Macross: Clash of the Bionoids

Original Title: 超時空要塞マクロス 愛・おぼえていますか
Romanized: Choujiku Yousai Makurosu: Ai Oboetemasuka
Literal: Superdimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love

Plot Synopsis

Two Bionoid armies attack earth, and earth fights back with the giant Macross fortress. Things go quite badly until the Earthlings discover a strange property human rock music has when applied to Bionoids.

Quick Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Arcane
Review Date: 2000-09-15

Now Macross: Clash of the Bionoids (a.k.a Macross '84: Do You Remember Love, the name of the subtitled version) delivers interesting plot and some great robot-smashing aerial sequences with varying degrees of success. The plot was engaging enough I suppose, although nothing really special, with the usual struggle to swallow the idea that a song could stop a war. The action sequences were, surprisingly, extremely good, although they couldn't stand up to Macross Plus, but that's to be expected. The mecha designs were nice and varied, and it was a lot of fun watching the Meltrandi beat the living hell out of the surprised Zentraedi. The love triangle was left a bit undeveloped, but there wasn't much to say about it anyway. Unfortunately, this Macross movie was let down appallingly on one rather major factor--although the music was alright, the dubbing was DREADFUL!

The movie is okay, but the voices really stuffed it up bad. It is enjoyable otherwise, and I'd recommend it for the Macross/Robotech fan, warn Macross/Robotech haters to stay away, and suggest "just give it a go if you feel like it" to people who are indecisive about the whole Macross thing.

US DVD Review

None exists as of this writing.

Content Guide

The full version is probably in the 13-up range; the edited one is appropriate for most ages if you find the space violence acceptable.

Violence: 2 - Surprisingly violent for Macross. Watch the Meltrandi massacre the Zentraedi!

Nudity: 2 - One brief topless shot of Minmay in a zero-G shower.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Romance, but not really mature at all.

Language: 1 - Nothing of note.

Notes and Trivia

This movie lies somewhere to the side of the Macross continuity; it is a rough re-telling of the events of the original Macross TV series in movie form, and so doesn't exactly fit anywhere chronologically.

It's important to note that the 1991 US video release was edited significantly from the original film. The dub was, apparently, originally produced for the Japanese market (the entire film was dubbed, and the full version was apparently available in some areas), which may explain the poor quality. Reader "Gail Chan" sent us some comments comparing the "Clash of the Bionoids" version with the uncut original:

"Well, I know Macross: Clash Of The Bionoids was a bit tattered. The original movie was actually 115 minutes long, and there were many scenes "edited" out of the movie for time, and it was a kid movie company that distributed it. The original version was WWWAAYYYY better... and there was more character development than the [edited] version. Perhaps [they] just wanted to get to the action scenes. But a lot of scenes were edited. Cmdr. Fokker's death was edited... but very dramatic. A slight shower scene of Minmay in zero-g was edited too. Milia 1809's surprise attack had scene's edited (believe me she did more that beat the hell out of them). There was some violence (some parts are a wee bit graphic) and some mature themes. A makeout scene with Roy and Claudia, and Roy, Max, and Kanzaki springing up on Hikaru about his "time" with Minmay."

Availability

Was available on dubbed (and edited) VHS in the US way back in the early '90s, but has been out of print for a very long time. The original film has not been released in the US as of this writing.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store