Since this was the first new high-profile feature film since Farewell to Yamato two years earlier, every effort was made for it to surpass its predecessor. It didn’t quite accomplish this in terms of the quantity of books published, but the quality, creativity, and variety more than made up for this. For one thing, there were more anime specialty magazines by this time and monthly coverage of Be Forever could be found in all of them. (See this coverage in our Be Forever Yamato Time Machine.)
Not included in this bibliography are manga titles, novels, and special publications from West Cape Corporation. Links for all of them can be found at the end of this page.
Monthly Animation Magazine #7 8.25″ x 11.75″ (A4) Monthly Animation was a different kind of anime specialty magazine, one that followed international productions and wrote with a greater eye toward analysis than promoting the latest trends. To wit, this issue’s Be Forever cover story included very insightful interviews. Read them here. |
The Anime Magazine #8 8.25″ x 11.75″ (A4) The Anime had been around for 8 issues when the first Yamato cover came up in connection with Be Forever. It contained a 20 page article comprised of equal parts artwork and interviews, just one of many such articles that filled anime magazines as the premiere approached. Read the article here. |
Animage Magazine #26 8.25″ x 11.75″ (A4) After appearing on Animage‘s first two covers in the summer of 1978, the magazine brought Yamato back two years later just as Be Forever hit the movie screens. The 16-page article was typical of Animage‘s in-depth coverage for the film throughout 1980, even reporting on the radio drama. Tokuma Shoten was a promotional partner for the film, which gave them access to plenty of exclusive info. Read the article here. |
Monthly OUT Magazine Approx. 7″ x 10″ (B5) This was Yamato‘s last appearance on the cover of OUT Magazine, an association that went all the way back to its historic April 1977 issue. Be Forever got a very generous 56 pages of coverage which consisted of interviews, model sheets, color stills, a music review, and background info lovingly written by fans for fans. Of special note was a timeline that may have been the first to chart all the story events leading up to Be Forever. Read all of this content here. |
Kinejun Motion Picture Times #791 7.25″ x 10″ (B5) Two years after their first Yamato cover story, the editors of movie magazine Kinejun followed up with this one, which fronted for 27 pages that included color stills, interviews with members of the production staff, and a partial screenplay. (The rest was published in a later issue.) Read this content here. |
TV Guide 5.75″ x 8.25″ (A5) Yamato‘s third time as a cover feature on the Japanese edition of TV Guide happened for the last week of July, 1981. It promoted the August premiere of Be Forever on the Fuji network, which warranted an eight-page article. Click here to see it in full. |
Movie Series
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Anime Poster Big Compendium 160 pages, 5″ x 7.25″ (B6) This is as good an example as any of the popularity of anime by the year 1980. Champion Graphic, an imprint of Akita Shoten, put together this substantial full-color collection of poster art from various anime productions dating back to the 60s. Leiji Matsumoto’s productions opened the book with Yamato movie and promotional posters getting 10 pages of coverage. |
Be Forever Yamato
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Be Forever Yamato
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Be Forever Yamato
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Be Forever Yamato
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SF Fantastic Animation Materials
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Be Forever Yamato
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Be Forever Yamato
Anime Comics 1 & 2
160 pages each, 5″ x 7.25″ (B6)
Akita Shoten, Oct. & Nov. 1980
This 2-volume set from the Champion Graphic division of Akita Shoten retold the story of the film in anime comic form, color stills with word balloons for dialogue. Read more about anime comics here. Other volumes were published for the first and second movies.
Be Forever Yamato
Perfect Memoir No. 11
210 pages, approx. 3.75″ x 7.25″
Leed Co., Oct. 1980
This was Leed’s second Yamato volume, a handy guidebook to the movie that could travel in anyone’s pocket or purse. It contained a story digest, highlight scenes, character and mecha encyclopedia, staff and music notes, a glossary, and new product catalog.
Be Forever Yamato Big Compendium
Screen magazine special
68 pages, approx. 10″ x 14.5″ (B4)
Kindaieiga co., Oct. 1980
This was the largest Be Forever publication in terms of page size, a full-color tabloid-format special edition of Screen movie magazine. It opened with large-scale highlight scenes, moved through a photostory of the film interrupted by a gigantic centerfold of the Yamato cutaway art, and finished with a look back at past stories and a collection of staff comments. In terms of the “wow” factor, it is only surpassed by Westcape’s Final Deluxe hardcover book. Kindaiega co. published a similar magazine for Final Yamato in 1983.
Below is a bonus sticker sheet produced by the same publication.
Be Forever Yamato & All Space Battleship Yamato Perfect Memoir Deluxe 4 258 pages, 8.25″ x 5.75″ (A5 horizontal) What it lacked in page size this compendium made up for in thickness, covering the entire saga up to and including Be Forever. Starting with 34 pages of film story, it moved on to an extensive encyclopedia of characters and mecha, a section on favorite scenes and a collection of song lyrics. It concluded with 70 pages of tightly-packed model sheets from Be Forever. “Perfect Memoir” was the name of a series of paperbacks from Leed Co. The “Perfect Memoir Deluxe” had a slightly larger format. |
Be Forever Yamato
Eternal Treasure Storybook Approx. 7.25″ x 4.75″ This unusual horizontally-formatted storybook of the film was the only known Yamato product from this publisher. It combined color and black & white stills with text to tell the story of the movie and came with its own slipcase. |
Be Forever Yamato Encyclopedia
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Space Battleship Yamato
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Leiji Matsumoto Anime Fantasy World 128 pages, approx. 8″ x 11.75″ (A4) This was the first large-format book to explore Matsumoto’s anime projects, which by this time included Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999 and a movie titled The Legend of Marine Snow. Read a short Yamato essay from this book here. |
All of Leiji Matsumoto 16 pages, 8.25″ x 11.75″ (A4) This slim magazine resembled a movie program book and promoted the debut of Matsumoto’s next major TV series, Queen Millennia. It included brief coverage of Be Forever. |
Be Forever Yamato vol. 1 & 2 Sonosheet Books
18 pages each, approx. 7.5″ x 10.5″
Asahi Sonorama, 1980
This two-volume set of panel books (printed on thick card stock) retold the story of the film for children, combining simple text with large color stills. “Sonosheet” was Sonorama’s term for a 45rpm flexi-disc of the Yamato theme that came with each volume.
Be Forever Yamato Shueisha Anime Picture Books
18 pages each, approx. 7.5″ x 10.5″
Shueisha, 1980
This three-volume set of panel books (printed on thick card stock) retold the story of the film for children, combining simple text with original art and paintings based on animation stills.
Monthly magazines were also a source for movie coverage and even the occasional tip-in bonus item. This horizontally-formatted Be Forever film book was included in the September 1980 issue of Terebi Land magazine, whose association with Yamato went all the way back to Series 1. (See the “lost” manga from Terebi Land here.) Foldout posters such as the one shown below (printed on both sides) were also common.
Above: Foldout calendars from unknown magazines, 1980
Related links:
Be Forever Yamato manga
Be Forever Yamato novelizations
Publications from West Cape Corporation