Presenting historical research in timeline form is always a tricky undertaking, because history seldom reveals itself in chronological order. New stuff always pops up after you thought a subject was closed, and your original mission statement demands that it be accommodated. In the Vintage Report series, this was handled with occasional roundups of accumulated backlog. The series has run its course, but the backlog still rolls in.
If your preference is to see it in historical context, no worries; all of this has been threaded into the Vintage Reports. But if you just want to browse what’s been found since your last check-in, this page is here to serve.
1978
May 10: Cell Copy Collection doujinshi
CBYC (Cosmo Battleship Yamato Connection) was the fan club that published this collection, produced by editor Tomoko Watanabe. It was another one that typified the mission of the early years, bringing rescued production materials to as many fans as possible. Its 32 pages consisted of both photocopied cells and animation layouts with quoted lines from the scenes they appeared in.
See it from cover to cover here
June 24: Monthly Seventeen, August issue
This girl’s manga magazine from Shueisha gave readers a goal with a 4-page article titled “The two biggest SF movies for summer vacation.” You’ll recognize the first one, which opened in Tokyo and Osaka the day this magazine was published, then on July 1st nationwide.
One page turn revealed the other movie, Farewell to Yamato, to open August 5. A short synopsis closed with this paragraph:
SF animation movies also bring together the best of science and utilize every conceivable fantasy to depict a grand cosmic romance across the entire screen.
November: Post office campaign
Public recognition through record box office success is one thing. But we all REALLY know that the true mark of approval comes from cooperative advertising with your national post office. Japan Post did exactly that, using Yamato to motivate customers to get their New Year’s holiday postcards into the mail. This tie-in was initiated by the Kanto Postal Bureau, and these posters were displayed in 3,000 regional post offices in the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo. The goal was to remind everyone to send off their New Year’s postcards before December 20.
Left: We are setting off toward New Year’s Day, 1979. The date was December 20.
Center: A message for the year 1979. New Year’s postcards with lottery numbers for 1980 are now on sale!
Right: New Year’s cards cannot be sent by warp (instantaneous mass transfer). Send your New Year’s cards early so they arrive in time for New Year’s Day!
Also spotted in 1978
Japan Industrial Location Center posters
Don’t feel left out if you’ve never seen these before. Evidently, they weren’t intended for public viewing. O.G. superfan Toshihiro Watanabe explains:
These three posters were from the Japan Industrial Location Center, unfamiliar to the general public. The center was established in 1962. As the name suggests, it is a corporation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, focusing on industrial location. The posters appear to have been created when the organization was renamed the Japan Location Center Foundation in 1978, and an energy location division was added at the same time. Might they only have been displayed within government ministries?
The text on these posters reads as follows:
Left: I’m leaving it to you!! / The new energy source to replace finite oil is in your hands…
Center: With our own hands / Already, 100% of our electricity comes from nuclear power. From now on, it will be in our own hands…
Right: Energy forever / Coal, oil, nuclear…human prosperity with energy
Pepsi prize campaign
Surprise! Not every licensor associated with Farewell to Yamato had a Japanese name! The actual Pepsi Corporation took a step into anime tie-ins with free prizes that gave fans more loot to chase down. Today, they survive as collectibles.
Read more about it and see all the products and the promotional posters here
1979
January 11: Middle 1st Year Course, February issue
Gakken’s student digest for 7th graders didn’t contain a dedicated Yamato article, but folded it into an 11-page opus titled “Anime Enjoy Encyclopedia.” The front-page teaser reads, “Here are some behind-the-scenes stories from popular anime, just for you. There are tons of stories that will make watching TV anime 3 times more enjoyable!!”
See the entire article here
March 1: Bungeishunju Deluxe 3, TV Anime Character Encyclopedia
Bungeishunju is both a magazine and a publishing company, dated back to the 1920s. They specialize in history, culture, politics, and current events but also devoted some time to pop culture in a series of “deluxe” volumes such as those shown above. In March 1979, they published volume 3 in this series, a large-format 172 page compendium of characters from TV anime.
Farewell to Yamato earned this 2-page spread with the following description by scriptwriter Keisuke Fujikawa:
Inspired by Noah’s Ark, this work depicts the dream of ships flying through space. In the first installment, in order to save Earth from radioactive contamination by Gamilas, young people such as Susumu Kodai, Daisuke Shima, and Yuki Mori travel 148,000 light years to Iscandar to retrieve a radiation removal device. Following the experienced Captain Juzo Okita, they confront issues of life, death, and love. The first story is based on the love between Kodai and Mori. If this is considered the foundation, then the second installment is essentially the practical application, where the protagonist receives a message of crisis from the planet Telezart and battles the White Comet Empire, which is plotting to conquer the universe. The love between Kodai and Mori grows from a personal love to a love for humanity and the universe.
Learn more about Bungeishunju here
1980
August 1: Bouken Oh [Adventure King], September issue
Bouken Oh didn’t publish a Be Forever article in this issue, which was a strange choice since the movie would open the next day, but it did include a Be Forever postcard and a special bundled item…
Tucked inside the magazine was a sun visor that could be unfolded and clasped around your noggin to keep Hyperon Bomb radiation at bay.
September: Yamato III commercial
The fall season was coming up fast, and Nippon TV gathered up the new anime shows into a single commercial that promoted Tetsuwan Atom (Oct 1), Tetsujin 28-Go (Oct 3), Yamato III (Oct 11) and Tomorrow’s Joe 2 (Oct 13). The use of Sasha’s image was a curious choice, but she was the undisputed Yamato star of the summer.
See the commercial here
October 9: Middle 1st Age, November issue
Two days before the premiere of Yamato III on TV, Obunsha’s student digest for 7th graders was part of a coordinated campaign to remind kids to tune in. This issue contained a 3-page article that laid out the premise and gave story hints for the first four episodes, also revealing the role Dessler was going to play.
Read the article here
October 9: Middle 2nd Age, November issue
Right next to Middle 1st Age was Obunsha’s student digest for 8th graders. Its article looked at several shows about to start airing, devoting two pages to Yamato III that summarized the first three episodes.
Read the article here
October 9: Middle 2nd Year Course, November issue
Gakken’s student digest for 8th graders outshone both of its competitors with a lavish 6-page “All About Yamato III” article that went WAY out on a limb with major spoilers for the latter half (mostly incorrect) and a few words from Director Eiichi Yamamoto.
Read the article here
November: Model Information Vol. 16
Bandai published this free monthly 16-page booklet to be handed out in hobby shops for the promotion of current and upcoming model kits. Yamato III figured prominently in this issue with a full-color center spread showcasing the mecha. Half of the vessels shown would not be released as models.
December 1: Terebi Kun, January 1981 issue
Back issues of Terebi Kun are notoriously hard to find forty years on, but occasional scraps still offer themselves up from online sources. Here’s a sample of a Yamato III article that appeared in this issue as the series was in its second month on the air.
December 9: Middle 2nd Age, January issue
Obunsha’s student digest for 8th graders gave everyone a peek at things to come with a 5-page summary of what would happen in Yamato III Episode 12. However, they guessed wrong on the airdate, indicating a week before it would actually be broadcast. Can’t win ’em all.
See the pages here
Also spotted in 1980
Star Blazers promotion
1980 was the first full year for Star Blazers in syndication, and a banner year for Yamato in Japan. An ad placed in Variety (shown at left) combined the two into a single message to attract the attention of broadcasters. Interestingly, the source indicated at the bottom of the page was “Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, West Cape Corporation” with a Hollywood address. It was most likely an agency representing West Cape in Los Angeles, and they apparently didn’t have access to the official Star Blazers logo.
A revised version of the ad (at right) appeared five years later in a press kit from Westchester Films, who represented the series throughout the 80s from their home base in New York.
1981
January 1: Terebi Kun, February 1981 issue
If you look very closely, you can almost see a tiny little Yamato in the lower left corner of the cover. That fronted for a 3-page Yamato III article inside titled “The main guns release a massive explosion.”
The Space Battleship Yamato has emerged victorious from countless grueling battles! Supporting its attacks are the triple-barreled main guns. Their power has been further enhanced, making them even more formidable!
The following 2-page spread depicted the various ways the main guns make life miserable for Galman General Dagon.
February 1: Third Grader, March issue
Shogakukan’s elementary student magazine gave Yamato III another hit as the series moved into its final third. This time it was a 2-page spread of mecha that was burning up the screen as the plot thickened.
February 25: Electric Organ & Piano sheet music book
Tokyo Ongaku Shoin [Tokyo Music Study] delivered another way to play the Yamato theme at home with this book in the “Family Concert” series, arranged for electric organ and piano. Volume 1 in this series focused on “TV manga” with themes from Yamato, Candy Candy, Galaxy Express 999, and many more.
March 20: Ehime Children’s Expo
If you wanted to catch a kid’s eye in 1981, Yamato was a safe bet. This flyer promotes the Ehime Children’s Expo, held at a former factory site in Minatomachi, Matsuyama City. The event was held from March 20 to May 10, 1981. It featured several pavilions, with one highlight being a moon rock provided by NASA.
In addition to a JAXA exhibit featuring a real rocket and a real satellite, there was a Space Battleship Yamato pavilion with a “tour” of the ship’s interior, a re-enactment of famous scenes, and a special appearance by Leiji Matsumoto. Regrettably, no other artifacts from this event seem to have survived.
Also spotted in 1981
Anifact doujinshi
Published by a mysterious fan circle known only as “T.J.E.” (which spookily matches the initials of ye editor), this 52-pager was packed with textual analyses of characters, mecha, and themes from across the Yamato saga.
See it from cover to cover here
1982 Bandai catalog
Clocking in at 52 pages, the Bandai catalog promoting their product line coming out of 1981 was a thing of beauty with unique artwork, imaginative text, and elite production values that shine through even in a dog-eared copy like the one we’ve got.
See it from cover to cover (with translated Yamato content) here
What’s Next
It’s all fun and games until Yamato blows up on stage right behind you. See that moment and many more from the vault of 1982 and 1983 as we finally push to the end of Vintage Report backlog. What happens after that? You’ll find out next month!