Macross Zero Discussion Thread

[Yebyosh]

Originally Posted by BOZZY

I can't wait for whenever "Spring 2004" is to see Episode 5... I want to see how they close off this OVA....

It is an error. How AnimeOne-ANBU translated 秋 "Aki" as Spring when it means Autumn/Fall, one can only wonder.

[dreamless]

well, although at the end of one episode they always make it look like they'll release the next episode in the next season, so far it's always one episode half a year. So I guess the next episode mostly likely will be winter 2004 or maybe even spring 2005

Personally I love Yukikaze more than Macross Zero.

[exedore]

Originally Posted by dreamless

So I guess the next episode mostly likely will be winter 2004 or maybe even spring 2005

Episode Five = Final, coming out in Autumn (my guess is late October or November). Also, it's been every three months for the first four episodes. What I'm hoping is that since the wait is longer this time that the episode will be as well...probably the only way to wrap everything up properly at this point.

[method]

It has been around 6 months for every episode release of Macross Zero.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=939

[dreamless]

Originally Posted by exedore

Episode Five = Final, coming out in Autumn (my guess is late October or November). Also, it's been every three months for the first four episodes. What I'm hoping is that since the wait is longer this time that the episode will be as well...probably the only way to wrap everything up properly at this point.

every three month? are you sure you counted right?

episode 1 was released at 12/21/2003, episode 2 at 5/23/2003, episode 3 at 11/28/2003, episode 4 at 5/28/2004. I don't call it "three months" from November 2003 to May 2004

I think we'd be lucky if episode 5 can be released in late November 2004, most likely in December.

I know they always try to make it look like the next episode will come in 3 month, like at the end of episode 1, it says episode 2 will be in spring 2003, and at the end of episode 3, it says episode 4 will be spring 2004... while the actually release are in summber 2003/2004.

[exedore]

Originally Posted by method

It has been around 6 months for every episode release of Macross Zero.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ency...ime.php?id=939

I stand corrected. I still want a double-length ep, tho.

[xu_henry_ca]

Have you noticed the lately fansubbed episode 4 is only about 234MB? This is significantly smaller than the previous three episodes in size.

[FromageTheDog]

Originally Posted by dreamless

Personally I love Yukikaze more than Macross Zero.

Agreed!

Although nothing will quite beat the "You've got to be ****ing kidding me!" feeling I had when I first saw the VF-0 transform way back in ep. 1, Yukikaze has got to be one of the most beautifully conceived OVAs in recent years. Phenomenal mech design, elegant characters and (IMHO) a strong and original (or at least originally applied) storyline.

That having been said, they both have one episode left to go, and depending on how the stories are wrapped up I may well change my mind. Yukikaze has an advantage in this respect (my bias, admittedly), having the distinction of being based on a great novel. Contrast this with Zero, which can't (or shouldn't, anyway) stray too far from the relatively contrived Macross canon. I really should get a hold of the original Yukikaze novels...

Can't wait till Bandai releases the volume 2 DVDs (Volume 1 was of Bandai's typically phenomenal quality). The Bandai 1/100 scale models of Yukikaze and Mave are likewise spectacular, BTW...

- Fromage

P.S. -- Thanks, dreamless -- your follow-up pointed out some rather glaring flaws in my logic which I've corrected... Clearly, GONZO has no "creative freedom," given that Yukikaze is an adaptation of a novel!

[dreamless]

Yup Yukikaze is based on a very famous (in Japan at least) award-winning sci-fi novel (guess GONZO can never make as great a story as the one in Yukikaze ), so it surely has an edge over Macross Zero when it comes to plots. when GONZO's great cel-shading CG effects get combined with an award-winning story, well, I think nothing can beat it.

Besides I somehow prefer the relatively realistic air battles over transforming mechs. Yukikaze's animation just have an "authentic" feel to it instead of Macross Zero's over-the-top effects IMO.

And currently Macross Zero's story development is a bit weird IMO, with all those environmentalist sermons and strange rituals happening around XD

[FromageTheDog]

Originally Posted by dreamless

Besides I somehow prefer the relatively realistic air battles over transforming mechs. Yukikaze's animation just have an "authentic" feel to it instead of Macross Zero's over-the-top effects IMO.

I agree, though I could see how this is subjective. In terms of sheer visceral thrill, the battle scenes in Zero are quite frankly the most amazing I've ever seen. Seeing the VF-0 transformation sequence for the first time was like seeing Terminator 2 for the first time (way back when!): CG wasn't exactly brand new then, and certainly isn't now, but it was the first time it's application to the medium was done right.

If you watch the extras on the Yukikaze DVDs, the GONZO team actually spent quite some time at airbases in Japan, studying the behavior of aircraft in various phases of flight both live and from gun camera footage. Like you say, it really contributes to the very authentic feel of the Yukikaze air battles.

My favorite scenes are anything that starts with:

"LT. FUKAI... I HAVE CONTROL."

Originally Posted by dreamless

And currently Macross Zero's story development is a bit weird IMO, with all those environmentalist sermons and strange rituals happening around XD

Yup. It certainly lacks subtlety, and I can't get away from the feeling that it's all been done before. Aside from the sermonizing, I also feel that there are far too many characters for the writers to be able to flesh any single character out sufficiently...

But despite all these complaints, I'll be in line with the rest of them when the R1 DVDs are released.

- Fromage

[hunterx]

yukikaze? I just watched the first two episodes the other day, the planes and explosions are very beautiful but the story is sort of bleh. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the brooding hero type and his gay boyfriend. The macross zero physics are a bit over the top - the transformations are way too fast for a craft that size but that's also why I like it because the fight scenes are mindblowing. An energetic hero helps too.

Imho both stories are a bit weird.

[Radd]

I'm digging Macross Zero more myself. Granted, I am a big Macross fan in general, but even so I'm also a fan of strong character developement and storylines. While neither show is particularly dazzling as far as either, I must say I do like the characters in Zero much more. Rei just winds up being the all too stereotypical brooding, troubled "hero" that is far to overdone in anime. Shin seems to start that way, but even early on into the first episode we get to see he has actual personality and isn't completely cookie-cutter.

In the earlier episodes of Macross Zero, I agreed with the idea that Yukikaze's cel shaded fighters are the way to go, but Zero's CG and having 2D animation for the Valkyries mixed in, has been making huge strides in quality. Back at the beginnining, comparing Yukikaze and Zero, it seemed like Zero had much better 2d animation and backgrounds, while Yukikaze's 3D was better.(Yukikaze had some pretty bad CG rendered backgrounds in places, so much it hurt). Now I'd say Zero is rocking in all three.

I'm just worried about how Zero will end. At episode 4, with only one episode left, it seems like there's hardly any room to finish the story off with a satisfactory ending. Kowamori is gonna have to pull off some major magic in writing that last episode. I expect it will indeed be a double length episode, but that's just conjecture at this point.

As for the file size, look at it this way, the previous versions were all DVD rips at uber high quality. I think that this latest fansub was taken from a raw, unsubbed version of episode 4 that has been floating around since the episode was released in Japan. There will probably be a DVD version in the near future, in wich Anbu/A1 will clean up their subtitles and give it a better encode.

[Yebyosh]

Originally Posted by Radd

As for the file size, look at it this way, the previous versions were all DVD rips at uber high quality. I think that this latest fansub was taken from a raw, unsubbed version of episode 4 that has been floating around since the episode was released in Japan. There will probably be a DVD version in the near future, in wich Anbu/A1 will clean up their subtitles and give it a better encode.

Uh... the raw, unsubbed version is from the DVD. Macross Zero is a release straight to DVD anime. No TV broadcast.

Likely Aone-Anbu's file is smaller because they went with stereo rather than a AC3 5.1 release and a smaller screen size than the raw version.

A raw I know of is 704x396 weighing in at 383MB. A sub I'm watching (I think the sub group bought the DVD) managed a 800x448 and their version weighs in at 473MB with 5.1 AC3.

[complich8]

Originally Posted by Yebyosh

It is an error. How AnimeOne-ANBU translated 秋 "Aki" as Spring when it means Autumn/Fall, one can only wonder.

we're not entirely sure how that went unfixed. That's leftover from our old templates... as is the mircx thing. In the qc process, that and several other things were commented on but for some undisclosable reason were not fixed. I'm not going to comment publicly on whose fault it was, but said person is already higher up on my list of people whose shins need stabbing.

The episode we released was from a raw from the same places as our other raws. One of our usual providers has the dvd on order, but for some reason it isn't there yet. He's very pissed off about that... but just like we did with ep 1, we are planning on a DVD-sourced release when the man's dvd comes in. The unfixed mistakes have been/will be fixed, or I'll be personally hunting people down and stabbing them in the shins with my pocketknife. And it's not a sharp pocketknife, lemme tell you...

Originally Posted by xu_henry_ca

Have you noticed the lately fansubbed episode 4 is only about 234MB? This is significantly smaller than the previous three episodes in size.

Originally Posted by Yebyosh

Likely Aone-Anbu's file is smaller because they went with stereo rather than a AC3 5.1 release and a smaller screen size than the raw version.

ac3 isn't that much bigger, to be honest. It's just more of a pain to work with/support, not everyone can play it and maybe one in 30 benefit from it in any way. It's all well and good to give people the ac3 track I suppose, and for the few (I really don't know how many, but I know of only one out of my many friends that has a real 5.1 system hooked up to his computer) ... well ... that's what dvds are for :-p.

Filesize will be a function of video resolution and quality settings (and the skill of the encoder). Our dvd release will be ~350 like our previous ones, because with the fast motion and with a good quality video source, it'll actually benefit from that (unlike our raw-sourced version, which really wouldn't have).

[Kempis Curious]

Originally Posted by suires

I have very stupid questions:

Is Macross zero any better than macross plus? and is Macross zero's setting before or after Macross Plus OVA?

I watched Macross plus few years back. It seems to be a quite enjoyable series. It never occurred to me to watch the other macross series. I am just kind of curious.

I'm also a long-time fan of Macross, having started back in 1986 with Robotech. I was thrilled with the DYRL movie, Macross 7, and Macross Plus. They each seemed to ramp up in terms of production values and storylines. (Or perhaps they grew in sophistication as I went from being a boy watching Robotech, to finally an adult watching Mac+. )

However, if not for the awesome CG Valkerie sequences I would not be watching any more of this anime. I think the plot is a disaster worse than Macross 2... boring, predictable storyline and unsympathetic characters. Even the music is forgettable, which is an unpardonable sin for a Macross series.

I wish I could enjoy it as much as the others here in this thread, I really do. I'll probably watch it a second time when it's over, just to see if I'm missing a good anime... perhaps long waits between eps is messing it up for me.

-k

curious

[Radd]

Originally Posted by Yebyosh

Uh... the raw, unsubbed version is from the DVD. Macross Zero is a release straight to DVD anime. No TV broadcast.

Likely Aone-Anbu's file is smaller because they went with stereo rather than a AC3 5.1 release and a smaller screen size than the raw version.

A raw I know of is 704x396 weighing in at 383MB. A sub I'm watching (I think the sub group bought the DVD) managed a 800x448 and their version weighs in at 473MB with 5.1 AC3.

My initial assumption was that ANBU/A1 used a raw off the net to expedite getting a fansub out as quickly as possible. This is not an unreasonable assumption, seeing just how quickly they did get thier sub out there, before most people outside of Japan had recieved their DVD. This means they are limited to whatever video and audio quality was present in the encode they used, instead of the DVD quality picture and audio.

Also, I'm not heavy into video encoding, but I'm under the, perhaps misguided, belief that whenever you do an encode of an encode, that there is some loss there.

That is, however, all merely conjecture. Perhaps they did have their DVD and simply wished to go with a smaller file size.

[Yebyosh]

Originally Posted by Radd

Also, I'm not heavy into video encoding, but I'm under the, perhaps misguided, belief that whenever you do an encode of an encode, that there is some loss there.

Nah, you are not misguided Radd. An encode of an encode will generally suffer some loss. But if they keep a high enough quality setting, they suffer little or negligible loss at all.

However my belief is that a rip from a DVD remains a DVD-rip, regardless of what quality setting the rip was done.

Anyway complich8 has answered on why his group's current release is smaller than expected. He basically states the DVD-rip they got off the net for the current release is of lower quality than one which his group would be getting off their DVD for their next release.

[Valkyrie]

Back on the subject of Yukikaze for a second....
If anyone is up to the challenge of translating the novels, I'd be glad to loan out my copies to that end

And personally, I love Macross Zero and Yukikaze equally. I think Macross Zero has better action sequences, but I like Yukikaze's mecha designs a lot more. Hell, I love em so much, I spent ~$130 each on resin model kits of the Supersylph and Mave! But they were worth it ^_^

[Wild Zero]

Who fansubs Yukikaze and how many episodes are out? I really like Macross Zero, but I would like to see how they stack up

[exedore]

Originally Posted by Wild Zero

Who fansubs Yukikaze and how many episodes are out? I really like Macross Zero, but I would like to see how they stack up

Yukikaze is licensed, go buy the first DVD from your retailer of choice.