Yamato 2199 Report 37, part 3

Back up to previous page

October 14: Safety signs, set 2

At the end of Report 36, a set of safety signs used by the Maeda Construction company was posted with translations of their content. This month, a second set was released through Yamato Crew to keep you vigilant. Referred to as “compact labels,” they measure a bit over 16″ square, are made of recycled plastic, and can be mounted wherever safety precautions warrant.

Okita: Only a fool neglects safety • Yuki: I’m currently on break • Harada: AED Storage facility • Misaki: Parking restricted

Yamato: Safety Patrol • Kodai: Thank you for your cooperation • Analyzer: Security equipment operational • Sado: Don’t drink too much

October 15: Nana Mizuki CD single

King Records, KICM-1542

The next chapter in Yamato music history opened on this day when Nana Mizuki released this three-track single (her 30th) titled Forbidden Resistance. It included the title track, another named Dream Rider, and BLUE, the end title song for A Voyage to Remember.

Head over to our updated Yamato 2199 discography for translated lyrics.

October 16 & 21: Yamatalk events

Two Yamatalks were held less than a week from each other at the Shinjuku Piccadilly theater, attached to screenings of A Voyage to Remember.

The first one (Oct. 16, above left) featured (L to R) Voyage Writer Shigeru Morita, Animator Daisuke Suzuki of Sanzigen studio, and TV Writer Hiroshi Onoki (Episodes 4, 7, 10, 15, 17, 22, and 24).

The second (Oct. 21, above right) brought together (L to R) TV Director Nobuyoshi Habara (see our interviews with him here and here), Sound Director Tomohiro Yoshida, and Voyage Director Takeo Kato.

Kato and Morita both hosted a third Yamatalk on the 27th with manga artist and 2199 illustrator Michio Murakawa, who is notoriously camera-shy. However, fans who visited these events were delighted to find the 1/100 Yamato on display at the theater and shared these photos on Twitter.

October 17: Official website update

For the first time in several months, the official 2199 website added two new entries to its mecha catalog to tie in with the forthcoming Ark of the Stars. At left is Yamato with its Wave-Motion plug, and at right is the new landing vehicle, the Ki 8 Prototype Airship

See them at the site here.

October 18: Week 2 stage greeting

A Voyage to Remember began its second week in theaters with another live stage event at the Marunouchi Piccadilly theater. The 1/100 Yamato was relocated for the weekend, but would return to Shinjuku afterward.

See event coverage on Youtube here.

From a Shochiku press release:

Nana Mizuki takes charge of the end title song BLUE. Big hit gratitude stage greeting report, Saturday October 18

This time, there was a big hit gratitude stage greeting on Saturday October 18 for A Voyage to Remember. Captain Okita’s voice actor Takayuki Sugo and Starsha Iscandar’s voice actor Kikuko Inoue were joined on stage by Nana Mizuki, who took charge of the end title song BLUE, and expressed her thoughts on what went into this theme song.

Takayuki Sugo comments:

There was a typhoon [last week] on Saturday and Sunday, but the weather was perfect today, so thank you for gathering early in the morning rather than looking at the autumn leaves. During Yamato‘s battles, Captain Okita had a scary face. I talked in all but one of the 26 episodes, when he was put on an IV injection. [Domels’ voice actor] Akio Otsuka and I both belonged to the Bungakuza theater company, and although we didn’t have the opportunity to perform together in those days, we recorded together for the communication scene with Domel, and I feel that we played the game for real this time.

Although he wants to stick to the original “forbidden love” policy on a warship, Okita is a man with a big heart, and thinks that love is OK. There was even a surprise marriage between two of the characters. I thought the song Nana Mizuki created as the love theme was wonderful.

And finally, please let me close with a line I said to Kikuko the other day in a dressing room: “This is Captain Okita. Thank you. That is all.”

Kikuko Inoue comments:

Thank you for coming to visit the theater on this fine autumn day with really nice picnic weather. I’m really happy to accompany such a wonderful work with such a wonderful song. As Nana said, the love of Dessler surely means a lot, although it has gone down a bad road. Whenever I watch the scene where he says “I do it for you, Starsha,” I think there’s a very deep message of love, about how it may torment you to save someone. Nana’s song isn’t just about love, it reminds you of a warm feeling that fills your heart.

Just imagine what it took to collect all this into two hours and eleven minutes. I think it was very hard work, and for those who haven’t seen it yet, I hope you enjoy the world of Space Battleship Yamato.

Nana Mizuki comments:

When I heard that I would be in charge of the song that concludes such a wonderful work, I trembled. The words in the script lead to great performances from everyone, and I thought that I might depict the love in them straight into my lyrics.

I watched reruns of the original generation of Space Battleship Yamato, and when I was in charge of the ending song for Chapter 7 last time, I saw the scripts for the Yamato 2199 series and watched everything up to Chapter 6 to make the music.

I feel that the theme of Yamato is “love,” and Star of Love (the ending theme for Chapter 7) was born from my wish to put it into words without a straight expression. I wrote BLUE at home after watching through the series again. In A Voyage to Remember, the music that flows at the end is the same as Chapter 7, so it was very difficult to make a new song nestle up to the image and inherit it without completely changing the impression. I wrote the lyrics as if speaking to someone close to you, and it feels like the younger sister of Star of Love. Between the love of two people with Kodai and Yuki or Starsha and Mamoru, and with Dessler though it is a bit distorted, there are various forms of love…

As for my favorite character, though I can’t decide just based on how attractive they are, I like Starsha. Her beauty takes on an aura, and she seems to be from another world! She’s like a goddess, and Ms. Inoue’s performance is wonderful!

When I was on standby in the lobby, I was very glad to hear warm applause from all of you after the presentation. It was made with love, and I’ll be glad if Yamato 2199 gathers up feelings of love for a long time to come.

From Koepota:

Nana Mizuki, Takayuki Sugo, and Kikuo Inoue on the stage!
Big hit gratitude greeting for Space Battleship Yamato 2199 A Voyage to Remember

A Voyage to Remember, a special compilation of the TV series Space Battleship Yamato 2199, opened nationally in event screenings on October 11 (Saturday). A big hit gratitude stage greeting for A Voyage to Remember was held at the Yurakucho Marion on Saturday, October 18. On the stage appeared Takayuki Sugo (voice of Juuzo Okita), Kikuko Inoue (voice of starsha), and Nana Mizuki (end theme song artist) with Osamu Kobayashi as MC.

Mr. Kobayashi called the performers on stage, and the three gave words of thanks in their stage greeting to the audience. Everyone smiled when Mr. Sugo asked, “How was Yamato‘s fight?”

Nana Mizuki talked about her previous theme song, Star of Love. She revealed that she wrote the lyrics after hearing all about Yamato, reading all the scripts, and created the song after watching everything up to Chapter 7.

Regarding the new ending theme BLUE, Mizuki didn’t make it the same as last time, saying that she looked carefully for balance and newness. She sees it as the younger sister of Star of Love, and said that she made the music while conscious of the love of the characters.

Ms. Inoue said that she felt a deep insight was depicted when Dessler expressed his love by saying, “I do it for you, Starsha.” Mr. Sugo joked about his position as captain to enact a “forbidden love” policy on the ship and highly praised Ms. Mizuki’s love theme for the film. He agreed with Ms. Inoue when she said that BLUE was not only about love, but created a warm feeling in the heart. When Mr. Sugo asked Ms. Mizuki how long it took to write the lyrics, she answered, “About a week.” Ms. Inoue revealed that when she previously co-starred with Ms. Mizuki, “I wanted to depict warm love in the heart.” Also, Inoue was delighted when Mizuki said Starsha was her favorite character. Incidentally, Inoue also said she had really been looking forward to today’s stage greeting.

Finally, the event ended with messages from the performers.

Mizuki: When I was on standby in the lobby, I was very glad to hear warm applause from all of you after the presentation. It was made with love, and I’ll be glad if Yamato 2199 gathers up feelings of love for a long time to come.

Inoue: I think it must have been very difficult to summarize 26 episodes into two hours and eleven minutes, which you could see as a new movie. If you meet someone who hasn’t seen it, please tell them how good it is. I’ll be glad if you continue to love the world of this film from now on. When I heard Nana’s song BLUE at the end, it warmed my heart. I think it’s a song you can sink deeper into the more you hear it. Thank you.

Sugo: When I watch Yamato‘s battle, it reminds me of the impressive scene with Eruk Domel. His voice actor Akio Otsuka and I both belonged to the Bungakuza theater company, and although we didn’t have the opportunity to perform together in those days, I feel that we played the game for real this time. And finally, Kikuko likes it when I close by saying my line, “This is Captain Okita. Thank you. That is all.”

October 18: Secret File 02

Secret File 02 was given away during the second week of Voyage to Remember, and was titled Battle of the Imperial capital – Yamato saves the Garmillas race.

Read the translated text here.

October 19: Yamaket 4

This mini-con within a mini-con was part of a one-day doujinshi event named Toriroji 7, held in Asakusa, Tokyo. Yamaket [Yamato + Market] is simply a collective of fan groups who make Yamato doujinshi.

They’ve gathered three times before, and this time there were nine in the fellowship.

Visit the Yamaket website here. See one group’s Pixiv page here.

October 21: Oculus Rift announcement

Oculus VR is a California-based company intent on fulfilling the promise of the cyber-80s with immersive virtual reality electronics. A successful Kickstarter campaign, along with support from high-end video game companies, put them on track to develop Oculus Rift VR hardware for the consumer market. Naturally, Japan has been quick to jump on board, and Yamato is coming along for the ride.

Here’s what the official 2199 website had to say about it on October 21:

An attraction that lets you experience the 360-degree world of Yamato! A Space Battleship Yamato 2199 picture is being produced for the VR headset Oculus Rift!

A Space Battleship Yamato attraction is being developed for the VR (Virtual Reality) headset Oculus Rift, using the Unity game engine. With a head-mounted display specializing in virtual reality, Oculus Rift attains a viewing angle of almost 360 degrees. With the content of Yamato 2199, you can have the experience of touring Yamato inside and out. Plans are being made to deploy this experience in future Yamato 2199-related events. More details will be announced later at the official site.

Given that the entire ship was built in 3D CG for use in the anime, we can speculate that the environment is ready-made for this application. One lucky Twitter user by the name of “Kichijoji Phantom” excitedly posted the photos above after taking a test run through the 3D Yamato. It was reported that voice actress Eriko Nakamura provides narration as crewmember Mikage Kiryu. You better believe there will be more news on this as it happens.

October 22: Okita products

In an interesting coincidence, Captain Okita won the day with the announcement of two products dedicated to him. The first is a new element in the ongoing collaboration between Yamato 2199 and the Japan Sankei tours, specifically the Matsushima location. Beef tongue is a specialty in Miyagi Prefecture, and starting October 26 customers could buy it in the form of limited-edition “Space Admiral Curry.” The box illustration is by Michio Murakawa.

The second is a new Okita coat by Cospa, a company that specializes in anime apparel. This isn’t the first to be marketed for cosplayers, but it could be the finest. It is scheduled for release in January and will be priced at 58000 yen (about $570 US). Get a good look at it on the Cospa website here.

October 23: Premium Bandai products

Premium Bandai is Bandai’s online-only store, and has released many Yamato products in the past, even before the arrival of 2199. In late October, they announced the next batch for availability in November. There is a pair of B5 notebooks (above), a pair of 20″ x 28″ tapestries (left) and a series of T-shirts (below) in both black and white.

See Premium Bandai’s Yamato page here.

October 24: Journey to Iscandar game announcement

Yet another digital Yamato game is on the way, this time from the Yamada company. This one entered its pre-registration phase October 24 with full details to be announced later, but based on this promo video, it appears to be another “battle card” style game for smart phones. Japan only, of course, but the rest of us can see some flashy new artwork at Yamada’s website.

October 25: Hobby magazines, December issues

Despite the record-setting activity of this month, 2199 coverage was light in the hobby magazines – only seven pages in total – but finished photos of Bandai’s new 1/1000 models were shown, and Megahouse rolled out the first images of some brand new 1/8 Yamato Girls figures for 2015. Plus, Model Graphix had a new book to promote, Yamato Mechanics 2199, scheduled for publication November 7.

See all the pages here.


Click here to continue to part 4

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *