Here we go back to where it all started, with the company that made Star Blazers happen. Westchester Films was the production company run by Mr. Claude S. Hill, the organization that actually went to Japan in 1978 and actually negotiated with Office Academy to bring Space Battleship Yamato to America.
By Dave Merrill. For years, we’d seen references and offhand comments about a “YamatoCon” that was held in the Dallas area years earlier. Our crack team of researchers donned their explorer togs, dusted off their pith helmets, and began the harrowing search for enlightenment. Here’s what we found…
Once upon a time, one of the major anime fandom groups in the United States was based in Dallas, named “Earth Defense Command” after the military organization in Star Blazers, and made up of space battleships devoted to defending the Earth in the late 20th Century. This is their story. By Dave Merrill
For a series that’s been around since 1979, Star Blazers has a comparatively short history on home video, having been released by just two different companies and on two formats, VHS and DVD. See the entire release record here.
In late 2000, two divisions of Bandai starting producing Yamato toys: Bandai Co., Ltd. and Megahouse Corporation, a maker of games, figurines, and character-based goods. Their output was not as prodigious or varied as Banpresto, but they definitely made up for it in quality…
Bandai Character Plastic Model Chronicle is a 2007 book that covers Bandai’s prehistory in 1958 all the way up to the present with many photos of the ‘breakthrough’ kits that pushed the company into the realm of giants. Presented here is a chapter on the Yamato models that made the company an industry leader.
Part 10: The Modern Era
Since Bandai began, the technique of designing and producing model kits has been revolutionized again and again. Proof of this can easily be seen by comparing the more recent Yamato kits to those of the production years.
In the days before home video was commonplace, this was a chance to relive the series on a scene-by-scene basis. Moreover, it was proof that Star Blazers hadn’t been a mere dream. Someone with publishing power knew there was a void to be filled and took steps to do just that. Naturally, it could only have been Yoshinobu Nishizaki.
by Fred Kopetz
By the year 1987, Star Blazers had essentially vanished from TV and fans were left wondering if they would ever see its like again. Then, seemingly from nowhere, Comico announced a 4-issue comic book mini-series! How did it work out? Read on.
by Fred Kopetz
After the unprecedented success of the first miniseries, a second was commissioned. This series was to be an issue longer than the previous one, and it also racked up great sales and some memorable original characters. However, it also had its own flaws…
Not everything in anime publishing began with Yamato, but it was certainly the engine that drove it into the modern age. As the audience grew and expanded, publishers who had previously aimed only at the younger set quickly found themselves designing books for teenagers and adults. Read all about their work here.
by Tim Eldred with Bruce Lewis.
A complete history of the Star Blazers comic book series created by Studio Go! and published by Voyager Entertainment. Find out how it practically fell into our laps after someone else turned it down, and read every single issue from cover to cover!
Since its debut, Space Battleship Yamato has come to fill essentially the same niche in Japan as Star Trek in the English-speaking world. legions of anime artists credit Yamato for their career choice, and many of them pay their respects in their own work. Here are some of them for your entertainment.
As another Yamato adventure looms on the horizon, tour veterans Gwyn Campbell and Anton Kholodov attend Leiji Future 2011 and report on one surprise after another. Special guests are one thing, but the first announcement of a brand new Matsumoto project is quite another. Read about it step by step here.
As the release date for Yamato Resurrection approaches, Anton Kholodov makes the trek from Russia to Tokyo in time to watch the flower begin to bloom. Read about the sneak preview, Yamato food, the first product exhibition, and the premiere itself — then learn to sing the theme in Russian!
