June 2014 brings us news of Yamato on the big screen in America, a wave of new model kits including Mecha Collection #4, the 1/500 Yamato expansion sets, and the 1/12 Analyzer, a big lineup of event announcements, the latest magazine coverage, a long-awaited art book, some unusual surprises, and more.
Toward a Sea of Stars
Earth is on the verge of destruction. Now, humanity’s last hope takes flight. The name of the ship is Yamato. They leave Earth behind and set a course for unexplored space. There are 365 days left before humanity becomes extinct.
May 2014 is destined to be remembered as the month we all learned where 2199 is going next, with the first teaser trailer for Ark of the Stars. New products were released and announced, and news broke of an orchestral alliance. Here’s everything that happened in this intriguing month…
Messenger of Iscandar
The year is 2199 A.D. and Earth is on the verge of extinction. According to scientists, there is only one year left until the human race becomes extinct. This is the story of the Space Battleship Yamato.
April 2014 was a very active month for 2199 with some major news and product announcements. The focal point for this was most definitely the Yamato 2199 Gengaten [Art Exhibition] in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, which was reminiscent of a movie opening with all the trimmings. [2 pages]
March 2014: Bandai took a month off from releasing new model kits, but all regular activity continued non-stop with the announcement of an art exhibition and a dazzling smart phone game, a new book from Hobby Japan, more manga, more figures, more doujinshi, and even some secret historical trivia that made it a colorful month.
Model Graphix #352 contained a major cover story on Yamato 2199 that included an extensive 4-page interview with Yutaka Izubuchi, his first since the conclusion of 2199. Here, he shares his perspective at the end of one road and the beginning of the next.
February 2014 was marked by a wave of new products and figures to accompany the 2014 Winter Wonder Festival, Banpresto’s “Best Lottery” goods arrived in stores, Star Blazers 2199 made its North American debut, and Ship’s Log #6 published the first director interview on the 2014 feature film. See all that and more! [2 pages]
From Model Graphix magazine #352: Since releasing the Bandai 1/350 Space Battleship Yamato model, Mr. Kishiyama has been involved with a flood of Yamato kits in quick succession. Of course, he also plays an active role as a developer of Yamato 2199 overall. He shares his passionate thoughts here.
Bandai Visual’s video release of Yamato 2199 was (and continues to be) the single most important element of the production. While the English subtitles clarify the story for us, however, the rest of the package is entirely in its native language. The main purpose of this videography is to sort all that out. [2 pages]
When Yamato 2199 was released on home video in Japan, each of the seven volumes came with 12-page, full color introductory booklets covering the episodes found on that disc. Each booklet ended with a brief essay by a heavy hitter from the production crew, both old and new. Those seven essays are presented here.
January 2014 saw an increase in online activity in the US, the first of the Garmillas carrier models, Best Lottery products from Banpresto, the GX-64 Yamato, the biggest magazine article yet in Model Graphix, manga from both Nico Nico Ace and Comic Blade, Plex’s first bridge paper model, and more!
The Garmillas design book from Yamato 2199 is the most comprehensive reference for the series. This extends beyond the exquisite artwork to include a collection of interviews with key staff members, including this one-of-a-kind essay by the linguist who created the Garmillas language from scratch.
From Model Graphix magazine #352: this article took its name from a pivotal website once run by Junichiro Tamamori, who would become the mecha designer for Yamato 2199 a few years later. Presented here are essays by both Mr. Tamamori and manga artist Michio Murakawa about the origins of 2199 mecha design.
If you’re a fan who’s been watching things for a while, part of the fun in seeing Yamato 2199 bloom and develop was catching the occasional homage to the past. The animation itself was full of them, but here we focus on other clever and creative nods to the past which proved that history was not forgotten.
December 2013: the year goes out with a ramp-up of activity – new talk shows, a new card game, Star Blazers 2199 news flashes, manga, magazine coverage, the magnificent 1/500 Yamato model kit, the biggest avalanche of doujinshi since the series began, and plenty more. [2 pages]
In this insightful interview from Great Mechanics DX #27, Yamato 2199‘s Chief Mechanical Director Masanori Nishii talks about the herculean effort of producing the second half of the series; building on trial and error, facing new challenges, and grappling with the climactic battles the brought the series to an end.
Hyperweapon is a semi-annual magazine that showcases the work of designer/director/modeler/manga artist Makoto Kobayashi. In recent years, it has been a major source for the art and design of Yamato Resurrection, and in the 2013 issue he wrote about his involvement with Yamato 2199 for the first time.
Model kits have been a vital part of the Space Battleship Yamato experience since the early days, and no one benefitted from that more than Bandai. The business of continuing the phenomenon was inherited by those who made it their career goal to carry the torch. This page covers models released in 2012 and 2013.
This second article from Monthly Star Navi magazine continues Professor Toshihiro Handa’s overview of the real astrophysics that played a part in the creative decisions of Yamato 2199.
November 2013 news: the Nico Nico webcasts return in force, the Super Formula season ends, new figures and model kits appear, Megahouse shows off at the Mega Hobby Expo, and the first approach to American shores begins with the announcement of Star Blazers 2199 – all this and the regular media coverage. [2 pages]
Every Japanese theater that showed Yamato 2199 also carried exclusive swag, with a new wave accompanying each film. Taken as a single body of merchandising, this product line is staggering in both volume (well over 200 individual items) and variety. See it all here!
October 2013 was less busy than the climactic months of August and September, but the arrival of Chapter 7 on home video – the final round of the entire 2199 anime campaign – made for a fantastic wave of products at the end of the month, and two big hobby shows pointed the way to the future. [2 pages]
Translated from the Yamato 2199 soundtrack CD booklets: three essays on composer Akira Miyagawa, sound supervisor Tomohiro Yoshida, and series director Yutaka Izubuchi – the key staff members who took on the heavy responsibility of remaking the greatest anime score of all time.
More songs were composed for Yamato 2199 than any previous Yamato production, and you can get to know them better here with complete translations of their lyrics. Also included are links to hear each one and a phonetic version for singalong purposes. Clear your schedule for this one!
Superfan Luis Cotovio brings you an episode-by-episode breakdown of every track heard in the series, an effort that reveals unreleased tracks, unused tracks, multiple uses of tracks, and other interesting details for the 2199 music connoisseur.
From Monthly Star Navi magazine comes this article by Professor Toshihiro Handa of the Kagoshima University Department of Science, who serves as Yamato 2199‘s astrophysics advisor. In it, he comments on the anime’s representation of real stellar objects just as he did in his earlier live lectures.
Episode 25 of Yamato 2199 was unique out of the entire series for having three different edits, each with progressively more footage added. This gave fans a way to extend their 2199 experience just a bit longer, and put this particular episode into a category all its own. How did each version differ? Found out here.
