Macross World
Today the cast and character designs were announced for the stage show “Macross the Musicalture”. Also released were the dates for the sage show. The musical will be held in the Tokyo Dome City Hall from October 3rd to the 10th. Price of admission is 6800yen which translates to about 85 U.S. Dollars (presently).
Macross World poster MacrossCN just posted the character designs and cast in the forum’s scoop thread as this article is being typed.
Interview starts at 4:06 if it doesn’t jump there automatically.
An hour-long TV special documentary aired on July 8th at 8pm on the Tokyo MX station as part of the Macross 30th Anniversary celebrations and to promote the upcoming “Macross: Do You Remember Love?” Blu-Ray release.
The show was well made, with plenty of interesting information about the production of the original TV series from the first “Battle City Megaroad” concept, to the production of the “DYRL” feature film, all straight from the mouths of Shoji Kawamori, Haruhiko Mikimoto, Ichiro Itano, Kazutaka Miyatake and Yasunori Honda (sound director) as they reminisce their younger days.
Some screencaps for your viewing pleasure, and more info, follow after the jump.
Member VF5SS/Andrew/Veef from CollectionDX and Macross World has a new episode of his podcast, “The Veef Show”!
Episode 43 features MW member Gubaba/Richard as a guest, discussing not only the music of the original Macross TV show, but also contextualizing it by giving us insight on idols and the pop music environment in Japan at around the time.
Download it from here:
The Veef Show Episode 43 – Macross Music in the 1980’s
So I just got back from the first ever screening of the new BD remaster of DYRL with Save. After 7 hrs straight at the cinema, its now 7:30 in the morning and I’m just about ready to crash. Before succumbing to sleep however, I have a few observations to make about the remaster – some of which may be a little surprising.
First of all – the GOOD stuff. The new 5.1 remix is utterly amazing. At times it made the movie feel like an entirely new experience, although one’s enjoyment of it will depend on the sound setup being used. In a cinema though it was the true highlight of this version.
Picture quality is extremely detailed and clear – but not all the time. Darker scenes have obvious grain present, and strangely while one scene might look like it was animated only yesterday, others look almost out of focus. I’m not sure whether this was due to some scenes cleaning up better than others, projector issues, or some insurmountable issue with the remastering process, however on a few occasions it was really noticeable and quite jarring. Those scenes that are clear are undoubtedly the best that the film has ever looked.
The ending/staff roll does not feature the Flashback 2012 footage, its the original cut.
And speaking of cuts…
The BAD stuff – Someone has decided to edit the remaster. I have no idea why, but the edits are there. Save and I picked 2 with a possible 3rd to be confirmed. These don’t effect the film at all and are related to scenes with extreme violence. When Myria stomps on a Zentradis head in her Queadlunn Rau, the head is blurred a little as her foot comes down on it to cover the gore. Later on, the infamous guy who loses his head – the head part is gone entirely. The screen whites out and this is very noticeable.
Now, this may just be an edit they did for the limited cinema screening but I doubt that Bandai would have gone to all the effort of making edits for what is essentially a promotional event. All we can do is wait until the end of the month and see, but if the version shown tonight was the final one then it might not be the ultimate version that everyone was hoping for.
Tinami.com, a website dedicated to networking anime and manga creators is sponsoring a Character Illustration Contest within Japan to coincide with the 30th Anniversary celebration of the of Macross franchise. The deadline for entries is July 28, 2012. The winning entries will be showcased around the country during the various Macross Anniversary scheduled events. Hopefully we will be able to post the winning illustrations here also.
Yamato finally posted a legible picture of the battroid mode of their 1/60 VF-4G. Here’s the complete set of pics including the other modes. So far, so good Macross Anniversary year… so far, so good…
Yamato will start taking non binding preorders for the 1/60 VF-4G at 5% off. The scheduled release date is December 2012 but the price isn’t finalized as of writing. All orders are non binding and and you will need to confirm your order again once the price is official. Normal pre-ordering with no discount for the VF-4 is scheduled to start in August after the price is announced. Yamato Toys Fan Club Members will get an extra 5% off (10% total).
MW member antibiotictab posted a link today to Yoshiki Fukuyama’s online diary, which states that he was discharged from the Osaka hospital that he was admitted to almost a month ago. The musician, who performed as Basara Nekki’s singing voice on the Macross 7 series, is said to be resting until July 8. He will resume working with his band, JAM Project, the following day. He is scheduled to perform with Chie Kajiura this November as the band, Fire Bomber, from Macross 7. Here’s hoping that he will be in top shape by then and in great health in general soon.
As some of you may already know, the new Universal Bunny Sheryl AKA “Black Rabbit” figure from Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa was made available for preorder yesterday, July 2, 2012. The figure stands at approx. 17cm tall. The figure is scheduled for release later this October.