Yamato Fan Club Magazine index, Part 1

The Production Years

Imagine a published work devoted to Space Battleship Yamato that took 14 years to complete. It’s loaded with interesting, unique, and original material that appeared nowhere else. Plus, it’s over 4 inches thick. That’s what you get from a complete run of the official fan club magazine.

Beginning in 1978, Yamato fans had something completely unprecedented in the growing medium of anime: a direct line of news and information from the head office of a production studio. It was unquestionably the tremendous outpouring of support during the previous year (and the revolutionary work done by fans on their own) that convinced Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki to create a fan club for them–and their very own magazine, to boot.

In the process, it provided anime fan culture with a structure it hadn’t known before. This was a few months before mass-market speciality magazines like Animage and Animedia arrived on the scene, and OUT was already moving beyond Yamato to cover other anime, so anyone hungry for news on the upcoming sequel would find the fan club magazine indispensable. Even when other magazines emerged and made Yamato coverage a priority, the club magazine was still out front and stayed there throughout the production years.

The content during these years was reliably keyed into whatever production was hottest at the moment, coupled with a monthly ‘fan club plaza’ feature that reprinted fan letters and artwork. There were also mail-order products (made by outside manufacturers) that were sold at special discounts to club members, and even an occasional insert letter from Nishizaki himself.

The publishing schedule was somewhat haphazard with the first three issues released monthly, at which point they went bimonthly and stayed that way. Official publication dates remained solidly fixed to a 60-day calendar, but the actual street-date of the magazine began to slip as time went on. Thus, the dates given below may not strictly indicate when an issue actually ended up in the hands of subscribers.


Issue 1: 2/25/78
Part II announcement & interview, Roots of Yamato, Matsumoto gallery, Nishizaki interview & essay.
See content here.


Issue 2: 3/25/78
Series 1 model sheets,
fan club list, early “part II” model sheets


Issue 3: 4/25/78
Part 2 news, Storyboards, Nishizaki interview.
See content here.


Issue 4: 6/25/78
Farewell to Yamato press conference, artwork, Nishizaki interview.
See content here.


Issue 5: 8/25/78
Farewell premiere, music,
story synopsis, symphonic concert, Nishizaki interview.
See content here.


Issue 6: 10/25/78
Series 2 startup, episodes 1-3, Farewell press coverage
See content here.


Issue 7: 12/25/78
Book releases, Series 2 episodes 4-7.
See content here.


Issue 8: 2/25/79
Series 2 model sheets & storyboarding, episodes 8-21


Issue 9: 4/25/79
Andromeda cutaway, Series 2 fan mail, episodes 22-26, New Voyage announcement.
See content here.


Issue 10: 6/25/79
New Voyage news &
artwork, cel painting


Issue 11: 8/25/79
New Voyage synopsis & data, Yamato film festival, Blue Noah coverage


Issue 12: 10/25/79
Nishizaki talks about ‘Part 3,’ Series 2 retrospective, Blue Noah artwork
See content here.


Issue 13: 12/25/79
Message for 1980, animation stills, Fans discuss “part 3”, Maeterlink’s Blue Bird coverage, Blue Noah
episodes 1-12


Issue 14: 2/25/80
Yamato upgrades for ‘Part 3,’ Blue Noah episodes 13-24, Blue Bird episodes 1-6, Blue Noah festival & merchandise


Issue 15: 4/25/80
Be Forever production
articles, Blue Bird
episodes 7-12
See content here.


Issue 16: 6/25/80
Be Forever production articles.
See content here.


Issue 17: 7/25/80
Be Forever production and promotion articles.
See content here.


Issue 18: 8/25/80
Be Forever premiere,
synopsis, event coverage.
See content here.


Issue 19: 10/25/80
Series 3 producer’s message, episodes 1-11, model sheets.
See content here.


Issue 20: 12/25/80
Nishizaki on Series 3,
episodes 12-17, product announcements.
See content here.


Issue 21: 2/25/81
Series 3 articles, episodes
18-22, voice actor interviews.
See content here.


Issue 22: 4/25/81
Series 3 articles, episodes
23-25, voice actor interviews.
See content here.


Issue 23: 6/25/81
Nishizaki message,
Final Yamato brainstorming, Yamato launch scenes.
See content here.


Issue 24: 8/25/81
Final Yamato brainstorming and discussion, Bolar data.
See content here and here.


Issue 24 flexidisc
Bonus item containing spoken messages from Nishizaki and voice actors


Issue 25: 10/25/81
Nishizaki on club meetings, Final Yamato brainstorming, fan contributions.
See content here.


Issue 26: 12/25/81
Nishizaki message, saga retrospective, Final Yamato brainstorming.
See content here.


Issue 27: 2/25/82
Event announcements, song lyrics, music lists, Series 1 & 2 offered on 16mm film


Issue 28: 4/25/82
Making of Final Yamato, art staff interviews, event announcements.
See content here.


Issue 29: 6/25/82
Q&A with Nishizaki, rebirth of Okita, Final Yamato art design, event announcements.
See content here.


Issue 30: 8/25/82
Event reports, promo film report, Final Yamato art design, Yamato pilot film.
See content here and here.


Issue 31: 10/25/82
Special report on 10-year commemorative party, Final Yamato artwork & song lyrics.
See content here.


Issue 32: 1/10/83
Nishizaki message, song recordings, Final Yamato storyboards.
See content here.


Issue 33: 2/25/83
Final Yamato synopsis, production articles, Grand Festival report.
See content here.


Issue 34: 4/25/83
Nishizaki message on Final Yamato, animation art, 70mm preparation
See content here.


Issue 35: 6/25/83
Final Yamato 70mm report, charity sale auction, club symposium report
See content here.

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