From 2016-18, a “secret project” was in development at the fringes. So secret that it went practically unknown to fandom at large until almost ten years later. That project was called Yamato Millennium, and thanks to a unique chain of events, it’s ready to see here and now.
The last months of 1982, animation on Final Yamato was going at full speed while the outside world saw a big upswing in merchandising, especially in book and music publishing. For diehard fans who had seen everything else in real time, it must have felt like a surge of Yamato Fever all over again.
Complete storyboards from a Yamato production are surprisingly elusive for a series with such a rich publishing history, but only a few have emerged in print media over the decades. Final Yamato is not one of them, which makes this collection unique indeed.
General activity slowed down in August, but a new trailer, a movie tie-in, several product announcements, and some live events were among the highlights as another month peeled off the calendar in the countdown to Chapter 4. And we even heard a nostalgic message from Earth orbit!
When September arrived, the premiere of Final Yamato was six months away. All the meters that measured its progress ticked forward with production milestones, media coverage, a historic live event, and more. Here’s what dropped along with the autumn leaves…
