{"id":32140,"date":"2022-04-24T16:38:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T23:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=32140"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:53:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:53:43","slug":"663a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/663a\/","title":{"rendered":"The &#8220;secret&#8221; fan club, 1991-2001"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-880 alt=\"2205icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-content\/uploads\/2205icon.JPG\" width=\"216\" height=\"90\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"cosmo-teaser\">The official <em>Yamato<\/em> fan club set very high standards throughout its run from 1977 all the way to 1991. So what happened next? A new group stepped in to pick up the slack, and they lasted another ten years. This is their story.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><!--noteaser--><\/p>\n<p>The original <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> fan club has been well-documented <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/category\/research-archive\/1974-1983-production-years\/fan-club\/'>elsewhere<\/a> on Cosmo DNA. Founded in December 1977 after the incredible success of the first feature film, it launched a high-quality magazine in February 1978 that always delivered the latest news and kept fans actively involved like no other anime franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Long after <em>Final Yamato<\/em> in 1983, the magazine kept going. It was the one and only place to get exclusive info on Yoshinobu Nishizaki&#8217;s subsequent productions, like the aborted <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/286'><em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em><\/a>. Ultimately, Nishizaki&#8217;s ambition over-extended his financial resources, and the final issue (#83) was published in June 1991 when the fan club had to close down. <\/p>\n<p class=\"image-middle\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/dec08\/28511.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The farewell message: <em>14 years have passed since the<\/em> Yamato <em>fan club was founded. In the time since then, the fans have always been supportive of us and of<\/em> Yamato.<em> We always felt your strong passion and your love and hope for<\/em> Yamato<em> on its many voyages. There will be a little time before the fan club headquarters can be reborn. As long as we have you and<\/em> Yamato, <em>the fan club is immortal. We have learned much from our work and we will never forget the strength and enthusiasm of your support.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So what happened next? Where did all those fans turn to for further news as <em>Yamato 2520<\/em> came and went, for example? You may be surprised and delighted to learn that a new group stepped in to pick up the slack, and they lasted another ten years.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-right\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a01.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>They went by the name <em>Space Battleship Yamato Revival Committee<\/em>, and their chairman was Toshiki Kazama, who had worked for Nishizaki since 1977. He served the official fan club since its inception, and continued his work on an unofficial basis after it folded. The Revival Committee published their own newsletter to keep tabs on products and productions, releasing 25 issues over ten years.<\/p>\n<p>Lacking the budget of the official fan club, the newsletter adopted a B&#038;W doujinshi format and relied on rising fan artists for illustrations. Kazama and his group soon learned what it was like to serve an aging fan base accustomed to high-end production values, sometimes struggling to live up to their own standards. The final issue was published in August 2001 and contained a wide-ranging interview with Kazama that provides a rare glimpse into an otherwise under-documented era.<\/p>\n<p>Just to provide some context, the years leading up to this conversation encompassed the <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/300'><em>Quickening<\/em> documentary<\/a>, all of <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/364'><em>Yamato 2520<\/em><\/a>, the first attempt to make <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/524'><em>Yamato Resurrection<\/em><\/a>, the decline and incarceration of <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/386a'>Yoshinobu Nishizaki<\/a>, and Leiji Matsumoto&#8217;s takeover of the franchise, during which time he launched the <a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/32'><em>Great Yamato<\/em> manga<\/a>. With <em>Yamato<\/em> seemingly entering a new period of visibility, why didn&#8217;t the Revival Committee newsletter stay in print? The answer to that and many more questions can be found in this candid conversation.<\/p>\n<p>The illustrations shown here were also part of the final issue.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a04.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Revival Committee Round Table<\/h2>\n<p>Due to the suspension of the newsletter, we have included a conversation with President Kazama. It started as a dialogue about the Revival Committee, the editorial team took two shots (?) and then it went into all of <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p><em>Kaze: Chairman Kazama<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Hara: Editing Team Hara<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(We started by looking through the newsletters)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> This is the first one I have.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> What issue?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I think this is the second issue&#8230;?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Well, it&#8217;s the first issue of its type.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> This is when I started editing&#8230;the content and atmosphere have changed from the early days, hasn&#8217;t it? Some readers said, &#8220;You&#8217;re like [censored], man!&#8221; There was a lot of criticism.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Well, there are people who want serious articles. They&#8217;re called &#8220;Maniacs.&#8221; [Otaku]<br clear=\"none\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> If I can write it, I will.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Well, by the way, whose art is this? (cover of issue #20) <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Abe-san.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It&#8217;s true. The first one was also Abe wasn&#8217;t it? His drawings are very meticulous, aren&#8217;t they? It&#8217;s wonderful.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> His personality is the same.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> The cover for issue 8 approached Studio Nue quality.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I think Juzo&#8217;s covers were the most common.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> He&#8217;s good at it, too. It looks like a mixture of Matsumoto and Udagawa. He&#8217;s the best when it comes to drawing the <em>Yamato<\/em> illustrations fans are looking for. In addition to that, what&#8217;s great about him is his sense of balance. His sense of layout is outstanding. Who&#8217;s this? (#10) <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Masago Takatsuki.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Oh, Masago. That&#8217;s great.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I like this one (#22) by Nakao-san. It&#8217;s a bit quirky, so it may not suit all tastes. This is Okamoto.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Which one?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Issue 4. Battleship <em>Yamato<\/em>, <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, and Syd Mead <em>Yamato<\/em>. I like the idea, the composition, and so on. By the way, we call him the &#8220;tone wizard&#8221; in our circle.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a05.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The photos weren&#8217;t captioned, but that&#8217;s probably Kazama on the left and Hara on the right<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Regarding the Revival Committee<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> The original start of the Revival Committee was said to be a fan club run by Westcape, wasn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s right. When the official fan club closed down, I thought it would be a shame to let such a great group of fans come to an end. One of the reasons we decided to suspend the [original] fan club was financial.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Oh, really?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s right. Do you have any idea how much that magazine cost? It was produced by a company that mainly printed art books. We thought that if we asked them to print the magazine, they would be able to print original <em>Yamato<\/em> art and other things beautifully. But it cost loads of money.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I remember when I joined some other fan clubs, I received a very poor newsletter compared to <em>Yamato<\/em>&#8216;s standard&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> The fan club was not created by choice, you know. There were so many inquiries from fans, and we had to deal with them all at once. We started out trying to handle them separately, then we put them all together.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Now that I think about it, the magazine would have to be gorgeous.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I know, right?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> And then, after all that happened, we became the Revival Committee. There was a lot going on, wasn&#8217;t there?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Was there? (kidding)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I have received a lot of requests, more in the form of commands, to dissolve. I didn&#8217;t understand the situation or the feelings of the person who said it. Now I do, but I still wonder why.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It&#8217;s no good if fans drag each other down.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> We did our best to revitalize the scene. We could only do that because of reader support.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Yes, thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a07.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Regarding <em>Yamato<\/em>&#8216;s hit<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I became a fan after watching the rerun of part 1.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Me too. Now that I think about it, I guess you couldn&#8217;t tell how good part 1 was the first time it aired.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Eh?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> At that time, most anime was made up of self-contained episodes. <em>Yamato<\/em> was originally 52 episodes long, and it was reduced to 26 episodes to complete the story, or half a year. That meant you had to keep watching [every week]. On the other hand, in reruns, you could watch an episode every day for a week and the stories connected! Then you were drawn into it, or rather, you become addicted. In other words, you had to watch it in its entirety to enjoy it! If you read an Agatha Christie novel divided up into 26 episodes, one per week, would the stories connect? No, they wouldn&#8217;t. The same went for <em>Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I see, once a week wasn&#8217;t enough to get into it. When I saw it every day, I said, &#8220;What is this? What&#8217;s gonna happen?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I started watching from the last episode of the rerun. The heroine suddenly died. It was like, &#8220;What&#8217;s this? She can die?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> The strange thing was, I didn&#8217;t understand why the TV station would air reruns of a work that had such poor ratings.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a08.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Re-runs of animation were the least expensive programming. At that time, there was no problem with secondary royalty fees for re-runs. There was no such thing as home video back then, so the TV station&#8217;s contract only included broadcast rights.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s the same now, but the rights to broadcast a program were time-based, meaning that since you paid a high production cost, you could broadcast it as many times as you wanted within the term of the rights.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> At that time, there were only reruns from 4 to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I guess since kids were going to watch it, they aired as much tokusatsu (live-action) and anime as they could.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Maybe it depended on the region, but in my area, there was a lot of rotation. There was so much to watch.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> If it wasn&#8217;t for that rerun, <em>Yamato<\/em> might not have become a hit. Maybe it would have ended with the 26th episode. But fortunately, it gradually spread. At that time, there were <em>Yamato<\/em> study groups in all six Tokyo universities.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Six universities&#8230; Tokyo University, Waseda University, Keio University&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Meiji, Rikkyo&#8230; the other one&#8230; (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs) And then it became a movie.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That was a little different, too. When we made that movie, the people at the company were not at all aware that it was slowly becoming popular. They just had the feeling that it got low ratings and was cancelled.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Then why make the movie?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Because Mr. Nishizaki wanted to! <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Just that? (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a09.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> In other words, Mr. Nishizaki originally wanted to make a movie. <em>Yamato<\/em> flopped, but he still wanted to make movies. So he gathered all the employees together for a company-wide meeting and said, (imitating Nishizaki&#8217;s voice) &#8220;I want to make a movie. I want to edit <em>Yamato<\/em> and make it into a movie. If it fails, the company will collapse instantly. But what do you all think?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> That sounds like him! No, that IS him!<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> The employees thought that if the president wanted to do it, he should.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> So casual. You couldn&#8217;t do that now.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> So, he decided to do the movie, but since it was just something Mr. Nishizaki wanted to do, there was no media publicity. When we received an inquiry about <em>Yamato<\/em> at the company, we casually said, &#8220;We&#8217;re going to do a movie next, so please wish us luck.&#8221; And then it spread through local media and I was like, &#8220;Really?&#8221; They were suddenly lining up on opening day. That&#8217;s what it was like.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> The headlines were, &#8220;Many enthusiastic fans line up all night long!&#8221; and &#8220;The <em>Yamato<\/em> boom has arrived.&#8221; I guess they were starving for information.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Yes, and with that timely support it became a boom. And that&#8217;s how <em>Animage<\/em> [magazine] was born.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Also, it had a sense of tragedy that you couldn&#8217;t see in other works, which is unique to <em>Yamato<\/em>&#8216;s world. A certain heaviness&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> At the time, there was an oil shock and the world was in a state of depression. On the other hand, there was a demand for ruggedness or strength. At that time, there was also the SL (Steam Locomotive) boom. It may be a little different, but it has something in common with <em>Yamato<\/em>, doesn&#8217;t it? This was in the proposal.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> It could have been done three years earlier or later, but it was a good thing that it was at that time.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a10.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em><\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> <em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em> just kind of disappeared. What was the real story? Were you really trying to make it? Was it actually possible?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> We were in a situation where we could do it. The company wasn&#8217;t in trouble at that time.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Then why didn&#8217;t you do it? According to one theory, the story and the project were almost completed.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> There was <em>Final Yamato<\/em>. The title said &#8220;Final.&#8221; It could have ended with <em>Farewell to Yamato<\/em>, but it continued. But they said it was &#8220;Final&#8221; and the ship was destroyed. We felt that we couldn&#8217;t create any more, no matter how much Mr. Nishizaki wanted to. (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> So he created <em>Odin<\/em> after <em>Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs) That crazy guy. (Not saying it&#8217;s bad in terms of the work.)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> We opened it at the Shibuya Tokyu [theater]. On the first day, when I counted the number of visitors, there were no more than 50 people in a theater with a capacity of 1,000. Everyone else must have thought, &#8220;This won&#8217;t be good.&#8221; After that, we did <em>A Passenger<\/em> (a live-action motorcycle racing movie) and it wasn&#8217;t good enough either.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Far from it. Only about fifty people? Did the rest just want to ride their own bikes and launch their own cruisers? (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs) And then I thought, &#8220;We have to go back to <em>Yamato<\/em>.&#8221; But&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> But you destroyed it. (Laughs) And politely called it <em>Final Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a11.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs) And that&#8217;s where Dessler comes in.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> What? That&#8217;s messed up!<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> (laughing hysterically) No, no, no. So it would become <em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em>. <em>Yamato<\/em>, the symbol of peace, must exist! So, Dessler pulls up <em>Yamato<\/em> and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> It&#8217;s a long story, so let&#8217;s leave that out. Why did you stop in the middle of the project?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> The most important question was, &#8220;Can we surpass <em>Yamato<\/em>?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Even if you couldn&#8217;t, <em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em> would have done well.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s right. We probably should have forced it through, but we ended up stopping it.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Was it a good idea to do that? Just put the brakes on?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It would have been better if we had just made it.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Both economically and to revitalize the &#8220;scene.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> And the other works sold like hotcakes. But by that time, Syd Mead&#8217;s new <em>Yamato<\/em> was in motion.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a06.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><br \/>\n<em>Concept sketch for Yamato 2520, 1992<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><em>Yamato 2520<\/em>, Syd Mead<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> This one really did get going, but it finished in the middle of the project.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Because we had to make it. I mean, the name <em>New Yamato<\/em> was a moneymaker. It&#8217;s a strange story. The first thing that came to mind was, &#8220;We&#8217;re going to build <em>Yamato<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> But it ended in the middle of the project. Unfortunately.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It was a financial matter, a problem with the company itself, so there was nothing we could do. It was too late.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> What would have happened if you had continued? <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I wonder if there&#8217;s a proposal for that&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Which one? The story is different, because it&#8217;s an unused project! <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> (Laughs) Well, it&#8217;s possible, I guess.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> So, the important thing is that <em>2520<\/em> Vol. 3 has not yet been released. And what happens after Vol. 3?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I don&#8217;t know&#8230;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a12.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>There was more!<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I remember when the <em>Quickening<\/em> video came out, there were two projects, the &#8220;Syd Mead <em>Yamato<\/em>&#8221; (<em>2520<\/em>) and <em>Resurrection<\/em>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Yes, at a certain point, two projects, Syd Mead <em>Yamato<\/em> and the new <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, started in development.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> How did that happen?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Where did it come from? It&#8217;s more advantageous to have two projects going.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Is that how it is? From what I saw in <em>The Quickening<\/em>, both looked exciting. I wish I could have seen it! <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> As for the Syd Mead <em>Yamato<\/em>, Bandai asked me, &#8220;Are you really building this?&#8221; I ran in with a 1-meter model! I said, &#8220;Look, we&#8217;re looking at it and drawing it. It&#8217;s in progress!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Holding it under your arm? (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I carried it. (Laughs)<\/p>\n<h3>T-shirts<\/h3>\n<p><em>Translator&#8217;s note:<\/em> there&#8217;s no background given in this short exchange, but it likely refers to an original T-shirt that was announced and never materialized.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> You have to do something about this one. (Laughs) Everyone is angry.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I&#8217;m thinking about it. Honestly speaking, when I met Leiji Matsumoto, I wondered if I could get him to draw it&#8230;sort of&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Everyone&#8217;s had to wait for so long, so please make it a good one. I didn&#8217;t sign up for it. (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a13.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>About the Revival Committee<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Why did you stop doing events?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Financial difficulties! (Laughs) The expenses were supposed to be covered by a certain source at first, but they stopped..<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> It is a reality, isn&#8217;t it? I used to do events myself (<em>Yamato<\/em> World), so I understand that it costs a lot of money. It&#8217;s not very interesting to talk about this, but it&#8217;s also a good idea to have a meeting with the staff. The venue costs a lot of money. It&#8217;s not just once or twice, and no one else would pay for it. We had to make do on our own. I&#8217;m not saying this because I don&#8217;t like doing it, or to spoil it, but that&#8217;s the reality.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s right.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> You have to be prepared to go hungry for something like that. I even sold off my prized collection to pay for it&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I cried too, because I lost a lot of money. I probably shouldn&#8217;t say this.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I&#8217;m not sure if the newsletter itself is in the black, either. Oh, it&#8217;s a bittersweet battle. So, skipping the rest of the story, I&#8217;m going to suspend the Revival Committee newsletter for the time being.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It&#8217;s a shame, though. Definitely.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> As I wrote in the &#8220;Announcement of Suspension,&#8221; some people have been saying, &#8220;Matsumoto-sensei revived things with <em>Great Yamato<\/em>, and aren&#8217;t you the Revival Committee?&#8221; When I hear it that way, I guess that&#8217;s true.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> There was a way to change the name. We could have asked Mr. Matsumoto to give us a new name, or we could have solicited names from the public.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a14.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s one option, but I personally liked the name &#8220;<em>Yamato<\/em> Revival Committee&#8221; because I thought it sounded cool. I didn&#8217;t want to change it. I thought we didn&#8217;t have to be so particular about the name.<\/p>\n<p>However, the reality is that <em>Great Yamato<\/em> started in the manga medium. There may be those who say it will be revived when it comes to video, and that&#8217;s understandable. I don&#8217;t think the worldview of <em>Yamato<\/em> can be depicted without both images and music. What constitutes &#8220;revival&#8221; is up to each fan. So, when you named the &#8220;Revival Committee,&#8221; what kind of &#8220;revival&#8221; were you aiming for?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I think there&#8217;s an unspoken agreement that I was not trying to create a work with the name &#8220;<em>Yamato<\/em>&#8221; as everyone thinks it should be. I think when you get the spirit of <em>Yamato<\/em> into something, and it&#8217;s fun, no questions need be asked.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Then it would still have to be a sequel. But do you mean something other than <em>2520<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> No, I&#8217;m just speaking in terms of results, but if it had been a great film, it would have been accepted. I thought it would have been nice if most fans, if not all, recognized it as a work of <em>Yamato<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I see. However, as a result of the Revival Committee&#8217;s various activities, the core fans, including myself, are now in their mid-30s or older. Some of the members may be managers with subordinates in their 20s who grew up watching <em>Evangelion<\/em>. There may be mothers who have children who are anime fans and never heard of <em>Yamato<\/em>. Well, I think that kind of mother would be properly trained in <em>Yamato<\/em>. (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p>Is the current format of the newsletter good for those people? That&#8217;s the question. I wouldn&#8217;t mind if it continued as is, but if we lose inertia, we won&#8217;t be able to produce anything good. This may be my own selfishness, but I don&#8217;t want to treat our members as children. I&#8217;d like a newsletter for <em>Yamato<\/em> fans that is appropriate for our generation. I can&#8217;t come up with the answer to this question.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> Westcape&#8217;s <em>Yamato<\/em> fan club was aimed at middle school and high school students, but the generation of fans has changed.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Everyone is growing up, in many ways.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a15.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The future of the newsletter<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> What are we going to do now?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I&#8217;m the one who wants to know! (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> How about once a year?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> The challenge is what to do with the content. As long as we clear that hurdle, once or twice a year is fine. But if we are going to publish it, it has to be something worthy of the Revival Committee. I don&#8217;t even know what it means to be &#8220;like a revival committee.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> When we started, <em>Yamato<\/em> was hardly covered by the mass media. So even if <em>Yamato<\/em> was active as a company or a production company, it was not visible to fans. Under such circumstances, I thought it was the role of the Revival Committee to convey information from the production side to the fans. I know this may sound grandiose, but I think it&#8217;s a good idea to organize a large number of fans and to communicate with them.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a16.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>The future of <em>Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I think people who are fans now will remain fans. For example, people who are fans of a baseball team stay fans regardless of whether the players or the manager change. People who used to go to the stadium instead of watching TV broadcasts are happy now to see the game results on pro baseball news. The way they act as fans has changed, but I think they&#8217;re still fans.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I guess so. But in order for <em>Yamato<\/em> to continue in the future, we need new fans.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> I think we need to work hard on new works, like <em>Dessler&#8217;s War<\/em>. Can someone make it?<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> I would love to.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Let&#8217;s make it with the Revival Committee. We have a plan, we just need the money! <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> That&#8217;s the problem! (Laughs) And the rights issues! <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> Someone become a sponsor! (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a17.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>To the readers who read my rambling long story to the end!<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Hara:<\/em><\/span> We talked for a long time, but most of it turned out to be small talk that I couldn&#8217;t include in the article. by small talk, I mean&#8230;dangerous talk. I made some excuses and complained, but I want to say this:<\/p>\n<p>There were times when it was hard to publish, times when there was nothing to write about, and times when things got complicated, but the truth is that the letters and encouragement from our members kept us going. This last issue is coming out much later than we had planned. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize and thank you for your support.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Mr. Chairman, please bring it to a proper close.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"textBlue\"><em>Kaze:<\/em><\/span> It&#8217;s revived! I think it&#8217;s a strange time because the newsletter will be suspended at a stage where it can&#8217;t be said to be completed. We sincerely apologize to our members.<\/p>\n<p>As for the Revival Committee, we will not disband yet. We will suspend the newsletter for a while, but we will continue to work as the Revival Committee. We will continue to explore what we can do for <em>Yamato<\/em>. We&#8217;ll keep doing what we can, and we look forward to seeing you in the future.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a02.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/may22\/663a03.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1984-present-legacy-years","category-articles-1984-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32140"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43679,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32140\/revisions\/43679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}