I had forgotten this little gem until it was finally released on Blu Ray recently. This story is the pinnacle of the Macross cycle. Macross is in the outer solar system, on it's way back to Earth. It's just a regular day on Macross, and Lynn Minmay is performing her first ever concert.Meanwhile, rookie pilot Hikaru Ichijyo is out on his first patrol. They come across some Zentradi attackers, three of which actually get inside the Macross! His commanding officer, Misa Hayase orders his to keep on attacking, but he goes after the three instead against orders.The Zentradi (Male Giants) don't care much for music and attack the Macross right in the middle of Minmay's first song. This means, they have to transform!What happens when the Macross needs to transform? Plenty - Whole areas of internal structure are destroyed. Lynn Minmay and her actor friend are caught and separated when a bulkhead closes, a gravity generator goes out and Lynn is in Free fall, Ichijyo has to save her as well as kill the internal attackers.On the outside, Macross finishes its transformation and activates its primary weapon, vaporizing the huge Zentradi ship.But down below, Ichijyo saves Minmay and they are trapped in the Engine Block with no gravity. This is where the song "Zero G Love" is played appropriately, when Lynn finds one of her dolls. A spark of attraction is between Minmay and Ichijyo, and they fall for each other - Right at the moment the bulkhead finally opens and a news crew happens to be there to exploit it.As time goes on, Hayase is asked by Roy Focker, another pilot in Ichijyo's squad, if she ever acts like a woman and has relationships. She claims Duty is all she needs at that point. Meanwhile Ichijyo is being chased by Minmay and he takes her out in his "jet"The real star of Macross is Macross, and the fighters the pilots use. There are basically three shapes that these Mechs can use, the full Robot shape, and Intermediate shape, and the Vehicle shape. What is great with this Anime is that they depict the smaller fighters as being able to shift shapes rapidly, from Jet shape to Man shape, and when the Humans fight the Zentradi and later the Meltrandi (Giant Women), these transformations are the meat of this series.What makes this film stand out, is that it shows the power of music and Love. The Leader of the Zentradi Fleet is in a gigantic fortress, and he has "the piece of culture" - The Zentradi do not know what it is, it is actually a cassette containing the music for a popular song.As Ichijyo is flying Minmay around, he is captured by Zentradi who also capture another fighter with Hayase and Lynn's actor friend. Roy Focker sneaks into the ship and tries to free them. But before he can do it, the Meltrandi Women attack and everybody is separated. Ichijyo is in a fighter with Hayase, Minmay is with her actor friend in a mobile Zentradi Cell.Ichijyo and Hayase try to keep up with the Zentradi ship, but it "goes into fold" - this was 1984, and the "fold" looks a lot like the Star Trek "Warp" - The giant ship shoots off in a beam of light, the two fighters are cast down onto some strange Planet.They discover that they are on a now-lifeless Earth. The only thing they find is a huge structure that has been on the ocean floor for hundreds of thousands of years. Somehow, Hayase can communicate with an ancient computer, that tells her the story of how the Zentradi and Meltrandi, and ultimately, Humans came into being, they were all made from "Protoculture" - An Ancient Civilization. It is at this time, Hayase and Ichijyo find that they have feelings for each other.Hayase finds another piece of "Culture" and she is able to read it, it is a cassette what has words, words for the song that the Zentradi have.A sad "triangle" ensues, Ichijyo now has feelings for Hayase and Minmay still has feelings for Ichijyo - All three of them deal with it, and they are able to complete the song, putting the words onto the Music, which Minmay sings and Broadcasts.The Music alone, when Broadcast, has the power to confuse both the Giant Men and Women. The Giant Men come to Earth and propose a truce, but it is basically a trap so they can get the Women there and destroy them.But as they all fight, MinMay sings the complete song to all of the fighting factions-This causes them to turn on the Zentradi leader who is in the Fortress, and Ichijyo takes him out personally. There is a point at the end, where Minmay and Hayase are looking across at each other, and Ichijyo is just outside in his Fighter.In my mind, this is probably the best Anime ever made - This is full anime and nothing is held back, and the idea that a simple piece of music can have such an effect, maybe this is unrealistic, but if it is the right piece of music with the right words, it could-Especially if revealed to a group of people who have no concept of Music, Love, or Intimacy. There is one scene where Ichi takes down a Giant Woman, her helmet falls off as she lay dying, and he looks up at her and she is beautiful, he says so, but she has no concept of what he is talking about.

People we fall in love with are always ones we would least suspect or even picture in our minds, once the reality hits you know it's right.This film is one of my favorite anime films but also favorite films in general loosely based on one of my favorite TV shows "Macross", so that's two for two. I love this film because I feel it was just made for me, because it has everything I could possibly want, and that's something I don't say much, but most importantly it's a romance story done the right way.It's a little hard for me to do a review about this movie since I've seen the original TV show so I know who is going to get who and what is going to happen in the end. But what makes this film unique is that's it's a different style and the rich story is retold differently.The animation style is more up to date than the original show, making everything seem more realistic, and personally I still feel it looks great. From the violence which doesn't pull no punches and is even more intense due to some blood involved, my favorite fight is the one between Milia and Max which was awesome. The design of Macross city looks reminiscent of modern day Tokyo or New York City. Most importantly the human characters physically look right for their age.The music score and soundtrack is great, to me it's one of the best damn one's for movies in general. A few new songs are in it that were never in the show, like the "Do you remember love" and the end theme, both of them are the kind of songs I can listen to forever.However the real power of this film as usual like the show is the fact it's not concerned so much with it's plot but with the characters, Hikaru, Misa, and Minmei, whose love triangle is the real plot.You just love all three of these characters all of them are fleshed out well. One of the things I appreciate about this movie is how they handled Minmei. Minmei in this movie is actually a lot different than she was in the TV show, because not just does she look this time like a woman in her twenties where in the TV show she looked like she was still in her teens and a bit young for Hikaru. She acts more mature and actually likable, but also sympathetic because we see in one scene when she goes back home with her jerk of a step cousin and manager, we see her place which looks like any other celebrities place clean and full of nice things, but despite the fame and fortune she wears a look of sadness, because the only thing that's missing in her life right now is someone to love, it's like how Austin stated from "Pride and Prejudice" how one with great fortune is always in need of a significant other. Hikaru and Misa are pretty much the same like in the original show, which makes us love them all the same.I really like the chemistry with all three of them it's believable due to the dialog and how they interact, it's doesn't turn melodramatic or stupid. It does romantic tension right because it really looks like the characters try. You hope that one of the female characters gets Hikaru, (though it's pretty obvious who it is if you saw the TV show)and when one of them gets Hikaru it feels right you feel both do deserve each other. But most of all that Hikaru makes the right choice and loves the other for the right reasons.There are two unforgettable scenes which occur in the film where were also in the TV show but in the movie they last a long while, have depth and are important parallels to one another. We see one where Hikaru is trapped in a section with Minmei and both romantic and sexual tension endures, in a way this part of the film emulates any person's dream of being trapped in the same place with someone you can only dream of ever having. But the most memorable scene is with Hikaru and Misa which plays out beautifully, Misa is a person that Hikaru obviously thinks is a non likely person he can deeply love from the constant arguments and disagreements they have mainly due to misunderstandings, though he does harbor some desire/attraction for her from a camera shot where both are in some heated argument and we see a shot of Misa's legs and he looks down on them as she chews him out; it's a common feeling for some guys whom desire girls that look/seem unattainable. Both come to a post apocalyptic Earth, seeing that I'll admit I found unnerving, kinda similar to the film "The Quiet Earth". When they explore more of the planet they soon discover a lost city (possibly Atlantis or Eden), warm up to one another along the way and both fall in love. This scene I can't help but feel serves as a biblical allegory where both Hikaru and Misa are Adam and Eve and the ruined Earth is the new Eden.And of course there is one other couple that somewhat parallels Max and Milia, even though I wish there were more scenes with the two together, but I did get the feeling both connected, from the fact both are unable to kill one another in the fight due to being equally matched, even one scene when both see one another in the flesh for the first time and say one word that seals their fate. It just demonstrates that even people two people from different ends of the spectrum can love.Love is unforgotten as long as one always has the ability to love.Rating: 4 stars

I've been asked which I like better: Macross (TV) or Macross: Do You Remember Love? (movie) better. Truthfully, I see the movie and the TV series it was based on as two different things, so I have trouble deciding. But as far as early-80's anime movies, this one is one of the best, hands down!

I first bought this movie because i had grown up with Robotech and absolutely loved the Macross-part of it, plus that i love Macross Plus, and I thought that the original could'nt be that bad. I started the movie and when i finished i was in love with it. One of my first thought were that Robotech was just the pale copy it is. The animation in Macross: DYRL is great, especially when you consider that this was made in 1984! The music was fantastic (although a bit outdated) and realy set the tone of the movie. The mech designs are amazing (and by the way the Valkyries would work in real life if someone just put some money in to the project) and still some of the coolest ever in anime. The story and characters evolve in a beautiful way throughout the movie, and they managed to fit the bigger part of the whole long series storyline into just about 2 hours. Buy this anime and if you have any sense for good movies and anime you will love it. Very highly recommended. Personaly I give it 10/10.