TV Schedule for August
August 12
Space Battleship Yamato
21:02 – 23:24 (NTV)
The Yamato series, which has excited young people all over Japan, is finally here. It will be divided into three parts as a continuous drama: Space Battleship Yamato, The New Voyage, and Be Forever Yamato. This is your first and last chance to understand everything about Yamato and enjoy it all at once. Don’t miss it!!
August 15
The New Voyage
19:00 – 20:54 (NTV)
The second installment following Space Battleship Yamato! The New Voyage, which was produced in response to the popularity of the previous work, was another big hit. It further fueled the boom.
August 19
Be Forever Yamato
20:06 – 22:54 (NTV)
The final installment of “Gathering! The Great SF Yamato” is finally here. Be Forever Yamato, which was released in theaters last summer vacation, will be broadcast soon! It was the most popular of the three.
Now, we get closer to Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato Last Memory from Watch Man
Right now, Yamato is incredibly nostalgic.
Until recently, we were crazy about Yamato. We can’t put it into words, but it feels like things have changed little by little.
Where will the great Yamato, which gave birth to many legends, go from here?
Now, we can look at Yamato calmly, so let’s talk about Yamato.
Until recently, we were crazy about Yamato. We can’t put it into words, but it feels like things have changed little by little.
Where will the great Yamato, which gave birth to many legends, go from here?
Now, we can look at Yamato calmly, so let’s talk about Yamato.
Yamato, its glorious history
Character and mecha descriptions, and story synopses
A message of love to the nostalgic Yamato
Let’s think about the Yamato boom once more. That was an extraordinary boom. The TV series, which had been quietly creating a boom of its own, caught fire with the re-edited movie version Space Battleship Yamato. It sold out 130,000 advance tickets, and on the first day of release, August 6th 1977, there were over 100 people queuing up outside theaters from two days before. In the end, 2.3 million people saw it in one summer. Distribution profit was over 900 million yen, and adults were surprised at the appearance of this amazing anime.
But that wasn’t the end. The following year, the original story Farewell to Yamato was produced, and the enthusiasm was off the charts. Amazingly, this time, fans stayed overnight for up to a week waiting for the premiere! On August 5th 1978, it is said that 250,000 people flocked to see Yamato in cinemas across the country in just one day. The film was shown for 12 weeks, and 4 million people saw it, making a total of 2.1 billion yen in revenue. This was a huge hit that still ranks third in Japanese film history. The theme song single sung by Kenji Sawada hit the charts, and the soundtrack album LP sold like hotcakes. It was truly an unforgettable summer for Yamato.
The total audience numbers for Yamato‘s three works, including Be Forever Yamato from the summer of ’80, totaled 10 million people. Record sales, EP+LP = 4 million! With the explosive popularity of other character products, Yamato set a record that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
What exactly is the difference between the Yamato boom and the current Gundam boom? Putting aside the evaluation of the content, Watch Man will consider the quality of the boom. To make an analogy, it’s like music booms. Gundam aimed for a highbrow line, and it was like new music, with a feeling that those who don’t understand it are not involved. In other words, a boom for maniacs [otaku]. In that respect, Yamato is a very trendy bandwagon, appealing to everyone. Its boom was also large-scale.
Why did it appeal to the mainstream? It was the newness and greatness of Yamato as an anime. Up until then, TV anime was just for kids, mainly one-episode stories with a happy ending. So when I first saw Yamato, I was honestly surprised. It was a story with a solid plot. Each character had a human heart. The mecha, which was drawn in much more detail than in live-action shows like Ultraman, looked more real. Animation greatly changed after Yamato. It was groundbreaking.
The Yamato boom also caused various controversies. The content was going against the times. Was it okay to bring back the main character, who was once killed in the story, for the sake of convenience? There was no end to criticism, with people saying that they had enough of the trendy anime boom. It’s true that Yamato‘s mecha are less elaborate than Gundam, and the sentimental tone of the story was also a little off-putting.
However, Yamato was the first full-fledged anime to come along. You could say it was our first love. We fell in love and were completely crazy about it. That sweet and sour, slightly bittersweet memory will never, ever fade from our hearts.