Well, I literally just saw it. Before I go any further, please beware MAJOR untagged spoilers! Without any further... well, ya' know.
The story: Gotta say, I really liked it! Tommy, Greg, Cam especially, you guys did an excellent job on what could've turned out to just be a copy-paste of Mospeada's original Love Live Alive. Far from it, what we have here is something of a cross between "Dana's Story" and the Gloval Report movie some may remember, but with the added twist of some new footage. Not a whole lot, but some.
Going into Love Live Alive, know to expect the movie equivalent of a flashback story (ergo 'clip show') as nearly the whole story recounts The New Generation, but I re-emphasize I got so much more out of it than that. As opposed to the super-long music video vibe the Mospeada version has, Robotech's perspective explores what made the characters and their interactions. The core of their journey toward the Reflex Point destination.
One tweak I really liked in this flashback story, along with Lancer's narration, came with some of the character introspections given by him and going back to the 'present' as Lancer relates his life to a very friendly reporter. Speaking of, REALLY loved Kay, an amusing personality that helped really make those brief moments surprisingly cool. Again though, expect more a retrospective on the Third Robotech War than where he is beyond that.
Make no mistake though, for Lancer's past before he meets Scott's team and afterwards, we get some damn cool material IMHO. The opening few minutes are VERY memorable as we get the return of Robotech's original Narrator alongside a whole new tie-in point of view for the Invid invasion, it's so cool seeing stuff come together that originally the mid-80s couldn't pull off. Big YAYS to seeing SX Point 83 become Reflex Point, 10th Mars' battle, Dana cameo~ That's stuff near the beginning of the movie, while near the end is when some more fun stuff happens! We do get some singing from Michael Bradley as Lancer, even if it was recorded years back, we get an incredible rendition of his own "We Will Win!" (a cool parallel to the end of The Shadow Chronicles btw!) and a very beautiful scene involving "Lonely Soldier Boy" that brought tears to my eyes. Yes, I'm serious.
You guys should know, the voice actor that gets the most chops flexed turns out to be Cam's role as Lancer, he's kinda in the same position Dean Stockwell was for that Galactica "The Plan" movie. The rest of the VAs do return (I admit it was hard making out where Admiral Hunter's archival cameo was), but their new time is short and they don't get nearly the same amount of perspective as our Yellow Dancer. Not that that's a bad thing, but again, go into this knowing what to expect, Love Live Alive is Lancer's story.
The very end of the movie, snap, there's such a HUGE spoilery moment right before the end-credits that changes EVERYTHING in the Robotech universe. I really don't wanna give this one away, but needless to say it does move the story forward contrary to what many were afraid this story wouldn't do. While this is hyped as a sidestory, the 'present-day' events appear to be set slightly right after the end of The Shadow Chronicles, least that's the impression I got during a camp fire scene with the whole team.
If only for Love Live Alive, do buy this release for that alone. You can watch it before or after The Shadow Chronicles, I say the former as well because we get a very cool something after the end-credits! Remember how I mentioned the original Narrator's return, well, see for yourself...!
As for the animation quality, know first off that between the original Love Live Alive material and brand new stuff, there's about 17 minutes. I really like what we got! For the majority of the story that gives us a New Generation retrospective, it appears that Harmony Gold uses their Remastered version and all the better, while their remastering job on the original feature-exclusive stuff is pretty dang good. You guys should know about the aspect ratio, in staying true to the original New Generation and Mospeada feature, the entire movie is in 4:3.
Despite being a fullscreen format, it doesn't appear anything substantial was cropped from the sides of the all new animation's material. Speaking of the new animation, it's very interesting how this worked out, it's done rather similar to the style of the original anime more-so than The Shadow Chronicles' updated designs. The new stuff mainly applies to the pre-2042 flashback stuff and some very interesting material near the end.
I think both sides of the animation melded pretty well together, even though I prefer The Shadow Chronicles' quality a bit more and hope Shadow Rising is more along those lines, gotta admit it'd be nice to see mecha battles along how the 10th Division's is presented here. Mind you all I'm no animation expert myself, but I have seen the original Mospeada feature and it's very cool seeing that spirit maintained and respected so well. The new stuff, there ain't a whole lot, but I love it! Enjoy and remember, that Protoculture will always be in my blood~
The story: Gotta say, I really liked it! Tommy, Greg, Cam especially, you guys did an excellent job on what could've turned out to just be a copy-paste of Mospeada's original Love Live Alive. Far from it, what we have here is something of a cross between "Dana's Story" and the Gloval Report movie some may remember, but with the added twist of some new footage. Not a whole lot, but some.
Going into Love Live Alive, know to expect the movie equivalent of a flashback story (ergo 'clip show') as nearly the whole story recounts The New Generation, but I re-emphasize I got so much more out of it than that. As opposed to the super-long music video vibe the Mospeada version has, Robotech's perspective explores what made the characters and their interactions. The core of their journey toward the Reflex Point destination.
One tweak I really liked in this flashback story, along with Lancer's narration, came with some of the character introspections given by him and going back to the 'present' as Lancer relates his life to a very friendly reporter. Speaking of, REALLY loved Kay, an amusing personality that helped really make those brief moments surprisingly cool. Again though, expect more a retrospective on the Third Robotech War than where he is beyond that.
Make no mistake though, for Lancer's past before he meets Scott's team and afterwards, we get some damn cool material IMHO. The opening few minutes are VERY memorable as we get the return of Robotech's original Narrator alongside a whole new tie-in point of view for the Invid invasion, it's so cool seeing stuff come together that originally the mid-80s couldn't pull off. Big YAYS to seeing SX Point 83 become Reflex Point, 10th Mars' battle, Dana cameo~ That's stuff near the beginning of the movie, while near the end is when some more fun stuff happens! We do get some singing from Michael Bradley as Lancer, even if it was recorded years back, we get an incredible rendition of his own "We Will Win!" (a cool parallel to the end of The Shadow Chronicles btw!) and a very beautiful scene involving "Lonely Soldier Boy" that brought tears to my eyes. Yes, I'm serious.
You guys should know, the voice actor that gets the most chops flexed turns out to be Cam's role as Lancer, he's kinda in the same position Dean Stockwell was for that Galactica "The Plan" movie. The rest of the VAs do return (I admit it was hard making out where Admiral Hunter's archival cameo was), but their new time is short and they don't get nearly the same amount of perspective as our Yellow Dancer. Not that that's a bad thing, but again, go into this knowing what to expect, Love Live Alive is Lancer's story.
The very end of the movie, snap, there's such a HUGE spoilery moment right before the end-credits that changes EVERYTHING in the Robotech universe. I really don't wanna give this one away, but needless to say it does move the story forward contrary to what many were afraid this story wouldn't do. While this is hyped as a sidestory, the 'present-day' events appear to be set slightly right after the end of The Shadow Chronicles, least that's the impression I got during a camp fire scene with the whole team.
If only for Love Live Alive, do buy this release for that alone. You can watch it before or after The Shadow Chronicles, I say the former as well because we get a very cool something after the end-credits! Remember how I mentioned the original Narrator's return, well, see for yourself...!
As for the animation quality, know first off that between the original Love Live Alive material and brand new stuff, there's about 17 minutes. I really like what we got! For the majority of the story that gives us a New Generation retrospective, it appears that Harmony Gold uses their Remastered version and all the better, while their remastering job on the original feature-exclusive stuff is pretty dang good. You guys should know about the aspect ratio, in staying true to the original New Generation and Mospeada feature, the entire movie is in 4:3.
Despite being a fullscreen format, it doesn't appear anything substantial was cropped from the sides of the all new animation's material. Speaking of the new animation, it's very interesting how this worked out, it's done rather similar to the style of the original anime more-so than The Shadow Chronicles' updated designs. The new stuff mainly applies to the pre-2042 flashback stuff and some very interesting material near the end.
I think both sides of the animation melded pretty well together, even though I prefer The Shadow Chronicles' quality a bit more and hope Shadow Rising is more along those lines, gotta admit it'd be nice to see mecha battles along how the 10th Division's is presented here. Mind you all I'm no animation expert myself, but I have seen the original Mospeada feature and it's very cool seeing that spirit maintained and respected so well. The new stuff, there ain't a whole lot, but I love it! Enjoy and remember, that Protoculture will always be in my blood~