The Yamato 2199 Secret Files

In order to entice fans back to movie theaters for multiple viewings of A Voyage to Remember and Ark of the Stars, this series of documents was given away with movie tickets. Measuring about 4″W x 6″H, they opened to reveal written material (approved by Series Director Yutaka Izubuchi) that expanded on details in the story.

There were a total of seven Secret Files, all of which are presented here.

A Voyage to Remember

Secret File 00 was bundled with the theater-exclusive Blu-ray of the film. 01 was handed out on opening weekend, October 11 2014. 02 and 03 followed during the subsequent weekends.

Secret Document 00

The blue shadow that cloaks Dessler – Underground activities of his bodyguards

President Abelt Dessler, the leader of the Garmillas race that has worshipped Iscandar since ancient times, has the aim of expanding his reach for the salvation of all intelligent life in space (the Iscandar principle). To that end, he has no hesitation about invading other planets and annexing them with military might.

In the depths of the great proposition that embodies the ideals of Iscandar, he developed feelings for Starsha when he met her in his younger days, and though he hid his very personal love for her, it could not be denied. In other words, he decided to obtain the absolute power of the presidency not for others, but as a means of following Starsha and realizing her thoughts. But the method he chose to achieve this noble purpose was a road to peace through military power.

The blue shadow that faithfully followed Dessler is his bodyguards. They originally started as private bodyguards, but grew rapidly through the machinations of Heydom Gimleh, who later became a director general. Maintaining security is a necessary evil for the continuing peaceful expansion of the Great Garmillas Empire, and it underwent a transformation into a bloated military organization that rivaled the national military.

In Gimleh’s cold and rational thinking, based on the rigid idea that “Doubt must be punished,” risk factors are immediately sanctioned, him seeing beauty in efficient nation-building.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 37

Secret Document 01

The top secret information that backed the covert operation during Domel’s last battle

Cleared of charges in the attempted presidential assassination, Eruk Domel was ordered by Dessler to subdue Yamato. Although he was forced to organize meager military units into his task force, he converted a second-class armament and a civilian aircraft into weapons for the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster. The success or failure of the strategy relied on a top secret prototype weapon called the “material transfer machine” [teleporter]. With the help of his friend, Secretary of Defense Velte Talan, it was deployed in time. But there was another mission aside from Yamato‘s destruction that blunted the quick nature of the strategy. This originated from top secret information about Yamato that was obtained by the central information bureau.

Prior to this strategy, Minister of Propaganda Mizela Celestella herself drew up a psychological warfare plan against Yamato in which the thoughts of an exceptionally talented special duty officer named Mirenel Link, from the same planet Jirel, invaded Yamato through the hyperspace network of the Akerius ruins. It was a top secret strategy meant to capture Yamato by hypnotizing the crew, but information about Yamato was captured at that time. In addition to the positions of its guns and the design of the crew uniforms, it turned out the Iscandar princess Yurisha was a passenger, and the duty of capturing her was added to Domel’s orders.

However, the intelligence was complicated by the presence of Yuki Mori, a dead ringer for the princess. The death of special duty officer Link occurred at that time, and information was compromised when Yurisha’s image was switched with Yuki’s as it was given to the special military platoon assigned as the recapture team. Therefore, although the infiltration of Yamato and the recapture was successful, Yuki Mori was abducted by mistake.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 37

Secret Document 02

Battle of the Imperial capital – Yamato saves the Garmillas race

In response to Yamato entering the Salezar solar system, Dessler intercepts it from Second Balerus using the Dessler Gun, his own successful attempt to develop a Wave-Motion Gun. However, Yamato invades Planet Garmillas from the inner solar system, the opposite side from Imperial Capital Balerus, and a blind spot for the Dessler Gun. Yamato approaches the Presidential Office by flying in at low altitude and dodging the air defense system. A battle erupts with the air guard fleet over the mainland, and Balerus is thrown into panic.

When Yamato crashes into the Presidential Office, Dessler drops Engineering Section 633 from Second Balerus to destroy Yamato and Balerus together, heedless of the harm it will do to the people. But Yamato held fast, not breaking away. The one who had to be shot was Dessler, not the Garmillas people…

As the madness of Dessler loomed overhead and everyone thought it was their final moment, a miracle occurred. Captain Okita decided to use the Wave-Motion Gun, and the blast of light fired off by Yamato disintegrated Engineering Section 633.

The Garmillas people were enveloped by brilliant light; the roar of the ultimate weapon of destruction suddenly made a power that brings peace. Yamato‘s actions were described later on Iscandar from Yurisha’s own mouth, and it moved the heart of Starsha, who had developed anxiety over the Earth peoples’ diversion of Wave-Motion Theory into a weapon. Okita gained her trust, and though Yamato did not originally have the full authority of Earth, an interim peace agreement was signed between Earth, Iscandar, and Garmillas in order to receive the Cosmo Reverse System.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 37

Secret Document 03

The steep but bright future of the Garmillas provisional government

After Yamato saved them from the fanatical attack by Dessler, the Garmillas cabinet began reconstruction under Vice President Redof Hyss, now the head of the interim government.

Although Hyss was ridiculed as a “figurehead” under the Dessler administration, he was clearly skilled at managing the non-military aspects of state affairs. During the battle of the imperial city in particular, he declared a state of emergency as Vice-President in the midst of the devastating crisis of Balerus to protect the lives of his citizens. Afterward, he denounced Dessler and became prime minister to prevent political turmoil in the wake of the president’s death, and engaged in earnestly constructing a new political system while maintaining national order.

However, it is impossible to dismantle the powerful military forces that had been previously built up. The threat of the “Gatlantis” barbarians still exists, and Garmillas has also entered an unpredictable situation with Earth now that both hold Wave-Motion weapons. And although Okita promised the non-use of Wave-Motion weapons, his standing is only as the captain of the single warship Yamato, not entrusted with the full authority of Earth. There is no guarantee that the Earth government will formally ratify their tentative agreement.

But when the Third Princess Yurisha of Iscandar, who has been the subject of worship since ancient times, expressed her commitment to go to Garmillas, it was a very significant move. Yurisha is a new symbol for the people after the loss of their strong leader, and becomes the spiritual pillar of reconstruction.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 37

Ark of the Stars

Secret File 01 was handed out on opening weekend, December 6 2014. 02 and 03 followed during the subsequent weekends. SPOILER WARNING: if you haven’t yet seen Ark of the Stars, you may prefer to avoid these.

Secret document 01

Threat of the Flame Strike Gun, tragedy of the Garmillas science slaves

The Zoellugut-class astro dreadnought of Garmillas has bow armor that can stand up to Yamato’s shock cannon, but it dissolves against the attack of Gatlantis’ Flame Strike Gun. However, the characteristics of that weapon, which far exceed the caliber of a standard ship’s cannon, are not limited to its destructive power. It can also be used to bombard enemy vessels from far outside their range through the technique of teleporting its caustic energy.

It is very similar to the matter teleportation machine of Garmillas. By order of President Dessler, technological research was undertaken to teleport soldiers through small dimensional jumps, and this led to a successful prototype weapon with the following structure.

First, a ship’s Wave-Motion Engine used for dimensional jumping (Geschtam jump) was driven to temporary overload to expand the dimensional overlap area outside the engine. This region of overlap was irradiated by a directed matter-teleportation wave to create a Geschtam hole (a hole in Minkowski space-time) to cause a Geschtam Jump phenomenon around the matter at the irradiation point. During the experiments with the prototype, teleportation failures frequently occurred when the Geschtam hole in the space-time continuum could not be maintained, and the matter could not be teleported. But it became clear that the space-time interference phenomenon that occurred in the Geschtam hole could be stabilized by the use of two teleportation machines simultaneously. Afterward, basic teleportation machines consisted of a pair. When the Domelaze III’s bridge was equipped with this teleportation machine prototype in the Battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster, it was quite useful in the surprise attack against Yamato.

However, there was an operational test ship that went missing in the top-secret experiments. Unfortunately, it had the bad luck of encountering a Gatlantis fleet and was captured. Some of the Garmillans who were taken prisoner were involved in the development of this plan, and their price to escape death was to become “science slaves.” The technique of the teleportation machine leaked to the Gatlantis side, and came to fruition with the energy system of the Flame Strike Gun. This fact can be understood from the characteristics of the Medaluza-class destroyers equipped with Flame Strike Guns. The catamaran shape of their bow houses a pair of energy tubes that form the teleportation pair, and their double outflow of energy strongly resembles the system developed by Garmillas.

In exchange for their lives, the Garmillas engineers gave up the teleportation technology system as science slaves…and no one knows what became of them afterward.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 40

Secret Document 02

Embers of the Izumo Plan, Ki 8-type prototype airboat

When the war with Garmillas that broke out in 2191 intensified, humans started to emigrate into underground cities. Without a breakthrough in the war situation, they could not withstand environmental change on a global scale, and it was predicted that the limit of energy self-sufficiency would be reached at the end of the 22nd century. Each country groped for its own means of survival, and emigration to other planets was investigated. On the initiative of the military leadership in the Far East District, the Izumo Plan was developed. But when relief was offered from Iscandar in 2198, the new space bureau of the United Nations initiated the Yamato Plan, and the Space Battleship Yamato was built for interstellar travel.

The Izumo Plan was frozen, but General Kotetsu Serizawa, one of its central figures, was skeptical about Yamato’s purpose. He established a police division within Yamato on the pretext of providing security for the long voyage, falsifying records so that members of the information bureau, such as Shinya Itou, could be sent on board as security personnel. They would take advantage of the Yamato Plan by examining the possibility of human emigration to other planets, and use armed force within the ship once conclusive evidence was obtained. Thus, in the middle of the outbound trip, a coup d’etat broke out over planet Beemera 4, instigated by Itou and others of the Izumo faction. However, the Yamato Plan’s Chief Administrator Heikuro Todo, who sensed threatening movements beforehand, had taken steps in the background to avoid bloodshed. Security officer Toru Hoshina, and six other guards under Todo’s direct command, secretly watched the movements of the Izumo faction from the inside.

Yamato had been remodeled from what was originally an escape ship for the Izumo Plan, and remnants of that time were everywhere. One was a hangar dome beneath the ship, located ahead of the third bridge. It was designed to withstand the pressure of a gas planet’s atmosphere, or the deep sea of an Earth-type planet. This section was designated as a storage container to house “special type-2 multi-purpose retrofit vehicles,” but was exclusively used for the Ki 8-type prototype airboat, a planetary exploration vehicle from the earlier program.

The Ki 8-type prototype airboat was designed for spaceflight to a planet, flight in an Earthlike atmosphere, running on or under water, and driving on solid ground. It was managed and equipped by Information Chief Niimi, who, like Itou, received secret orders from the Izumo faction. After the coup attempt was ended, the Ki 8 remained sealed up, but after the loss of two Cosmo Seagulls, it was decided to activate it for planetary exploration on the return trip, and it showed an unexpectedly high performance.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 41

Secret Document 03

Pilgrimage of the Jirellians, Legacy of Akerius

Beyond the outer edge of the Large Magellanic Galaxy is an invisible void of misty grey space. There, where people from both Earth and Garmillas became lost together, exists the derelict panet Shambleau, of the ancient Akerius civilization that built the “Geschtam gates” of the hyperspace network. Shambleau is worshipped as a sacred place by the Jirellian people, who cut off all ties with the outside world and went into hiding there.

The Jirellians are an exceptionally talented race who can read people’s minds, but are now on the verge of extinction. When the two Jirellian girls Miezela Celestella and Mirenel Link were rescued by Garmillas President Dessler, it was thought that they were the only two left. However, when their mother planet was destroyed, Lerelai led a handful of survivors on a pilgrimage to Shambleau, which allowed them to avoid extinction.

Celestella and Link lived on Garmillas from the time of their childhood, and as they grew up they earned special status because of their exceptional talents. After Yamato appeared, Dessler gave Celestella a special mission to capture the ship using the ghost linkage in the Akerian remains on planet Balun. A plot was developed for Link to covertly invade the thoughts of Yamato’s crew through the hyperspace network. Dessler needed to verify that a member of the Iscandar royal family was on board. In this plot, led by Celestella, Link used thought waves to invade the mainframe of Yamato, and the ship went out of control. But when she read the memories of Susumu Kodai and Yuki Mori, she was mislead by a hallucination. The fear of this dreadful power was probably also a poison that Dessler wanted for his own political machinations.

When Yamato wandered into the region of misty grey space, it was guided to planet Shambleau. An environment similar to the Amazon appeared on its internal surface, and lying there was the marine battleship Yamato of an earlier century. Even stranger was a stylish hotel found inside Yamato, a dazzling phenomenon similar to the plot against Yamato by Celestella and Link. The surviving Jirellians, who lived in seclusion on Shambleau, continued to block contact with outside races. They used their power as a negative force to compel the invaders to their sacred place into fighting each other. However, the three tribes of humanoids – Earth, Garmillas, and Jirellians – who all arose from the same seeds sown by Akerius – joined hands and awakened the ancient Shambleau from sleep…and it transformed into an “ark.”

In fact, Shambleau had crossed the galaxy as an interstellar seeding ship to give rise to humanoid life. The crystalline Shambleau had been built from the super-science of Akerius, perhaps as a device to lead people to a world free of conflict.

Return to Yamato 2199 Report 41

The End

Special thanks to Neil Nadelman for translation support

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