Sayonara…Love

When Space Battleship Yamato The Final Chapter premiered, the ten-year history of Yamato came to an end.

As well as Yamato fans, these ten years must have had meaning for all anime fans.

Likewise, Kodai, Yuki, Okita, and Yamato lived for ten years and have now disappeared to the other side of the screen. We must confirm the status of their love from The Final Chapter.

Couldn’t that be called the duty of an anime fan? Sayonara…”love”.

Yamato

Wave-Motion Gun

Yamato has a Wave-Motion Gun. At the time of the Gamilas war, the Wave-Motion Gun was what made Yamato stand apart from other warships.

Its power destroyed an entire continent and one mighty enemy after another. Although it gradually faded, the Wave-Motion Gun remained the symbol of Yamato.

Then the time came when Yamato had to lose its symbol. Kodai knew better than anyone that he had to close the Wave-Motion Gun with his own hand.

How painful was it for Kodai to push that lever down to close it for good?

Return to the sea…

October 7, 2199.

Space Battleship Yamato launched from the seabed off the Cape of Bogasaki to outer space. Time passed, and it almost disappeared into the depths of space time and time again. Still, at the true ending, Yamato had no choice but to vanish into the “sea.”

The only place to go was into the prodigious waters brought by Aquarius. Yamato completed its glorious mission and slowly disappeared from sight, slipping away to its homeland…

From the sea to the sea. The magnificent story of Space Battleship Yamato closed the loop. Yamato went to rest back under the water. Let’s pray for its sleep to be eternal, hoping that the day will never come again when we wake up to war.

Juuzo Okita

From the verge of death, he returned to Yamato. He pulled the trigger that decided Yamato‘s fate at the last moment, because none other than Juuzo Okita had gone through life and death.

Despite several substitutions, it was inconceivable that anyone else could be the captain of Yamato. His reappearance in The Final Chapter gave power to a Yamato story that went beyond the impossible.

He is Yamato as Yamato is both a father praising the growth of Kodai and a mother blessing Kodai and Yuki as a couple.

Now, Juuzo Okita rests with Yamato.

Now, like a child…

Susumu Kodai

The strongest image of Susumu Kodai is him grasping the trigger of the Wave-Motion Gun. We’ll never see that majestic figure again.

Troubled by the human lives lost at Planet Dengil, he stepped off Yamato with regret. As one boy, Susumu Kodai continued to long for perfection until the end. And the boy becomes an adult.

Yuki Mori

To follow Kodai forever.

For her, Yamato may have been the one place where she belonged as much as he did. Whatever Kodai did, she wanted to follow immediately. In her heart, she also longed for a time of everyday peace and serenity to come at last.

Top picture
“My shoulders are shaking uncontrollably…I’m sorry”

Bottom picture
“Kodai is dead!?” In despair, Yuki wants to die, but she is stopped.

Daisuke Shima

Planet Dengil has hyper thermonuclear missiles. Yamato loses many of its crew.

Above all, the death of Shima broke Kodai’s heart the most. Shima, with whom he shared life and death for so long. Severely wounded, he still made Yamato launch, desperate to save everyone. Shima died in place of the entire crew. And thus, he died in place of everyone on Earth. Farewell, Shima.

Dessler

As President of the Galman-Gamilas Empire, Dessler was again driven off his planet by the galactic collision. Why would he, a wanderer of space, rush to the rescue of Yamato? No one knows the answer. But the fact is that he would surely do it again.

Where is he wandering now?

Love Supreme

Kodai and the others of Yamato‘s crew run to the seaside.

Maybe they were following a vision of Yamato to the shining sea. The smile on Kodai’s face hints that he was seeing something.

The passport of hope connects everyone to tomorrow. After the others disappeared into their tomorrows, Kodai and Yuki began a ceremony only for two people in order for their love to bear fruit.

This is not an ending for the love of these two, but a new love will soon be born here for the future.

Lasting for eternity — love supreme.

The beautiful wedding scene was not particularly over-decorated.

No matter how many people were injured or killed, it still came down to an ordinary scene of two people, a man and a woman. Happy to share their time together…passion rises in the hearts of these two.

Reader’s Voices

“Yamato is…”

by “K” (wishes to remain anonymous), 16-year old student
Gamagori city, Aichi Prefecture

On March 26, I saw Yamato The Final Chapter. Half an hour before the screening, a lot of people had come in. As the movie started, my first thought was that I had chosen a good seat. I giggle when I’m impressed, but if someone nearby got excited, I couldn’t watch comfortably. I couldn’t do much to stop it.

Now, to the main topic of the movie. First of all, I was surprised and a little disappointed. The relationship with the enemy used to be realistic, but now it seems fictitious, something like myth or legend.

The work called Yamato uses a historical warship called the Battleship Yamato, and I’ve always seen it as the story of a ship and crew that progresses toward an unknown future, but this time it had a slightly religious feeling. In other words, Aquarius is a sacred place and the Queen is God.

However, it’s not all bad. No matter how many prayers are said, Aquarius is going to destroy the Earth, and the Queen does not lend her assistance. Yamato has to do something. Yamato is a symbol of justice, but not a god. The ship will sink someday, especially if it’s a battleship. Still, Aquarius was beautiful.

The last 20-30 minutes in which Yamato sank were frustrating. Rather than sinking like that, I think I would have preferred it to explode. Because Yamato sank in 1945 and was restored, it shouldn’t be brought back when the work of Yamato ends in 2203. And since they’re not meant to bring it back, I think it would have been better for it to explode. Besides, when it was brought to an end like that, during the last song Yamato rose from the sea…then…as that happened, a frustrated buzz arose from the audience, and I was part of it. And the reason was…well, I’m sure you can guess without me telling you.

That’s right. When will “Revival of Yamato” or “Yamato Second Generation” be made? No, even worse, maybe “Space Battleship Yamato Extra Chapter,” or “Space Destroyer Fuyuzuki” will appear.

In the end, over the course of Yamato‘s history, I think it taught me about the importance of the love of mankind brought about by Aquarius, the expansion of life on Earth, and the nobility of friendship with life on other planets. And, for eternity? I think it should be laid to rest. Even so, I would have liked to see Yuki’s bridal dress a bit longer…

Yamato had a lot to offer us. But what I talked about here was all The Final Chapter had to offer. I truly hope that this anonymous premonition is wrong, but…

[End of essay]

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