{"id":42637,"date":"2024-12-18T14:42:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T22:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=42637"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:26:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:26:43","slug":"096b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/096b\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Coverage of all matters related to the original Yamato<\/em> series could be found throughout the year in print and online. Here’s the roundup…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

December 2024: Celebrating Space Battleship Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n

In observance of Yamato<\/em>\u2018s 50th anniversary, Figure King<\/em> magazine No. 323 (published December 2024 by World Photo Press) ran a spectacular cover story containing art, interviews, and product history. Click here<\/a> to see all 40 pages with translations of its unique special features.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

January 7 & 8: Magmix<\/em> articles<\/h3>\n

Anime writer Seiichiro Hayakawa contributed back-to-back Yamato<\/em> articles to the Magmix<\/em> website, probably motivated by a recent rewatch. The subject lines were (1) How many times was the Wave-Motion Gun fired and (2) Shiro Sanada is a pretty crazy character. <\/p>\n

What did Hayakawa uncover? Click here<\/a> to find out<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

January 17: Godzilla vs. the Self-Defense Forces, “War Theory” of Anime<\/em><\/h3>\n

When military writers examine the world of anime and tokusatsu, opinions gush out. That’s the formula for this paperback from Bungeishunju. Written by Yu Koizumi, Sugio Takahashi, Hiroyuki Ota, and Marai Mentlein, it covers a wide range of topics including, \u201cIs the operational concept of the multi-deck space carrier in Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> the same as the Japanese Navy\u2019s three-tiered aircraft carrier Akagi?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more about the book here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

February 6: Futabanet Manga Plus<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

The headline of this article reads, “What, they\u2019re alive? They died, but somehow they came back to life…what exactly happened to the characters of famous manga and anime?” No points for guessing which Yamato<\/em> character made the list in this examination of a certain storytelling trope.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

February 12: Leiji Matsumoto video special<\/h3>\n

To mark the anniversary of the great one’s passing, Toei Animation posted a video titled Thoughts on Leiji Matsumoto<\/em>. It consisted of a 13-minute talk between his best friend manga artist Tetsuya Chiba and Naoko Yamazaki, who became an astronaut after being influenced by Yamato<\/em> and Galaxy Express 999<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to watch it on Youtube (closed captions and autotranslate ON).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

February 13: Reminder<\/em> articles<\/h3>\n

With memories of Leiji Matsumoto back in the news, the entertainment history website Reminder<\/em> published a piece on his contributions to Yamato<\/em>. When that article was located, it linked to a related one from December.<\/p>\n

Read them both here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

February 21: Futubanet Manga Plus<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

In response to an increase in visibility for Hideaki Anno, a writer for Futabanet<\/em> took note of his penchant for shoehorning homages to his personal favorites (such as Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>) into his own works. In fact, you have to work pretty hard NOT to notice this.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 6: Historical Road<\/em> #444<\/h3>\n

To mark the 80th anniversary of the sinking of Battleship Yamato<\/em>, this magazine published by PHP Institute ran a cover feature titled Battleship Yamato and Okinawa Special Attack, the Japanese Navy’s “Last Sortie.”<\/em> 48 pages of articles examine this singular point in history. Of special interest is a 4-page article by Yoshitaka Mizushima titled Novels, movies, anime… How has Yamato been portrayed after the war?<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 10: Anime Eiga<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

O.G. Yamato<\/em> fan Ryusuke Hikawa had a busy month, both as a director of the 50th Anniversary Exhibition and a constant cheerleader for Yamato<\/em> in general. On this day, his regular column for the Anime Eiga<\/em> website gave some background to the upcoming exhibition by describing his early visits to Office Academy and the revelations he gained from the experience.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 12: Visual Fantasy Culture Theory: From the Kaiju Boom to Space Battleship Yamato<\/em><\/h3>\n

Ryusuke Hikawa emerged again in March with the publication of his latest book from Kadokawa. As the title indicates, this one is an analysis of pop culture history. The official description reads:<\/p>\n

The uniqueness of Japanese anime cannot be understood without tokusatsu! Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Space Battleship Yamato, Mobile Suit Gundam<\/em> — a groundbreaking media culture theory that considers the 1960s and 70s “TV manga” when animation and tokusatsu were in lockstep.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book is mainly text, but if that’s not an obstacle you can order it from Amazon.co.jp here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 30: 50 year anniversary of the final episode<\/h3>\n

On this day in 1975, Yamato<\/em>‘s first voyage ended and its immortal legacy began.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The entertainment website Magmix<\/em> marked the occasion with an article titled, “Wasn\u2019t it \u201cEarth\u201d that Yamato<\/em> was trying to save?” As it turns out, there was a hope that it would save something else as well. <\/p>\n

Want to find out what? Read the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

April 2: Blog series by Miroku<\/h3>\n

“Miroku” is the online name for a Japanese blogger and Yamato<\/em> fan who works in America as a business consultant. This unique convergence provided the basis for a question that may never have been asked before: “What is the ideal organization as learned from Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>?” In other words, what lessons does Yamato<\/em> have for people in the business world? As it turns out, quite a lot!<\/p>\n

From April 2 to April 6, Miroku wrote a series of five blogs that answered the question in detail, and it’s got sound advice for just about everyone.<\/p>\n

Read the series here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

April 6: Bunshun Online<\/em> interview<\/h3>\n

With Hideaki Anno stepping up to take an active role in both the preservation and continuation of Yamato<\/em>, his visibility was on the rise again. Bunshun Online<\/em> published an extended interview with him that only briefly mentioned Yamato<\/em>, but went in-depth on his history as a student filmmaker in the 8mm world. This interview is not translated here at Cosmo DNA<\/em>, but if your browser has a translator function, you might want to give it a look.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read it<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

April 19: Magmix<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

em>Magmix<\/em> published a short article with the curious headline “Final Yamato<\/em> wasn’t a dream,” which examined the peculiar circumstances of the film’s epilogue.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

April 29: Reminder<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

At this point, the entire classic Yamato<\/em> catalog was still streaming to meet the needs of anyone with more time off than they knew what to do with (it was Golden Week). The entertainment history website Reminder<\/em> lived up to its name when it flew through the legendary story of how Yamato<\/em> got its start.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

May 14: Magmix<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

In of those perennial “who’s stronger” debates, the question is raised: who would win in a battle between the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> and Mobile Suit Gundam’s White Base?<\/em> The entertainment website Magmix<\/em> elevated the question from social media debate to full-on examination.<\/p>\n

Read their findings here<\/a><\/p>\n


\nPhoto posted on Twitter by sousui<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

June 1: Newspaper ad<\/h3>\n

Does that get your attention? LaKeel is an IT company that specializes in “digitalization,” the process of evolving business models into the digital realm. The text in this full-page ad from the Chugoka Shimbun<\/em> [newspaper] explains why Captain Okita is yelling at you:<\/p>\n

Prepare for launch. All hands on deck!<\/span><\/h3>\n

LaKeel is a publicly-listed IT company headquartered in Tokyo. Its group company, LaKeel Kure Co., Ltd., will be established in Kure, the city where the battleship Yamato<\/em> \u2014 the inspiration for Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> \u2014 was born. The first mission is to gather the engineers needed for launch. We are waiting for your application!<\/span><\/p>\n

Interested? Visit Lakeel’s website here<\/a><\/p>\n


\nPhoto posted on Twitter by Yoshiaka Tanaka<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

“Prepare for launch. All hands on deck!” The photo above demonstrates that LaKeel’s campaign extended to outdoor advertising with Okita is still in command.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

July 7: Live-action movie memory<\/h3>\n

Over 15 years after the premiere of the live-action Yamato<\/em> movie in 2010, there are still stories to be told about it. <\/p>\n

Actor Toshiro Yanagiba (64) appeared live as a guest on Fuji TV’s Poka Poka<\/em>. Fellow guest Hayashi Kento named Takuya Kimura (who played Kodai) as an actor who had a profound impact on him, and Yanagiba agreed, saying, \u201cHe’s cool. Every single one of his movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yanagiba, who played Shiro Sanada, surprised everyone by revealing a conversation he had with Kimura before the movie went into production.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked me, \u2018Do you like Space Battleship Yamato<\/em>? If you were to play a role, which one would you want?’ I immediately answered, ‘I love it. I’d be Sanada’. I got the offer for that role. I think Kimura cast me. So now I can’t sleep with my feet pointing toward him.\u201d <\/p>\n

(In other words, a gesture of eternal respect.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

July 8: Hobby Japan Vintage<\/em> Vol. 13<\/h3>\n

In the spirit of preserving pop culture history, Hobby Japan<\/em> has been publishing this mook series since 2019. Every issue picks a body of work to examine in detail, and succeeds with honors. They have yet to do a Yamato<\/em> issue (which is bound to be amazing when it happens), but this one included an interview with model designer Masatoshi Muramatsu, who created the original 1974 model kits for Bandai.<\/p>\n

Muramatsu was also interviewed in 2024 for Figure King<\/em> magazine (read it here<\/a>); watch for this one in a future update.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

July 10: Neppu<\/em> magazine, July issue<\/h3>\n

Neppu [Hot Air]<\/em> is a monthly digest-size magazine of culture and commentary published for free by Studio Ghibli, with which Hideaki Anno has been associated from time to time. The July issue caught the attention of Yamato<\/em> fans due to an extended article on Yamato<\/em>‘s 50th anniversary. It was a 29-page conversation between Anno and fellow expert Ryusuke Hikawa that you can read in English here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

October 1: Futabanet<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

The entertainment site Futabanet<\/em> published an article that made its mission clear in the headline: From Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> to Doraemon…the \u201cUnimaginable Destructive Power\u201d Hidden Within the \u201cMost Terrifying Weapons\u201d Representing National Masterpieces.<\/em> The author settled on five different anime to satisfy the criteria. The choices may surprise you.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

October 1: Hobby Japan Web<\/em> article<\/h3>\n

With the latest chapter of REBEL 3199<\/em> approaching, Hobby Japan Web<\/em> did its part for the cause by publishing a multi-part backgrounder on the entire saga titled Space Battleship Yamato’s Great Voyage<\/em>. Part 1 covered the original series (1974) through Resurrection<\/em> (2009), opening with these words:<\/p>\n

It was October 6th, 1974. Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> began. Let’s start by taking a look at the original series, a timeless masterpiece that changed the history of anime and influenced many creators.<\/span><\/p>\n

See the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

October 8: NOTE<\/em> blog<\/h3>\n

In April, we saw business expert Miroku’s multi-part blog about how Yamato<\/em> exemplified the ideal structure for an organization (read it here<\/a>). Miroku followed up with a more focused entry titled Learning Ideal Leadership from Captain Juzo Okita<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

November 25: Hobby Japan #679<\/h3>\n

After the monthly REBEL 3199<\/em> feature, a page flip revealed this 2-page article in which lifetime Yamato<\/em> fan and pro modeler Nobuyuki Sakurai took a new look at the EDF ships from the original Bandai Mecha Collection.<\/p>\n

Read the article here<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Continue to next page: Music<\/a><\/p>\n

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