different fanbase of anime.

Frontier was indeed more of an homage to SDFM. And Delta is a different direction (aside from the usual Macross Deculture) . There are varying opinions between the two. But Frontier is way better IMO. Nevertheless, Delta IS the new hotness in Japan. And Macross has just evolved ( again various opinions here ) with the idol , jpop, etc culture that birthed it. 

[Chronocidal]

Also a triangle that struggles to meet the geometric definition.  

[ZOR prime]

Yep pretty much alike😁

[David Hingtgen]

On 4/7/2022 at 5:17 PM, Raikkonen said:

Apologies for sounding like a utter Noob-bot. But recently started to rekindle Macross after a 10 MIA, and catching up with this Delta saga.

Question, is there something that I missed between Frontier and Delta? Frontier feels like a homage of the original Macross on new territory, but Delta... is like completely aimed at a whole different fanbase of anime.

Nope, Delta is just that different from Frontier, story/theme-wise.  It LOOKS similar, animation-wise, but that's about all they have in common, IMHO.   

[Raikkonen]

6 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Nope, Delta is just that different from Frontier, story/theme-wise.  It LOOKS similar, animation-wise, but that's about all they have in common, IMHO.   

I can't finish it. It feels like watching a show for my little kid. It's too much Sailor Moon jam smeared on cringe bread.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Raikkonen

[ZOR prime]

Yep

Wish the story line was better

[Seto Kaiba]

On 4/7/2022 at 6:17 PM, Raikkonen said:

Apologies for sounding like a utter Noob-bot. But recently started to rekindle Macross after a 10 MIA, and catching up with this Delta saga.

Question, is there something that I missed between Frontier and Delta? Frontier feels like a homage of the original Macross on new territory, but Delta... is like completely aimed at a whole different fanbase of anime.

Delta is basically Frontier 2 by way of Macross 7... its plot borrows a LOT from Frontier, to the point of straight-up ripping the entire ending off, but thematically it's much more like the Macross 7 series.

[Chronocidal]

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Delta is basically Frontier 2 by way of Macross 7... its plot borrows a LOT from Frontier, to the point of straight-up ripping the entire ending off, but thematically it's much more like the Macross 7 series.

While managing to remove almost all of the character development.