Macross: Do You Remember Love? is a future fairy tale. You have to have a cold heart a jaded soul to not be touched by this glittering lovers fantasy. Its as cool and stylish as it is hopelessly romantic. It has some of the best traditional animation youll ever see and a truly classic look to everything from the machines to the settings to the abstract dreamy ephemeral backdrops that the characters sometimes sing or talk in front of when emotions are running high to the characters themselves. The battle for love takes place among the twinkling stars that guide and cross the characters fates. Ill admit I first tried to watch this film years ago after giving up on the series a few episodes in. I gave up on the film too feeling a bit incredulous toward the on the nose representation of a battle between the power of love embodied by humanity and the force of unfeeling unconscious war and conquest represented by dorky monumental green aliens one of whom has a giant pulsating brainhead. The aliens are horrified by the fact that human aka miclone men and women live together and even more horrified by the fact that they hug and KISS. Dont make me yack de culture I mean although it gets to be a little more complicated than that the premise is a little silly. No one can really deny that. But it wouldnt be such a great modern scifi fairytale if it were otherwise. Isnt the moral of the story equally obvious in say Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast? A work of art which as far as anime go this one undeniably is isnt meant to be flawless but to carry something inside it that transcends its flaws. So when I returned to this film for the second time with a few dozen more anime under my belt and growing weary of approaching everything with a calculating serious critical eye all of time I came back to Do You Remember Love? with a bit more patience and a rather more open heart. By the end of the story my heart was fully in bloom. Ill keep my analysis short this time but there will be some spoilers as usual. Although I have been pretty firm so far about my characterization of this story as a fairy tale I think its worth noting that even though the day is seemingly saved and everything is ostensibly reconciled with a fairytale conclusion at the end of this story what it seems to say about the future of the human race and the power of culture is not all that tidy and not without any traces of suspicion. The premise of Macross reminds me in a few ways of Evangelion though obviously it predates Eva by quite some time. Whereas Adam is the progenitor of humans indirectly and Angels in Evangelion the Protoculture generates the Zentradi/Meltrandi and humans alike in Macross. Like in Evangelion the humans in Macross do battle with a species that little do they know is not totally Other but a mirroring of itself despite how incomprehensible or hideous they may seem. Then ultimately the tool used to defeat the Zentradi and apparently end warfare is a popular love song from deep in the Protocultures past. But what is the actual effect of this love song? The climax of the film which takes place during Minmays rendition of the song is a battle. The song unites the Zentradi Meltrandi and humans against a faction of the Zentradi that is resistant to acceptance of culture culture being defined by the Zentradi themselves productive creative acts not related to warfare. Minmays music is an example of culture. Yet the love song that saves the day is merely a call to arms that unites once quarreling forces against a common foe. Its a battle cry. The Zentrandi remark at the end of the film upon how there are 1000s of fleets left to destroy but one says to the other Still look at what one song was able to accomplish? What the song accomplished was the utter annihilation of their foe. Culture according to the narrative is a powerful weapon. Earlier in the story Minmay uses her music to help her fans forget their sorrow. Later she uses a forgotten pop song to unite everyones hearts against those who refuse to join in the union. Music for all the good it seems to accomplish seems nevertheless to function as a kind of analgesic mind control tool. What does that say about the fact that the song that had the immense power to turn the tides of battle was just a pop song of the type of music that comes a dime a dozen on radio broadcasts and streaming platforms that we the viewers listen to without a second thought day in and day out? What does that say about this movie a piece of pop culture itself? Do we take what we take in for granted? Should we be as careful as we are grateful with regards to how we let the cultural artifacts we embrace affect our hearts? After all the humans at the end of the story havent eradicated war. They havent eliminated lovers quarrels. A sometimes bitter love triangle is at the heart of the story. Theyve survived the apocalypse but conflict remains. Minmay is love that cannot be hidden but she is pure performance. She cannot articulate the words for herself. Hayase has the heart of love beating inside of her but she cannot present herself as a woman as affectionate. At the end of the story theyve reconciled. They restore love to its rightful place by reconstructing an old forgotten song together content and performance. But as they do the Zetrandi fly off to eradicate anyone else who would stand against Culture. Content and performance. The protoculture world has in essence been restored and while its a beautiful triumphant moment thats really all it can be. The city has risen from beneath the earth. We remember love. But what we remember we can easily forget again and perhaps we are doomed to. Then well remember again.