Early in 2025, Big West re-released the classic Macross: Do You Remember Love? film in Japanese theaters. Ollie Barder on Forbes covered how magical watching the infamous motion picture on the big screen was. Watching Macross: Do You Remember Love? feels like a luxury for anyone who lives in the West, as there’s no legal way to view the film in theaters or streaming domestically. The common belief is that Harmony Gold still owns the rights to the characters featured in the original Macross show, thanks to its deal to use the series as part of Robotech. Harmony Gold confirms that properties like Macross: Do You Remember Love? are prohibited from being released in the United States at San Diego Comic Con 2023.
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The film opened in Japanese theaters in 1984, becoming one of the hallmarks of anime movies. Macross: Do You Remember Love?’s showstopper final act is recognized as one of the biggest anime scenes in history, firmly establishing Macross as a cultural icon. It’s shameful that the film is locked to its native homeland, preventing a wide population of anime fans from seeing it through legal means. If I could, I would literally walk to the offices of Harmony Gold and Big West, give them all the money, and have the film finally launch in the West. Is there any possibility of Macross: Do You Remember Love? eventually finding its way to the States? The answer is tricky.
What Led to Macross: Do You Remember Love? Being Banned in the West
The complicated legal issues between Macross and the United States’ Robotech are as legendary as it is confusing. While it is difficult to go into the specifics of the legal documents, the simplistic version is that Harmony Gold owned some rights for Macross outside of Japan because the original anime was used as part of Robotech. However, Harmony Gold couldn’t release the Macross sequels legally because of those same deals, leaving most of the franchise locked for decades. Some Macross sequels were able to sneak past the mumo-jumbo, with Macross Plus notoriously releasing Westward with an English dub starring Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston. Nonetheless, even Macross Plus would end up stuck in legal limbo because of the deals between Harmony Gold.
Even though fans view Harmony Gold as the red baron for this situation, especially since the company has a history of shady business, the company never intended for legalities to get so complicated. Harmony Gold had to prevent the Macross series from releasing in the West to keep its trademark on the brand, which was part of the deal it made with the Japanese rights owners, Big West. Justin Sevakis went over the complicated legalities for the Macross on Anime News Network in 2019, explaining how Harmony Gold wasn’t the only hurdle preventing Macross from being released overseas at the time. Sevakis wrote at the time that all that effort and legal legwork to get the Macross rights settled would essentially be the equivalent of finding a cure for cancer.
Sevakis wasn’t alone in his mentality, with multiple insiders, specialists, and fans believing getting around the legal hurdles for Macross would require a miracle. Yet, in probably one of the single most surprising news stories to hit the anime community, and probably proves the existence of miracles, Harmony Gold, Big West, and Studio Nue were able to agree to distribute Macross overseas in 2021. With a cure to the anime equivalent of cancer finally in fans’ grasp, all eyes were on Macross: Do You Remember Love.
Robotech‘s lead creator, Carl Macek, initially expressed interest in making Macross: Do You Remember Love? into the Robotech movie in the ’80s, as he briefly touched on in an interview with Anime News Network in 2010. However, instead, Macek adapted Megazone 23 into Robotech: The Movie. Since then, Macross: Do You Remember Love has been one of the biggest grails in the anime community. With the miracle of 2021, fans anticipated that the film would finally be released in the West. Unfortunately, as part of the 2021 deal, new Macross sequels with the classic characters from the original anime can’t be launched in the West because Harmony Gold still holds the rights to the characters, as they were used in Robotech.
[RELATED – Macross Is Already Huge but Falls Short of Gundam for One Simple Reason]
Is there Hope for the Macross Movie?
If I could, I would do everything to get Macross: Do You Remember Love? in the United States if I had enough influence in the industry. It feels very unjust for this iconic movie to stay trapped in Japan; the film is a gorgeous animated film that perfectly reflects the era in which it was released. The climactic final battle is one of the all-time great moments in anime films. It’s worth watching clips of the movie online, yet a theatrical experience with the film would be a magical experience.
Fortunately, Japanese Blu-rays and 4K discs can be easily imported from Japan through Amazon. The film’s unavailability makes it seem as if it’s temporary, with Harmony Gold writing that the movie is only “currently” unable to come to the States. While it may take another miracle on the same status as the 2021 deal, that aforementioned deal was something hardly anyone expected. Most of the series is now available on streaming, with Macross: Do You Remember Love? being the last holdover. Big West or Toho could request a temporary hold on the deal to allow the film to be played in select theaters for a limited time, though that seems less likely. It took nearly forty years for Harmony Gold and Big West to make the deal to end all deals, hopefully it won’t take another 40 for Macross: Do You Remember Love? to make it overseas.
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