I have the VHS that I believe was released in Japan while the film was still screening or shortly thereafter (purchased via Books Nippan with gift money I got from my high-school graduation in 1987), which cost like $110 USD at the time. The VHS opens with various trailers, from simple concept trailers prior to any new footage. to the proper final trailers), then the film begins with the scene of Exesdol and Bretai discussing their strange new foes, finally ends with the credits over black with "Angel's Paints" playing, and included the unaltered head-crushing and decapitation scenes.
On the subbed version in England, I also assumed it was a bootleg because my memory of Kiseki (spelling?) was that like Crunchyroll, they started as bootleggers but evolved to legit status.
So I found the tape on ebay, the seller wisely had a good shot of the back of the clamshell, and lo and behold, it says ‘licensed from L.A.Hero’ which was the company that created U.S. Renditions at Books Nippan. The owner of L.A.Hero went on to work for Bandai and was head of Bandai Visual USA…
That’s a very interesting data point. They had released Macross II, I wonder if they got the Macross movie as part of the deal but HG put the kabosh on an American release? Kevin Seymour would know but I think he passed away.
Oh Bandai, your ‘we gotta do this secretly find a patsy to front for us’ games never end. 😆
Ok. Guys, you know I luv ya, you are my brothers in anime, all that, but I have to lay some science down.
The Macross movie DID have a legit American release. The Best Films video, with the full length Toho International dub, was an official licensed release. There was little publicity, no marketing, no real promotion but it happened. Every single Peregrine Films/ Just For Kids cutdown for the kiddies film has an uncut release from Best Films.
And you know it was legit because it had two format releases. If you bought the tape at GameStop you got a VHS tape recorded at 4 hour speed. If you ordered it from a source that Video Rental stores used like Ingram or Baker & Taylor, you would pay more (I recall it being $39.95, low end when rental tapes are usually $70 and up) but it was recorded in 2 hour speed, which made it more durable for the rental market.
The tapes were no-budget releases but the box art was a little better than the Just For Kids horrorshows.
I can appreciate that dub, terrible as it is, because of all the ‘traditional’ Kung-Fu movie dub actors. Terrible for a transliteration, fun as all get out.
No love for the famous ‘gold book’ (which is just the protective sleeve, the book is actually silver 😁) which only exists because Yamato showed the way? I recall that was the other MUST GET item back in the day. I got mine. Luckily I still have my Takatoku VF-1J, I stupidly sold off my Bandai Super Valkyrie reissue from the early ‘90s. I traded my Jetfire to Matt. 😉
It’s a shame Bandai Visual mucked around with the movie, it almost sounds like they thought it would get an American release. I do hope the current version on bd is fixed. Probably without subs.
I have the VHS that I believe was released in Japan while the film was still screening or shortly thereafter (purchased via Books Nippan with gift money I got from my high-school graduation in 1987), which cost like $110 USD at the time. The VHS opens with various trailers, from simple concept trailers prior to any new footage. to the proper final trailers), then the film begins with the scene of Exesdol and Bretai discussing their strange new foes, finally ends with the credits over black with "Angel's Paints" playing, and included the unaltered head-crushing and decapitation scenes.
On the subbed version in England, I also assumed it was a bootleg because my memory of Kiseki (spelling?) was that like Crunchyroll, they started as bootleggers but evolved to legit status.
So I found the tape on ebay, the seller wisely had a good shot of the back of the clamshell, and lo and behold, it says ‘licensed from L.A.Hero’ which was the company that created U.S. Renditions at Books Nippan. The owner of L.A.Hero went on to work for Bandai and was head of Bandai Visual USA…
That’s a very interesting data point. They had released Macross II, I wonder if they got the Macross movie as part of the deal but HG put the kabosh on an American release? Kevin Seymour would know but I think he passed away.
Oh Bandai, your ‘we gotta do this secretly find a patsy to front for us’ games never end. 😆
Macross: Merch, do you remember? 😁
Ok. Guys, you know I luv ya, you are my brothers in anime, all that, but I have to lay some science down.
The Macross movie DID have a legit American release. The Best Films video, with the full length Toho International dub, was an official licensed release. There was little publicity, no marketing, no real promotion but it happened. Every single Peregrine Films/ Just For Kids cutdown for the kiddies film has an uncut release from Best Films.
And you know it was legit because it had two format releases. If you bought the tape at GameStop you got a VHS tape recorded at 4 hour speed. If you ordered it from a source that Video Rental stores used like Ingram or Baker & Taylor, you would pay more (I recall it being $39.95, low end when rental tapes are usually $70 and up) but it was recorded in 2 hour speed, which made it more durable for the rental market.
The tapes were no-budget releases but the box art was a little better than the Just For Kids horrorshows.
I can appreciate that dub, terrible as it is, because of all the ‘traditional’ Kung-Fu movie dub actors. Terrible for a transliteration, fun as all get out.
No love for the famous ‘gold book’ (which is just the protective sleeve, the book is actually silver 😁) which only exists because Yamato showed the way? I recall that was the other MUST GET item back in the day. I got mine. Luckily I still have my Takatoku VF-1J, I stupidly sold off my Bandai Super Valkyrie reissue from the early ‘90s. I traded my Jetfire to Matt. 😉
It’s a shame Bandai Visual mucked around with the movie, it almost sounds like they thought it would get an American release. I do hope the current version on bd is fixed. Probably without subs.