LEFT SIDE:
Introduction
This year marks exactly ten years since Space Battleship Yamato launched into space. Last year, Final Yamato was released, and it seems that the long-running Yamato series has come to a kind of conclusion. For Yamato fans, this will be a fresh start and a more crucial time than ever before. I believe that knowing that there are many other Yamato fans out there will encourage the revitalization of various circles and individuals.
Various doujinshi sales events are held around town, and Yamato-related circles can often be seen participating. However, while these events may have many good points, the reality is that they are not very suitable for interaction with the Yamato circles and Yamato fans who come to see them. It seems that they repeatedly focus solely on selling, and the only relationship formed is between a seller and a customer.
That’s when the idea came up: “We want to hold a get-together for Yamato fans, with Yamato fans, and by Yamato fans!” To address the shortcomings of other sales events, and to find new friends and new Yamato enthusiasts, we’ve decided to host this Yamato party. Please give it your full support and affection! Thank you!
– Shima Riokuya
Representative of the Yamato party executive committee
RIGHT SIDE:
Any comments about Yamato?
This is a collection of responses from participating circles. The arrangement is completely random.
It’s a symbol of youth
I miss Part 1 so much…my heart aches at the current situation.
It’s great.
It’s a good work, but I think it’s definitely becoming a thing of the past.
Yamato is immortal!
I’m so moved! And long live Hiroshi Miyagawa!
I like Aihara-kun!
Everything came into being because of Yamato. I met so many people and my destiny changed. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration?
Well…I only watched the third one with enthusiasm, so I don’t really know much about it as a whole. I prefer the TV version to the movie version.
It’s a youth growth agent.
Despite complaining about this and that and finding fault with it, in the end Yamato is my favorite.
I like Yamato. But I can’t really stand the series. Yamato is like the Giants of the anime world.
I don’t fully understand it, but we are truly fortunate to have encountered something like this. It’s rare for so many people to be able to share the same passion for something during their one and only youth.
Today I’m in love with Dessler, so don’t make another anime about Yamato characters.
I think it would be great to create a story of Dessler, but I hope they don’t destroy anything important about Yamato in the process. I have no further comments on the creation or continuation of the story.
A man’s dream, my youth.
Even though the form may change, the influence of Yamato will probably never disappear for the rest of my life.
I have this strange certainty, that I’ll probably love it for the rest of my life. When I think about it, it’s incredibly amazing. So that’s what it was…Yamato…bravo!
Thank you for your hard work.
Location and layout of the venue.
Promo images contributed by each participating fan circle.
LEFT SIDE:
Comparative imeline of Yamato releases and formation of fan circles.
RIGHT SIDE:
When did you first encounter Yamato?
While these results aren’t everything, I think they do reveal some of its unique characteristics.
I first saw Yamato and a character sheet of Kodai in the new fall TV program in Shogakukan’s school magazines around September or October 1974.
Yamato! First broadcast time, October 6, 1974.
October 6, 1974, around 7:30 PM.
December 15, 1974, Episode 11.
On January 3, during the original broadcast, I bought a hardcover book with my New Year’s money.
When I was in fifth grade, during the original broadcast.
When I was in the second grade of elementary school, in 1974.
During the original broadcast.
When I was 16…so that was about two years ago, I guess.
TV Part 1 first broadcast.
I think it was when I was in elementary school. I feel like I was watching the other program that was airing at the same time as this one.
I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was around the end of elementary school.
I was in third grade of elementary school. Or was it second grade? My younger sister was on TV and I changed the channel because I wanted to watch something else.
First year of junior high school. When Part 1 was released in theaters.
The year Yamato was made into a movie, I came across the panels and drama tapes.
I think it was the rerun of Part 1. I’m sorry, I don’t remember very well.
When I was in sixth grade. Part 1, Episode 1, rerun.
Episode 20 of the Part 1 rerun.
I was about in third grade in elementary school, during a rerun of Part 1.
In 1978.
October 14, 1978.
My first encounter with it was definitely during the broadcast of Part 1.
Afterword
The idea for the Yamato-only exchange meeting came to me around the same time I started my circle activities. I realize now, rather belatedly, that reaching out to various circles was all for this exchange meeting. I’ll never forget when the plan became concrete: the Harumi Comic Market 25th Winter. I started contacting various circles back in January. It’s hard to believe eight months have passed since then.
We’ve been through so much to get to this point. There were times when we lost motivation, information got mixed up, etc. It was my first time organizing an event like this, and since most of the Yamato Party organizing committee members are working adults, it was much harder than I had anticipated.
However, as I write this and reflect on it again, I can’t help but think, “What a strange twist of fate it was.” The time when I was doing Yamato, all by myself, seems like a dream, and when I trace back how things came to be this way – how I was able to make it happen – it all comes down to “because I took action.” Certainly, there was a time when it was just a dream for me, the members of the party organizing committee, and even for those of you reading this. And now, here we are. It’s a mystery of the universe.
Yamato Party 84 is over, but as long as everyone takes action, the next Yamato Party will surely happen. It might become an annual event, and it might even be held outside of Tokyo. I want it to happen. I want everyone to take action, because that’s where it all begins
I offer my deepest apologies and gratitude to the members of the organizing committee, who I kept causing trouble for due to my incompetence: to Mr. Hayase, who is even busier than me with Animate Festival 3 on August 4, yet still took on a lot of trouble. To everyone who donated and encouraged me, even though I couldn’t do much for them. To the participating circles, who I worried about because it took so long to get in touch with them. To the Yamato Fan Club and headquarters staff who helped gather participating circles. And to Shimaya publishing, who I rushed the printing process for.
And so, I offer my deepest blessings to the very existence of Space Battleship Yamato, the source of all our actions, and the thing that made us all this way. And with that, I conclude this afterword.
Written on July 15, 1984
