CITIZEN’S EDITION
Yamato‘s Popularity Quickly Heats Up
Hokkaido Shimbun Evening Edition, Friday, August 1, 1980
Like Galaxy Express 999, the SF animation popular with childreN, the latest work of Space Battleship Yamato, Be Forever Yamato, will be released nationwide on the 2nd. In front of a movie theater in Sapporo, middle and high school students have been staying overnight since the 31st, two days before, to get good seats.
Overnight Group
Movie theater / Frantic response with numbered tickets / Opening tomorrow
Photo caption: Children sit in front of the theater the day before the screening to see Yamato…
Toei Palace was the first theater to open the film in Sapporo. The first person in line was a high school freshman boy from Sapporo. He arrived on the night of the 31st. He said that he had lined up the night before the release of Galaxy Express 999 last year,
“Last time I was at the back. This time I wanted to get the front seat somehow.”
Several people lined up that night, and the theater told them to go home, but they decided to stay the night outside with sleeping bags, so the four high school students were forced to come inside the theater, and the staff on duty slept with them in the hall.
The next day, about 20 people, including elementary school students, lined up early in the morning. Everyone agreed that they were there because they wanted to get a good seat. Apparently, in the evening, a large number of children will be queuing up.
It is expected to be crowded, but for Galaxy Express the children voluntarily accepted numbered tickets, avoiding the chaos themselves. This time too, the theater will be handing out numbered tickets in the afternoon. Even so, some people will stay the night.
“We’ll probably have to let them in tonight, too,” said a theater staff member in a resigned voice.
Why is sci-fi anime so popular?
“Because it has romance,” said a junior high school boy.
“Everyone else is watching it, so I just…” said a high school student. He thought waiting for a long time would be boring, but said, “it’s actually quite fun to read manga and talk with everyone.”
The screening time was moved up to 6am to accommodate early crowds.
Is this really the last Yamato?
Hochi Shimbun, Friday, August 1, 1980
“My son, an anime fan who is in his second year of middle school, says he won’t see Be Forever Yamato, which opens on the 2nd,” said an acquaintance of mine. The reason is that they made a third movie, despite saying that the first and second movies were “the last Yamato movie.”
The criticism is that it’s “just like Keiko Sekine and Candies’ fake retirement.” In short, it seems that they don’t want to be fooled by the lies of adults. So he formed a boycott alliance with a group of anime fans of the same age who live in Hiyoshi, Yokohama.
On the other hand, at the time of the third film’s announcement of production, Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki said, “I made each film thinking it would be just this one, but the reaction from fans was so great that my dreams of making another one grew.”
It’s true that dreams grow as box office revenues grow, with the first film making 900 million yen and the second 2.1 billion yen. In fact, Yamato‘s popularity is so great that fans who want original cels lined up in front of the theaters starting on July 20th (more than 600 people as of July 31st). Does the “lie” create popularity, or does popularity create the “lie”? What do you think?
Two nights of “campout” for an anime movie
Young fan lineup
Asahi Shimbun evening edition, Saturday, August 2, 1980
For two nights, high school students camped out in downtown Tokyo to watch a movie that was only two and a half hours long.
On the evening of the 1st, the day before the premiere of the anime movie Be Forever Yamato, a line of over 300 teenage anime fans sat on the sidewalk in front of Toei Palace in Shinjuku 3-chome, Tokyo. At the head of the line were four second-year students from a prefectural high school in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, who had been waiting since early morning on the 30th of last month, bringing a change of clothes with them.
Every night around 11pm, they are told by a patrol officer to go home. Then they go to a nearby place to get out of the rain and sleep. In the morning, they wash their faces in the bathroom of a department store and line up again. All day long, they sit on the sidewalk in front of the movie theater and chat with their fellow queue members.
“They say people line up even earlier than the first screening in Shibuya. It’s like this everywhere for anime movies these days.”
A high school girl from Hachioji City, Tokyo, who was about 30th in line, had arrived on the 31st.
“I gave a fake name because a police officer gave me a warning last night. I went to Shinjuku Central Park and stayed up all night.”
They leave the queue at night, but since everyone “registers” on a list of where they are in line, there is no danger of losing their place.
They are all authorized by their parents. A father from the Nakano Ward who came to check on his 16-year-old son on his way home from work said, “I was against it at first, but anime itself is not bad. I allow it on the condition that he calls twice a day and goes out in groups with friends.”
Once the film is released, it will be shown all the time, so there’s no need to line up three days in advance, he thought, but, “It’s because it gives you prestige. You watch it a little earlier than others. You can feel superior to fellow fans who haven’t seen it.”
“It’s fun to be in line all day here. The first person to arrive also gets a color still.”
Most of them are members of the Space Battleship Yamato fan clubs around the country. They have about 5,000 to 40,000 yen on hand, which is their “pocket money.” Passersby look on in amazement at the line of boys and girls in jeans who spend their time on vinyl mats on the sidewalks of the main street, using portable TVs, cassettes, and playing cards. They stayed overnight on the 1st, and the first showing began at 5am on the 2nd.
Photo caption: Fans waiting in line to get in, a little after 6pm on the 1st, in Shinjuku, Tokyo
Yamato will be popular forever
Staying overnight to be the first!
SAPPORO
Hokkaido Times, August 2
“Well, it’s a problem. Is there any way to get them to go home?”
Space Battleship Yamato is popular again. The third film, Be Forever Yamato, was released at Sapporo Toei Theater and SY Yuraku from the 2nd. Many children sat down in front of the movie theater this year, wanting to be the first to see it and have the best seats. Some were there since the night of July 31st. This caused headaches for the cinema staff.
As of 7pm on the 1st, there were 60 children sitting in front of the theater. Most of them were boys, from junior high to high school age. They did the same for last year’s Galaxy Express 999 and the first and second Yamato movies, as usual.
The first child to arrive at 10pm on the 31st said, “I feel like it’s just inertia. I want to see the first showing on the opening day, after all.”
As expected, children want to be the first to see the first showing on the opening day.
A cinema staff member said, “Last year, we had 78 children lined up for the first screening. We expected it, but the police said they would disperse them quickly, and the children were just hunkered down in hope…” He looked a little exhausted.
This time too, they issued tickets and secured good seats, but the children didn’t leave.
“The first screening starts at 6:30 in the morning, so the bus or subway won’t make it in time,” the children say. “In the end, numbered tickets are meaningless,”
As expected, there are only three girls. They get tired because they can’t sit down like the boys. But “character is attractive,” they say. They take their meals in turns.
The theater staff sighed, “We can’t go home until these kids leave. In the end, we’ll probably have to let them in after today’s last movie ends.”
Article reproduction from Yamato Syndrome 1977-83 doujinshi
Be Forever Yamato is still a monster
Hill 203 continues to burn
Tora-san remains as popular as ever
Hochi Shimbun, Sunday, August 3, 1980
Photo caption: Tatsuya Nakadai (far left) and other cast members make a V sign in front of a cannon placed in front of Toei Marunouchi.
The “Obon movie” lineup
Translator’s note: “Obon” is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one’s ancestors.
“Meiji” burns in the cold summer…
On the 2nd, Toei’s war epic Hill 203 and the popular anime Be Forever Yamato were released, as well as Shochiku’s It’s Tough Being a Man: Torajiro Hibiscus Flower, but the best-selling Hill 203, which depicts the Russo-Japanese War in the Meiji era, stood out.
There were strong opinions that the content was right-wing and glorified war, and there were concerns that young viewers would not be welcome, but when the screenings began, it attracted a wide range of fans, from first-year junior high school students to 82-year-old grandfathers, and there were standing-room only audiences every time. Sada Masashi’s theme song, Poem of the Defender, also attracted female audiences, who accounted for 40% of the total.
The first day turnout was a 10% increase over The Intrigue of the Yagyu Clan, which earned the highest box office revenue (1.67 billion yen) for a Toei film.
“It’s not a war film, it’s a national film that depicts the heart of a nation.” said an enthusiastic publicist.
Be Forever Yamato, the third film in the Yamato series, drew an all-night crowd of about 2,000 people, and is still as monstrous as ever. Major theaters in Tokyo felt bad for making children wait outside, so they opened their theaters after the last showing of the previous day and let them in. Some started screenings as early as 5am.
This film is expected to gross 2 billion yen, surpassing the attendance of Farewell to Yamato, which grossed 2.1 billion. For director Toshio Masuda, who directed both of these films, it was like Obon and New Year’s came together.
Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho, Ruriko Asaoka and others presented fans with shellfish leis and star sand in front of the Shochikuo theater in Shinjuku. It’s Tough Being a Man is also popular, attracting 3,500 fans at that theater alone. It is aiming to gross 1.5 billion yen, the highest of the 25 films in the series.
Foreign films that made a good start were Fellini’s Orchestra Rehearsal, The Magician (300 theaters), and The Great Farewell starring Humphrey Bogart.