Chôjikû yôsai Macross: Ai oboeteimasuka (1984)

Directors:

Noboru Ishiguro
Shôji Kawamori

Writers:

Shôji Kawamori (story)
Sukehiro Tomita (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 July 1984 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Romance | Sci-Fi

Plot:

In the next century, a reconfiguring ship (think "Transformer" with a pilot) called Macross carries...

Plot Keywords:

Refugee | Jet Fighter | Love Triangle | Fighter Pilot | Female Soldier

Cast

Mari Iijima	...	Lynn Minmay
Arihiro Hase	...	Hikaru Ichijyo
Mika Doi	...	Misa Hayase
Michio Hazama	...	Bruno J. Global
Noriko Ohara	...	Claudia LaSalle
Akira Kamiya	...	Roy Focker
Osamu Ichikawa	...	Golg BoddoleZer
Eiji Kanie	...	Vrlitwhai 7018
Ryûnosuke Ôbayashi	...	Exsedol 4970 (as Ryûsuke Ôbayashi)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Lynn Kaihun
Shô Hayami	...	Maximillian Jenius
Katsumi Suzuki	...	Hayao Kakizaki
Hiromi Tsuru	...	Kim Kaviroff
Sanae Miyuki	...	Shammy Milliome (as Miyuki Muroi)
Run Sasaki	...	Vanessa Laird

Also Known As:

Macross
Macross - maailman isoin
Macross in Clash of the Bionoids (International: English title) (short version)
SDF-1 Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (Japan: English title)
Super Space Fortress Macross (Japan: English title) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG

Company:

Big West

Trivia:

This movie has become caught up in numerous legal disputes on both sides of the Pacific (the most prominent, although by no means only one being the copyright dispute between Big West/Studio Nue and Tatsunoko/Harmony Gold), and it has been said because of this, there might never be a legitimate United States release of the film on DVD.

Quotes:

[Hikaru tries to convince Minmay to sing to defeat the Zentradi]
Lynn Minmay: You can't win a war by singing! Stay with me, if we're going to die anyway...
Hikaru Ichijo: It's not just for us. It's for everyone onboard Macross.
Lynn Minmay: That has nothing to do with us! Why aren't we the only two in the universe? I wish everyone would die except you and me!
[Hikaru slaps Minmay, as a panoply of war's destruction plays across the screen.]
Hikaru Ichijo: Sempai died. Kakizaki died. So many have died. They had plans for peace. You can still sing, can't you?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Version of "Chôjikû yôsai Macross" (1982)

A strange but wonderful animated masterpiece

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.)