To commemorate a new 4K remaster, a limited theatrical showing of Macross: Do You Remember Love? has been held in Tokyo, and it was amazing.
Released in 1984, Macross: Do You Remember Love? is arguably one of the high points of 80s anime. The insane level of handcrafted detail in terms of the art and animation is the stuff of legend, and seeing all of that on the big screen was a lot to take in.
Now, I’ve seen this movie at least a hundred times over the years. Almost every frame is etched into my brain, but each time I watch it, I always come away thinking something new.
This time, though, it was different, as it was in a proper theater and with a new 4K remaster to boot (shown below). In short, this is the best quality I have ever seen the movie, and it was fascinating to watch.
First of all, while the artwork in Macross: Do You Remember Love? is renowned among anime fans, when you see it up close, you can see that a few of the shots aren’t quite in focus.
This was partly visible on prior Blu-ray releases, but on the big screen, it’s clear that some aspects of certain scenes weren’t properly captured.
I originally thought this was due to how the master had been stored, but now that I see it on the big screen, I think it was just always this way.
That said, the 4K remaster does a tremendous amount of work cleaning up everything else, and the movie definitely benefits from the extra effort.
Secondly, getting to see the designwork of both Shoji Kawamori and Kazutaka Miyatake at this level of fidelity was also amazing. The complexity of the mecha designs in this movie has always been impressive, but on the big screen and remastered like this it’s even more impactful.
It’s also worth highlighting here that he prior censorship of the PlayStation 3-era Blu-ray, which included a small game on the disc, has now been removed.
This was due to CERO game ratings, as the movie has some segments that are a bit bloody and show heads being cut off. If left in, this would have bumped up the CERO rating to the dreaded Z level and drastically limited the sales of the old PlayStation 3 boxset. Since no game is bundled on the disc now, the censorship is gone, and the movie is left intact.
There’s also a 4K remaster Blu-ray release in the next few days for Macross: Do You Remember Love? but as I went to the theatrical showing I was able to pick one up early, so a review will be forthcoming. Especially as this Blu-ray release now includes English subtitles for the first time.
In any case, seeing Macross: Do You Remember Love? on the big screen after all these years is definitely a high point for me as a long-time fan of the movie. I just wish that it could be properly released internationally so that fans globally could experience it theatrically firsthand.
At least for now, the rest of Macross is available on streaming via Hulu. Some very nice Blu-ray releases are also on the way, with Macross Plus being one of the first.
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