March 30 is the broadcast date of the final episode of Space Battleship Yamato
Wasn’t it “Earth” that Yamato was trying to save?
by Tatsuji Nagano. See the original article here.
The TV anime Space Battleship Yamato, which aired a total of 26 episodes from October 1974 to March 1975, was a monumental work that evolved from “TV manga” to “anime”. It is still loved by many fans, with distribution starting on Amazon Prime Video. We explore the background of the planning of Space Battleship Yamato.
The final episode depicts Yamato‘s return to Earth
In order to save Earth from the brink of destruction, the battleship Yamato, a symbol of the former Japanese Navy, is converted into a spaceship and sets off on a journey to the distant planet Iscandar. Space Battleship Yamato (Nippon TV), which aired from 1974 to 1975, was a groundbreaking science-fiction anime that captivated viewers with its epic story full of dreams and romance, the elaborate mecha designs by popular manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and the richly human characters. Reruns and the release of the movie version caused a huge boom. Without the success of Yamato, the anime scene in Japan would have been very different.
Sunday, March 30, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of the final episode. We look back on the famous quote by Captain Juzo Okita that has been engraved in the hearts of viewers, and the circumstances at the time when Space Battleship Yamato was planned.
Captain Okita’s words upon returning to Earth
After a fierce battle with the planet Gamilas led by Leader Dessler, Yamato arrives on the planet Iscandar, where the mysterious beauty Starsha awaits. After receiving the radiation removal device from Starsha, Yamato and its crew hurry back to Earth, where the countdown to destruction is on.
Just before reaching Earth, Dessler, who was supposed to have died on the planet Gamilas, tenaciously approaches Yamato and challenges her to hand-to-hand combat. As radioactive gas flows into Yamato, a tense scene continues in which Susumu Kodai, the acting captain, faces off directly with Dessler.
In order to save Kodai, Yuki Mori activates the radiation removal device, which has not yet been tested. But when it is activated, Yuki dies from lack of oxygen. The scene where Kodai holds the body of his beloved Yuki and heads to the bridge, saying, “Yuki, let’s see the Earth together,” is tear-jerking.
I also can’t forget Captain Okita’s famous words. Okita had been suffering from radiation sickness due to his long time in space. After asking the ship’s doctor, Dr. Sado, to leave him alone for a while, he looked at Earth from the captain’s room and muttered, “Earth…everything is so nostalgic…” These were the last sentimental words uttered by Captain Okita, who had always spoken positively.
The Yamato project was going to be the trump card that saved Mushi Productions from a difficult situation
It is known that producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki was in charge of the original concept and planning of Space Battleship Yamato, but the project was launched around March 1973, the year before it was broadcast. At the time, Nishizaki was working on the musical anime Wansa-kun (Fuji TV) at Mushi Productions, and together with Mushi’s chief director, Eiichi Yamamoto, he created the proposal for Space Battleship Yamato and offered it to TV stations.
At that time, Mushi Productions was in the red and on the verge of bankruptcy. Space Battleship Yamato was going to be the trump card that saved Mushi Productions from this crisis.
In Eiichi Yamamoto’s memoir, Mushi Productions Rise and Fall (Shinchosha, 1989), he says that he wrote the proposal for Space Battleship Yamato with a feeling that the world was collapsing as the situation worsened day by day. However, it was too late. By the time Yomiuri TV gave the go-ahead for the project, Mushi Productions had gone bankrupt.
As a result, Producer Nishizaki’s personal office, Office Academy, became the production base for Space Battleship Yamato.
Director Tomino’s rookie years at Mushi Productions
Director Yoshiyuki Tomino is famous as the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam (TV Asahi). Director Tomino also started his career at Mushi Productions. Having just graduated from Nihon University College of Art, he was immediately thrown into the production field, where he made his debut as a scriptwriter and director with the TV anime Mighty Atom [Astro Boy] (Fuji TV). This was from 1964 to 1966.
At that time, Mushi’s main staff gathered together to produce the color anime Jungle Emperor [Kimba] (Fuji TV), and the black-and-white version of Astro Boy from the middle of the series onward was left to young staff members with little experience, including Director Tomino. He was extremely active, directing the most episodes, including the popular episode The Blue Knight, which was unusual for a rookie.
However, Director Tomino felt uncomfortable at Mushi Productions and left in 1967. He then made his big break with Mobile Suit Gundam, which was produced in 1979 by Nippon Sunrise, a company set up by staff from the old Mushi Productions. The design of Mobile Suit Gundam, in which the protagonist Amuro Ray and other young boys and girls with no combat experience are forced to board a new ship, feels like a projection of the harsh experiences of the Mushi Productions era.
Space Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam are considered masterpieces of science fiction animation, but it can be said that both of their origins lie in Mushi Productions.
After Captain Okita takes his last breath, Yamato returns to Earth. And the Earth, which had been reddish-brown, returns to its beautiful blue color. Perhaps what the Yamato crew were trying to save was actually the financially-troubled Mushi Productions.
