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Macross fans that have been eagerly waiting for the expiration of Harmony Gold U.S.A.’s license to the series will have to wait even longer now. Harmony Gold has confirmed they’ve renewed their licensing agreement with Tatsunoko Production beyond 2021.
The news was confirmed at this year’s Anime Expo.
The issue here is that fans wanting an officially licensed western or English release for the three original anime series from Tatsunoko are likely never going to get them now, considering they were adapted by Harmony Gold into the Robotech series, for the west.
To recap, Harmony Gold combined all three Tatsunoko series: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada into Robotech, with changes so they would form one massive series.
Previously, a California court upheld the license agreement between Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Production, which revealed the license for the three anime programs would have expired on March 14th of 2021.
Now, Harmony Gold is planning to retain the license for much, much longer.
“Over the past 35 years we have been blessed to work with our friends at Tatsunoko on developing one of the world’s greatest entertainment franchises,” a statement from Harmony Gold reads.
They added, “With our extension we look forward to the next 35 years of working with Tatsunoko and our world class business partners on Robotech.”
Harmony Gold retaining the license to Robotech means the original series, its spinoffs and / or movies may never get an officially licensed western release, now. There have been attempts at live action shows, new toy merchandise, new anime shows, and more – but they usually end up in limbo due to legal issues or funding.
Are you a fan of the original Tatsunoko mecha series? Would you throw down for an officially licensed western re-release of their shows? Are the originals better, or the adapted and combined release with Robotech? Sound off in the comments below!
