With Final Yamato, everyone had the chance to track a Yamato project from its first moment of development. Nishizaki welcomed it, wanting the fans to have an active role in deciding the course of Yamato‘s last journey. The result of this openness was more media coverage than any other film to date, and it all starts here.
When Yamato first rippled across mainstream pop culture in 1977, it caught the attention of editors across a broad spectrum of publications. In this case, it was literary magazine Weekly Bunshun, which makes this interview with exec producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki a unique piece of the Yamato puzzle.
October and November 2012: Yamatalk Night 3, UNCF model kit set 1, the first soundtrack, Maeda Construction Co. engineers Yamato’s launch, manga chapter 9, the November 11 concert, Chapter 3 on home video, new magazine coverage, and Dengeky Hobby releases the miniature Cosmo Falcon kit.
October 2012: Yamato Crew Fun Club magazine debuts, a custom-wrapped 2199 train, November concert announced, live events in Fukuoka and Tokushima, manga chapter 8, new kits revealed at the All Japan Model Hobby Show, the premiere of Chapter 3, and translated articles from the Chapter 3 program book.
September 2012: Hyper Hobby presents more secrets of Chapter 2, new character updates appear, manga chapter 7, the great Yamato 2199 road trip visits Kyoto and Osaka, and magazine coverage in Great Mechanics DX, Hobby Japan, Dengeki Hobby, Model Graphix, and Figure King.
August 2012: Hyper Hobby presents the secrets of Chapter 2 and the opening-day talk, manga chapter 6, the first 2199 doujinshi appear at Comiket, the Chapter 3 trailer, coverage in Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby, and Naoyuki Katoh live-paints his first Yamato mural at Chara Hobby 2012.
June and July 2012: translated articles from the Chapter 2 movie program book, Chapter 2 merchandising, manga chapter 5, Yamatalk Night 2, hobby magazine coverage, Chapter 2 home video release, the first 1/1000 model kit, and Yamato 2199 makes its first live appearance at Wonderfest 2012.
June 2012: Chapter 2 approaches and magazine coverage heats up in Hyper Hobby, Animage, CG World, Voice Actors Animedia, New Type, Hobby Japan, Dengeki Hobby, and Great Mechanics DX. A TV special, the first CD single, manga chapter 4, and a report from the premiere of Chapter 2. [2 pages]
April to May 2012: translated articles from the Chapter 1 movie program book, magazine coverage from Hobby Japan, Dengeki Hobby, Good Press, Figure King, Weekly Ascii, and extensive interviews in TV Bros with the lead actors, Yutaka Izubuchi, and singer Isao Sasaki. [2 pages]
Yamato took well over a year to create as Executive Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki slowly gathered his dream team and carefully crafted his masterpiece. Fortunately for us, all the major stages of that process were preserved, and this series of articles tracks Yamato‘s origins from start to finish.
An essay written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki in 1977, discussing the earliest phases of pre-production, from the first hint of the idea through the rigors of world-building and the arrival of Leiji Matsumoto. Nishizaki’s words provide an invaluable personal record of this remarkable period in anime history.
Keisuke Fujikawa was the most prolific writer of the entire saga, responsible for well over half of all the TV episode scripts and a major figure in the writing of the movies. His story proposal was written in April 1973, the earliest attempt to capture in words the story we would eventually come to know.
SF novelist and television writer Aritsune Toyota wrote a story proposal that went in a slightly different direction. The working title was Asteroid 6, which became Asteroid Ship when Nishizaki decided this was the way to go. Presented here is the complete text of Toyota’s proposal.
In the summer of 1973, a critical threshold was reached when the title Space Battleship Yamato finally emerged. By late summer, a 45-page plan book was assembled by writer Eiichi Yamamoto which combined text with artwork. Here is the full text of that book, translated to English for the first time. [2 pages]
Writers around the world have exhausted entire vocabularies trying to describe his unique vision, his incredible range, and his bottomless supply of creative energy. So in the end, there’s only one way to sum up Leiji Matsumoto: he’s a true original.
There still would have been a Space Battleship Yamato without Leiji Matsumoto, but none can deny that it wouldn’t be the Yamato we know and love today. Unsatisfied with many of the ideas in the 1973 plan book, Matsumoto wrote his story treatment in April and May of 1974, presented here in full.
Collected here is a mish-mash of Leiji Matsumoto’s story notes written during the spring and summer 1974, demonstrating how truly inspired he was in this pivotal phase. This included a wide range of characters on the Gamilas side that later informed the concepts of Yamato 2199.
A composite summary of the charts and story memos for the 39-episode version before the forced reduction to 26. Episodes 1-10 made it to TV largely intact, but everything that followed was subject to heavy revision, compression, or elimination. Some of the lost material would later inform the creation of Yamato 2199.
The first trickle of promotion on January 1, 2010 ignites interest around the world. We review the credits of the entire cast and present the earliest newspaper interviews with star Takuya Kimura, along with a complete translation of a tabloid newspaper dedicated to the film.
It’s been a long time since Wildstar, Nova, and Desslok were in a room together, and even longer since their voices were heard live in a room together. But the clock was finally reset when Ken Meseroll, Amy Howard Wilson, and Eddie Allen made their first-ever joint public appearance in March 2010. Read the transcript here.
Despite how it looks in the Star Blazers/Yamato universe, it isn’t often that you get to meet a space goddess. Imagine, then, how rare it is to find two in one body. That’s a claim that can be made by Ms. Lydia Leeds, who portrayed both Queen Starsha and Trelaina of Telezart. Read her interview about the experience here.
The first full trailer is released in June 2010 and live promotion begins at the World Hobby Fair. Then we meet the filmmakers: Director Takashi Yamazaki, writer Shimako Sato, and composer Naoki Sato. We then review each of Yamazaki’s previous films and recommend related viewing.
Getting all the story ideas lined up was one thing; turning words into pictures for the first time was quite another. As network negotiations concluded, Yoshinobu Nishizaki decided to produce ten minutes of finished animation for a pilot film as a warmup for the TV series, marking Yamato‘s first breath of life.
Fall 2010: the second trailer, the Sanrio tie-in, the prop exhibit, early products appear, and Steven Tyler is announced as the performer of the ending theme. We then review the trailer and the novelization for hints about the finished film.
It is our supreme pleasure to welcome back into the Star Blazers pantheon Mr. Michael Bertolini, who won all of our hearts as Communications Officer Homer Glitchman! This interview was conducted shortly after Michael first reconnected with his fans via Facebook in August, 2011.
Like everything else about the first series, the character design went through many phases before finally taking shape as the anime icons we know now. Leiji Matsumoto began developing the story and the early character designs simultaneously. As time went on and the project got exponentially bigger, others joined him.
The rarest and most enjoyable part of working on this website is the chance to welcome a Star Blazers voice actor back into the warm embrace of fandom. So meet Frank Pita, better known to Star Blazers fans as the beloved Dr. Sane! This doctor’s appointment was a long time coming, but it’s finally here!
