{"id":39198,"date":"2024-01-02T19:34:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T03:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=39198"},"modified":"2025-01-06T11:25:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T19:25:50","slug":"minpo241226","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/minpo241226\/","title":{"rendered":"Minpo Online<\/em> article, December 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

There’s no time to wallow in nostalgia!<\/h2>\n

The half-century of Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> and the future<\/h3>\n

by Tatsuya Masudo<\/em><\/p>\n

Published by Minpo Online, December 26. See the original article here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recently (October 2024), director Hideaki Anno announced that he will be producing a new Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> as a theatrical film to mark the 50th anniversary. He has already rewritten the source material in his own recreations for the modern era, such as Godzilla, Ultraman<\/em>, and Kamen Rider<\/em>. But he is actually a passionate fan of Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, and in an interview I read once, he said that he was so attached to it that he “can recite all the lines from memory.”<\/p>\n

Not only Anno, but many creators around the age of 60 today were baptized by Yamato<\/em> in their youth. So what exactly was Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>? Let’s take a look at what it was all about<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The pioneer of the 1970s anime boom<\/h3>\n

Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> was first broadcast nationwide on the Nippon Television network from October 1974 to March 1975, with Yomiuri Television as the source station, every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. However, due to competing programs at the time such as Heidi Girl of the Alps<\/em> (1974, Fuji Television) and Monkey Army<\/em> (1974-1975, TBS), the show struggled for viewers and ended with its 39 episodes being shortened to 26. <\/p>\n

However, reruns of TV programs (especially anime and tokusatsu) were common during this period, and Yamato<\/em> gradually gained popularity there. Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki planned a theatrical compilation film as a thank you to the fans, which was released in the summer of 1977. This became an unexpected hit, and an unprecedented animation boom began in Japan.<\/p>\n

This is due to the fact that the adults of the time were unaware of the popularity of TV animation in the 1970s. For example, excellent animation works such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman<\/em> (1972-1974, Fuji TV), Triton of the Sea<\/em> (1972, Asahi Broadcasting), and Lupin III<\/em> (first series, 1971-1972, Yomiuri TV) were released one after another and continued to gain support from boys and girls. It would not have been surprising if any of them had lit the fuse for a boom.<\/p>\n

Among these, Yamato<\/em> stood out because, although the content was also sci-fi, it had a more mature aura than traditional robot anime that rewarded good and punished evil. The romance of space was depicted in a road movie-like progression for the journey to Iscandar, far away in space, with a time limit of one year until Earth is destroyed. The character designs by Leiji Matsumoto, which harmonized sci-fi and military flavors, were also attractive, and the sophisticated music by Hiroshi Miyagawa captivated boys and girls.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Related goods, anime songs, and the voice actor boom<\/h3>\n

1977 was also the year that Star Wars<\/em> was released in the United States, sparking a worldwide boom (although it was not released in Japan until early summer 1978). The Japanese film industry jumped on the bandwagon with live-action tokusatsu sci-fi films such as The Great War of the Planets<\/em> (1977) and Message from Space<\/em> (1978), but while they were well received by enthusiasts, they did not attain mainstream support. However, the sequel Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, released in August of the same year, was the only Japanese content that could rival Star Wars<\/em>, and it became an even bigger hit than the previous film.<\/p>\n

At this time, merchandise sales had already begun, and boys and girls all over Japan began showing up to school with Yamato<\/em> pins, pencil cases, and desk pads. In response, anime shops opened one after another in urban areas, mail order sales began in rural areas, and a rush of anime magazines was launched, which led to a large focus on anime voice actors. This established the voice actor boom that continues to this day.<\/p>\n

As for the voice actors in Yamato<\/em>, Masato Ibu (Masayuki Ibu at the time), who voiced the villain Dessler, made his breakthrough with the radical voice performance group Snakeman Show<\/em> and gained support from Yamato<\/em> fans.<\/p>\n

Farewell<\/em> also marked the start of using popular artists for theme songs, and the ending song From Yamato With Love<\/em> by Kenji Sawada was a big hit, becoming a pioneer of the current anime song boom.<\/p>\n

Farewell<\/em> was such a big hit that some people criticized the ending, in which the main character rams into the enemy, as “militaristic,” and “glorifying suicide attacks.” However, many adults are unaware that, after the final episode of Mighty Atom<\/em> (the first TV anime series, 1963-66, Fuji TV), children’s programs often depicted suicide attacks and self-sacrifice. Thus, many boys and girls who had naturally been exposed to such works since childhood were able to accept the ending of Farewell<\/em> without any sense of incongruity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Enjoying a parallel world<\/h3>\n

In fact, what caused even more controversy for fans at the time was the fact that Yamato<\/em> returned to Earth at the end of the TV series Yamato 2<\/em> (1978-1979, Yomiuri TV\/Nippon TV), which was based on Farewell<\/em> and aired in the fall of the same year. This created a parallel world that separated the movie and the TV series (in fact, the 1977 movie version also had the first “Starsha Death Edition” and the later revised “Starsha Survival Edition”). <\/p>\n

Furthermore, a new work titled The New Voyage<\/em> (1979, Fuji TV) was a sequel to Yamato<\/em> 2, leading to the movie Be Forever Yamato<\/em> (1980), and a further sequel, the TV series Yamato III<\/em> (1980-1981, Yomiuri TV\/Nippon TV). In this way, Yamato<\/em> fans were largely divided into those who considered Farewell<\/em> to be the end of Yamato<\/em> and those who supported the subsequent works. (However, even among those who supported Farewell<\/em>, there were many who, when they heard that a new Yamato<\/em> was being made, would grumble like Pavlov’s dog but watch it anyway. I’m talking about myself.)<\/p>\n

Nowadays, there have been many works in which the content of TV and movie versions differs in a parallel world-like way, but it can be said that Yamato<\/em> was the pioneer of this. At the time, I think viewers still lacked the awareness to accept it. Afterward, Farewell<\/em> was removed from the official timeline of Yamato<\/em> and was treated as “dark history” for a while, which angered the Farewell<\/em> fans.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The sound of the word “Yamato<\/em>“<\/h3>\n

After Farewell, Yamato<\/em> began to portray self-sacrifice as beautiful and positive, and began to use “love” as a hook. In the movie Final Yamato<\/em> (1983), the lines “Why do Earthlings die for others?” is asked, and the reply is, “Because it’s a beautiful thing.” <\/p>\n

However, since the 1980s, Japanese animation has produced many new works that appeal to the ruthless side of war, such as the Mobile Suit Gundam<\/em> series (1979-). In comparison, the Yamato<\/em> series has become increasingly anachronistic, as if in inverse proportion to the high technical quality of its art. In the end, Final Yamato<\/em> was the last big hit, and the rest of the series became something of a half-measure.<\/p>\n

Still, when I hear “Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>” from time to time, as someone who remembers its popularity in the 1970s, my heart still flutters. Before I can explain why, I think it has more to do with the sound of the word “Yamato<\/em>,” which stimulates the DNA of Japanese people. <\/p>\n


\nIllustration by Masahiko Okura<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, many of the adults who started content businesses using “Yamato<\/em>” in the early days were from a generation that experienced the Pacific War. The concept of the Battleship Yamato<\/em>, a symbol of the Japanese Navy at the time that sank into the sea without achieving much success, saving the Earth as the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>, must have had an idealistic feeling that went beyond a sense of being a kid.<\/p>\n

I myself watched the first TV series when I was in the 5th grade, and my father, who grew up during the war, would immediately change the channel to NHK when an anime started. (At the time there was only one TV in the household and fathers had control over the channel.) Thus, it was strange that he allowed me to watch Yamato<\/em>, saying “This anime is good.”<\/p>\n

I recognize that the Yamato<\/em> boom was largely due to spontaneous elements created by boys and girls at the time, but the reason adults were able to get involved with it as a business was because there was sympathy for the sound of “Yamato<\/em>” deep in their hearts. In an era without social media or cell phones, I think it would have been impossible for children alone to create such a boom at that time. And it is true that children willingly went along with the adults’ plans, creating a win-win relationship that became the foundation of the anime content business that followed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now, after the death of Yoshinobu Nishizaki, the creator of the Yamato<\/em> series, Shoji Nishizaki, who inherited his will, started a new series in 2012. He remade the original series with modern sensibilities and technology. (As of November 2012, the second chapter of Be Forever Yamato REBEL 3199<\/em> is currently in theaters). These remakes continue to attract attention as new works by some of the best creators of today who grew up watching the series back then.<\/p>\n

This is not the time to wallow in nostalgia and think, “Oh, Yamato<\/em>, everything is so nostalgic…” The launch of Yamato<\/em> is far from over, including the forthcoming new work by Hideaki Anno.<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Return to previous article<\/a><\/p>\n

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