February 2014 was marked by a wave of new products and figures to accompany the 2014 Winter Wonder Festival, Banpresto’s “Best Lottery” goods arrived in stores, Star Blazers 2199 made its North American debut, and Ship’s Log #6 published the first director interview on the 2014 feature film. See all that and more! [2 pages]
From Model Graphix magazine #352: Since releasing the Bandai 1/350 Space Battleship Yamato model, Mr. Kishiyama has been involved with a flood of Yamato kits in quick succession. Of course, he also plays an active role as a developer of Yamato 2199 overall. He shares his passionate thoughts here.
From New Type Ace #18: The portrayal of explosions is a major highlight in film. How was the portrayal of explosions as depicted in Japanese entertainment established? Anime commentator Ryusuke Hikawa examines the history and essence based on his own experience!
Bandai Visual’s video release of Yamato 2199 was (and continues to be) the single most important element of the production. While the English subtitles clarify the story for us, however, the rest of the package is entirely in its native language. The main purpose of this videography is to sort all that out. [2 pages]
When Yamato 2199 was released on home video in Japan, each of the seven volumes came with 12-page, full color introductory booklets covering the episodes found on that disc. Each booklet ended with a brief essay by a heavy hitter from the production crew, both old and new. Those seven essays are presented here.
January 2014 saw an increase in online activity in the US, the first of the Garmillas carrier models, Best Lottery products from Banpresto, the GX-64 Yamato, the biggest magazine article yet in Model Graphix, manga from both Nico Nico Ace and Comic Blade, Plex’s first bridge paper model, and more!
The Garmillas design book from Yamato 2199 is the most comprehensive reference for the series. This extends beyond the exquisite artwork to include a collection of interviews with key staff members, including this one-of-a-kind essay by the linguist who created the Garmillas language from scratch.
From Model Graphix magazine #352: this article took its name from a pivotal website once run by Junichiro Tamamori, who would become the mecha designer for Yamato 2199 a few years later. Presented here are essays by both Mr. Tamamori and manga artist Michio Murakawa about the origins of 2199 mecha design.
If you’re a fan who’s been watching things for a while, part of the fun in seeing Yamato 2199 bloom and develop was catching the occasional homage to the past. The animation itself was full of them, but here we focus on other clever and creative nods to the past which proved that history was not forgotten.
This was was a good month for SF anime, seeing the debut of both Macross and Endless Road SSX, both of which were covered in anime magazines along with news of Final Yamato‘s mecha and music. Plus, the Yamato fan club magazine published a first-hand account of the momentous ten-year celebration party.
In the early 90s, an attempt to bring Yamato back to anime did not succeed. A dark period of bankruptcy and lawsuits followed, about which very little hard information is available – which makes this 1998 article from Comicbox magazine extremely valuable, giving us a rare look into a unique chapter of Yamato history.
