Carrying the dreams and hopes of anime fans, Yamato goes to space for the fourth time
FLY!
Susumu Kodai and Mori Yuki, who have become independent warriors of love, are you. By giving birth to such people, Yamato has completed its true mission.
– Yoshinobu Nishizaki,
producer of Space Battleship Yamato
Why Yamato now?
Space Battleship Yamato took off into space for the first time in 1974. Its takeoff sound could be considered a bell ringing to herald the arrival of an anime boom.
Since then, Yamato has continued to walk the royal road of the anime world for a long ten years. The enduring popularity is due to the fact that Yamato is the origin of modern anime such as Gundam and Ideon.
However, it is also true that in recent years, the name Yamato has become stale among fans. Therefore, in order to prevent this honorable name from fading into obscurity, Yamato sets out on its fourth journey, signaling the start of a new anime.
Space Battleship Yamato
The Final Chapter
The Earth is facing a great flood. However, there is another crisis moving in tandem with it…
With the lives of all humanity at stake, Yamato is now heading into space.
The history of the Space Battleship Yamato movies
Let’s take a look at Yamato, which filled the entire screen with its moving performance and thrilled the hearts of the fans who packed the theaters.
1. Space Battleship Yamato
(story summary not translated)
The voice actor boom is here!
The first TV broadcast of Space Battleship Yamato had an average audience rating of just 6%. Although there were some passionate fans at that time, its appeal was not generally recognized. However, Yamato‘s popularity skyrocketed due to reruns. As fan clubs began to form across the country, the compilation film Space Battleship Yamato was released. It was a huge hit, marking the beginning of an unprecedented anime boom.
This triggered a boom for voice actors. Until then, voice actors had been seen as the strong underlings of their wives, but with Yamato they suddenly came into the spotlight.
“When we were recording the first episode, about 30 fans came to the studio.”
Fan letters to actors also increased after this movie. Their number has also increased to an incredible extent. The popularity of voice actors has now become firmly established, and its origins lie in Yamato.
Translator’s note: the bottom section of this page contains the same 10-year history summary that was seen in both Fanroad and The Best one.
2. Farewell to Yamato
(story summary not translated)
A big hit, the best ever in the anime world!!
The smash hit of Farewell to Yamato far surpassed its predecessor. It set a record in the history of anime with an astounding four million viewers. Many anime films have been released since then, but this record has yet to be broken. When Farewell was released, fans lined up for a week before the premiere, which just shows how amazingly popular it was.
3. Be Forever Yamato
(story summary not translated)
Suddenly, the screen expands!
The amazing Warp Dimension
The screen suddenly expands from Vista size to Cinemascope. This technique was called “Warp Dimension” (a very Yamato-like name). Producer Nishizaki said, “I wanted to make this movie wide screen from the beginning, but I gave up on it due to various circumstances, so we did only part of it that way.” The effect astonished fans, and combined with synthesizers using the 4-channel sound from Farewell, it was a huge hit.
Space Battleship Yamato, The Final Chapter
Captain Okita and other veteran soldiers
The full lineup!!
Yamato‘s crew has always risked their lives to fight, believing in humanity and the future. This time, the best members of the crew, including Shima, Sanada, and the others are back. Also, Captain Okita who fell in the first film. Forget about silly questions like why he came back to life, and focus once again on the wonderful love between the people who grew together with Yamato!!
(Rest of page is story synopsis)
Final Yamato highlights
Amazing visual art!!
A huge amount of testing was carried out for Final Yamato in an effort to create visuals that were even more beautiful than the western film Tron, which used the latest technology. The images, created through the enthusiasm of the staff who pushed the limits of new technology, are beyond words. In particular, there is a scene on the water planet Aquarius where water flows through space, and its transparent beauty is something that has never been seen in animation before. In this scene alone, 4500 cels were used per minutes, which is 100 times the amount of work that would normally be required. The beauty of the images, which can truly be called art, makes the drama even more powerful.
Image songs tell us, leave it to me
The Yamato image songs, always a hot topic, have featured artists such as Kenji Sawada and Hiromi Iwasaki. One song for The Final Chapter will be sung by Junko Yagami, a leading singer-songwriter. A Yamato fan, she has been obsessed with Yamato ever since she received the request.
Another artist is Isao Sasaki, a familiar name when it comes to anime theme songs. Other talented artists who will be singing insert songs include Tranzam and Tomoko Kuwae, known for their commercial songs for Coca-Cola and other brands. Everyone is working hard and is sure to liven up Yamato.
By the way, in addition to the theme songs, the LP will be released in two parts. And to commemorate Yamato‘s 10th anniversary, Columbia Records will release an album called Ten Years of Music. It’s a compilation of all Yamato music to date and is well worth listening to. Look foward to it!
[Translator’s note: Sadly, this project did not materialize.]Pay attention to the mecha!
The mecha that appear in Yamato are always unique and well received, but this time they are truly magnificent, since three top mecha designers were involved in creating them. The chief mecha designer is Tsuji Tadanao, who is in charge of enemy design and overall coordination. Another person involved in the enemy design is Yutaka Izubuchi.
This is because, while the Earth-side mecha can be designed along the lines of what has been done up until now, the enemy mecha must be created from scratch. Incidentally, the Earth-side mecha are designed by Katsumi Itabashi.
Looking at each individual mecha, the highlight is Dengil’s mobile fortress, Uruk. The greatest struggle was how to depict its massive body, over 2,000 kilometers long. There are also other amazing Dengil locations to see, and newly-built ships of Earth.