While the creative minds at West Cape Corporation continued building Final Yamato, word of its development worked its way beyond the borders of the official fan club. Be Forever got its first TV broadcast, and new voices were heard from distant Osaka that would later shake and shape the world of anime.
After the final episode of Yamato III aired in early April, Exec Producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki found himself in an uncommon situation. For the first time since early 1978, he had no new anime in production. As echoes of his massive success story continued to ripple outward, conversations began about where the ship would go next.
Publisher Asahi Sonorama became the very first source for Yamato anime-on-demand when they released a set of three 8mm film reels on November 1, 1977. Each included sound and color with a running time of 10-12 minutes. Thanks to modern technology, the 8mm films can be seen again here and now.
After a banner year like 1980, it could only be expected that Yamato activity would decline, and it certainly did. In this time period, the second half of Yamato III was accompanied by a slew of publishing and two new albums, as the appearance of a new competitor inspired Yoshinobu Nishizaki to take action…
Of the four different Final Yamato novelizations, the one most strongly remembered was published by Tokuma Shoten in the “AM Juju” library. Written by Keigo Masaki and illustrated by animator Yoshinori Kanada, it is presented here chapter by chapter in English.
As we look back over the entire sweep of 1980, December was the lightest month with the least amount of activity. That wasn’t the case for Yoshinobu Nishizaki, since the cutdown of Yamato III made the future less certain. But the present was still a great place to be if you were a fan. Here’s how this rollercoaster year came to a close…
After Yamato III‘s first month on the air, Be Forever was still rippling through the publishing world and all seemed well in camp. At least on the surface. Underneath, things were less secure. What was going on, and why was the home office suddenly changing its name?
You have to push pretty hard to top the premiere of a new TV series, but the publishing community did its best with the last big wave of Be Forever books as Yamato III moved toward center stage. Here’s how it all played out…
A summary of Yamato‘s early years, struggling for TV ratings and ultimately catching fire due to timing, luck, and a fiercely loyal fan base. Published by Magmix on the occasion of the 50th anniversary.
As Be Forever Yamato closed its premiere run in Japanese theaters, spinoff media became more concentrated as the first dedicated books appeared, and magazines became the first source of information for what was coming next: a third TV series! Here’s what September 1980 had to offer fans who couldn’t get enough.
From the January 1979 issue of Kodansha’s manga magazine Mimi comes this six-page exploration of the Yamato 2 production office at Academy Studio, filled with insider details and step-by-step instructions for how anime is made.
In September 1980, a book titled Be Forever Yamato Setting Data Collection presented a wealth of material on the film. It included a conversation between four veteran voice actors, two of which appeared for the first time. Their complete discussion is presented here.
From the pages of Kobunsha’s digest magazine Gem (October 1980 issue) comes this conversation with Yoshinobu Nishizaki on the occasion of Be Forever Yamato, including side treks into the lifestyle choices afforded by the wealth from a successful anime franchise.
The enormous momentum that built up in July burst wide open on the first two days of August with the hotly-anticipated premiere of Be Forever Yamato. Familiar patterns reappeared as fans emerged to make themselves part of the spectacle and merch poured out to welcome them. Here’s the full rundown of this amazing month.
This was the last round before the premiere of Be Forever Yamato in theaters, and thus became the single busiest month in all of Yamato history until the remake era began. To this day, no anime film has been promoted as heavily, and it’s hard to imagine one reaching these heights ever again. [2 pages]
As Toei Studio’s animation staff labored through their final month on Be Forever Yamato, the publicity machine ramped up with major media coverage and the first live events of the summer. On the other side of the planet, Star Blazers was winning hearts and creating a groundswell of its own. Here’s a full view of this exciting month.
Despite their huge popularity, the live Yamato radio dramas still linger in relative obscurity, since news coverage was fleeting. At least until 1980. By the time the Be Forever radio drama was aired, media was there to cover it. Here is the result, along with the show itself.
The runup to summer 1980 was deceptively quiet on the surface, but momentum was building like a freight train underneath as Be Forever moved into the second half of production. It culminated in a press conference that sounded the starting gun on the biggest promo campaign in anime history.
When Farewell to Yamato returned to movie theaters in 4K at the start of 2024, some claimed that they remembered seeing extra scenes in 1978. As it happens, a fan named Yuji Onuma explored this topic in depth in a 2006 doujinshi. Here is Onuma’s article, generously translated for Cosmo DNA by Anton Mei Brandt.
The new decade dawned with the making of a new Yamato adventure that would be just one part of Academy Studio’s busiest year of them all. While the production team got started, a steady flow of media kept fans at bay. But…for how long? Here we examine the state of Yamato world for the first quarter of 1980.
This brings us to the halfway point between The New Voyage and Be Forever. With Space Carrier Blue Noah off and running, the next new Academy TV series was announced, accompanied by another rush of riches that closed out a very eventful year and gave way to an even bigger one.
As summer merged into fall, the world of Yamato was only getting bigger in the wake of The New Voyage, and Office Academy studio was only getting busier. The American premiere of Star Blazers and the Japanese premiere of Blue Noah were just part of the picture. Here’s everything that happened in these productive months.
No Yamato film outperformed Farewell in 1978, and no Yamato song outperformed the magnificent From Yamato With Love, which became hugely popular and made the pop music charts. Music researcher Toshiako Sato explores the making of the song with observations on the meaning of Yu Aku’s lyrics.
In the wake of The New Voyage, the popularity of Yamato‘s voice actors continued to grow in parallel with Yamato itself and the overall anime boom it helped to ignite. Here, those actors speak about their work in a pair of interviews, both published in September and October 1979.
From the Star Blazers/Yamato Premium Fan Club magazine (October 2023): an extensive interview with the personnel who brought almost 50-year old footage up to today’s digital standard. Remake scriptwriter Hideki Oka asks them about the process in detail and adds some fascinating trivia to an already rich historical record.
July 1979 delivered a big one-two punch with both of the feature films returning to theaters and The New Voyage premiering on TV. It was no accident that these things reinforced each other, making this the third straight summer of Yamato fever.
This stretch of time can be described as a gap, since it marked the period between the Yamato 2 finale and the broadcast premiere of The New Voyage. Such gaps are replete throughout Yamato history, but as we all know they are often rich in news, media, and merch.
The spring months of 1979 saw the epic conclusion of Yamato 2 and the first word about the next adventure. A continuing flood of media still gave everyone plenty to talk about. Here we see everything that happened in March and April. [2 pages]
As Yamato 2 moved into its post-Telezart phase with four very compelling episodes, development continued on The New Voyage, media coverage intensified, and new books kept the world expanding. Pile on more model kits, an unusual LP, and more, and it added up to a very rich month.
