April 2021 was a surprisingly slow month in Yamato world, with the lowest amount of activity since January 2020. But quality always trumps quantity ’round these here parts. When official stuff slows to a crawl, fans reliably race to Yamato‘s rescue, just as they’ve always done.
Photo at right posted on Twitter by TakeChannel36
April 7: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model, Vol. 115
With Hachette’s first volume for April, the business end of Andromeda took shape with parts to complete the cowling around the twin Wave-Motion Guns, including installing and testing the LEDs (watch a lighting test here). For those keeping score, there are 55 volumes to go.
See Hachette’s instruction video here
See an unboxing video here
See a modeler’s blog here
April 7: Isao Sasaki interviews
It’s always a good day when this smiling face greets you. Isao Sasaki’s voice was the first anyone ever heard when they met Space Battleship Yamato, and he still belts out that theme song as no one else can. Two days before his first-ever livestream concert, a pair of interviews with Sasaki appeared online, and as usual he had plenty of stories to tell.
Click here to read both interviews.
April 9: Star Blazers Lambda, Chapter 12
In this chapter of the Space Battleship Yamato Next manga by Ryuko Azuma, we learn exactly why it’s a bad idea to put children in positions of responsibility to protect the human race. The fallout from Chapter 11 drives a rift into the ranks of Topness and we get some important personal backstory. Meanwhile, Alexei uncovers a new layer in the secret agenda of Nirvana.
See the chapter with description here.
April 9-22: Netlab poll
The entertainment website Netlab asked Leiji Matsumoto fans to take on a difficult task:
What is your favorite manga by Leiji Matsumoto?
Leiji Matsumoto, the master of the manga world, has produced a number of masterpieces such as Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, and is known for his magnificent, romantic, and fantastic style of writing, including science fiction works. This time, we will be conducting a survey to find out which of Leiji Matsumoto’s works you like the most!
Results were published on April 22, and to no one’s surprise Yamato cleared the hurdle for number 1, scoring over 36% of the vote. Galaxy Express followed closely at just over 32%, and all others were easily outpaced; not even Captain Harlock got to 10%.
See all the results here.
April 14: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model, Vol. 116
This week’s volume was small but significant, the bow section right behind the prow with the ship’s name and insignia. Assembly required the installation of fiber optic cables, which will be a major factor going forward due to Andromeda‘s prodigious lighting.
See Hachette’s instruction video here
See an unboxing video here
See a modeler’s blog here
April 15: Keisuke Masunaga art
Two new pieces by the great Keisuke Masunaga turned up in online Mandarake auctions, instantly flashing us back to his design work and animation for the Playstation 2 games.
Get a better look at both pieces (and their layouts) in this month’s fan art gallery (below).
April 18: Pachinko announcement
Yamato will soon return to the pachinko world when a game called P Yamato 2202, Soldiers of Love comes in for a landing on June 20. We don’t know yet if the rollout campaign will include all the glamor of previous games, but for now we do have access to two promo videos.
The one-minute version consists mostly of anime clips (see it here), and the 30-second version gives a teaser of the game itself, which looks ready to blast you in the face with Wave-Motion energy (see it here).
Of course, anyone outside Japan has zero access to the game itself, but the promo art is always easy on the eyes. Whatever turns up will be included here in future reports.
April 19: Yamato on demand
If you live in Japan and have been determined (for whatever reason) not to buy Yamato movie tickets or Blu-rays or spend a single yen on a PPV option, your long, stubborn wait finally came to an end on this day. As of April 19, 2199, Ark of the Stars, and 2202 were opened up for unlimited viewing on major streaming services, including Japan’s Netflix. Congratulations, whoever you are. You win.
April 19: Shinya Takahashi art
Continuing the trend he started last year, character designer Shinya Takahashi released four new pieces for online auction at Yahoo Japan.
Get a better look at them in our new 2021 Takahashi art gallery here.
Revisit the 2020 gallery here.
Photos posted on Twitter by Nayucha2020 and TakeChannel36
April 21: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model, Vol. 117
This was the first volume that allowed all the existing parts to be combined into a single block. TakeChannel36 summed up the process in a single Tweet: “Fiber optic hell again.”
See Hachette’s instruction video here
See an unboxing video here
April 23: Star Blazers Lambda Vol. 1 & 2
The first two volumes of Star Blazers Lambda manga gave everyone a surprise when (A) they were published simultaneously and (B) they arrived in stores three days earlier than announced. Both volumes contain five chapters and clock in just over 200 pages
There is also a fair amount of bonus material; additional story info is inserted between chapters and several pages are dedicated to Junichiro Tamamori’s mecha design at the end. Coupled with an online resource for Ryuko Azuma’s production notes, they provide the makings of a healthy year-one overview of Star Blazers Lambda; look for it here soon!
April 28: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model, Vol. 118
The last April volume delivered the next portion of the upper bow structure, which will accommodate the dorsal vent that would come in Vol. 119. No further assembly, just more bits to activate the imagination.
See Hachette’s instruction video here
See an unboxing video here
See a modeler’s blog here
Also spotted in April
Fan art
April was one of the most productive months for fan art in a while, with two international favorites unknowingly racing to see who could create more. (A contest that we all win.)
See a character gallery here and a mecha gallery here.
Fan models
Every month you think modelers can’t possibly outperform previous months, and then they do. This month was just ridiculous. See the output in three galleries: Yamato & Andromeda | Other Earth mecha | Garmillas and Gatlantis
Music making
A Tweet went out from the office of Ensemble Vega on April 20 showing maestro Akira Miyagawa in his natural habitat. The message was, “Practice begins for an important, once-only concert on 4/29 at Ishinomaki City Complex. The first song to practice is Space Battleship Yamato.”
More music making
Yuki Mori descends from the sea of stars to tickle the ivories? Almost; that’s the shapely form of “Pan Piano,” a popular cosplayer/pianist who covers anime themes on Youtube. She brings her expertise to the Yamato theme, which you should watch here.
And hot on her heels comes the amazing Aira Tsukino (A.K.A. Aira Piano) who throws down expert-level renditions of both the Yamato theme and The Scarlet Scarf. Click on the names and let her entrance you.
Leiji Matsumoto museum
We closed out our last report with photos from Leiji Matsumoto’s Gallery Zero in Kure, Japan, and now we’ve got a few more. These were posted on Twitter by fwks7841, who provided us some excellent views of the famous Cut Model and life-size Yuki Mori statue. These are things waiting to be seen by you.
