'Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Ken has reviewed 'Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.' He says the animation has it's problems at times, but the story is good, and this Blu-ray is FUNimations most solid release, with strong video and audio track and good supplements. Still, this should be a rental first.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1457...hronicles.html

[Godstar]

Attebery, is the link not up yet? Tried to get to the review and it was a general BD info page.

[nelll]

Wow!!!! I'm impressed with the Video and Audio quality, kudos to FUNimation. I will definitely give this a rent. Very nice review Ken.

[Godstar]

Ken: "At 85 episodes, the 1985 ‘Robotech’ television series has been acknowledged by many American anime fans as their first foray into the genre and its subculture."

I would say that Gatchaman (1972), Mazinger Z (1972) and Mach GoGoGo (1967) probably both have it beat in that regard. Maybe if you're a kid from the 80's that might be true.

[Deathpoop]

I only want this because of the drought of anime released domestically at a fair price with good encoding. Plus, I think Best Buy has it for around $20, meaning I can get it cheaper online...

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by nelll

Wow!!!! I'm impressed with the Video and Audio quality, kudos to FUNimation. I will definitely give this a rent. Very nice review Ken.

Thanks. Now if we could just get a BD release of the original 'Robotech' series, I'd be a happy boy!

[Deathpoop]

Originally Posted by Ken Brown

Thanks. Now if we could just get a BD release of the original 'Robotech' series, I'd be a happy boy!

Screw that. How about we get a remastered and uncut SDFM or DYRL movie on BD.

[Shoeless]

Originally Posted by Godstar

I would say that Gatchaman (1972), Mazinger Z (1972) and Mach GoGoGo (1967) probably both have it beat in that regard. Maybe if you're a kid from the 80's that might be true.

Well to be fair, while I was first exposed to "Battle of the Planets" (ie Gatchaman) as my first weekly dose of anime. It was only when Robotech came along that I was old enough to finally get hooked on anime in a fatal and permanent way.

Of course, when I finally saw Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta, that was the point of no return for me.

[Godstar]

Originally Posted by Shoeless

Well to be fair, while I was first exposed to "Battle of the Planets" (ie Gatchaman) as my first weekly dose of anime. It was only when Robotech came along that I was old enough to finally get hooked on anime in a fatal and permanent way.

Of course, when I finally saw Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta, that was the point of no return for me.

Well for us old folkes, those shows are what got my generation into anime. Hell, at age 6 I had the Mazinger and Godzilla 3ft tall action figures, the Mach 5 Hot Wheel, so was well hooked by the time I had started first grade. Robotech didn't come till much later for me, though I loved that show too. I was lucky that KTLA in Los Angeles was such a good station for TV shows like that.

[Shoeless]

Originally Posted by Godstar

Well for us old folkes, those shows are what got my generation into anime. Hell, at age 6 I had the Mazinger and Godzilla 3ft tall action figures, the Mach 5 Hot Wheel, so was well hooked by the time I had started first grade. Robotech didn't come till much later for me, though I loved that show too. I was lucky that KTLA in Los Angeles was such a good station for TV shows like that.

Yeah, I remember those toys, except that they were dubbed "Shogon Warriors" or something for us non-Japanese kids. I actually had the Godzilla and Gaiking jumbos myself.

Robotech was a bit hard for me. My local TV station was absolute crap for keeping the series continuity, and they literally grabbed a handful of episodes from each chapter. So my first exposure to Robotech was watching a few episodes of Macross that suddenly changed into the closing episodes of Southern Cross, that suddenly changed into the mid-point of Mospeada. It was only when the series finally came out on DVD that I got a chance to watch all of them properly.

Dude, you're really making me dig deep into the geek closet here...

[Godstar]

Originally Posted by Shoeless

Yeah, I remember those toys, except that they were dubbed "Shogon Warriors" or something for us non-Japanese kids. I actually had the Godzilla and Gaiking jumbos myself.

Robotech was a bit hard for me. My local TV station was absolute crap for keeping the series continuity, and they literally grabbed a handful of episodes from each chapter. So my first exposure to Robotech was watching a few episodes of Macross that suddenly changed into the closing episodes of Southern Cross, that suddenly changed into the mid-point of Mospeada. It was only when the series finally came out on DVD that I got a chance to watch all of them properly.

Dude, you're really making me dig deep into the geek closet here...

Yeah I know, I'm digging deep too. I'd have to say that Voltron a.k.a GoLion and Dairugger XV (both series) were also pretty big during the 80's, at least bigger than Robotech was in the US. When I was in first grade, there was this kid that had a metal action figure (this is around 76 or 77) that looked exactly like them, and he got it as a Japaneese import in the Phillipeans (he was Phillipino). Man was I so jealous, my Mazinger couldn't compete with his figures body that could turn into mutiple vehicles.

[Deathpoop]

Originally Posted by Godstar

Yeah I know, I'm digging deep too. I'd have to say that Voltron (both series) were also pretty big during the 80's, at least bigger than Robotech was in the US.

Whatever happened to Rhino releasing Voltron in its uncut GoLion/Dairruger set?

[Godstar]

Originally Posted by Deathpoop

Whatever happened to Rhino releasing Voltron in its uncut GoLion/Dairruger set?

BluRay maybe? I'm not really sure. The whole anime industry has been in trouble lately so not sure if that has somehow affected releases.

[Shoeless]

Originally Posted by Ken Brown

Thanks. Now if we could just get a BD release of the original 'Robotech' series, I'd be a happy boy!

I really don't know if I'd go for this.

While I have a warm, gooshy, nostalgic place in my heart for Robotech for kickstarting me into the world of anime, I'm not sure I'm one of those people that can still enjoy it with the nostalgia goggles in place.

I was pretty amazed with Robotech for the time, but once I saw how sophisticated the narrative was in shows like the Gundam franchise, Robotech really started to pale for me. And once we got to the 90's and had all kinds of craziness in anime like the debut of Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon and later series like FLCL, it was pretty obvious that the Japanese were doing things with the medium that was so far ahead of the curve compared to how their western counterparts viewed it that it wasn't even funny.

And don't even get me started on stuff like Nausicaa, Honneamise and Akira.

[Deathpoop]

Originally Posted by Shoeless

I really don't know if I'd go for this.

While I have a warm, gooshy, nostalgic place in my heart for Robotech for kickstarting me into the world of anime, I'm not sure I'm one of those people that can still enjoy it with the nostalgia goggles in place.

I was pretty amazed with Robotech for the time, but once I saw how sophisticated the narrative was in shows like the Gundam franchise, Robotech really started to pale for me. And once we got to the 90's and had all kinds of craziness in anime like the debut of Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon and later series like FLCL, it was pretty obvious that the Japanese were doing things with the medium that was so far ahead of the curve compared to how their western counterparts viewed it that it wasn't even funny.

And don't even get me started on stuff like Nausicaa, Honneamise and Akira.

In fairness, the Japanese version of SDFM is a lot better than its butchered Robotech counterpart.

Consider it started.