Bic Reader’s Guide
Space Battleship Yamato
Great success in the books!
The fever of Space Battleship Yamato and Farewell to Yamato, Soldiers of Love, which have maintained overwhelming popularity in the animation world, is likely to continue. The spread from movies and TV, to music, toys, comics, and more knows no bounds. This frenzy has also extended deeply and quietly to publications.
Those of you who buy magazines know how many extra issues have been devoted to Yamato. Now that books based on the anime have been published, their sales have been steadily increasing. Here are a few of them.
Breathtaking fun
“The infinite universe. A world filled with silent light.” Those are the words that open the Space Battleship Yamato novelization published by Shueisha. “The infinite universe is filled with a variety of life” opens the two volume novelization of Farewell to Yamato, published by Shueisha Bunko. The first is adapted from the anime by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who planned and produced, and Toshio Masuda who directed the film. The concept design was by Leiji Matsumoto.
Space Battleship Yamato begins with Chapter 1, “Messenger of Iscandar,” then the story jumps to a rapid tempo in Chapter 2, “The Resurrected Unsinkable Battleship Yamato.” The ship is attacked by Gamilas over and over as it heads for Iscandar. Yamato is constantly dodging the enemy’s relentless attacks with its Wave-Motion Gun and main guns, and pushing forward. Gradually, this system reveals how great Yamato is.
What can be said throughout the two volumes of Soldiers of Love is that once you start reading, you will be drawn into the story wondering what will happen next. Reading it is a different kind of experience from that of TV or movies. That’s the charm of the Yamato novels.
Color photos and text…
After seeing famous scenes from TV and the movies in color photos, how interesting it would be if the scenes were combined with a story. The novelization that satisfies this desire is Space Battleship Yamato from Asahi Sonorama.
This edition is composed of three volumes: Launch, Struggle, and Restoration. The text is composed by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, and the cover illustrations are all by Toshihisa Higashizaki. The most attractive feature of the book is that it contains 32 pages of color anime stills to go along with the story.
Earth is under an onslaught of planet bombs from the planet Gamilas, and is now on the verge of extinction. The story begins with the death of Sasha, who came from Iscandar during a battle to protect the planet, just as in TV and movies. For those who are old enough to have known about Yamato during the war, which was said to be the world’s largest battleship, the scene in which it revives is especially moving, and you can be immersed in indescribable emotions.
Yamato heads 148,000 light-years away with a crew that destroys the Gamilas’ base on Pluto. In the Struggle volume, Gamilas puts Domel, a noted general, in command to stop them. The battle places them in a critical pinch where they cannot use their Wave Engine or warp navigation. However, Sasha’s sister Starsha appears on the video screen and guides Yamato to a dimensional exit. At that moment, the enemy general Domel realizes defeat for the first time.
In the Restoration volume, Domel organizes the strongest battleship carrier fleet and heads for the Rainbow Cluster, the site of the decisive battle. The result of the battle will be left for the reader to enjoy. In any case, it is full of charm that is different from the anime.
The battle scenes are awesome
In America, it is quite common for a comic magazine to be converted to TV or a movie, and vice versa. The famous TV SF Star Trek is a good example.
Space Battleship Yamato was published as a Sun Comic. Planning and original draft by Yoshinobu Nishizaki. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Manga by Akira Hio. Character Design by Leiji Matsumoto. All of them have been reprinted many times, proving their popularity.
The popularity of Yamato has no end in sight with comic books, novels, and more to come. Keep up the good work, Yamato…