My Life In Fandom: Deculture Comes West At Last

This came out yesterday from Anime Expo's Macross panel, hosted by Big West.

First announced at @AnimeExpo and now to the rest of the world - @NozomiEnt has licensed THREE Macross anime series!
We’re happy to finally bring Macross overseas!#Macross #Macross7 #MacrosDelta #MacrossFrontier pic.twitter.com/HMwctIRjr7

— Right Stuf Anime (@rightstufanime) July 3, 2022

Bandai and Big West make good their 40th Anniversary goal of bringing Macross to the West at last. We're not only getting these, but another company has Macross Plus which is also getting a remastered re-release on Blu-Ray, and these companies tend to get along so don't be surprised to find--at the very least--some passive co-promotion going on.

In addition to finally getting domestic official physical video releases, this will also mean legal streaming rights and--implied, but obvious--all of the associated merchandise will also finally come our way. No more importing from Japan, no more making trips to Tokyo just to hit up Akihabara's many shops, no more attending anime conventions in the hope that some dealer table actually has what you want at a price you can afford- you can just get it on a domestic storefront (or Amazon) at a reasonable price.

Since said merchandise also includes the original soundtracks, I hope that this can also mean making it easier to--for example--buy the non-anisong albums of musicians that are in those soundtracks- something that all of these actor-singers that make up much of the Japanese voice acting business would like to do.

And that means the concert films may also be coming to the West. Want to watch your favorites perform live in concert? Tired of having to dance around pirate sites or YouTube playlists that can--and often do--get nuked? Don't, or can't, afford to drop $100 or more on a single concert film? Now you have reason to hope.

Which means one other thing is now on the table: LIVE EVENTS!

No, I don't just mean going to a local theater to watch a show being done in some major city on the coast. I mean, at most, something like a roadtrip from Fargo to Chicago to see Walkure perform live- much like you might have to do for any other musical act.

There's a lot of serious shit going on. Don't ignore it. Don't lose sight that bad times pass as surely as good ones do, that there is beauty yet in this life, and the Macross franchise hammers this home with its stellar use of music and romance (and Romance) in its stories. Even when our stories are embarassing, we--like lions--remains strong.

Yak Deculture.