New Macross Anime Project (Anticipation and Discussion)
 

Looks like we have a new Macross anime being produced (by Sunrise of all studios!).

No further details at the moment.

Whats going on here? Why is it produced by Sunrise? Did they sell the rights to them or something?

Heard info that the usual studio(s) may be busy with another Aquarion project.

To be fair, the Macross series had been produced by a number of different studios over its long history.

Studio Tatsunoko, AIC, Triangle Staff, Ashi and finally Satelight all had their hands in producing something Macross. So having Sunrise isn't that surprising. It's actually pretty positive news to my ears if you ask me.

Hell, I wish Sunrise produced Macross back in the day, because at least it would retain the kind of creative independence that is Gundam, and not be marred by that ugly mess of a lawsuit involving that disgusting daylight robbery organization known to all of us as Harmony Gold.

- Tak

Please have a female pilot be the MC. And have her be Zentradi! :D

I would have joked about GL Macross but it won't happen. There are more chances for another rock band in there (still almost zero).

I think that somebody wants to know first is that if it's gonna be licensed considering what happened to previous Macross

Yuri love triangles just aren't that good in my experience. Plus Symphogear already exists.The Harmony Gold thing got resolved a while ago, I'm almost positive it'll end up on Crunchyroll with Sony's involvement in the deal.

Btw, who actually owns the general Macross IP at this moment?

We all know that Gundam IP is owned by Bandai but who owns Macross and decides the studio to make anime out of it?

I think it might be Big West no?

Seems like it.

Frontier, Delta advertisements and overall Macross appearance in SRW listed Big West as it rights owner.

Looking back at Delta launch, the system seems to be Big West decided on new Macross theme and it product distribution then decided which studio accordingly.
I'm guessing they chose Sunrise because the studio is, currently, the most competent studio to penetrate international market from start; felt like they can just settle with any studio if there's no such goal in mind.

Its absolutely Big West, but they've stuck with Satelight for 20 years because of Kawamori's role within the company.

Who is directing is important, since this is Sunrise, after all. Macross tend to have a significantly more positive view on humanity than Gundam, and that's partially what sets the former apart from the latter.

Also, the soundtrack. I've long hoped for Hiroyuki Sawano to do a Macross soundtrack, but we'll see about that one.

- Tak

Macross is different compared to what Sawano is usually known for.

He does some amazing battle themes, though.

- Tak

His battle themes are awesome, I'm not denying that. Some of my favorites were made by him. Especially the ones he did with Gundam Unicorn.

The thing is....the tone he normally uses for his themes don't really fit with Macross.

Or they can always bring Yoko back. :o

- Tak

Oh, my stars and garters...

Getting animated by Sunrise isn't gonna solve Macross' main problem, executive meddling. I remember from an interview with Kawamori, he commented how the right holders and sponsors make a lot of creative demands.

Some people shit on Kawamori when things go wrong (like in Delta) but I'd say most of the time shit happens because the sponsors don't let him do things his way.

Yeah, executive meddling will exist regardless of production company chosen to helm a project. Though this is also a case of picking a lesser evil. When SDF Macross was in production, poor Kawamori had to contend with three different studios to finish the gig, whereas the original Mobile Suit Gundam only ever had to deal with one.

- Tak

YES! We want her back!

Bring back the new anime song boom era!

Well, his track record on other recent series hs been very, very spotty. Macross Frontier was an exception, although from what I've heard over the years, he was boxed in by having at least one co-director/writer, so that may have unintentionally saved the series. :heh: Let's just say that I am incredibly cautious in regards to his writing nowadays.

Kawamori is comparable to George Lucas when it comes to scripts, except the former is suspected to be high while doing it.

- Tak

Cool.
Thank you for the heads up.
I--for one--look forward to it.

Delta wasn't directed by Kawamori either. It was directed by Kenji Yasuda, with Kawamori credited as chief director which is more like a supervisor role. I don't think that makes much of a difference.

I think Frontier was successful because the character interactions were written as a romcom. Sorta like what Aka did with Oshi no Ko, which is a revenge story on paper but has a lot of focus on love triangle with Kana and Akane and all the romcom shenanigans surrounding those two and Aqua. For whatever reason, that kind of thing seems to resonate with some audiences.

I don't know whose fault it was but are there generally 2 things people didn't like about Delta:

1. the antagonists
2. dead heroine

Also, the fact that they had to stick a Macross Frontier mini movie to the 2nd Delta movie is pretty damning
Maybe the new macross will just be another Frontier sequel

//

As I saw it the biggest problem Delta had was just way too many characters. Frontier was really able to focus on its core cast, Delta had to find time for Windmere, Walkure, Delta squadron, and the rest of the supporting cast. The entire cast felt underdeveloped and it didn't help the triangle was anemic. I really enjoyed Zettai Live!!! for what it was though... it was probably the best part of Delta.I would be 100% okay with this after Labyrinth of Time but don't want to get my hopes up. Its likely Ranka could still be involved in some way though.

Yeaaaah, too many characters with a good focus on only two of them, those two not being the brightest bulbs in the room in the first place, the "love triangle" being a complete joke with the most interesting character of the three being completely neglected throughout the series, "sympathetic" space nazis who weren't... the list of problems with Delta is long, much longer than any list you could do about Frontier.

In any case, I don't expect the new series to be a sequel for Frontier, given that they normally just don't do sequels.

But on the miniscule chance that it is, I hope they continue the TV series, not the movies. Or at least do their typical continuity mish-mash so that we get elements from both (for me: TV!Sheryl, TV!Alto, Movie!Ranka, obviously Movie!Michael).

Why do you say that?

To me that implies one of 2 things:

1. Delta brand isn't strong enough to stand on its own feet
2. team couldn't come up with enough story to fill the entire run time

//

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/con...future/.214811

Kawamori was recently in Anime NYC. He's been asked if there's new progress on the upcoming Macross project. He said "stay tuned".

He hasn't aged a bit!

I am glad he is doing well, last time I saw him was 2010.

But "stay tuned" from him usually means... a couple more years... :heh:

- Tak