It’s here we come to Robotech and it was clear throughout this part of the interview that Kawamori wanted to talk more openly but due to the legal situation between Tatsunoko Production, Big West and Harmony Gold he was unable to divulge too much.
“When it comes to Robotech, it’s difficult to comment. It’s not as though I have sat through the whole series. Not to mention that it combines three separate series Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada. So it feels a bit forced as a result.”
“At the same time, this was an opportunity for our work to be shown to the world and for that I am thankful. However, because the partial change in the story was made without approval from us, the original authors, it still produces an uncomfortable feeling after all these years.”
“At the beginning when Robotech was being shown I used to go to air shows in America and occasionally pilots would say that they watched it and liked the designs, so that was nice.”
“Around this time I also heard about how some of my Macross designs were used in BattleTech. It seems that the company that held the rights to use only the packaging design of the plastic model broadly misinterpreted that. As they thought that anything on the packaging could be used elsewhere. So a lot of different designs appeared to have been replicated. Naturally, I didn’t approve of any of it and only found out about it third hand. It’s not something I can talk about openly, as this possibly became a court case.”
For clarification, these are the Unseen mecha in BattleTech and many of the designs in question were taken from the Valkyries and Destroids in Macross.
“As for the recently announced live action Robotech movie, I welcome the opportunity to work on it but that request has yet to come.”
“There was also an attempt around the time of Macross Plus to make a live-action Macross movie in Hollywood and I was a main member of the team writing up a story plan for it. The scenario was written by a Hollywood screenwriter as well but unfortunately it never got passed that stage.”
“This isn’t the first time a live action movie like this has been conceived either and over the years I’ve heard of multiple attempts, though during this time they’ve never contacted me for any of them.”
“As the original creator of Macross I do find that quite disappointing. I should be at least contacted really. However, it might be that they are still too early on in production to contact the original designer and one of its authors.”
“I really wish I could have Macross released in its entirety across the world though. If I had the chance to officially stream Macross Delta and make it available to fans everywhere, like Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans, I’d be very happy to see that happen.”
My general impression here was that Kawamori and those at Studio Nue being the creative copyright holders of Macross, are caught in among all this. The frustration was obvious, as he clearly just wants to see his work released after all these years.
