PROFILE
Sex:male
Blood Type: AB
Location: Tokyo
Self-introduction: I want to be a scriptwriter. I’ve been saying that for several decades now.
In the end, I’m just a remnant of the Showa era…Space Battleship Yamato
Published March 16. See the original post here
Sunday. Lately, with the temperature fluctuations, it felt like spring was just around the corner, but today it was cold and rainy. Still, it seems like this cold feeling is finally ending.
It’s March, and maybe it was because of the “last-ditch struggle,” but work isn’t going well, and I have zero motivation. Well, it’s always been zero. I don’t care about work, and thoughts about my other life and that “last-ditch struggle” are going round and round in my head as usual…
Last Sunday came after a series of twists and turns, albeit trivial. Unfortunately, I was hit by my usual migraine and was tossing and turning all day again, so I couldn’t watch a movie. And finally, today is Sunday. It seems like it took an unusually long time to get to this day. I’m exaggerating a bit.
Anyway, I was planning to watch a movie, but the other day, Prime Video started streaming the TV anime series Space Battleship Yamato, so I got nostalgic and enjoyed binge-watching it for the first time in a while. I couldn’t watch it to the end, so today I only watched Episode 22, the final battle with General Domel in the Rainbow Star Cluster.
I don’t need to say too much about it now, but this is a TV anime series that I was crazy about before Gundam, and it’s celebrating its 50th anniversary. Hideaki Anno, the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, is trying his hand at “remaking” it again, and it seems that this is part of that. So I decided to watch it again, that’s all.
I think I said this before, but for me, born in 1970, it was a series that I was obsessed with. But I was still a child at the time, and although I was frustrated that I couldn’t see the movie in the theater, I tried my best to watch it every time it was broadcast on TV. Unfortunately, I became an adult without seeing the very last movie, Final Yamato.
To tell the truth, when Final Yamato was broadcast on TV, I recorded it on my VCR, but the “hand-me-down” Beta VCR I got from somewhere at the time was in terrible condition, so unfortunately the recording failed. To be honest, my enthusiasm for Yamato cooled along with that feeling of disappointment or resignation. It’s not that I got tired of it because I became an adult, maybe I was just trying to forget about it.
Anyway, even though there are many different ways to watch it now, this series is still a thing of the past, just a nostalgic memory from my childhood, and I caught a glimpse of it when it happened to be broadcast a few years ago. But still, with the 50th anniversary and Hideaki Anno appearing, my motivation to catch up, and also to watch Final Yamato which I had never been able to see until now, started to grow.
So, to start with, the first TV series.
The first movie version was a so-called “compilation” of the TV series, so I thought it would be enough to watch that, but I still wanted to thoroughly cover it, so I’ve managed to watch up to episode 22 since it was released.
Watching it again, I was surprised at how well I remembered the plot and lines, and was touched by the episodes that were cut out of the movie. I guess it’s a mix of good and bad things that come with age, but in the end, I can’t deny that most of it is sad nostalgia. Yet, I was able to watch it with a simple nostalgic yet fresh feeling.
Nowadays, it’s full of all kinds of taboos, such as glorification of war, male superiority, militarism, contempt for women, misogyny, full-on power harassment, and so on, and it really makes you feel the era. But still, the fun and exhilaration of immersing yourself in the catharsis of simply being a sci-fi anime, a space opera, and a hero story was quickly brought back to me, and I’m immersed in positive feelings now, thinking that maybe I don’t have to just dismiss it as nostalgia.
As I said earlier, the episodes that depict the core of the story that were left in the movie version are great, but the episodes that were omitted are also interesting, such as the one where they say goodbye to Earth before leaving the solar system, the episode on Planet Beemera, the episode where Shiro Sanada survives with his hands and feet destroyed, and the episode where Aihara goes crazy. I’ve enjoyed the so-called “cut episodes” and am looking forward to watching the final four episodes, the climax.
Also, General Domel, who is hailed as a great leader in this series, had a pretty bad personality when he first appeared, and I’ve only just realized the reason for the “change” in the skin color of the Gamilans, which is fun in its own way.
So, can I watch the remaining four episodes tonight? No, I guess not. I’ll save that fun for later.
For me, this is the “main story”…Space Battleship Yamato 2
Published April 8. See the original post here
I unexpectedly got a day off. What’s going on?
Well, I don’t want to work, that’s fine…it’s not good, but well, it can’t be helped, it’s the path I chose. Fine, if that’s how you want to play it, I’m ready for it…so I binge-watched Yamato 2, which I had been putting off.
It’s the TV version of Farewell that I watched on Sunday…or rather, I wonder if this relationship is a bit unusual. rather than the movie version being made as a so-called compilation, the length of the movie version was extended. No, maybe it would be more appropriate to say that the story was “carefully reconstructed” as an anime series. So, Yamato 2.
It’s basically the same story as Farewell, but it’s more detailed, the concept is skillfully manipulated, and the characters and relationships are depicted more deeply. After all, it’s a 26-episode TV anime series, so of course there’s a lot that can be shown.
As I said the other day, for hardcore Yamato fans, Farewell is the mainstream, and Yamato 2 seems like the deviation. But for me, since I saw Yamato 2 first, Farewell is just a compilation.
This was probably the first time I’ve seen it properly since the original broadcast, and as always, the details of the development, even the lines, although of course not everything, brought back memories of my childhood, which made me smile. But when I think about it, videos were not yet widespread back then, and I was supplementing my memories with all kinds of books.
Of course, it may be due in part to the excellent memory of my flexible brain as a child, but I also read so many commentary books, or what we would call storybooks today, that I ended up with these “memories.” Things like the Keibunsha Encyclopedia. I’ve missed it.
I wrote about how I had the same experience when I watched Mobile Suit Gundam a long time ago, and just like Yamato, I also stored my memories from books. It’s just the nostalgia of an old man, but that was the era. No good, I’ve started going down memory lane again…
Anyway, watching Yamato 2 again, of course it brings back memories, but to find some meaning in watching it now, I think I should write down my impressions in comparison to Farewell. But in the end, I can’t help but feel nostalgic and want to praise myself for remembering all those differences in detail.
The fact that Teresa isn’t naked, Sabera’s costume is a different color, the way Hajime Saito and Ryu Hijikata appear and exit, the fact that all the main characters who died in the movie survive, and so on. I can’t help but smile, or be amazed, or feel a little sorry for myself for remembering all those little differences…
But still, compared to Farewell, which concludes as a story of self-sacrifice, Yamato 2 — where everyone survives and accepts defeat in order to move forward, or perhaps even explores the possibility of a sequel in a more commercial sense — feels more fitting to me. That impression hasn’t changed even after watching it again after all these years.
I could go on and on about all the details, but there’s just one thing…Teresa’s presence is portrayed quite differently. Aside from whether she was naked or not, Teresa in Farewell was merely a symbol, so to speak, but in Yamato 2 she has a romance with Daisuke Shima, and there’s a reason why she’s the only surviving person on the planet Telezart. Her presence stands out even more due to the careful portrayal that is unique to the TV series.
Also, while Miyuki Ueda provided the voice in Farewell, it was Mari Okamoto in Yamato 2. Yes, it’s the same person who is well known for her role as Sayuri Ozora in the (live-action) Otoko wa Tsurai yo series. I don’t know why the voice actor changed between the movie and TV versions, but I feel that Mari Okamoto’s voice suits her better.
Actually, when I looked into Mari Okamoto again, I found out that she had a brilliant career not only as an actor, but also as a voice actress, and I was surprised to find out that she had a voice like that and that she was also suited to this character, even though it’s a little late.
Personally, I like the Rococo voice in the Osamu Tezuka anime Fumoon on 24-hour TV. Ah, I miss it…
Well, rewatching works from that time is just nostalgia after all. But that’s okay, isn’t it? After all, the theme of Space Battleship Yamato is love.
So, I’ll probably be immersed in nostalgia for a while, but I’ll make it as meaningful as possible.
They have a common enemy, so I watched them all at once…
The New Voyage and Be Forever Yamato
Published April 12. See the original post here
It’s been a while since I had a Saturday off. Actually, I had a day off yesterday too. Well, for better or worse, sometimes I can indulge in this kind of relaxed lifestyle. It’s not good to get excited or upset about something like this at my age.
I also had a health check today, so I tried to make it meaningful. But, does “meaningful” to me necessarily mean meaningful to the life I should lead as a human being? My life is full of pointless “brain-wracking” stuff…sorry, I’m an idiot.
Anyway, I quickly got through my health check first thing in the morning and headed home before lunch. It’s forecast to rain tomorrow, so I quickly bought some groceries at Summit, quickly did the laundry, and had lunch. So, I’ll continue with the Space Battleship Yamato series.
I’m going with the flow and will watch two movies today The New Voyage, the only TV special in the series, and its sequel, Be Forever.
The New Voyage was a two-hour TV special, so I watched it live when it was broadcast. It was a direct sequel to the ending of Yamato 2, so it was very exciting at the time, and truly thrilling. The collapse of Gamilas, the rampage of Iscandar, the alliance with Dessler…anyway, I remember watching it with excitement as a child like it was yesterday.
It was 1979, so I must have been in the third grade at the time. But even so, I was amazed at how much I remembered the incredible details when I watched it. I’ve probably seen it once or twice before, but it was a long time ago, and I’m amazed at how well I remember all those details. As I said last time, I think it’s not just the ability of a child’s soft brain to absorb things, but also the fact that I supplemented my memories bit by bit with books.
Watching it again at this age, I can’t help but feel nostalgic, but I also find myself smiling at how the plot is so forced, and how Yamato is the only ship with such strong armor and powerful weapons that ensure it can never be sunk. But basically, I think I enjoyed it because of the nostalgia and excitement, and it brought me back to my childhood.
Rereading the Wikipedia explanations now, it seems that the film was indeed at the mercy of the various intentions of the creators, and the same was true of Be Forever. So today I went straight through to watch Be Forever, which was released in theaters the following year in 1980.
This was a movie, so again I couldn’t see it in a theater at the time. For elementary school students in those days, the luxury of watching an anime movie in a theater was a bit of a hurdle for a poor boy. I can’t help but look back on my childhood, when it was still difficult to see movies in theaters without my parents’ wishes. So, if I remember correctly, I remember “watching” Be Forever in a book first, and feeling like I saw it with my imagination.
Of course, I watched it immediately when was broadcast on TV a while later, but because I had been cramming so much with books, I wasn’t particularly moved when I actually watched the main story, which is a disappointing memory.
Before today, I’d probably only watched it once or twice, and it’s been quite a while since I last saw it as a child, so the point was to see if my disappointing memories would remain the same. Surprisingly, contrary to those disappointing memories, I found it quite interesting.
This film was billed as using the so-called “Warp Dimension system,” and I heard at the time of its release that it had a device where the screen would expand horizontally during key scenes when it was released in theaters. So I was vaguely aware of this, but of course something like that couldn’t be reproduced on TV broadcasts at the time. I mean, they were CRT TVs after all. 4:3 was the standard.
It seems that they reproduce it on DVD and Blu-ray, but today was the first time I’ve experienced “Warp Dimension” on a sunny day, even though it’s on my TV. Before watching it, I thought it would expand from Vista to Cinemascope at the crucial scenes, but it was standard from the beginning to the middle. This is probably because the original negative was standard and the theatrical version had the top and bottom cut off to make it Vista size.
And it’s not just the crucial parts that are in Cinemascope size; it’s only in scope size when we jump into the “unknown universe” in the middle of the story, and I was excited, but it’s wide screen all the way from there until the end, so I was a little surprised. I always thought it would be something like Christopher Nolan, where the size would change rapidly, but thinking about it, back then the projectionist had to do it manually, so it must have been impossible to change it many times in a theater. I thought the simple change from standard in the first half to Cinemascope in the second half matched the story’s development perfectly.
And that’s the main story. I remembered it in detail like it was a lie, but contrary to the fact that it didn’t leave a strong impression on me at the time, I was completely captivated by the drama, or rather, the unsettling development that was greater than I imagined, and it moved me more than I had ever felt in any of the previous works.
Of course, the forced plot twists and contrived concepts felt more aggressive than in previous works, but the fact that my childhood impression had changed so much was something I’d never experienced before with this series, leaving me immersed in a bittersweet nostalgia I never imagined I’d feel as an adult.
Dessler didn’t appear, but the enemy was the Dark Nebula Empire, the same as in The New Voyage, and the long-awaited appearance of the “final boss,” so to speak, was a big deal. Not only that, but the human relationships were more complicated and emotional, with a dramatic development in which Susumu Kodai and Yuki Mori were torn apart. There were many homages to War of the Worlds and 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I didn’t notice as a child, and I was surprised to see that it was Planet of the Apes! In that sense, I really enjoyed it.
The two films today are the only ones in the series that are connected in a way that makes them “first and second parts,” in that they fight the same enemy, but I also learned for the first time that the two films have a strange relationship, with the difference between a TV special and a movie, and the complex intertwining of the intentions of the production team, as I said earlier, so I think it was a “gain,” so to speak.
Also, because it’s an HD remaster, the beauty of the images in Be Forever and the joy of seeing Yamato in Cinemascope size for the first time made me really happy. I was moved in a way I had never imagined before watching it.
But I wonder if these two films are considered “superfluous” by true fans? That wasn’t the case for me at all, and I especially liked Be Forever, which I think I enjoyed even more at my age.
Now, next up is Yamato III. It’s a TV series, so it’s 25 episodes in total. Space Battleship Yamato isn’t over yet.
Golden Week begins…Space Battleship Yamato III
Published April 27. See the original post here
Golden Week is finally here. There’s a lot of talk about how this year’s weekdays mean that many people will have 11 consecutive days off, and that if they take those days off, it will be an 11-day vacation. I’m one of those who will benefit from this, and I’ve been off since yesterday.
As a single man in his 50s and a loser with a part-time job, my income will drop sharply, so it’s not the time to be all happy about it. But if I stay home instead of going to my hometown or going out for leisure, I won’t spend much money, so it’s lonely and pathetic, but it’s a great opportunity to watch movies or TV dramas, and a long holiday is a blessing if I want to devote my energy to “desperate efforts” as usual, so I’m going to spend my time quietly and stay within my means. Well, that’s the case every year.
I’ve been working through the Space Battleship Yamato series little by little and today I spent the whole day finally watching Yamato III to the end. This was the last TV anime series after the movie Be Forever Yamato that I watched the other day, and was broadcast from the same year, 1980, to the following year.
Since it was on TV, I watched it diligently when it aired, but as I mentioned earlier, I ended up watching it before Be Forever. It’s been about 45 years since I last saw it, but as expected, I find myself grimacing at how I can still remember the details of the story so well.
However, seeing it for the first time in quite a while, I thought that although I was naturally engrossed in it at the time, I also vaguely remember having mixed feelings about how repetitive it was. This time around, I felt the same way. It wasn’t just the memories of watching it with excitement, I also remembered having the complicated feelings of a child, and I was reminded once again of how amazing childhood memories are.
When I rewatched it now, taking into account the various circumstances and information surrounding the production that I’ve only just learned, I could see that it was shortened, and that the ending was quite rushed, and I was reminded of the difficulty of continuing a series.
The concept of Yamato and Earth caught up in an interstellar war between the Galman Empire and the Bolar Federation clearly reflects Japan’s position in the Cold War structure at the time. Dessler’s portrayal is a bit rough. The existence of the planet Shalbart, which abandoned its weapons in regret for being consumed by war due to its advanced civilization. The mysterious princess is the key to the story, which is the same plot as in the first and second films. The concept that there is only one year left until the destruction of the Earth is repeated, so when I watch it again now, I feel a sense of well-worn nostalgia. But I enjoyed it, taking into account all the different circumstances.
I also miss the profound narration by Goro Naya, who played Juzo Okita in the first film. Hearing the phrase “abnormal nuclear fusion” repeated in his voice makes me feel like I’m traveling back in time. I remember the Hydrocosmogen Cannon. Gamilas and Dessler still have a dictatorial side to them. The Bolar Federation was on our side and the Gamilas Empire was the enemy, but when Dessler shows up, it all becomes the opposite. Princess Ruda calls him “Ageha-san.” Ah, I’m so nostalgic.
The number of episodes was shortened by half, and perhaps because of that, the story seems more forced. It was carefully written in the beginning, but suddenly becomes fast-paced and ends abruptly. I didn’t really notice it as a child, so when I watch it again now, I’m a bit shocked, or I can’t help but smile bitterly. I have mixed feelings about how it turned out.
But still, it’s fun and nostalgic…Space Battleship Yamato.
And now, finally, the last one. I’m ready to watch Final Yamato, the only one I grew up without seeing. I’ll have to quickly watch what there is to watch, and then make a last-ditch effort…right?
If I had watched it back then… Space Battleship Yamato: Final Chapter
Published April 28. See the original post here
Golden Week continues. I can’t help it, I ended up oversleeping and lazing around. But I’ll excuse myself by saying that I was facing the real me, so I’ll allow myself to be lazy…
So I got myself to rewatch Yamato III and finally, after 42 years, I was able to watch the last movie in the series, Final Yamato, the only one I hadn’t seen.
I heard about the various circumstances and rumors I heard back then, and remembered them as a child, and now I’ve learned a little bit of information, including the friction and troubles within the production team, and now I’m ready to watch this 2 hour 43 minute epic, the final chapter of the series.
Well, there’s no doubt that it concluded in many ways, but…as for the completeness of the work itself…I have very complicated feelings.
I would have liked the story to have developed more as the series progressed, but it can’t be denied that it feels like an unnecessary addition. It feels like they forced it into a masterpiece, relying on the weight and pomp of the title “final chapter.” I don’t know how to explain it, but although they managed to maintain the air of a culmination by throwing in this and that, it felt like the friction and confusion of the production team was showing all over the screen.
The deepening of each character that had been built up throughout the series, especially Susumu Kodai, was turned upside down in this “final chapter,” and they threw in the absurd concept that Captain Okita, who was an honorable warrior in the first series, was actually still alive. They rewrote his relationship with Kodai from scratch, so I kind of lost interest there. When it was released, the fact that Okita would return was one of the selling points of the film, and of course I knew about it, but when I saw it in the actual film for the first time at my age, I just couldn’t get excited about it.
If I had seen it in the theater back then…it was 1983, so I would have been in my first year of junior high school…how would I have felt? I think I would have been disappointed.
When I saw Return of the Jedi in the same year, I think my excitement for the medium of film was at its highest, but if I had seen Final Yamato that year…no, watching it for the first time today, 42 years later, I think I’m glad I didn’t see it.
The treatment of the newly created, strongest enemy in the series’ history, the rival Dessler, and the water planet Aquarius, which is deeply connected to the origins of the Earth…I think that whatever the concept, it’s a fitting “final chapter,” but the way the story was told was sloppy, or rushed, and the overall forceful writing style was different from the previous series. It left me feeling uneasy, and to be honest, I just couldn’t get into it, even though it was the very end.
Captain Okita’s reappearance was a letdown, but it also brought back memories, and I was happy to be able to immerse myself in the appeal of the character once again. But it seemed to be a huge hindrance to the character portrayal of Kodai that had been built up until that point. Even though his romance with Yuki converges into a happy ending, fitting for the final chapter, it wasn’t something that moved me from the bottom of my heart, and it was frustrating.
The narration by Tatsuya Nakadai gave it a certain air of dignity, and I was quite excited about Yamato led by Captain Okita as a return to the roots. But when I thought about the fact that the series was made possible by Kodai, there was a sense of awkwardness that followed from start to finish, and I didn’t really enjoy it from the bottom of my heart.
I suppose they wanted to conclude the series (which had already concluded with Farewell to Yamato) with this “final chapter,” but I can easily imagine the protests of hardcore fans. Although it’s a bad way to put it, I can’t help but feel that it was an unnecessary addition.
I was able to fully enjoy the widescreen, or rather the atmosphere of 70mm film, but even so, there was no consistency in the overall image creation, and there were many brush strokes that were different from the image creation that had evolved throughout the series so far. Even the occasional use of video footage suddenly reduced the resolution, and at one point even the “investigation lines” were visible. It was a real letdown. What was the reason for the change in the touch of the images here and there? Could it have been the production team’s indecision, scars left by repeated delays in the production itself?
This may be the wrong way to put it, but up until then the films had been carefully painted with watercolors, and the technique had improved throughout the series. But in the very last film, it suddenly felt like an oil painting by someone else.
Of course, there are beautiful images that were carefully rendered as an extension of the series, but when you’re suddenly shown the dense images of oil paintings that emphasize roughness, it’s hard to think of it as “evolution.” There are quite a few scenes that ruin the fineness that is unique to film, especially 70mm film. It went beyond a complicated feeling, and it felt like the production team’s indecision was reflected not only in the progression of the story but also in the images themselves. In that sense it was a little sad.
Wow, I never imagined it would be like this. Of course, as the “final chapter,” I think it meets a certain standard in terms of scale and spectacle as a culmination of the series. And I do feel a sense of emotion at having witnessed the end, even though it’s a little late. But even so…
It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but if I had seen this movie in the theater back then as a first-year junior high school student, my life might have been a little different. No, maybe that’s an exaggeration after all.
Even so, after 42 years, Space Battleship Yamato has finally “ended” in my mind.
Now my interest has shifted to how Hideaki Anno will reboot it. Or maybe I should watch Resurrection before that. It’s Golden Week, so I’ll think about that a little more while lazing around.
Obsessive rampage: Yamato Resurrection
Published May 11. See the original post here
The other day, I watched Final Yamato from 1983, the only part of the series I hadn’t seen, and it relieved a long-held feeling in my heart, or rather, fulfilled my hopes, but only for a moment. In 2009, it was reborn as Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection, just as the title suggests.
2009…I had broken my leg and spent almost a year in different circumstances, so I probably didn’t even notice that Yamato had been revived, and I wouldn’t have had time to pay attention to it, but that year was very difficult. Anyway, no matter how much people said that Yamato had been revived, I hadn’t seen Final Yamato, so I can only say that there was no way I would have touched on it.
It’s not that I have no interest at all, but rather I am curious about it. For example, Koichi Yamadera had taken over from Kei Tomiyama, and it was Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s last work. Still, having seen the long-awaited Final Yamato the other day and having sorted it out in my mind, I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to watch Resurrection, even though I hadn’t heard many good things about it.
The story is set 17 years after Final Yamato, making it a legitimate sequel, but Kei Tomiyama, who played the main character Susumu Kodai, is no longer with us, and Yoko Asagami, who played Yuki Mori, declined to appear due to personal reasons. Takeshi Aono, who played Shio Sanada, Ichiro Nagai, who played Dr. Sado, and Kenici Ogata, who played Analyzer, are still in their roles. And Toru Furuya is still playing Tasuke Tokugawa, which is great news for old fans. The rest of the cast has changed, and a lot of new characters appear.
The story is similar Yamato III, but this time the Earth is going to be swallowed by a moving black hole, and the main plot is the migration of all of humanity. But that alone wouldn’t make it Space Battleship Yamato, so there are enemies who block the migration, but the key point is that they are introduced as part of a larger interstellar alliance of nations. Within that larger framework, a “split among allies” occurs, revealing a path to averting Yamato‘s crisis — a plot development that, to put it bluntly, relies too much on external factors, which makes me chuckle.
That aside, the core of the story revolves around whether they can save Earth from the mobile black hole, or whether they can abandon Earth and relocate. But from the very first page, it says “Original Concept: Shintaro Ishihara,” and I just thought, “Huh?” and got a bad feeling right away. I don’t know the details, but why Ishihara? Why would someone like him, who is like the embodiment of the far right, be involved with Yamato? Was he acquainted with Nishizaki? From the very beginning, these questions swirled around in my head.
Considering that I don’t know much about Nishizaki as a person, maybe I should learn more about the historical significance of Space Battleship Yamato as an adult.
Anyway, I was trying to immerse myself in the world of Yamato 17 years after Final, but I couldn’t help but point out the forced resurrection of the ship and the way the new, younger crew members were portrayed. It seems like the creators misunderstood that making them look and talk like the Showa era was enough to represent young people, resulting in superficial characters. That part really made me think that they hadn’t broken free from the “Showa perspective” of Nishizaki and Ishihara.
On top of that, despite their superficial portrayal, the young characters kept saluting excessively, and despite being the newest work, the entire film was oddly permeated with militarism and a parade of scenes glorifying self-sacrifice, making me feel disheartened halfway through.
While the misogynistic elements have diminished to some extent, the fact that so many characters end up committing suicide missions makes it hard to get genuinely excited, no matter how refined or revamped Yamato is, or how powerful the Wave-Motion Gun has become.
The pacing of the story, while seemingly evolved over time, felt more forced than the original series, with overly simplistic and rushed developments throughout. It was a constant source of frustration, leaving me wondering what exactly I was supposed to find appealing. Is this really the same Space Battleship Yamato I once knew? I was confused from start to finish.
But somehow I managed to make it to the ending, and what surprised me even more was the “to be continued” message, which left me even more confused. I couldn’t help but feel that Nishizaki’s obsessive dedication, for better or worse, had been poured into this “final” work. By the way, there seems to be a director’s cut of this film with a completely different ending, but I guess that’s enough for me.
I don’t think there will be any sequels, and perhaps in response to that, remakes have been released one after another to this day. It feels like beating a dead horse, but I can’t help but feel that they’ve tarnished the legacy. Still, Nishizaki’s achievements are undeniably great, and I don’t think the brilliance of the original series will fade, no matter how much the remakes are talked about.
As for the remakes, I managed to watch the first one, Yamato 2199, but although I enjoyed it at first, my enthusiasm waned as the episodes progressed and it strayed farther and farther from the original touch, and I haven’t watched it since. But after watching Resurrection, I’m starting to think I’ll give it another try someday. I don’t know when that will be, though.