Caption: Sasha is shocked to hear of her father’s death.
University of Tokyo Weekly
September 1, 1980
Ignoring the previous film
Unable to erase the unnatural feeling
The Yamato released in theaters was supposed to have “left” with the previous film Farewell to Yamato. In that movie, Yamato fights a fierce battle in which the crew members are killed one after another. This makes the viewer wonder, “Will the author of the story make that person die too?” At the end, Yamato crashes into the enemy battleship (though it wasn’t clearly shown on screen) and met a heroic end along with the opponent.
So when I heard that the third Yamato was going to be released, I wondered how it would connect to the previous film, but (to my surprise) Be Forever Yamato did no such historical research. Rather, it connects to Yamato 2 and The New Voyage, which were aired on TV. These works are much less impressive than Farewell, and the characters who were supposed to have died appear on the screen, naturally. This was a disappointment, especially since Farewell was so moving.
In the year 2202, a “hyperon bomb” suddenly soft-lands on Earth. It is said that this bomb will destroy all humanity in an instant when it explodes. Yamato heads to destroy the control device on the enemy’s home planet. Then, with warping after warping, they arrive at the enemy’s home planet, which is Earth 200 years in the future.
Yamato always has a “self-sacrificing love” theme running through it. Farewell was especially full of this. The idea of “self-sacrifice” is old and may seem to have been talked to death at first glance, but as long as humans have healthy hearts, it resonates beautifully and strongly.
Sasha is shown on the video panel on Yamato‘s bridge. “Hurry up and fire, uncle.”
Yamato‘s gun is already aimed at the enemy home planet where Sasha is. But Kodai can’t fire.
“Hurry up…” At that moment, Sasha is shot by the enemy leader. She fights back, but then she is shot through the chest and falls, shedding a tear.
In Be Forever, the beauty of “self-sacrificing love” doesn’t really resonate with me because of Farewell, but this scene is different. Sasha had to pick herself up and save the Earth, but the tear she shed as she fell was very impressive. If she died in “self-sacrificing love,” her dead face should have been smiling. And yet…
This reminds me of Sasha’s fondness for the main character, Susumu Kodai, and stirs up sad thoughts.
The projection technology of Be Forever far surpasses that of the previous film, but it is still unreasonable because it ignores Farewell. As a Yamato fan, I would like to complain about many other things, but I will stop here.
[Yui]