Macross: Do You Remember Love?

a.k.a. Chojiku Yosai Macross: Ai Oboeteimasuka

Genre: Action
Company: Toho
Format: 1 movie
Dates: 7/7/1984

An alien race known as the Zentraedi traveled from galaxies afar to Earth. With an army of millions, this technologically-superior species looks to quickly overwhelm mankind and retrieve one of their ships that crashed there. The humans are quickly running out of options, and decide to place the inhabitants of Macross Island in the belly of the foreign vessel; they leave earth and depart for the outer rim of the solar system. With the alien forces hot on their trail, only time will tell if they’ll ever see earth again.

summary by Kain

 

Reviewed: 11/30/2001 by
Grade: 63% 

Highs: Macross, abbreviated; story flows smoothly

Lows: Fans of the series will balk at change; sloppy animation; music overwhelms scenes

I remember clearly how excited I was as a kid when I heard a movie version of my beloved Macross was to be released. Even compared to today’s anime, the Macross story is well conceived and epic in scope. A timeless work of art, I call it.

Do You Remember Love? instead turned out to be more of a companion piece rather than a condensed version. It’s contained in the same timeline, but to make it fit in a movie format, some drastic changes were made. Too drastic for my tastes. Those unfamiliar with the original may view it differently, but I was absolutely appalled by the fate of some of the characters, in particular Roy Fokker. I always abide by the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and Macross was certainly not broke.

Cinematography was also a nagging problem, as if the director had no idea of what theme and style to stick with. Even taking into consideration the year it was produced, the animation just really seems subpar. On top of that, the symphonic pieces of music, though done well, just simply took over the scenes rather than back them up.

And yet, this is still Macross. The same captivating soap opera remains intact, for the most part. Ichijo Hikaru is still a naive, egocentric cockpit jockey, Hayase Misa is still the emotion-retaining, by-the-book type, and Lynn Minnmay is still annoying as hell. The movie somehow makes it work, but it just can’t compete with its Macross brethren. Think of it as the black sheep of the family, and you have a clear picture.

 

Macross: Do You Remember Love? can be downloaded legally in the United States HERE.