Robotech Returns!

Yes, that's true.

The limited comic series 'Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles' tries to bridge the gap between the Sentinels and Shadow Chronicles... it retells the very final events of the Sentinels conflict and sort of glosses over the rest.

As you said, certain things are changed. Dana Sterling's sister is now much older and a fighter pilot in her own right... the role of the Haydonites has obviously been changed significantly. Janice Em survives the conflict, rather than dying on Optera.

It's supposed to be quasi-canonical or whatever. So the Sentinels campaign remains the same in the broad strokes... but the details have been overwritten wherever necessary to fit with the new movie.

Breetai and the Regent:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1956/144/1600/PRELUDE_2_08.jpg

Four Robotech wallpapers. One is of Lynn Minmei. The others feature characters from each generation of Robotech.

I sort of spliced these wallpapers together from the individual character wallpapers available at robotech.com

Oh I remember another thing that bothered me... they retconned the back story for the Invid!

Now, instead of the Robotech Masters/Zentraedi kicking the Invid off their home planet of Optera, it was apparently the Haydonites/Children of the Shadow that did it.

Yeah, that's annoying. Especially since the Invid Regis specifically mentions the Robotech Masters in one of the final episodes.

Okay, just saw The Shadow Chronicles- that was my first foray ever into Robotech.

I liked it.

The quality was above average, I'd say. I liked the look of the mecha- a little different than the Macross Valkyries but you could definitely see they were 'related'. The animation was gorgeous and the dogfighting/combat sequences were choreographed better than anything I've seen in a long time.

One of these days I'd like to see the animation group that did either Macross Zero, Yukikaze, Shadow Chronicles, or Final Fantasy get down and dirty on a good, old fashioned space-opera / fighter epic with a solid story and some interesting characters. That would be the shiznitz. But this was very coherent as a story and well put together, although based on comments above it would appear to violate some previously established Robotech canon.

Anyway, as anime goes I'd give it a 9/10. I may buy this one.

^Cool!

I'm still waiting for my copy to come in.

These new Shadow Fighters are actually descended from the Macross Valkyries/ Robotech Veritch from the old series. Technologically, they are about 35 years apart.

Bump.

They have confirmed that they are producing a sequel to Shadow Chronicles which will continue the story begun in the first chapter!

Of course, I still haven't recieved my copy yet...

I'll definitely check out a sequel. I was relative impressed with Shadow Chronicles.

Okay, finally recieved my copy! w00t!

I also picked up the five issue "Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles" comic series which was released last year.

The comic series was pretty cool. It basically picks up right where the Sentinels comics ended... Book IV, issue 75. It sort of has a dual purpose... it finishes off the Sentinels (basically sticking to the Sentinels outline from the novels) and sets up the events leading into Shadow Chronicles.

The comics and the new movie seem to line up pretty well in both art syle and storyline. I enjoyed the movie but it was a little short. It ended just when it was getting interesting. The movie takes many cues from the 'final' Robotech novel, The End Of The Circle except that it opens the story rather than closing it.

The redesigned Haydonites are interesting, both visually and in their new purpose. In the novels they were mostly benign but now they are depicted as treacherous and mysterious. I am kind of interested in learning about the history of the Haydonites/Invid/Robotech Masters.

I was a little annoyed that they retold the final events from the Robotech series but I can see why they would leave out Scott Bernard's resistance group... they won't be in the new series and there is no reason to confuse new viewers. Still, it would have been nice to see them at least in the background as throwaway cameos.

Also, it would have been cool to see some of the other characters besides Rick who are undoubtedly still on the SDF-3. Lisa, Max, Miriya, and possibly Dana and Bowie. But they might show up in future installments for cameos. I doubt the focus will ever return to the old Macross saga/ Masters characters. Those stories are pretty much finished.

The battle sequences were fine though they lacked some of the kinetic energy of the battles in the original series. This might be due to the musical score rather than the switch from traditional animation to CG. But I really like the new character designs. Definitely more in keeping with contemporary anime. I'll have to pay more attention to the music next time I watch, but it seemed a litte subdued compared to the original Robotech score.

I think in the next installment we will focus on the Ark Angel's new crew (Grants, Louie Nichols, Janice Em, Scott and Ariel, Marcus Rush, Maia Sterling) and learn more about the Haydonites purpose and the fate of the SDF-3.

I don't believe Earth will be the focus of this new series. The remaining REF fleet no doubt will have a difficult task ahead of them as they try to reintegrate into Earth's society after the Occupation. But I think this series will stay spacebound... maybe the Ark Angel will make a trip to Tirol... after that, who know where...

As an aside, I was amused by the ridiculously large bust sizes of the female characters. Especially Maia Sterling. From one side shot, her boobs seemed to take up the whole width of the screen.