This weekend, Forbes' games/anime site shared their conversation with Shoji Kawamori, the anime creator/designer/director best known for his contributions to the Macross franchise. While he could not comment on whether the new, fourth series, Delta would make it to international audiences, noting that that was a matter for international IP holder,s which he didn't have visibility into, he explained its concept at length.
“The story is focused around how humans and animals have become somewhat crazy since the appearance of something called the Var Syndrome. As a consequence, there are many instances of Var Syndrome outbreaks across the galaxy.”
“During this period, singers with special abilities are used to help pacify the effects of the Var Syndrome sufferers. There is also a galactic conglomerate called Chaos that is responsible for these singers, who are part of a tactical music unit called Walküre.”
As announced last June, plans were announced for a Robotech live-action adaption of Harmony Gold's localization of Tatsunoko-produced mecha anime The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. with Gianni Nunnari and 300's Mark Canton producing and Michael Gordon (300, GI Joe) writing the script. Frank Agrama of Harmony Gold, which is the original intellectual property rights holder, will executive produce.
Earlier this year, James Wan, The Saw and Furious 7 director who has Aquaman on his to-do list, as well as Robotech, discusses maintaining elements of the original material, especially its much loved "Macross Saga."
On the subject, Kawamori offered
“I feel very honored that various talented creators around the world support and are fans of Macross.”
“Around 20 years ago now, while I was also making Macross Plus, I worked on the preparation for a live-action version of Macross in Hollywood, as I believe Macross is a very good franchise that could work as a live action film.”
“Unfortunately, to this day, I have not had any contact or consultations from people in Hollywood. Which is frustrating as I am one of the original creators of the series, and the original designer for the variable fighter. In that sense, I assume that thisMacross live-action movie project has not made any progress.”
“Naturally, as I am one of the original creators, I have numbers of ideas about Macross in terms of its live-action adaptation. So if the film is going to inherit the right spirit of Macross, I am ready to make it happen.”
And on Robotech streaming on Crackle
“Finally, hearing about the re-release of Robotech online, makes me feel uncomfortable. For people around the world to see the work we created more than 30 years ago is something I can appreciate. That said the fact that the content has been altered without any of us knowing anything about it is saddening. The most frustrating fact about this though is that the original creators and staff, not only myself, but Haruhiko Mikimoto, Ichiro Itano,Noboru Ishiguro and even the other members of Studio Nue, were not credited for the past TV broadcast of Robotech. Not only them, but also all the other various staff involved, including many animators who had worked on the original series. While the concept of accreditation may differ around the world, I would be very disappointed if this is going to be released online without crediting the people who originally made it. After all, when you compare this situation to modern movies, so many of the staff gets properly credited.”
Read more on Forbes
------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.
