Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Title:Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Choujikuu Yousai Macross - Ai Oboete Imasu ka
Macross in "Clash of the Bionoids"
Macross: DYRL?
超時空要塞マクロス -愛・おぼえていますか- (Japanese)
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , ,
Notables: KAMIYA Akira
Original Concept - KAWAMORI Shouji
A reworking of the original Cho Jiku Yosai Macross TV series (known as Robotech in the U.S.), Hiraku is a Valkyrie pilot aboard the Macross which is in the middle of a cosmic war against the giant Zentradi. During the battle, he comes across the pop star Lynn Minmay whose singing might be the only hope against the Zentradi's culture. But can she sing when Hiraku, her love is caught between the pop star and the Lieutenant Misa.
Filled with aerial combat choreography and emotional drama, the release of this 119min Movie was a major event in Japan.
[edit] The ↗Macross & ↗Robotech franchise:

First season (2009-2012): Second season (2040-2047): Prequel (2008): Third season (2059): Fourth season (2067)
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 9 10 8 7 6 AstroNerdBoy [series:229#436]
Watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam series has at times reminded me of the original Macross TV series. Indeed, some of you guys have encouraged me to watch the movie since I've not already done so, so I figured, "why not?" ^_^

It has been several years since I watched the TV series and yet there are just some things one remembers, such as Hikaru being a civilian thrust into the role of Valkyrie pilot and soldier. Here, he's already a rookie pilot. Minmei was just a waitress who became an idol but here she's already a famous singer and actress. Obviously, with a shorter movie format, changes need to be made and frankly, these two changes made for a different yet similar take on their original love story.

As with the TV series, the Minmei-Hikaru romance plays better and comes off more believable in my opinion. I can see how the famous Minmei in a situation where her life has been saved by Hikaru would find him appealing, not just because he's a fighter-jock, but because even though he's a huge fan, he's a normal person. As such, Minmei can be "normal" when she's with him, at least to a degree since she had to try to disguise her appearance on their date. Appearances aside, she can talk with him and just be herself and not the idol everyone expects. Of course for Hikaru, he's getting to do every man's fantasy and date a hot, famous chick.

The Misa-Hikaru romance is still difficult for me to swallow. I don't remember exactly what put me off of it in the TV series but I do think the movie's romance between the two is a bit more believable. The limitations of the movie format don't allow for any real transition for Hikaru's feelings for Misa to manifest themselves nor for Misa's feelings for Hikaru. Considering how antagonistic both were to each other before their forced jaunt to Earth, more work needed to be done to show how they overcame this IMO. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to show this and so we got the one small moment in the tent while they were on Earth and then a time reference suggesting that a month had passed and thus they had apparently become close enough to boink in a ruined, alien home. Good thing that Hikaru's fighter had enough fuel for a month of traveling around. ^_^;;;

When Hikaru and Minmei were reunited, I never felt like Hikaru had this deep love of Misa. Instead, I just felt like he felt obligated to be with her since he slept with her and thus had to pass on Minmei. Later, when Misa catches Hikaru and Minmei together in his quarters, I again felt that Hikaru felt obligated to be with Misa. Had the movie allowed Hikaru to actually tell Minmei this before Misa came in, maybe I'd feel differently about this. Its just hard for me to swallow is all.

While we are on the romance front, the Max-Milia romance was swept under the table for time. They did battle briefly but no romance afterward, which was a bummer.

Roy's and Claudia's romance is still there. Roy comes off a lot funnier in the movie than I remembered him being in the TV series. His death scene wasn't nearly as moving in the movie though. His final date with Claudia in the TV series had me nigh to tears when it was revealed just how injured he really was yet he wanted to spend his last moments with the woman he loved. In the movie, he dies in battle and while heroic, it lacked the romantic quality of the TV series version of Roy's death.

As with other aspects, the story also suffers from the compressed time allotment of the movie format. In the TV series, things get to develop nicely but the movie's transition of the Zentradi sent to Earth doesn't feel as believable as it did in the TV series. It is that lack of time that hurts this movie so much because there's just not enough time to properly develop the story, the characters, or as I mentioned earlier, the romances. It would have been better for this to have been made into two or three movies instead of one because too much is removed and what's left has little to no impact on the viewer.

One thing I noticed was the mix of English and Japanese in the movie. Many of the ship announcements were in English and for the most part, pretty good English. I can't remember if that was the case with the TV series but it did stick out to me here.

Another thing I couldn't help notice was seeing how much Macross Frontier borrowed from the original Macross series. Since it has only been a couple of years or so since I saw Macross Frontier, that was fresher in my mind that the original Macross, so whenever certain scenes would happen (more so in the first third of the movie), I would think of Macross Frontier.

An item that gave me pause was the announcement in the movie that September 11 was when the peace treaty between what would become the rebel Zentradi and the humans happened. Just a freaky thing.

Finally, one of the things that watching this movie reminded me of is how Minmei's name has been jacked over the years. Her family name is "Lin" (or "Ling") but because of Robotech, her family name of "Lin" becomes the given name "Lynn" in the U.S. Isn't that special? _ Yet I guess Robotech really can't be fully to blame since the cloth Hikaru had Minmei sign in the movie was displayed as "Lynn Minmay" (at least on the copy I watched) and this movie came out a year before Robotech by my reckoning. I find this dichotomy rather strange considering the Asian (including Chinese) use of family names first. I suppose that they could be trying to show Minmei using a stage name "Lynn Minmay" with the signature and other instances of its usage but everyone calls her by her given name "Minmei" so who knows for sure. Oh well.

In the end, this is a beautifully animated movie that holds up well by today's standards. However, taking thirty-six TV episodes and compressing them into a movie just under two-hours means that too much stuff got cut out. As a result, the story, character development, and romances never come off right. Still, I don't regret watching it and would give this a "Rent."

Last updated Wednesday, September 29 2010. Created Wednesday, September 29 2010.
Watch 7 6 7 7 6 Ggultra2764 [series:229#1552]
I heard enough about the impact this movie had on Japan in 1984 as well as the fact that it is a movie adaptation of the events that took place in the original Macross series. But this movie feels no different from enough movie adaptations I've seen of anime titles. Granted I have yet to see the original Macross series or any of its later anime adaptations. But the movie has all the makings of a compressed version of a TV series without offering a different and unique spin on said same events like I got out of Utena's movie adaptation. Character relationships felt rushed along lacking any natural progression. Not much information is provided on what led up to humanity's trip to space and the conflict between the giant alien beings they are up against. This is all because there's only so much of a 30+ episode anime series that a 2 hour movie can compress. Visually, the movie looks decent for the time it was made featuring a decent amount of detail for character and mecha designs. The J-pop music sung by Mimmay was catchy, but it didn't have me going into the mood of humming to the beat of the song.

This movie felt specially made to fans of the Macross anime series thus it's hard for a newcomer to this anime saga like me to know what exactly is taking place before my eyes. So if you wanted to view this as a stand-alone film, it wouldn't be the best idea since you are jumping into the movie blind to what took place in the series. And even if I had watched the series before the film, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of compressed movie adaptations to a manga or anime series unless it offers enough development and a different take on the series to catch my interest.

Last updated Monday, September 14 2009. Created Monday, September 14 2009.
Buy 10 10 10 10 10 Big Fire [series:229#2441]
This is like the Macross Saga wrapped into one movie...If you just don't feel like watching lesser TV art for 36 episodes, fire this baby up and see how the valkryies were meant to be drawn. Yeah yeah, not everything is the same, but it doesn't confuse the heck out of you like Escaflowne the movie does...if you liked the TV show, and want to see your favorite characters drawn better, this is a must have.

Last updated Monday, January 07 2008. Created Monday, January 07 2008.
Buy 10 10 9 10 10 DillonSOB [series:229#1352]
This was the first anime I saw in the 80s (along with the drawn-out, more childish TV series) and it is one of my top 3 favorites. Seeing it again as an adult has not reduced any of the magic. Considering when it was made, Macross DYRL is a masterpiece and a landmark film. It is the best mecha story I've seen. The battles are gripping and thrilling like the Matrix. The characters and love triangle between Hikaru-Minmay-Misa are very genuine and well done (I don't think they'd get away with the slapping scene in this 'politically-correct' age). The theme song is excellent, and is still touching every time I hear it (even though I don't speak Japanese). In my opinion, this film is to mecha anime like Star Wars was to sci-fi Hollywood. But the beauty of Macross is that it doesn't rely on action and special effects alone; it has tender romance, great personal conflict, and poses provocative questions about identity, duty, and purpose through the eyes of humans and aliens. Roy is the ultimate space cowboy like Spike.

Last updated Thursday, May 06 2004. Created Thursday, May 06 2004.
Buy 10 10 10 10 X [series:229#157]
Can you remember watching the first animation movie or series and it having opened up your imagination way, way beyond its limits?
This movie and the series it was based upon did it for me. I remember watching both as a wee young 'un and practically falling in love with it. I wanted (and still do) to fly my very own Valkyrie VF-1X. The storyline was great, the characters were good, the art was top notch in its era and the music was great (back then that is). There were more details and more to learn in the series, but two hours was enough to compile it all.
A breakthrough in art, storyline, music and anime in its era, it still creates the same tingly feeling now as it did back then. Perfect for anyone getting into anime, mecha, Macross and/or sci-fi. And just as good if not better for those veterans. Definitely worth watching and buying (if you could find the subbed edition).

Last updated Monday, March 19 2001. Created Monday, March 19 2001.
Buy 10 10 6 8 Joseph Owens [series:229#127]
The animation from this movie is some of the best around, will for 1984 that is. This movie basically just takes the 36 episode Macross TV series and puts it into a 2 hour movie. The movie is fast paced and will keep you on the edge of your seat, except for about 30-40 minutes in the middle of the movie. However the character design lacks, but what can you do with so many characters and only two hours to do it in. If you want better character design watch the TV series.
Note: This movie was commercially released by Best Video in the US back in the 80's under a different name called Macross in "Clash of the Bionoids". They edited out about 30 minutes of the movie and did one of the worst dubbing you will ever see or hear. Thank God this title is hard to find!! I would stick with the fan-sub version if I were you.

Last updated Tuesday, January 23 2001. Created Tuesday, January 23 2001.

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