April 12: Animate Times interview
Next up on the interview carousel was veteran voice actor Keiko Han, who spoke about her days as the original Sasha and the interesting twist that now has her providing the voice for Mother Dezarium.
Read the interview here
April 12: Magmix review
The headline for this article on the Magmix website was written to grab attention: “Now is the time to watch it! Why even fans of the old series have to get up and watch Yamato 3199 Chapter 3.” Writer Toshiharu Kagami makes the case for why it’s time those who haven’t yet taken the plunge to correct their ways.
Read the article here
April 12: Chapter 3 day 2 stage greeting
The stage greeting for Chapter 3’s second day in theaters was a lively one with four significant voice actors: Aya Hisakawa (Niimi), Megumi Han (Sasha), Tasuku Hatanaka (Domon) and Yuto Uemura (Ageha). Even Hisakawa, who had no spoken lines in Chapter 3, had plenty to say on her first ever stage appearance for Yamato.
Read the official report here
April 12: Hobby Japan Web
The Hobby Japan website raided the pages of the paper edition again to reprint Yamato Mechanics Part 6, which examined the supply carrier Asuka.
Read it here
April 13: Mainichi Shimbun Online article
The website for the Mainichi Shimbun [newspaper] featured an unusual article written by film director Tsutomo Kuno. The headline “Interpreting Be Forever Yamato REBEL 3199” was just a jumping-off point for him to describe his past encounters with Leiji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki, which gave him his own perspective on the history of the saga.
Read his article here
Keiko Han at Anime Japan 2025 (March)
April 13: Mantan Web interview
Mantan Web struck again, this time with another Keiko Han interview that gave insight into her working relationship with her daughter Megumi, who now inherits the role of Sasha.
Read the interview here
April 13: Yamaket 25
The biggest fan-run Yamato event came back for another round. Torilozi has been held twice a year since 2010, a bi-annual mini-con for the sale of handmade items such as doujinshis (fanzines). Yamaket (Yamato Market) has been a part of it since the beginning, a gathering point for the talented artists whose work graces our fan art galleries every month.
Over thirty fan circles came together for this time, the most ever, and were joined by celebs Michio Murakawa and Kia Asamiya (who sold his own doujinshis there for the first time). Unfortunately, this looks to be the last Yamaket for a while; the organizers of Torilozi announced that this was their finale. It’s now in the hands of the “Yamaket subcommittee” to find their own path. Hopefully their dedication will forge one.
Meanwhile, see a huge photo gallery from Yamaket 25 here
April 14: Official website update
The character and mecha guides at Starblazers-Yamato.net got their expected overhaul with updates and new entries to cover Chapter 3. As usual, Cosmo DNA keeps you in the know!
See the new Chapter 3 content here
See the complete/updated character guide here and mecha guide here
April 14: Today’s Science Beginners Vol. 7 video
A new series of three Youtube videos kicked off with the “Power Saver” robot taking a victory lap after his win over Isidore in a fan vote. When things settled down we got an explanation of how Yamato‘s omindirectional radar works, at least until Tasuke Tokugawa started name-dropping other anime titles and had to be “censored.”
Watch it here (closed captions and auto-translate ON)
April 15: Historical artifact
The single rarest product in Yamato history has to be this one: the 1973 presentation book for the first TV series, containing early artwork and the first draft of the story that was considered ready to pitch to TV networks. It is estimated that only 80 copies were made, a “scrapbook” of photos and text assembled by hand.
It comes up in this record because a copy was posted at Yahoo Japan Auctions for the asking price of 1 million yen, which converts to $7,257 as of this writing. Not a bad price, considering its place in history. It remains in search of a bidder; see the listing here.
See the auction photos here
Read the content of the book here
April 16: Animage Plus interview
Voice actors Hatanaka and Uemura stepped into the spotlight again to speak in depth about the roles of Domon and Ageha, exploring the new texture of their relationship in Chapter 3.
Read the interview here
April 18: Chapter 3 week 2 handout
Chapter 3 began its second week in theaters with a new handout for ticket holders; a reproduction of the original Arizona design from Yamato III, drawn in 1980 by none other than future 2199 Director Yutaka Izibuchi.
April 18: Preview screening video
A month after the Chapter 3 preview screening in March, the talkshow was posted on Youtube featuring the primary cast and staff giving their latest insights on character and story development.
Read about it here
Watch it here (closed captions and auto-translate ON)
April 18: Cast comment video
During the preview screening, the cast members recorded messages on camera. The first was posted on Twitter by the Yamato Production Committee with Daisuke Ono (Kodai) and Houko Kuwashima (Yuki) in two clips, inviting fans to the theater.
See them here
April 18: Fan film by Haru
When you see the name “Haru,” you’re in for a visual feast. As one of the top fan artists making CG Yamato videos, his work is always extraordinary, equal to the anime itself. His latest work was a 6-minute fleet battle between Earth and Dezarium in Pluto orbit with a matchup you won’t see in 3199.
Watch it here
April 19: Cast comment video
The second cast video (also shot in March) featured words from Kenichi Suzumura (Shima) and Kenji Akabane (Nanbu).
Watch it on Twitter here
April 19: Magmix article
In the crush of 3199 news, it was easy to forget that the original Yamato saga was enjoying its own resurgence on streaming platforms, but entertainment media did their part to keep it on the radar. Magmix published a short article with the curious headline “Final Yamato wasn’t a dream,” which examined the peculiar circumstances of the film’s epilogue.
Read the article here
April 19: Modeler blog
We see the work of “My EDF” almost every month in the fan model galleries, but it’s also worth noting that he participates as a consultant in the writing of the Dawn Chapter novels (2 and counting), lending his deep knowledge of Yamato mecha to the storytelling.
He applied that knowledge to the much-anticipated return of Space Battleship Arizona with a lengthy blog that draws a lot of informed speculation out of relatively few scenes.
Read it here
April 20: Chapter 3 review on ANN
Thanks to 3199‘s timely presence on Crunchyroll, attention from English-language news sources has gone up. Anime News Network obliged with a very positive review.
Read it here
April 21: Today’s Science Beginners Vol. 8 video
In this contentious episode, Tokugawa gets increasingly frustrated when Setsuden-kun fails to understand references to the anime series Ikkyu-san, so he turns the proceedings over to an explanation of the Garmillas subspace gates.
Watch it here (closed captions and auto-translate ON)
Note from friend-of-the-website Minoru Itgaki: Ikkyu-san was a real person, turned into an allegory by later generations. The 1970s Toei anime series is a common language for people in their 50s. The basic format is that Ikkyu solves adult problems with his wisdom, similar to the current anime Detective Conan.
Photo posted on Twitter by AnalyzerAU09
April 22: Yamatalk presentation
Fans gathered at the Shinjuku Piccadilly for the latest live conversation in the ongoing Yamatalk series. The subject this time was CG production, and the guest was CG Director Masahiro Uechi, who went into detail on the demands of this highly specialized skill.
Read a summary of the conversation here
April 23: Kia Asamiya news
Among the many surprises to be found at the 50th Anniversary Exhibition last month, the A-On Store announced that an exclusive painting by Kia Asamiya would be released on July 12. Preorders opened on the same day as the event (March 15), and the first 100 customers would receive a card-size reproduction of the art with Asamiya’s signature.
Comment from Kia Asamiya:
This time, I was asked to draw an illustration of Yamato that symbolizes the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake series. I submitted several rough drafts, and the one that was the most difficult to draw was chosen. (Laughs)
In particular, this illustration has four Yamatos drawn on separate layers. Therefore, even the parts that do not overlap in the final composition are drawn in detail. Also, since there’s no atmosphere in outer space, traditional atmospheric perspective could not be applied. Therefore, this time I adjusted the perspective by incorporating light and shade rather than air, and created a composition with all the previous Yamatos lined up. This was my first time drawing four Yamatos on one illustration, so in my 40 years of work, I almost got tendonitis. (Laughs)
I have drawn many Yamatos so far, but this is actually the first time I’ve drawn Yamato firing its Wave-Motion Gun from the front. It was a great experience to take on a new challenge at the turning point of the 50th anniversary. I’ve been involved in the remake series since 2199, and I’ll be happy to continue being involved in the future. I’d be honored if you would pick up this reproduction of the original artwork.
See the product website here
These photos were posted on Twitter by the Yamato Production Committee on April 23, depicting Asimaya undergoing the arduous task of signing his name 100 times.
April 24: Hobby Japan 672
This month’s Hobby Japan brought us part 7 in the continuing Yamato Mechanics series, this time focused on the combat carrier Hyuga.
Read it here
Accompanying this was an 8-page article on the upcoming reissue of the 1/700 limited-edition “DVD model” and the new Cosmo Tiger II from Bandai.
See the pages here
April 25: Official Tweets
The Yamato Production Committee’s Twitter account continued to be a hotbed of activity when they launched a daily series of production art posts. For seven days in a row, they shared conceptual sketches by Kia Asamiya for action scenes in Chapter 3.
See them all here
April 25: Music news
Due out on July 23, a new 5-disc box set from King Records titled Hiroshi Miyagawa, The Hit Parade will serve up a huge variety of popular songs composed by the original Yamato maestro: two discs of “hit songs,” a disc of “rare songs,” another of “arranged works,” and a disc of “theme/novelty songs” which will include (of course) the Yamato theme and The Scarlet Scarf. With 125 tracks to choose from, listeners will get a much bigger picture of Miyagawa’s career.
Preorder it from Amazon.co.jp here or CD Japan here
April 25: Isao Sasaki news
In March, we learned of Isao Sasaki’s alarming brush with an acute form of pneumonia that landed him in intensive care and started talk of being “overworked” at the ripe young age of 82. A little over a month later, the talk shifted to “miraculous recovery.” Not only was he back on his feet, he was already rehearsing for his next live performance.
Read two accounts of his amazing turnaround here
April 25: Chapter 3 week 3 handout
The third week in theaters began with another freebie to lure fans back in (as if they needed a reason). The new gift was a “smart phone sticker” with two of our favorite Garmillans: Berger and Frakken, both of whom returned to the big screen in Chapter 3.
Photos posted on Twitter by Popoki Cat and AnalyzerAU09
April 27 & 29: Farewell to Yamato screening
The very last Toei-owned movie theater is set to close in the summer, and they’re going out with a bang. It’s 100 years since the start of the Showa era, so Toei marked the centennial with a marathon screening of the top 100 Showa films produced by Toei Studio. This includes 1978’s Farewell to Yamato (the 4K remaster projected in 2K). The other anime entries were Harmagedon and Grave of the Fireflies.
Photos posted on Twitter by AnalyzerAU09 and emo_fusa
Fans took the day off from REBEL 3199 to see Farewell on the big screen once more. “AnalyzerAU09” shared the following impressions on Twitter:
The inside of the venue was like this, the size of the screen in relation to the space, the curtains, etc. It reminded me so vividly of that summer of 1978. In the old days, movie theaters often played the instrumental version of From Yamato With Love between screenings. It was a common theme song in the old days, like Galactic Legend (from Be Forever). I’ve seen the film hundreds of times, and every time it’s shown, it’s still moving. I can hear people sobbing here and there in the theater. What can I say, it’s an amazing movie.
That’s part 2 of 3! Click here for the big finish.