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!

FUCK LOGIC!

Anti-Harassment Anti-Harassment Policy

MISC. MANGA, *Warrior Nun Areala

The 90s were a boom for what was called the "Bad Girl" fad, which were anti-heroines that were sexed up to the point of being Playboy models in leather and spandex. One of the major players in this was the manga-styled American comic was Warrior Nun Areala, the title character of which wasn't technically a "bad girl" and more like a cybernetic nun that fought demons, although her extended cast had a few "bad girl" candidates that would get their own titles. This was created by Ninja High School creator Ben Dunn, and was actually a pseudo-spinoff of the title too as its in the same universe of that and Gold Digger.

Sister Shannon Masters is part of the Vatican's special task force of demon slayers called Warrior Nuns, the other faction is a group of Magic Priests who are the only ones allowed to use actual magic. The Warrior Nuns use special weapons and artifacts like the God Armor to combat the forces of Hell. Shannon is ordered to take over the position of Warrior Nun in New York City, which her first assignment allows her to inherit the mantle of "Areala", the first Warrior Nun who was a Sister in the Middle Ages given the powers of a valkyrie that turned to the side of the Christian god. Now referred to usually just Areala, she continuously has to fend off satanic cults, neo-Nazis, rogue demons, and more. Her recurring cast includes former Warrior Nun-turned-Barb Wire wannabe Shotgun Mary, demon princess Lillith, a Magical Priest known as Father Crowe, plus former superheroes originally seen in Ninja High School like Tomorrow Man and Knight Hunter, a bunch of which form their own group called the Redeemers. Areala also has several crossovers with other comic characters like Glory, Scorpio Rose, Razor, and Cheetah from Gold Digger. There's also a lot of expansion given to the other Warrior Nuns throughout history in titles like Warrior Nun: Black And White, plus the original valkrie Areala who started the trend.

There have been numerous mini-series, ongoing series, one-shot specials, spinoffs, team-ups, pin-up collections, and a genuine Japanese manga short. Characters like Shotgun Mary and Lillith would get their own titles, plus the whole cast would get a re-launch in a one-shot titled Warrior Nun: Lazarus which was supposed branch off into it's own series. So far, the whole Warrior Nun franchise has been on hold, but still holds potential as there aren't currently too many superheroes who actually act as agents for the Christian God, although not having it be a cheesy PSA-spewing Bibleman ripoff. There was a planned OVA in the late 90s with even a pilot done by anime studio Sunrise, but so far nothing has come from it. Check out at least the original 3-episode mini-series, even if you have to get every one of the variant covers!

IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!

IT'S PARTY TIME!

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Dirty Pair: Flight 005 Conspiracy

The second OVA special featuring the "Lovely Angels" was this 1990 one-shot done as sort of a farewell to the original Dirty Pair as it was the last anime done(so far)featuring the non-Flash version of the mid-90s. This was handled through Sunrise, and directed by Toshifumi Takizawa who also worked on the original TV series, so this was treated with more care than the previous Affair On Nolandia OVA.

Kei and Yuri are assigned to look for a space liner that exploded, but was suspected to have been targeted by nefarious forces because a scientist and his family were on board. They go from one government rep to another, but realize that the scientist along with his wife and daughter were kidnapped by a rival planet's government to develop a new energy source for them. The Dirty Pair ally with Dick, the scientist's father-in-law, and storm the bad guys' secret space base, ending in a battle right out of Star Wars, which would make for a decent "Dirty Pair vs. The Empire" fandub.

The animation for this got an upgrade since the 10-episode OVA series. This has been released three times, once on dubbed VHS through Streamline Pictures which was one of the first Dirty Pair anime released in the States, then again on DVD through ADV Films with an all new dub, and then recently through Right Stuf which includes both English dubs. It's probably worth getting the Right Stuf version titled Dirty Pair: Features to experience the full fandom fun if you're really interested in it.