Space Battleship Yamato Movie Program

She must return in 365 days from the journey of 296,000 light years
The mission was grave for Space Cruiser Yamato

STAFF

Based on the original story by Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Presented and total supervision by: Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Layout planned by: Toshio Masuda and Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Screenplay written by: Keisuke Fujikawa and Eiichi Yamamoto
Music composed by: Hiroshi Miyagawa
Art and design directed by: Leiji Matsumoto
Directed by: Toshio Masuda
Animation director: Noboru Ishiguro
Animation supervised by: Toyoo Ashida, Kenzo Koizumi, Takeshi Shirato, Kaoru Izumiguchi, Kazuhiko Udagawa, Nobuhiro Okaseko
Background art: Hachiro Tsukima
Sound director: Atsumi Tashiro
Effects by: Mitsuru Kashiwabara
Edited by: Masatoshi Tsurubuchi
Assistant director: Ichitoku Tanahashi
Production assistants: Masaharu Nagashima, Kazuhiro Nomura, Takayuki Tsutsumi
Recording studio: AVACO Studio (Shohei Hayashi)
Development: Tokyo Laboratory, Ltd.
Distributed by: Yoshinobu Nishizaki (Academy Co., Ltd.)
Original Soundtrack: Columbia Records

CAST (Voice by:)

Jyuzo Okita: Goro Naya
Susumu Kodai: Kei Tomiyama
Daisuke Shima: Hideo Nakamura
Yuki Mori: Yoko Asagami
Mamoru Kodai: Taichiro Hirokawa
Hikozaemon Tokugawa: Ichiro Nagai
Shiro Sanada: Takeshi Aono
Kenjiro Ohta:Yoshito Yasuhara
Saburo Kato: Akira Kamiya
Analyzer: Kenichi Ogata
Commanding General of Earth Defense Forces: Masato Ibu
Generalissimo Desular: Masato Ibu
Deputy Generalissimo Hiss: Keisuke Yamashita
General Domel: Osamu Kobayashi
Commander Shultz: Satoshi Ohbayashi
Stasha: Michiko Hirai
Narrator: Akira Kimura

AIM OF PRODUCTION

A few years ago, American films Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno scored a considerable success in this country. The former dealt with a story about a luxurious liner capsizing while the latter featured an episode of an ultra-high rise building catching on fire. Both films attracted Japanese filmgoers because they took up a plot of miracle survival of human beings thanks to courage and wisdom after facing extremely difficult situations which were regarded impossible for any escape.

The great success of the two films in Japan is derived from the fact that both of them satisfied the latent Japanese sentiments of making break-throughs when they confront situations symbolizing the end of the world.

While we were working out schemes for this film Space Cruiser Yamato, Sakyo Komatsu’s SF novel Japan Sinks became a smash hit in this country. The fiction became an immediate bestseller because it appealed strongly to the popular desire of starting a new life that has come to a standstill.

Environmental pollution! Galloping inflation! Worldwide recession! The oil shock in 1973! The years following the oil shock have witnessed Japan’s industrial and economic structures suffer from repeated distortions. The oil shock was enough to shake the roots of our social structure, too. That developed with the remarkable economic growth of post-war Japan. But today, we appear to be only serving as a gear of the gigantic industrial mechanism and are spiritually isolated.

History, too, has seen mankind repeatedly confronted with serious crises in civilization. And history, too, has seen mankind find a successful breakthrough each time. Mankind should not act as a gear of a large mechanism. Mankind are humans who can think and dream.

Space Cruiser Yamato is not just another science-fiction. It offers viewers to seriously reconsider the basic theme of all human beings: “what supports mankind and why?” by demonstrating the actions of the young space fighters to serve the common purpose of saving the Earth from danger!

This film is to appeal to young boys and girls as well as grownups the dream and understanding shared by all mankind.

CHARACTERS

Jyuzo Okita (52)
Skipper of Space Cruiser Yamato

Susumu Kodai (18)
Flight Leader of Yamato’s Deck Planes

Daisuke Shima (18)
Chief Navigator of Yamato

Yuki Mori (18)
Leader of Life Group of Yamato

Hikozaemon Tokugawa (57)
Chief Engineer

Sakezo Sado (47)
Ship Doctor

Analyzer
An Omnipotence Robot for Surveying and Analyzing

Shiro Sanada (28)
Yamato Plant Manager

Mamoru Kodai
Fomer Leader of Guardsmen of
Earth Defense Forces

Stasha
The Queen of Planet Iscandall

Deslar
The Imperial Generalissimo of Planet Gamilus

Hiss
Deputy Generalissimo of Gamilus

Domel
Commanding General of Gamilus Forces

Schulz
Commanding Officer of Gamilus Forces, Pluto

STORY PLOT

In 2199, Planet Earth is under heavy attack by persistent space invaders from Planet Gamilus.

The Earth Defense Forces is helplessly facing the stubborn onslaught by Gamilus Forces supported by overwhelming firepower.

By constructing underground strongholds, mankind on Earth is driven to the last ditch by holding up bold resistance. But death stares at each face of those remaining on Earth.

To worsen the situation, indiscriminate space raids by asteroid bombs have already wiped out all living creatures from the surface of the Earth by radioactive contamination. And it is only a matter of time when the underground strongholds will eventually be subjected to deadly radioactive contamination. The time limit is only one year!

Just then a message comes through from Planet Iskandall situated in a faintly remote distance in space.

Although a twin planet of Gamilus, Iskandall is a peace-loving planet ruled by lovely Queen Stasha. The Cosmo Cleaner-D on Planet Iskandall is the only unit that can totally remove radioactive contamination to save mankind on Earth.

The message reads: If mankind on Earth still dreams of the future, come to Iskandall and bring back Cosmo Cleaner-D with courage and wisdom.

The message concludes: Enclosed blueprint of wave engine with this message to make your journey possible.

Mankind on Earth decides to rely everything on this message. But Planet Iskandall is situated beyond the galaxy! 148,000 light years away! And it is located in the dangerous area heavily guarded by Gamilus troops!

The time limit for human survival is only 365 days! Absolute return is mandatory! And challenging this extremely difficult mission is Space Cruiser Yamato, shouldering the expectations of all mankind!!

Without being given a single chance to participate in the Pacific War, ill-fated Yamato, a tragic Japanese fighting ship, was sunk to the sea bottom.

Preparing for the worst in the war with Gamilus, people on Earth secretly remodeled Yamato as Noah’s Ark to seek for another Earth in space. But mankind was inevitably forced to reconvert Yamato again into a Space Cruiser to journey into space to Iskandall and back.

Commander Shulz of the Gamilus Forces Pluto station finds out about Yamato and orders his men to fire a super-large missile after granting permission from Generalissimo Desler.

The missile closes in on Yamato, which holds the card of fate of all mankind! And hanging by a hair, Yamato’s main armament bursts fire and directly hits the oncoming missile!

Yamato finally sets sail on a journey into the unknown space with 114 crew members on board, including Captain Jyuzo Okita, Space Fighter Commander Susumu Kodai, Chief Navigator Daisuke Shima, Ship Doctor Sakezo Sado and lovely Miss Yuki Mori.

In this manner, Space Cruiser Yamato quickly moves into space to begin the story.

A GREAT DESCRIPTIVE POETRY depicting manliness and romance! An ADVENTUROUS story of an exciting journey into the unknown space of 296,000 light years!

From the Solar System to the Galaxy!
The Outer Aerospace!
And to the Magellanic Clouds!

Storms of enemy armoured attack! Dark Nebula, the unforeseen trap lies ahead! Fear and frustration drive crew members crazy! Many crew members fall victim to danger and fatigue!

FAR BEHIND SCHEDULE!! THE SHIP BADLY DAMAGED!! DESPERATE MOMENTS!!

But despite all these, dauntlessly Captain Okita commandeers the able crew on Yamato including Flight Commander Kodai, and others to fulfill their mission.

And in the year 2200, greenery once again returned to Planet Earth.

Space Cruiser Yamato Functions

Look How it Changed!

Old Yamato

Dimension:
Length 263 meters
Width 38.9 meters
Speed: 27.46 knots (50 kph)
Total Cruise: 13,340 km (at 16 knots)
Allowance: 2500 men

New Yamato

Speed: 99% of light speed
Exceeds light speed upon warping
Total cruise: unlimited
Allowance: 114 men

Speed:

Exceeds light speed upon warping.
Possible to leap 100 light years in a single warp.

Equipment:

Rock Bed Apparatus
Pebbles and stones and rocks mill around Yamato to form a protective shield like Saturn’s rings.

Bow Wave Gun
Effective for long distance attack. Can also become an effective implement to drill away any obstacles, enemy, ships, and other objects to cut its way through the enemy. Since it consumes a considerable amount of Yamato’s energy, it is seldom used.

Foreship Missiles
Mammoth missiles are fired. Missiles are highly destructive for both attack and defense purposes. Manufacturing of missiles is possible at the ship’s plant, thus there is no limit in the number of missiles to be used.

Foreship Radar
Time radar is employed. The radar can also trace images of several hours back.

Anchor
Rocket anchor with chain is used. Also has a powered space anchor. Lightweight life-saving anchor traveling in space with magnet power is also equipped.

Main Armament
Triple-turret shock guns are mounted. The shock guns are the most powerful of all heavy guns employed by both the enemy and ally. A direct hit can easily destroy heavy ships.

Gunnery
Shock gun turrets are mounted. Good for middle-distant battles in space. Auxiliary guns for middle-sized spaceship attacks. Can destroy mostly all enemy deck planes.

Side Guns
Small-caliber machine guns. Old-fashioned machine guns using pulse radars are used. Rapid firing is possible against oncoming enemy planes.

Smokestack Missiles
The old smokestack was converted into a launch pad for warheads similar to guided missiles for space defense. Also functions as a large gun.

Deck Planes
The multi-purpose, all-weather Space Zero fighters are employed for land, sea, air and space battles. They are not the same with the old Zero fighters.

Space Bombers
Attack bombers mounted with missiles and laser guns. Can take off from Yamato to destroy enemy vessels and ground troops on surface of planets.

Transport Planes
Both middle and large-class planes are available for cargo transportation.

Other Equipment

Cosmo radar
Fully-integrated large-scale computer
Oilhalton (metal) is used for gun turrets
Hardened tektite is used for the transparent section of Yamato
Facilities to enable Yamato to loop in space and function properly

Messages from the Staff

Toshio Masuda, Director

I have lived for thirty years with respect for films that pursue realism, so the world of animation, one of free and unrestrained images, gave me very good inspiration. The unique thoughts and original ideas of animation artists constantly surprise me. Yamato consists of such limitless scope, it was extremely hard to edit the story down to the given 2-hour time frame. There were many episodes I wanted to preserve in the film, but I can’t do anything about the time restriction. My consideration for the passion of Producer Nishizaki, the father of the story, made my job of “cutting and abandoning” extremely painful. However, when my work was completed, I also had a feeling of enjoyment.

Owing to the development of technology, our Earth is much smaller than when Magellan first travelled around it, so this project reminded me of concepts beyond this limited world of ours. I believe more and more films will be created using outer space as their theme.

Keisuke Fujikawa, Scriptwriter

The Yamato scripts took twice as long as those of a regular program. My scripts were discussed at staff meetings, and I revised them using the technical ideas and others that were explored. This is why I suffered burn-out for half a year after I completed the final draft of the final episode. I wanted Yamato not only to be entertaining but also to remain in the hearts of those who watch it.

Hiroshi Miyagawa, Composer

In every way, Yamato is the best of the Japanese animated films. I have participated in many projects, but none of my other works excited me as much. I was very fascinated with the creation of Producer Nishizaki, and as a result, I put all of my creative energy into the music. Usually, producers don’t get intimately involved in the speciality of each staff member, but he persistently requested detailed cooperation from all of us in order to accomplish what he envisioned, and I firmly believe that I completely met his expectation. I now miss the time when the two of us kept up heated discussions even long after we looked like ghosts, and spent almost twenty hours recording just one piece of the theme song and gave a toast in the early morning hours, swearing that we would get through it.

One usually does not have many chances to exceed himself in his lifetime, but Yamato taught me how to live as a man of passion. Those of you who are touched by the film will also learn this, whether you realize it or not. My words sound serious, but this work is, without doubt, beyond reproach. I absolutely want to recommend Yamato not only to everyone in Japan, but all over the world as well.

Leiji Matsumoto, Art Director & Conceptual Designer

This was my first experience creating animation, and I am happy that I could dedicate myself this much. I became another self, walking around inside Yamato, following one path to another. This experience was shared with the entire staff. Yamato is the great ship which brought me to the world of animation, my lifelong dream.

Noboru Ishiguro, Animation Director

An animation director is a master overseer. I instruct and encourage the animators. This sounds cool, but the reality is that I was only able to do my work because of the assistance of hundreds of staff members. I am still attached to it, thinking that I should have done this scene or that scene differently. I wish I could redo it. And sometimes remembering the extraordinary workload makes me want to never see Yamato again. My heart is still trembling.

Moviemaking Data

Number of animation cels: 52,000
Number of cel paint colors: 120
Total staff: 890
Production period: 2 years

Color Design

Though most animated films use a limited range of colors that show easily on screen, we dispensed with this practice and ordered special paints to express the reality of Yamato’s metals, weight, and size. Yamato is dark and space is dark. The difference of color between them is subtle. We tried dozens of combinations and decided on Yamato’s color palette only after extensive testing.

Optical Compositing

One of the shortcomings of filming animation is that long, slow movements tend to make bumps and flaws more obvious. In this film, we shot separate footage of Yamato and its background, then composited them during the developing stage. This enhances the real sense of perspective and mass when Yamato flies through space.

Explosion Effects

Since no one has actually seen an explosion in zero gravity, the effect was hard to create. The subsequent smoke cloud must spread forever outward, rather than hanging together. This was one of the most challenging effects for us to visualize.

Mechanical Reality

In order to accurately represent movement for spaceships and aircraft, all the animators studied war movies. For reference of missiles firing, we borrowed film of the Apollo Program from a TV station. We made an effort to show physical effects after the launch in order to make the movement realistic. All of this attention to detail tripled the time and effort spent on other animated films, but this raised the standards to a much higher level.


Bathing in the Spray of Galaxies

by Kosei Ono

This is, so to speak, a story of a treasure hunt in the future, set in the grand universe.

If the treasure can be obtained, the Earth, contaminated by radiation, can be saved from dying. But the treasure is 148,000 light-years away.

The Space Cruiser Yamato, like a giant castle floating in the sky, is on its way to the far reaches of the universe. The whispering voice of a woman leads us there, just like Ulysses was drawn by the beauty of the sirens. The image of moving toward a star with treasure is beautiful.

Treasure hunting is not without its difficulties, but in the midst of the space war, Yamato turns up its wave engine to full throttle, flashes its radar screen, and flies through space using its war navigation system to penetrate the asteroid belt. The battle mechanism is also depicted in the images of Andromeda, the Magellanic Galaxy, and the Rainbow Star Cluster, and the detailed movements of Yamato are also highlights of the film.

The giant ship, carrying a longing for Earth, travels through the depths of the universe, bathed in the sunlight of the Rainbow Star Cluster and the spray of galaxies.

Before you know it, the universe of “the screen” will expand in your mind, and Yamato, floating in the middle of that screen, slowly circles in a dream.

GAMILUS AND ISKANDALL

Planet Gamilus

Gamilus’ diameter is 16,000 kilometers, a twin planet of Iskandall. The rockbed crust is 10 kilometers thick. The continents and seas inside the inner core are fast sulphurizing. The days of the planet are numbered.

Planet Iskandall

The 8th planet nearest Sanzar in the Solar System in the Magellanic Clouds. It is a planet of love and peace. One finds Cosmo Cleaner D on this planet.

Message from the Producer

We produced this film version of Space Battleship Yamato to show mens’ lives as a powerful, action-filled drama. On the big screen you will see the vastness of the space on a magnificent scale, as great as the romance of adventure.

Leiji Matsumoto was appointed to design Yamato and the main characters of this film, as well as other mechanisms, concepts, and dreamlike women. With his aid, the film also presents original fight scenes and the realistic workings of mechanisms, thereby pursuing an expression of power and a sense of weight that were not possible in standard animated films.

Director Toshio Masuda oversaw the visualization of the script by Eiichi Yamamoto and Keisuke Fujikawa. Mr. Masuda’s excellent techniques combined drama with mystery and tension.

But it was Hiroshi Miyagawa’s music that gave the story its highest drama. No one but Mr. Miyagawa could be considered, with his heartfelt melodies and his modern sense of rhythm, which matched our story perfectly. His dreamlike minor-key compositions give a life to the cold universe.

But it is always human beings who fly Space Battleship Yamato wherever it travels, and their enemies are also people. The most important idea I wanted to present is that humans can live anywhere in space, either in the mass of iron called Yamato or in the infinite universe. Music is the expression of people, and it is blended with our human drama to create the unique flavor of this film.

And the adventure encompasses the whole universe with the creativity only animation can possess. This breaks past cultural limitations and creates a film that can be accepted internationally. As a producer, I would like to create films for the entire world. I believe Space Battleship Yamato is the first step.

The universal theme of films is love. There are many varieties, from the love among all human beings to the love between a man and a woman. Love is the theme the whole human race has in common. I consider this to be most important, so I hope to present films about love to boys and girls who are about to start their own lives.

The Combined Effort of the Entire Staff

Producing an animated film–compared to live-action movies–is a continuation of hand-crafted manufacturing, which is unthinkable in this age of automation. The process is divided and subdivided into many phases, each one an essential part of the whole production. I would like to list some of those who I gathered together to bring Space Battleship Yamato to the big screen:

Noboru Ishiguro, the animation director, who not only drew storyboards, but also maximized his talents as effects animator. While synthesizing the pictures, he set a higher standard.

Toyoo Ashida, who drew characters with crisp lines and lively action. Kenzu Koizumi, who added facial expression to characters. His gentle sensitivity is somewhat contradicted by his big body. Takeshi Shirato, who was excellent at drawing powerful and dynamic scenes. Kaoru Izumiguchi, who is unsurpassed at drawing precise mechanical characters. The key animators, including Kazuhiko Udagawa, Hiromitsu Morita, and Masahiro Okasako, and nine others who followed their guidance.

Camera operators who clicked shutters one frame at a time, replacing the cels one sheet at a time. Through patience and concentration, they created new filming techniques.The production managers, bound by the schedule, encouraged the staff at each phase.

What is the sound of an explosion in space? What does a crew hear inside of Yamato when it is on a voyage? The talented sound designer Mitsuru Kashiwabara and sound director Atsumi Tashiro created sounds that always kept our environments alive for the audience. It is no exaggeration to say that they brought the infinitely expanding universe to life.

Assistant Director Kazunori Tanahashi and other staff members bridged across different units, fully understanding the intentions of the Director.

Many more people were involved in producing this film, and I don’t have the room to list all of them. Their tremendous effort and energy were condensed into this film. I can definitely say that this was the power that supported the work. As the producer, I wholeheartedly thank the entire crew.

-Yoshinobu Nishizaki

The Easter Egg

The kanji character under Nishizaki’s photo reads “Kazu,” which means “harmony.” Nishizaki claimed this was his favorite kanji, but it also carried another more personal meaning for him.

From an interview in the first issue of the Yamato fan club magazine (February 1978):

My first love came in year one of junior high, and her name was Kazuko. She was in fifth year elementary. Because we were in the same school building, it was always fun to meet. It might have been said that we two would be in love forever. We experience many loves as we grow to adulthood, but that first love is the real thing. The reason I wrote “Kazu” in the pamphlet is that it was my secret wish for her to see it and remember me from somewhere…

Read the entire interview here

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