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Macross Delta TV Series to Premiere in Spring With Lagrange, Kaleido Star Composers

The Macross Delta Preview Special aired with an early version of the television anime's first episode on Thursday, and creator Shoji Kawamori announced in the special that the full series will premiere next spring. The composers of the musical soundtrack are Saeko Suzuki (Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne, Sgt. Frog), TOMISIRO (Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne, Hozuki's Coolheadedness), and Mina Kubota (Kaleido Star, Destiny of the Shrine Maiden, A Letter to Momo, Photo Kano, Shattered Angels, Amuri in Star Ocean).

Both the fan club's preview screening last week and the preview special on New Year's Eve showed version "0.89" of the first episode, "Senjō no Prologue" (Prologue to the Battlefield). This early version listed the voice cast credits in two alien languages. The fan club screening distributed cards with letters of the languages, and the staff asked fans to decipher the cast credits. The staff also noted that fans already know one of the voice actresses (Minori Suzuki as Freyja Wion), so fans can use her encoded name to help decipher the other names.

In the story, a group of girls form the "Tactical Music Unit" Walküre, the first major songstress group in the Macross anime franchise. (Macross 7 had the Jamming Birds group, and The Macross Digital Mission VF-X game had the group Milky Dolls.) The Walküre group battles the Var Syndrome that is consuming the galaxy, and there is also the mysterious Aerial Knights Valkyrie fighter team of the Kingdom of Wind.

The taglines accompanying the above images are "Flying Walküre" and "Reveberating Wind."

The members of the Walküre tactical sound unit are:

Freyja Wion
Voiced by Minori Suzuki, the 18-year-old winner of the newest Macross singer auditions from Aichi Prefecture
A 14-year-old girl, born on the remote frontier of the galaxy, who yearns to be in the tactical sound unit Walküre.

Mikumo Guynemer
The vocalist of the tactical sound unit Walküre. A mysterious girl, of unknown age, whose history and private life are all shrouded in enigma.

Kaname Buccaneer
22-year-old leader of the tactical sound unit Walküre. She serves as the "big sister" of the team.

Makina Nakajima
An 18-year-old member of the tactical sound unit Walküre and a girl who appears to be a bit flighty. She serves as the mechanic.

Reina Prowler
A 15-year-old member of the tactical sound unit Walküre. She hardly talks or displays her emotions. She is also an ace hacker.

The members of the Aerial Knights and the Delta Team are:

Keith Aero Windermere
An ace pilot in the Kingdom of Wind's Valkyrie team Aerial Knights. He possesses a high sense of chivalry and stays aloof.

Roid Brehm
Commander of the Kingdom of Wind's Aerial Knights. Has a very loose bearing, but still possesses great intelligence. He seems to have some fixation over his glasses.

Theo Jussila
A pilot in the Kingdom of Wind's Aerial Knights, alongside his younger twin brother Xao.

Xao Jussila
A pilot in the Kingdom of Wind's Aerial Knights. Compared to his twin brother Theo, Xao is more prone to fighting.

Bogue Con-Vaart
A pilot in the Kingdom of Wind's Aerial Knights. Mischievous in childhood, and grew up as the youngest child, surrounded by his older sisters.

Hayate Immelmann
A blunt young man who says what he's thinking. He's traveled the Milky Way.

Mirage Farina Jenius
The only woman on the Delta Team. On the one hand she takes pride in her duties as a pilot, but on the other she is serious and inflexible. She shares the same family name with Max from the first Macross series, and the same middle name from Millia from the first series. Max and Millia had seven daughters with similar names.

Chuck Mustang
The mood maker of the Delta Team. He's easily entertained, and no one is quicker to flirt with the ladies.

Messer Ihlefeld
The ace pilot of the Delta Team. He's a professional who doesn't show much emotion, and is always the most calm and collected.

Arad Mölders
The leader of the Delta Team who can be both tolerant and strict. He can also be a reliable older-brother type.

Ernest Johnson
Half Zentradi, half earthling captain of a Macross class-ship. He's easily taller than two meters.

Almost all of the character names revealed so far have ties to aviation.

The anime's website previously streamed a teaser video and a commercial. The commercial previews the Walküre's song "Ikenai Borderline" (Unreachable Borderline).

Text: Teaser
Text: A.D. 2067
Text: On a planet on the frontier of the galaxy
Text: A new wind blows
Text: The Tactical Sound Unit counters…
Text: The Var Syndrome consuming the galaxy
Text: The legacy of Protoculture
Text: Aerial Knights of the Kingdom of Wind
Text: Walküre of the battlefield
Text: Original Creators: Shoji Kawamori/Studio Nue
Text: Director: Kenji Yasuda
Text: Series Script Supervisor: Toshizo Nemoto
Text: Original Character Design: Chisato Mita (Capcom)
Text: Character Design/Chief Animation Directors: Majiro/Masaru Shindō
Text: Animation Production: Satelight
Text: Chief Director: Shoji Kawamori
Text: A new Macross history …
Text: Begins, now …
Text: New TV Animation
Text: Macross Delta
Text: Preview TV Special Green-Lit!!
Text: Macross Preview Special airs on Thursday, 12/31 at 6:00 p.m. on Tokyo MX and BS11

Shoji Kawamori is credited as the original creator with Studio Nue, and he is also serving as the chief director. Kenji Yasuda (Arata The Legend, Noein - to your other self, Sōsei no Aquarion Love) is directing at Satelight. Toshizo Nemoto (Inu X Boku Secret Service, Log Horizon, Tokyo Majin) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Majiro (Barakamon, Nagareboshi Lens, Ongaku Shōjo) and Masaru Shindō (My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Persona 4 the Golden Animation) are adapting the original character designs by Chisato Mita (Capcom's E.X. Troopers game) and serving as chief animation directors. Hidetaka Tenjin is credited as the "Macross visual artist."

The other staff members include:

Color Key Artist: Kanako Hayashi
Art Directors: Shigemi Ikeda (Atelier Musa), Yukiko Maruyama (Atelier Musa)
Worldview Design: Thomas Romain
Art Design: Vincento Niemu
Valkyrie Design: Shoji Kawamori
Mechanic Design: Stanislas Brunet
Director of Photography: Atsushi Iwasaki (T2studio)
CG Director: Hironori Morino
CG Supervisor: Hiroyuki Kashima (unknownCASE)
CG Animation Director: Atsushi Sakiyama (unknownCASE)
Editor: Kentarou Tsubone (Real-T)
Sound Production: Flying Dog
Sound Director: Masafumi MIMA

The staff presented the designs for the main variable fighters: