Macross / PV

Sakamoto Maaya – Triangular PV (Macross Frontier OP1)

 

For those familiar with Macross Plus, you’re probably aware that the ever-so-talented composer, Kanno Youko, has always been one of the reasons why its music has been so memorable. For a longtime Macross fan such as myself, I was extremely happy when I heard that she would be doing the music for Macross Frontier as well. Reading this, you might be wondering what any of it has to do with Sakamoto Maaya, who performs the first opening song to the series. Well, this actually dates back to Maaya’s debut as a seiyuu back in 1996, when she starred as Kanzaki Hitomi in Tenkuu no Escalfowne, better known in English as The Vision of Escaflowne, which led to her working together with Youko on “Yakusoku wa Iranai” 「約束はいらない」 (No Need for Promises), the opening theme for the series. After working together with Youko to release numerous singles and albums featuring songs for series such as Record of Lodoss War (TV series), Cardcaptor Sakura, RahXephon, and Wolf’s Rain, the two parted ways on Maaya’s fifth single release, Loop, the first ending theme to Tsubasa Chronicle. It’s been three years since then, and the two have reunited to work on Macross Frontier with this song—Triangular.

More after the jump…

Anime News / CLANNAD / Daily Dose / Dragonaut / Macross / Miscellaneous / Series Introduction

The Daily Dose

  • If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t written one of these posts in about three weeks, it’s because I’ve been in the middle of a move and haven’t had much time to do anything extra over the shows I’m blogging regularly. Things haven’t quite settled down yet, so my schedule’s still in a bit of a flux, but I didn’t want to put this off any further since there’s so many new series announcements, PVs, etc piling up. Unfortunately all this also means that I won’t have time to continue keeping up with Tetsuwan Birdy like I wanted to, so I had to drop that.
  • New Upcoming Anime Promo Videos
         • Casshern Sins
         • CHAOS;HEAD (the first white link under What’s New and then the first yellow link after that)
         • CLANNAD After Story
         • Kannagi (Mirror for those of you with IPs outside of Japan)
         • Kurogane no Linebarrels (Mirror for those of you with IPs outside of Japan)
         • Macademi Wasshoi
         • Michiko to Hatchin
  • New Anime Announcements
         • Guin Saga is coming Spring 2009
         • Inazuma Eleven is coming October 2008
         • ONE OUTS is coming October 2008
         • Taishou Yakyuu Musume is getting an anime
         • Tetsuwan Birdy DECODE Second Season is coming Winter 2009
  • New Official Websites
         • Akikan! now has an official website
         • Asu no Yoichi! now has an official website
         • Bakemonogatari now has an official website
         • Chrome Shelled Regios now has an official website
         • Kyou no Go no Ni now has an official website
         • Maria†Holic now has an official website
         • Tonari no 801-chan now has an official website and will be produced by Kyoto Animation
  • Remember that show Dragonaut from earlier this year that was heavily panned? The show’s official website has posted a preview for the DVD episode 26 that’s due to be released in September. I feel like I should watch it if for no other reason than to make fun of it.
  • The anime adaptation for the shoujo manga Skip Beat! – coming this October – will feature Inoue Marina as Kyoko and Miyano Mamoru as Shou.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Macross Frontier artwork – yes you read that right – at left courtesy of ulti on pixiv (account needed to access)
    Anime News / Daily Dose / Macross / Nodame Cantabile / Series Introduction

    The Daily Dose

  • Upcoming fall series Kuroshitsuji has a website now, and on it is a 2-minute promo video. It requires Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player though, so I’ve uploaded it for those of you who have troubles getting it to play.
  • Nitroplus game Chaos;Head is getting an anime adaptation this fall, and they’ve opened a new website for it.
  • You may remember that last year around this time NTV aired a three-hour Death Note special that covered the entire L arc. Well they’ve announced that they’ll be airing another one on August 22nd, this time covering the Near/Mello arc.
  • Web series Axis Powers Hetalia is getting an anime adaptation.
  • Junjou Romantica 2 has been confirmed to start in October of this year.
  • The Queen’s Blade anime adaptation now has a website.
  • MOON PHASE reports that the Seto no Hanayome OVA will be released on November 28.
  • Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter will start on October 9 in the Thursday night noitaminA timeslot.
  • The Macross Frontier Superlive was last night, and mainichi.jp has pictures and a report from the event. Pretty much all the songs from the series were performed, including Kanno Yoko herself playing a piano/ballad version of Triangular to Sakamoto Maaya‘s singing. Nakajima Megumi and May’n finished the concert by performing the new OP Lion together. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the new OP will premiere on this upcoming week’s episode.
  • If you find anything that you think I should mention on any particular day’s Daily Dose, please send me an email with the words “ANIME NEWS” somewhere in the subject line.

    • Image at left courtesy of あさの on pixiv (account needed to access)
    Macross / PV

    Ranka Lee starring Nakajima Megumi – Seikan Hikou Live

    To commemorate Animax‘s ten year anniversary, they’ve been airing a weekly program throughout July about why anime is interesting. The theme of last night’s program happened to be music, and Nakajima Megumi made an appearance to sing Seikan Hikou from Macross Frontier. She does a pretty good job singing live, but I think it’s even more impressive when you compare how well her singing and dancing match up with the choreography video that was posted on the official site a while back. That must have taken a lot of practice. I’ve put them side-by-side above for easier viewing – it may require a small amount of manual syncing to get the two videos to line up perfectly, but I think it’s worth it because it’s a fun watch. This is arguably better than May’n’s live Diamond Crevasse performance.