Originally posted by Col.Dom
Not at all! Macross: Do You Remember Love (more affectionately called DYRL) is unedited. However, it has a sad and shaky history here in the states....
There have been no plans to import that version to the states (since we have Robotech, the licensing battle would be a total mess. As is, there is already a huge license war going on in Japan over Macross).
I thought the legal battles were over...
And Harmony Gold lost!
Seriously...
While I don't know very much about the legal wrangling over the ownership of Macross, I do know that a Japanese court ruled that while Harmony Gold did have the right to redo Macross as part of Robotech, HG did not have any other rights to the Macross licenses, because HG bought the rights from a company that didn't own those rights. It sounds like a decision of sorts has been made in the licensing war, although I suppose that doesn't mean that the other side couldn't be coming back for another round (and just to clarify, HG was not involved in the legal battles - the battles were largely between two Japanese companies).
Macross: Do You Remember Love is in something of a unique position. Macross has a somewhat convoluted continuity, which is what can happen when you have two TV series, an OVA, two movies, and a music video. But the "official" continuity is layed out like this:
Macross TV series -> Macross Plus -> Macross Seven
That is the "official" continuity history. Macross: Do You Remember Love is basically the story of the Macross TV series, but it plays out in an entirely different fashion. The key elements are still in place, the same people die (up through the defeat of Dolza), and the same relationships are in place, but the story itself is different. For example, Roy still dies, but he doesn't bleed to death in Claudia's living room this time. The movie has been incorporated into the continuity by explaining that DYRL is a dramatized version of the events that took place during the TV series.
Macross II (which is a four episode OVA that was later combined into a single movie) is off in a little world of its own. IIRC, it was made by a completely different group, and is set in the same continuity as DYRL. Of course, DYRL no longer exists. Actually, aside from the occasional reference to Minmei, and the Macross cannons (which are basically new SDFs), you could completely remove Macross II from the Macross continuity, and it wouldn't hurt the movie in the least.
It is possible that DYRL might be legally released in the US. After all, Harmony Gold allowed Animeigo to release a subtitled version of Macross (HG will only allow Macross footage to be dubbed if its Robotech). So it is possible that HG might not oppose a release of DYRL if it is only released in a subtitled format (and I would guess HG is the big reason why it hasn't been made available).
