The third chapter of the new series begins! Why does Space Battleship Yamato warm our hearts?
A look behind the scenes of the legendary series
by Tsutomu Kuno
Published April 13 by Mainichi Online. See the original article here
Tsutomu Kuno (born August 1, 1967) is a Japanese businessman, film producer, and film director. He is a lecturer at Nihon University and a professor at Bunkyo Gakuin University. He is a former associate professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Japan.
It’s Yamato.
Why does our hearts race when we hear the word Yamato? The indescribable emotion that wells up from deep within us when we hear the famous theme song intro is something unique to this series, unlike Gundam or Pokémon. What a mysterious piece of content it is. What is Yamato, which has reigned over the content industry for over 50 years since its release, and which lives in our hearts? Even with various disputes, the value of the work has never been diminished. It is truly a “national masterpiece.”
As you know, Many people who participated in the first work in 1974 would become indispensable to the anime scene thereafter, including Leiji Matsumoto, who created the world view and concept, mainly the visuals, Eiichi Yamamoto and Keisuke Fujikawa, who contributed to the construction of the story, Aritsune Toyota, who designed the space setting, Kazutaka Miyatake, who designed the mecha, Composer Hiroshi Miyagawa, and even Yoshiyuki Tomino, Noboru Ishiguro, and Tomonori Kogawa. And we must not forget the presence of the master director Toshio Masuda, who made a historic reconstruction in the movie version. Of course, it was Yoshinobu Nishizaki who first brought the series to life in “The Buck Stops Here” style. Since then, numerous sequels have been produced.
REBEL 3199 is the fourth work of the remake series that began in 2013. This series, pioneered by the greatest master of our time, Yutaka Izubuchi, has changed creators but inherited the concept, and has become a great saga that has lasted for more than ten years. The greatness of this series has already been talked about by various researchers and critics, and between new releases, there are screenings of 4K restored versions of the old works, proving that the energy is not stopping. By constantly incorporating the latest technology and trends of each era, along with a roster of cutting-edge creators and artists, this series has consistently remained at the pinnacle of the content industry, making it something truly special.
This collection of works, which serves as the backbone of the contemporary content scene, has undoubtedly crossed paths with many industry professionals on numerous occasions. In my own career in content creation, I have had the opportunity to encounter it many times.
“This is Leiji Matsumoto.” An hour-long phone call
My first encounter with him was at the production company where I was working at the time [Tohokushinsha Film Co.]. That company now holds the copyright to the first series. One day at the office, I was answering a call from outside, and the caller said, “This is Leiji Matsumoto.” I was surprised, but that was the beginning of the copyright battle that would later become famous. Matsumoto-sensei argued his legitimacy for over an hour before finally hanging up the phone. After answering the phone several times, for some reason he seemed to take a liking to me, and eventually he invited me to his home. I remember talking about the live-action Lightspeed Esper and the new anime Submarine Super 99.
What surprised me was his home in Oizumi. It was in the middle of Nerima Ward, and the walls were so thick that there was no cell phone reception. According to Matsumoto, when he was a boy in Kitakyushu, he witnessed people who died when their house collapsed in a bombing, so he built a sturdy house made of reinforced concrete that would never collapse, even in an earthquake. When he found out that my son’s name was Yamato, he drew Yamato and Kodai and gave it to me as a present. He drew something for me every time I visited him, so I ended up with quite a lot of treasures.
Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s uncompromising aura
I also attended a business meeting with Yoshinobu Nishizaki. I went to his office, which was in Bancho, several times as an assistant to my boss. I had to wait every time I went. When Nishizaki came out after we waited for more than 30 minutes, he exuded an aura of authority, and I couldn’t say a word during the negotiation (there were many things about this time I can’t write about). The only thing I can say is that I, who was sitting at the end of the sofa in the reception area and taking notes, was not even visible to him.
A few years later, I received a proposal from a completely different direction. Well, strictly speaking, it was from Mr. Matsumoto, but it was a proposal for a new work, or rather, a new project after a certain reconciliation with Nishizaki. However, at the time I was busy with the production of several live-action films (being chased by a tsunami of profit and loss statements and cash flow statements), so I had to politely decline. Then, a certain big producer from an independent broadcasting station stepped up and the project was launched, but in the end, there were many twists and turns and it ended up in a different direction than originally intended, so I watched from afar with a sigh.
It resurfaced as a live-action “revival,” but…
I think it was truly a cursed work.
But it is also a work that captivates people, especially Japanese men, and stirs up emotions that are difficult to express in their hearts. If it had remained as it was, it would have been buried in the darkness of history. Then, producer Toshiaki Nakazawa of Sedic International put his hand into the fire, and finally Yamato made its long-awaited comeback. It is a feat that no one else could achieve given the challenges faced by his predecessors. These were Yamato Resurrection (2009) and the live-action Yamato movie (2010). Despite the long hiatus, memories and hopes for Yamato were still alive in people’s hearts. The release of the film was a big topic of conversation, and paved the way for a complete remake series that now continues with REBEL 3199.
However, when rumors of a “remake” began to spread, the industry was surprisingly calm, perhaps because people had settled down after the live-action film was released. While it wasn’t exactly “tired,” industry insiders thought, or at least tried to think, “How can anyone rework it now? Yamato has already been finished and concluded.”
After the copyright dispute was over, Nishizaki himself directed Resurrection, which was much talked about, as it welcomed Shintaro Ishihara as the original writer, but it ended up proving that the series had already become stale. The live-action film was a hit, but I remember that the box office results were due to the tenacity of TBS and Toho’s relentless efforts. (As an aside, when Director Takashi Yamazaki received the proposal, he was very excited and said, “But it’s Yamato!?”).
A new sensibility while faithfully following tradition
After Nishizaki’s death, the current series, which was said to be a complete remake, and the name “General Director Yutaka Izubuchi” were announced. Those in the industry who knew the wonderful finish of RahXephon, which was based on Brave Raideen, pretended to be calm about it but secretly grew more excited. I remember that when we were working on a completely different project, Shinichiro Inoue, then-president of Kadokawa Shoten said, “Izubuchi’s Yamato should not be underestimated. He loves Yamato more than anyone in Japan, and he knows what a remake should be.” True to his words, the release was a completely new remake that sincerely followed the original.
From the second series, Yamato 2202, Harutoshi Fukui took over from Izubuchi, and even the concepts of the later series were included, which were previously considered fantasies because of the “Showa era.” The scale was further expanded and continued to be consistent. Of particular note is the addition of scriptwriter Hideki Oka, a veteran of live-action and tokusatsu who is well-versed in human drama and science-fiction, giving the story and worldview even more depth. As mentioned above, this was the important role played by Toshio Masuda in the first movie version.
Exquisite animation and deep acting skills of the voice cast
The animation in REBEL 3199 Chapter 2, which shifted to Studio Trigger, is a masterpiece that reflects the hard work and sweat that went into it. It is likely that the team overcame scheduling issues and the current “manpower shortage” in the animation industry, but the exquisite level of completion is truly impressive. The voice actors are fully aware that this work is a turning point for them, and they deliver performances that reflect the depth of their skills honed over more than a decade. Daisuke Ono has so inhabited the role of Susumu Kodai that even those of us who know the original can no longer recall the performance of Kei Tomiyama. It’s exciting to see how Shin Furukawa’s Alphon will surpass the original and make his mark on this history.
It is easy to see at a glance that Junichiro Tamamori’s mechanical design is based on industrial design. While it gives the hand-painted cel animation generation a sense of a different era, it is strongly conscious of the concept of the first work, and has been completed as something that gives multiple generations a sense of security and expectation.
Yamato does not set out on its mission for love. It is a mission born of the suffocating sense of loss that permeates the modern world, of suppressing love and resisting, of unconsciously pursuing what is important, and of realizing the immeasurable weight of family and duty.
By the way, the industrial positioning of Yamato and the historical significance of its worldview are explained by Ryusuke Hikawa in his book Innovation in Japanese Anime: A Structural Analysis of the Changes that Became Turning Points in History (Kadokawa Shinsho) through extremely sharp observations and analysis. I highly recommend reading it.