{"id":35923,"date":"2022-12-29T21:40:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=35923"},"modified":"2024-01-08T11:08:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T19:08:55","slug":"895a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/895a\/","title":{"rendered":"Isao Sasaki interview, December 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3><em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> 4K remaster will be broadcast on TV for the first time in January 2024!<\/h3>\n<p>Published on <em>TV Guide Web<\/em>. See the original post <a href='https:\/\/www.tvguide.or.jp\/feature\/feature-20231221\/'>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-right\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/jan24\/895a01.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The 4K remaster of the <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> movie, revived with state-of-the-art technology, will be broadcast exclusively on Star Channel for the first time in January!\u3000In addition, a 4K remaster of <em>Farewell to Yamato<\/em> will be on-air in February. In commemoration of the broadcast, we asked Isao Sasaki, who sings the theme song, to share anecdotes from the anime&#8217;s broadcast.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Yamato<\/em> theme song still has a brightness that has not faded away even half a century since its release. However, the request for Sasaki to sing the song came suddenly. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It had already sung by Masato Shimon, but the producer said, &#8216;I want a singer with a deeper voice to sing it more cheerfully.&#8217; The request came to me with only a few days left before the broadcast was to begin. Because the decision was made so hastily, the transcription of the score was wrong. (Laughs) After I entered the studio, I learned the correct score, and then I made a slow version, a slow to fast version&#8230;I think there were four different versions. Anyway, I recorded all of them in one day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The first anime work he was involved in was <em>Science Ninja Team Gatchaman<\/em>, broadcast from 1972 to 1974. He was the voice actor for one of the characters, Condor Joe. His first anime song was the opening theme for <em>Neo Human Casshan<\/em> (1973-74). (Listen to it <a href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dj3oXJacf3M'>here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>Casshan<\/em> was well received, and about six months later, I was asked to sing three or four songs at once. Then, a little later, I was asked to do <em>Yamato<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/jan24\/895a02.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The recording of <em>Yamato<\/em> was hectic. After memorizing the score again and singing it, &#8220;I thought it was a very good song,&#8221; he says. However, there were many difficulties.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The producer was very particular about the song. He wanted it to be more melancholic and nostalgic. But Hiroshi Miyagawa, the composer, said, &#8216;No matter what the producer says, I want you to sing it cheerfully.&#8217; I wondered which way to go. (Laughs) Mr. Miyagawa said the melody contains melancholy, and he wanted me to focus on the momentum of the song.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That song was popular among anime fans even before it became a hit with the public. When I participated in an event for <em>Yamato<\/em> at the time, about 500 junior high and high school girls gathered. The atmosphere was amazing. The crowd was so enthusiastic that they would call out to me, &#8216;Joe!&#8217; Nobody called out &#8216;Sasaki!&#8217; (Laughs) After that, they would call out &#8216;<em>Yamato<\/em>!&#8217; I guess my image is integrated with that song.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Without bass, it lacks power and is difficult to sing, so it wasn&#8217;t covered much at the time. Mr. Miyagawa&#8217;s wife lamented, &#8216;No one is covering the song, so there&#8217;s no royalty income&#8217;.&#8221; (Laughs)<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"image-right\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/jan24\/895a03.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The <em>Yamato<\/em> theme song is so famous that it always ranks high in anime song popularity polls.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s doesn&#8217;t always rank first in the top ten, sometimes around third or fifth place, but it never goes down from there. Even at the time it was released, it had a military style and didn&#8217;t feel like a popular song. But it has a strength that never gets old. Also, young people seem to find old melodies fresh and appealing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not only the theme song, but also the film itself has a timeless charm and emotion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The most moving part for me was when the surface wreckage of the battleship <em>Yamato<\/em>, buried in the ground, collapses and <em>Yamato<\/em> comes out and flies into the sky. And then there&#8217;s the moment when <em>Yamato<\/em> returns from Iscandar. Captain Juzo Okita sheds tears as he gazes at the bright red Earth. I like the beginning and the end of the journey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For those who are watching this for the first time, or those who are thinking of watching it again for the first time in a while, I would like you to pay attention to the following: rather than any particular scene, it&#8217;s more about people risking their lives for something. The reason people support Shohei Otani is because he puts his life on the line for baseball. It&#8217;s wonderful to put your life on the line for something, to have something worth putting one&#8217;s life on the line for. I want young people to feel that through <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><em>Isao Sasaki was born on May 16, 1942 in Tokyo. He has sung many theme songs for anime, and he has dubbed for Sylvester Stallone, Elvis Presley, and others as a voice actor.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/877a'>Return to previous article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35923","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=35923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35942,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35923\/revisions\/35942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}