Shortly before Yamato III concluded its first run on Japanese TV in April 1981, it received special treatment from an energetic new monthly magazine published by Akita Shoten called My Anime. In a field that was already becoming crowded with magazines practically climbing over each other to bring you all the hot anime news, My Anime was a true standout. Loaded from front to back with imaginative and wide-ranging stories, it didn’t stop with just the news of the day. Older films and shows were examined, creators and actors gave in-depth access to their daily lives, pros wrote monthly columns, and fans were given numerous opportunities to participate. If the word “Otaku” had been in common parlance in the early 80s, My Anime would have been THE Otaku magazine.
Akita Shoten had already published many Yamato books and magazines, and had become well-known for their inventive approach. They were the first to bring Anime Comics to a hungry audience, filling the desire to relive a good story over and over before the days of affordable home video. They did it so well that even when said video finally arrived, Anime Comics kept on being published. (After all, they were still cheaper and much more portable.)
Akita turned the first three Yamato feature films into Anime Comics in late 1980 and early ’81, and when Yamato III arrived hot on the heels of Be Forever, they decided to keep a good thing going. Beginning with the inaugural issue of My Anime (which was dated for April but actually appeared on newsstands in March), the entire TV series was transformed, episode by episode, into an anime comic serial that lasted until June 1982. It was the only Yamato TV series to receive such treatment until series 1 became a set of five Star Blazers Animation Comics for American readers in late ’83.
Here, for the first time, we present every page of Akita Shoten’s Yamato III anime comics in English. Character names have been changed to match Star Blazers continuity, but the story itself is unaltered, and even contains scenes and dialogue you won’t find on the Bolar Wars videos. Click on one of the magazine covers below and settle in for The Bolar Wars as you’ve never seen it before! (And remember that all pages read from right to left.)
Episode 1from My Anime |
Episode 2from My Anime |
Episodes 3 & 4from My Anime |
Episodes 5 & 6from My Anime |
Episodes 7 & 8from My Anime |
Episodes 9 & 10from My Anime |
Episodes 11 & 12from My Anime |
Episodes 12 & 13from My Anime |
Episodes 14 & 15from My Anime |
Episodes 16 & 17from My Anime |
Webcomics Start HereClick on the image |
Episodes 18-20from My Anime |
Episodes 21 & 22from My Anime |
Episodes 23 & 24from My Anime |
Episodes 24 & 25from My Anime |
Episode 25 conclusionfrom My Anime |