The animation doesn't just look good, it moves like nothing else from 1984, and forty years later it still embarrasses modern shows trying the same shots. Hikaru and Minmay's relationship breaks the idol-love-interest template because the movie actually lets you feel the weight of choosing between two people when the world is ending around you. The space battles are choreographed with a precision that makes every frame count, and by the end you understand why this one movie shaped what mecha anime could be.

In 2009, humanity is locked in a war with giant alien races, the male Zentraedi and the female Meltrandi, while the space fortress Macross, flung to the far edge of the Solar System, makes its way back to Earth. Pilot Hikaru Ichijo rescues the idol singer Lynn Minmay during combat, and the two grow close while stranded somewhere inside the ship. But when Minmay is captured by the enemy and Hikaru ends up on Earth with officer Misa Hayase, they find their civilization in ruins. The war's outcome now rests on an ancient song and Minmay's voice. As the war goes on and others frown on the romance because of Minmay's fame, the film asks whether love and music can bring peace. Mecha battles, romance and the power of song come together in this science fiction film.