From the Star Blazers/Yamato fan club magazine, issue 13 (November 2021): Mecha Designer Mika Akitaka and Concept Researcher Shinya Ogura discuss their work for Yamato 2205 Chapter 1, answering questions you didn’t know to ask.
Yamato 2205 mechanical design (Dezarium/Bolar Empire) Mika Akitaka special interview
Design that weaves the appeal of the “original” mecha into the “remake”
The mechanical design of Dezarium and Bolar Federation, two new forces in Yamato 2205, is by Mika Akitaka, who has now joined the remake series. How did he come up with the striking designs which are distinct from Garmillas and Gatlantis, as symbolized by the Great Pleiades? How was it born? We asked him to explain the main mecha in Chapter 1.
My first experience with Space Battleship Yamato, which left me behind in the channel battle
Interviewer: When did you first come in contact with Yamato?
Akitaka: I think I was in the 6th grade. I heard from my father that there was a TV show about the battleship Yamato going into space. But my sister had the channel rights, and Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m. was Heidi (in the same time slot as Yamato). So it was hard for me to watch it in real time. (Laughs)
I think the first time I saw it was in Episode 16, when the story was in its second half. When I saw the opening, I thought “Oh! Is this Yamato?” I remember being surprised. I was particularly impressed by the scene where Yuki goes to scout the planet Beemela with Analyzer in the Type 100 recon plane. The flow of the story was presented in a way that was totally different from the TV manga I had seen before. After the boom was ignited, I rushed home to watch the reruns in the evening.
Interviewer: What is your favorite episode or scene from the original series?
Akitaka: If I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to say the battle of Pluto at the beginning of Episode 1. Mamoru Kodai uses the Earth Fleet as bait to escape from the war zone. The scene where Captain Okita tells him, “A man endures the humiliation of today for the sake of tomorrow.” I like that line.
Interviewer: How has Yamato affected your work as a designer and illustrator?
Akitaka: I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have an impact on me. When I draw spaceships and battleships, I’m conscious of “Yamato-like things.”
Participation in 2205 was decided on the advice of Hideki Oka
Interviewer: Please tell us how you became involved in the remake series.
Akitaka: It was Harutoshi Fukui and Hideki Oka who gave me a chance. I had participated in the design of two mobile suits for Mr. Fukui’s original work, Gundam Unicorn. I had a chance to meet him in person at a party. At that time, I knew he was going to start working on 2202, so I told him that I loved New Voyage and Be Forever. (Laughs)
Nothing special happened at that moment, but later, Mr. Fukui called me up and said, “I’d like to talk to you about The New Voyage. I’m remaking it as Yamato 2205. Would you like to participate in that as a designer?” I heard that when Mr. Fukui told Mr. Oka that he had met me, Oka said, “A person like that is very valuable, so you’d better lock him down (to the schedule) as soon as possible.” It seems that he pushed for me to do it.
Interviewer: Among the original series, you are particularly attached to New Voyage and Be Forever, aren’t you?
Akitaka: I was in my first year of high school when New Voyage was aired (1979). I was checking out information in the anime magazines at the time, and I found out that a new work was going to start in the form of “telefeature.” I thought it had ended with Yamato 2, so I was thrilled to see a new battle, and after watching the 90-minute episode, I thought, “It’s not over, They can create new Yamato stories!” I was so excited. We didn’t have a video deck at that time, so I connected the earphone jack of the TV to a tape recorder and recorded the audio only. That’s why I have deep feelings for this work.
Interviewer: That’s a moment that could only be experienced by an anime fan before the spread of home video.
Akitaka: In the battle between the Garmillas and the Dark Nebula Empire, there’s a scene where a live action explosion was used. I was impressed by the idea of “using live action as a new technique.” But the next day, I told my friends at school that I noticed it, but they argued, “There was no such scene!” There was no video recording, so I couldn’t prove it. (Laughs) It wasn’t until much later, when the video was released, that I confirmed I was right.
Bringing the essence of the old design to the remake world
Interviewer: In 2205, you’re in charge of the mechanic design for Dezarium and Bolar Federation. In the original series, Katsumi Itabashi was in charge, so fans call it “Itabashi mecha.”
Akitaka: The mecha he designed are different from what Studio Nue did in the early days of the original series. I think it’s attractive that lines are arranged stylistically while avoiding complexity as much as possible.
Interviewer: What do you think is the most important point in reconstructing “Itabashi mecha” according to the current style? Also, were you careful about the distinction between Dezarium and the Bolar Federation?
Akitaka: In terms of the overall design, I tried to follow the renewal condition of mecha since 2199. In terms of visual styling, I tried to keep the same impression as the old design. I tried to keep the balance of the parts attached to each ship as much as possible, so that it would look like it existed in the world after 2199 rather than a modern style.
Interviewer: Did Mr. Fukui, who is in charge of series composition, give you any kind of order at the beginning regarding the direction of the design?
Akitaka: When he first approached me, he said, “I’d like to see how you’ll arrange things. I’d like you to draw Pleiades and Goruba as examples.” So I drew the rough sketch that appeared in the 7th issue of Yamato magazine (shown below). When Mr. Fukui saw it, he said, “I didn’t think I’d change it this much, but it’s cool, so let’s go this way.” That’s when I got my clue. From there, my primary job was to make the model sheets for the anime look good.
Interviewer: This time, the design of Dezarium was remade from the first Pleiades image you drew.
Akitaka: Yes, you could say that, but the remake series is a very unusual anime work in that the people in charge of design, such as myself, participated in the planning and scriptwriting meetings.
Interviewer: I heard the meetings were held on a scale where almost the entire staff gathered every time.
Akitaka: It was at the meeting that I presented the first rough sketch of Pleiades. I showed them the rough sketches and explained some of the equipment concepts I had been thinking about.
Shinya Ogura, who was in charge of concepts and verification, immediately said, “I’ll work out the details.” From there, I went back and forth with Mr. Ogura and got opinions from other staff members, and we worked on the design until we had a final draft. It was the same for the other mecha as well.
Interviewer: When the design of Great Pleiades was revealed, the fans’ anticipation for 2205 increased even more.
Akitaka: Thanks to their support we received a good evaluation, but since we were the first to work on it, Great Pleiades took a long time to complete. As I was working on it, I had to think about the balance with other Dezarium ships that appeared later, such as the destroyer. I thought I shouldn’t overdo it. When we were close to the final draft, Mr. Fukui said, “I want to add a ship that’s similar to the original Pleiades.” So the Pleiades-Class Attack-Type Battleship was added.
Interviewer: In 1979, it looked evil. The Pleiades also seems to be more sedate than the Great Pleiades.
Akitaka: I guess so. (Laughs) The design of Dezarium’s battleships follows the concept that all battleships of the Dark Nebula Empire are saucer-shaped, as it was in 1979 when the original New Voyage was produced.
The identity of the “wreckage” that appears in Age of Yamato, finally revealed
Interviewer: You’re also in charge of design for the Bolar Federation. Is this something that was decided from the beginning?
Akitaka: As it turned out, I basically appointed myself. When I heard that the Bolar Federation was going to appear in 2205, it hadn’t yet been decided who would be in charge of it. I was wondering, “Who’s going to draw it?” I thought it would be a good idea to have some reference material at the meeting, so I summarized the key points of the Bolar ships. My design drawing was called “Bolar ship proposal.” They were adopted as-is.
Interviewer: Even for the ideas of that time, the structure is quite unique, isn’t it?
Akitaka: Basically, it hasn’t changed from the original series. In Yamato III, there are as many ships as there are characters, including Garmillas and Bolar. (Laughs) There was a special ship for each character, and it would be impossible to include all of them in the story, so I extracted some of their features and used them in the design. It felt like designing them in two patterns, “A” and “B.” For the carrier, there were three types in Yamato III. I extracted the features of the Bolar carrier that left a strong impression on me.
Interviewer: Incidentally, in Age of Yamato, there is a wreck of a Bolar ship that looks like you designed it.
Akitaka: As you can probably guess, that’s the Bolar Battleship B, although there was no credit for it. When I was thinking about the Bolar ship idea, work on Age of Yamato had already started. It’s the section about the civil war between Earth and the Martian colonial forces. I had heard that the concept was, “the space battleship built by the Martian colonial forces was (probably) built by analyzing a Bolar Federation battleship that had ended up on Mars.”
Interviewer: In other words, when Age of Yamato was in production, there was already a Bolar ship design that you drew.
Akitaka: In terms of the order in which the production started, Age of Yamato was a little bit after 2205. Mr. Fukui saw the design of the Bolar ship and asked me, “Is it okay if we release this in Age of Yamato first?”
The second chapter, currently in production, will be even more New Voyage!?
Interviewer: Junichiro Tamamori and Yasushi Ishizu are the pioneers of mecha design in the remake series (for Earth and Garmillas respectively). What is your impression of the designs they both worked on for 2205?
Akitaka: When it comes to the work of Mr. Ishizu, Deusula III is the most impressive. When I joined the project, the image was already clearly defined, and all that was left was to refine the details. I thought that was really amazing.
I have the impression that Mr. Tamamori is a very logical and calculating designer. Even in 2205, he made a lot of assumptions about what would happen if the series continued, and said, “We’ll need this kind of equipment later, so I’ll make it in advance.” So I felt that he was in a completely different dimension than me.
Interviewer: Before the second chapter is completed, what are your impressions of 2205, speaking as someone with a lot of feelings for the original New Voyage?
Akitaka: As a staff member, I got a strong feeling that this work was created by firmly following the original. But at the same time, by including the characters from Yamato III, we were able to create a different story that was still familiar to our generation. Of course, it’s better to have seen the remake series up to this point, but even if you start with 2205, I think the story will make you think, “Yamato is interesting.”
Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to fans who are looking forward to the next chapter!
Akitaka: In the first chapter, Yamato reached its New Voyage point. I’m sure you’ll feel it even more in the second chapter, so please look forward to it. I was surprised, so I’m sure you’ll be surprised too. (Laughs) If there’s more to 2205, I’d love to be a part of it.
Interviewer: Thank you very much!
Mika Akitaka mecha design notes
Pleiades-class large battleship
Refit type ship sketch
Deda’s flagship. It is equipped with a special shield that can neutralize certain positron beam attacks from Earth and Garmillas ships.
“The longer beak, the addition of black lines to the pattern, and the red lines running in parallel were things I intentionally put into the design from the beginning. The reason is that in the depiction of the old Dark Nebula Empire, the Pleiades repelled the main gun fire of the Yamato and Gamilas ships. I wondered if it would be possible to show that “reason” in a visual form. Based on that idea, [Concept Researcher] Shinya Ogura delved into the concept.”
Heades-class destroyer
Dark Nebula Empire / Escort Vessel
The Heades-class destroyers are equipped with the same triple beam turret used as secondary guns on battleships. It has only a main engine, no auxiliary engines, and no control room at the bottom of the ship.
“Initially, I followed the original escort ship and used yellow for the tip and other colors. Then I was asked to make it more like the Pleiades, so I changed it in response to that order. Compared to the original, I was thinking of making it look more alien or cross-cultural. It’s the same with the other Dezarium mecha.”
Marauder Caterpillars
Dark Nebula Empire / Caterpillar-type fighter
During combat, wings on the sides of the fuselage are deployed. This gives them excellent maneuverability in conjunction with the high-mobility thruster on the nose.
“The A version on the rough plan is the same as in the original work. The B design was arranged after the meeting. The cockpit is closed off, and there are some other changes. I also changed the details to make it look more alien and insect-like.”
Bolar battleship (Type A & B) / Bolar carrier
Both of these ships use a concealment system in which the main armament is within the hull and only appears when in use. It is presumed that this is because Bolar Federation ships often travel through dense interstellar matter.
“The bridges are all at the rear. Not just for the Bolar Federation, but the ships in Yamato III in general. I try to keep that balance in my designs.”
Dezarium Hammer
These devices have special armor that nullifies artillery fire and cannot be penetrated by the Garmillas’ positron beam.
“First, there was an order from Mr. Fukui for ‘a weapon to destroy Garmillas.’ From there, Mr. Ogura proposed the basic design, and the final draft was a compilation of features from the Dezarium mecha that I was working on at the same time.”
Yamato 2205 Concept Examination: Shinya Ogura commentary
Six keywords to understand the first chapter of 2205 • The appeal of deep concepts
By reconstructing the concepts based on scientific evidence, the remake series has succeeded in deepening the reality of the Yamato world. Of course, Yamato 2205 is also filled with concepts that have been meticulously researched; weapons such as the Dezarium Hammer and the Type-4 Wave Barrier Deployment Round, as well as the climate change that hits Iscandar. Researcher Shinya Ogura explains the concepts behind six events to help us enjoy the first chapter more deeply.
Commentary 001 Dezarium Hammer
A “planet-shattering weapon” that symbolizes the cruelty of Dezarium
The development history of the Dezarium Hammer, starting with “a huge open pit mine”
Initially, Harutoshi Fukui told us, “The machine that destroys Garmillas goes GAKON! GAKON! like the ones you see at building construction sites.” That was the keyword. In the original New Voyage, Dessler comes back to Gamilas and finds a fleet of machines mining the planet. He takes a look and says, “What is that?” I proposed the idea of an open-pit mining system that’s so big you can see it from space. I thought the “GAKON! GAKON!” pile-driving machine should be part of the system.
However, this was a big misunderstanding. The point of Mr. Fukui’s image was not a huge system, but a network of pile-driving machines going “GAKON! GAKON!” In other words, he wanted to come up with a weapon that could brutally shatter planets. From that point to the “Dezarium Hammer” that appears in the story, he and I went back and forth about a thousand times. (Laughs)
LEFT: The first image of the “Garmillas mining system” submitted by Mr. Ogura.
RIGHT: A modified image rough with “Dezarium Hammer (tentative)” written at the top. The notation “energy transmission pole” is curious. It should be noted that the name “Dezarium Hammer” is not used in the story.
“GAKON! GAKON!” How does the Dezarium Hammer shatter planets?
How does the Dezarium Hammer shatter planets with its “GAKON! GAKON!” as envisioned by Mr. Fukui? How could we achieve this? Professor Shosuke Hayashi of Kobe University’s Graduate School of Planetary Science provided advice on how to realize Mr. Fukui’s vision.
The key point here was Mr. Fukui’s emphasis on “GAKON! GAKON!” In fact, no matter how hard you hit the ground, at most the crust will only turn into fine sediment, and the gravity created by the mass of the planet itself would hold it together, even if it is crushed, so it would not scatter. In other words, in order to destroy a planet, you need to disrupt its gravity.
That’s what the Dezarium Hammer is doing with its “GAKON! GAKON!” The concept is that Dezarium’s “super-technology” is used to disrupt the gravity of Garmillas. However, to be more precise, the Dezarium Hammer is not just disrupting the gravity, it also sucks out the “energy of the planet” as Mr. Fukui says. This will be clarified in a later chapter.
LEFT: The initial image of the planet-destroying weapon (pile driver). At this stage, it was proposed that it would be a “gravity-defying weapon.” This is visibly closer to the final draft.
RIGHT: The initial proposal was to cut through the Roche Loop, the thin atmosphere between Garmillas and Iscandar. I proposed a scene in which a “pile driver” would fly through the Roche Loop. Unfortunately, it was not adopted.
Commentary 002 Type 4 Wave Barrier Deployment round
A huge “net” with a diameter of 8,000 meters that powerfully guards against enemy attacks
How does Asuka‘s “most powerful equipment” work?
The supply carrier Asuka is equipped with a “Type 4 Wave Barrier Deployment Round.” The Experimental Ship Ginga was powerful enough to generate a “wave barrier” in space itself, but the basic concept of a “wave barrier” is “a technology to strengthen physical properties by propagating wave energy resonated by a wave coil through bulkheads and armor.”
In essence, it was born from a change in thinking: “All we need is something to transmit (strengthen) the energy!” This is the idea behind the wave barrier round. The idea is that by transmitting energy to a filament-like net (superconducting net), a net-like shield can be created.
RIGHT: Concept image of the body of the wave-shield deployment round proposed by Mr. Ogura. At this stage, the image looked like a brush with the filaments exposed.
LEFT: In the process of construction, a fairing covering the filament is attached to the wave barrier deployment projectile. The upper figure is a line drawing for color-coding reference. The lower figure is a 3DCG model created by Mr. Ogura to illustrate each stage of operation. This model data seems to have been used directly in the “wave motion barrier round” scene in the film.
RIGHT: This is an example of the deployment of a wave barrier projectile. The deployed diameter is about 8,000 meters. It is said to be rapidly deployed by the centrifugal force of rotation, just like the solar sails of real planetary probes. Although it has a time limit until it runs out of energy, it is the strongest equipment for Asuka, which has limited attack power.
Commentary 003 Climate Change on Planet Iscandar
A look into the mysteries of the cataclysmic events that occur on Iscandar
Why is the royal city of Iscandar, a planet on the move, hit by a blizzard?
In the original version of The New Voyage, the royal city of Iscandar was hit by a blizzard as the planet began to move. In the remake of 2205, we decided to verify this. We asked, “Is it possible for Iscandar, far from the sun of Salezar, to experience the kind of climate change depicted in the original?” The first step was to find out. To answer this question, I consulted with Professor Shosuke Hayashi of Kobe University Graduate School.
As you can see in Chapter 1, the “Royal Palace of Iscandar in the midst of a blizzard” scene can be considered as scientifically-possible climate change. The point here is that the entire planet does not immediately freeze over just because Salezar is far from the sun. The surface of the land will quickly cool down, but the heat stored in Iscandar’s “ocean” (latent heat) will not be lost so easily. The difference in temperature between the land and the sea creates wind, and the air moves rapidly toward the land. It is theoretically possible that the sudden cooling of the atmosphere toward the land will cause a snowstorm.
LEFT: This is the result of a study conducted with Professor Hayashi; an image of the surface of Iscandar after leaving Salezar’s sun. The blue area shows the “sea” that has not frozen yet.
RIGHT: In this study, the energy received by Iscandar from the Sun Salezar is the same as the energy received by Earth from our Sun (1,368 kW(h) per square meter). If we calculate the time required for the heat stored in Iscandar’s entire “ocean” to be lost, it would take about two years and one month for the water temperature to drop by one degree Celsius. In other words, the ocean does not freeze easily even when heat from the sun does not reach it. However, since the surface of the land cools down quickly, shallow water and harbor areas would freeze in half a day. And the temperature difference between the land and the ocean makes storms (snow) more likely to occur.
Commentary 004 Restoration of the destroyed moon
Humanity’s hope in the process of restoration
Is there a “need” to restore the moon to its original state?
Some of you may be wondering, “Why do we need to restore the moon? The main reason is that if Earth is surrounded by debris from the Moon, it may interfere with space travel. So just collecting the debris is a start, but restoring the moon to its original state is something else. By doing that, we are restoring our daily lives. I think of it as a “symbol of postwar reconstruction.”
It’s not just the Cosmo Rebirth! The hidden “contributors” to the restoration work are…
In the main story, restoration of the destroyed moon is depicted. It looks as if the Experimental Ship Ginga is doing it. Actually, when the moon was destroyed, its center of gravity shifted so much that it started vibrating due to eccentricity. So the first thing to do is restore its “celestial equilibrium.” It’s a difficult phase of mass accumulation, like correctly fitting together all the pieces of a scattered puzzle.
It could be the Cosmo Reverse’s super-technology processing ability that helped to create a path to the balanced image that had to be measured. However, it’s not just Ginga that is occupied with restoring the Moon. At the stage when restoration begins, it would be the work of a major general contractor. This is the stage of “steady and far-reaching civil engineering work.” That’s when we move to humanity achieving reconstruction on its own.
LEFT: Age of Yamato‘s scriptwriter, Yuka Minagawa, asked Mr. Ogura to calculate the “Moon collapse rate.” According to Mr. Ogura’s calculations, about 21% of the Moon (1,5338 tons) was lost. The calculation is based on the depiction of the “destroyed moon” in Yamato 2202. As you can see, the calculation is the result of diligent work of combining three methods: real Moon statistics, how to calculate the volume of a sphere, and how to calculate the volume of a cone.
RIGHT: Illustrations showing restoration of the Moon and the work procedure. The “standby orbit” (blue line) is where the secured lunar debris is accumulated. The multiple “spiral trajectories” (green line) show where debris is dropped and settles in each built-up area. This can be seen in the aircraft exercise scenes around the Moon.
Commentary 005 Location of the Planet Galman chosen for migration
The deep “edge” of the universe connecting Garmillas and the people of Galman
There is a scientific reason why Dessler chose Galman as his home planet
As mentioned in the program book for Chapter 1, Galman is located in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. There is a good reason for this. Recent studies have shown that the components of the Large Magellanic Galaxy and the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy are identical. In addition, there is a theory that the two galaxies were once a single companion galaxy that broke up long ago. In Chapter 1, Dessler said there is a theory that the Garmillas and Galman people have a single ancestor. By linking the causality with the actual formation of the universe, I think this statement becomes more realistic.
LEFT: Diagram created by Mr. Ogura to propose the location of Planet Galman. The distance between Earth and Galman is estimated to be 70,000 light years (translation below).
Commentary 006 Exercise at Titan, a former satellite of Saturn
The planned location of the exercise was initially the shield moon Telesto
Why was Raiden’s descent maneuver changed to the satellite Titan?
In the original script, Saturn’s 13th satellite, Telesto, was set as the location for the exercise. However, from the standpoint of research, we thought it was impossible to conduct the exercise there, so we changed it to the 6th moon, Titan. The main reason was that Telesto is small, with a maximum width of about 32 km, and has almost no gravity. It is not suitable for descent maneuvers. Under the circumstances, it is doubtful that it will survive after Saturn’s collapse. Titan, on the other hand, has plenty of gravity, and is just out of orbit from the rush of the former Saturn’s atmosphere, which has been converted to plasma and trapped in the magnetosphere. It would be a good candidate for training.
RIGHT: This illustration was created to explain the reason for the change in the exercise site. In addition, it was created to explain the situation of the collapsed Saturn. It was used as a background in the main story.
Thank you for your work, we in the CIS segment such information just can not find. As for the concepts, I have no questions about the flagship Deda, it’s one of the most beautiful and brutal starships I’ve seen. But the main bridge of the standard Pleiades, in my opinion too angular (in the movie). Also, I like the coloring of the classic escort cruiser (Heades) better, but not the patterns, namely the shades of colors, the new one is more or less vivid. And the color of the engines flames on the Desarium ships (blue on the Heades and fighters, orange on the Pleiades) didn’t suit me much, as it was already used for EDF and Gatlantis ships, and in my opinion would have been better suited to green, as it was already used in the old original. The Bolar Federation ships are a real eye-catcher, too bad they only drew portholes on type A. Last but not least I like the Energy Shields – Umbrellas technology taken from Yamato: Resurrection, it’s really cool looking and even cooler looking. Thanks again for your work! Greetings from Belarus!
I can write with mistakes, I use a translator, don’t judge:)))
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Thank you for your comment! You seem very knowledgeable about the classic era battleship designs. Thank you for your input : )