New Macross Animation Announced, to be animated by Sunrise

[MKT]

On 10/6/2023 at 1:26 PM, seti88 said:

<insert pitchforks gif here> 😅

i wanna forget that tune but each time i unbox a VF-1....😂

I hear the tune too when I see this.. but ashamed to say, it’s the wRong one that came to mind first. 

[snakerbot]

16 hours ago, Big s said:

As far as the actual songs I gotta go with 7 stuff.

Agreed. Fire Bomber had the best music in all of Macross and the show did a huge disservice to everyone involved by overplaying just a handful of songs. I will die on this hill.

[Big s]

20 minutes ago, snakerbot said:

Agreed. Fire Bomber had the best music in all of Macross and the show did a huge disservice to everyone involved by overplaying just a handful of songs. I will die on this hill.

You won’t be dying on that hill alone 

[seti88]

11 hours ago, MKT said:

I hear the tune too when I see this.. but ashamed to say, it’s the wRong one that came to mind first. 

Dont be ashamed, its not our fault we were brainwashed back then!...🤪😅

Like you I can still hear it... 😁 *and i still hum it at times* *like now...* 😆

watch more macross to de-program 😂 but somethings just cant be forgotten and its ok, just accept that its part of the past 

Edited October 9, 2023 by seti88

[pengbuzz]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:34 PM, snakerbot said:

Agreed. Fire Bomber had the best music in all of Macross and the show did a huge disservice to everyone involved by overplaying just a handful of songs. I will die on this hill.

 

[pengbuzz]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:34 PM, snakerbot said:

Agreed. Fire Bomber had the best music in all of Macross and the show did a huge disservice to everyone involved by overplaying just a handful of songs. I will die on this hill.

On 10/8/2023 at 6:55 PM, Big s said:

You won’t be dying on that hill alone 

With three, we'll defend this frickin' hill:

 

[Graham]

I love Let's Fire & Second Fire albums. Still listen to them all the time.

 

[pengbuzz]

4 minutes ago, Graham said:

I love Let's Fire & Second Fire albums. Still listen to them all the time.

 

Same here; I also love Dynamite Fire as well!

[Big s]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

With three, we'll defend this frickin' hill:

 

Seems we’re building a fireteam

[R0P3-F15H]

oh if we're talking about firebomber this is my all time favorite.

 

[Raikkonen]

On 10/6/2023 at 7:52 AM, Graham said:

The only Macross music which to me is forgettable is that from Macross Zero. There was really nothing that grabbed me.

Feel the exact same about 7. 

Some like redheads, others blondes. Some want a Porsche, others a Ferrari. One of those things. 😅

Edited October 24, 2023 by Raikkonen

[Seto Kaiba]

On 10/8/2023 at 6:34 PM, snakerbot said:

Agreed. Fire Bomber had the best music in all of Macross and the show did a huge disservice to everyone involved by overplaying just a handful of songs. I will die on this hill.

I think that 7's music has been bettered since by Frontier... but I absolutely agree with the second half that they did it a huge disservice by overplaying just a few of their songs, esp. in the show's first half.  It's real easy to get sick of Planet Dance when it's all you hear.

It'll be interesting to see what we get, music-wise, from the next series.  I think Delta's music fell down a bit because it was trying too hard to be like Frontier's instead of finding its own identity.  Hopefully the next show's music will opt for more originality.

[JB0]

16 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Feel the exact same about 7. 

Some like redheads, others blondes. Some want a Porsche, others a Ferrari. One of those things. 😅

Some people want a minty clean Pontiac Fiero, while acknowledging it is objectively a trash car.

I don't know how that relates to the topic at hand, but now you know my "suddenly rich" plan.

[R0P3-F15H]

I just finished frontier and the movies ( after having not watched them for over ten years gods I feel old now..) today and I gotta say I really like it as a kit bash of SDF and 7, the front half of the anime has… questionable comedy? I hope we are out of the era of “sexual harassment a character is not in control of so it’s funny” for the new show… but as far as music goes long long goodbye and aimo were the only two that really hit, though the composition peice of Ranka and Sheryls duet with My Boyfriend is a Pilot with DYRL was stellar followed up by the double MACROSS PUNCH!!!.

 

it also got me to realize that yea, Macross is really silly. It’s meant to be because humans are silly things, love saves the universe cause we are to dumb for it not to, sure it gets gritty sometimes but there is always that bit at the end that rises everything up! I think frontier does this really well, and imo a capstone for me of everything between it and SDF. I gotta start delta soon and I’ve heard a mixed bag, I also saw someone mention it’d be cool if the new series was a racing tourney and like gosh dang if they did oban star racers but with Macross that’d be sick.

[TG Remix]

19 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I think that 7's music has been bettered since by Frontier... but I absolutely agree with the second half that they did it a huge disservice by overplaying just a few of their songs, esp. in the show's first half.  It's real easy to get sick of Planet Dance when it's all you hear.

Honestly I didn't know how much Macross 7 hid so much Fire Bomber tracks until I watched the P*L*U*S shorts the other day, and I got surprised when I heard two songs that never appeared in the show proper! Honestly it's not even the lack of Fire Bomber variety that bothers me the most, it's the lack of a proper soundtrack! Kentarō Haneda's music for SDF is legendary, which Yoko Kanno carried the torch with Plus and Frontier, and what 7 mostly does is borrow from the latter. Granted they were contemporaries, but did Fire Bomber really take so much of the budget? 😂

 

4 hours ago, R0P3-F15H said:

it also got me to realize that yea, Macross is really silly. It’s meant to be because humans are silly things, love saves the universe cause we are to dumb for it not to, sure it gets gritty sometimes but there is always that bit at the end that rises everything up! I think frontier does this really well, and imo a capstone for me of everything between it and SDF.

Honestly the more I think about it, it's Plus and Zero that are the weird ones for being more "gritty" and toned down, even compared to the first series. Yeah that has humanity almost going extinct but I also wasn't expected to laugh as much as I did with its comedic  and wacky moments as well.

[R0P3-F15H]

4 hours ago, TG Remix said:

Honestly I didn't know how much Macross 7 hid so much Fire Bomber tracks until I watched the P*L*U*S shorts the other day, and I got surprised when I heard two songs that never appeared in the show proper! Honestly it's not even the lack of Fire Bomber variety that bothers me the most, it's the lack of a proper soundtrack! Kentarō Haneda's music for SDF is legendary, which Yoko Kanno carried the torch with Plus and Frontier, and what 7 mostly does is borrow from the latter. Granted they were contemporaries, but did Fire Bomber really take so much of the budget? 😂

 

Honestly the more I think about it, it's Plus and Zero that are the weird ones for being more "gritty" and toned down, even compared to the first series. Yeah that has humanity almost going extinct but I also wasn't expected to laugh as much as I did with its comedic  and wacky moments as well.

Honestly Plus is starting to feel that way, its very standout. but i think it still fits and got what wanted to be done done.  Zero at least ends with singing and love saving the day! wich is pretty peak macross to me.

[Raikkonen]

11 hours ago, JB0 said:

Some people want a minty clean Pontiac Fiero, while acknowledging it is objectively a trash car.

I don't know how that relates to the topic at hand, but now you know my "suddenly rich" plan.

Well relates to it as personal preferences are being mentioned. 🤷‍♂️

Which I started when saying Delta isn't memorable while liking Zero, something like that, to others feeling the opposite. 

[JB0]

2 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Well relates to it as personal preferences are being mentioned. 🤷‍♂️

Which I started when saying Delta isn't memorable while liking Zero, something like that, to others feeling the opposite. 

I just don't know which Macross has the Fiero music.

[network19]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:52 PM, Graham said:

Completely disagree about Macross Music being forgettable.

I've been listening to Macross music since the 80s, have a pretty big collection of Macross CDs and still regularaly listen to the music of SDF Macross, DYRL Macross II, Macross 7, Macross Plus, Macross Frontier and Macross Delta.

The only Macross music which to me is forgettable is that from Macross Zero. There was really nothing that grabbed me.

 

 

Perhaps the word forgettable can be seen as harsh. After all I do remember most of the music. Who here doesn't? I do enjoy Macross's BGM more than its songs. The vocal tracks at times feel held back, maybe due to marketing, time or maybe it just the nature of major labels in japan.

 

 

Now that I think about it, I don't even know what Kawamori's creative process even is when considering the music on a new Macross. How involved is he in the musical process?

 

If this next macross series is going to focus a bit more on the western market. I wonder what effect will it have on its music. Would it try to copy or get inspired by current American or European popstars.

[Raikkonen]

On 11/18/2023 at 9:06 AM, network19 said:

If this next macross series is going to focus a bit more on the western market. I wonder what effect will it have on its music. Would it try to copy or get inspired by current American or European popstars.

Good question. Long shot, but maybe they might get inspired by the present film/series trend of revisiting classic 80s music. 

[Gendo Koun]

6 months have passed, no news update. Guess then we have to wait for a whole full year just for a snapshot of what they are doing at the moment

[Space Casual Life]

PLEASE be the story of the Megaroad-01 animated by hand and shot on film in the original studio used for SDFM. Marin is also still alive and professionally active by the way.

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, Space Casual Life said:

PLEASE be the story of the Megaroad-01 animated by hand and shot on film in the original studio used for SDFM. Marin is also still alive and professionally active by the way.

We already know it won't be... both because Big West apparently agreed to stop using the first series designs in new works as part of their global distribution deal, and because the story would be a hilarious nonevent.

After all, Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! revealed the fate of the Megaroad-01.  It sailed uneventfully for four years from 2012 to 2016 and then it vanished after it...

Spoiler

... hit the fold space equivalent of a pothole and broke down on the metaphorical side of the road in fold space.

I'm not sure today's audiences, or any audiences, would thrill to watching the original series characters muse on whether the ship's recycled water has started to look and taste like Dutch lager after half a century.

[Space Casual Life]

: (

[Master Dex]

Honestly, even aside the issues Seto notes (which I agree with)... I personally never thought the combo of Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay were all that interesting. Like, even if we still didn't know their rather mundane fate, I could care less about a follow up with them. My favorite from the original are the ones that stayed behind and have gotten referenced or reappeared (namely Max). 

Those three carried their story, the original story, well, but they had a good and satisfying conclusion. They aren't that compelling now that they've worked their crap out lol. Megaroad-01 certainly isn't especially interesting as a ship either.

I think when people say they want this follow up they really mean they want something that's not new and different. The problem is, Macross is all about new and different because like real life, stuff is always changing. 

[jvmacross]

I'd be glad if the franchise can muster a good story so I'm not just in it for the VF's....whether it does that with old or new characters doesn't matter to me...

As a fan of "Macross"...with each new series I still maintain hope that it will be watchable....Kawamori still has time to give us his Swan Song before passing on the Macross torch...

[Space Casual Life]

10 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

 

After all, Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! revealed the fate of the Megaroad-01.  It sailed uneventfully for four years from 2012 to 2016 and then it vanished after it...

Hmm, I'm sure this fact was published in timelines much earlier than the mention in the release you're talking about. I think I probably first read it in a translated timeline in an issue of Animerica in the '90s. I'm hazy on where it exactly it can be found in Japanese publications. 

[Space Casual Life]

6 hours ago, Master Dex said:

Honestly, even aside the issues Seto notes (which I agree with)... I personally never thought the combo of Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay were all that interesting. Like, even if we still didn't know their rather mundane fate, I could care less about a follow up with them. My favorite from the original are the ones that stayed behind and have gotten referenced or reappeared (namely Max). 

Okay, how is Max more interesting to you than the love triangle between Hikaru, Misa and Minmei? 

Quote

Those three carried their story, the original story, well, but they had a good and satisfying conclusion. They aren't that compelling now that they've worked their crap out lol. Megaroad-01 certainly isn't especially interesting as a ship either.

Ok. I would have liked to see Misa as Captain of the ship, being a military pro and from her lineage I think she would have been a more interesting skipper than Max was. I think the design for the Megaroad-01 is a masterpiece. 

Quote

I think when people say they want this follow up they really mean they want something that's not new and different. The problem is, Macross is all about new and different because like real life, stuff is always changing. 

Stuff doesn't always change for the better though. Look at what happened to Star Wars when Lucas was given absolute power. SW is returning a lot to what the original fans liked, going back to the source material and more the original "feel" and people love it apparently. 

 

 

[sketchley]

7 minutes ago, Space Casual Life said:

Hmm, I'm sure this fact was published in timelines much earlier than the mention in the release you're talking about. I think I probably first read it in a translated timeline in an issue of Animerica in the '90s. I'm hazy on where it exactly it can be found in Japanese publications. 

Was it this item*? http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/OTother/MinmeiLastMessage.php

While it specifically states Minmei's last message was sent "July 7, 2016", I think it's fairly safe to say that the Megaroad-01 didn't disappear that very same day.

 

* The mail-in gift was created for a 1997 Sega Saturn / 1999 PS1 game.  It's unknown if a non-Japanese publisher (e.g. Animerica) would have known about it.

[Space Casual Life]

15 minutes ago, sketchley said:

Was it this item*? http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/OTother/MinmeiLastMessage.php

While it specifically states Minmei's last message was sent "July 7, 2016", I think it's fairly safe to say that the Megaroad-01 didn't disappear that very same day.

 

* The mail-in gift was created for a 1997 Sega Saturn / 1999 PS1 game.  It's unknown if a non-Japanese publisher (e.g. Animerica) would have known about it.

Thanks for that, never knew it. That would make sense as '97 DYRL for SS/PS and the games for PC Engine are all part of the Big West canon. If anyone hasn't seen it, the clip where it fills in the DYRL version of the fold from South Ataria is legendary. For a long time the dream for me was a sequal movie about the Megaroad, done in the style of animation in that clip.

I'm thinking there was a timeline published even earlier referencing that "Earth lost contact with the Megaroad-01 fleet as it was somewhere near the centre of the Galaxy" though. I BELIEVE there's even a reference at the end of Macross 7 (Kawamori-verse) to this? Does Gubaba still post here? I think he used to know this kind of stuff.  

Oh and btw there were some hardcore otaku bilingual people on Animerica like Trish Ledoux and Toren Smith. I'm pretty sure someone there would have mailed in for the gift at the time. 

Edited February 1 by Space Casual Life
clarity

[sketchley]

11 minutes ago, Space Casual Life said:

I'm thinking there was a timeline published even earlier referencing that "Earth lost contact with the Megaroad-01 fleet as it was somewhere near the centre of the Galaxy" though. I BELIEVE there's even a reference at the end of Macross 7 (Kawamori-verse) to this? Does Gubaba still post here? I think he used to know this kind of stuff. 

It's possible.  Kawamori-san has always said that contact was lost—what amounts to the original cast having their happy ending and having ridden into the sunset.  The specifics (and time) where unknown until that mail-in gift card.

As for Macross timelines: they tend to get rewritten a lot, and tailored to the latest Macross series.

 

Quote

Oh and btw there were some hardcore otaku bilingual people on Animerica like Trish Ledoux and Toren Smith. I'm pretty sure someone there would have mailed in for the gift at the time. 

Hearing those names brings back a lot of memories! LOL

[Master Dex]

23 minutes ago, Space Casual Life said:

Okay, how is Max more interesting to you than the love triangle between Hikaru, Misa and Minmei?

Easily, he's my favorite character.. I mean he's often my avatar lol.

But also Hikaru is frankly, kind of a dumbass lol. He's a good audience avatar in the show so he is a better main character to relate to however. His character story is essentially about learning to grow up amid the end of the world and becoming responsible for his choices.

Minmay is honestly a great character study in someone thrust into fame with no preparation and naturally that fame breaks them down from the stress until they are just going through the motions in the post-war world while dealing with depression. They only had a passing interest in Hikaru (plus they were a kid with no sense of what they wanted in a partner at the beginning), but post-war they gravitated to him in hopes of finding comfort in a world she couldn't stand to live in. Her realization to leave Earth to seek out a better life for herself on her terms instead of letting it be based on other people is a solid endpoint for her journey.

37 minutes ago, Space Casual Life said:

Ok. I would have liked to see Misa as Captain of the ship, being a military pro and from her lineage I think she would have been a more interesting skipper than Max was. I think the design for the Megaroad-01 is a masterpiece. 

Misa kinda runs the broken bird ice queen that thaws out as her chemistry with Hikaru grows and she helps him grow up while he helps her to heal from the issues in her past. It's not super inventive but it was well told. I'm glad she's a Captain now but that was kinda inevitable. A show about her wouldn't offer anything different than a show about another Captain married to a pilot in their fleet.

37 minutes ago, Space Casual Life said:

Stuff doesn't always change for the better though. Look at what happened to Star Wars when Lucas was given absolute power. SW is returning a lot to what the original fans liked, going back to the source material and more the original "feel" and people love it apparently. 

I have no comment on Star Wars but yeah, sometimes new stuff isn't as good. That happens. Sometimes it is good or better. You'll never find the next great story if you don't venture out past the old and comfortable. Macross has proven this out with both amazing and not so amazing sequels. I'd prefer the risk to get the rewards. 

[Jeff J]

1 hour ago, Master Dex said:

Minmay is honestly a great character study in someone thrust into fame with no preparation and naturally that fame breaks them down from the stress until they are just going through the motions in the post-war world while dealing with depression. They only had a passing interest in Hikaru (plus they were a kid with no sense of what they wanted in a partner at the beginning), but post-war they gravitated to him in hopes of finding comfort in a world she couldn't stand to live in. Her realization to leave Earth to seek out a better life for herself on her terms instead of letting it be based on other people is a solid endpoint for her journey.

 

Loved this write-up. I always sympathized with the character and probably my single biggest problem with the RT translation is how much more frustrating/less relatable of a character they made her, and then the novelizations dialed it up to 11. Her personal arc is what I find most interesting about the last nine episodes. But I really like your point about how she ended her story on her terms. 

Anyway, even though Macross to me means the original series and everything that comes with it, I think the first trio's story conclusion is fine as is, abrupt as it may be. I don't want them to come back 35+ years later and screw with our own head canons that've been marinating for decades. Also, I don't want my guy Hikaru to be recast. Since so much of my love for Macross at this point is driven by sentimentality and nostalgia, I feel extra attached to letting Hikaru be forever Arihiro Hase. 

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, Space Casual Life said:

Hmm, I'm sure this fact was published in timelines much earlier than the mention in the release you're talking about. I think I probably first read it in a translated timeline in an issue of Animerica in the '90s. I'm hazy on where it exactly it can be found in Japanese publications. 

That Megaroad-01 disappeared in 2016 has, yes, been a part of the setting since the late 90's... though I don't believe it was definitively made official that she vanished in July 2016 until Macross Chronicle came out in the wake of Macross Frontier in the late 2000s.

Kawamori always avoided the subject of what became of the ship after its disappearance, citing that Macross: Flash Back 2012 was the coda of Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay's story and that their departure from Earth aboard the Megaroad-01 was them sailing off into the proverbial sunset at the conclusion of their story.  Their disappearance isn't even treated like some kind of enduring mystery for subsequent generations.  Ships just sometimes go missing due to fold accidents and it's treated like an unfortunate statistic.  It wasn't until the most recent movie, Absolute Live!!!!!!, that the Megaroad-01's fate was revisited and it was a huge anticlimax...

Spoiler

... because the obvious answer turned out to be correct.  The Megaroad-01's disappearane was because of a fold accident, and the only remarkable thing about it was that the ship HADN'T been destroyed.  It was stuck in a fold fault instead, trapped in the higher dimensional spacetime of fold space for decades.

Even then, its appearance in the Absolute Live!!!!!! movie was basically incidental.  The only reason anyone was looking was because someone operating under the alias "Lady M" was using the Megaroad-01's communications frequency while manipulating the New UN Government and New UN Forces, and did so blatantly and frequently enough that one particularly respected commander went rogue and formed a paramilitary organization devoted to hunting them down.

 

3 hours ago, Space Casual Life said:

Okay, how is Max more interesting to you than the love triangle between Hikaru, Misa and Minmei? 

The obvious answer being "the love triangle in question is already resolved".

 

3 hours ago, Space Casual Life said:

Ok. I would have liked to see Misa as Captain of the ship, being a military pro and from her lineage I think she would have been a more interesting skipper than Max was. I think the design for the Megaroad-01 is a masterpiece. 

The problem with this premise being that, like Hikaru and Minmay, Misa's character arc is over... there isn't really a direction for her character to develop in now.  She was already a confident military officer in the original series, and she overcame her romantic difficulties with Hikaru in the original series.  

 

3 hours ago, Space Casual Life said:

Stuff doesn't always change for the better though. Look at what happened to Star Wars when Lucas was given absolute power. SW is returning a lot to what the original fans liked, going back to the source material and more the original "feel" and people love it apparently. 

All things considered, isn't it rather ironic to make this argument given that Star Wars fans are also quite unhappy with the new trilogy for mindlessly recapitulating the story arcs of the original trilogy and for overriding the happy ending of same to drag the original characters back into action long past their use-by date?

Macross has found consistent success over the years by making each new installment a self-contained story and moving on to a new part of the setting with new characters when that story reaches its natural conclusion.  That, plus its broad strokes approach to continuity, has allowed it to continually reinvent itself and take new approaches to its premise in each successive title without being chained down to what was popular forty years ago, burying new viewers in prerequisite viewing, or wearing out its welcome.  I suspect what we can look forward to another fresh installment set somewhere different from previous works, with its own characters, set pieces, and local flavor.

[Roy Focker]

One idea I always had for a series is a search for the Megaroad that happens not too long after it goes missing. They send a new crew on a new ship. Of course they never find it but are swept away to fight some new threat that can only be defeated by music and love or some crap.