Yamato 2199 Report 41, Part 2

Back up to part 1

December 24: A Voyage to Remember Blu-ray OST

Columbia, COCX-1105

This one is a real first, a Yamato soundtrack released on a format that preserves theatrical-quality sound. It contains the entire 81 minute score of A Voyage to Remember on a Blu-ray disc with three different sound formats. An 8-page booklet provides a track list, song lyrics, info on other Yamato music products, and this introduction:

Yamato 40 Anniversary, Space Battleship Yamato 2199 A Voyage to Remember

From the beginning of the Space Battleship Yamato TV broadcast in October 1974 to Final Yamato in 1983, a big boom spanned over ten years and became a social phenomenon. Sequels were made afterward, such as Yamato 2520 and Yamato Resurrection. Producer Soji Nishizaki and General Director Yutaka Izubuchi revived the original 26 episodes as Space Battleship Yamato 2199, which included enormous new designs and a new interpretation. The Space Battleship Yamato TV BGM by the late Hiroshi Miyagawa was rescored, with many new pieces by Akira Miyagawa that decorated Yamato gloriously.

The first step to commemorate Yamato‘s anniversary in October 2014 was to release A Voyage to Remember, a new compilation film that condensed Episodes 1-24 of the Yamato 2199 series into about 130 minutes as a lead-in to the new movie Ark of the Stars in December. The music used in the film was finished in stereo for the series, and was converted to 5.1ch specs for A Voyage to Remember. This increases the solid feeling of the lower frequency, expanding it for a wide open feeling.

This time, the Voyage to Remember original soundtrack is brought to you on Blu-ray audio, a first in the Yamato series. It includes the familiar Space Battleship Yamato opening theme by Isao Sasaki and also the new ending theme, BLUE by Nana Mizuki. It is formatted in 5.1 channel linear PCM and Dolby True 5.1 channel, but since it was recorded in linear PCM stereo, those who don’t have 5.1 channel playback equipment can enjoy it, too. But I want you to hear it in 5.1 channel by all means. There are 49 tracks that total 80 minutes, and I’ll be very happy if you can enjoy the music world of Yamato 2199 A Voyage to Remember.

– Sound Director Tomohiro Yoshida

Since it’s a Blu-ray disc, it does have a video image as well – a single, constant image of the cover art with a menu for individual tracks. Only the track title changes as the album plays.

The disc can be purchased from CD Japan here, or from Amazon.co.jp here. However, if you have all three of the Yamato 2199 soundtracks, you can compile your own version by combining these tracks into a single playlist. The reference number 1.31 refers to album 1, track 31 (and so on).

1 Cosmo Tiger (Wan-dah-bah) 1.31
2 Space Battleship Yamato (Short Size) / Isao Sasaki 1.01
3 The Infinite Universe 1.08
4 Yamato Sleeps in the Setting Sun (Short) 3.01
5 Across the Beautiful Ocean (Sad) 2.21
6 Yamato‘s Bolero 1.13
7 Theme of the Yamato Saga 1.16
8 The Scarf of Sorrow 1.22
9 Warp 3.05
10 Silence of the Cosmos 1.24
11 First Contact 1.04
12 Sorrowful Yamato (Oboe only) 3.26 (or 1.09)
13 Ambition 1.23
14 Enter Dessler 1.32
15 Gamilas Anthem: Praise Be Our Eternal Glory
    (With Vocals) 1.40
16 Suspense (Sense of Distrust) 1.29
17 Sortie of The Enemy Spacecraft 1.20
18 The Recon Plane Takes Off 1.10
19 Keep Watching the Stars 1.43
20 The Lady of Iscandar 1.0
21 Across the Beautiful Ocean 2.20
22 Suspense A 2.17
23 Sleeping Desires 3.28
24 Battle to a Stalemate 2.08
25 Yamato Into the Vortex 1.21
26 Suspense B 1.12
27 Gamilas Anthem: Praise Be Our Eternal Glory
    (Without Vocals) 1.41
28 Black Tigers 1.26
29 Garmillas Dimensional Submarine 2.12
30 The Abandoned City 1.25
31 Desperate Crisis 1.03
32 Yamato Advances 1.02
33 The Fleet Gathers 2.03
34 A Dictator’s Anguish 1.44
35 Sorrowful Yamato 1.09 (or 3.26)
36 Pioneering Yamato Theme 1.34
37 Dessler Surprise Attack 3.17
38 Lonely Desler 3.18
39 Imperial City Defense
    (“Yamato Into the Vortex” Variation) 3.19
40 New Baleras (or Second Baleras) 3.20
41 Presidential Office ~ Crumbling Hope 3.21
42 Aspirations (Ambitions of a Young Man) 2.23
43 Encounter in the Void 3.22
44 Across the Beautiful Ocean (String) 2.22
45 Sorrowful BG 1.14
46 Blue Crystal 3.24
47 Harmonica (Scarlet Scarf) 2.14
48 Yamato Departs the Earth 1.17
49 BLUE / Nana Mizuki (ED theme)


December 25: Hobby magazines, February issues

Model Graphix and Dengeki Hobby gave themselves a break this month with 1 and 3 Yamato pages respectively. Hobby Japan came in as the alpha dog with a whopping 25 pages devoted to the latest Yamato model kits and product news.

See the Model Graphix and Dengeki pages here.

See the Hobby Japan pages here.

In addition, Dengeki and Hobby Japan each printed their own interviews with 2199 mecha designer Junichiro Tamamori. Read them here.

December 26: Astro Ship Chronograph, Yamato Crew edition

As recounted in Report 38, Imperial Enterprise International Co. Ltd. announced this product in late November 2014 for release in August 2015. This month, Yamato Crew opened preorders for their own version, which includes an embossed leather band.

See the product listing at Yamato Crew here.


December 26:
1/7 Sho Sawamura
resin garage kit reissue

If you’re thinking the world of Yamato 2199 figures is overly girl-heavy, you’ll get no argument from these quarters. However, Yamato Crew reminded us of alternate options when this figure was revived following Sho’s starring role in Ark of the Stars.

First released in July 2014, Sho was sculpted by Tomo Ujihara and manufactured by garage kit maker RC Berg. See the product listing at Yamato Crew here.

December 27: Filmstrip giveaway

Ark of the Stars kicked off its fourth week in theaters on this day. With no new Secret Files left, a new handout item was conceived: randomly-selected clips of 35mm film from the movie itself. The idea was actually borrowed from the past, when Office Academy (later Westcape) would insert clips like these into their deluxe hardcover books as bonus items.

December 27: Final Art Exhibition opens

Fukuoka, far in the south of Japan, became the final site of the 2199 Art Exhibition. The venue was the Hankyu department store in Hakata city. Since the exhibition’s Tokyo debut in April 2014, several new pieces were added as Ark of the Stars approached. This time, original drawings from the film’s “storybook” sequence by Akihiro Yamada joined the collection.

In this news item from Yamato Crew, the book title was given as The Lonely Witch, and these two pieces were provided as samples. Yamada is an illustrator with impressive credentials; see his Wikipedia page here and extensive art samples here and here. A Youtube book review can be seen here.

Also on hand were Naoyuki Katoh’s new painting of Sabera and the 3D ship tour with Oculus Rift VR headsets. The 1/100 Yamato model was also in residence, and to mark the final week of the event, it was turned toward the Earth (returning from the long voyage). The exhibition closed (for good?) on January 6.

See a video promo on Youtube here.

See more photos here.

December 27 & 28: Comiket 87

Back in Tokyo, a new round of Yamato 2199 doujinshi appeared at the year-end Comiket. Though adults-only fare usually dominates in every category, Yamato 2199 always attracts an elite core of high-quality artists with their own flair.

Some come with their own Yamato pedigree, such as Ryuji Umeno (above left), who goes by the handle “Umegrafix.” See more links to his work at the bottom of this page.

The hottest item from Yamato world, however, was undoubtedly this new art collection from character designer Nobuteru Yuuki. Similar in concept to the massive 2-book set he published for the August Comiket, this one was titled Yamato 2199 Rough Illustration Book, and collected both color and black & white sketches into 178 pages for a mere 2000yen (less than $20 US).

As a bonus, each copy came with a facsimile of an animation layout (samples shown above left). Immediately after Comiket, these turned up in droves on Yahoo Japan’s auction site and prices were all over the map based on the quality of the bonus image. On December 31, Yuuki expressed his gratitude for the success of his book (which completely sold out) by posting a new character sketch on Twitter (above right). Who is it meant to be? Only Yuuki knows.

December 29: Hyper Hobby #197

Hyper Hobby magazine started the month AND finished it by publishing their next issue slightly ahead of schedule. This one came with a three-page roundup of Yamato news, including a character guide for Ark of the Stars

…a smattering of product announcements (left to right: Astro Ship Chronograph, new 1/8 Yamato Girls figures, and Mecha Collection model #15 Murasame)…

…and the fourth interview of the month with mecha designer Junichiro Tamamori. In case you’re wondering, each of the four interviews has something of its own to offer, so it’s worth reading them all. The Hyper Hobby interview can be found here.

December 31: New Year’s Eve

The biggest month in Yamato history and the year 2014 itself went out in style at the Concertante Super New Year’s Eve Concert, with Akira Miyagawa conducting the New Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. The concert went from 10pm to about 12:30am with well-known hits by both Miyagawa and his famous father. This included four pieces from Yamato 2199: Theme with fan chorus, the Garmillas national anthem, Yamato maelstrom, and a slower version of the theme.

Meanwhile, the official 2199 website updated its main image (above right) with a New Year’s greeting from Yuki and Kodai. The other Yamato girls would follow over the next few days.

Without the promise of a new Yamato production on the horizon, all we have to go on is Executive Producer Soji Nishizaki’s claim that his company will continue to make new Yamato. What and when are just details.

Also spotted in December…

Stamp rally books

Remember the collaboration announced by the Sendai City Transportion Bureau in Report 38? Their campaign involved a stamp rally, in which commuters were given a booklet to collect ink stamps in six different stations.

When the campaign ended on December 19, completed stamp rally booklets popped up on Twitter and in several online auctions, giving us a better look at them. It turns out this was quite cleverly organized; each of the six stations corresponded to a point on Yamato‘s voyage: Earth, Gliese 581, Beemera 4, Balun, Garmillas, and Iscandar. Each of the ink stamps bore these names as well.

The prizes for those who completed the rally were a Yamato clear file and card case.

Ario Yao event flashback

Another carryover from November was a deeper look at the Yamato exhibition at Ario Yao mall in Osaka, posted on Youtube December 18. This video (probably from a local entertainment program) followed Osaka’s own Yamato girls around from one attraction to the next, including the 3D Yamato tour. The highlight of this was (A) watching Akira Yamamoto’s extravagant gestures and (B) getting a glimpse of what’s actually inside the Oculus Rift VR viewer.

See the video on Youtube here.

These photos, posted on Twitter, had a little more fun at Akira Yamamoto’s expense.

Customized model kits

Fans had a lot of fun this month repainting their Gelvades-class battle carriers to match the Nilvades and Mirangal from Ark of the Stars. Get a look at their work here.

First bridge papercraft model

From the world of fandom came this video tour of an impressive homemade papercraft model of Yamato‘s bridge from 2199, complete with hand-sculpted figures of the crew, posted on December 5th by a user named “Hoshi no Tamago.” (Star Egg.)

See it on Youtube here, then take some time to contemplate what you’ve accomplished so far with your life.

Hyperweapon 2014+ (December 24, Dai Nippon Kaiga)

This isn’t strictly a Yamato product, but you’ll probably be interested anyway. Hyperweapon is an annual book series that collects the work of designer/illustrator/modeler/director Makoto Kobayashi. This particular volume is an addendum; the 2014 edition came out in August and was rich in Yamato 2199 content. There’s nothing in here from Ark of the Stars (we’ll have to wait for the 2015 edition to see that), but it is a complete collection of Advance Shape, a multimedia series he created for Hobby Japan from 1988 to 1990. Kobayashi fans, take note!

Order it from Amazon.co.jp here.

CG Works by “Haru”

“Haru” is a Yamato fan and evidently a professional CG modeler. He’s been working on his own Yamato for some time (his work was first mentioned in Report 35 here) and recently turned his attention to the Type-100 Scout Plane with spectacular results.

Find more pics at Haru’s Twitter feed here.

Phantasy Star Online 2

From another sector of the CG world came this image from Sega’s multiplayer online game Phantasy Star Online 2, showing off some of the new 2199 elements players now have access to. (This image was posted on Twitter December 28 by “C-ma.”) For more on this game, head back in time to Report 38.

Ark of the Stars storyboard books

Wouldn’t you love to look inside THESE? We only get the covers, though – this photo was posted on Twitter December 6 by Studio Deen with this caption: “Ark of the Stars opens nationwide today! We at Studio Deen were responsible for more than one part. This is Yamato in a desperate battle at the height of its production quality. By all means, please see it at the theater!!”

FYI: The books are labeled “C Part” and “D Part,” most likely comprising the second half of the film. The completion date of each storyboard section is also indicated. “D Part” probably finished first because it had fewer revisions (or simply got done faster).

Near misses

It is the goal of Cosmo DNA to make these reports as complete as possible and leave nothing out. However, since all the targets are on the other side of the globe, a few will occasionally slip off the radar. At left is an interview with Daisuke Ono (Kodai) from an early December issue of the weekly TV Pia magazine. At right is a recent publication from the Japan Tourist Bureau. Both pictures were posted on Twitter, but without enough information to actually track them down. Plenty of other publications have been found via Twitter posts; it all comes down to who writes the caption.

After a month like this, an apology shouldn’t be necessary…but we’ll try to do better next time.


Continue to Report 42

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