Daily Sports, March 20
Yamato Graduation Launch
Early morning screening at 6am
8,000 people stayed up all night
overwhelming victory with a 25% increase over Harmagedon
The Final Chapter premieres to a packed house
The popular anime Space Battleship Yamato, The Final Chapter was released in 69 cinemas nationwide, excluding Hokkaido and Kyushu, from early on the 19th, and showed attendance that was on par with the previous three films. The opening day attendance was 60% higher than Crusher Joe and 25% more than Harmagedon, and the Toei publicity department was beaming, saying, “we’re likely to make 1.2 to ¥1.3 billion.“
Going with junior high and high school students
“1.2 billion yen (box office) is certain”
Photo caption: Junior and senior high school fans lined up in front of Shibuya Tokyu Rex for Space Battleship Yamato
Whether you laugh or cry, this was the final Space Battleship Yamato, and around 8,000 middle and high school students stayed up all night in front of seven cinemas in Tokyo. As a result, each cinema decided to hold early screenings at 6am and 6:30am, and quickly expanded into their larger theaters to accommodate the audience. Shinjuku Tokyu screened the film at the Milano in Shinjuku, Shibuya Tokyu Rex expanded into the Shibuya Pantheon, and Marunouchi expanded into the Marunouchi Toei Palace to avoid overwhelming crowds.
There were many graduation ceremonies at junior and Senior high schools in Tokyo that day, and most of those who stayed up all night “seemed to have gone straight from the theater to their graduation ceremony” (source: Toei publicity department). The weather in the Tokyo area was lovely and warm that day, and by the afternoon, there were standing room only crowds at each theater.
Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who has been in charge of production for the past 10 years, and other related parties held a launch party at 1:30 PM in the Margaret room on the third floor of the old Akasaka Prince Hotel. Producer Nishizaki gave a speech, looking deeply moved. “Today marks the end of 10 years of Yamato. We would like to continue to take on the challenge of creating works that resonate with young people.“ Amid applause and cheers from those involved, Yamato‘s “graduation ceremony“ came to a close.
Sports Nippon, March 20
Photo captions:
TOP: “10 years of Yamato have come to an end,” says an emotional producer Nishizaki.
RIGHT: Fans lined up all night at Shibuya Tokyo Rex, 6:30am
LEFT: Despite the screening being delayed by one day to the 20th, young people in Fukuoka gathered early. 6:20am in front of Toei Grand in Fukuoka city.
A Late Start for the Last Yamato
5,000 people stayed up all night
The fever is still the same
Space Battleship Yamato, The Final Chapter, opening day
When the freshly-baked prints arrived at theaters, fans who had been up all night greeted them with applause and cheers. Despite the unusual situation of the film not being released on opening day in areas like Hokuriku, Hokkaido, and Kyushu, Space Battleship Yamato,The Final Chapter was screened in Tokyo, Osaka, and other areas from early on the 19th. In Tokyo alone, more than 50 people were singing along, and fans were going wild for the finale of Yamato. However, when Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki appeared at the staff’s after-party, he bowed deeply and said, “I take full responsibility for the unrest.”
31 theaters were not enough
Due to the attachment to The Final Chapter, the editing process took time, and the completion was delayed due to the need to adjust the color, so the final 100th print was not completed until 1am on the premiere day. The company had been operating at full capacity since the previous night, and as soon as it was completed, Toei employees loaded it onto trucks and delivered it to various locations.
A print arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where a queue of around 600 people had formed, at 2am. Unexpectedly, applause and cheers erupted from the fans, and even cheers of “banzai” were heard.
All of the theaters in Tokyo started screening the film at around 6am, and neighboring theaters opened their doors to the public, creating the usual scene scene on the opening day of an anime film.
“I’ve been watching it for years, so I wanted to see the end. Knowing Nishizaki, I’m sure he’ll make another one if there’s a demand from fans,” one attendee said, looking back on his youth growing up with Yamato.
In comparison to the first day, it was performing well at “60% higher than Crusher Joe and 25% higher than Harmagedon” according to Toei, but, “We couldn’t get all the prints out on the first day. 150 people involved stayed up all night. The last prints were quickly transported to Haneda Airport and flown to Fukuoka. The films arrived there at 3:40pm and a waiting truck took them to theaters throughout Kyushu, finally completing the delivery process.
The film was screened as scheduled in all Kansai, Chugoku, and Shikoku regions, but screenings were delayed in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Nagano, and three Kyushu theaters from today, the 20th.
Producer Nishizaki was criticized for his insensitivity in making Farewell to Yamato, and then making a final chapter under the pretense that this would be the finale, but fans will likely want to see Yamato through to the end. One office worker was cautious, saying, “I first saw Yamato on TV when I was in middle school. It’s now 10 years old, so I want to stop getting excited.“ (Toei director Tsuneyuki Suzuki)
In Hokkaido and Kyushu, where screenings were not possible, hundreds of calls were made to confirm, but there was no confusion. 170 people lined up at the Sapporo Toei Kaikan, and several dozen people lined up at the Fukuoka Toei Grand, patiently waiting for the film to be released a day late.