Special Event
Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who is busy making Final Yamato for next year, in a special meeting with members of the fan club! With passion and enthusiasm, Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Yamato fans are together as one toward The Final Chapter !
From the popular series, Yoshinobu Nishizaki to everyone in the fan club
Big Meeting – Yoshinobu Nishizaki vs Yamato Fan
Participants:
Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Yamato fan club chairman
Yamato fan club members:
Hatayasu Asaka (19) college student
Miwa Iguchi (16) high school student
Ria Ichikawa (19) college student
Harumi Kosaka (19) college student
Yuko Sakashita (27) company employee
Makoto Shindo (19) college student
Yoko Takahashi (16) high school student
Junichi Date (19) college student
Noriko Tsuyuki (16) high school student
Yosuke Furukawa (14) high school student
Koichiro Wada (19) college student
Moderator: Shosuke Umezawa
The hot gaze of fans are already turned to next summer when The Final Chapter will become the conclusion of Yamato‘s ten years!!
Moderator: I think everyone already knows that Yamato is progressing toward The Final Chapter next year. Today, Chairman Nishizaki has gathered you together to listen to everyone’s opinions.
Nishizaki: Hello! Thank you all for gathering today. Nice to meet you!
Everyone: Thank you! (Everyone appears somewhat nervous)
Moderator: First, I’d like to ask chairman Nishizaki to talk about the theme and ambitions for The Final Chapter.
Nishizaki: Everyone, please relax. (Laughs) I’ll begin the talk. The final chapter of Yamato will serve as the end of the story that celebrates its 10th anniversary next year. Let’s talk about its foundations.
One is to present the origin of Yamato. The foundation that supports Yamato is, “space is an ocean,” “Yamato is a ship that sails that ocean,” and “Yamato is represented by the captain and moved by the hands of various people.” That is the lifeblood of Yamato and the foundation of The Final Chapter .
Therefore, a really great captain will appear in the story. You can fully look forward to this! In talking about the captain, a remarkable man named Juuzo Okita was in the original work. The shadow of Okita surely existed in Farewell to Yamato. Even now, I still talk frankly with Mr. Matsumoto about that.
“I wonder why Okita was killed.”
“It was absolutely a mistake.”
“Because you thought it up.”
“No, you’re the culprit!” (Laughs)
Really, we always argue when we talk about it. (Laughs)
Another is Kodai and Yuki. I’d like to thank them for sticking it out for such a long, LONG time! (Laughs) In other words, in a bigger sense, by letting them move on to the next generation, it will be a “conclusion” for those two. I think they are the axis that will bring a true end to Yamato.
Finally, one more thing. It means I will attach an ending to myself. Over the last few years, I thought I would make a variety of works. However, whenever I’ve tried to do it, KA-BOOM, there’s Yamato. (Laughs) And I absolutely can’t bring myself to mentally “disengage from Yamato.” Therefore, I finally surrender (laughs), and anyway I can’t do anything else until Yamato is done. I’ve decided that I will concentrate only on Yamato until next year. Somehow, it seems like I have to make each project one by one.
Well, enough about me. Everyone, please tell me your opinion.
Photos on right side, top to bottom: Yuko Sakashita, Makoto Shindo, Ria Ichikawa
Banner at far right: From fans of Part 1 to fans of Be Forever…everyone loves Yamato the same!
Moderator: So then consider your feelings for Yamato and we’ll listen to your requests for The Final Chapter . Please give a lively opinion.
Sakashita: So, from me…I was very impressed by the “love between people” that was presented in Be Forever and even the TV series, Yamato III. However, Part 1 presented “the ship itself, with cooperation of each person on the crew,” and I feel like that’s insufficient. Yamato is a machine, and it becomes strong only by the power of people. That’s what I got from Part 1, and I understood it well.
Nishizaki: That’s right. Possibly with such ambiguity in the meaning, Yamato might have become too much of a superstar. How to pull that back in The Final Chapter is a big problem. I can’t possibly cut down on its performance. (Big laugh from everyone) Yamato takes great damage in The Final Chapter, and the story is about continuing to fight through the flames. (Laughs) How about you, Shindo?
Shindo: Well. I think the basic appeal of animation is “movement,” after all. In the time of Part 1, Yamato was able to move well, and I think it was really great. The story is also important with subtle movement, because there was shock and moments of, “waa, great!” Next year, I’d like The Final Chapter to also focus on the point of motion, and I’d like it to show “this is the movement of Yamato!”
Nishizaki: You’re right. This is what I want to hear, but as I reflect and expand on what you said, we were least able to present the movement of Yamato in the TV series, Yamato III. For example, it was really hard to draw a scene of Yamato turning. That part is missing. For example, Yoshinori Kanada is a very good animator who has been attracting attention, but before that I had Takeshi Shirato display his technique, and the physical problem is always the lack of time. I reflect on that a lot. Therefore, we’ll take plenty of time to do The Final Chapter for next year, and I think we can show good motion. Ichikawa is next.
Ichikawa: Yamato became a superstar without knowing it, and I feel that the crew has become everyone’s “good child.” Somehow, because they have ridden on Yamato, they can no longer do anything dumb. The old Kodai and the others were more full of life. They had plenty of failures, but did it with a vigor that just flew off the screen. In Yamato III, it was all so constricted on the screen, it felt unsatisfying.
Nishizaki: Kodai bore the heavy responsibility of the captain, too. In The Final Chapter Kodai becomes one of the crew again, so I think he will be full of life. By the way, in terms of war, there will be only one big battle scene in The Final Chapter. But I can’t talk about details yet. What’s the opinion of Takahashi?
Takahashi: It’s not difficult for me to say that Yamato became my favorite because when the battleship went to space it was the same as my dream. When I watched Part 1, Yamato was very dignified, and I thought it was beautiful. Even when it got damaged, there was always a strength to it. I felt human warmth in that strength, and I wanted to get on Yamato, too! That’s what I thought. However, the weight gradually came to settle on the thousands of human stories, and it’s regrettable that the weight of Yamato seemed to be reduced. For next year, along with the human stories, I want to see a big Yamato again.
Nishizaki: That’s where we’re struggling the most right now. I’m trying hard to measure up to your expectations. Date has been quiet for a while now. (Laughs)
Date: Uh, my opinion might be sort of different from other people. My question is about why the crew is never afraid when Yamato fights. It was presented in the first TV series, with Yabu’s [Sparks] escape. However, it has gradually become “defeating an enemy by killing them.” Domon and Ageha, the new characters who appeared on TV in Yamato III, also died. Most of the main characters from Part 1 have not died. In The Final Chapter, rather than glorifying death in the story, I’d like you to present a story leading up to it.
Photos on right side, top to bottom: Yoko Takahashi, Junichi Date, Miwa Iguchi
Photos on left side, counter-clockwise: Noriko Tsuyuki, Yosuke Furukawa, Harumi Kosaka, Koichiro Wada
Banner at far right: With a variety of feelings from fans of Yamato, chairman Nishizaki pledges to make Final Yamato a great work! The fans’ expectations rise even more…
Nishizaki: I think it is just as you say. It’s probably correct that your opinion runs parallel to that of others. This is not a good excuse, but if we put a character with a twist like Yabu in a movie that is two and a half hours long, it’s not satisfying. The bottom line is that it doesn’t come through. I think everyone understands that you don’t let a likeable character die. Concerning Final Yamato, since we’d already done the “Learning from the deaths of others” in Farewell, I thought we should portray it like that. Anyway, it’s difficult to present all the sub-characters in a movie. Iguchi is next.
Iguchi: I saw Be Forever Yamato and became a fan. Then I got to know Yamato and wanted to somehow see all the previous works. I noticed when seeing Part 1 that the old Yamato was drawn with curved lines and had a great sense of weight. After that, all the human relations seemed to thin out with each passing work. I’d like you to return to that in The Final Chapter.
Nishizaki: That’s all right. As an aside, the appearance of new characters might be called trial and error. As for new characters in The Final Chapter, we’re thinking about people in each post on the ship and intend to point out what they do. In presenting how they move the ship, I think we can naturally bring out the size of Yamato. But in talking about The Final Chapter, it’s not improper at all to want to see the subsequent movies after seeing the 26 episodes of the first series. Since it’s the deep and surprising “connection” that forms with the viewers, please look forward to it. So, Mr. Tsuyuki?
Tsuyuki: In terms of how Kodai was drawn, in part 1 the expression was very easy going and I liked it. But gradually he stopped opening his mouth to laugh, and stopped shedding tears. We gradually became adults, and the fun seemed to disappear.
Nishizaki: The expressions make the roles of the characters, and I intend to return to that origin point. Eh? Furukawa-kun seems to be bored.
Furukawa: Well, everyone said what I wanted to say. (Everyone laughs)
Moderator: Don’t be down, we’d like your opinion.
Furukawa: Well, whenever Yamato is hit, no matter how many times, it always gets quickly repaired. If it takes a long time to repair, can it fight even if it’s still broken?
Nishizaki: It’s a characteristic of Yamato that it gets repaired immediately. (Laughs) But the simple truth is, even though it seems to get repaired the next day, there was probably a week in between. However, it’s become a custom. (Laughs) That custom won’t be left out of the movie. I think about it a lot. As I said earlier, there is just one battle as a result of this reflection. In other words, when Yamato is damaged, we show what they are doing on the main bridge, and when a big hole is ripped open in the side, we show what the people near it are doing. Well, what is the opinion of Kosaka?
Banner on left page: Big news–a great captain to board Yamato! Does chairman Nishizaki talk about the new captain with confidence?
Kosaka: My favorite part of Yamato is the “branches.” When I went to see the movie of Part 1 with a friend, I said “there are no branches,” and was told, “that’s impossible in a movie.” Still, I think the appeal of Yamato is in the fine details.
For example, in the TV episode [19] from Part 1, Homesickness of Space/My Mother’s Tears are My Tears, in the scene where Aihara escaped, the numbers changed on the digital clock. I saw that and thought, this Yamato is good. And so, even making it into an SF document, it’s not a composition that’s contained in one book, but rather one that thinks, “I want to play.” In the end, I think it’s fun to see how you arrive at the wildest, craziest stuff by following a path that seems very real.
Nishizaki: I understand that. Yoshiyuki Tomino, who I worked with on Triton of the Sea and Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who I worked with on Farewell to Yamato, show things like that very well in Mobile Suit Gundam. That carefully-presented part of Yamato has been forgotten. I think it is one part of the success of Gundam, and in that regard we have to pay attention to it in Yamato. Wada-kun, please.
Wada: I’ve been watching Yamato since all the way back to Part 1. The ship and crew were united in the early Yamato, and it seemed to blow fresh life into it. There was the rather illogical part of it, too. (Laughs) It was all full of life. As Mr. Nishizaki said earlier, Captain Okita “lived” in both Part 1 and Farewell, and I think that impression will remain forever. Since it is there, I look with affection at the later works. But what has come after the super-heavy Yamato 2 is unsatisfying.
Nishizaki: I see. As I said before, humans have trial and error. That’s how the TV series was made in 1974, and reviving it as a movie in 1977 was also the result of trial and error. Standing on top of that, I made Farewell as something lasting to send out into the world. And when making others after that, I persisted in saying “this is the best one.” As a result of all the trial and error, there is reflection, and there is Final Yamato for the first time. Who is last, Asaka-kun?
Photo captions, top to bottom: Hatayasu Asaka, Everyone in attendance, thank you for everything.
Banner at far right: In light of this meeting, the requests of fans will be used positively in Final Yamato!!
Asaka: Farewell to Yamato is the reason I like Yamato. This is because it is moved by people, unlike Andromeda. By the way, I feel that the point of people fighting and dying to keep the peace in space and asking what exactly people on Earth can do isn’t coming through in recent works. In The Final Chapter, I’d like you to show what “truly awakens people’s hearts.” And although an enemy attacks every time, I’d like you to show “the fight within oneself.” I think the most fearful thing is to live with one’s own ego.
Nishizaki: I think it is as you say. But I don’t know if I can show it in a movie. I mean, I must make a story that shows a fight against evil rather than one’s ego. Yamato sets you the task of thinking about that for yourselves, rather than portraying it. Of course, the direction which Yamato takes for all of humankind is something I intend to show in The Final Chapter.
Moderator: Various things have been discussed, but I think that a rough outline of The Final Chapter to come next year has formed in everyone’s mind. So, Chairman Nishizaki, I was thinking you might talk about the “meaning” of your making Final Yamato.
Nishizaki: Well…first. It’s not ambiguous that the intent is to “return to the origin” of the first work. My one directive is that when you watch it, I’d like you to feel, “ah, Yamato is still good after all.” When you get that from it, Yamato has great meaning.
I think it is “introduction, development, denouement, and conclusion” over ten years. I’m not talking about separate life lessons, since I think there are various ways of life for human beings. There is trial and error, success and failure, gain and loss. I would like you to see the totality of them all. People are seen in units of one year. Conclusions are drawn in units of five years. A work is seen in units of ten years. Looking at all of you, I can say that I see the reality of life in the future.
You start by looking five years ahead. But in order to do that, you look at the days, which are inside each of the months, which are inside each one of those years. Please think of the conclusion of Space Battleship Yamato as the completion of ten years. After watching it for all those years, I think I want you to determine why there was a Yamato. That is my request.
Wada: And we want The Final Chapter to be a really wonderful work. That’s the wish of the fans!
Nishizaki: Thank you! I will make something that meets everyone’s expectations!
Moderator: Everyone, thank you for today.