The month following the incredible box office success of Farewell to Yamato was both a victory lap and the beginning of a marathon. As new media coverage and publishing rolled out to feed a grateful public, production began on Yamato 2 and a major step was taken on the road to Star Blazers.

September 1: Roadshow, October issue

Behind what has to be the most adorable Carrie Fisher cover ever published, you could find a generous 13-page article on all the biggest SF films from 2001 to Farewell, and more fan art on the reader’s page.

See it all here.

September 1: Playboy #39

In what had to be the most unexpected crossover of the month, the Yamato boom proved itself strong enough to, um, penetrate even the pages of Japan’s Playboy magazine. This is a little less odd when you discover that Playboy was another Shueisha publication, and we’ve already seen how invested they were in Yamato coverage.

However, this piece was special for another reason: it showcased (for the first time anywhere) a stunning design drawing for the 6.5 foot “Precision Cut Model” that appeared in promotional exhibits throughout the summer. It was created by Mori Art Design and only appeared in print once more after this, in a 1983 book from Animec magazine.

Read more about the “Precision Cut Model” here.

September 1: Manga Shonen, October issue

Once Farewell to Yamato was in theaters, Manga Shonen stepped back from further coverage, but the magazine’s publisher Asahi Sonorama had plenty of other irons in the fire as indicated in an ad for multiple publications (above right). A blueprint set and volume 1 of a novelization were released that same day, and a manga would soon follow.

September 1: Farewell to Yamato hardcover novels

Shueisha’s novelizations appeared in August, and this completely separate edition from Asahi Sonorama followed hot on its heels. Yoshinobu Nishizaki was indicated as the author, but it was almost certainly ghost-written by someone else since he never commented on having a writing career. Volume 1 (192 pages) was released on September 1 and Volume 2 (190 pages) followed on September 15. Both featured color stills from the movie. Paperback editions would follow in March 1979.

September 1: Farewell to Yamato Precise Illustrated Edition blueprint set

Sonorama published two of these sets (the other was for Be Forever) with fold-out blueprints of the movie’s major spacecraft and other mecha. Each of its 16 sheets was bound on one side and opened to 18″ x 13.5″ when cut free of the spine. They featured both isometric and three-quarter views of their subjects, with occasional cutaways and technical notes.

September 1: Academy studio opens for Yamato 2 production

Yamato 2‘s pre-production had commenced in April, using a borrowed office at Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Pro, but everyone moved when Academy’s new studio opened. Documents from the time establish the first day of operation as September 1, 1978. Tokyo’s Nerima ward was chosen for its vicinity to key train lines and the animation community that had built up around Toei Studio.

The various art teams were already hard at work (in scattered locations) and Episode 1’s airdate was just six weeks away. On day one, therefore, Yamato 2 was already beset by the severe schedule everyone had experienced on Series 1.

Read the full story of Yamato 2‘s production here.

September 3: Bouken Oh [Adventure King], October issue

Yamato had a commanding presence on the cover, fronting for a five-page article that can be seen here.

The Leiji Matsumoto manga chapter ran 24 pages, in which Teresa’s message is analyzed and the EDF committee announces their plan to scrap Yamato.

September 5: Farewell to Yamato, Roadshow Authoritative Edition Vol. 1

Shueisha was the first to publish a fully dedicated book, as a spinoff of Roadshow magazine. Volume 1 ran 112 pages, containing a collection of double-page highlight scenes, character and mecha pinups, extensive production notes, sheet music for three songs, model sheets that focused on Yamato and Andromeda, and a full-color photostory of the first movie. Volume 2 would follow two months later.

September 5: Mainichi Shimbun article

On this day, the Mainichi Shimbun [newspaper] published a dense and well-informed full-page editorial on the Farewell to Yamato phenomenon with anecdotes and analysis of what made the movie such a strong emotional experience, and how it connects to the original battleship.

Read the article here.

September 9: Middle 1st Age magazine, October issue

Obunsha’s student digest for 7th graders deserves special recognition for a 5-page article that marks an important point in Yamato history. It started with a synopsis of Farewell‘s climax (which had been held back as a spoiler until now), then presented a short message from Yoshinobu Nishizaki in which he stated for the record that there would NEVER, EVER be a Yamato Part 3.

Then the magazine added an unexpected followup: ideas from fans for Yamato Part 3. What did they think could be done next? Find out here.

September 9: Weekly TV Programs magazine

Similar to TV Guide, this issue covered programming for September 16-22 and featured a news flash for new anime set to debut in October. That quite possibly made it the first to announce the October 14 debut of Yamato 2, but it wouldn’t be alone; the long-awaited Gatchaman II would begin two weeks earlier, on October 1st.

September 10: Animage #4, October issue

With Yamato 2 on the horizon, Animage was right there to take the lead in magazine coverage. Their first article ran three pages, interviewing Yoshinobu Nishizaki and collecting comments from four of the main staff members.

Read the article here.

September 10: Farewell to Yamato manga, Volume 1

For those who didn’t have the patience for Leiji Matsumoto’s slowly-paced manga adaptation in Bouken Oh, Akira Hio came back to the fold with his own version, spread out over three paperbacks published by Asahi Sonorama. The first volume got all the way to Telezart and ended with Dessler’s return in 211 pages.

Read more about this manga here.

September 10: TV Anime Complete Works

If the name Taku Sugiyama doesn’t ring a bell, here’s where you get to add it to your mental roster. He was among the first generation of anime directors in Japan, beginning his career in 1965 and contributing to some true classics for both the large and small screen. (See his credit list here.) He would go on to found an animation art school and is still around in 2023, delivering lectures and training animators. He was also one of the industry’s first historians, and the two paperback books shown above represent his earliest efforts.

Volume 1 of Complete Works presented a chronological encyclopedia of every TV anime from Mighty Atom (1963) to Attack No. 1 (1969), published in June 1978 by Akimoto Shobo. Volume 2 followed on September 10, logging all programs from Tomorrow’s Joe (1970) to Space Battleship Yamato (1974). All the basic data from each series was concisely presented, covering a total of 157 shows.

It goes without saying that many books and encyclopedias have come along to eclipse these two since then (see a large collection of them here), but someone had to do it first, and it’s entirely appropriate that someone of Sugiyama’s stature led the way for everyone else.

September 14: High 1st Age magazine, October issue

Obunsha’s student digest for 10th graders was another source for the welcome news of Yamato 2‘s imminent approach, now just one month away.

Read the article here.

September 14: Space Battleship Yamato Exhibition opens

In 1978 and 1979, the Fujikyu department store was a common destination for anime fans in the Shizuoka region. Like some of the larger Tokyo stores, it became a frequent host for events such the one described in this poster: a Space Battleship Yamato Exhibition featuring the big cutaway model and 1/1 scale Analyzer, various dioramas, film screenings, and all that glorious merch you kept seeing in the fan club magazines.

This particular event ran through September 24. Photo posted on Twitter by Tokudai Rainbow.

September 15: Farewell to Yamato Roman Album

After the debut of their first Roman Album a year earlier, Tokuma Shoten published roughly one volume a month with trendsetting coverage of anime classics like Cyborg 009, Mighty Atom, and Mazinger Z. Volume 11 (which ran 112 pages) marked their first return to a franchise and also demonstrated how far they had evolved in a year.

Gone was any hint of children’s publishing. Dustjackets were now the norm, along with bound-in collector cards and pinups. The photostory had replaced gallery-style illustrations, and significant space was given over to staff comments and making-of coverage. New material was also being generated to enhance the value of the book, like character flow charts and a poster (above right). In other words, it was even stronger evidence that the wall between the creators and the audience was breaking down.

On the other hand, if you’re wondering why it had such a lackluster cover, there was a reason.

As seen in the photos above, the initial concept was to diecut a window out of the dustjacket to reveal an image underneath. There were slightly different styles between the first two press runs, but the feature was eliminated after that. This was probably due to cost and complexity, but it was just as well since (as you can see in these sample photos) the window turned out to be a damage magnet. It’s also interesting to note that the Animage tie-in logo was dropped from later editions.

Read articles from the Roman Album here.

September 15: Phantom II Vol. 3 doujinshi

Yamato Fan Club F4 Phantom II was the group that published this doujinshi. Its 38 pages were filled with animation design art from Series 1, original fan art (including a speculative look at Sasha’s capsule), articles on Yamato and Captain Harlock, and a single page of commentary on Farewell.

See it from cover to cover here.

September 15: Kinejun No. 743

Among the many firsts that cemented Space Battleship Yamato into anime history was the participation of a highly-respected live-action filmmaker. And it wasn’t just any filmmaker, it was Director Toshio Masuda, who could be described as Japan’s Martin Scorsese. Masuda was Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s first choice to direct Series 1, but he was too busy with his latest gritty crime drama, so he took a consultant role instead.

He came back to edit the series down into what became the 1977 Yamato movie, then stayed on to help develop and write Farewell. That made him an ideal subject to interview in this issue of the long-lived movie magazine Kinejun, which also included the rest of the screenplay that began in issue 741.

As a director, Masuda had some very direct things to say from his own perspective. Read the interview here.

September 15: News from abroad

Another step was taken on path to Star Blazers, which had begun when the Peter Rodgers Organization acquired syndication rights to the first TV series back in February (as recounted in Vintage Report 9). Since that time, the company used trade magazines to get the word out to interested broadcasters. This clipping came from the September 15 issue of Backstage (Vol. 37, No. 19). The working title was Star Force, and it consisted of 26 episodes.

The February announcement had indicated [speculatively] that the series would debut on US TV in September 1978, but a broadcast partner had not yet been lined up to make this happen. However, other things were afoot.

In the June 1980 issue of Starlog magazine, John Claster of Claster Television stated the following: “Westchester [Corp.] had indentified Space Cruiser Yamato to us as a good kids’ property. After we looked at it, we agreed with them. We reached agreement with Bob Marcella and the other people in September 1978 to bring the show to air for the ’79/80 season.”

This probably indicates that Claster acquired the show from Peter Rodgers, beginning the process that would bring Star Blazers to our TV screens almost exactly a year later (September 17, 1979).

Read more in the Starlog article here.

September 16: First voice recording for Yamato 2

Episode 1 was recorded about a month before the broadcast began. This contrasted with series 1, in which recordings were done only about two weeks before they went out on the air, and sometimes even less than that. It goes without saying that any scenes repeated verbatim from the movie wouldn’t have to be recorded again, but this accounted for only a small percentage of the TV version.

Read more about the voice recording for Yamato 2 here.

September 20: Space Battleship Yamato novel, Cobalt Library

The first Yamato novel released in Shueisha’s Cobalt Library series was for Farewell in August. About a month later, they followed up with a Space Battleship Yamato edition by the same writer, Ken Wakasaki. Cobalt novels aren’t particularly flashy, just text with black & white stills, but are highly regarded for the quality of Wakasaki’s writing.

September 25: TV Rumor magazine

This magazine may have faded into obscurity, but this particular issue (with TV listings for multiple regions) had what fans were looking for.

First, there was this 2-pager promoting the upcoming Yamato 2 (now just 3 weeks away)…

…then there was a sheet of iron-on decals so your clothes could help you remember to tune in. There was also a contest in this issue to win a digital Yamato 2 clock. Keep reading to see it for yourself.

September 30: Farewell to Yamato hardcover novel

Just ten days after their Cobalt Library edition, Shueisha released yet another one, this time a 96-page hardcover for younger readers, heavily populated with stills. If it seems like the realm of Yamato novelizations is confusing and bewildering, that’s because it is. Japan didn’t have the guard rails of exclusive publishing deals at the time, so Shueisha and Asahi Sonorama were basically battling it out for readers week by week. Which certainly made it exciting to be a reader!

If you’d like to know more, the history of Yamato novelizations gets sorted out here.

September 30: Yamato 2 digital clock panel

Nearly a year earlier, Academy released a Space Battleship Yamato clock panel, a framed poster with a clock built into it. To close out the month of September, they followed up with a digital version, using the Farewell poster art. But it clearly said Yamato 2 on it with a list of all the stations that would soon begin to broadcast the new series. That officially makes this the first piece of Yamato 2 merchandising.

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