Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2009-07-24]
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Macross Frontier is "silly"? It's far more like the original series than any of the other entries in the franchise. And at least it doesn't fall into convoluted nonesense like Macross Zero, which is only good for its action sequences. Macross Zero is the Gundam 0083 of its franchise: nice action, but a ridiculous, near non-existent plot.
I have the remastered Super Dimensional Fortress Macross boxset that Harmony Gold and AnimEigo put out a couple of years ago, and it's probably the definitive set. It's sub-only, but that's fine with me. I've had my own experiences with an anime club. I participated in a "J-Pop" (see: anime and vidya games) club in college, and there were three basic types of folks in it. One, the overweight guy who sits right up front and center, blocking everyone's view of the projector screen. His favorite anime are h-game adaptations. Two, the giggling fangirls who insist every two guys who so much as look at each other are in love. Three, the shonen action fanboys who wish all anime could be as "good" as DBZ and try to do DBZ fighting techniques aloud. (And we're talking about college students here.) Then there's the gamers, mostly of the third type of club member, and they never shower. Needless to say, I didn't participate for very long in this club. The only anime I can see having a decent live-action adaptation is something like Gunsmith Cats. But then it would probably fall into a generic action movie, rather than the education in guns, bombs, and classic cars that the manga is. Speaking of Kenichi Sonada, I fret at this Bubblegum Crisis movie coming down the pike. The 80s are long over, and that's really what BGC was, a celebration of 80s cyberpunk, especially Blade Runner. Leave it be. Last edited by penguintruth on Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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I shall admit that as much as I enjoyed it, the original Japanese audio track was of notably low quality, especially when compared to the English re-dub ADV released. I assume there's only so much one can expect from remastering. On a barely-related note, I've noticed the complete Robotech Macross saga is dirt cheap in virtually all record stores I visit- £10 for 36 episodes in many places. Is the show quite as affordable over in Region One? |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4427 |
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Thank you! That was the one I was going to point out if nobody else did. It's something that got me to make the first show my favorite. Actually, I was just thinking about this topic when I was watching Rave Master this week. I'd love to get the thought process of the parent in these situations. "Hmm, I need to go do this thing, but my children that are under ten years old are dependent on me. Oh well, I'll just leave and not say where I'm going or anything else and they should be fine. I bet the neighbors that I also didn't discuss anything with will look after them. Yep, good plan." |
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DRWii
 Posts: 636 |
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But, in all honesty, very few of those references, homages, etc. are actually important. I think that as long as you know who Minmay is, it's totally accessable; everything else is just so established fans can geek-out. (EDIT: Even though they were just referenced in an off-hand remark, it might also help to look up "Protodeviln"). And if "Frontier" ever is released in America, they can always include a linear notes section explaining all the in-jokes, references, etc.
(This comment is just general and not aimed specifically at you). I think the main reason people hate the "Star Wars" prequels are because: A) Many people saw the original trilogy when they were kids, grew up into cynical adults, and didn't like the fact that they weren't experiencing the same sense of wonder they did when they were younger (this is the short version). B) One other ding to the prequels is that the IV-VI were revolutionary/ground-breaking, and ahead of their time. Coming 20-ish years afterwards, I-III were not. This much I don't think anyone can dispute. As for "KotCS," I think people just hated it because it had aliens (which is stupid, because they are both a part of geek culture). Oh, and it had Shia Lebouf (not a particularly great actor, but not particularly bad either). I haven't seen any of the "Star Wars" films or the original "Indy" trilogy in years, but going on memory, I'd say all the "Star Wars" movies are good, and "KoCS" is a solid #2 in the series ("Last Crusade" taking the #1 spot  ).
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nechronius
 Posts: 275 Location: So Cal, USA |
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I hated, HATED Macross Zero's ending. It really lifted up my expectations to have such a spectacular trio of volumes, followed by a pensive, "uh, how will they end this" volume 4, and then completely crushed me with volume 5. I was never going to forgive the franchise ever again until Frontier turned me around. Ok, that's a bit of melodramatic nonsense but you get the point. I guess the point would be that I agree with you.
The only Time I ever sent feedback to this column, and the only Time my email was ever posted, was to the question of "what anime series do you believe would be best made into live action?" to which I replied with "Black Lagoon." Gunsmith Cats would be a good choice if, as you say, they didn't just sink into action-heavy mediocrity. But I guess people don't really like to be educated (it's called a MAGAZINE, not a CLIP!). And I have the same nervous reaction at the prospect of a live action BGC... ugh... |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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The whole Macross issue between Big West and Tatsunoko makes no sense to me, because if I wanted a product I'd just import it anyway like any other merchandise. People are fairly use to this by now.
On one hand, I'd like to see more Macross stuff come stateside, on the other, I like unreasonable elitism. |
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Zade
Posts: 79 |
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haha my email got selected for flake of the week!.. cool..
My question was Why do all your answers have to be so long? But anyway does anyone else think it would be cooler if he made like 10 short answers instead of 3 HUGE 1s? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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If one trawls back through the old columns ("old" as in many years ago), one will see that there was about double the amount of questions and yet the answers were a third the length. Not sure which format I prefer; some questions are specific in scope and don't need massive paragraphs devoted to them; other questions are more tricky and deal with wide ranging issues or opinions. I'd like to see a mix, to be honest. Would vary things up a bit, and encourage a wider range of people and questions. That's what I think. |
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Animehermit
 Posts: 964 Location: The Argama |
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my dream team working on an anime adaptation? James Cameron working on Battle Angel Alita....oh wait
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Renaisance Otaku
 Posts: 469 Location: Modesto, CA |
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Oh really? It's been my experience that tons of fans adored Frontier, and many love Plus (including myself). Zero is regarded as good but lacking a bit of staying power. Really the only oddity is 7 (and II but that's non-canon anyway). It seems you either love it or hate it or ignore it. I know a lot didn't like the Spiritia concept. I think Frontier and even Zero would do well over here, even if Frontier has it's flaws. I can't really say I've ever met a Macross fan that solely liked SDF and DYRL. I'm more likely to find those that haven't seen those (and a few that didn't like DYRL). As for the Lucasfilm products, that a matter of opinion. Lucas worked a lot better with constraints whether he'll admit it or not. You can quote the nostalgia angle all you want, but nostalgia can work in favor too, just look at Disneyland's 50th running more on that then actually quality events. It can be a valid argument but no more or less than the one arguing that the quality just wasn't there. (I liked all four, but will admit that the prequels could've been worlds better).
That's because the audio wasn't remastered. The audio on the ADV set is from Harmony Gold and it's quite ancient. If you're going to watch Macross subbed, track down the Animeigo set. They acquired new audio masters straight from Japan, and it sounds wonderful. It's night and day. Since Animeigo got it themselves, ADV couldn't use it. The video was from HG, so that's why ADV had it to use in their dub and subsequent rebutchering into Robotech. The fact that ADV's audio was inferior and most diehards already had the Animeigo was probably the reason it didn't sell too well. As long as one cares not for a dub or extras, the Animeigo is considered the better set. Hopefully the error in the article is corrected soon. ADV remastered Mospeada and Southern Cross (rather strongly too, Animeigo restrained themselves quite a bit on Macross, even re-adding grain), so I'm guessing that's how the error was made. |
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farichada
 Posts: 303 Location: Wisconsin, USA |
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Well, I can see it working, but to what degree -- that's a different story. Great article as always. Keep em' coming. |
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Axaul Conners
Posts: 12 |
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OK, now delving into my knowledge of Macross (with a little help from the Macross Compendium) so prepare for along response. The english langauge versions of the songs are actually part of the Macross universe as well, not something done in the hope of an American release. In fact in the Macross Universe there are 2 english speaking bands which do english covers of the original japanese Firebomber songs. The first is Firebomber American which reside on the Macross 11 fleet, an english speaking fleet, who are apparently managed by Lynn Kaifunn (as in Minmay's cousin), and also claim that Macross 7's Firebomber ripped them off... All the band member's names are anagrams of their Macross 7 counterparts, which they also resemble: Nekki Basara = RAK NABEKASI (American) Mylene Jenuis = JUNE LEY MINES (Mexican... apparently) Ray Lovelock = KCOOL V REALY (African) Veffidas = FIVE FADS (Indian) Their songs were released on the English Fire!! album, their only album produced. (Both in the Macross Universe and in reality) English versions of Holy Lonely Night, Sweet Fantasy, and Power To The Dream can all be heard playing in the background during a scene in Episode 3 of the Macross Dynamite 7 OVA. The second band is British Bomber, who reside on the Macross 13 fleet (the same fleet that gets hijacked by terrorists in the PSOne game Macross Digital Mission VF-X 2) although nothing else much is known about them.
I felt that Macross Zero, although visually spectacular and beautiful, was also a let down in the story department. It was an interesting story regarding the development of the VF-0 and the ending of the Unification Wars, but the ending just left it on a low beat. Macross Plus and Macross 7 ended on a high (Macross 7 a SOARING high), but Macross Zero was a bit "is that all?" Love it or hate it, Macross 7 for me ROCKED!! Macross Frontier was awesome too, but the songs from Firebomber were more memorable to me. Sure Basara was a bit up himself, but man could Yoshiki Fukuyama belt out those rock ballads. Angel Voice still sends shivers down my spine, as did Try Again. And cross-over to anime clubs, I left the one I went to ages ago, partially because I had better things to do than drive 20 minutes to the middle of nowhere to watch fansubs in the dark, but mostly because of one guy who always had to try and compete with me on everything by setting up polls on the club forum, just to prove that more people liked Gundam more than Macross (which I liked better), or that people preferred Zelda over Final Fantasy (which I also liked better), even as far as people apparently liking the American DVD cover of Ghost In The Shell: Innocence more than the Australian version which I preferred (although from what I gather, alot of Americans hated their cover as well). Despite being essentially a rather mean and rude thing to do, me and the people who left in the end decided to leave an impression, which we did, by bringing my friend's sister who had heard about our issues with the club and wanted to see for herself how dodgy the club was. When the sister of the club president was about to ask her to sign up as a member, she just let rip and told them how unwelcoming and anti-social they had been to her which left them with nothing to respond with. |
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rekishi
Posts: 78 |
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i only have two things to say in regards to answerman this week...
/flame suit on... harmony gold and robotech need to die in a fire... FREE MACROSS! and... hollywood adaptations of anime (and games i might add) need to be burned alive... rescued... go through years of painful burn victim rehab... get a clean bill of health and then slip on a bar of soap in the shower and break their neck and die... they're never any good... (well, 9 times out of 10 they're not anyways)... that is all... 
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abynormal
 Posts: 427 Location: Louisiana |
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Absence of parental figures (through either death or not being present) is a very common trope in all of children's literature. The idea being to see what the character will do when their parents' protective shield is no longer there to soften the harsh blows of the real world and spur them to develop and become stronger before they are crushed.
As to the Macross issue: I still think 7 is easily the most forgettable of the series. It takes too long to get anywhere and has the most forgettable and annoying villains of any Macross series. The dogfights are mostly boring and the good ones just get their animation cells recycled in other episodes (I think they used Gamlin's beam attack animation at least five times). I also thought the world it was set it was very poorly developed. I never got the sense they lived in anything more than a generic metropolitan city. The best thing it has going for it are Fire Bomber's songs, and even then the twelfth time you hear "Charging Love Heart" you start zoning out. After watching the whole series, the movie and Dynamite 7, I still came away feeling like it was riding Plus' coattails. Heck, Dynamite 7 is easily better than the entire series. If Tatsunoko and Big West ever get things straightened out, Macross 7 should be the very last Macross project on their export docket. |
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chocobolily
 Posts: 32 |
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Why, yes, I was quite scarred by the public displays of affection during anime club. Haha, thanks for putting in my response.
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