Welcome to a world of fantasy, science fiction, and space opera all rapped up in one. In the world of Robotech & Macross, it’s the whole of humanity against alien races all obsessed with one thing: Protoculture. What is it & why do they want it? Why do these aliens seems so different and yet so smilar all at the same time. Will the human will to survive be strong enough this time? As the world fights back with a new science devised from data found in the SDF-1 called Robotech (short for Robotechnology), our best chance lies within ourselves, as it’s once again proven that love conquers all and knows no boundaries.

Started back in 1982 by Shoji Kawamori, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross would begin one of the 3 greatest anime/toy franchises of all time. 20 years later, Macross alone has spawned a TV series, followd by Macross: Do you Remember Love, Macross 2, Macross Plus, another TV series in Macross 7 which had several of it’s own OVA’s & specials and a movie. And now Macross Zero has started. We’re also now getting a perfect-change toy in the 1/48th VF-1 from DYRL. But Macross is only one piece of the pie. You’ve also got Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. When brought to America, all 3 were reworked and turned into one of the greatest anime sagas of all time, Robotech, the most syndicated animated series ever. If you haven’t experienced it, wait no longer and return to Robotech!!

Macross: Do you Remember Love? - Summary | Macross: Do you Remember Love? - Review

Macross: Do you Remember Love? - Summary

In the near future, the Earth is attacked by a giant race of male aliens calling themselves the Zentraedi. In retaliation, UN Spacy launches their ultimate weapon, the SDF-1 (Super Dimensional Fortress-1 a.k.a. Macross) into space to combat this threat. After suffering massive casualties, the SDF-1 decends back into Earth’s atmosphere and uses it’s untested fold-engines. They attempt to warp behind the moon, but end up within orbit of Pluto. After the jump, the fold engines disappear, resulting in the SDF-1 taking the long way back to Earth. To make matters worse, when the SDF-1 jumped, it took Macross City and 2 destroyers with it. Very quickly, the crew move the city into the holds of the ship, and connect the carriers to outer extensions in a modular fashion.

This is where our story begins. At this point, the Zentraedi have become wary of their enemies. Human culture confounds them greatly, completely dissimilar from their own. An attack is launched on the fortress, and VFs (Veritech fighters) are launched from the fortress to counter-attack. While the battle rages on the outside, within the ship a concert is taking place. When the battle comes close to the fortress, a red alert is delivered to the city, telling all citizens to move to the nearest shelters. One pilot, Hikaru Ichijo (Rick Hunter to people in America) sees an enemy unit break way from the battle and enter the fortress. He immediately abandons his post and follows the enemy. After destroying both targets, he proceeds to attempt to rescue a civilian caught outside her shelter. She’s Lynn Minmei, the artist performing the concert.

He manages to save her, but in the process badly damages his VF and gets them trapped within the ships internal workings. The fortress undergoes its modular transformation, preventing them from affecting any type of escape. Back outside, the fortress, now able to use it’s main cannon while in robot mode, destroys the enemy battle cruiser that spear-headed the attack. Back inside the ship, Hikaru & Minmay, now suffering from a lack of gravity controls (they were damaged during the attack), make the best of their situation and try to survive until rescue workers can find them. Back at the Zentraedi camp, Breetai, (commander of the Zentraedi fleet sent after Earth) is presented with footage from the battle inside SDF-1 by his chief science officer, Exedore. The film proves their initial findings were correct. While the Zentraedi lead a life of nothing more than military action, the humans have a social society that allots personal time for doing things for the sake of simply doing, for the sake of simply having fun & living life to it’s fullest.

Back inside the SDF-1, it’s been 3 days since Hikaru & Minmei got lost within the inner holds. They come to be really close, and ultimately fall in love with each other. It is right when they have their first kiss that gravity controls are restored. They descend to an area that is currently being searched and are found. It was assumed that Hikaru had deserted. Between this and his disregard of duty, he would normally be court-martialed. But Lt. Comm. Misa Hayase (Lisa Hayes in America) vouches for him, since he rescued Minmei. She feels responsible because she failed to convince him to stay at his post. Several days after the incident, Minmei contacts Hikaru, wanting to see him again. They have a big night on the town, ending with a balcony view of the rings of Saturn, which the SDF-1 is now approaching. Minmei says she’d love to be able to see them in person. Taking her to her word, Hikaru jacks a training aircraft to fulfill her wish. Back at Breetai’s staging area, he receives orders from Dolza, supreme commander of all Zentraedi forces in the Milky Way galaxy, to capture some humans for testing. At this time, Meltran (giant female aliens) units break through their outer perimeter. Breetai puts a rush on Dolza’s command, and a unit is immediately dispatched to capture the nearest targets: Hikaru & Minmei. To make it worse, this is when Lt. Comm. Hayase and Minmei’s brother & agent, Lynn Kyle show up to force them to return to the SDF-1. The enemy arrives at this point to complete their objective. Hikaru & co. are in trouble since the trainer crafts aren’t armed. Hayase manages to get an SOS out for Comm. Fokker, and he evens up the odds. By now however, Breetai’s cruiser has arrived. Hikaru & co. are all ultimately captured. Using translation technology, the Zentraedi begin their interrogation.

They want to know why human females & males coexist, why they are so small, and how they reproduce. The Zentraedi do not coexist with their female counter-parts, the Meltrandi. They reproduce by artificial cloning technology, by which they also augment their size. After seeing all they can stomach in a kiss, the prisoners are sent to their respective detention areas. This is when the Meltran unit arrives . They break into Breetai’s cruiser and try to blitz the area. In the confusion, Hikaru, Hayase, & Fokker manage to escape back to the VF-s. They try to make their way back to Minmei and Kyle, but are jumped by Zentraedi soldiers. Fokker sacrifices himself to save the other 2. Just as they make it to Minmei & Kyle, Breetai’s fleet goes into a fold, and Hikaru & Hayase are caught out in space during the jump. While the fleet makes it back to Zentraedi HQ, Hikaru & Misa wind up on an unrecognizable planet. After surveying the area for a while, they discover the wreckage of a battle cruiser, the. Prometheus. This confirms the worst fears of the SDF-1 crew, that communication from Earth ceased due to total annihalation by Breetai’s fleet before he persued the space fortress.

Continuing their search, Hikaru & Misa find absolutely no survivors or intact living centers. Back at Zentraedi HQ, Dolza reveals to Breetai & Exedore that humans are the ultimate threat to Zentraedi superiority because they are cultured, unlike the giants. They know creative activity other than conflict. Their best chance: in the past, Dolza acquired a piece of “culture”, the composition for a love song to be precise. With Minmei’s help, they intend to develop this music into a weapon they can use against the Meltrandi, before finally wiping out the humans. Back on Earth, Hikaru & Misa discover sunken ruins now revealed by the decreased the sea level. Through their investigation, they uncover an alien fail-safe program that brings the city all back up to the surface. It’s revealed that an alien race, simply known as Protoculture, are the creators of Zentraedi, Meltrandi, and humans. They first created the 2 giant races in an attempt to make ideal weapons & life-forms all in one. But it didn’t take them long to realize their mistake. So they moved to Earth and started over with humans.

Through the computer system within the city, they send out an SOS to the SDF-1. Misa then inadvertently discovers the lyrics to the music Dolza has. By the next day, the fortress has arrived, and it’s obvious Hikaru & Misa have fallen in love. Back at the Meltran camp, Moruk Lapramiz, supreme commander of the Meltran forces, orders ace pilot Millia to launch an assault on the SDF-1 before the Zentraedi can return. They almost succeed, but the Zentraedi arrive with music playing, ending the battle in a stalemate. Breetai & co. arrive in the guise of peace in order to defeat the Meltran threat. Minmei, along with 3 envoys is immediately sent back to the SDF-1 as a token of good will. An exchange of information commences, and all is seemingly well. Except for Hikaru & the lovely ladies. It now falls to him to make the ultimate choice: one woman or the other. And while writers attempt to write lyrics to the music, Misa begins to translate the ones she sound in the ruins. Finally, the time comes for Hikaru to choose. Ultimately, he loves Misa with all his heart.

The Zentraedi determine they can’t wait for the lyrics any longer, as the entire Meltran fleet arrives to finish the war once and for all. Hikaru takes the lyrics to Minmei and convinces her to sing this song, as it’s their only chance at survival. After deciding they like culture, Breetai & co. orders his fleet to stand side by side against Dolza & the Meltrandi. Millia does the same with her fleet. With their combined efforts and the song sung by Minmei, both fleets are thrown into total disarray. After the Zentraedi wipe out the Meltrandi fleet, the SDF-1 rams into Dolza’s personal cruiser. Hikaru flies to the core with a Strike VF and takes Dolza out, ending the battle. And so it ends as Breetai moves out to bring culture to all other Zentraedi fleets in the universe, while the SDF-1 returns to Earth to start it all over.

Macross: Do you Remember Love? - Review

For those wondering, you could essentially label this the Robotech movie. Robotech itself is the meshing of 3 separate anime the series. Super Dimensional Fortress Macross is what we know here in America as the 1st generation of Robotech, the Macross Saga. I’d have to say this movie right here is the pinnacle of Shoji Kawamori’s career. Even now, the concept for this franchise is amazing. It’s a combination of fantasy, sci-fi action, and drama all set against the background of space in all it’s expansiveness. At the heart of it all, an alien race that’s known nothing but supreme domain over all they survey via war has made their way to our solar system. Their eyes set on Earth, they move and they move fast to utterly destroy us. They almost succeed, but the seemingly invincible SDF-1 doesn’t go down without a fight. It seems almost absurd that such a powerful race could by stopped by something as simple as a kiss or music. But all you’ve ever known in life is conflict, it’s opposite a totally welcome change, as is always the case no matter how light the conflict.

And as they say, at the heart of this war, it’s love that conquers all once more. That’s the story heart of it. But the characters are equally compelling. Hikaru Ichijo is the young hot-shot ace pilot, best of the best, who wants it all, but only if the price is right. But as the film goes on, he grows considerably. Roy Fokker is his “big brother”, one of 2 individuals who greatly influenced him while growing up, an ace pilot himself, and quite the ladies man. Maximilian Jenius, another ace with the greatest potential of all. Uraki Kakizaki rounds the fly boys out as the jerky who means well, but just can’t quite cut it in the long run. In the crew of the SDF-1, we get Capt. Gloval, Sammy, Kim, Vanessa, and Claudia Grant, Roy’s love. Their most prominent is Misa Hayes, a real trooper on the outside, but inside a lonely woman and future love of Hikaru.

In the alien half, we get Breetai & Exedore, soldiers trying their best to perform their duty, despite reservations. Millia serves as their ace pilot, and an example of the great beauty that is culture, as she & Max eventually come together in love. And the purpose of the Zentraedi & Meltrandi is personified in one of their leaders, Dolza.

As far as gimmicks go, we get timeless mechanical designs. When people hear Macross or Robotech, they think VF-1, the veritech/variable fighter that can transform from a jet to a battleoid/battroid (humanoid robot a.k.a. mech) and a hybrid of the two forms. For someone like me, the dream is to be able to pilot such a machine one day. And as far as presentation goes, the animation is flawless, which is saying a lot considering this movie was made back in 1984. And the soundtrack is exceptional. I don’t know the composer’s name, but props to him for managing to use the main theme so much, but without making it stale or old. It’s always a little different everytime, and everytime I watch this movie, the experience is little different. Before I ever saw the original Japanese version, I had the the dub. It’s good till you see the original. They actually cut out 30 minutes of footage!! Crucial, integral footage!! No matter though, ‘cause now I know, and knowing is half the battle. At least that’s what G.I. Joe tells me. In any event, I absolutely recommend anyone who likes anime, cartoons, or any form of cinema should watch this movie. A true masterpiece on my top 10 list. It just happens to be better if you’re into mecha like me : )