Macross: Do You Remember Love?

I just saw this for the first time, 20+ years after production and I am seriously impressed with this reinterpretation. I was/am a Minmay hater. She was the main reason why I couldn't get into the Macross tv series. But, she's actually likeable in this version. You almost can't hate her. What I really enjoyed about this version is Misa Hayase's softer/vulnerable side. I think her sensitivity wasn't as obvious in the Robotech Macross series (or maybe my memory is just fuzzy because it was a long time ago). Here, while only a two hour film, her personality is quite likeable and you reallyfeel for her. As the previous reviewer stated, this movie should be (if not already) the benchmark of all anime movies. Animation, sound, story, characters are all great and still enagaging and exciting after more than 20 years since release. I highly recommend this to those interested in some Macross nostalgia as well as those who want to see what makes 80's anime so classically historical and beloved.

*SINCE CHANCES ARE, YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE, I IMPLORE YOU TO SEEK IT OUT BEFORE RETURNING TO THIS REVIEW. THERE ARE PLENTY OF SPOILERS FOR "MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?". You know, people tend to have a lot of adamant notions on things. There are people who believe that the original version of a story is inherently and exponentially better than alternative versions and retellings. There are people who try to say that men are inherently better than women or vice versa. You have people who claim music to be less impactful and worth being labeled "art" as paintings and fiction. In one fellswoop, Macross: Do You Remember Love manages to address every single one of these issues (including the first and third ones indirectly) and do so phenomenally. As a fan of this franchise since the days of watching Robotech on DVD as a kid, I'm glad to finally examine this work of art. We begin in the midst of the war between the Earth forces and the Zentradi. Ultimately, it's the Earth people who are at a gigantic disadvantage, more so than in the original series. After one such battle which ended up with a few Zentradi crashing into Macross and discovering the "miclones" (or Micronians for Robotech fans), famous superstar pop idol Lynn Minmei is trapped in an engine room with the pilot who rescued her from an armed Zentradi, Hikaru Ichijou. It is then where they bond and form an eventual romance in the span of 3 days, with part of the love expanding on their time together. After another fun time with them goes wrong as not only are they caught by Misa (Hikaru's commanding officer) and Kaifun (Minmei's cousin who is seemingly unrelated in the movie for some reason), but all 4 of them, as well as another pilot, Roy Focker, are captured by the Zentradi and are forced to show them their culture before we learn that the Zentradi have been at war with Melteadi. Basically, Zentradi are giant war guys and Melteadi are giant war girls. After an attack on the Zentradi ship, not only does Roy Focker die, but Hikaru and Misa (who got separated from Minmei and Kaifun) are now stranded on a desolate wasteland that was once called Earth. With no hope for survival on this now ruined planet, Hikaru and Misa bond after some talk about what the hell they're gonna do. While one can argue that this romantic development moves a bit too fast, we do see the gist of what they're going through, in the span of a week, these two, who are alone in this desolate globe, are without hope as they toil away, looking for possible survivors and eventually just trying to survive, they can only really bond if they want to make any of this time remotely worthwhile, and that's exactly what they do, even after they find a lost city and end up learning that the human race was a combined effort from micronized Zentradi and Melteadi to create an environment and people of both sexes that can live in harmony. With this in mind, the two bond more so than ever, despite their rough introduction to each other as a nagging superior and upstart subordinate. Once the Macross arrived for the details, the Melteadi attack them, and after a few minutes into the fight, the Zentradi show up, using Minmei's singing as a way to screw them up and force them to retreat, as they have noted that culture is an effective weapon against both the Zentradi and Meltradi, and have learned how to use that to their advantage in their ear against the Meltradi. Now all of our protagonists meet back up on Earth, and remember two singular cards, one of which Misa found on Earth. It is here that the love triangle really heats up, as Hikaru has chosen Misa over Minmei and now Minmei will know, and she takes it about as well as a love rival would considering that these two were originally in a relationship, and all of this bites Hikaru in the ass. Now that the lyrics from the cards are now ready for the new song and now that the Meltradi and some of the Zentradi are here, Hikaru rushes desperately to reach Minmei, even if it means literally slapping some sense into her to make her realize that now it's about the word instead of her dwindling relationship. Afterwards, we get my favorite scene in the movie. As the final battle rages on, Minmei sings the titular sing: Do You Remember Love. Not only was this enough to screw up the Melteadi long enough for the Zentradi to take out their leader, but it even convinces some of the Zentradi to turn against their leader, allowing Hikaru to take him out. Was this turn a bit forced, yeah, but it still led to a really satisfying payoff. Following that, Minnie and Misa have a small, quiet, and impactful moment of understanding one another, and it's done gloriously. With that, both the movie and the war are over. Do I think that some parts could've been handled better, yeah, but what we got was still great. It expands only some of the concepts laid out by the original series (Melteadi and Zentradi feuding, the connection between Zentradi/Melteadi and humans), and it does so greatly, as well as tackling some interesting ideas. I'm glad that this movie never tries to pick a side when addressing sexism as a major topic, since that would really be a disastrous move (even if some people will ignorantly call this movie sexist, but I digress). In fact, one could say that there was no true villain in the movie aside from sexism and the ignorance of culture. People were repeatedly put down for being sexist, and both of the alien overlords were eradicated on account of their sexism and ignorance of culture not making them understand cooperation and continue the war against each other. It's a nice message to send; both sexes should work together instead of bickering over something as dumb and trivial as "which gender is superior". Not to mention that I really like the message at the end that's implied by Misa: even an ordinary song can be impactful, for music is exactly that: impactful. We never really get to hear a message that highlights the importance of music and by extension, culture, but it's always nice to see it handled well without it being spelled out. My ultimate gripe is that almost all characters not a part of the main trio get the shaft. Sure,I'm glad Kaifun takes a back seat and doesn't get to be a total dick, and I'm glad that Roy got to die with badassery, but Max and Millia were sidelined, Roy is really flanderised from his show counterpart (now being an obnoxious and playfully sexist macho man instead of a more suave and down to earth cool guy who also happens to be a lil' bit of a womanizer), Hayao is just a light version of this version of Roy (was he even named in this movie?) and Claudia doesn't get to be as much of a fun, jovial, and down to earth character as before, but that one was inevitable due to the fact that this is a 2 hour film and the TV series was a series of 36 22 minute episodes. Not to mention that the trio of Zentradi that went to Earth in the original doesn't show up at all here. At the very least, the trio that occasionally hangs out with Misa and Claudia act as naturally as possible, which is a rarity in anime; side-characters that act genuinely human. On the flip side, the main trio gets expanded upon. Hikaru, while more of an asshole in the beginning Han he ever was in the original, he grows rather quickly when he's stranded on a desolate wasteland of a planet. He's still pretty great and his ultimate love interest, Misa is handled just as well in the TV series, only with more streamline development. We get to see the more fragile side of her that was not as present as before and it's rather nice to see the two warm up to each other. Yet out of all of the trio of the love triangle, Minmei was handled the best, by far. People claim this version of her to be infinitely superior to the TV Minmei, and I kinda have to agree with them. Her development was more streamlined, and her demeanor seemed more lax and lovely than the original one was, even making fun little jokes and jabs here and there. Plus, her adventures with Hikaru are a sight to behold. Not to mention that she's just as beautiful as the scenes with her and Hikaru having fun. Even when she's at her worst (with the whole love triangle thing) she ends up realizing a grander purpose and that the needs of the world outweigh the needs of her and her romance. This development is so grand in its intensity that it even amazes Hikaru, who made her develop in the first place. As mentioned previously, the moment that sealed the deal on Minmei being my favorite character in this movie was the final scene with her and Misa, which was handled so damn well that I was blown away. Speaking of blown away... Studio Artland has been heralded as one of the best studios ever made, mainly due to them working on the critically acclaimed Mushishi and that elitists' fapping shrine, Legend of The Galactic Heroes, which is considered by many to be the creme de la creme of anime. Not to mention that they worked on the original Macross. So, of course, they worked on this and did a splendid job. Although, they weren't the only studio that worked on it, Tatsunoko Production joined the fun as well. Honestly, both studios did an amazing job with this anime. Every ship, explosion, character, and background is lavishly detailed and it all looks majestic. The action really sells itself as the best in the franchise as well, and the character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto are as gorgeous as ever, and nothing really dips at all. It's easily one of the best looking anime movies I've seen to date, and given that this was in 1984, that's amazing in its own right. Each location is so strikingly different and full of personality, even the more mystical yet oppressive desolate Earth and the more alien Zentradi and Zentradi environments, which are more distinctly alien than ever before. Then again, when one of your key animators is the legendary Hideaki Anno, you know your eyes are in for a treat. I mean, just look at this movie! I can't begin to do it justice! The OST by Kentarou Haneda is still pretty great, with some classic tracks form the series, and it all works as well as you'd expect from Macross. Now for the real thing which happens to be one of the 3 things that characterize Macross: the songs. Each song sung by Minmei (Mari Ijima, who voices her and sings the songs). All of your favorites from the original series show up here and are as catchy and fun as ever. Plus, the titular song, "Do You Remember Love?" is easily my favorite of them all, partially due to it playing in the most majestic moment of the movie, and partly since it's in between the two scenes that made her my favorite character in the movie. It's a truly delightful song if I do say so myself. As for the dub "Invasion of the Spacenoids", that is its own abomination that I refuse to associate with this movie. It's some fucked up localization that is nothing like the movie and is even marketed as its own thing, not with Macross or even Robotech, by even the Robotech cast would've been an infinitely better fit. Get that weak shit outta here. DYRL is a truly beautiful work, both visually and emotionally. I honestly can't say much more than what I have aside from mentioning the Max and Milia plotline, which despite a brilliant reversal from their plotline in the TV series, was as sidelined as the characters involved. It's not my favorite installment in the franchise, but it's one that can stand perfectly on its own as both a gateway into the franchise and a superb supplement to the original series it diverges from.

Well, this movie doesn’t necessarily begin where the series does, or an established beginning like where the SDF-1 is about to make its maiden voyage and then transports to the other side of the milky way and must make their way home. Instead, the movie is more about how its already established that those events did happen, but we don’t see them. In addition, Hikaru is already a Valkyrie pilot and Minmei is already a star, though they have yet to develop some sort of relationship. By accident, like in the TV series, though under some slightly different circumstances and results, their bonding encounter iswhen they get caught inside the engines of the macros and upon their freedom, they become the target of the tabloids. It’s just that in the TV series, Minemei was yet to be a star, while in this movie, she already is and people are gossiping over what they may have been up to while stuck. Other changes is that the female Zentradi, renamed the Meltlandi, are recognized as a different faction in the war. Despite all of that, the movie still retains the themes of love triangles and such in the same fashion, but Hikaru’s coming of age story is not that well emphasized in my personal opinion. However, because the series of Macross was told in this single movie, other elements such as Max’s and Milia’s relationship is slightly nodded to, but not at all officially established or developed. But in general, the main characters from the series are still present and still share the same fates but under different circumstances and situations. Despite this being a movie off a series, I say you don’t necessarily need to have any familiarity with the series to watch this movie because the characters are already established and developed. It’s not really who, but it’s question of how you want to know the characters and this movie doesn’t address it in the same way the TV series does. Despite that, the characterization is still faithful. But it offers another kind of ending and its own distinctive approach on the origins of the Zentradis where you are getting a movie still semi-original in its own right. Not only are you getting new footage in this movie, but there is much more updated designs and animation quality over all you can say is appropriately theatrical. Despite this movie being as old as I am, I find the animation to be amazing. I like how it’s really high res while the series was more grainy with the quality. It’s brighter with the res, but still knows how to keep dark tones. Especially with the Zentradi characters who have a much more updated look. They look more alien and monster like and not as humanoid or human resembling in the TV series. They are colored much darker and are just re-designed altogether. Minmei’s concerts are also just great to watch and have excellent elaboration. The mech designs are still the same, but the execution of the action is always as exciting as ever and spread out. The city inside the SDF-1 is excellently detailed and I love the battle scene there. Much of the music from the TV series is still present in the series. For example, the moment you see the title screen, you hear an instrumental version to the opening theme from the TV series. I thought the music was good enough in its own rights and I don’t think it needed that much changing, but could certainly use some additions which is where the main theme, Do You Remember Love comes in. This was the song that really made Mari Iijima an established singer. She still sings today and works out of LA. Her talent is just incredible and well rounded. She can sing bubble gum pop in the likes of Shao Bai Lo which is also sung in the series, and this really incredible love song right here. It’s really hypnotic and the lyrics are just beautiful. And the Japanese voice cast still retains more or less the same voice actors from the TV series which is good and I got nothing more to comment on except I really liked how they gave the Zentradi their own language which is subtitled to Japanese which is then subtitled to English depending on what version you watch. I wouldn’t say that approach is more realistic, but more logical and practical. I also like how they were given an echo sound effect and well modulated in that kind of way. Considering how much of a success the TV series was and how it continues to be a success today, I think the movies could have been a TV series like Gundam like how I said earlier. Granted Gundam movies in comparison tended to stick to the design and animation style of the TV series while Macross steps above that. I think in Macross certain characters were not centered around that much, like Max, who is my favorite character. I like how he has this nice guy personality and looks all nerdy, and yet, his piloting skills is shown to be much more superior to Hikaru’s and I think he takes down Roy. But I gotta give the experience edge to Roy and in a lot of situations, that out does skill and natural talent. Though it’s not necessarily the same as the series and is just meant to be a retelling, it’s still distinctive in terms of art and animation style, and music. If you’re looking for top notch plot, I wouldn’t call this movie that, but still has something engaging, but the characters are too established already and all you need is the relationship development which I don’t think should be that centralized. But anyway, you’ll also get action and adventure

Intense, powerful, eloquent, moving. These words came to me when I saw this alternative version of the Macross series. (It's not compulsory to watch the tv series to understand and enjoy this movie) First of all, I'd like to say that, visually, I took a slap. I saw Akira, Redline, Gurren Lagann and many other quality shows but I never ever saw something so divinely well moving than in "Macross, do you remember love?". The fights are at same time violent, powerful and choregraphed with a sort of delicacy, nobility in the movement. Theses movements are incredibly harmonious and at the same time, on numerous occasions, directand true. The sweetness and the violence alternate in a brilliant way. The decorations are extremely worked, colors are magnificient and even monsters are well designed. (I advise you to watch the HD version) But this movie is not only beautiful ; what makes it a true masterpiece are the tackled themes, that can be explicit or implicit. It's a "form" in the service of the "content" and mutually, that is to say : the ideal situation. Moreover, even if the duration of two hours obliges to get to the point, all is said, all is clear, all is explained. That speaks about extraterrestrial, about genetic things, that looks complicated... but not ! Everything is totally clarified, it is probably the most clearly science-fiction anime I've ever seen. The made choices are relevant, the characters are very credible. Of course, they are note incredibly charismatic, but worked with accuracy, what makes them charming and relevant in the story they have to tell. The message of the movie, that I let you discover, is of an absolute foolishness, but that's also the japanime's magic ! Everything is radiant, filled with magnificience, we have a gorgeous fight with a romantic music in background. To mix so skillfully the genres was a brilliant idea. There is some dispair, fury, enjoyment, beauty and the most important : Romantism !

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