Fanservice FTW You can call it smochi if you wanna

An interview with Ichiro Itano about Macross Frontier.

Here is a brief interview with Ichiro Itano about Macross F, translated by "それも名無しで !MQOpFj.OVc" of /m/.

Interviewer: So we're planning a page for fans who don't know you (Itano) or the original Macross.

Itano: Macross Ace (the magazine this is in) is a damned bishoujo character magazine isn't it? I call it "yutori"*, though. Yutori character moe magazine. I think Macross (the original) was popular because of its balance, 1/3 each of cute girls, robots, and songs. But now they say mecha won't sell, robots won't sell, so they turn it into a character-based anime AND they want the fujoshi. I hate the stench of that sort of thing and so actually don't want to be in any magazine articles related to that bullshit, but I said I'd cooperate if they let me badmouth shit and here I am.

(*Yutori = To give room or allowance for something. Used in "yutori kyouiku" (yutori education) which refers to the heavily criticized stress-free education system in use in Japan since 2002. Ever since then grades have been dropping and it has been blamed on kids these days being extremely stupid, spoilt, unable to think for themselves, etc. "Yutori" is slang referring to someone who has received yutori kyouiku, but is nowadays just used as a derogatory term. Think English "retard".)

Interviewer: I... see... (tears)

Itano: I DID watch all of Macross F. It's not fair to badmouth something without seeing it (chuckle).
So, like, there's one bit where a sniper in space mounts himself on an asteroid, right? But by doing so half his field of vision is gone. And asteroids aren't stationary so his aim is going to be really unstable. And then they use sniper rifles at point blank range? I notice this sort of stuff, you know.
It's well-drawn for a TV show and they were trying, but the relationships were half-assed and the heart of the drama is way too messy. Last time we had Minmei become a human failure, but this time it was the main character (laugh). People who like this rubbish have a totally different sense from me, so I'd really be happier if they didn't know who I was at all (laugh).

I think it adds a lot of perspective on some of the veteran mecha fans opinions of Macross F, and hopefully was an interesting read.