Activity held steady as one of our annual digits changed again, and the world inched closer to the year 3199. Despite continued silence from the home office, music resounded, fans kept on doing what fans do and we all got another memorable month. Here’s what happened in January…

January 1: Fortune teller game

For the second year running, the Yamato Production Committee greeted the new year with an game posted on Twitter. It was presented as a GIF with 20 rapidly-cycling images. You’d click-pause to see which one you landed on.

Since a new Yamato 2202 Blu-ray box set is scheduled for release on March 24, the game served double-duty as promo and the images were all derived from the series with corresponding luck ranging from very good to very bad.

Find the game on Twitter here.

See all 20 images here.

Check out last year’s game (with English translations) here.

January 4: Voice actor poll

On this day, a TV variety show titled New Year’s Special Program! Generation Z Voice Actor’s Choice! allowed viewers to vote for their favorites out of a roster of 800 anime voice actors. The list cut off at 50 with a large percentage of finalists from the Showa era. For example, Toru Furuya (best known as Gundam‘s Amuro Rey) placed at number 1.

Yamato actors were plentiful: Kenichi Ogata (original Analyzer) at #5, Takeshi Aono (original Sanada) at #6, Kazuhiko Inoue (Archduke Erik Dessler) at #18, Ichiro Nagai (remake Tokugawa) at #22, Nachi Nozawa (original Alphon) at #23, Norio Wakamoto (Zoellick) at #26, Shigeru Chiba (remake Dr. Sado) at #30, Houchu Otsuka (remake Sanada) at #31, Akio Otsuka (remake Domel) at #40, Kei Tomiyama (original Kodai, pictured above) at #41, Akira Kamiya (original Kato) at #42, and the mighty Koichi Yamadera (remake Dessler) at #49.

See the entire list here.

January 4: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model Vol. 198

Hachette’s first Hyuga volume for 2023 gave builders the parts needed to complete the two main gun turrets and mount them on the forward deck with all their respective lighting. However, the deck itself was not yet ready to be attached to the hull.

See Hachette’s instruction video here

See an unboxing video here

See a modeler’s blog here

January 6:
Shinya Takahashi auction

He’s back! The chief character designer for Be Forever and Final Yamato offered up his first Sasha portrait of the year on Yahoo Japan’s online auction site.

See his 2020 offerings here and 2021 here.

January 6-8: Junichiro Tamamori on Twitter

Over a couple of days, Mecha Designer Junichiro Tamamori dug through some of his archives and shared his findings on Twitter. Specifically, rough drawings for his Yamato Mechanics website from about 20 years ago, a good ten years before he began his spectacular work on the remakes. In a way, that makes this the “first look” at Yamato 2199.

Visit his Twitter page here.

See the work that he shared here.

January 11: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model Vol. 199

This week, modelers jumped over to the port side of Hyuga to begin working on a secondary launch deck. The platform was installed, but the surface was not yet ready to place on top of it.

See Hachette’s instruction video here

See an unboxing video here

See a modeler’s blog here

January 11: Showa 40 Man magazine Vol. 77

We’ve heard from Showa 40 Man many times before in Yamato world. The title of this magazine from Crete Publishing refers to readers with a birthdate of 1965 or thereabouts, and is loaded with articles on the culture and entertainment those Japanese kids grew up on. (If such a magazine existed in America, it would be called something like “Early Gen X Man.”) Their attention often turns to the anime titles of the era, and Yamato has gotten its fair share of coverage over the years.

The cover story on this particular issue was titled Terebi Manga Matsuri [Festival], referring to the multi-feature anime matinees for kids pioneered by Toei. Major titles were examined for their specific contributions to the zeitgeist, and Yamato was profiled for its revolutionary music. For this, they scored an interview with the foremost expert on the subject: Akira Miyagawa.

Read the interview here.

January 12 & 13: Osaka Shion Tweets

As it turns out, the timing for that article couldn’t have been better. That very week, Akira Miyagawa and the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra were in rehearsal for a repeat performance of the amazing Yamato & Villains Concert, which debuted in June 2021.

This was Osaka Shion’s first time with the material, since it was previously performed by the Siena Wind Orchestra. These photos of the first and second rehearsal sessions were posted on Shion’s Twitter page, which can be found here.

A pair of short rehearsal clips was also posted; find them here and here.

Kyoto Concert Hall, January 14

January 14 & 15: Yamato & Villains concerts, Kyoto & Nagoya

The twin performances took place just 24 hours apart in separate cities. Akira Miyagawa conducted Osaka Shion both times with his daughter Chiko on piano.

Aichi Arts Center (Nagoya), January 15. Photos posted on Twitter by Tam3 and Sumikojo.

What makes this concert unique is its structure, divided into three parts. Yamato and Gamilas themes occupy Part 1, Yamato and Comet Empire themes dominate Part 2 (with pipe organ, of course), and the first blush of Dark Nebula themes can be heard in Part 3, the first time they were heard in concert over the entire history of Yamato music.

Photos posted on Twitter by Chiko Miyagawa

Above left, we see both Akira and Chiko in action at the Nagoya concert. At right, the two share a moment backstage with vocalist Yuuki, who reprised her role from 2021. She later wrote about the concerts in glowing terms on her blog here.

Of course, it’s far too late to catch this performance, but you can still watch the first half of the 2021 concert (with subtitled stage comments) here.

January 14:
Meito Wind Orchestra concert

For the first time ever, Yamato music was played live in two cities almost simultaneously. An hour and a half after the Yamato & Villains Concert commenced in Kyoto, another program began in Nagoya by the Meito Wind Orchestra. It was a free event held in a small theater, but there was nothing small about the title: Music of the Beautiful Miyagawa Family: Fun, Fun, Fantasico!

The logo for the show was a clear nod to Yamato, and the playlist was chosen from Akira Miyagawa’s catalog to include three pieces from his Black Jack score and a whopping 12 pieces from Yamato 2199. This would have been especially enjoyable for fans living in Nagoya, who had the unique opportunity to see two different Yamato concerts in a single weekend.

January 18: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model Vol. 200

Hachette returned to the secondary launch deck in this volume, providing the hull segment just above it and allowing builders to add the surface panel.

See Hachette’s instruction video here

See an unboxing video here

See a modeler’s blog here

January 25: 1/350 Diecast Gimmick Model Vol. 201

The last volume for January was a subassembly (with lighting and all) for a segment that will eventually wind up slung beneath the main engine port on the stern. Like other subassemblies, it will probably be sidelined for a while.

See Hachette’s instruction video here

See an unboxing video here

See a modeler’s blog here

A fan going by the online handle Sousui was kind enough to post these two photos on Twitter, demonstrating the current progress of the Hyuga model.

If you’re keeping score at home, this represents 31 volumes down, 49 to go.

See Sousui’s photos here.

January 27: Naoko Yamazaki in the news

Yomiuri Newspaper Online published a welcome reunion with JAXA astronaut Naoko Yamazaki (52), whose mission took her to the ISS in 2010. Why does that rate a mention here? Because her road to space began with Yamato. The article offered a biographical interview, beginning with this paragraph:

It all started with Space Battleship Yamato

When I was 4 or 5 years old, I lost a channel war with my older brother, who was three years older than me, and we watched Space Battleship Yamato together. I wasn’t able to follow the content in depth, but I understood the essence of the main characters fighting in space to protect the Earth, and I found myself more absorbed in the story.

My interest in space was further piqued when I was in the second grade of elementary school in Sapporo due to my father’s job transfer, and I attended a “star gazing party” organized by the PTA. Looking through the telescope, I could clearly see Saturn’s rings and the moon’s craters, which impressed me even as a child. There was a planetarium near my house, and I went there with my brother. I was excited to listen to the explanations of myths related to the constellations.

The rest of the article is in Japanese, but a browser with a translator function will punch through that like paper. See it here.

January 31: Yamato 2199 manga Chapter 55

It arrived ten days later than it was supposed to, but all that matters is that it ARRIVED. Michio Murakawa’s new installment began with intrigue on board Yamato and continued with the launch of Domel’s task force.

See all the pages here.

See the original post at Web Newtype here.

---