Publisher: Victor Entertainment
Format: VHS, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue
Length: 50 minutes
Original Release Date: 21 September 1985
Animation Exclusive to this Release: Yes
Other Sources (Japanese unless noted): Genesis Climber Mospeada Box (Laserdisc, 1992), Genesis Climber Mospeada Volume 6 (DVD, 2001), Genesis Climber Mospeada Box (DVD, 2007), Genesis Climber Mospeada Blu-ray Box (2013), Robotech: The Complete Set (DVD, 2013, USA, Japanese Dialogue with Optional English Subtitles), Robotech: Love Live Alive (DVD, 2014, UK, Japanese Dialogue with Optional English Subtitles), Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and Love Live Alive 2-Movie Collection (DVD, 2014, UK, Japanese Dialogue with Optional English Subtitles), Genesis Climber Mospeada Blu-ray Box (2017)
Currently Availability (as of writing): Genesis Climber Mospeada Blu-ray Box (2017)
Very few anime music video compilations have ever had a commercial English language home video release. This one only made the cut as it was attached to the “Robotech” franchise. Announced and released in 2013, “Robotech: Love Live Alive” is an adaption of the original “Mospeda: Love Live Alive”. It’s a pretty dire adaptation which pads out a 50 minute music video compilation to about 90 minutes, mostly with recycled animation from the “Mospeda” TV series. Luckily some video releases of “Robotech: Love Live Alive” got “Mospeda: Love Live Alive” subtitled as a bonus. This is a far more interesting video. Created as bookend to the TV series, it follows the character Yellow Belmont as he makes his way to a concert he is performing at. First up though, a rundown on the “Mospeda” series;
By the mid 21st century, mankind has begun to colonise Mars. In 2050, a mysterious alien race called the Inbit invades Earth. The population is decimated and the Earth is all but defeated. Those who can leave Earth via shuttles and seek refuge on Mars. In 2080, mankind regroups and reequips themselves with newly developed military hardware in an attempt to wipe the Inbit from the face of the Earth. But the forces from Mars are decimated before they can enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Three years later a second force is sent in to directly attack and destroy the Inbit’s main base, called Reflex Point, which is located in North America. Amongst the troops sent in from Mars is Lieutenant Stig Bernard who proposes to his girlfriend, Marlene, just hours before the troops are scheduled to attack. Though she initially tells him she wants to think it over, Marlene says yes moments before he is about to be deployed and hands him a pendant with a holographic message inside it.
As per the previous battle three years ago, the Inbit attack the fleet before they can enter the atmosphere. The battle does not go well for the Mars troops, with many of the fighters wiped out. The ship Marlene is on is destroyed while entering the atmosphere, but Stig manages to crash land somewhere in South America in his fighter. Seemingly the sole survivor of the battle, Stig, unfamiliar with the Earth’s weather and wildlife, is stunned and sadden by Marlene’s death as he watches the holographic message she gave him. Regardless, Stig decides to procede with the orginal pan and heads to Reflex Point using his Ride Amour, a transformable motorbike named Mospeada, which can turn into a robotic type of battle amour. Along the way Stig comes across a young man called Ray, also on a Mospeada which he has salvaged from a crashed battleship, being attacked by the Inbit. Stig destroys the attackers and asks Ray if he knows where the other Mars troops are. Ray says he hasn’t seen any troops for a long time.
Despite the fact the pair don’t get along well, both ride to the next town where they come across a short childlike young woman called Mint who has just been dumped by her boyfriend. After Stig asks the townsfolk if there are any troops stationed there, they are directed to an abandoned section of the town where the Inbit attack them. Later it is revealed that the townsfolk sold them out to the Inbit in exchange for protection. Disgusted with them, Mint leaves with Stig and Ray for the next town. There the trio discover the townsfolk are harassed by a local gang. They come across famous wandering female singer Yellow in a bar, and along with a woman named Houquet Emrose (who helped them fight off the Inbit in her own Mosopeda in the previous town), throw them out of the bar. The gang later kidnap the friend of a man named Jim Austin, a former soldier who hides the fact he is a deserter. But with the help of Stig and his new colleagues, they manage to free Jim’s friend as well as fight off an Inbid attack which happens almost simultaneously. When Yellow asks to join Stig his hodgepodge crew, he says he won’t let women join. Yellow then reveals that she is actually a man. Yellow soon joins Jim, Houquet, Mint and Ray on their journey to Reflex Point.
All of the songs in this compilation are form a newly recorded album of the same name which was released on the same day as this music video compilation. As far as I can figure out the vast majority of songs are originals, with only a few being re-recordings of previously released songs. Most songs are sung by Jin Haneoka (who previously performed songs for the “GoShogun” anime) who is backed by While Rock Band who wrote and performed most of the music on the previous “Mospeada” soundtracks. Interestingly Jin Haneoka's name is written in hiragana on the album, while his non-anime music album releases have his name written in kanji.
“Mind Tree” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
The first video contains all new animation. It depicts Yellow riding his motorbike through forests and later small cites in ruins as nature takes over seems to swallow them whole. The scars of the now ended war are apparent with hulks of old battle damaged war machines dotting the landscape. Yellow stops for a short break in his journey and reminisces by going through old photographs of his colleagues. Yellow later arrives at the concert venue which is out in a field. In the band’s trailer he greets his fellow bandmates and gets ready for the concert.
“Fire!” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
Night has fallen and Yellow is ready to perform. He walks out of his trailer towards the stage and is given encouragement by staff members along the way. On stage he calls out the crowd to hype them up and rips into his first song. Early into the song the new animation ends and switches to footage form the TV series. Most of it is sourced from the early portions of the first episode but it also includes several scenes from various battle sequences. This song is a remake of “Yattsukero!”, originally performed by Mine Matsuki and While Rock Band which was first released on the first “Genesis Climber Mospeada” soundtrack in December 1983.
“Clap!! Clap!! Clap!!” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
Though there is no footage of the concert in this video, the crowd can be heard cheering as Yellow goes straight into his second song at the concert. Most of the footage for this song is sourced from episode nine, “Lost World Fugue”, which is probably one of the odder episodes in the series. It involves most of the cast falling into a “Genesis Pit”, which like an experimental area for the Inbid. The area looks like the Jurassic period and filled with dinosaurs. Random action footage from several other episodes is mixed in.
“Dream Road” performed by Mine Matsuki and While Rock Band
We go back to concert and new animation where Yellow addresses the crowd stating that the concert has got off to a great start. He says the next song is a love song. Here Yellow reverts to his female voice, provided by Mine Matsuki who not only provides his singing voice but the female dialogue for Yellow in the anime. The song soon switches to footage from the anime, mostly culled from episode 11, “Lullaby of Distant Hope”, in which Yellow reminisces about his former fiancé whom he had to leave.
“Midnight Rider” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
We take a break from the concert as a female journalist interviews Yellow in his dressing room. As Yellow now dresses as man and no longer performs as a woman, the journalist asks him why. He later talks about his former colleagues he was with during the war. The footage then cuts to several clips from the show highlighting their relationships within the group. After a couple of minutes of clips, we briefly return to the interview before finally going to the song, which is naturally 100% footage from the series, mostly battle sequences and various performances of Yellow singing.
“Crystal Moment” performed by While Rock Band
Unlike the other songs on the compilation, this one is an instrumental. From what I can gather, unlike While Rock Band’s other tracks for the series, this album uses drum machines quite heavily. They are also quite high in the mix as well, possibly too high. For me personally I think they do drown out the rest of the instrumentation and are quite distracting. Like most of the videos in this compilation, various battles sequences make up the footage. A clip from the show at the end of the video highlights Yellow’s first encounter with the humanoid Inbid pilot Sorji.
“Devil's Eye” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
While like the majority of songs on this compilation this video does contain mostly edited shots from the TV series, this one is slightly different as it also contains around six rather stylised drawings of Yellow inserted several times during the video at various points, drawn by Yoshitaka Amano who did the original character designs of the cast. Amano is probably best known to anime fans as the original character designer for “Vampire Hunter D”. At the end of the video, a clip from episode 15, “The Ballad of Breaking Up”, is inserted which highlights the temporary break up of Stig’s group.
“Blue Rain” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
The clip from the previous video segues into the next one. This song is a remake of the TV series’ ending them, originally sung by Andy Koyama and Mine Matsuki, which first appeared as a B-side to the 7 inch vinyl single of the opening theme, “In Search of Lost Dreams”, in May 1983. I keeping with the theme of the song, the editors have taken things a bit too literally and have included mostly sequences involving rain, especially episode 21, “Arpeggio of Assassination”. Episode 23, “Black Hair's Partita” in which Aisha, a young woman with amnesia whom the group discover and take in, has her secret revealed to her astonished colleges.
“Love is Free” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
We are treated to another clip, this time from the penultimate episode, “The Dark Finale”. Here Stig’s group say their goodbyes as they prepare to go into battle against the Inbid at Reflex Point, not knowing if they’ll see each other ever again. The song itself is mostly set to footage from this episode and the final one; lots of battle footage, some from orbit and some on the ground at Reflex Point. Towards the end of the song, we are treated to new animation of the concert as it ends and Yellow says to the crowd “Love is free, love is love!”. This song is an original by Jin Haneoka, the only song on the album which wasn’t composed by While Rock Band.
“Heart Wave” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
With the concert long over, Yellow sits on the stage by himself late at night with his eyes closed. Lights shine on his face and Yellow open his eyes to find Stig, Ray, Jim, Houquet, Mint and Aisha holding torches waiting for him. The group reminisce about the old days around a campfire near a tree in the rain (recalling the closing animation in the TV series). The next morning just before dawn, Yellow gets up while the others sleep, says his goodbyes and leaves without waking them. However it is revealed to the audience that the others were awake all the time and they sadly watch him leave. We later see Yellow’s home and his partner (I’m not going to spoil who it is) waiting for him. But Yellow still has concerts to perform. We see him at his campsite near a river as he composes a new song. His partner can be heard saying “I Love You” as the video ends.
“Horizon” performed by Jin Haneoka and While Rock Band
The concluding video is mostly various shots of characters edited from the TV series with an early emphasis on Stig’s relationship with Marlene. As per other videos there’s lot of battle sequences and shots of the other characters. Finally the credits begin over a shot of a photo frame containing a group shot of the cast on stage playing instruments. Right at the end a motorcycle can be heard stopping and someone running to a door and opening it, implying that Yellow has returned home to his partner. This song is a remake of “Areno e” by Mine Matsuki and While Rock Band which appeared on “Genesis Climber Mospeada Vol. III Live at Pit Inn”, an actual live recording and was released in June 1984.
I’m not a big fan of this series, but this set of songs and their accompany videos aren’t too bad. It’s a nice way to end the series without producing a new OVA or film for it. Despite my dislike of the very heavy and very electronic sounding drum machine, most of the songs aren’t too bad at all. “Devil's Eye” and “Fire!” are probably my favourites. The animation isn’t too bad either, but barely gets above what was seen in the TV series. Oddly all of the song titles are English, including the re-recorded songs which originally had Japanese titles. Not sure why that decision was taken for this project.
Unlike most anime music video compilations, this one is pretty easy to get. There is a Blu-ray box set of the series currently in print from NBCUniversal in Japan which contains this compilation as an extra. However the price tag for that set is ¥19,440 and of course contains no English subtitles. A&E Entertainment’s “Robotech: The Complete Set” contains the compilation as an extra, but is out of print. It is easy to find on the second hand market for as low as US$40, but typically goes for US$80 to over US$200 depending on the seller and condition. It is of course subtitled, but the subs are a little shonky with random quotation marks around some subs and oddities such as Stig subtitled as Stick. The single disc UK version of “Robotech: Love Live Alive” probably provides the best value (if your player can play region 2 and PAL discs). It is out of print as well, but on the second hand market goes for £3 to £10. The subtitle issues on the US version are identical to the UK one.
Overall, this is quite a decent set of music videos which add a lot of story to the end of the “Mospeada” series. But if you haven’t seen the TV series previously, you probably won’t be able to follow what is going on. With that said this compilation is probably for fans of the show only.
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