{"id":1350,"date":"2013-06-22T06:23:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-22T06:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=1350"},"modified":"2023-05-15T17:45:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T00:45:56","slug":"352","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/352\/","title":{"rendered":"Farewell to Yamato<\/em> Vintage Merchandise"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Licensors for Farewell to Yamato<\/em> had seen the feeding frenzy and knew what to plan for in the next round. Just as the movie improved upon its predecessor, the products also went to the next level. Here is a substantial sampling of what Yamato<\/em> fans had to choose from in the wake of the biggest anime ever [3 pages].<\/p>\n

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As huge and successful as the 1977 Yamato<\/em> movie’s merchandising became, it was still somewhat of an experiment. It was known that teens and young adults were paying attention, but would they actually go for the stuff that was filling up store shelves? Licensors for Farewell to Yamato<\/em> products didn’t have to ask that question; they had seen the feeding frenzy and knew what to plan for in the next round.<\/p>\n

That made Farewell<\/em>‘s merchandising campaign the first of its kind. Just as the movie improved upon its predecessor, the products also went to the next level, except in cases where it wasn’t necessary. Many of these, in fact, were do-overs from the first wave with a different image attached and multiplied for greater variety.<\/p>\n

The two major providers in 1977 had been Tokyu Recreation and Nishizaki\u2019s Office Academy. Now, for whatever reason, Tokyu was out of the picture. But many other companies rushed in to the fill the void, including two very big names: Glico and Pepsi. Between them, Academy, and several other new players, a bonanza unfolded over several months.<\/p>\n

See the Academy products here<\/a><\/p>\n

See the Glico products here<\/a><\/p>\n

Below and on the following two pages are the products released by everyone else.<\/p>\n

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Products by Amada Printing Co.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

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As a printing company, Amada specialized in paper products, but teamed up with Nomura Toy Company in a few cases. Nomura had their own lineup of Yamato<\/em> products, as seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Card Collection 1<\/p>\n

It was called a “card collection” but it wasn’t quite what we think of as such. The “cards” were slips of paper (measuring 2″ x 2.5″) with a color still on them. They were sold in individual packs or box of packs. Each box came with a booklet to glue them into. There were 120 “cards,” and each one had a spot. When you completed the set, you essentially had a storybook for the movie.<\/p>\n

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Card Collection 2<\/p>\n

Set 2 picked up where set 1 left off and delivered another set of 120 images.<\/p>\n

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Card Collection 3<\/p>\n

Finally, set 3 brought it up to a total of 360. Yamato 2<\/em> was on the air by the time this set came out, so most of the images came from the series.<\/p>\n

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Mini Cards<\/p>\n

Amada released mini-cards for the ’77 movie, and now they were issued in greater numbers with six different box styles (four for Farewell<\/em>, two for Yamato 2<\/em>) and 18 pocket books. See most of them here<\/a>. There was a total of 240 cards with a color image on one side and text on the other. A select few were overprinted with additional text proclaiming them a “Lucky Card” that could probably be exchanged for some sort of bonus product. In 1979, another 120 cards were issued for Yamato 2<\/em>, then 60 more for Series 1.<\/p>\n

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For anyone wishing to explore this particular category of collectible, a very helpful book was published in March 2021. Titled Showa Anime Card Chronicle<\/em>, it’s a thick 160-page full color catalog of over 2,700 mini-cards from 18 different 1970s anime shows, with Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> represented along with Mazinger Z, Gatchaman, Getter Robo, Grendizer<\/em>, and others. Order your copy from Amazon.co.jp here<\/a>, along with its tokusatsu companion volume if that happens to be your jam.<\/p>\n

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Gum Rubber Miniatures<\/p>\n

One of Amada’s cheapest and most plentiful offerings was an extensive line up of gum-rubber toys co-produced with the Nomura Toy Company, available in a box or individually bagged.<\/p>\n

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Bagged Gum Rubber Miniatures<\/p>\n

If you wanted a massive trove of miniatures all at once, the standard ones were bagged up with smaller versions and sold in the bags shown here.<\/p>\n

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2-Tone Gum Rubber Miniatures<\/p>\n

If you spent a little more money, you could get this gum rubber Yamato<\/em> that was split into two color combinations: grey\/red (for the first story) or blue\/red (for Farewell<\/em>). As before, the product itself was manufactured by Nomura and packaged by Amada.<\/p>\n

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Menko Cards<\/p>\n

And then there was Amada’s Menko set, ready to go head-to-head against any other cut-rate non-Yamato<\/em> Menko card out there. <\/p>\n

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There are actually two types of Farewell to Yamato<\/em> Menko cards shown here; the Amada brand featured animation stills. The painted images came from someone else entirely…<\/p>\n

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…as did these unusually-shaped Menko cards from yet a third party. Die-cut cards were rarer, since they were more expensive to make. See more examples of Yamato<\/em> menko cards here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Collector Cards<\/p>\n

And finally, Amada\/Nomura also made larger-format (3.5\u2033 x 5\u2033) cards, a set of 54 that were sold in bundles of 30.<\/p>\n

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Continue to the next page<\/a><\/p>\n

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