ANI-MOVIES, *Macross: Do You Remember Love

As one of the first movie adaptations of an existing anime TV series, this was intended as a remake of the original Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, which in America comprised the first story arc of Robotech. It's one of the few anime movies to be available directly on DVD and Blu-Ray from Japan, but it's English release was first done in the 80s on VHS through various bootleg companies of the mediocre British dub, sometimes under the title of Macross: The Movie, or an abbreviated version of the dub called Clash Of The Bionoids which was endlessly screened on syndicated and cable TV. The movie was directed by TV series creators Shoji Kawamori and Noboru Ishiguro, so it was handled with the upmost care of transitioning the plot of the anime show to the big screen.

The movie starts out sometime after the Macross has already left Earth after the gigantic alien humanoids known as the Zentradi have invaded, and they are now around Saturn with their enemies in pursuit. The Macross itself is a giant transformable space fortress with a thriving city inside, although whether this version of Macross was originally an alien ship that accidently picked up a town on Earth on it's maiden voyage like in the TV series is never explained. Ace jet-robot pilot Hikaru Ichijyo(Rick Hunter in Robotech)rescues the local idol singer Minmay after the Macross is attacked, and the two spend sometime sealed off from the rest of the ship, which results in a scandal. Hikaru's commanding officer Misa lays him a big reprimand, even though it's kinda obvious that there's some chemistry between the two. Afterwards, Minmay has Hikaru take him out on a flight in his mecha around Saturn's rings, but Misa along with flight commander Roy Fokker come after them, which results in all of them getting captured by the Zentradi. The aliens interrogate them to find out why the male and female humans live together and have this lost thing they refer to as "Protoculture". They get infiltrated by the Meltrandi, the female Zentrandi army, and Hikaru manages to escape with Misa, but Roy sacrifices himself, leaving Minmay behind. Hikaru and Misa make their way to what is left of Earth to which they find no survivors after the initial Zentradi invasion. They do find the remains of a lost city that rised from the ocean after the invasion, and discover that mankind came from the same race as the Zentradi. The Macross finally homes in on them at the lost city, and the Zentradi later show up to negotiate peace after learning more about their lost Protoculture from Minmay. Minmay is thrilled to see Hikaru again, but doesn't at first pick up on the relationship he's developed with Misa. The Meltrandi arrive to fight the combined Macross and Zentradi forces, but the main Zentradi fleet decides to just wipe out the humans and Meltandi in one sweep along with any of their own forces that get in the way. Misa in the meanwhile has translated an ancient Zentradi love song that she believes will shock all the quarreling sides into stopping the war, but Hikaru has to talk Minmay into doing it. After finally seeing the bigger picture, Minmay puts aside her personal feelings, and her song unifies the Mentradi, Macross, and Zentradi allied forces into taking down the Zentradi hierarchy. After an epic space battle, the new union set out to create a brave new world.

Do You Remember Love is considered to be the epic of anime brilliance at the time up until the Akira movie came out. The original anime mixed transforming robots, epic space opera, and one of the first anime love triangles. The movie carries the idea further with much sharper animation and drama, despite the fact that it could use a bit more of a solid origin. This was followed by a OVA music video special containing some new material titled Macross: Flash Back 2012. Some of the other Macross titles like Macross II, Macross 7, and Macross Plus are allegedly in the same continuity as the movie and not direct sequals to the TV series, but their standing the official timeline usually depends on the viewer as there are elements from the movie that never showed up in the series. Whether you've seen any of the other Macross or Robotech titles is slightly irrelevant to enjoying this movie though. It is an absolute must to witness the pure historical magic that the offers, and afterwards you will always remember love!