After a banner year like 1980, it could only be expected that Yamato activity would decline, and it certainly did. In this time period, the second half of Yamato III was accompanied by a slew of publishing and two new albums, as the appearance of a new competitor inspired Yoshinobu Nishizaki to take action…
From the pages of Spectator magazine, August 2024: O.G. superfan Ryusuke Hikawa discusses the birth of Yamato fandom in Japan with an unprecedented level of detail, including his visits to the production studio during Series 1 and what he did with the treasures he was given there.
When Symphonic Suite was released to the world in December 1977, it revolutionized the field of anime music. The liner notes presented a conversation between the two men most responsible for making it happen. They are translated here to enhance your appreciation of this amazing body of work.
As we look back over the entire sweep of 1980, December was the lightest month with the least amount of activity. That wasn’t the case for Yoshinobu Nishizaki, since the cutdown of Yamato III made the future less certain. But the present was still a great place to be if you were a fan. Here’s how this rollercoaster year came to a close…
Published December 2024 on Phile Web: an extensive interview with the sound engineers who revived and remixed the classic 1977 Symphonic Suite album for Yamato‘s 50th anniversary. What did it take to make a revered masterpiece sound even better? Find out here.
After Yamato III‘s first month on the air, Be Forever was still rippling through the publishing world and all seemed well in camp. At least on the surface. Underneath, things were less secure. What was going on, and why was the home office suddenly changing its name?
This was more than just a name change. It involved a frozen food company, a buddhist organization, a shady lawyer, a former prime minister, accounting malpractice, and a near-catastrophic level of personal loyalty. How did those things lead to the founding of West Cape Corporation? Find out here.
Just before the release of REBEL 3199 Chapter 1 in July 2024, Mono magazine No. 942 (published by World Photo Press) became the first to carry a Yamato cover story for the big event. And what a story it was; 44 pages of features covering Yamato both old and new.
You have to push pretty hard to top the premiere of a new TV series, but the publishing community did its best with the last big wave of Be Forever books as Yamato III moved toward center stage. Here’s how it all played out…
The 50th anniversary of Space Battleship Yamato‘s original TV broadcast was overwhelming. Live events, news flashes, social media posts, and more brought fans together from all parts of the globe to observe a day of love and celebration. It was enough to warrant its own report, so let’s dive in!
Space Battleship Yamato has had an influence on real things actually happening in space exploration, and thanks to an ongoing NHK series titled Project X ~ Challengers we learned of a Yamato connection to the real-life Hayabusa asteroid sample return mission operated by JAXA from 2003-2010.
The flow of time made it inevitable; sooner or later, a member of the Yamato generation would eventually rise to the height of political power. That has now happened the appointment of Shigeru Ishiba as Japan’s prime minister. What fan cred does he bring to the table? Let’s find out.
As Be Forever Yamato closed its premiere run in Japanese theaters, spinoff media became more concentrated as the first dedicated books appeared, and magazines became the first source of information for what was coming next: a third TV series! Here’s what September 1980 had to offer fans who couldn’t get enough.
The enormous momentum that built up in July burst wide open on the first two days of August with the hotly-anticipated premiere of Be Forever Yamato. Familiar patterns reappeared as fans emerged to make themselves part of the spectacle and merch poured out to welcome them. Here’s the full rundown of this amazing month.
This was the last round before the premiere of Be Forever Yamato in theaters, and thus became the single busiest month in all of Yamato history until the remake era began. To this day, no anime film has been promoted as heavily, and it’s hard to imagine one reaching these heights ever again. [2 pages]
As Toei Studio’s animation staff labored through their final month on Be Forever Yamato, the publicity machine ramped up with major media coverage and the first live events of the summer. On the other side of the planet, Star Blazers was winning hearts and creating a groundswell of its own. Here’s a full view of this exciting month.
The runup to summer 1980 was deceptively quiet on the surface, but momentum was building like a freight train underneath as Be Forever moved into the second half of production. It culminated in a press conference that sounded the starting gun on the biggest promo campaign in anime history.
The new decade dawned with the making of a new Yamato adventure that would be just one part of Academy Studio’s busiest year of them all. While the production team got started, a steady flow of media kept fans at bay. But…for how long? Here we examine the state of Yamato world for the first quarter of 1980.
This brings us to the halfway point between The New Voyage and Be Forever. With Space Carrier Blue Noah off and running, the next new Academy TV series was announced, accompanied by another rush of riches that closed out a very eventful year and gave way to an even bigger one.
As summer merged into fall, the world of Yamato was only getting bigger in the wake of The New Voyage, and Office Academy studio was only getting busier. The American premiere of Star Blazers and the Japanese premiere of Blue Noah were just part of the picture. Here’s everything that happened in these productive months.
July 1979 delivered a big one-two punch with both of the feature films returning to theaters and The New Voyage premiering on TV. It was no accident that these things reinforced each other, making this the third straight summer of Yamato fever.
This stretch of time can be described as a gap, since it marked the period between the Yamato 2 finale and the broadcast premiere of The New Voyage. Such gaps are replete throughout Yamato history, but as we all know they are often rich in news, media, and merch.
30 years of peace are abruptly ended when an exploration ship accidentally awakens an enemy bent on the destruction of organic life. Earth is cut off from the rest of the galaxy when this enemy attacks. Their only savior is the rebuilt Yamato and her reformed crew, the Star Force! Read about this exciting fan project here!
The spring months of 1979 saw the epic conclusion of Yamato 2 and the first word about the next adventure. A continuing flood of media still gave everyone plenty to talk about. Here we see everything that happened in March and April. [2 pages]
As Yamato 2 moved into its post-Telezart phase with four very compelling episodes, development continued on The New Voyage, media coverage intensified, and new books kept the world expanding. Pile on more model kits, an unusual LP, and more, and it added up to a very rich month.
At the dawn of 1979, Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s Office Academy studio was on the highest trajectory ever seen in the TV anime industry. He took Office Academy into expansion mode, organized around merchandising and new anime productions. The first of these began in January, a little thing we now call The New Voyage.
As 1978 drew to a close, Yamato fever showed no signs of abating. Farewell would soon be back for revival screenings, Yamato 2 approached its halfway point on TV, and new merch continued to appear, especially on the music side. It all made December a month to remember.
Where there is a great success story, imitators usually spring up looking for a free ride like Star Flies on a Space Battleship. On the upside, it does take a creative (if misguided) mind and a sort of endearing chutzpah to push these things out into broad daylight, and it can be great fun to examine them with a trained eye.
Created by model and toymaker Aoshima, the Redhawk line is worthy of respect for sheer volume if nothing else. As silly or eccentric as they may look, they were wildly inventive to the point where they quickly moved past the source material that inspired them. See the entire almost-but-not-quite Yamato lineup here.
Though Farewell to Yamato was no longer in theaters in November 1978, it continued to dominate the discourse, both in media and merchandising. But it was no longer the entire story, as demonstrated by the increasingly divergent episodes of Yamato 2 on TV. Here’s everything the month had to offer…
