Yamato 2202 Report 27, part 2

Back up to part 1

October 25: Chapter 6 trailer

The final trailer for Chapter 6 (now just one week away) delivered the most intense minute-and-a-half so far with high-drama scenes from end to end and a WHOLE LOT of new ships from the time fault factory, including some that blur the line between Earth and Garmillas.

See it on Youtube here.

October 25: Official site announcements

Today, the official website announced – for the last time – an incentive campaign for fans to buy advance tickets for the next 2202 chapter. Chapter 7 tickets would go on sale with the release of Chapter 6 on November 2. A purchase would earn you one of two bonus items: a clear file and a poster, both with stunning and sort-of-sequential images.

See enlargements at the end of this page.

October 25: Hobby Japan #594

Hobby Japan gave Yamato three pages this month, starting with the usual news update to highlight Chapter 6 and two Mecha Collection models: the Cosmo Tiger II (January) and Ginga (November).

The other two pages gave us yet another look at the GX-86 Yamato, scheduled for release in March 2019 as Chapter 7 wraps up its theatrical run.

October 26: Andromeda watch announced

Imperial Enterprise International is a company that has collaborated with Yamato before, delivering collectible coins and a Yamato-themed watch (which can be seen here). They’ve returned again to craft this handsome Andromeda-themed timepiece with two secondary clocks set into the Wave-Motion Guns: a stopwatch and a 24-hour dial. A secondary stopwatch is also included.

Limited to 2,202 units, it comes with an Earth Federation display case and is scheduled for shipping in December. Get an extensive look at it here.

October 26: Pepper Lunch collaboration

This steakhouse restaurant has been part of the 2202 family since the start, and a new tie-campaign was launched for Chapter 6 on this day. Customers could enter prize lotteries for movie tickets, blu-rays, and posters through December 13.

October 26: Episode 4 on TV

Episode 4, Departure to the unknown, got Yamato off the ground on television at last.

See the trailer for Episode 4 here.

October 26-28: Tamashii Nations 2018

This Bandai-sponsored event in Akihabara, Tokyo, gave the company another chance to display the recently-announced GX-86 Soul of Chogokin Yamato with its many bells and whistles (see Report 26 for details). They even brought in a couple of ringers for photo ops: Sound Director Tomohiro Yoshida, and Yuki’s voice actor Houko Kuwashima (above left photo, standing in the center). A separate display put recent Yamato products together with others from Gundam, Dunbine, and Macross.

Yoshida and Kuwashima both participated in a Yamatalk that covered their own work and incorporated discussions about new products. See the 45-minute presentation on Youtube here.

See the GX-86 Yamato demo on video here.

See a Tamashii Nations photoblog here.

Something else that appeared without explanation or fanfare was an in-scale Garmillas ship with a Soul of Chogokin label next to it. If this is to be another forthcoming product, there has been no widespread announcement.

October 27: Dengeki Hobby Web

Elsewhere in the hobby world, Dengeki became the first site to publish new prototype photos of the Mecha Collection Cosmo Tiger II mini-model, scheduled for release in January 2019.

See the article here.

October 27: Mantan Web

Entertainment website Mantan Web published the first of several new interviews with Koichi Yamadera, the voice of Dessler. (See the original post here.)

Koichi Yamadera: thoughts on co-starring with the late Unsho Ishizuka for the last time

Koichi Yamadera is a popular voice actor in the role of Abeldt Dessler in Yamato 2202, the latest chapter of which (directed by Nobuyoshi Habara) will be released on November 2. This chapter was his last collaboration with voice actor Unsho Ishizuka, who died in August. We asked Mr. Yamadera, who performs the end title song Great Sum for his thoughts about Mr. Ishizuka.

The sound of Ishizuka’s voice was “amazing”

Mr. Yamadera has played the role of Dessler since Yamato 2199, and the late Mr. Ishizuka played Ryu Hijikata, Yamato’s second captain. Mr. Ishizuka was also the narrator of Pokemon and was known for the part of Joseph Jostar in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure; Stardust Crusaders. He lent his rough voice to the roles of middle-aged men in many anime, movies, and the dubbing of foreign dramas. He died of esophageal cancer in August. Mr. Yamadera co-starred with Mr. Ishizuka in various works such as Cowboy Bebop.
 
While talking about the highlights of Yamato 2202 Chapter 6, Mr. Yamadera began to share his thoughts about Mr. Ishizuka.

“We co-starred in various works. I heard about his illness last year and hoped for a miracle. We last met at the site for Yamato and he was smiling when he said, ‘I’m doing well!’ I haven’t accepted it yet.”

“I was happy that we could co-star in Yamato, my favorite. I wanted to work together until the end. I’d like you to listen to Hijikata’s lines in Chapter 6 by all means. The sound of that voice is amazing. I absolutely want you to hear it.”

Mr. Ishizuka was unable to participate to the end of Chapter 6. His role was succeeded by Naomi Kusumi.

“Mr. Kusumi also plays Hijikata brilliantly,” Mr. Yamadera said. “It’s being taken over with a wonderful performance. I think Mr. Ishizuka would be pleased.”
 

I sang the ending song with my own feelings

Mr. Yamadera performed the end title song from Chapter 6, titled Great Sum. The song was produced by the composer team S.E.N.S. Project.

“There are character songs and there are story songs, but it’s been a long time since I sang something by my own name. I was surprised at this ending song. I thought it was a Dessler song, but I was wrong. At the recording they said, ‘Let’s make it a Yamadera masterpiece!’ and it was difficult, but I sang comfortably. Various thoughts overflowed. I wondered what mindset would be best, but if I do it this way it might not be easy to listen to…so I just sang it with my own feelings, without thinking.”

It looks as if the song has become a favorite.

“For me, it became a representative song on the day of recording. Now I listen to it in the car at full blast every day.”

It seems to have been a long time since he has sung something by his own name, and he burns with motivation.

“I’ve been invited to sing live in big venues with other people, but I also want to have a solo career. I’d like to release an album.”
 
Chapter 6 has become an important work for Mr. Yamadera, in which he co-stars with Mr. Ishizuka. It also features a new ship named Ginga, a Yamato-class vessel which inherits the will of Yamato. There are many highlights such as flashy battle scenes, but please also listen to the impassioned performance of the end song.


Nobuyoshi Habara introducing an all-night Yamato 2202 marathon.
Photo posted on Twitter by the
Yamato Production Committee.

October 27 & 28: FukuyamAnime festival

Many annual events have cycled through these reports all the way back to the beginning of 2199, but here’s a new one: a two-day anime festival in Fukuyama, which happens to be the hometown of Director Nobuyoshi Habara and Scriptwriter Hideki Oka. Naturally, this made them perfect guests of honor. Harutoshi Fukui was also scheduled to appear, but had to cancel due to schedule conflicts.

The main event was a grueling one: All six chapters of Yamato 2202 in a single overnight marathon screening that went from midnight Saturday to 10am Sunday with 15-minute breaks in between.


From the next morning: Habara and survivors of an all-night marathon. Photo posted on Twitter by Hideki Oka.

When the marathon ended, Habara was presented with a bouquet and this handmade poster depicting all the members of the event staff “supporting Yamato.”

On Sunday, he participated in a talk show program with comedian Yu Taro, another Fukuyama homeboy. Audience members competed for signed 2202 posters in an extended rock-paper-scissors tournament.

Finally, Mr. Oka and Mr. Habara paused for a meaningful photo op outside what used to be the Fukuyama Rose Theater, where they both saw Farewell to Yamato in 1978.

October 28: Mantan Web

Mantan Web published a brief article profiling the principal members of Sublimation, the studio that produces all of the CG animation for 2202. The article contained a large collection of production documents that can be seen here.

This article will NOT be translated here at Cosmo DNA. To find out why, keep reading.

October 28: V Storage

New voices are always a welcome addition to a publicity campaign, and one of the new voices for this round was Ayahi Takagi, who performs the new role of Saki Todo, captain of the Ginga.

Read her interview here

October 29: Promotional Meeting of Love, Episode 0

A new series of these online videos began with a prologue episode shot at the Yakitori Yamato restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo. Writer Harutoshi Fukui and Director Nobuyoshi Habara were joined for eats and conversation by host Osamu Kobayashi. The wide-ranging 26-minute program included highlights from various Yamatalks, and Yuko Kaida (Sabera’s voice actor) dropped in to keep them on their toes. We got a look inside a voice and a music recordings, and a Bandai rep provided an up-close look at the GX-86.

See the whole thing on Youtube here.

October 30: Promotional Meeting of Love, Episode 1

The first regular episode returned to its familiar talk show format with Eriko Nakamura joining Fukui, Habara, and Osamu Kobayashi on the couch. The title of this one was Review work is needed for the series! which made it a story-so-far conversation.

See it on Youtube here.

October 31: Promotional Meeting of Love, Episode 2

This 17-minute video, titled There are a lot of mysteries I want to know from the past plots! dug deep into Chapters 1-5 for explanations of the complex threads still being unwound. It was followed by Koichi Yamadera’s promo for the CD single that was released that same day.

See it on Youtube here.

There would be three more episodes of this series throughout the month of November. They’ll be covered in our next report.

October 31: CD single

Another welcome addition to the Yamato music library came with this single, containing two end title songs: Youranka [Lullaby] by Arima Shino (Chapter 5) and Great Sum by Koichi Yamadera (Chapter 6). Vocal and non-vocal versions of both are included.

Order it from Amazon.co.jp here or from CD Japan here.

Click here for a comprehensive listing of Yamato products available from CD Japan.

October 31: Gigazine

Here’s why the October 28 Mantan Web entry didn’t go any farther; the source of that article was a MUCH bigger one from entertainment website Gigazine. Their 2-part interview with the CG artists at Sublimation went to extraordinary lengths seen nowhere else.

Read part 1 of the interview (and see all the production images) here. Part 2 will follow in our December update.

October 31: Hidetaka Tenjin 20th Anniversary art book

If you don’t recognize the name Hidetaka Tenjin, memorize it now. He is one of Japan’s premiere mecha illustrators, best known for his countless box art paintings of Valkyries from the Macross saga. This book packs as much of his non-Macross career into 200 pages as possible, from Gundam to Evangelion with many other prominent titles represented.

Mr. Tenjin has painted more Yamato mecha than any other living human, having worked on Yamato Fact File magazine from start to finish, but there’s another book for that. Here, among other treasures, can be found four of his box art paintings from Yamato 2199. Published by Hobby Japan, this book belongs on YOUR shelf.

Order it from Amazon.co.jp here.


Also spotted in October

Makoto Kobayashi on Twitter

Kobayashi’s workshop was humming with new modeling projects in November, giving us a good look at the making of AAA-08 Aquarius, the very same kit featured in Scale Aviation magazine.

See a gallery here.

Pros on Twitter

If you’ve paid close attention over the years, you’ve seen the name “Edakio” on some of our art galleries. This is the online handle for Kio Edamatsu, one of the insanely talented artists on the Yamato 2202 production crew. He commonly posts his work on Twitter, which provides another glimpse into this fascinating world.

Visit his Twitter page here and see a gallery of his recent posts here.

Fan art

Lots of new pieces poured out on Twitter as fans counted down the days to Chapter 6.

See a character gallery here and a mecha gallery here.

Fan models

The modeling community continued in its role of First Responder, cranking out 3D versions of beloved mecha as fast as the movie trailers could introduce them.

See a photo gallery here

Hero’s Record game

As other aspects of 2202 roll on, the mobile game Hero’s Record continues with an unending stream of twists and turns and promotions. See a gallery of recent promotional art here and keep up with them at their Twitter page and official site.



Continue to Report 28: the premiere of Chapter 6!

6 thoughts on “Yamato 2202 Report 27, part 2

  1. I think i’ve watched that 10 minute preview at least 5 times by now. I dont know Japanese but I still felt the impact of Hijikata’s evacuation order. It almost made me cry. I cant wait to watch 19-22 (chapter 6) but in the meantime i’ll just rewatch 2199 and the first 18 episodes.

    • So I’m not the only one binge watching it repeatedly, even though I can only pick up a handful of words every couple of minutes. And yeah, the pain of watching the Yamato going down, and Hijikata giving the order to evac gets ya. Got a question for ya though: how are you watching episodes 14 through 18 (end of chapter 4 and all of chapter 5)? They’re not on Crunchyroll or Funimation.

        • Darn straight! “We don’t need no stinkin’ subtitles!”

          I have 4 months or so to brush up on my Japanese, assuming I watch chapter 7 in the theatres in Tokyo…!

      • Kissanime (the mobile verson because it has less adds). Under the searth of ‘Yamato’. So far i havent gotten any viruses from it. I use it because i couldnt find it on crunchyroll, i searched for Star Blazers and Space Battleship Yamato but nothing.

  2. I see that they are upgrading the YAMATO yet again. Now I’m going to have to buy another model kit of it eventually…. which is a good thing can never have to many YAMATO’S

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