is a
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
series and the name of its eponymous
space craftSpace Battleship Yamato is the title spaceship from the anime series Space Battleship Yamato, created from the remains of the Japanese battleship Yamato. In the American dub of the series, Star Blazers, the spaceship has the same origin but, when it is launched into space, is renamed the Argo...
. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as
Space Cruiser Yamato or
Star Blazers; an
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
-
dubbedDubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting schedule. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who...
and partly edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television under the latter title. An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Portuguese-language version was successfully shown in Brazil under the title
Patrulha Estelar ("Star Patrol").
Development
Conceived in 1973 by producer
Yoshinobu NishizakiYoshinobu Nishizaki is best known as the co-creater of Space Battleship Yamato. He was born in 1934 and graduated from Nihon University Art Department.In 1994, he designed Yamato 2520...
, the project underwent heavy revisions. Originally intended to be an outer-space variation on
Lord of the FliesLord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It discusses how culture created by man fails, using as an example a group of British schoolboys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, but with disastrous results...
, the project at first was titled "Asteroid Ship
IcarusIcarus is a character in Greek mythology. He is the son of Daedalus and is commonly known for his attempt to escape Crete by flight, which ended in a fall to his death.-Escape from Crete:...
" and had a multinational teenage crew journeying through space in a hollowed-out asteroid in search of the planet
IscandarThis is a list of planets and other significant celestial bodies featured in the anime series Space Battleship Yamato and its American dub, Star Blazers.- The Solar System :...
. There was to be much discord among the crew; many of them acting purely out of self-interest and for personal gain. The enemy aliens were originally called Rajendora.
When
Leiji Matsumotois a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife is also known as a manga artist.-Space opera:Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato. Many such as Toshio Okada and Eiichiro Oda have remarked in interviews that the Romanticism prevalent in his...
was brought onto the project, many of these concepts were discarded. It is his art direction, ship designs and unique style that accredit him in fans' eyes as the true creator of Space Battleship Yamato, even though Nishizaki retains legal rights to the work.
Space Battleship Yamato
The first season began airing in Japan in October 1974. Set in the year 2199, an alien race known as the "
GamilasThis is a list of planets and other significant celestial bodies featured in the anime series Space Battleship Yamato and its American dub, Star Blazers.- The Solar System :...
" ("Gamilons" in the English
Star Blazers dub) are raining radioactive bombs on Earth, rendering the planet's surface dead and uninhabitable. Humanity lives in refuges built deep underground, but the radioactivity is slowly infiltrating the underground cities too. Earth's space fleet is hopelessly outclassed by the Gamilas and all seems lost until a mysterious space probe is retrieved on Mars. Blueprints for a
faster-than-lightFaster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
engine are discovered, and a message from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar in the
Large Magellanic CloudThe Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular galaxy, once thought to be a satellite of our own. At a distance of slightly less than 50 kiloparsecs , the LMC is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, with the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal and Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy lying closer to the...
says that she has a device, the Cosmo-Cleaner D (Cosmo DNA), which can cleanse Earth of its radiation damage.
The inhabitants of Earth secretly convert the ruins of the Japanese battleship
YamatoYamato , named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, she was lead ship of the Yamato class...
into a massive spaceship, the
Space Battleship YamatoSpace Battleship Yamato is the title spaceship from the anime series Space Battleship Yamato, created from the remains of the Japanese battleship Yamato. In the American dub of the series, Star Blazers, the spaceship has the same origin but, when it is launched into space, is renamed the Argo...
for which the story is titled. Using Starsha's blueprints, they equip their new ship with a space warp drive, called the "wave motion engine", and a new, incredibly powerful weapon called the "wave motion gun" which fires from the bow.
In the English
Star Blazers dub, the ship is noted as being the historical
Yamato, but is then renamed the
ArgoIn Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcus to retrieve the Golden Fleece.-Legendry:...
(after the ship of
JasonJason was a late ancient Greek mythological figure, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
and the
ArgonautsIn Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
). A small but intrepid crew of 114 departs for Iscandar in the
Yamato to retrieve the radiation-removing device. Along the way, they discover the motives of their blue-skinned adversaries: the planet Gamilas, sister planet to Iscandar, is dying; and its leader, Lord Desslar ("Desslok" in the
Star Blazers dub), is trying to irradiate Earth enough for his people to move there, at the expense of the "barbarians" he considers humanity to be.
The first season contained twenty-six episodes, following the
Yamato's year-long voyage out of the Milky Way Galaxy and back again. A continuing story, it features the declining health of the determined captain Okita (Avatar in the
Star Blazers dub), and the transformation of the brash young orphan Susumu Kodai (Derek Wildstar) into a mature and capable-acting captain, as well as his budding romance with female crewmember Yuki Mori (Nova). The foreign edits tend to play up the individual characters, while the Japanese original is often more focused on the ship itself.
The series was condensed into a ninety-minute theatrical movie by selecting a few key episodes, editing them heavily, and sticking them together; as a result, the first-season movie leaves large gaps and doesn't flow very well. Additional animation was created for the movie (such as the scenes on Iscandar) or recycled from the series' test footage (such as the opening sequence). The movie was edited down further and dubbed into English in 1978; entitled
Space Cruiser Yamato or simply
Space Cruiser, it was only given a limited theatrical release in Europe & Latin America, where it was called "Patrulha Estelar" (
Star Patrol) or "Astronave Intrepido" (
Starship Intrepid), though it was later released on video in most countries.
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamatois the second theatrical film based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato . It was released in 1978...
The 90-minute movie version of
Yamato outperformed another space opera,
Star WarsStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released simply as Star Wars, is an American 1977 space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films continue the story, while a prequel trilogy contributes...
, at the Japanese box office, leading to the production of a second movie that would end the story. In
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (also rendered as
Arrivederci Yamato), the
Yamato and her crew face the onslaught of the Comet Empire, a civilization from the
Andromeda GalaxyThe Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately away in the constellation Andromeda. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way...
who seek to conquer Earth, led by Zohdah the Great. The
Yamato is aided by a telekinetic woman composed of anti-matter, Teresa of Telezart, while the Comet Empire has restored to life Earth's old enemy, the Gamilas' leader Desslar, who is eager for revenge. After a massive battle which destroys both Earth and Comet Empire fleets, the
Yamato crew defeat Zohdah's fortress, but at the cost of the ship and their lives. A massive fan outcry to the film convinced the show's creators to make a second season of the TV series based on the film, but with a much different ending. As such the events of
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato are now considered to be an alternate storyline altogether and is no longer regarded as official canon.
Space Battleship Yamato IISpace Battleship Yamato II was a sequel to the original Space Battleship Yamato. In 2201 a new danger even greater than the Gamilons attacks Earth after the Space Yamato crew investigate an SOS signal...
As the popularity of this franchise became clear (due largely to an enraged fan outcry from those who saw the movie,
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato), a second season of the television series was produced,
retconRetroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change is informally referred to as a "retcon", and producing a retcon is called "retconning"...
ning the movie and presenting a different plot against Zohdah (Prince Zordar in the
Star Blazers dub) and his Comet Empire without killing off the
Yamato or its primary characters. Expanding the story to 26 episodes, the second season featured additional plots such as a love story between Teresa (Trelaina) and
Yamato crew member Daisuke Shima (Mark Venture), and an onboard antagonism between Kodai and Saito (Knox), leader of a group of
space marineSpace marines are fictional soldiers that operate in outer space. Space marines are common in military science fiction-themed action movies and action games. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defense, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
s. This season is considered the best by many of the series' American fans—no doubt due in large part to the wildly imaginative spaceship designs created by
Studio NueStudio Nue is a Japanese design studio formed in 1972 by Naoyuki Kato, Kenichi Matsuzaki, Kazutaka Miyatake, and Haruka Takachiho...
.
Footage from
Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato was reused in the second season, particularly in the opening titles. The sequence of the
Yamato launching from water was also reused in two of the subsequent movies.
Yamato: The New Voyagewas a television movie that was first broadcast on Fuji TV. This was the third movie in the Space Battleship Yamato saga...
The
television movieA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
,
Yamato: The New Voyage, came next, featuring a new enemy, the Black Nebula Empire. In the film, later modified into a theatrical movie, Desslar sees his homeworld, Gamilas, destroyed by the grey-skinned aliens, and its twin planet Iscandar next in line for invasion. He finds an eventual ally in the
Yamato, then on a training mission under deputy captain Kodai.
Be Forever Yamatois the third theatrical film based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato .-Synopsis:...
The theatrical movie
Be Forever Yamato sees the Black Nebula launch a powerful weapon at Earth, a hyperon bomb which will annihilate humanity if they resist a full-scale invasion. The
Yamato, under new captain, Yamanami, travels to the aliens' home galaxy only to discover what appears to be a future Earth—defeated and ruled by the enemy.
Space Battleship Yamato IIISpace Battleship Yamato III involves a stray missile from a battle between the Galman empire and the Bolar Federation that crashes into the sun which causes mass radiation. The Star Force must then set out on a mission to look for a new world for the human race....
Following these movies, a third season of the TV series was produced, broadcast on Japanese television in 1980. In this, the
SunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
is hit by a stray proton missile from a nearby battle between forces of the Galman Empire and Bolar Federation. This missile greatly accelerates nuclear fusion in the Sun, and humanity must either evacuate to a new home or find a means of preventing a
supernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months. During this short interval, a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun could emit over...
. During the course of the story, we learn that the people of the Galman Empire are actually the forebears of Desslar and the Gamilas race. Desslok and the remnants of his space fleet have liberated Galman from the Bolar Federation. Originally conceived as a 52-episode story, funding cuts meant the season had to be reduced to 25 episodes, with a corresponding loss of overall story development. This third season was adapted into English several years after the original
Star Blazers run.
Final YamatoThe Space Battleship Yamato saga ended in 1983 with the fifth theatrical movie, . At a running time of approximately 165 minutes, Final Yamato currently holds the record as being the longest running animated film ever made.-Synopsis:The Gamilan Empire is destroyed by a chance collision of...
The saga ended in 1983 with the fifth theatrical movie,
Final Yamato. In this feature, the planet Galman is destroyed by a chance collision of galaxies, while the
Yamato encounters the planet Deingil too late to save its humanoid civilisation from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Deingili, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity in order to create a new home for their race. To fight this new enemy, the
Yamato is placed under the command of a resuscitated Captain Okita who, unbeknownst to everyone, had been
cryogenically frozenIn physics, cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. Rather than the familiar temperature scales of Fahrenheit and Celsius, cryogenicists use the Kelvin scales...
after his apparent death in the first season.
When all seems lost, the Deingili are destroyed by Desslar and the remains of his forces (in gratitude for the
Yamato crew's having honored the Galman dead earlier in the film). The
Yamato is then filled with
tritiated waterTritiated water is a form of water where the usual hydrogen atoms are replaced with tritium. In its pure form it may be called tritium oxide or super-heavy water. Pure T2O is corrosive due to self-radiolysis. Diluted, tritiated water is mainly H2O plus some HTO...
and detonated like a giant hydrogen bomb by Okita to divert the water stream. A great deal of time is taken at the end of the film showing the fragments of the
Yamato repeatedly "sinking" beneath the waves in space, and Okita going down with his ship. The unedited version also shows Kodai finally marrying his long-time sweetheart Yuki (and subsequently "consummating" their marriage).
Having a running time of 163 minutes, Final Yamato retains the record of being the longest animated film ever made.
Yamato: Rebirth
In March 2002, a Tokyo court ruled that Yoshinobu Nishizaki legally owned the Yamato copyrights. Nishizaki and Matsumoto eventually settled, and Nishizaki began work on a new movie titled
Yamato: Rebirth (宇宙戦艦ヤマト 復活篇
Uchū Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu henYamato: Rebirth is the latest version of Space Battleship Yamato set in the year 2220 and earth is under threat from being swallowed by a black hole.-History:...
) (set after the original series), while Matsumoto planned a new Yamato series. However, additional legal conflicts stalled both projects until August, 2008, when Nishizaki announced plans for the release of his film on December 12, 2009.
.
The press release describes the overall plot as follows:
In the year 2220 of the Western Era … A crisis is approaching Earth—the expansion of a moving black hole. An operation of immigration is undertaken to move over 300-million people from Earth … The latest transportation fleet is attacked, but is defended by Space Battleship Yamato, now commanded by Susumu Kodai (38). Aboard is daughter Miyuki … child of Susumu and Yuki.
Trailers for this film (which can be found on
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
) indicate that the production makes ample use of
CGIComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
for the space battle scenes. It is not certain whether computer graphics are used for the character animations.
Rebirth is set 21 years after the first Yamato story and 17 years after the story of the last film, "Final Yamato". The biggest theme of the new film will be environmental issues and how humans have treated the planet Earth. Out of the 1,860 cuts (shots) in the new film, 700 are being produced with computer graphics. In particular, the battle scenes will composite 3D sequences and computer graphics. Nishizaki established a new studio called
Enagio last year just to produce this film. The title battleship's size will be mostly unchanged at 263 meters in length and 62,000 tons in mass. In the previous anime stories, the Yamato's signature wave-motion gun can take out an entire fleet, but firing the gun used to leave the ship drained of power — and vulnerable — until it could recharge. In the new film, the gun can fire six shots in a row.
Space Battleship Yamato Live Action
Noboru IshiguroNoboru Ishiguro is an animator who was born in Tokyo, Japan on August 24, 1938. He is noteworthy for directing the anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, The Super Dimension Century Orguss, Yōkai Ningen Bem, Megazone 23, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and the 2008 completed series...
, director and writer of the original Space Battleship Yamato television anime series, confirmed at his
OtakonOtakon is a fan convention in the United States focusing on East Asian popular culture and its fandom. The name is a portmanteau derived from convention and the Japanese word otaku...
panel on Saturday, July 17, 2009 that a
live actionIn film, theatre and video, live-action refers to works that are acted out by human actors, as opposed to by animation. As it is the norm, the term is usually superfluous, but it makes an important distinction in situations in which one might normally expect animation, as in a Pixar film, a video...
version of Space Battleship Yamato is in development. He also noted that
Takuya Kimurais an actor and a member of the Japanese idol group SMAP. Most of the TV dramas he starred in produced high ratings in Japan. He has become one of the most well-known and successful actors/singers/entertainers in Japan and Asia.-Early life and pre-fame:...
, the member of the
SMAPSMAP is a Japanese "idol" group, formed by Johnny & Associates. Originally, there were six members in the group; current members are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Goro Inagaki and Shingo Katori....
entertainment unit known to Japanese fans as "KimuTaku," will star as the main hero Susumu Kodai in the remake of the space opera classic. Kimura also starred as the title character in the
Howl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving Castle is a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986. It won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named an ALA Notable book for both children and young adults. In 2004 it was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated animated film by Hayao...
animated film released in 2004.
Erika Sawajiriis a Japanese/French actress, model, and musician. Her alias in her music career was Kaoru Amane, but she has recently started her own project under the name Erika...
(
Shinobi) was originally scheduled to also star in the film as the female lead character Yuki Mori, but was replaced by
Meisa Kurokiis a Japanese actress, model, and singer born in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. She is represented by Sweet Power, and models for the popular Japanese fashion magazine, JJ. Her mother is Okinawan. She has appeared in a number of television dramas, commercials, films, and stage productions. On June 21,...
(
Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan,
Crows Zerois a film based on the comic book Crows by Hiroshi Takahashi. The film was directed by Takashi Miike, written by Shogo Muto and stars Oguri Shun and Yamada Takayuki...
).
Takashi Yamazakiis a Japanese film director, screenwriter and VFX director. He won the Best Director and Best Screenplay prizes at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2006 for Always Sanchōme no Yūhi...
, the director best known for
Returneris a 2002 Japanese sci-fi film, directed by Takashi Yamazaki and starring Anne Suzuki and Takeshi Kaneshiro.-Plot:Milly is a female soldier from the year 2084, when the human race is on the verge of extinction at the hands of an alien race, the Daggra...
,
Always: Sunset on Third Street, and this year's
Ballad, will helm the project for a planned December 2010 release. The
Tokyo Broadcasting Systemor TBS Holdings, Inc., is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....
(TBS) production company has been planning the live action movie for the last five years.
The main cast of characters has been changed from that of the original anime TV series. Yuki will now have a more active fighting role, and two of anime's main male characters will be female in the live-action version. TBS has yet to announce who will play the fan-favorite alien antagonist Dessler. The rest of the main cast are listed as follows:
| Cast |
Role |
Role's Position |
| Takuya Kimura |
Susumu Kodai |
Space Battleship Yamato's Tactical Unit Leader |
| Meisa Kuroki |
Yuki Mori |
Space Battleship Yamato's Tactical Unit's Black Tiger Team |
| Toshiro Yanagiba is a Japanese actor. He had major roles in several TV drama series such as Bayside Shakedown.- External links :*...
|
Shirō Sanada |
Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Science Officer |
| Naoto Ogata |
Daisuke Shima |
Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Navigator |
| Hiroyuki Ikeuchi is a Japanese actor. He is also a practitioner of Judo.-Film:*Bambino *Tatta Hitotsu no Koi-External links:**...
|
Hajime Saitō |
Space Battleship Yamato Crew Member, Air Cavalry Leader |
| Maiko is a Japanese word for dancing girl and is an apprentice geisha. Maiko is also a feminine Japanese given name.-Possible writings:Maiko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:*舞子 or 舞妓, apprentice geishaas a given name...
|
Aihara* |
Space Battleship Yamato Crew Member, Communications Unit |
| Shinichi Tsutsumi is a Japanese stage and screen actor. He won the Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for Always Sanchōme no Yūhi.-Profile:*Place of Birth: Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan*Talent Agency: Siscompany-Movies:...
|
Mamoru Kodai |
Susumu's older brother, Yukikaze Destroyer's Captain |
| Reiko Takashima Reiko Takashima is a Japanese actress.Active in television series, movies, and commercials, her roles have included ninja in jidaigeki such as Abarembō Shōgun and Abare Hasshū Goyō Tabi, the wife Oeyo of the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, Lady Fujitsubo in a special with characters based on The Tale of...
|
Dr. Sado* |
Space Battleship Yamato's Ship Doctor |
| Isao Hashizume |
Heikurō Tōdō |
Earth Defense Force Commander-In-Chief |
| Toshiyuki Nishida is a Japanese actor. Outside of Japan, Nishida is best known for his portrayal of Pigsy in the TV series Monkey.Toshiyuki Nishida has received ten Japanese Academy Award nominations, winning twice, for Dun-Huang in 1988 and Gakko in 1993...
|
Hikozaemon Tokugawa |
Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Engineer |
| Tsutomu Yamazaki Tsutomu Yamazaki is a Japanese actor.He has been nominated for seven Japanese Academy Awards, winning Best Actor awards for the Juzo Itami comedies The Funeral and A Taxing Woman, and the Best Supporting Actor awards for Go and Departures.-Selected filmography:# High and Low...
|
Jūzō Okita |
Space Battleship Yamato's Captain |
*Male characters in the original series who are female in the new live-action film.
The Space Battleship Yamato live-action film will use computer graphics and is budgeted at over 2 billion yen (US$22 million). The Daily Sports newspaper reported that 80% of the scenes will incorporate the latest CGI technology to recreate the space battles from the TV series. Filming will begin on October 12, 2009 and will end within this year. Computer graphics, editing, and other elements of post-production will take over nine months before TOHO opens the film in December of 2010 in Japan.
Timeline
With the retelling of
Arrivederci Yamato as the open ended
Yamato II television series,
Arrivederci Yamato was redesignated as an alternate timeline. The film
Final Yamato is set in the year 2203, ignoring the commonly held belief that the preceding
Yamato III season was set in 2205. It is not known for certain if this was due to the lackluster response to
Yamato III, the production staff's widespread dissatisfaction with the truncated series (additionally, Nishizaki and Matsumoto had limited involvement with it), or a mere oversight. However, the opening narration for
Final Yamato makes mention of the Bolar and Galman conflict, indicating an additional timeline in which the
Yamato III storyline simply took place earlier rather than eliminating it.
Space Yamato arcade game
Space Battleship Yamato was a 1985 Japanese exclusive Laserdisc video game designed by
TaitoTaito may mean:*Taito Corporation, a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware*Taito, Tokyo, a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan*Taito, also known as matai, paramount chiefs according to Fa'a Samoa...
which was based on the television series of the same name.
Characters
- The Space Battleship Yamato series generally involves themes of brave sacrifice, noble enemies, and respect for heroes lost in the line of duty. This can be seen as early as the second episode of the first season, which recounts the defeat of the original battleship Yamato while sailors and pilots from both sides salute her as she sinks (this scene was cut from the English dub, but later included on the Star Blazers
Star Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese science fiction trilogy anime series , first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the...
DVD release). The movies spend much time showing the crew visiting monuments to previous missions and recalling the bravery of their fallen comrades. Desslar, the enemy defeated in the first season and left without a home or a people, recognizes that his foes are fighting for the same things he fought for and, eventually, becomes Earth's most important ally. In this — the Japanese concept of "the honorable enemy" — and many other respects, Star Blazers is almost certainly the most "Japanese" anime to survive the editing process and be widely syndicated in the United States.
Yamato 2520Yamato 2520 was Yoshinobu Nishizaki attempt at a sequel to Space Battleship Yamato set several hundred years in the future after the original show...
In the mid 1990s, Nishizaki attempted to create a sequel to
Yamato, set hundreds of years after the original.
Yamato 2520 was to chronicle the adventures of the eighteenth starship to bear the name, and its battle against the Seiren Federation. Much of the continuity established in the original series (including the destruction of Earth's moon) is ignored in this sequel.
In place of Leiji Matsumoto, American artist
Syd MeadSydney Jay Mead, commonly Syd Mead, is an industrial designer best known for his vehicle designs in science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, Aliens, and Tron. In much of his film work, he is billed as a "visual futurist" or "conceptual designer"...
(
∀ Gundam), (
Blade RunnerBlade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick...
,
TronTron is a 1982 American science fiction film by Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn , Bruce Boxleitner as Tron and his User Alan Bradley, Cindy Morgan as Yori and Dr. Lora Baines, and Dan Shor as Ram...
and
Star Trek: The Motion PictureStar Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. When a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path, Admiral James T...
) provided the conceptual art.
Due to the bankruptcy of Nishizaki's company Office Academy, and legal disputes with Matsumoto over the ownership of the Yamato
copyrights, the series was never finished and only four episodes were produced.
English title
For many years, English-language releases of the anime bore the title Space Cruiser Yamato
. This romanization has appeared in Japanese publications because Nishizaki, a sailingSailing is the art of controlling a boat with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat...
enthusiast who owned a cruiser yachtA yacht is a high end recreational boat. It designates two rather different classes of watercraft, sailing and power boats. Yachts are different from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. It was not until the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat that sailing vessels in...
, ordered that this translation be used out of love for his boat. However, in reference to naval nomenclature, it is technically inaccurate, as 戦艦 senkan
means "battleship" and not "cruiser" (which in Japanese would be 巡洋艦 junyōkan
). Leiji Matsumoto's manga adaptation was titled Cosmoship Yamato
.
Today, Yamato
releases, including the Voyager Entertainment DVD, are marketed either as Star Blazers
or Space Battleship Yamato.
External links