I've repeatedly seen the acronym "DYRL" pop up when reading user comments about mecha, Sci-Fi, space opera anime. I looked it up and found this, "Macross - Do You Remember Love". Being a Macross fan and having my curiosity piqued, I decided to check it out, especially with comments from fans saying it was amazing for its age.
As a big fan of Macross, I found this moderately enjoyable and I actually thought it was a treat watching it in dated visuals, due to some of the unique things presented this way, but I wasn't really expecting something so superhero'ish on levels exceeding something like Gundam. Showing a handful of units or less accomplishing so much may be called glamor by some, but I call that cheesy. I have some other minor quibbles with the writing/directing/screenplay, but that may just be me, seeking attention to detail in places the director wouldn't assume a typical viewer to look out for. Most of my complaints* are military protocol related, a pet peeve I have due to my own military experience.
I watched a few other Macross works before this, but not the original series, and I find that this helps fill in a good amount of backstory I haven't seen before. This was fairly flashy at points, yet very slow in others, with a lot going on towards the end and, because of this, I didn't fully understand the ending the first time watching it.
I had to go back and rewatch to understand why Boldoza got ganked after the song. That mega weapon Boldoza fired, which destroyed many allies in its line of fire along with the Meltradi [mother brain], probably didn't help his cause, but that can't be all.
The order of events confused me: Macross goes on the highest level of alert. Considering present day alert levels, what exactly triggered this? You see the Zentradi fleet in motion and some officers getting impatient, awaiting the protoculture song lyrics, but that doesn't seem too threatening. Once the Meltradi finished defolding nearby, Boldoza then was prompted to react on the officers' worries and called the order to annihilate all traces of protoculture along with the Meltradi. It would make sense for the Macross to then go on alert, unless the Zentradi sent a threat that couldn't be dealt with diplomatically in time.
I guess these two [mother brains] needed to be disposed of for advancement from war to culture? The one skilled Meltrandi pilot seemed to have some "love/culture" and the Zentrandi officers were seemingly open to the idea ever since they captured and tried to understand humans. Since Boldoza did give the order to destroy traces of protoculture, I would assume that would be the key reason behind his demise.
I consider myself fairly sharp, so I wonder if many other viewers watch this and wonder WTF just happened after all the fireworks die down. After going back and finding those critical scenes with meaningful dialog and actions a few times, wanting to get the whole plot outline clear, I gained appreciation for the overall plot in this movie. I don't blame the people that say they don't like the plot, since even I didn't get it the first time around--it would take a fan or someone really wanting to like the movie to bother going through it again to understand it better.
I'm surprised that I wrote a lot about just the plot. It's interesting, but I found the movie didn't make it interesting. Here's a quick rundown of the other elements:
Visuals: 8/10 - Surprisingly solid considering its age. I like the holographic dress up sequence (and other character clothes designs), the detail of the protoculture city and then having it contrasted by the city inside Macross, and the duel between the pilot with the glasses and the ace Meltradi pilot. At times, I reminded me of the alien level in Contra (2?) on the NES or the purple bubbly level on Metroid.
Audio: 9/10 - Impressive. Top notch sound effects, voice acting, insert songs. I didn't notice the BGM being bad or good. Nothing really note worthy that impressed me to give it the last point, though the insert songs did give it a point, so I didn't think it was close to perfect anyways.
Story: 6/10 - Interesting, but presented/flowed in a way that made it hard to follow. Pacing changes a bit too much too suddenly. Romance story was somewhat interesting, showing why Hikaru picked who he did after his experiences. The whole story about what happened to Earth ended up kind of a mystery to me, it's like it got lost in the beginning along with the character intros and development and then very late in the story reminds you of what Macross's current mission is. The conflict between Zentradi, Mentradi, and humans was probably the most fulfilling, though it took me another look to understand it well enough to appreciate it.
Character: 6/10 - Average; nothing special. A bulk of the movie was character intros and development. Despite this, I felt the characters were kind of lame--I liked the characters better in other Macross series much more. The romance and tragedy didn't affect my feelings much at all--the scene which Hikari confesses his true feelings and the twirl and expression the girl gives in reaction is probably the only scene that came close to moving me. I didn't get attached to any of the characters, though I did feel sorry for the girl Hikaru didn't choose. At one point, I confused the manager for Hikaru due to that kissing scene, which made me rewind to see that again to get back on track.
Value: 5/10 - Not worth watching more than once, collecting, or recommending to others except for die-hard Macross fans.
Enjoyment: 6/10 - I liked it as a Macross fan for the visual and audio candy and story, since I didn't watch the original series.
I think my score is fair, considering I'm comparing it to all the anime I've watched up to this point. I don't think it's very good overall nor is it something I could recommend to others, but I do think it's amazing for its age. I wonder how popular it was back when it was new. I think what we have here is a poorly written/directed movie which only is interesting due to being based off of the very rich and detailed universe of Macross.
*Complaints:
- I still find it hard to believe a song is this powerful. If I were there, I'd still be on alert after things settled down instead of sleeping and drooling on the command console--if I were that exhausted, I'd tried to relieved properly.
- After Hikaru destroys Boldoza and the Zentradi mothership is destroyed, I don't like how he reports in as "mission complete, I'm coming home." It's not mission complete until you're home safely, as there's a chance you may be needed for support out there to assist in recovery support of injured/missing, etc.
- After making an alliance to get rid of a common enemy, usually the relation beforehand returns once that enemy is gone. I know the guy said he'd protect the Macross, but I don't think that's good enough reason for its crew relax so soon. Again, is song/culture really that powerful? I think it's being dramatized a bit too far for my taste.
- I found it odd that the final translated protoculture song was sung with both Japanese and English lyrics. Also, I didn't recognize many of the lyrics written down in the actual song that was sung--it didn't even come that close to the translation subtitles of the movie.
- Minmay repeatedly counting, "1, 2, 3, 4" near the end... was it really necessary to repeat that more than 3 times? I began to think that her face drawn like that from the side was kind of ugly too. The disgusting power of Engrish at work perhaps?
Sorry for experimenting with a "different" review style. I wrote a few recently and think that the usual format, broken up by the individual scores, wasn't really my style and that something more like the orthodox format that most pro reviewers use was worth trying out. I left out some names to avoid spoiling it (even though I do suck at remembering names). If you read this far, tell me if you like it and vote. :mymaster:
