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Macross's 35th Anniversary at the Tokyo Skytree Shows Off Brand New Animation
posted on by Kim Morrissy
It's been thirty-five years since The Super Dimension Fortress Macross first aired on Japanese TV, and the franchise has come a long way since then. What better way to celebrate Macross’s long and colorful history than by decking out the Tokyo Skytree with pop music and cartoon robots? Yack Deculture!
I went to the Skytree to check out the event, which began running on the 9th of January. Admission into the event itself is free, but you need to buy tickets into the top decks of the Skytree. It's well worth it, especially if you choose to go to the Skytree at night. At certain times during the evening, an original movie will play on the panorama screens at the Tembo Deck, lasting for roughly ten minutes. Here's a brief lowdown of what you can see:
1) Original 35th Anniversary Movie
This special, never-before-seen animation captures all the highlights of Macross over 35 years: Transforming robots, space exploration, and idol performances. All with updated animation and character designs (i.e. Minmay looks closer to her design in the Fever Macross Pachinko game and the Macross 30 video game).
2) Sheryl x Ranka Music Video of “Good Job”
Sheryl and Ranka are releasing a brand new song called “Good Job,” with an accompanying music video screened for the first time at the Skytree. The video is animated with 3D animation—if you're familiar with the animation in the Uta Macross mobile game, it's done in that style.
3) Uta Macross Skytree Original Live Show
The music video of Lion from the mobile game is remade for the panorama screens at the Skytree. This video features all the main performers from the Macross franchise, including Minmay, Basara, and Freyja!
Finally, at the end of the commemorative video, a short teaser of the upcoming Macross Delta movie plays. This movie is coming out on the 9th of February.
Take a Photo with Sheryl and Ranka
If you take a picture of yourself with the camera in the Uta Macross app at this AR spot, you can get a photo with 3D versions of Sheryl and Ranka. You can do this until 30th of April, apparently.
The Tembo Gallery
When you take the elevator up to the Tembo Galleria 450 meters above ground, you won't be alone on your trip. The elevator is decked out with Macross characters! A short Macross animation plays as the elevator zooms through the air.
Eventually, you arrive on the top deck. The Tembo Deck doesn't have much Macross paraphernalia besides the round theatre and the AR spot, but the Tembo Galleria is entirely dedicated to celebrating Macross's history. As you walk along the gallery to the highest observation point in the Skytree, you can read informational blurbs recounting every single Macross animation ever made.
There's also a key animation gallery, mainly showing frames from the Macross Delta TV show, as well as models from the main mechs featured throughout the Macross franchise. Shōji Kawamori made the Siegfried shown in Macross Delta out of blocks!
According to the explanatory blurbs left by Kawamori himself, he based the VF-31 Siegfried on the DX Chogokin YF-30 Chronos shown in the Macross 30 video game. Also, the Sv-262 Draken III model shown here was created so that Kawamori could confirm the structure of the machine before it was modeled with CG.
The goods zone also featured a wide range of character figures, as well as Skytree-exclusive Macross merchandise.
There's also supposed to be a rhythm game section where you can play Uta Macross on a large monitor, but this hadn't been set up when I went to the Skytree on the 9th of January.
All in all, the Macross event at the Skytree is a load of fun (and worth it just for that commemorative video, honestly). It's clearly designed for fans of the Uta Macross game to engage with, but anyone with an appreciation for Macross’s history can probably get something out of it.
As a final note, I'm amused by Basara's presence on the key visual of this collaboration. He really looks like the odd one out among all those cute girls.
