A collection of the classic Earth Defense Force mecha designed for Farewell to Yamato and Yamato 2 by the great Studio Nue in 1978, still some of the most respected anime mecha design to this day.
With the approach of Yamato 2202 and the explosion of new design work that will accompany it, we revisit the original designs from 1978 for comparison. This collection reviews the characters of Gatlantis, the Comet Empire.
With the approach of Yamato 2202 and the explosion of new design work that will accompany it, we revisit the original designs from 1978 for comparison. This collection reviews the mecha of Gatlantis, the Comet Empire.
The Groundwork
It took an enormous effort to make the first Yamato TV Series. It’s a classic tale of struggle and perserverence that should be told for the rest of time. Compared to that, less attention is paid to the big story that came next: how it was topped.
The Aritsune Toyota Draft
In December 1977, the writers were encouraged to roam in whatever direction their imaginations took them. Therefore, their ideas differed significantly from the finished film. Toyota was the first to crack the story, basing his concept directly on Nishizaki’s proposal.
The Keisukue Fujikawa Draft
This was the second draft of the story, which kept many of Toyota’s concepts. As the head scriptwriter for the first Yamato TV series, Fujikawa was the logical choice to take the reigns and push everything forward to the next phase.
The Toshio Masuda Draft
The ideas developed in late 1977 were turned over to Producer Toshio Masuda for further refinement. This would become the foundation for the screenplay, but the second half was somewhat different. The material presented here is extracted from that section.
Battle Plans
A scene-by-scene breakdown of battles and strategy for the action scenes. While Series 1 was considered an extrapolation of World War II, battle scenes in Farewell would be designed on the basis of modern scientific strategies and combat methods.
The Leiji Matsumoto Plot
Matsumoto wrote one more draft of the story before scriptwriting began. The draft presented here infused with his own ideas for SF concepts, strategy, character names, and battle scenes that reflected Matsumoto’s personality in interesting ways.
