Doujinshi: Makufuro

12.01.2010 by Patrick W. Galbraith.

"Macross Frontier" is a hit TV anime that aired in 2008, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the seminal mecha franchise. Like it’s predecessors, it matches transforming robots with cute girls. "Makufuro," a doujinshi by creative circle Guruguru Honpo (main artist Yanagawa Rio), hits on all cylinders by mixing both elements into the same designs. The cover girl is Ranka Lee, a 16-year-old idol singer from "Macross Frontier." Strange how with all that armor plating she still seems to be open (ahem) to attack in the lower regions… And in so many different poses! There are plenty of other characters, too (one page is pictured below), but Ranka is surely the standout. This rather revealing battle attire proved so popular among otaku that it appears (in a slightly toned down version) as a costume for Ranka in "Macross Frontier the Movie," which opened in theaters in Japan on November 21. In the film, Ranka poses for a crowd of camera-wielding otaku on the streets of a futuristic “deep” Akihabara. Naturally, they all shoot her from low angles. A figure of the movie version of mecha Ranka will also be released in coming months.




Editor's note: This is the first in a series of short reviews intended to showcase doujinshi and creative circles in Japan in hopes of supporting their works. Those unfamiliar with doujinshi, click here. Here is a working database of doujinshi. Finally, here are details on an archive for doujinshi outside Akihabara.