MemoriesSHOJI KAWAMORIMr. MacrossJuly 6, 2002 July 5th was an amazing, frazzled Friday, as anyone who was there can attest. It was the 20th anniversary of Macross. Kawamori was coming to Anime Expo. And he brought something special along with his new work Arjuna—in the form of a videotape in his producer Minoru Takanashi's luggage. As he did with Macross Plus almost a decade earlier, he gave AX the world premiere of Macross Zero footage—even before Japan saw it. He entertains audience questions from the enlightening ("What's it like to work with Yoko Kanno?" Answer: "I'll ask her for a certain kind of song, and she'll give me something totally different—except it's exactly what I need.") to the funny ("Which is better, the Takatoku/Bandai toys or the Yamato toys?" "I can't answer that question because the [Bandai] people are here.") to the bizarre ("What happenned to the Megaroad-01 with Hikaru, Misa, and Minmay?" "God knows.") We reach the end of the hour, so I ask our guests how they feel. Kawamori and Takanashi, clearly enjoying the fan outpouring, agree to stay almost an hour longer. By now it is mid-evening, and our guests haven't eaten since before their museum trip to touch a real YF-23. But fans mob them as they leave, and Kawamori graciously agree to sit another half hour for an unplanned signing session. I run to get Copics for him, someone offers Sharpie markers, and many fans walk away with a memento to remember. Finally, it is time for our happy but bushed guests to eat dinner—almost two hours behind schedule. I was hoping to bring them to see more fans the following morning, but I find out after waking up that they slept in and have to get ready to leave. (They are returning that same day; now that they've shown Macross Zero, I guess they have to actually ship it.) That is disappointing but understandable—I was almost as tired as they were, and glad to crawl back in bed. When I finally get out of my hotel room around noon on Saturday the 6th, I see Kawamori's translator at the Bandai booth. He just saw off Kawamori on his way home, and he passes along a plastic bag. In it are my Copics, a Macross script reference left by a friend, and this:
It's the little treasures that make the last decade all worthwhile. |
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PAST & PRESENT |
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| See what the Macross Compendium looked like in the last millennium ... | |
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(*That's right—the Compendium even predates the Internet Archive) |
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... and what the creators are working on now |
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 | Zagato |
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"Thank you so much! Some of the memories you wrote up I had the pleasure to share, and it was a warm fuzzy to reminisce over them. You are one of the fans that make modern anime fandom the happy group it is. "Thank you also for the mention in your Friends list at the end. I get so wrapped up in the details and daily mundane things that I'm frequently just a cynical curmudgeon. It gives me great satisfaction to see that I'm making a difference to people." — Charles Gousha Apple Computer, Inc. CD/DVD Projects  "What I have to know is: did you ever find that elusive Haro UFO Catcher doll?" — Roger Harkavy Toybox DX contributor [EL: Amazingly, I found three.]  "It was the same Norihiko Harada who designed the Zagato DB7? [...] How cool to become a mecha designer in real life! "You prompted me to go pop in the director's commentary for Honneamise. I had only intended to see what Ichiro Itano had done (Hiroyuki Yamaga said he handled the parts in the pre-launch battle that were beyond even Hideaki Anno), but I ended up seeing the entire film again. The 98th time, I believe. [...]" — Carl Horn Dark Horse manga editor, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Eagle manga adaptation [EL: Harada also designed the audaciously retro Aston Martin Vanquish Roadster.] "Congratulations on 10 years of service — you've been an inspiration to us all!!" — Shawn Klueck Macross World co-creator "Thanks — after a long day at work (yes, on a Sunday) while I'm still coming down from the flu (I was the only librarian who could come in) this is the perfect site to open first." — Gilles Poitras Anime Companion, Anime Essentials author |
"First, I've got to say: HAPPY 10TH!! "Although my contribution was limited to just a bit of TLC and a few hundred sleepless nights, I am extremely fortunate to have worked on something that had anything to do with The Super Dimension Fortress Macross — a series that totally changed my childhood when I first saw it twenty-odd-some years ago. "'No idea how many times I still-framed all those Betamax tapes as a kid so that I could study the mecha and the animation, but I overdid it such that the deck was in the repair shop a lot, with my tapes jammed and stretched. I repaired the tapes myself with a razor and Scotch tape, but those $1000 Betamax decks cost $500 in repair bills each time. (And some parental lecturing.) One time the deck blew up, almost causing a fire. I hated tapes .... "And I still do. So when it came time to do a DVD of the show, I jumped at the chance to go 100% digital ... but, well, this time around we digitally still-framed to repair an entire show, but heck, hopefully no sane fan still-framed Macross to suffer some serious DVD player damage, explosion, or parental scolding! :) "Over the years, I had the honor of meeting and working with a number of masters who have actually worked on the original Macross or its offsprings. Some have moved on. Some have come back to develop new related products. But we all get to exchange war stories, dramas, and whatnot. Mostly over drinks. Lots ... ;) "One thing is really clear though. The Macross franchise was special from the beginning and will be. And there are so many great fans, fansites, and other resources out there, but how many of those are as dedicated as you and the Macross Compendium? It's almost scary sometimes! They are like the living encyclopedia — or in a more nerdy terms — Exsedol armed with a Powerbook and a website? :) Old fans and new fans of the Macross Universe continue to be amazed by the wealth of information that is and will be there. "Egan, you madman! :)" — Shin Kurokawa The Super Dimension Fortress Macross DVD Producer, Video, Music, & Audio Remastering Head Supervisor, Engineer/Translation "The 10th Anniversary retrospective reminded me of the many happy moments and memories the past decade. Thanks, and keep up the good work!" — Keith Rhee GundamOfficial.com, EX Magazine HTML Swiss Army Knife |
FINAL THOUGHTS |
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| In closing, thanks are in order ... | |
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... to the creators for giving their all Kunio Aoi Taro Copic Mika Doi David Fleming Norihiko Harada Arihiro Hase Yasunori Honda Mari Iijima Junya Ishigaki Noboru Ishiguro Ichiro Itano Hiroshi Iwata Ken Iyadomi Yoko Kanno Shoji Kawamori Shin Kurokawa Trish Ledoux Yutaka Maseba Kenichi Matsuzaki Haruhiko Mikimoto Kazutaka Miyatake Neil Nadelman Shinji Nakashima Hiroshi Ohnogi Toshiaki Ohta Tomo Sakurai Joe Sharpie Minoru Takanashi Sukehiro Tomita Eiji "Takokujira" Tsunoi Dana Weaver Taro Yoshida |
... to my friends who got me through it all Norby Anderson Tom Bateman David Bautista Kelli Blackwell Urian Brown Brendan Bolles Kenny Cheng Julie Davis Hitoshi Doi Peter Evans Jan Scott Frazier Charles Gousha Dan Hollis Takafumi Horie Carl Horn Michael House Takayuki Kakahashi Shawn Klueck Alan Lee Patrick Macias Charles McCarter Marco Nicosia Peter Norby Graham Parkes Gilles Poitras Keith Rhee Sammy Mark Simmons Long Vo Marshall Wang Benjamin Wright Don Yee |
| ... and to you for sharing all ten glorious years! | |
