Lynn Minmay

Lynn Minmay (Japanese: リン・ミンメイ Rin Minmei, Chinese: 鈴明美 / 林明美 Líng Míngměi / Lín Míngměi) is a fictional anime character from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross television series and Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie. She is also in Macross: Flash Back 2012 music video collection. The first Macross series and its Minmay character was adapted as the first part of the Robotech television series. Minmay is the embodiment of the music that plays a crucial role in setting Macross apart; as such, she has become the iconic character of that series.

In Macross (and Robotech), Minmay is a love interest of the main character Hikaru Ichijyo (Rick Hunter in Robotech) and becomes an idol singer and film star on board the spacecraft SDF-1 Macross. Her songs, which cause confusion amongst alien Zentradi soldiers, play a critical role in Space War I against Boddole Zer's Zentradi fleet.

The original Japanese Minmay is voiced by Mari Iijima, who also wrote some of the songs and sang for the series. She became a famous J-pop singer in part due to the success of the series. Iijima has also undertaken to reprise the role in the English dub of the series for ADV. This would be the second time that a key character in an anime series was voiced by the same voice actor in both Japanese and English.

Minmay is of Japanese and Chinese descent. Her father Lynn Paochun (鈴宝雄 Líng Bǎoxióng) is Chinese and her mother Shigeyo (しげよ) is Japanese. An English translation of the Chinese characters in Lynn Minmay's name is "bright and beautiful bell". The localizers of Macross in Chinese-speaking territories changed the character 鈴 (Líng, "bell") for her family name to 林 (Lín "grove"). To some extent, the morale raised by Lynn Minmay in Space War I is very reminiscent of Vera Lynn during the Second World War.