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Yoko Kanno, Heroine's Voice Announced for New Macross (Updated)

At the Macross 25th Anniversary Live: Minmay meets Fire Bomber concert in Tokyo Saturday night, co-creator Shōji Kawamori (Escaflowne, Aquarion) and voice actor Shō Hayami (Max of the first Macross series) announced that Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Macross Plus) will co-compose the music for the new Macross television series and that the heroine Ranka Lee will be played by Megumi Nakajima (pictured right), an 18-year-old newcomer selected by a nationwide singing and acting audition in Japan.

Kawamori and Hayami also introduced a pilot film of the new Macross work, now tentatively titled Macross Frontier. The story in production takes place in "20XX A.D." on a galactic colonization fleet named Macross Frontier. (Kawamori later said that timeframe is "about 2070 A.D.") Since music for the new Macross series is still being composed, Nakajima sang Kanno's "Voices" from Macross Plus in the concert. Mari Iijima (Lynn Minmay of the first Macross series), Yoshiki Fukuyama (Macross 7's Basara's singing voice), Chie Kajiura (Macross 7's Mylene's singing voice), and Nobutoshi Hayashi (Basara's speaking voice) performed first solo and then together for the final songs. More details will be posted in the upcoming event report.

Update During the pilot film, the following credits were listed:

Creators: Shōji Kawamori, Studio Nue (Macross, Crusher Joe)
Series Script Editor: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Code Geass, My-HiME)
Music: Yoko Kanno
Character Designer: Risa Ebata (Gravion Zwei, Prism Ark), Yûichi Takahashi (Aquarion, Noein - to your other self's animation director)
Animation Production: Satelight (Aquarion, Noien)
Director: Yasuhito Kikuchi (Aquarion, The Legend of Black Heaven)
Executive Director: Shōji Kawamori