Back up to previous page

March 24: Newspaper ad

Phase two of the Yamato 2202 launch officially arrived on this day, heralded by full-page ads in Nikkei newspapers for the release of Chapter 1 on home video. It was like February 25 all over again, except that this time you didn’t have to buy a movie ticket to get your Blu-ray.

March 24: Chapter 1 home video release

And there it was, identical to the theater version in every way except for the bonus items. As previously established, the Blu-ray does not include English subtitles, but our Chapter 1 summary is here to fill in the gaps.

Ordering it from Yamato Crew got you copies of the recording scripts for Episodes 1 and 2 (following the 2199 precedent), and the Amazon.co.jp edition came with something quite interesting, a CD containing the first episode of a separate audio drama.

Written by Harutoshi Fukui, the title of this series is Yamato Backstory That No One Should Hear, and the first episode is titled Gluttonous Cheers of a Garmillas Ambassador. The run time is 16 minutes, and it centers on Keyman and Burrel.

This fan art by Alpharing 77 appeared in April and is directly related to the content, which is all played for laughs.

In this story, Garmillas ambassador Burrel and his assistant Keyman are trying to gain an appreciation for Earth culture through food, by eating ice cream, ramen and sushi. Wasabi nearly kills them. A second CD is already promised with the Amazon edition of Chapter 2.

March 24: 1/1000 Andromeda model, Movie Effect version

At long last, she flies again. At this scale, the newly-enlarged 444m Andromeda is rendered at 444mm, or a whopping 17.5″ long, beating its 1979 predecessor by over two inches. “Movie Effect” refers to sound effects and a bundle of LED lighting that gives it roughly the same functionality as the 2011 ”Soul of Chogokin” Andromeda, which was roughly the same length.

The bridge, engines, and Wave-Motion Guns light up and shock cannon turrets rotate. Four tiny Cosmo Tigers are also included.

See a photo gallery of finished kits here.

See a photo blog of the kit in progress here.

See the individual parts here.

See more photos at Hobby Search here.

March 24: 1/1000 Yunagi Combined Cosmo Fleet set

One of the most interesting suprises at the start of Chapter 1 was the reappearance of the UN Cosmo Navy from 2199, repainted in new colors for a new start. It was a simple matter for Bandai to re-cast the 2199 versions in these colors for a companion release with the new Andromeda.

As before, the set comes with three vessels: a battleship, battle cruiser, and destroyer. This time they’ve been renamed to match Kodai’s Yunagi and his escorts.

See a photo gallery here.

See more photos at Hobby Search here

March 24-26: Yodobashi multimedia store event, Akihabara

With the arrival of three high-profile Yamato products all at once, you can’t do it justice without a public event. The enormous Yodobashi Camera Multimedia department store in Akihabara, Tokyo has been a common site for such events, and it filled that role again for this Yamato weekend.

Its focal point was the massive 5-meter 1/100 Yamato model that was last seen at the Shinjuku Piccadilly theater. Around it was arranged a “selling station” for the new products. On the second day (Saturday) things stepped up a level when two live Yamato Girls arrived (previously seen in the Yamato 2202 Beginners video described in Report 7) to greet fans and hand out freebies: a Chapter 2 postcard, a sheet of stickers, and the new issue of V-Storage.

Fans could also participate in a prize lottery to win a whole bundle of goodies, including signed scripts and press sheets, and many of the same products that were sold in theaters with Chapter 1. The grand prize was a brand new 2202 production crew jacket. All you needed to enter was a receipt for your video or model kit.

As expected, Twitter was overloaded with photos from Yodobashi all weekend. See a gallery here.

March 24: Twitter Campaign begins

From this day through May 31, the official 2202 Twitter page is conducting a campaign to get more Yamato into your life via the use of this hashtag: #波動砲級の衝撃 which translates to Impact of the Dispersion Wave-Motion Gun. That’s the name of Andromeda‘s double-barrel WMG, and adding it to your posts (after following the official page) puts you into yet another prize lottery for a lot of the same stuff seen elsewhere in this report – AND on the campaign web page here.

See the Twitter hashtag page here.

See a promo video on Youtube here.

March 25: Hobby Japan #575

With a cover like that one, you know they’re not fooling around. This issue contained a whopper of an article – 26 pages of glorious model photography with a little bit of news that has already been talked about in these reports.

See the pages here.

Because of that extraordinary length, they are photographed rather than scanned. But you really ought to buy your own copy anyway.

March 25 & 26: Anime Japan 2017

If you can’t make it to Japan for a Yamato premiere, Anime Japan isn’t too shabby as an alternate. It’s not only one of the biggest anime conventions on Earth, it’s right at the heart of the anime nation itself with participation from every major studio and affiliate.

Yamato 2202 made a big showing at Anime Japan 2017. The action centered on the Bandai Namco booth, which hosted another fascinating “live painting” event by Studio Nue artist and Yamato co-designer, the great Naoyuki Katoh. He did three of these throughout 2012 and 2013, and once again fans could watch a huge mural take shape over two days. This time it was an image of the Earth Federation fleet.

See photos of the live painting progression here.

In addition to this, there was a live stage talk on Sunday the 26th with some now-familiar participants: writer Harutoshi Fukui, director Nobuyoshi Habara, and Kodai’s voice actor Daisuke Ono with Osamu Kobayashi as MC. The talk was covered by several news sites, which gives us a composite account.

The event started with a screening of the digest video Yamato 2199 in Four Minutes.

Ono: the battle images and the pop image of Aya Uchida’s narration don’t match (Laughs)

Fukui: I’ve done a lot of these events, and the rate of females in the audience is higher than ever.

Next, the first half of Episode 1 was shown with live audio commentary from those on stage. The comments were meant to make it easier for new viewers.

Fukui: The enemy was blue in the previous work, but now they’re on good terms and the new enemy is green.

A 12-meter (40 feet) wide high-def video screen was among the visual highlights of the weekend.
Custom Yamato animation was produced for this format. All of the footage created for this monitor
is viewable on Youtube through April 24, 2017. 2202 content appears at 2:30 and 17:30.

From there, the conversation expanded to cover various topics:

Ono: In my heart I hold the feelings I inherited from Captain Okita as his deputy captain, and after the journey to Iscandar I feel prepared as the captain. I like this more than the previous work. I’m more captivated as a man.

Habara: There may be various relationship issues with Yuki, too.

Fukui: Three years have passed since that voyage, so why have they not gotten married yet, even though they were so excited at the end of 2199?

Habara: But there’s a lovey-dovey scene in Episode 2, and they’re engaged.

Ono: I was talking about this with the cast before, and we thought “when Kodai got engaged to Yuki, wasn’t there a sort of suspension bridge effect?” I think it took three years to confirm that it isn’t. (Laughs)

Fukui: (Regarding Keyman) Actually, Keyman could be a common name in Garmillas, like Takahashi. (Audience laughs)

Voice actor Sayaka Kanda (Teresa) on the wide screen monitor.

Three 2202 keywords were described…

Love of the staff
Habara: Since our generation is well-versed, there is the feeling of showing each other through our work how long we’ve liked Yamato.

Love of the cast
Ono: The veterans loved Yamato in the old days, and the younger actors like the present Yamato. Kenichi Suzumura (Shima) wants his character to get a lover. It wasn’t like that in the previous work. I think that’s because of the word love in the title. He keeps asking, “Who will pair up with me?”

Free Kodai button for attendees

Love of the fans
It was announced that 80,000 people went to see Chapter 1 in the 15 theaters across Japan, and it was an exceptional box office hit with 100 million yen (about $900,000 US). That got a big round of applause, along with the announcement that five more theaters will be added for Chapter 2.

Final comments:

Habara: Just like the title, the staff is filled with Yamato love. I’ll be glad if we can go all the way to the end together.

Fukui: There is some anxiety about Chapter 2 actually being ready to show on June 24, but everyone on the staff is putting their passion into it, so please continue giving your support.

Ono: We inherited the spirit of Yamato and want to move forward. The power of everyone is needed for that. Let’s board this ship together. Finally, I’d like to borrow the words of Captain Okita: “Everyone, get on Yamato!”

March 26: Yuki Mori action figure preorders open

All the way back in September 2016, a 5.5″ Yuki Mori action figure was announced as one of the first 2202 products to come. On this date, SH Figuarts opened up preorders for a June release. Overseas customers can order it through Hobbylink Japan here.

See more photos of the figure here.

March 29: Ship’s Log issue 17

A copy of the latest issue did not arrive at Cosmo DNA HQ in time for this report, but as the first to appear since the premiere of Chapter 1, it was filled with expanded coverage on the film and feature interviews with Harutoshi Fukui (writer), Nobuyoshi Habara (director) and Sublimation (CG studio). Naturally, we’ll follow up next time.

March 30: Premium Bandai

Bandai has come up over and over in this report, so it’s worth remembering that there is a high-end website called Premium Bandai that gives quick access to product information, not to mention a portal for placing international orders. Go to this page for links that take you to info on 2202 products AND exclusive 2199 model kits that are still on offer. Keep clicking around until a window pops open for international ordering and take it where you will.

---