December 2013: the year goes out with a ramp-up of activity – new talk shows, a new card game, Star Blazers 2199 news flashes, manga, magazine coverage, the magnificent 1/500 Yamato model kit, the biggest avalanche of doujinshi since the series began, and plenty more. [2 pages]
In this insightful interview from Great Mechanics DX #27, Yamato 2199‘s Chief Mechanical Director Masanori Nishii talks about the herculean effort of producing the second half of the series; building on trial and error, facing new challenges, and grappling with the climactic battles the brought the series to an end.
Hyperweapon is a semi-annual magazine that showcases the work of designer/director/modeler/manga artist Makoto Kobayashi. In recent years, it has been a major source for the art and design of Yamato Resurrection, and in the 2013 issue he wrote about his involvement with Yamato 2199 for the first time.
Model kits have been a vital part of the Space Battleship Yamato experience since the early days, and no one benefitted from that more than Bandai. The business of continuing the phenomenon was inherited by those who made it their career goal to carry the torch. This page covers models released in 2012 and 2013.
This second article from Monthly Star Navi magazine continues Professor Toshihiro Handa’s overview of the real astrophysics that played a part in the creative decisions of Yamato 2199.
November 2013 news: the Nico Nico webcasts return in force, the Super Formula season ends, new figures and model kits appear, Megahouse shows off at the Mega Hobby Expo, and the first approach to American shores begins with the announcement of Star Blazers 2199 – all this and the regular media coverage. [2 pages]
Every Japanese theater that showed Yamato 2199 also carried exclusive swag, with a new wave accompanying each film. Taken as a single body of merchandising, this product line is staggering in both volume (well over 200 individual items) and variety. See it all here!
October 2013 was less busy than the climactic months of August and September, but the arrival of Chapter 7 on home video – the final round of the entire 2199 anime campaign – made for a fantastic wave of products at the end of the month, and two big hobby shows pointed the way to the future. [2 pages]
Translated from the Yamato 2199 soundtrack CD booklets: three essays on composer Akira Miyagawa, sound supervisor Tomohiro Yoshida, and series director Yutaka Izubuchi – the key staff members who took on the heavy responsibility of remaking the greatest anime score of all time.
More songs were composed for Yamato 2199 than any previous Yamato production, and you can get to know them better here with complete translations of their lyrics. Also included are links to hear each one and a phonetic version for singalong purposes. Clear your schedule for this one!
Superfan Luis Cotovio brings you an episode-by-episode breakdown of every track heard in the series, an effort that reveals unreleased tracks, unused tracks, multiple uses of tracks, and other interesting details for the 2199 music connoisseur.
From Monthly Star Navi magazine comes this article by Professor Toshihiro Handa of the Kagoshima University Department of Science, who serves as Yamato 2199‘s astrophysics advisor. In it, he comments on the anime’s representation of real stellar objects just as he did in his earlier live lectures.
Episode 25 of Yamato 2199 was unique out of the entire series for having three different edits, each with progressively more footage added. This gave fans a way to extend their 2199 experience just a bit longer, and put this particular episode into a category all its own. How did each version differ? Found out here.
September 2013: the entire month is a whirlwind of activity as Chapter 7 finishes its theatrical run, the final episodes air on TV, the world of fandom puts it all into perspective, new products and magazine coverage appear, fans participate in a huge art project, the 2199 music vault finally closes, and much more! [2 pages]
From Tim Eldred’s 2013 Yamatour, a detailed conversation with the talented director of Yamato 2199 episodes 9 and 19 with scene-by-scene commentary, inside stories, exclusive artwork, thoughts about the future, and much more.
From the Chapter 7 program book: as the mastermind of 2199‘s mecha presentation, Mr. Nishii talks about his experiences as a viewer of Series 1 and how they colored his opinions of what a remake should accomplish. He also discusses what it took to make Yamato mecha look better than ever.
From Great Mechanics DX #26, September 2013. Shigeru Morita of Studio Nue spearheaded some of the most complex episodes of the series and masterminded the battle of the Rainbow Star Cluster. He talks in detail about the thought process behind the on-screen strategy and creative state of the Yamato saga.
An index to the enormous number of Yamato 2199 articles and publications, with links to reports and translations. Part 1 (Nov 2011 – Sep 2012) Part 2 (Sep 2012 – May 2013) Part 3 (May 2013 – Oct 2013) Part 4 (Nov 2013 – Jun 2014) Part 5 (Jun 2014 – Dec 2014) Part 6 (Dec 2014 – present)
August 2013: Chapter 7 brings the series to an end amidst the busiest month in the saga’s entire history! Interviews, new products, future announcements, special events, promotional tie-ins, and a record amount of fan participation made the end of Yamato 2199 something to remember forever! [3 pages]
From Hyper Hobby, September 2013: an interview with two prominent producers from the Yamato 2199 Production Committee whose job it was to steer the ship through the unsteady waters of public promotion. Here they discuss the unusual responsibility of turning a legacy back into a living legend.
July 2013: Star Blazers 2199 makes the worldwide rounds, new songs, changes for the manga, Yamato 1966, Super Formula racing, the MV release, new products revealed in the hobby magazines, garage kits aplenty, Red-Eyed Ace manga debut, words from Akira Miyagawa, the EARTH design book, and more! [2 pages]
On June 25, the Yamato faithful gathered for this conversation between General Director Yutaka Izubuchi and Daisuke Shima’s voice actor Kenichi Suzumura. Despite fewer guests than normal, there were still plenty of surprises to be had, as Suzumura imparted to the audience his own unique voice acting philosophy.
In these two interviews, published in Hobby Japan and Hyper Hobby magazines, Bandai Hobby Division’s Hirofumi Kishiyama talks about how his team produces the 2199 models at a breakneck pace, and draws a hitherto unknown parallel between this series and Bandai’s first Gundam kits.
May and June 2013: TV episodes 9-13, manga chapter 15, the Chapter 6 premiere, articles from the chapter 6 program book, Tokyo Toy Show, Garmillas model kits released, Maxon article on CG production, Yamatalk Night 6, coverage in hyper hobby, Great Mechanics DX, Weekly Post, and more. [2 pages]
