#Macross Seven

[nakamorijuan]

FIRE BOMBER - SEVENTH MOON MACROSS 7 - Opening Theme

[fostersffff]

Ever since Sony/Funimation/Crunchyroll bought RightStuf and its subsidiaries (specifically Nozomi Entertainment), I've speculated about how fucking pissed off Big West must have been, considering that acquisition meant that they sold the licenses to Macross Seven, Frontier, and Delta to the company that arbitrated the deal with Harmony Gold in exchange for Robotech. It was mostly in that "anthropomorphizing coprorations" kind of way, because even though there is for real bad blood between Big West and Harmony Gold, business is still business, and it's not like they could do anything about it.

Turns out, no, Big West does (rightfully) fucking hate Harmony Gold that much:

Apparently those licenses didn't cover streaming rights, so they just walked up to Michael Mouse and said "you get everything, we don't want to do any more business with Sony than we're legally required to, just take it, we fucking hate Harmony Gold so goddamn much".

Unfortunately- per the agreement and Harmony Gold's own spiteful announcement- the original SDF Macross and Do You Remember Love? will only be available in Japan, but it's nice to see Big West doing everything they can to scream "fuck Harmony Gold" at their top of their lungs.

[boymagicalgirl]

[fictional-birthdays]

Happy Birthday! (June 18th)

ChuChu (Show By Rock!!)

Rika (One Piece)

Kazuya Hiramaru (Bakuman)

Cookie (Animal Crossing)

Rakshata (Love Live! School Idol Festival)

Johnny D (Pop’n Music)

Ironside (Four Knights of the Apocalypse)

Rosa (Jewelpet)

Mahiru (Naruto)

Takako Chino (Orange)

Nack Tierce (Attack on Titan)

Mitsuyoshi Misawa (My Little Monster)

Musashi (Gintama)

Sally Saint Ford (Macross 7)

Shunpei Sanada (Diamond no Ace)

Takuya Nabeshima (Cheer Boys!!)

Shizuku Ninomiya (Kyoukai no Kanata)

Shizuru Nakatsu (Rewrite)

Taizoo (Seven Deadly Sins)

Shiho (Naruto)

[mr-downer-2024]

So what's the full list of Downer media consumption demands Read Fire Punch Play Kenshi Watch ???

cowboy bebop, equilibrium, Nolan’s batman trilogy, Firefly/Serenity, samurai Champloo, space dandy, Gundam 00, and uh, the prestige.

there’s more but those are off the top of my head

Oh, and Yojimbo

actually the remake of magnificent seven was pretty good too.

Pulp Fiction is fun too if you can stomach Tarantino’s style and casual racism. really cool how the character he plays in it seems to just be an excuse for him to utter “why is there a dead nigger in my house.” honestly with how he sounds to me it loops from being offensive to hilarious cause he’s such a nasally sounding nerd but I suppose it’s on brand.

Also Macross Plus is pretty kino but I’ve only seen the movie version and not the ova, which the dub has Bryan Cranston (aka Walter White) voicing the main character. he apparently did a few anime roles before breaking out into mainstream success with Malcom in the Middle.

I’mma stop now before I geek out too much about stuff.

[juliusmode]

WATCHED MACROSS PLUS.

WATCH MACROSS PLUS.

The short pitch: Three old friends, torn apart by youthful mistakes, find themselves on their home planet again after seven eventful years. Tensions and emotions boil over as the three struggle to process their feelings, made even worse by unchecked technological progress steadily edging out the dreams they've tried to achieve in the interim.

This is going to be one of those where I kind of struggle for words in a short form review; the first project with Shinichiro Watanabe in the director's chair, as a pure vehicle for entwining Yoko Kanno's engrossing experimental score with Shoji Kawamori's ever-endearing vision of the future. All cylinders are pumping every step of the way. The kind of pure creative energy that launches a thousand gifsets and AMVs using its iconic material to this day.

This is the kind of OVA that was made specifically for me, and is extremely good all around, so I struggle to criticize it. Well rounded writing and thematic intent, wound really tightly around their runtimes in a way that feels effortlessly cool and expressive. Immediately striking character designs and a sense of visual variety that never stops running out of new things to show you. Yoko fucking Kanno pounding out a vision of the divine AI-Generated pop of the future.

I'm not sure what else to say. It's an unassailable 10/10, by my math.

Also shout-out to Myung. She's my favorite <3

Expect more Macross in the future, I think I'm obsessed now.

[owlsounds]

Any Star*Blazers fans here?

When I was a kid in about 1980 I fell in love with this cartoon - the Americanized version of Space Battleship Yamato.

My older sister loved the show too and we bonded over it in our pre-teen years.

The anime has had multiple sequels and even a live action adaption in 2010.

In the US, Comico comics published a handful of anime adaptions like this in their day - Robotech (Macross) did very well for them - and some original sequel stories too I believe.

I wonder if the US versions were ever exported to Japan, and if so how they were received by fans there?

Artist Doug Rice really excels at the full and double-page spreads in addition to really nailing the look of the iconic Yamato, and cast of characters. Rice co-created this series and a sequel with Phil Foglio. Foglio has worked across the comics industry for years and is well regarded for his ongoing Girl Genius series, creating a bunch of Magic cards, adapting the cult favorite Myth-Adventures book series to comics - plus an Angel & The Ape miniseries from DC that I remember fondly from the early 90s.

Do yourself a favor and track down the anime (it used to be easily available on youtube). If you find it to your liking, the Star*Blazers comics° are still there to find in back issue bins.

°There is of course an original Space Battleship Yamato manga created by Leiji Matsumoto between 1974-1979, that is gorgeous to look at and read. There's a nice hardcover of it available in English released by Seven Seas in 2019 (why not check your library for it).

[aroacegundamalex]

Hello again! Last time we spoke, you mentioned that you and a friend were working on a SRW fan roster. Would you be interested in talking about which series you're using (so far)?

Thank you for asking! Since we’re still in the planning phase, the roster is still subject to change. So far, it’s largely comprised of series the both of us like, with a few entries that I love but they haven’t seen (because they’re still new to mecha).

The current roster is:

- Mobile Suit Gundam

- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080

- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

- Space Knight Tekkaman Blade

- Mazinkaiser (OVA)

- Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo

- Getter Robo Saga

- King of Braves GaoGaiGar

- Chōdenji Robo Combattler V

- Chōdenji Machine Voltes V

- Blue Comet SPT Layzner

- Beast King GoLion

- UFO Robot Grendizer

- Two of our own Original Generations casts

These are series that are tentatively included or under consideration:

- Super Dimension Fortress Macross

- Brave Raideen

- Aim for the Top! Gunbuster

- Mobile Suit Gundam Crossbone

- Aura Battler Dunbine

- Super Robot Wars W Original Generation cast

- Super Robot Wars T Original Generation cast

I’m the reason the current roster is so super-heavy (seven reals, eleven supers, including our two Original Generation casts). I am, in fact, quite biased! The series in the latter section are pretty much all series I haven’t shown my friend so we’re still debating whether they should be included, as well as two SRW casts we both love and are considering including.

If you’re wondering how we’re fitting in so many Gundam series that take place over the course of decades, some of these appear in flashbacks, side stories set in the past, or are post-canon. Time travel is also involved. Possibly alternate universes, should I succeed in my mission to get as many friends as possible to watch Dunbine.

This little project was born out of the conversations my friend and I have had over the course of me streaming as many Super Robot Wars titles as I can get my hands on. We’d made predictions for future entries, talk about crossovers we’d like to see, or how certain series would make for a good game. We then realized that one of us knows how to code, one of us is an artist, and the both of us can write.

Then a GitHub repository and Discord category were made. This isn’t anything we’re planning to make public (even if we could without risking a billion cease and desists) and is just a fun project between two friends.

Because this is essentially just a friend and I’s fanfiction, and thanks to that, it can be as long as we want it to with no concern for budget or licensing. The only limiting factor is how much we’re willing to write.

[flojocabron]

08/08/24: Grand Opening Goodwill finds! A new Goodwill store opened up today after months of getting ready. I wanted to go and make line in the morning and be an early shopper. But I had to go to work. But after, I definitely went to see what's up. Social media posts were saying the lines were long with lots of shoppers. And it was. I can only guess that they sold things like crazy throughout the day. My afternoon shopping trip got me these things: Seven shirts. With one Tomie manga t-shirt and a Videogame one based on Cult of the Lamb. I even got a red shirt for work. I found two graphic novels as well. A sealed wii game and two music cds. A classic rap/hip-hop album of The Roots and an old-school anime soundtrack based on Macross/Robotech. Total for everything was around $52 with tax. It's average Goodwill prices. But it's decent enough.

[harocat]

10 characters/10 fandoms/10 tags

Tian Guan Ci Fu: Xie Lian

Yuri on Ice: Katsuki Yuuri

Slayers: Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune

Mo Dao Zu Shi: Wei Wuxian

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Akemi Homura

Fullmetal Alchemist: Winry Rockbell

Doctor Who: Rose Tyler

Promare: Lio Fotia

Macross (overall franchise): Sheryl Nome

Gundam (overall franchise): Lacus Clyne

Rumiko Takahashi (all of her works): Higurashi Kagome

CDRAMA+one Taiwanese drama ONLY LIST because I stole this from @circumference-pie

Love Between Fairy and Devil: Xiao Lanhua (but I love DFQC almost as much, if not as much depending on the day)

Till the End of the Moon: Tantai Jin

Back from the Brink: Yanhui

Lost You Forever: Tushan Jing

Word of Honor: Gu Xiang

Mysterious Lotus Casebook: Di Feisheng

The Blood of Youth: Tang Lian

Love You Seven Times: Chukong

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble: Cao Guang Yan

Destined (Liu Yuru)

Tagging: @eldritch-bisexual, @moonlightedward, @sassybluee, @hellofavillain, @nangong-shunu, @quadsuki, @spiralcomet, @jinlian, @bee-archivist, @shinyopals

[acquired-stardust]

Game Spotlight #4: Bulk Slash (1997)

Acquired Stardust’s first spotlight on a Sega Saturn game! Come join Ash as she takes a look at a game that never made it outside of Japan with 1997′s Bulk Slash!

The Sega Saturn has long been a fascinating subject to me, its rise and fall perhaps the culmination of a whirlwind of internal company politics and a rapidly changing landscape of both hardware and software. The attitude among gamers well into the 6th generation of consoles was as though its failure was a foregone conclusion not through any nuanced variety of factors, but because “duh, the Saturn sucked!”, the sort of take that time and hindsight allows to fester into a comfortable, easily repeatable opinion that you’ve heard enough people say that you too assume must be true.

But I’m happy to report that in my time experiencing a variety of titles on the Saturn in an attempt to satiate my longstanding curiosity, the Saturn doesn’t suck! In fact, the Saturn has been something that has consistently delivered games that surpassed my expectations. Daytona USA brought home a legendary racing title with a soundtrack as infamous as it is glorious (I’m personally of the opinion that Takenobu Mitsuyoshi is a genius and his involvement in anything always makes me happy), Capcom’s legendary run of fighting games was captured almost in its entirety on the Saturn, having ports of Street Fighter 2, the entire run of the Street Fighter Alpha series as well as Darkstalkers and what was at that time the entire selection of crossover games with Marvel, all of which looked significantly better than their Playstation port counterparts. SNK brought its own excellent array of arcade fighting game ports to home consoles in multiple King of Fighters releases alongside The Last Blade.

All of this is to say that the Saturn had something of a reputation as a system dominated by high quality arcade ports, which at the time was a significant thing to be able to say about a home console.  It’s a talking point that has settled into that comfortable space of easily repeatable factoid that may or may not be true, but in this case it is. The Sega Saturn was indeed home to high quality arcade ports, but something that’s lost in that conversation is just how many interesting, experimental and high quality titles don’t fit the mold of ‘taking something you played in the arcade and bringing it home’ - the Saturn-exclusive games. One such example is 1997′s Bulk Slash, developed by a little-known company called CAProductions in partnership with  since-defunct publisher Hudson. It was only the developer’s fourth game, and their first try at the emerging world of 3D games, a world in which conventional wisdom is that the Saturn struggled with.

Bulk Slash is something of a mix of Macross and Zeta Gundam, stylistically. An action game with a mech that transforms into a jet, featuring a story about military factions causing trouble of the genocidal variety to avenge alleged oppression. Switching freely between mech and jet forms, the main character Cress pilots his conspicuously Gundam-like mech in a campaign to defeat the Gardona military which has managed to wrap up his childhood friend Riizen into its ranks through political events prior to the start of the game. Playing out across seven stages each with different goals and a boss fight to close out the mission, the player can collect various score-boosting items as well as health recovery items and weapon upgrades not unlike Contra or Metal Slug. Bulk Slash controls remarkably well for a game featuring both a humanoid combatant in its mech running around shooting and throwing grenades as well as a jet, all while not utilizing a secondary right thumbstick for camera controls, which are instead relegated to shoulder buttons on the controller. The action is fairly fast paced with an impressive frame rate, only slowing down in instances of large chained explosions going off in certain circumstances. Just as well, the graphics and art style are quite good (almost reminiscent of the rise of the recent ‘2DHD’ art style), and the soundtrack very fitting for its time though not especially memorable.

Layered into the fairly standard (albeit impressive) action gameplay is the ‘M.I.S.S’ mechanic (which stands for ‘Manageable Intelligent Support System’), a collection of 7 NPCs which must be located in each of Bulk Slash’s 7 stages serving as navigators for Cress, giving direction on the location of targets and bosses. Each of these NPCs are girls of various design, occupation and personality, including one who throws lots of English phrases into her otherwise Japanese speech which is very entertaining. Bulk Slash’s M.I.S.S system is more than meets the eye however, adding light dating sim mechanics into the game, with all 7 girls having their own endings and CG art unlocked depending on the player’s score upon defeat of the game’s final boss. It’s a small thing but really goes a long way in providing an experience that’s just varied and customizable enough. Having only 7 missions, the game is not especially long and only saves after successful runs through it after defeating the final boss, which itself has a boss gauntlet before it that can be a little rough while you’re still getting used to the game but if you put time into the game you’ll soon be able to defeat them without taking too much (or even any) damage, assisted by the fact that each of them seems to have timings for which you can score a critical hit, either dealing heavy damage or sometimes even outright destroying them in one blow.

Bulk Slash, as previously mentioned, was never released outside of Japan but the game is relatively simple to navigate and understand, being communicated very well visually. There was also a recent English translation patch which is a little hit or miss translation and localization-wise, but otherwise should assist people who don’t speak Japanese in understanding the story and character interactions, which is surprisingly good (and surprisingly dark at times) and a clear love letter to Universal Century Gundam.

Bulk Slash was the second Saturn game I ever played (after the all-time classic Daytona USA, for those wondering), and I’m glad it was such an early stop in the tour of the Saturn library because it shows off a lot of the strengths of the platform as well as bucking some of the usual talking points about the system, such as not doing 3D very well. It also layers in some of Japan’s big gaming trends at the time, such as dating sim elements most that most prominently and recently (at the time anyway) helped make Sakura Taisen a big hit on the platform just a year earlier. It’s a shame Bulk Slash never saw release outside of Japan as it would probably have done fairly well and be fondly remembered, and it’s definitely the sort of game that feels as though it would be pretty popular were it to have been an indie game releasing today.

A gem hidden among the stones, Bulk Slash is undoubtedly stardust.

--Ash

[nakamorijuan]

FIRE BOMBER - MY FRIENDS MACROSS 7 - 1st Ending Theme

[fostersffff]

Part of me is wondering why we haven't heard anything about the Western releases of all the Macross shows that got announced last summer since then, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach is has to do with Big West and Studio Nue getting fucking pissed off that the distributor that got the rights to Macross Seven, Frontier, and Delta wound up getting bought up by the people who were celebrating their continued partnership with Harmony Gold.

[fayrinferno]

Are you into other Kawamori works (As in ones he directed/did series comp for not just did design work for)? If so which ones?

Sorry for the extremely late reply! I watched Macross (the original series), DYRL, and Eureka Seven, all of which I really enjoyed. I guess E7 is an example of mostly just the design work? But yeah, at least I watched his origins. I liked it enough to actually draw a fanart heh (but never finish as is often the case with me).

When I lived in Tokyo, there was an event featuring Kawamori's designs (I think he was also present there to open it), I still regret not going because it was my finals and I had a lot of stuff on my plate at the time.

Any recommendations for some of his other work? I was kinda looking at Aquarion when it aired, wondering if I should give it a try...

[fictional-birthdays]

Happy Birthday! (March 31st)

Anna (Pop’n Music)

Klaus (Animal Crossing)

Sugi*kun (Pop’n Music)

Chico (Sanrio)

Rinka (Pop’n Music)

Donguri Gaeru (Puyo Puyo)

Eastin Amabyllis (Seven Deadly Sins)

And (One Piece)

Chikahiko Matsudaira (Prince of Tennis)

Sui Minamito (Gintama)

Miho Miho (Macross 7)

Nana Sawada (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!)

[ultraericthered]

COMING SOON - ANIME UPDATE V3

“V3″ in this case stands for “Version 3″. I did the V1 series of posts from late 2019 to the end of 2021, then did the V2 posts in 2022 and 2023. Time for another shake-up, once more before the last time.

Vinland Saga S2 will continue with its second half, and once I'm done with it, and once I'm done with it, the newly revived Kimi ni Todoke will be taking its place, itself to be followed by Vision of Escaflowne once I'm done with it.

Hunter x Hunter will continue to the end this year, and once I'm finally done with it, Fullmetal Alchemist will be taking its place.

SHUFFLE! will be a new anime I start up, and along with it will soon come the 13 episode AIR. Jun Maeda's prototype for CLANNAD, Kanon, would be the most likely to take its place afterwards.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works draws to a close, soon to be replaced by The Case Files Of Lord El Meloi II.

Konosuba will be taking over from Re:ZERO (talk about whiplash!), and once its done, its place will be taken by Black Cat.

Symphogear XV will finish off the Symphogear series, and once that's done, K-On!! will be taking its place.

Eureka Seven will continue through the year, and once I'm done with it, I'll finally look back to the Gundam franchise with Gundam Wing.

Gintama will be returning as well. with me finally getting closer towards the really good parts.

EXTRAs that I intend to also give watches to from now to perpetuity: A Certain Scientific Railgun, Akame Ga Kill, Akiba Maid Wars, Attack On Titan, Azumanga Daioh, Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Baccano, Berserk, Black Butler, Bloom Into You, Blue Exorcist, BNA: Brand New Animal, Bungo Stray Dogs, Captain Earth, Chainsaw Man, Code Geass R2, Cutey Honey, D-Gray Man, Date A Live, Demon Slayer, Digimon anime, Dragon Ball anime, Durarara, Full Metal Panic, Gabriel Drop Out, Great Pretender, Gundam & Macross anime, Gurren Lagann, Haruhi Suzumiya, Horimiya, Inuyasha, Kill La Kill, Little Busters, Little Witch Academia, Made In Abyss, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Marmalade Boy, Megaman NT Warrior, Monster, Moriarty The Patriot, My Hero Academia, My Next Life As Villaness, Nadia: The Secret Of Blue Water, Nichijou, Non Non Biyori, Odd Taxi, One Punch Man, Ouran High School Host Club, Persona The Animation, Pokemon anime, Pretty Cure, Princess Jellyfish, Puella Magi, Ranma 1/2, Rewrite, RWBY, Rurouni Kenshin, Sakugan, Shadows House, Shaman King, Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie, Slime Taoshite 300-Nen, Soul Eater, Steins;Gate, SSSS Dynazenon, Tales of the Abyss The Animation, Tenchi Muyo, Tiger & Bunny, Trigun, The Demon Girl Next Door, The Girl Who Leapt Through Space, The Pet Girl Of Sakurasou, The Rising Of The Shield Hero, The World Ends With You Animation, Yuna Yuki Is A Hero, and likely plenty of others that might come my way, old and new, rewatches included.

Yeah.