March 14: Opening ceremony
The night before the exhibition’s grand opening, Hideaki Anno appeared in person to lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony along with Tohokushinsha President Keiichi Kosaka and Yuki’s voice actor Yoko Asagami (Yuki Mori). The ceremony led to a press conference in which Anno and Ryusuke Hikawa laid down some science for the noobs.
Photos posted on Twitter by seijikanoh and kissyouji_kaito
A few other guests were on hand to sign the visitor board at the entrance. This included Series 1 animator Kazuhide Tomonaga (left) and remake animator Kia Asamiya (right) Studio Nue’s star mecha designer Kazutaka Miyatake was also spotted making his way through the exhibit space.
Over half a dozen media sources were there to cover the event and publish articles over the next few days. Read the two most comprehensive articles here:
AV Watch article | Anime Anime article
March 15: 50th Anniversary Exhibition opens
It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive, more inspired, more lovingly curated presentation than what fans in Tokyo got to see from March 15 to 31. It offered the largest collection of original Series 1 production materials ever seen outside the pages of a book (in fact, the exhibition was named after the best Yamato books ever published). And even better, it was entirely camera-friendly. This means those of us who couldn’t be there in person can still see what the visitors saw.
Click here for a photographic walkthrough of the entire exhibition, made possible by the many fans who shared their pics on social media.
March 22: Nico Nico videos
Nico Nico, the Japanese counterpart to Youtube, did fandom a solid when they streamed all three of the talk shows that accompanied the 50th Anniversary Selection screenings in December and January. They weren’t viewable outside Japan, but this at least tells us they were recorded for posterity.
March 27: Ryusuke Hikawa Gallery Talk video
The next best thing to a guided tour of the 50th Anniversary Exhibition is this 8-minute video version with narration from superfan Ryusuke Hikawa.
See it on Youtube here (closed captions and autotranslate ON)
March 31: 50th Anniversary Exhibition closes
The last day of March was also the last day of this amazing event. The organizers marked it with the last photo of the day, one of the fan message walls, taken half an hour before closing.
April 5: 365Cafe website
Seibu department store’s 365Cafe served fans with a special Yamato menu throughout those two weeks. The cafe’s website published a retrospective with photos and art images, and even a ranking of the favorite dishes. (The Gamilas cheesecake won by a mile.)
They also did us a solid by sharing a complete PDF of the guestbook so we could see what all the visitors had to say (or draw).
Visit the website here; you can download the guestbook at the bottom of the page.
June 4: Osaka Exhibition promotion
The exhibition was announced to reopen in an Osaka venue on July 19. Starting today, the event’s Twitter page published a series of posts featuring a new wave of merchandise that would be sold at the venue.
Posts appeared throughout the month and into July; see them all here
June: Hideaki Anno Easter egg
One of the products offered at the 50th Anniversary Exhibition was an acrylic standee featuring Hideaki Anno’s personal illustration of Yamato (above left). These images were posted on Twitter by anime scriptwriter Hideki Mitsui, who said:
I just realized that the Yamato given as an admission gift is this one from Daicon IV.
It’s a close facsimile to Anno’s cels from the famous fan film for sure, but since they were created 42 years apart, it can’t be claimed that they are identical.
Read all about the Daicon anime films here
July 7: Osaka promotion begins
The pre-show started on July 7 when promotion began at the venue, Nankai Namba Station in Osaka’s Namba district. Nankai is the train line served by the station, which itself serves as a shopping center with a convention hall named Skyo. As commuters marched through the station’s ground floor on the 7th, they were greeted by Yamato characters telling them to meet up at Skyo on the 19th.
July 10: Osaka exhibition commercial
Starting today, a 15-second spot went live wherever 15-second spots go live in Osaka (and online) to tell everyone what they were in for.
Watch it here
July 18: Osaka exhibition preview
The day before the grand opening, a few VIPs were invited to a preview tour of the Anniversary Exhibition, and one of them was allowed to take the rest of us along for the ride. That was Shuichi Miyawaki, the president of model company Kaiyodo, who goes by the name “Senmu” in the world of fan media.
Photos posted on Twitter by senmusann
The outcome was a 32-minute Youtube video in which Senmu talks Yamato history with the curators from ATAC [Anime Tokusatsu Archive Centre] against the backdrop of the exhibition, then gets to run wild in the store afterward.
Watch the video here (closed captions and autotranslate ON!)
Footnote: back on May 23, Senmu’s Youtube channel posted a 20-minute talkshow in which he examined rare and unique Yamato models from across the decades. Give it a watch here.
Photo posted on Twitter by OGVNetwork
July 19: Osaka exhibition opens
At last, the waiting was over and the re-immersion could begin. All the displays from the Tokyo exhibition were back, but in a more open configuration (thanks to a larger space) with a few new additions and the single largest dedicated merch store since the classic era. Maybe even the biggest of all time.
There was a lot to absorb; enough to earn an entire report of its own. See it here!
Afterward, Studio Khara and web dealer A-on Store offered unsold products from the exhibition online. See them here and here. (Shipping to Japanese addresses only, of course.)
July 24: 50th Anniversary screening in Osaka
As the the Osaka exhibition closed in on the end of its first week, there was a special treat for those who couldn’t get enough; all three of the “Special Selection” screenings were given another round on the big screen at Namba Parks Cinema, in walking distance from the exhibition venue. Together, they offered nine episodes from Series 1.
The lobby photo above was posted by AnalyzerAU09, who said the only improvement he would make was to show all 26.
July: Osaka exhibition video
An 11-minute video walkthrough was posted with Yuki Mori cosplay model “Tsunko” as your guide. See it on Youtube here (closed captions and autotranslate ON)
Photo from 2024, posted on Twitter by aoi2199
August 6-9: Bonbori Festival
Held every summer in Kamakura, the Bonbori Festival features an exhibition of paper lanterns created by celebrities associated with the city.
Photos posted by spikelet (2024) and nabootoko (2025)
Yamato fans took note in 2024 when Hideaki Anno contributed a lantern to commemorate the golden anniversary. To everyone’s surprise, he created a complementary lantern this year to announce that his new Yamato project for Studio Khara is now in production.
No details have emerged, but at the very least, “in production” means that Anno is now actively thinking about what he’s going to do with it. More news as it happens.
November 18: Next exhibition announced
Finally, it was announced the exhibition would open for a third time in early January 2026. This time the target was Marui City in Yokohama Prefecture. The celebration continues…