Ryusuke Hikawa talks about the historical background and worldview
of the birth of Space Battleship Yamato
Published November 1 on Eiga.com. See the original post here
On October 31st, a symposium entitled “The Historical Significance of Space Battleship Yamato” was held at BASE Q in Midtown Hibiya, Tokyo, in the animation category of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival. Anime and tokusatsu researcher Ryusuke Hikawa, a professor at Meiji University Graduate School, and programming advisor Fujitsu Ryota gave the talk.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of the TV anime Space Battleship Yamato. At a 50th anniversary screening held in Tokyo on October 6th, it was announced that Studio Khara, led by director Anno Hideaki, is planning a new theatrical version of Space Battleship Yamato, which has just become a hot topic.
In his book Innovation in Japanese Anime: A Structural Analysis of Changes that Became a Turning Point in History, Hikawa describes what was new about Space Battleship Yamato and how it influenced subsequent anime works. He was a second-year high school student when Yamato began broadcasting in 1974. He was so fascinated by the work that he visited the production studio and asked to copy the production materials.
Hikawa said that his desire to “confirm the excitement he felt at that time” was what led him to become fascinated with the depths of anime. He talked to Fujitsu about the historical background of the birth of Yamato and what was different from previous works.
1974, when Yamato was released, was about 11 years after the TV anime Astro Boy began broadcasting in 1963. When Fujitsu asked Hikawa how Japanese anime evolved to Yamato in 11 years, Hikawa said that he felt that children’s TV programs at the time, including tokusatsu such as Ultra Q and Ultraman, were evolving every year. The term “TV manga,” which referred to all children’s programs including tokusatsu and anime, had a negative nuance of talking down to children.
Later, when the first Yamato compilation film was released (1977), a line of middle and high school students stayed up all night, and this was reported as the “arrival of the anime boom,” which led to the term “anime” being widely used in its current sense instead of “TV manga.”
One of the charms of Yamato is that it tells a story not through characters, but through a worldview, Hikawa said. “Worldview = Story (separate from characters)” was a groundbreaking aspect of Yamato.
The title of the work was not the name of a character, as was common at the time, and the story can be explained without mentioning the main characters, so it is clear that the story of Yamato is formed by a worldview.
Using slides of production materials, he explained that the reality of the world view, which emerges by reading the pictures on the screen, is rooted in a setting that has been thought out right down to the consistency and continuity needed to make that world come alive.
In addition, the background of the birth of Yamato was discussed from various perspectives, such as the trend toward more sophisticated works due to the maturing of anime and tokusatsu audiences from the 1960s to the 1970s, and the significant change in the expressive power of images with the shift to color TV.
Nevertheless, Yamato seems to have been born as a sudden mutation, and Hikawa explained that it was the crystallization of the staff’s desire to “do something that no one has ever done before,” using the word “combined power.”
This means that even if the staff’s power is concentrated in the work, it does not necessarily move in the same direction every time, and he said that a large part of it was born from the perfect dynamics between the staff and the flow of the times. In order to unravel the secrets of the work’s creation, primary sources of the work are essential.
The NPO Anime Tokusatsu Archive Organization (ATAC), of which Hikawa and Director Shinji Higuchi are vice-chairmen and Director Anno is chairman, collects records and memories of many anime and tokusatsu works, including materials from Yamato, and passes them on to the next generation. At the end of the talk, Hikawa called for understanding and support for ATAC, while also recruiting students who want to conduct research based on ATAC materials, and volunteers who can help classify and organize these materials.
Why Space Battleship Yamato is great: A researcher’s talk event – What conclusions have they reached after 50 years?
Published November 5 on Yorozo News. See the original post here
The anime Space Battleship Yamato has reached the milestone of 50 years since it began broadcasting on television. An anime symposium titled “The Historical Significance of Space Battleship Yamato” was held at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 31st, where Ryusuke Hikawa, an anime and tokusatsu researcher and specially-appointed professor at Meiji University Graduate School, took the stage. Looking back on the television culture of the 1960s, he gave a talk show with Ryota Fujitsu, programming advisor for the film festival, about the historical significance of Yamato and why it left such a big mark on the history of Japanese animation.
In 1974, when Yamato began broadcasting, Hikawa was a second-year high school student. “My friends were amazed, and the next day they we couldn’t stop talking about it,” he said of the impact he felt at the time. He was so moved that he visited the production studio and interacted with the staff. He copied production materials and recorded audio, which marked a major turning point for his activities.
The first Japanese TV anime, Astro Boy, was broadcast in 1963. Hikawa recalled the 11 years leading up to the broadcast of Yamato, saying, “The growth of TV was linked to my own progress.” He spoke from the perspectives of both tokusatsu and anime.
Tokusatsu progressed from Ultra Q in 1966 to Ultraman six months later, and Ultra Seven the following year. NHK’s Thunderbirds brought science-fiction and plastic models to maturity. Hikawa said the 1970 Osaka Expo further strengthened this trend. He cited the three-year period (1968-1971) during which Star of the Giants was broadcast as an example, and pointed out that the techniques of animation had made great strides with the introduction of tracing machines. He also cited Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-1974) and Triton of the Sea (1972), and said that the evolution of animation and tokusatsu had also encouraged the maturation of viewers. Based on his own experience, Hikawa expressed his feelings at the time, saying, “I was attracted to that change.”
Even while viewers’ understanding of tokusatsu, animation, and science-fiction was deepening, Hikawa was shocked by Yamato, saying, “It was clearly different from the line of evolution I had imagined. It was like I was watching something different. The question of what it was led me to delve deeper.” This was the motivation that led him to become a researcher.
What was so groundbreaking about Yamato? Hikawa continued his talk, citing some of the research results he had written about in his book.
First, Hikawa projected panels showing the red, ruined Earth after an invasion, the Battleship Yamato half-emerged from the ocean floor, and an underground city. He continued, “These three are enough to explain the basic plot.” The framework of the story can be explained without using main characters like Susumu Kodai and Juzo Okita. The fact that the title does not include character names, as in Astro Boy, shows that the story is centered on the worldview of the work, which is different from previous character-based approaches. It also ties into the characteristics of Japanese anime, which are very different from overseas anime, where character-based approaches are the norm.
Hikawa explained while showing production art that the realism and meaning built into the visuals and concepts that make up Yamato further highlight this worldview.
On the other hand, the concept of a one-year journey to the planet Iscandar, 148,000 light years away, is like a road movie. He was impressed by the ingenuity of the story, in which the human drama on board the space battleship is in the “grand hotel” format (each character is given a spotlight and their own story is developed). The characters also seem to play a major role in further enhancing the distinctive worldview.
Yamato was such a groundbreaking series that its popularity grew after the TV broadcast ended, and the subsequent film version grew to the point where it was covered by the public as an “anime boom.” This coincided with the launch of magazines, such as the specialist magazine Animage. The era in which anime and tokusatsu were collectively referred to as “TV manga” (implying “childish”) came to an end.
Hikawa named producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and chief director Noboru Ishiguro as key people in the creation of Yamato. He also mentioned the names of other animators such as Kaoru Izumiguchi and Kazuhide Tomonaga, but ultimately stated that the core of the work is not attributable to a single individual, but that “the desire crystallized to do something new, something that no one has ever done before.” He called this crystallization “combined force,” and explained the true meaning of this, saying, “I think making anime is like playing a Kokkuri-san game,” something guided by the times and by forces that cannot be explained. Knowing this was a very abstract answer, he continued, “This is beyond the realm of putting it into words. But I think my remaining role is to put it into words logically and technically.”
Hikawa had spoken about how groundbreaking Yamato was, but the conclusion of the symposium was that “the mystery has not yet been solved. The battle continues.”
The Anime and Tokusatsu Archive Organization, which Hikawa, film directors Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno are involved in, is working to collect and preserve many anime and tokusatsu materials, including materials on Yamato.
Hikawa expressed his desire for new volunteers and collaborators to join the research, and concluded the event by saying, “Fifty years have passed, but thanks to the strong support we have, the materials remain. We ask for your understanding and support for the next 50 years.” Hikawa hopes that research on Yamato will continue even after his death.
