*SINCE CHANCES ARE, YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE, I IMPLORE YOU TO SEEK IT OUT BEFORE RETURNING TO THIS REVIEW. THERE ARE PLENTY OF SPOILERS FOR "MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?".

You know, people tend to have a lot of adamant notions on things. There are people who believe that the original version of a story is inherently and exponentially better than alternative versions and retellings. There are people who try to say that men are inherently better than women or vice versa. You have people who claim music to be less impactful and worth being labeled "art" as paintings and fiction. In one fell swoop, Macross: Do You Remember Love manages to address every single one of these issues (including the first and third ones indirectly) and do so phenomenally. As a fan of this franchise since the days of watching Robotech on DVD as a kid, I'm glad to finally examine this work of art.

We begin in the midst of the war between the Earth forces and the Zentradi. Ultimately, it's the Earth people who are at a gigantic disadvantage, more so than in the original series. After one such battle which ended up with a few Zentradi crashing into Macross and discovering the "miclones" (or Micronians for Robotech fans), famous superstar pop idol Lynn Minmei is trapped in an engine room with the pilot who rescued her from an armed Zentradi, Hikaru Ichijou. It is then where they bond and form an eventual romance in the span of 3 days, with part of the love expanding on their time together. After another fun time with them goes wrong as not only are they caught by Misa (Hikaru's commanding officer) and Kaifun (Minmei's cousin who is seemingly unrelated in the movie for some reason), but all 4 of them, as well as another pilot, Roy Focker, are captured by the Zentradi and are forced to show them their culture before we learn that the Zentradi have been at war with Melteadi. Basically, Zentradi are giant war guys and Melteadi are giant war girls. After an attack on the Zentradi ship, not only does Roy Focker die, but Hikaru and Misa (who got separated from Minmei and Kaifun) are now stranded on a desolate wasteland that was once called Earth.

With no hope for survival on this now ruined planet, Hikaru and Misa bond after some talk about what the hell they're gonna do. While one can argue that this romantic development moves a bit too fast, we do see the gist of what they're going through, in the span of a week, these two, who are alone in this desolate globe, are without hope as they toil away, looking for possible survivors and eventually just trying to survive, they can only really bond if they want to make any of this time remotely worthwhile, and that's exactly what they do, even after they find a lost city and end up learning that the human race was a combined effort from micronized Zentradi and Melteadi to create an environment and people of both sexes that can live in harmony. With this in mind, the two bond more so than ever, despite their rough introduction to each other as a nagging superior and upstart subordinate. Once the Macross arrived for the details, the Melteadi attack them, and after a few minutes into the fight, the Zentradi show up, using Minmei's singing as a way to screw them up and force them to retreat, as they have noted that culture is an effective weapon against both the Zentradi and Meltradi, and have learned how to use that to their advantage in their ear against the Meltradi.

Now all of our protagonists meet back up on Earth, and remember two singular cards, one of which Misa found on Earth. It is here that the love triangle really heats up, as Hikaru has chosen Misa over Minmei and now Minmei will know, and she takes it about as well as a love rival would considering that these two were originally in a relationship, and all of this bites Hikaru in the ass. Now that the lyrics from the cards are now ready for the new song and now that the Meltradi and some of the Zentradi are here, Hikaru rushes desperately to reach Minmei, even if it means literally slapping some sense into her to make her realize that now it's about the word instead of her dwindling relationship. Afterwards, we get my favorite scene in the movie.

As the final battle rages on, Minmei sings the titular sing: Do You Remember Love. Not only was this enough to screw up the Melteadi long enough for the Zentradi to take out their leader, but it even convinces some of the Zentradi to turn against their leader, allowing Hikaru to take him out. Was this turn a bit forced, yeah, but it still led to a really satisfying payoff. Following that, Minnie and Misa have a small, quiet, and impactful moment of understanding one another, and it's done gloriously. With that, both the movie and the war are over. Do I think that some parts could've been handled better, yeah, but what we got was still great. It expands only some of the concepts laid out by the original series (Melteadi and Zentradi feuding, the connection between Zentradi/Melteadi and humans), and it does so greatly, as well as tackling some interesting ideas.

I'm glad that this movie never tries to pick a side when addressing sexism as a major topic, since that would really be a disastrous move (even if some people will ignorantly call this movie sexist, but I digress). In fact, one could say that there was no true villain in the movie aside from sexism and the ignorance of culture. People were repeatedly put down for being sexist, and both of the alien overlords were eradicated on account of their sexism and ignorance of culture not making them understand cooperation and continue the war against each other. It's a nice message to send; both sexes should work together instead of bickering over something as dumb and trivial as "which gender is superior". Not to mention that I really like the message at the end that's implied by Misa: even an ordinary song can be impactful, for music is exactly that: impactful. We never really get to hear a message that highlights the importance of music and by extension, culture, but it's always nice to see it handled well without it being spelled out.

My ultimate gripe is that almost all characters not a part of the main trio get the shaft. Sure,I'm glad Kaifun takes a back seat and doesn't get to be a total dick, and I'm glad that Roy got to die with badassery, but Max and Millia were sidelined, Roy is really flanderised from his show counterpart (now being an obnoxious and playfully sexist macho man instead of a more suave and down to earth cool guy who also happens to be a lil' bit of a womanizer), Hayao is just a light version of this version of Roy (was he even named in this movie?) and Claudia doesn't get to be as much of a fun, jovial, and down to earth character as before, but that one was inevitable due to the fact that this is a 2 hour film and the TV series was a series of 36 22 minute episodes. Not to mention that the trio of Zentradi that went to Earth in the original doesn't show up at all here. At the very least, the trio that occasionally hangs out with Misa and Claudia act as naturally as possible, which is a rarity in anime; side-characters that act genuinely human.

On the flip side, the main trio gets expanded upon. Hikaru, while more of an asshole in the beginning Han he ever was in the original, he grows rather quickly when he's stranded on a desolate wasteland of a planet. He's still pretty great and his ultimate love interest, Misa is handled just as well in the TV series, only with more streamline development. We get to see the more fragile side of her that was not as present as before and it's rather nice to see the two warm up to each other. Yet out of all of the trio of the love triangle, Minmei was handled the best, by far. People claim this version of her to be infinitely superior to the TV Minmei, and I kinda have to agree with them. Her development was more streamlined, and her demeanor seemed more lax and lovely than the original one was, even making fun little jokes and jabs here and there. Plus, her adventures with Hikaru are a sight to behold. Not to mention that she's just as beautiful as the scenes with her and Hikaru having fun. Even when she's at her worst (with the whole love triangle thing) she ends up realizing a grander purpose and that the needs of the world outweigh the needs of her and her romance. This development is so grand in its intensity that it even amazes Hikaru, who made her develop in the first place. As mentioned previously, the moment that sealed the deal on Minmei being my favorite character in this movie was the final scene with her and Misa, which was handled so damn well that I was blown away. Speaking of blown away...

Studio Artland has been heralded as one of the best studios ever made, mainly due to them working on the critically acclaimed Mushishi and that elitists' fapping shrine, Legend of The Galactic Heroes, which is considered by many to be the creme de la creme of anime. Not to mention that they worked on the original Macross. So, of course, they worked on this and did a splendid job. Although, they weren't the only studio that worked on it, Tatsunoko Production joined the fun as well. Honestly, both studios did an amazing job with this anime. Every ship, explosion, character, and background is lavishly detailed and it all looks majestic. The action really sells itself as the best in the franchise as well, and the character designs by Haruhiko Mikimoto are as gorgeous as ever, and nothing really dips at all. It's easily one of the best looking anime movies I've seen to date, and given that this was in 1984, that's amazing in its own right. Each location is so strikingly different and full of personality, even the more mystical yet oppressive desolate Earth and the more alien Zentradi and Zentradi environments, which are more distinctly alien than ever before. Then again, when one of your key animators is the legendary Hideaki Anno, you know your eyes are in for a treat. I mean, just look at this movie! I can't begin to do it justice!

The OST by Kentarou Haneda is still pretty great, with some classic tracks form the series, and it all works as well as you'd expect from Macross. Now for the real thing which happens to be one of the 3 things that characterize Macross: the songs. Each song sung by Minmei (Mari Ijima, who voices her and sings the songs). All of your favorites from the original series show up here and are as catchy and fun as ever. Plus, the titular song, "Do You Remember Love?" is easily my favorite of them all, partially due to it playing in the most majestic moment of the movie, and partly since it's in between the two scenes that made her my favorite character in the movie. It's a truly delightful song if I do say so myself. As for the dub "Invasion of the Spacenoids", that is its own abomination that I refuse to associate with this movie. It's some fucked up localization that is nothing like the movie and is even marketed as its own thing, not with Macross or even Robotech, by even the Robotech cast would've been an infinitely better fit. Get that weak shit outta here.

DYRL is a truly beautiful work, both visually and emotionally. I honestly can't say much more than what I have aside from mentioning the Max and Milia plotline, which despite a brilliant reversal from their plotline in the TV series, was as sidelined as the characters involved. It's not my favorite installment in the franchise, but it's one that can stand perfectly on its own as both a gateway into the franchise and a superb supplement to the original series it diverges from.