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.
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.
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.
Continuing our voyage back to the summer of 1980, we find some more magazine coverage of Be Forever Yamato, including some exclusive photos of the sea cruise and a rare interview with Leiji Matsumoto.
Your guide to everything seen in Be Forever on the Yamato, Earth Defense Forces, and Dark Nebula sides, originally released as bonus features on the Voyager Entertainment Be Forever Yamato DVD.
Yamato Part 3 had previously been used as the working title of The New Voyage, and it was invoked again when the first official mention of “the Next Yamato” appeared in fall 1979. Follow the record from this point through January 1980 through the pages of the Yamato fan club magazine.
Previous Yamato stories were created by committee, but for Be Forever, Nishizaki and Matsumoto began the process as a duo, which was reflected by a joint authorship credit on the finished film. Their work began in a meeting on October 23, 1979. Presented here are the notes from that meeting.
Story draft by Leiji Matsumoto
Matsumoto took the lead in expanding initial ideas into a story synopsis. He produced two drafts, completing the first on December 8, 1979 and the second on December 31. Presented here is his second draft, which laid the foundation for the movie. [3 pages]
January to May, 1980
On the first day of 1980, the film was only eight months from its theatrical premiere, and all the production staff had to go on was the first story draft, still called Yamato Part III. But believe it or not, things were right on schedule.
Story draft by Toshio Masuda & Yoshinobu Nishizaki, January 1980.
Toshio Masuda took over the writing process with Nishizaki ensuring that the “Yamato flavor” was maintained in the finished draft. The story was essentially decided at this stage and became the foundation of the film. [3 pages]
Staff Essays
Tokuma Shoten’s Roman Album Volume 36 covered Be Forever in October 1980. The editorial staff of a Roman Album made it a point to collect essays from production staff members, which were always enlightening for fans wanting a look behind the curtain.
Producer’s Production Memoir
Executive producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s definitive essay on Be Forever Yamato‘s creation and production, from the Office Academy deluxe book, November 1980.
The amount of magazine coverage for Be Forever was simply staggering. If you were a fan in 1980, the newsstand was overflowing with gold. This collection is a time machine back to that summer, providing English-language access to the entire print-media deluge from May to July.
Here we continue our roundup of the prodigious press coverage for the movie, picking up in mid-July 1980 and rolling all the way through the blockbusting August premiere. See what all the major publishers (and some minor ones) had to say as the epic unfolded.
In the history of fantasy films, animated or otherwise, few premieres can compare with the rollout of Be Forever. The anticipation for this film burned even hotter than it had two years earlier. Ever the showman, Yoshinobu Nishizaki supervised an avalanche of events and set records that have yet to be broken.
