For years, his work in Japanese doujinshi earned him the title of premiere Yamato fan artist, and when the time came to choose an artist to adapt Yamato 2199 into manga form, there was no better candidate. Here, Mr. Murakawa speaks at length about this amazing project for the first time anywhere.
Nobuyoshi Habara is one of us. By that, I mean that he is a dedicated fan of Space Battleship Yamato who would be following it avidly if he didn’t happen to be working on it. As a contributor to both Resurrection and 2199, he has the unique distinction of bridging Yamatos old and new.
This high-profile, mainstream consumer’s magazine reports on everything from luggage to watches to personal electronics. This issue included a Space Battleship Yamato cover feature with a colorful retrospective and a variety of new interviews for Yamato 2199.
An eyewitness report by Gwyn Campbell. On April 17, 2012, series director Yutaka Izubuchi and mechanical director Masanori Nishii sat down for the first of what would become a traditional evening of “Yamatalk” to explore the making of the new series. Read a transcript of their discussion here.
Published March, 2012. This was the first major article ever published on 2199, an extensive interview with series director Yutaka Izubuchi and mechanical director Masanori Nishii. Published a few weeks before the premiere of Chapter 1, it featured never-before-seen artwork and extensive story details.
An eyewitness report by Gwyn Campbell. The Yamato 2199 Launch Event was held February 18, 2012, and revived the spirit of the original classic in style with a screening of Episode 1, live music, on-stage talk shows, a voice actor performance, and much more. Read a minute-by-minute description here.
“Tama” achieved international recognition with his phenomenal concept art, which updated Yamato for modern tastes without losing any of the original magic. To no one’s surprise, his work as a fan earned him the post of mecha designer on Yamato 2199. This interview was conducted in December 2011 and January 2012.
In October 2011, composer Akira Miyagawa was interviewed by Sean Robbins, producer and host of The J-Pop Exchange website. Sean graciously offered us the entire text of that interview for reprint here. So without further ado, we bring you the words of a musician named Miyagawa who is thankfully still among the living.
