The Shocking “Last Minute” of Chapter 5
There was initial opposition, but Harutoshi Fukui says, “It Fits the Theme of the Work”
Published February 24. See the original post here.
At the end of Chapter 5, Yamato uses a series of warps to enter the interior of a space-time node. In a shocking turn of events, it emerges from the torrent of space-time to find itself some 200 years in the past, in the year 2026, above Tokyo.
Yamato 3199 is a re-imagining of the original works Be Forever Yamato and Yamato III,” with new interpretations added. At the opening day stage greeting, Fukui revealed that he was inspired by Be Forever, saying, “People are surprised when they go to Earth 200 years in the future, but it would be interesting if it went 200 years in the past. 200 years ago would be now! There were a lot of developments. Ultimately, it was me who came up with the idea.”
Scriptwriter Hideki Oka initially opposed the idea, saying, “You’d better not do it. It would feel like a joke,” while Director Yamato seemed hesitant, saying, “When he got the idea, I wasn’t sure if we could pull it off.”
However, Fukui was confident, saying, “I made sure it wouldn’t be taken as a joke. It got me going. It fits the theme of the work. It really is like the original, after all. In Be Forever, we saw the Sphinx and New York and thought of Earth 200 years in the future. I thought it would be interesting if the Earth we know and the world of Yamato were connected. That may have been the underlying theme.”
The development of Chapter 6 is also of interest, and Fukui hinted, “There’s one thing Yamato fans haven’t been able to do for a long time: pilgrimages to sacred sites. Since we’ve come to the present day, we can create as many sacred sites as we want. Various things will happen in various places. We’ve prepared events and features that can be enjoyed outside as well.”
Since this was the opening day stage greeting in front of an audience who had just witnessed the shocking ending, Fukui expressed his thoughts, saying, “I wanted to see the look on people’s faces right after seeing this. I gave it my all this time. I have no words to express it better.”
Harutoshi Fukui Discusses the Shocking “Last Minute” (Spoilers)
by Mitsuru Anima
Published February 28. See the original post here.
The main visual for Chapter 5 has been accompanied by the tagline, In the last minute, everything changes. This tagline lives up to the buzz. It truly was a shocking ending that “changes everything.” We spoke to General Director Harutoshi Fukui about the shocking ending.
At the end of Chapter 5, Yamato uses a series of warps to enter a space-time node. After passing through the torrent of space-time, it takes a shocking turn of events to find itself some 200 years in the past, in the year 2026, above Tokyo…
Fukui revealed, “It’s a concept we had from the beginning. I thought if we could do this, we could do 3199. It’s not that there’s no inspiration from the original work. In the original, it was Earth 200 years in the future (a disguised planet Dezarium), but we took advantage of that and set it 200 years into the past this time.”
The preview for Chapter 6, The Azure Labyrinth, was also shocking. It’s intriguing to see what will happen to the Yamato crew when they travel back in time to 2026. Fukui said, “The Yamato crew has always been right up until now, but they’re starting to go crazy. If they were in the same position as Dezarium, they might do the same thing. It shows the fragility of human beings.”
The book titled Diplomacy, which was briefly seen in the preview, is also intriguing, with Fukui saying, “It’s like, pay attention to the author’s name…”
What will the Yamato crew think when they see Tokyo in 2026? Attention is focused on what will happen next when “everything changes.”