When the Yamato movie hit pop culture like a tidal wave, it earned so much attention that the term “Yamato Boom” spontaneously emerged in newspapers and magazines. To get the full force of that boom from a media perspective, here is a chronological index of all the magazine coverage (found so far) from this breakout year.
The explosion of diverse media coverage continued well after the August premiere of the Yamato movie brought anime into Japan’s mainstream entertainment culture. October 1977 felt like a collective breath of air after the avalanche of September, but the next wave was coming.
As summer gave way to fall, Yamato‘s fortunes just kept on climbing in an unprecedented increase in demand. Media attention widened and deepened as it became increasingly obvious that Yamato had evolved from fad to phenom and was here to stay.
The whole world changed for the better in August 1977, and that is not an exaggeration. With the August 8 premiere of Space Battleship Yamato, the entire anime industry in Japan experienced a seismic shift that still gives us aftershocks today. In this report we’ll go through that pivotal month one step at a time and see how the future began.
It is no exaggeration to state that the period covered in this report was the most pivotal time in all of Yamato history. The movie that would change everything was already in production as the year began and there was low-level buzz about it, but getting that movie in front of the public was the key to everything that followed.
1976 was a slow year for Yamato. As “super robots” took over the anime landscape, Yamato fans probably despaired that their show was over forever. In fact, the most important action was happening under the surface, destined to change everything. But for now, let’s see what got Yamato fans through this year of dim prospects.
World-reknown confectionary company Ezaki Glico had a huge impact in the mid-70s with inexpensive tie-in products for Japanese idol stars, and they made the jump into anime licensing in October 1978 with Yamato 2 as one of its first properties.
Even before the first TV series concluded, the next and most important phase of Yamato history began: the “redemption year.” Its driver was an unexpected force that would slowly but steadily change everything for the better. The name of that force was “fandom.” In 1975, that force took shape for the first time.
This series answers the question, “What if Cosmo DNA existed in real time during the production years?” Everything is chronicled in the order it all happened, bringing history to life in a whole new way. First up: the prehistory of Yamato all the way up to the end of “origin year” 1974. [2 pages]
From its 1978 debut onward, mecha design for the EDF fleet in Farewell to Yamato and Yamato 2 represented the pinnacle for the Yamato saga. These ships were revisited over and over, making this the single largest body of merchandising for any fleet in the series.
Over the decades sinces its premiere, modelmaking companies across the spectrum has returned to the original mecha catalog over and over to render it in 3D. Here is a comprehensive collection of Earth mecha from mainstream plamo to DIY garage kits.
With the explosive success of the Yamato movie in 1977, anime creators themselves emerged from the shadows to become full-fledged celebrities. Here we present two such examples from magazines published during the heyday, which put the spotlight on both Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki.
A large range of mecha was designed and animated for the Dark Nebula Empire, but Bandai made a grand total of three model kits. In subsequent decades, fans addressed this deficit with a very respectable lineup of garage kits. All known models are presented here.
The Dengil Empire received a lot of design attention, but no model kits whatsoever. This was an arena that fans had to completely fill on their own with DIY garage kits in later years. All known Dengil models are presented here.
Presented here is a comprehensive collection of all the Galman and Bolar mecha that has been released in 3-D form from a host of different companies, mainstream plamo and DIY garage kits alike.
Presented here is a comprehensive collection of all the Gamilas mecha that has been released in 3-D form from a host of different companies, mainstream plamo and DIY garage kits alike.
Presented here is a comprehensive collection of all the Comet Empire mecha that has been released in 3-D form from a host of different companies, mainstream plamo and DIY garage kits alike.
Continuing our voyage back to the summer of 1980, we find some more magazine coverage of Be Forever Yamato, including some exclusive photos of the sea cruise and a rare interview with Leiji Matsumoto.
In 2009, film journalist Morihiko Saito examined the unprecedented success of the first Space Battleship Yamato, writing with a passion that only an original-generation fan could bring to the table. It became a chapter in his book The law of Anime Hit Movies and is presented here in full.
It is a little-known fact that Yamato 2199 Director Yutaka Izubuchi got his start very early when he participated in both Yamato III and Final Yamato as a fresh-faced newcomer. Here, he discusses his earliest experiences as both a fan and a staff member.
One of the things that made Space Battleship Yamato unique was a fan base so dedicated that they obtained copies of production materials to share in fanzines. It is thanks to them that a presentation like this one is now possible: a complete scene-by-scene examination of a single TV episode. [4 pages]
A collection of the classic Earth Defense Force mecha designed for Farewell to Yamato and Yamato 2 by the great Studio Nue in 1978, still some of the most respected anime mecha design to this day.
Founded in 1969, Hobby Japan‘s very first Yamato coverage came in the December 1977 issue (published in October) just two months after the feature film worked its magic. Here is that vintage article in full, which also provided a rare glimpse into Yamato fandom – and the delightful bonus of a future star sighting.
With the approach of Yamato 2202 and the explosion of new design work that will accompany it, we revisit the original designs from 1978 for comparison. This collection reviews the characters of Gatlantis, the Comet Empire.
