Yamato fan club magazine #36/37

Double issue, published spring 1984 (October ’83 cover date)

From Chairman Nishizaki to everyone in the Fan Club

Now, the Space Battleship Yamato Fan Club advances to a new era.

Apology for the publishing delay
of the magazine

Today, as I can really believe that summer is actually almost here, I hope all of you fan club members are well. last year you gave us great support for the release of The Final Chapter, so thank you very much.

Well, volume 36 of this magazine should originally have reached your hands long ago, but the schedule was significantly delayed, so it has been delivered now in the form of a merger with volume 37. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. As I mentioned in a previous letter to everyone, after the release of The Final Chapter 70mm version, I would propose a clear direction for the future of the Yamato Fan Club and make plans for the next three years of my own production activity. My intention was to keep everyone informed, and it will finally be revealed in this issue.

Speaking for myself, after the production and release of The Final Chapter last year, I succumbed to fatigue on my birthday, December 18, and I carelessly became ill from gastritis. Because of that, I needed a period of rest. I received many sympathetic letters from fan club members who heard about it, and I’m very grateful and thankful for that.

Though I was sick, that’s no excuse for not publishing the magazine, but I beg for your forgiveness and I vow that future magazines will be published on a regular basis.

I apologize to those of you who were at all concerned about my physical condition. Although it improved at the end of the year, it relapsed after I returned from America in March. At the time, I was diagnosed for three months of rest. It was not originally caused by drinking or neglect of my health, but since it was a neurological disease I was not hospitalized or completely restricted from work. That could be considered a small mercy.

So, since I could save a little work as long as I was careful with my health, I relaxed and worked on the Yamato symphony and my three-year plan for the future. At present, those projects are completed and I am at ease. My condition is improving, so there is nothing more to worry about.

As a producer who will make new works into the future for the next three years, it would be big trouble for other people if I were to falter along the way. Therefore, in accordance with the diagnosis of a good doctor, I want to be careful with my health in order to continue working.

By the time you read this issue, I think I will have gone to the Cannes Film Festival. After I return, I expect to begin my three-year work plan. My willpower is enriched, and I’m very enthusiastic. There is no need for any of you to be concerned.

By the way, among those in the fan club who supported the Yamato series up to now and last year’s Final Chapter, I think there may be some who are anxious about the continuation of the fan club. Due to the delay of this magazine, which overlapped with that same time, a lot of people might be worried. However, my policy is to continue the Yamato Fan Club into the future.

As for the magazine, it will return to a pace of one issue every two months, and I’ll keep everyone informed on new information. Please rest assured.

However, The Final Chapter, which was released last year, brought an end to the Space Battleship Yamato series that I produced from 1974. Therefore, it can be said that the fan club is approaching a new turning point. I think the fan club must move into a form that is different from the Yamato of the past. There will be details to come, but the basics will not change from it being a fan club for Yamato. The point is, I think it will be a form that satisfies all the past members.

Meanwhile, a lot of things have happened in the ten years since Space Battleship Yamato aired as a TV series in 1974. The fan club also walked with Yamato for seven years. The release of The Final Chapter may be the end of a certain era, but in addition it is the beginning of a new era. The fan club also enters a new road. However, it is a road that continues from Yamato.

I believe everyone who loved Yamato for so long would like to keep in step with the new times.

The Yamato Fan Club from here!?

It can be said that I only made Yamato up until now. I had many plans for new works other than Yamato, but they weren’t completed because I didn’t have much time for them. I concentrated my energy on Yamato in particular for the seven years since the fan club was formed.

The fan club, which originated from the 1974 work called Yamato, has existed for seven years. However, the origin point of Yamato came to an end with The Final Chapter in 1983. It is also an end for the fan club.

In that sense, I think a fan club that is only dedicated to the original Yamato should dissolve there in order to form a better organization. The past is certainly important to human beings, and such memories are necessary. However, there is more to human beings – we can’t live in sentimentalism. While standing on top of memories and the past, we should take on the challenge of something new. As for me, I intend to work on new things, too.

As the Yamato Fan Club dissolves in order to form a better organization, it can be reborn into something new. That said, it doesn’t mean you should forget Yamato. No, we must never forget it. In other words, the fan club that had Yamato at its center will include the new works. I don’t intend to only change the name of the Space Battleship Yamato Fan Club, its content will also change.

I’m thinking of having even more crossover than before, of new information on not only Yamato, but also other Yoshinobu Nishizaki productions. While it will still be a Yamato fan club, I’m hoping people who like what comes after Yamato, those who follow my other productions, and those who want to support me personally, will become Yamato fan club members. Conversely, I think it’s unavoidable that some will not, and they will withdraw. In that case, I’ll be happy to refund their membership fee.

As for my future works, there is new information elsewhere in this issue, but a work connected to Yamato will also be made. It will be different from the series that started in 1974, but it will absolutely be a story of the world of Yamato.

As for fan club activity, the magazine will continue to be published every two months. Of course, each issue will touch upon the Yamato of the past, and I intend to include the latest information.

As we’ve organized it so far, there has been a strong feeling about providing you with outstanding information, but it has always been a one-way street. In the future, I want to consider the magazine as more of a point of contact and increase that part of it. Of course, we’ll be providing more information than ever, but I also plan to integrate the producer’s side with that of the fans.

Specific events haven’t been set yet, but we’d like to continue holding them in various ways in the same viewpoint as above. For example, though the Yamato concert performed by the NHK Symphony was only for those in the Kanto region, it was recorded on video to be enjoyed by everyone across the country. Of course, there will be a discount for fan club members.

Originally, the fan club served as a bridge between you and our production staff. I think it will be wonderful if we can talk with more people in the fan club, mainly through the magazine.

Once the Yamato Fan Club has set foot in a new era, I’ll talk about the works I’m planning for the next three years, and Yamato will be kept alive. The story that began in 1974 may be over, but the human relationships that began there with Kodai, Yuki, and Dessler will never fade away. And I don’t intend to discard the figure of the huge battleship called Yamato into the sea of space.

Yamato was born in 1941, and when it sank in a suicidal attack off Okinawa on April 6 1945, it became the origin for the space battleship. That will never fade from my heart. That concept I’ve done, what form it will take, or whether it will become a motion picture, I can’t say for sure right now. However, you can be certain that I’ll keep the basis of the production called Yamato alive within me.

I’ve made a tentative plan for future work over the next three years, and it has already started to move. Like the work called Yamato, I plan to continue making it for everyone in the next generation, boys and girls alike.

I’d like the fan club to pick up these future works along with the past Yamato. Hopefully, my work activities will earn the same support you gave to Yamato. I am able to continue to make them only because of strong support.

After this issue, the Yamato Fan Club will begin to change its form as mentioned before. The new works I will make and the Yamato of the past will be the two wheels, so to speak, that roll into the future. To commemorate this and to thank you for your former support, I’m thinking about a present for everyone in the fan club. I’ll provide more information in another column, but please consider it a commemoration for participating in the Yamato Fan Club.

When I worked on Yamato, I could not complete it in a year. It took a minimum of a year and a half. Starting from last October, we’re continuing a variety of discussions and brainstorming about the three-year plan for the future. There is an anime connected to Yamato in that plan, and there is also a new anime. In addition, a live-action work is also being considered.

This started when The Final Chapter was finished. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve had a lot of plans in the past that I couldn’t easily start. I’m making plans for theater, TV, anime, and live-action, and I want to put my best energy into the things I’d like to do from 1984 to ’87.

Among these, the work called Space Battleship Yamato should go somewhere. I think the theme that flows through that work is not just for boys and girls, but for a new generation.

From now on, I want to move forward with the Yamato Fan Club as a great point of contact for that information and for all of us.

New plan for 1985-87

Here, I’ll tell you about my production plan for 1985-87. First, there is the anime Space Sailor Starship (tentative title). I’ll talk about the details later, but like Yamato it is a story of young people going into space. It’s a space ship the same as Yamato, but the content will be shown from a different perspective. However, needless to say, the spirit that flows through its roots is unchanged from Yamato.

Next, another anime is planned titled Dessler’s War (1) Battleship Starsha. This is what will succeed Yamato, a new story with Leader Dessler as the main character. Many people in the fan club have asked, “when will there be an anime about Dessler,” and this is indeed the “Dessler story.” Another work that succeeds Yamato after Dessler’s War is also being planned, and is currently referred to as “Work X.”

These three works are for the theater, but I’m thinking about other formats, such as a TV series broadcast one hour at a time, twelve times a year. The theater schedule for the summers of 1985 and 1987 has already been decided, but at the moment I haven’t yet decided which work to apply there.

Similarly, a live-action film is being planned. I previously planned to make Dirty Hero, but because the schedule conflicted with Be Forever Yamato, I was unable to make it. One reason is because Yu Aku and I are thinking about doing a movie musical. I’m thinking of how to pull off a modern version of Aijou Monogatari (To Love Again). Another thing I’m thinking of is a Snow Country type of story, set between 1953 and 1958, showing the lives of young people with it taking place from Joushin’etsu to Kanazawa.

Additionally, I’m working on a one billion yen production of Legend of an Enchanted Planet by the Naoki Award-winning author Ryo Hanmura, who is well known to SF fans. This electronic video will make full use of anime composition, and I want to take on the challenge of making new visuals. Its release is planned for March 1986 through Shochiku theaters.

Regarding Starship, we’re currently discussing the basics. It will not be long before true work begins. The story will center around the image boards presented in this issue, and I’ll do my best to make it a work that surpasses everyone’s expectations.

In this way, I’ve announced entirely new works that will succeed Yamato from 1985-87. I’ll continue to tell you about them in each upcoming issue of the Yamato Fan Club magazine.

(From here, the text introduced the concept of Starship [Odin], which would be released as a feature film in 1985.)

First description of Dessler’s War. Read a translation here.


Planning for the Grand Symphony concert.


Right side: More on the Grand Symphony (read about it here). Left side: first image board for Starship [Odin].


Second image board for Starship.


Right side: Grand Symphony news. Left side: announcement for the Cannes Film Festival (text below).


Yamato News is a page with the latest information

Space Battleship Yamato The Final Chapter at the Cannes Film Festival!
How is the response in a foreign country?

The Cannes Film Festival is a large event where masterpieces are gathered from all over the world. It is a destination for film-lovers everywhere and this time Yamato The Final Chapter will be referenced as an exhibit in the grand prix of the Cannes Film Festival.

It is referenced because, unfortunately, there is no division for animation. Because everything else is live-action, The Final Chapter cannot enter the competition for final selection even though it is the world’s first 70mm 6-channel anime blockbuster.

Chairman Nishizaki leaves for Cannes on May 10 to conduct screening meetings with foreign movie buyers, filmmakers, and critics.

“When you think about it, on the purely commercial basis of 70mm animation, it can be said that The Final Chapter is on top. Additionally, it was recorded in 6-channel Dolby sound, so when compared to ordinary movies shot in 35mm and 35mm VistaVision, the intensity of its impact would be several times or several dozen times greater. So I’m curious about how much foreign film people will appreciate it. I’m also interested in how Yamato fans and their generation’s children will understand this story.”

This is what Chairman Nishizaki said as he left.

“I can appreciate the resistance to a 70mm anime over the past ten years, since it doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. Among the nations, Japan is said to be an anime powerhouse. I’d like film-lovers from all over the world to recognize that Japan can make a work in 70mm that can stand and endure. That’s the first reason to go to Cannes. So far, Yamato has been flowing on TV in America. I’d like The Final Chapter to stand on that foundation and ask for a true evaluation of the work called Yamato.”

Space Battleship Yamato landed in America with the title Star Blazers. It gained great popularity among both young people and adults who have formed fan clubs. Even if it is said that this anime is a Japanese work, some people at Cannes may not be able to believe it, and foreign filmmakers should certainly watch it wide-eyed.

Ad page for home video and other products from West Cape Corporation. Top: Final Yamato 70mm edition. Left: full VHS release of Series 1 and Triton of the Sea. Middle: Yamato movies, Moon Station Dallos, Future Boy Conan. Right: Final Yamato Super Deluxe book, W.C.C. Star Blazers comics, sheet music & piano cassette collection.

The End

Special thanks to Neil Nadelman for translation support.

Return to the Final Yamato Time Machine

Continue to the next article: Cannes Film Festival promotion

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