When it comes to anime series involving mechanical technology from giant robots to handheld weapons or tools, the creativity behind those designs are exist in the creative realm of the mechanical designer. The mechanical designer is just as important as the art director, character designer, musician, voice actors, and the director at the helm of making a show come to life through the use of paint on the canvas of a cellophane sheet. Many mechanical designers exist in anime, but none are more detailed or well respected as Shoji Kawamori, and his transformable robotic planes in the Macross series have been iconic to the genre of anime going all the way back to 1982.

Kawamori has been at the helm of every Macross series, movie and OVA, since he seems to be one of the few mechanical designers out there that makes sure his planes transform in animation as they do in his mind. Eventually when a series is successful enough, fans of the series or even the designer themselves can own a piece of the robotic architecture that have made that series so iconic over many years. So in 2001, fans of Macross finally had a way to see in detail every sketch drawn on their favorite aircraft, from the rough concept of the shape to the finest details of the outer and inner working of Kawamori vertiech fighters.

This was a book that I was able to get over my week in Myrtle Beach, SC, at a local comic book shop. Initially, I didn't know the book was even there, until the owner thought I was cool enough to appreciate an artifact like this that he put it on with my other items that I was already feeling like I was spending too much on, but what the hell I got it anyways. So, I figured if people are anime fans on this site, getting books on either art or technical books like this are worth getting for a fans personal collection. Finding these items in the wild at places like hobby, comic or conventions are worth the price and the overall reward in the end, depending on the value you give it.