When the first Star Blazers series came to DVD in 2001, they came with extensive galleries as bonus features that catalogued every aspect of the story: characters, ships, mecha, weapons, history, and more. Here you can examine each of those galleries in full and maybe even find something new.
Going into July 2015, it looked like very little was in store in terms of new activity. A new art book was promised for the end of the month, but there wasn’t much to bridge the gap. But as the month went on, things got progressively more interesting – and then a MASSIVE news flash made it a month we’d never forget.
From fan club magazine Ship’s Log, July 2015. When the curtain closed on Yamato 2199 in May 2015, it was the first time since 2009 that fans had no new production to look forward to. That uncertainty was broken two months later with this interview, containing the official announcement of the next big thing!
The Whisper of the Witch
A siren’s song lures ships to their doom. Snow falls in the emptiness of the void, where a shadow of evil prowls. Yamato is shipwrecked. And inside, no one is to be found. What will Kodai and the others see there?
Michio Murakawa’s adaptation of The Whisper of the Witch goes far beyond the anime, using dreamscapes to provide glimpses of the crew’s lives on Earth prior to the mission. Those sequences are described here so that non-Japanese readers can share Murakawa’s thoughtful passion for these characters.
From Dengeki Hobby Web: this interview with 2199 Mecha Director Masanori Nishii was published to mark the arrival of Yamato 2199 Hyper Mechanical Detail Artworks, the ultimate mecha art book on the series. He discusses the demands of creating Yamato mecha AND prepping it for the printed page.
This record encompasses everything from mooks and manga to novels and specialty publications that takes the 2199 experience beyond the screen. Use this as a checklist for your own library, find links to buy what you’re missing, and discover the real-world literature that plays a role of its own. [2 pages]
After assisting Leiji Matsumoto on the Farewell to Yamato manga, artist Hiroshi Aizawa brought his steady hand to Yamato III. It was serialized in Adventure King, but destined never to be reprinted. Here, for the first time since its initial publication, Hiroshi Aizawa’s “lost” manga lives again!
Here we dig into the nitty-gritty of the webcomic one chapter at a time, showing the original Japanese notes that provided its foundation, highlights of our development discussions, and added trivia. This article covers the second half, chapters 7-12. [2 pages]
In the final part, we examine various concepts that might have been part of Yamato III if it ran its full length, and might have been part of the webcomic if we found a place for them. In the end, they became imaginative tidbits without a home – except for those that found their way into Yamato 2199…
Daniel George recounts the final part of his 2014 trek from one end of Japan to the other. Rounding out his trip, he meets up with fellow Yamatourists for the premiere of Ark of the Stars and winds down his month-long odyssey with the sights of Tokyo.
