Macross, Le Film

Macross The Movie: Love Do You Remember (as it is known here) is simply the greatest animated movie (both East and West) I've ever seen in my life. There's no animated movie in this world that comes close with it's deep and enduring story, great character development, great cast, the emotion and most of all the mecha-drama concept as defined by animation's greatest maker Shoji Kawmori! Lynn Minmay is the greatest female character of all, and you'll wish she's real! You'll feel like you're really part of the Macross universe as the battles and stories go on. You'll really be touched by the intense emotion of this film. You'll feel like you really want to fly a Valkyrie, then transform it into a Gerwalk or a Battroid to do battle for your race! And best of all, you'll realize the greatness of animation with this film.

No doubt about it, Macross The Movie:LDYR is the GREATEST ANIMATED MOVIE in the world! You're missing something great if you don't see this.

Japanese animation has brought forward many films which are regarded as classics of the genre (for now ignoring the fact that anime isn't really a genre in and of itself, but rather a style of animation which encompasses several different genres, eg. horror, comedy, sci-fi, etc), but for some reason Macross: Do You Remember Love is seldom mentioned alongside gems like Akira, Ghost In The Shell, or Mononoke Hime (and pretty much every other Studio Ghibli effort) - something I find quite difficult to understand. I was lucky enough to catch this movie on late night TV several years ago and was completely spellbound by it. It has a simple storyline (boy loves girl, while humanity's future is threatened by warmongering cyborgs - hey, it's anime) but an innocence at heart which very few movies, even animated ones, are able to match. I was even luckier when I discovered a subtitled VHS copy of it, and it has since become one of my favourite animated movies of all-time.

For its time, the standard of animation is quite impressive. This movie must have taken at least a few people's breaths away when it was initially screened in 1984, because, even when you compare it to Japanese animation of the time (including Hayao Miyazaki's much-lauded feature debut Nausicaa), the level of detail and movement on display is mind-boggling. People don't just move their eyes and lips (as was the case in virtually 99% of animation then); their hair moves, their clothes show wrinkles, whilst the background details are nearly inch-perfect. Macross itself doesn't just look like a huge intergalactic space station, it also *feels* like one. I can think of few films which display a similar attention to detail as DYRL, and for that reason alone it deserves its rightful place in the animation hall of fame, next to anything Disney or Ghibli have ever brought forward.

The storyline, as mentioned before, is fairly straightforward (and admittedly clichéd at times), but thankfully this doesn't sidetrack from its unique charm, especially as the narrative progresses from a bogstandard battle of Good vs Evil into something else entirely, which I won't describe in great detail lest I completely ruin the surprise for you - however, I will say this: the ending itself is one of the most awe-inspiring things I have ever seen. Quite aside from the strangely moving premise of J-pop saving the universe, the entire choreography of that scene is an utter stroke of genius. It's a bizarre ending, but strangely enough it works.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert on the Robotech series - in fact, I know pretty much next to nothing about the other instalments in the Macross/Robotech series. But I like to think that I know good film-making when I see it, and Do You Remember Love certainly is that. It's an unsung classic of Japanese animation which does not deserve to fester in obscurity, but instead requires widespread recognition as the ground-breaking work of art it truly is. Simply put, it's wonderful.

(NB, I want to point out that this review concentrates solely on the subtitled version of Macross: Do You Remember Love, not the dubbed and narrowed-down version of the movie entitled Clash Of The Bionoids, which, as many here have pointed out, is a monstrosity to be avoided.)

If you get your hands on a decently-subtitled version, this movie plain rocks. Great animation, music, voice acting. The plot has a few flat spots, as expected in a movie that came as the summary of a series, but it's still one of anime's finest.

And to think that it was all drawn by hand. Excellent work.

Avoid "Clash of the Bionoids" at all costs. The dubbing is horrible.

It's nice to see so many Robotech fans, comment about the film.

Just wanted to share more facts about Macross:

There is an upcoming Gameboy Advance version coming out, which will add another great game based on Robotech.

This movie is still one of the best anime's ever made.

I first saw this film in the late 80s. Like most anime in the US at the time, it was solely available in a grainy, much-duplicated VHS. Still, the film drew me in. Okay, I was a little confused when I finally saw the American adaptation of the Macross TV series, but what the heck....

It was very disappointing that for years the sole legit commercial copy in English was the bastardized Australian production, ATTACK OF THE BIOROIDS. Suffice it to say, if you want a good example of how NOT to adapt a foreign film, that is the example to study. I used to watch it with the sound mostly turned off.

When I got on the internet, an online acquaintance gave me a VCD of DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE. It was pretty nice, at least until the viewer program failed.

But now I FINALLY have a DVD of the film. I just finished watching it and.....oooooooooooooooooooooooh bliss!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As I said in my title, this is still the greatest SF animated film ever made!

And the DVD includes the final concert! This was originally planned for the film but cut due to budget constraints. It was finally made for the MACROSS FLASHBACK 2012 music compilation. But now it is where it belongs, backing up the closing credits.

happy, happy, joy, joy.....