Macross Plus streaming in original language with English subtitles?

[26662]

My search here at MW didn't provide an answer to my question: where can I watch Macross Plus in its original language but subtitled in English?  I *loath* dubs.  Help a brother out.  Thanks All.

[Seto Kaiba]

At present, Macross Plus doesn't seem to be available on any of the major streaming services outside of Japan.

Part of it may still be available on Amazon, if their web storefront isn't lying to me, but your best bet at this precise moment is probably the old home video releases of the OVA and movie from Manga Entertainment.

It'll presumably become available on streaming again after the new licensee releases the OVA and/or movie on home video in high definition.  We've just recently started to see the new licensees for Macross titles announcing release plans for the older shows, so hopefully it won't be too much longer before Macross Plus's release date is announced.

[Rhubarbarian]

The movie is currently doing the theatre circuit, and Anime Ltd. is supposed to be doing a four-volume vinyl release of the soundtrack this year. No official word on a streaming or blu-ray release for the OVA or the movie, but I imagine it is coming pretty soon.

Like Seto said, if you don't want to wait, your best bet are the old DVDs. They are surprisingly not super expensive; I remember having to pay kind of ridiculous prices for the Megazone 23 DVDs before they did the blu-ray re-release.

[26662]

57 minutes ago, Rhubarbarian said:

The movie is currently doing the theatre circuit, and Anime Ltd. is supposed to be doing a four-volume vinyl release of the soundtrack this year. No official word on a streaming or blu-ray release for the OVA or the movie, but I imagine it is coming pretty soon.

Like Seto said, if you don't want to wait, your best bet are the old DVDs. They are surprisingly not super expensive; I remember having to pay kind of ridiculous prices for the Megazone 23 DVDs before they did the blu-ray re-release.

I picked up a DVD copy (Japanese language with English subtitles) on eBay today for ~$40.  More than I wanted to pay but asi es la vida.

[treatment]

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

I picked up a DVD copy (Japanese language with English subtitles) on eBay today for ~$40.  More than I wanted to pay but asi es la vida.

It'll require some minor effort, but do try to get the Japanese-BD and just add Neil Nadelman's excellent english subtitles from your Mangle DVD...

See the video diff here:

Manga's old US DVD OVA edition:

vs

JP Blu-ray OVA-1 with Neil's subs...

I'll post the movie-version diffs next...

Fwiw, the JP-BD's OVA version does not have english-subs. Only japanese/japanese-subs and english vocals.

[treatment]

Same effort to do with the Movie version, but you'll have to find the old fansubs to get the proper english-subs.

That is due to the JP-BD's movie-edition having engrish-subs.

The old US DVD Mangle had burned-in subs.

See diff here:

US Mangle dvd's old burned-in subs:

 

vs

JP-BD native engrish sub:

 

vs

JP-BD with old fansubs:

 

 

[26662]

4 hours ago, treatment said:

Same effort to do with the Movie version, but you'll have to find the old fansubs to get the proper english-subs.

That is due to the JP-BD's movie-edition having engrish-subs.

The old US DVD Mangle had burned-in subs.

See diff here:

US Mangle dvd's old burned-in subs:

 

vs

JP-BD native engrish sub:

 

vs

JP-BD with old fansubs:

 

 

TY!  I didn't realize there were so many options.  My better half is the media expert so I'll ask her to help piece all of this together.  [She managed a Blockbuster in college and ended up with something like 2000 titles when they finally shuttered the store.  It took a year of on/off effort, but she finally ripped everything (Handbrake?), added subtitles and artwork found online, and put all of it on a media server to stream throughout the house.  I think that's the first and last time she did anything remotely related to her engineering degree.]

[Sandman]

On 1/9/2024 at 3:28 AM, 26662 said:

TY!  I didn't realize there were so many options.  My better half is the media expert so I'll ask her to help piece all of this together.  [She managed a Blockbuster in college and ended up with something like 2000 titles when they finally shuttered the store.  It took a year of on/off effort, but she finally ripped everything (Handbrake?), added subtitles and artwork found online, and put all of it on a media server to stream throughout the house.  I think that's the first and last time she did anything remotely related to her engineering degree.]

That seems like a lot of work.

[26662]

4 minutes ago, Sandman said:

That seems like a lot of work.

It was a lot of work, but it's been wonderful having everything reside locally on a server.  It was a good solution for us because with my AppleTV purchases over the years, we currently have somewhere north of 5000 titles (when you include TV and movies together).  My only complaint is the cost: the initial server was thousands and thousands of dollars, and thankfully, we've had to upgrade only once due to storage limits.  We've had to replace only one drive thus far, but because of how she arranged additional drives to serve as backups (don't ask me, I don't know the details), we didn't lose any data.  I wouldn't recommend following in our footsteps because it's a slippery slope in terms of always having to buy additional storage space.  I buy a lot less media than I used to, but with the release of 4K titles we're chewing through disk space even faster than before.  I'm not looking forward to the cost of the next upgrade.

[treatment]

fyi as of this posting...

Macross Plus Blu-Ray OVA and Movie box-set at manda for 28k-yen (excluding shipping-fees)

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1251822662&keyword=マクロス&lang=en

 

 

[26662]

8 hours ago, treatment said:

fyi as of this posting...

Macross Plus Blu-Ray OVA and Movie box-set at manda for 28k-yen (excluding shipping-fees)

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1251822662&keyword=マクロス&lang=en

 

 

Thank you!  I’m currently enjoying the copy I purchased on eBay.  I think at this point the only reason I’d purchase another copy is if they recreated the entire movie using computer wizardry (similar to how a new intro was created for Robotech; see below).

 

 

Edited February 9 by 26662

[Jeff J]

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

(similar to how a new intro was created for Robotech; see below).

 

 

LOL, so triggered right now. 🤣 But seriously, some fan just shaved off the Macross intro and dubbed it over with the RT soundtrack. The full, unedited version of this animation is on YouTube, as well. Not sure if you know this, but sharing just in case. 😀

Edited February 9 by Jeff J

[26662]

52 minutes ago, Jeff J said:

LOL, so triggered right now. 🤣 But seriously, some fan just shaved off the Macross intro and dubbed it over with the RT soundtrack. The full, unedited version of this animation is on YouTube, as well. Not sure if you know this, but sharing just in case. 😀

That sounds familiar.  I just searched for the full video you mentioned but didn’t find anything.  Got a link?  The first time I saw the linked video years ago, I thought the description read that it was created to celebrate Robotech’s x-number anniversary.  I wonder if I mistook that description to mean that it was an official Robotech-licensed production.  I’ve looked a number of times for a full video but have never found it.  

In any event, I wonder if I got this updated intro confused with an updated opening to Shadow Chronicles or the animated Ghost in the Shell movie.  I just looked for an updated Shadow Chronicles intro but didn’t see it.  I didn’t look for the updated CGI opening to Ghost in the Shell because I bought it and know it exists (and I remember how frustrated and angry I was when I popped the disk in and realized only the intro had been recreated).

Edited February 9 by 26662

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, 26662 said:

Thank you!  I’m currently enjoying the copy I purchased on eBay.  I think at this point the only reason I’d purchase another copy is if they recreated the entire movie using computer wizardry (similar to how a new intro was created for Robotech; see below).

That's not from Robotech... that's animation made for a Macross-themed pachinko machine.

[26662]

6 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That's not from Robotech... that's animation made for a Macross-themed pachinko machine.

Link?  And does your post jibe with Jeff J’s above?  Is the clip from a pachinko machine, and/or is there a full animation?

Edited February 9 by 26662

[26662]

35 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That's not from Robotech... that's animation made for a Macross-themed pachinko machine.

Actually, just went back and re-read the thread.  In my first post today I said only that a new intro had been created, and that the only reason I’d buy Macross Plus again is if the movie was modernized like the new Robotech intro (regardless of whoever created it).  Still true.  I didn’t need to spin this thread any further.  Anyway, I did and now I’m curious about how well Jeff and Seto’s contributions align.  Thanks for the engagement. 

Edited February 9 by 26662

[Seto Kaiba]

45 minutes ago, 26662 said:

Link?  And does your post jibe with Jeff J’s above?  Is the clip from a pachinko machine, and/or is there a full animation?

The animation is from a SANKYO pachinko cabinet called CR Fever Super Dimension Fortress Macross that debuted in late 2009.  The new animation made for it was subsequently released as an extra feature on the JDM Super Dimension Fortress Macross Blu-ray Complete Edition.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/超時空要塞マクロス#パチンコ・パチスロ

As @Jeff J said, some wishful thinker saw it and replaced the original Japanese audio from the clip with the Robotech theme.  It's been doing the rounds falsely labeled as a "remastered Robotech opening" ever since.

 

Here's a re-upload of Sankyo's promotional video for the CR Fever Super Dimension Fortress Macross pachinko machine that the animation in question was made for.

and someone operating one of the cabinets:

 

31 minutes ago, 26662 said:

and that the only reason I’d buy Macross Plus again is if the movie was modernized

That is almost certainly never going to happen.

About the most you can reasonably expect is an updated Blu-ray re-release with AI tool-based cleanup and enhancement like what's been done for the soon-to-release Macross Zero "Premium Remastered Edition" that comes in Japan at the end of this month.

Edited February 9 by Seto Kaiba

[Jeff J]

1 hour ago, 26662 said:

That sounds familiar.  I just searched for the full video you mentioned but didn’t find anything.  Got a link?  The first time I saw the linked video years ago, I thought the description read that it was created to celebrate Robotech’s x-number anniversary.  I wonder if I mistook that description to mean that it was an official Robotech-licensed production.  I’ve looked a number of times for a full video but have never found it.  

In any event, I wonder if I got this updated intro confused with an updated opening to Shadow Chronicles or the animated Ghost in the Shell movie.  I just looked for an updated Shadow Chronicles intro but didn’t see it.  I didn’t look for the updated CGI opening to Ghost in the Shell because I bought it and know it exists (and I remember how frustrated and angry I was when I popped the disk in and realized only the intro had been recreated).

Yeah, I've been suckered by many a misleading YouTube title. Whoever created that video, I'm guessing, titled it as such to make it seem official and get more clicks. I don't click the "dislike" button very often, but when it's misleading like that, you get an automatic click from me.

Anyway, I didn't want to link the video here because I'd rather it came from an official channel than just a fan's uploading, but for the sake of answering your question, here's the pachinko video, which is a little longer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx_zDqmsBcQ&ab_channel=TheBlueOne

And here's a fun side-by-side of the original intro and the BluRay version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PJ0ih4-lMc

[26662]

@Jeff J @Seto Kaiba  You two are awesome!  Thank you both for the follow up.  I appreciate folks who can school a nameless faceless like myself with kindness.  Happy Friday!

[eevli]

On 1/9/2024 at 1:29 AM, treatment said:

Same effort to do with the Movie version, but you'll have to find the old fansubs to get the proper english-subs.

That is due to the JP-BD's movie-edition having engrish-subs.

The old US DVD Mangle had burned-in subs.

See diff here:

US Mangle dvd's old burned-in subs:

 

vs

JP-BD native engrish sub:

 

vs

JP-BD with old fansubs:

 

 

I don't know for sure but I assume/hope the next release will have even further updated/corrected subs as the Movie Edition was updated and corrected when it came to US theaters.