2026 got off to a flying start as the final month before the premiere of Chapter 5 rolled by with the third 50th Anniversary Exhibition, pre-release coverage, product announcements, live events, and a continuing surge of online activity to keep the ship in the air.
Predictably, Final Yamato created a big wake after its release, which was filled by one last blitz of book and music publishing along with the game-changing arrival of home video. Amidst all this came the announcement that “Final” Yamato wasn’t actually “Final” after all…
Doujinshi publishing in the early years laid the groundwork for Yamato‘s explosive comeback in 1977, which in turn laid the groundwork for an entire industry. It all began with the ‘zines in this archive, which can be seen from cover to cover. New entries added August 2024
Yoshinobu Nishizaki wanted Yamato to be different from all previous anime productions. One way to achieve that was to hire Toshio Masuda, an award-winning director of live-action films, who would bring his own sensibilities to the fray. Here, Masuda looks back on his important contributions to Yamato.
Dozens of books were published about Leiji Matsumoto in his lifetime. Many of them attempted to catalog and analyze his enormous output of manga and anime projects, but a few were devoted to the man himself to explore the biographical origins of his unique talents. Presented here are excerpts from two of them.
As we passed the halfway point between Chapters 4 and 5, news and announcements streamed in from various corners, fan activity rolled on, and the classics reappeared as we looked toward what will likely be the concluding year for 3199.
Interviews for Chapter 4 started to appear shortly before the premiere on October 10, 2025 and included some new names. Keep watching this page as more get added. UPDATED JANUARY 15!
From the REBEL 3199 Chapter 4 program book: Mecha Designer Arashi Ishizu discusses his work for the Galman-Garmillas side of the story, specifically the new developments seen in Episodes 11-14. With the arrival of long-dormant Iscandarian ships adding a new layer to the story, there’s a lot to talk about.
Starting in 2008, an annual year-in-review was written to look back at the ever-expanding world of Space Battleship Yamato; music, publishing, products, public events, and more. These articles map out the living-legend status of the original saga to confirm that Yamato is alive and well. Year 2025 added January 2026!
The goodwill of nine years and the intense labor of the last few months all came to fruition when Final Yamato made its theatrical premiere. But the struggle to get it there went right up to the last minute with just as much suspense as anything seen on screen. Here’s how this milestone month unfolded…
O.G. superfan Ryusuke Hikawa has been writing about Yamato ever since he visited the production studio as a high school student and it set the course for the rest of his life. In a book he published in 2019, he examines each episode of Series 1 and discusses how it made such an impact.
Chapter 4 got an extension in theaters that took it through the middle of the month, and though the surrounding activity calmed down quite a bit, it was still a great month to be a fan, especially for modelers. Here’s what turned Yamato world in November…
From the REBEL 3199 Chapter 4 program book: Tadasuke Ueji, a veteran of 2199, was called back into service for the new series. Here, he discusses the challenges of depicting the Yamato universe in CG and finding ways to make it dazzle the fans as never before.
From the pages of Neppu magazine: Hideaki Anno, the anime auteur who credits Yamato for his entire career arc, talks at length with fellow O.G. fan Ryusuke Hikawa about the early years of his devotion and reflects on everything it led to, both personal and professional. [2 pages]
The last full month before the release of Final Yamato was filled with media coverage that dutifully repackaged official information with some speculation thrown in. The premiere date was delayed a week to March 19, both to extend production time and dodge the 3-movie pileup on March 12. Here’s the rundown…
EXPLOSIVE is an apt descriptor for October 2025, the month that took us to the halfway point with the premiere of Chapter 4! It was surrounded by an overwhelming torrent of news, interviews, merch, announcements, and fan activity, so strap on your deepwater tank and let’s dive in! [3 pages]
When the calendar ticked over to the new year, the stakes went up for Final Yamato. The number of production weeks left could now be counted on two hands. When it was learned that three anime movies would premiere on the same day (March 12), the press had an instant story to tell and they ran with it. Here’s how it all went down…
Yamato World got busier as the last month of waiting for Chapter 4 fell off the calendar. Fresh concerts, an advance screening, new publishing, and an actual for-real model kit led the charge for September 2025. Here are those high points and everything in between…
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…
Eiichi Yamamoto, one of the first writers to get involved with Space Battleship Yamato, recounted his years at Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Productions in a 1989 autobiography. In this emotional excerpt from the pivotal year 1973, he tells of the end of one dream and the first step toward another.
July 2025 was jammed solid with Yamato action. The Osaka exhibition, concerts, a major hobby show, music, publishing, and a nice big wave of new products would have been enough, but a new teaser for 3199 Chapter 4 came along to get us over the halfway point of the long wait. Here’s the roundup of all that and more…
The first round of the Yamato 50th Anniversary Exhibition was a smash success in Tokyo, and reopened in Osaka from July 19 to August 3. As before, cameras were given all-area access, so fans shared what they saw generously online. Presented here is a photo walk-through of the event space and surrounding points of interest.
As the second half of 1982 began, Final Yamato preproduction went into its next stage with the completion of the script and the first delivery of storyboards. Meanwhile, media coverage amped up anticipation as the summer anime season reached its peak. Here’s the timeline for these two eventful months…
Whenever new TV series were announced by a network, a presentation package was distributed to affiliate stations and media sources for publicity. Shown here is the original package for the first Yamato TV series, distributed in September 1974.
