The 15th Anniversary Logo. Costume players of (l to r) Macross 7's Miho Miho, Milia Fallyna Jenius, Maximilian Jenius, and Gadget M. Chiba stand at attention. That dark mass in the background isn't the line before the concert — it's the line after the concert for the merchandising.

What could be better than an Ishtar concert? A Fire Bomber concert? A Sharon Apple/Myung concert even? How about a concert with all three — and the Macross idol, Lynn Minmay?
Last month, Big West, Victor Entertainment and Bandai celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of MACROSS with Macross One-Night Stand, a live concert at the capacious Shibuya Public Hall in Tokyo. It featured every major Macross work, including the first THE SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS series, the later film DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?, Flash Back 2012, MACROSS PLUS, and MACROSS 7 . Even the parallel story THE SUPER DEMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS II: LOVERS, AGAIN was slotted into the program. (After all, arguably the best part of MACROSS II was the music.)
Headlining the event were none other than Fukuyama Yoshiki (MACROSS 7's Nekki Basara of Fire Bomber), Kasahara Hiroko (MACROSS II's Ishtar), Arai Akino (MACROSS PLUS's Sharon/Myung), Kanno Youko (MACROSS PLUS composer and musician) and special guest Iijima Mari (Minmay). This was no small feat; Kasahara and Iijima do not record under the Victor label anymore, but under Pioneer and East West Japan respectively. As a result, the concert organizers had to negotiate their appearances. The good news is that those negotiations also led to new Macross tie-ups — more on that later.
The opening act came in the form of animated clips spanning the 15 years of Macross. The first was a preview of the upcoming video series MACROSS DYNAMITE 7, followed inexplicably by a CLAMP SCHOOL DETECTIVES ad. However, the crowd roared when the first strains of the original Macross opening theme began playing. What followed were the trailers or the credit-less opening and ending animation for each major Macross work. The audience laughed when the DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? trailer ended with an outdated ad for "the special limited pre-sale ticket with Macross badge. Now on sale for 1,100 yen (Adult/Student/Child)! Please buy it at this theater (quickly!)" The audience reserved the biggest laughs, however, for the super-deformed opening from the 1990 Macross television rebroadcast.

Iijima Mari, the voice for Lynn Minmay.

While the animated clips were a wonderful nostalgic touch, the audience were fidgeting long before the clips surpassed the 20-minute mark. At last, Iijima Mari quietly walked on stage to the appreciative cheers of the audience. She has a reputation for avoiding the Macross legacy over the years, which made her first words after introducing herself all the more sweeter: "Today, it's all right to call me Minmay." She even joked about being embarrassed nowadays to sing "Kyuun, kyuun" from "Watashi no Kare wa Pairotto" or "My Boyfriend's a Pilot." Iijima noted that the Shibuya Public Hall was full of memories for her, for she held her 1983 debut concert at this very site. She also introduced her husband James Studer, a studio producer and session musician who accompanied her on the solo piano for all of her songs at the concert.
With that, she opened into her first song "Sunset Beach" from the first Macross series and subsequent DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE? film. Although she started out with trouble on a few high notes, she quickly returned to form and demonstrated how after so many years, the veteran can still teach a few things to up-and-coming idols and voice-actresses-turned-singers. (She turns 35 next May.)
Later, she introduced and sang "Mikazuki no Kanuu: A Crescent Moon Canoe," the ending theme for the TV Tokyo production Nerawareta Gakuen and her latest single. She mentioned her new album and concert tour this year (both entitled "Europe") and how she came over from her home in Los Angeles for the concerts. She thanked the audience for remembering her performance with Macross and noted it would not be her last. This November, East West Japan and Victor will be selling two singles with an Iijima-written song entitled "Friends -Jikuu wo Koete-" ("Friends: Surpassing Time and Space," a word play on the Chou Jikuu/Super Dimension appellation). Unlike previous collaborations, Iijima and Sakurai Tomo (the speaking voice for MACROSS 7's Mylene Jenius) will duet this piece together.
Finally, she described what she considered a most wonderful song (a sentiment heartily affirmed by the audience), "Ai Oboete Imasu Ka" or "Do You Remember Love?" from the Macross film of the same name. She offered to sing it — if the audience would sing along with her. When she began singing however, the audience was too awe-struck to join her nigh-perfect rendition. Only in the final two choruses at Iijima's gentle urging did most of the audience work up the courage to join her. Words cannot describe what it felt to have been part of this experience as a Macross enthusiast. Only meeting Kawamori Shouji himself could surpass being part of the audience during this performance.