By Anton Mei Brandt

The makers of the Yamato reboots have gone on record time and time again to state that their most important mission is to maintain the “Yamato-ness” that made the original saga a classic and inspired them to make anime themselves. No matter how many seemingly new elements are continually plugged in, they all feel authentic, as if they belonged there all along. That is no accident; many of them have been there all along, just maybe in a form we don’t immediately recognize.

July 2021 marked a decade since the Space Battleship Yamato reboot project officially began production. Ten years of consistent Yamato content has blessed our hearts, forged new memories and helped reinvigorate old ones. Yamato’s departure. The Asteroid Ring. The White Comet. The Garmillas empire. Elements of Yamato’s history have been brought back to life for modern and veteran audiences alike. Beloved characters from the classic series have been prematurely introduced, sometimes outlived their original counterparts, and rarely made an early exit from the rebooted timeline. In some cases, characters and their story arcs have been repurposed, gifted to others who were thirsty for added nuance.

Did you know we’ve had six Keymans in the reboot thus far?
Story beats from The New Voyage?
Character arcs with roots in Be Forever?
Locations inspired by Final Yamato?
Political intrigue and spectacular battles from Yamato III?
And mecha from Resurrection?

This catalog aims to carefully examine where, why and how Yamato’s previous legacy has inspired and influenced the direction of the reboot series, so that we can better predict what might come next. Yamato 2205 was released as this article was being assembled, but details pertaining to that will be addressed in part as well. Strap yourselves in, because there’s a LOT. When it’s done, you may find yourself asking if there’s all that much left to adapt.

(Another bit of fun with this concept can be found here.)