Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199

Space Battleship Yamato 2199
Official poster for the series showing some of the main characters and the titular spaceship
宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199 (Uchū Senkan Yamato 2199)
Genre	Space opera, Military science fiction, Adventure
Anime film series
( Theatrical Edition )
Directed by	Akihiro Enomoto Yutaka Izubuchi
Produced by	Atsushi Ariyoshii Hideaki Matsumoto Fumi Teranishi Mikio Gunji
Written by	Yutaka Izubuchi
Music by	Akira Miyagawa
Studio	Xebec (films 1-7) AIC (films 1-3)
Released	April 7, 2012 – August 24, 2013
Runtime	50 minutes (film 1) 100 minutes (films 2-7)
Films	7
Anime television series
( TV Edition )
Directed by	Akihiro Enomoto Yutaka Izubuchi
Produced by	Atsushi Ariyoshii Hideaki Matsumoto Fumi Teranishi Mikio Gunji
Written by	Yutaka Izubuchi
Music by	Akira Miyagawa
Studio	Xebec (ep. 1–26) AIC (ep. 1–10)
Original network	JNN (MBS)
Original run	April 6, 2012 (premiere on Family Gekijo) April 7, 2013 – September 29, 2013
Episodes	26
Related
A Voyage to Remember (2014 film, compilation) Odyssey of the Celestial Ark (2014 film, sequel)

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199, Uchū Senkan Yamato Ni-ichi-kyū-kyū) is a 2012 Japanese military science fiction anime television series that is a remake of the first Space Battleship Yamato television series created by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and Leiji Matsumoto in 1974, known in the United States as Star Blazers. The series was originally screened back-to-back in theaters across Japan, a few episodes at a time prior to release on home video, and aired on television from April 7, 2013 to September 29, 2013.

Two movies based on the series were released in 2014. A sequel series is currently in production.

Plot

Aliens from the planet Gamilas attack Earth with radiation bombs and reduce the lush planet into a wasteland with humanity forced underground. However, in 2199, a friendly alien race from the planet Iscandar contacts the humans and gives them the blueprints to build a powerful warship capable of retrieving a device, the Cosmo Reverse System, to cleanse the planet before humanity disappears. The United Nations Cosmo Navy – whose space fleets have been mauled by Gamilan forces – resurrects the long-sunken battleship Yamato and applies the alien technology to its interior, transforming it into the vessel for which the series is named: Space Battleship Yamato.

Over the course of the series, the Yamato and its crew are continuously harassed by Gamilan forces on Jupiter, the moons of Saturn, and Pluto. As the Yamato battles its way out of the Solar System and the Milky Way Galaxy, Gamilas leader Abelt Dessler takes a personal interest in the unusually advanced and seemingly unstoppable Earth vessel. Suspicious of Iscandar's involvement in the humans' quest, Dessler schemes to stop the Yamato at all costs before it can fulfill its mission - even as political intrigues plague his empire. To this end, he orders his top military commanders and most sophisticated spacecraft into the fight, putting the determination of the Yamato crew to even more rigorous tests as they cope with questions about their mission and strange incidents aboard their own ship.

Cast

Crew of the Yamato

• Daisuke Ono as Susumu Kodai
• Houko Kuwashima as Yuki Mori
• Kenichi Suzumura as Daisuke Shima
• Takayuki Sugo as Captain Jūzō Okita
• Aya Hisakawa as Lt. Kaoru Niimi
• Aya Uchida as Warrant Officer Yuria Misaki
• Chō as Analyzer Unit 09/Sukeji Yabu/Guelf Ganz
• Daisuke Hirakawa as Hiroki Shinohara
• Fumihide Ise as Hajime Hirata
• Hiroshi Tsuchida as Susumu Yamazaki
• Hōchū Ōtsuka as Shirō Sanada
• Keiji Fujiwara as Master Chief Isami Enomoto
• Masato Kokubun as Yoshikazu Aihara
• Mugihito as Hikozaemon Tokugawa
• Rie Tanaka as Ensign Akira Yamamoto
• Rina Satou as Makoto Harada
• Shigeru Chiba as Dr. Sakezō Sado
• Tesshō Genda as Kotetsu Serizawa
• Toshihiko Seki as Shinya Itō
• Unshou Ishizuka as Ryū Hijikata
• Yoshimasa Hosoya as Saburō Katō
• Yuuki Chiba as Kenjiro Ohta

Gamilas Empire

• Akio Ohtsuka as General Domel
• Kouichi Yamadera as Abelt Dessler
• Masashi Hirose as Gremmdt Goer
• Jōji Nakata as Fraken
• Yousuke Akimoto as Redof Hiss
• Ayano Miura as Hilde Shultz
• Yu Shimaka as Valke Shultz

Other Characters

• Mitsuru Miyamoto as Mamoru Kodai
• Kikuko Inoue as Starsha Iscandar

Production

Main article: List of Space Battleship Yamato 2199 episodes

The new series is a remake of the original Space Battleship Yamato television series from 1974, with some changes in the main story, new characters (including several female ones), a more modern tech design, and an animation style inspired by that of the original series. The original intro music theme from the first series composed by Hiroshi Miyagawa with vocals by Isao Sasaki has also been re-scored for this new production by Hiroshi's son Akira.

Yutaka Izubuchi serves as supervising director, with character designs by Nobuteru Yuki, and Junichiro Tamamori and Makoto Kobayashi in charge of mecha and conceptual designs. The series is animated by Xebec (episodes 1–10 were co-produced with AIC). Famous anime director and creator Hideaki Anno designed the new series' opening sequence, which is a homage to the one that appeared in the first television series.

The full anime series started airing on April 7, 2013, in the MBS/TBS's 5:00 p.m timeslot, replacing Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.

The Yamato wreck in the 1974 series where the Space Battleship Yamato was built under was based on the general assumption in the 1970s that the warship sank intact. When the actual wreck was found in 1985, it was in a much more mangled shape than previously thought. In an April 2013 interview with Japanese online hobby shop Ami Ami, Bandai model developer Hirofumi Kishiyama said the emergence of the space battleship itself in 2199 was a plot device that needed to be resolved. Taking into account the 1985 discovery, he said the new Yamato "wreck" is simply camouflage for the warship being built underneath. Where the 1974 space battleship Yamato was conceptualized to be the same length as the original battleship at 263 meters, the spaceship in the new series was enlarged to 333m to address design discrepancies found in the first show.

Characters who appeared in the original series' second and third seasons are included in 2199 as well.

The first episode of the show has been dubbed into English by Bang Zoom! Entertainment, and was shown at both Anime Expo and San Diego Comic-Con in the Summer of 2013.

In 2014, a feature-length compilation of the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 series titled Space Battleship Yamato 2199: A Voyage to Remember and an original movie based on the series, Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark, were released.

Marketing

Release

Episode 1 of the series was previewed on April 6, 2012 on Family Gekijo channel, although the remaining 25-minute episodes did not run on television until 2013.

Episodes 1 and 2 of the new series were released as a fifty-minute anime film called Dai-Isshō Harukanaru Tabidachi (Chapter 1: "The Long Journey") premiering in Japanese cinemas on April 7, 2012 (the sixty-seventh anniversary of the loss of the Yamato during the Battle of Okinawa). It was also released on May 25, 2012 as Blu-ray and DVD format volumes in Japan.' Six more anime films which will be one hundred-plus minute compilations, containing four episodes each, for a total of twenty-six, will be released every few months in select theaters across Japan through 2013. The series commenced weekly broadcast on April 7, 2013.

The second film, Dai-nishō: Taiyōken no Shitō (Chapter 2: "Desperate Struggle in the Heliosphere"), featured episodes 3-6. It opened in ten theaters in Japan on June 30, 2012. The Blu-ray Disc and DVD volumes were released on July 27, 2012.

The third film, Dai-sanshō: Hateshinaki Kōkai (Chapter 3: "The Endless Voyage"), featuring Episodes 7-10, opened in twelve Japanese theaters from October 13 through October 26, 2012 (expanding from ten theaters for the previous films). The Blu-ray and DVD volumes were released on November 22, 2012.

The fourth film, Dai-yonshō: Ginga Henkyō no Kōbō (Chapter 4: "Defense of the Galactic March"), featured Episodes 11-14, and opened in twelve Japanese theaters from January 12 through January 26, 2013. The Blu-ray and DVD volumes were released on February 22, 2013.

The fifth film, Dai-goshō: Bōkyō no Gingakan Kukan (Chapter 5: "The Redolence of Intergalactic Space") featuring Episodes 15-18, was released in twelve Japanese theaters on April 13, 2013. The Blu-ray and DVD volumes were released on May 28, 2013.

The sixth film, Dai-rokushō: Tōtatsu! Dai Magellan (Chapter 6: "Arrival! Large Magellanic Cloud") featuring episodes 19-22 was released in sixteen Japanese theaters on June 15, 2013. The Blu-ray and DVD volumes were released on July 26, 2013.

The seventh and final film, Dai-nanashō: Soshite Kan wa Iku (Chapter 7: "And Now the Warship Comes") featuring episodes 23-26 was released in Japanese theaters on August 24, 2013. Unlike the previous episodes (other than the first one), they first aired on TV before the Blu-ray and DVD volumes were released on October 25, 2013.

Toys/Models

Bandai started releasing kits based on the vehicles seen in the series in 2012.

As of January 2015, the company produced 1/1000 scale models of the Yamato, two sets of UNCN warships, four sets of Garmilas warships, the Gamilas Polmeria-class Assault Carrier, the Gelvades-class Assault Carrier "Darold," and the Guipellon-class multi-deck carriers Lambea, Balgray, and the Schderg. Some of these kits also contain bonus kits, including reissues of certain warship kits from the original series' Mecha Collection line. The line Garmillas warships are also available as online-exclusive Imperial Guard sets, sporting green blue colors. Test shots of a 1/1000 version of the Zelguud-class dreadnought Domelus III and the Deusula II dreadnought were made public in 2013. Bandai originally held back on a full release for the Domelus III, stating that the model's size - around two feet long - was too big for the average Japanese home. The 1/500 release of the Yamato, measuring at over two feet, two inches - eventually prompted the release. The Gatlantis Empire's ships also appeared in the main kit line and the Mecha Collection line in 2014.

Vehicles from the series are available in 1/72 scale. The line started with the α-1 and α-2 Cosmo Zeroes in 2012. The March 2013 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine had a free 1/72 Cosmo Falcon fighter packaged and Bandai followed suit with recast of the Cosmo Falcon (in Saburo Kato and Akira Yamamoto's paint schemes) later in 2013. Some of the 1/1000 kits also have their own space fighter models, with the Polmeria including a free DWG229 Melanka flying-wing bomber, two FG14 Zedora fighters with the Balgray, a DWG262 Czvarke fighter with Garmillas Warship set III and the FG156 Sumaruhi recon plane with Garmillas Warship Set IV.

Taking off from previous efforts to produce specific paint sets for Gundam HGUC models, Gunze Sangyo is also producing special paint sets for the 2199 warship kits.

On January 2014, Bandai also released a Yamato 2199 version of the Battleship Yamato (number GX-64) in their Soul of Chogokin line of adult collector's toys, which is a total redesign from their previous release (number GX-57.)

Differences from the original series

The series is markedly different from the original in many ways. Those include:

• The Yamato is bigger than previous incarnations of the ship, because the anime design team now scaled the entire ship to be on proportion with the dimensions of the bridge, so now Yamato is 333m long (original was 263m). Also the entire ship has been internally reworked to make more sense and it is no longer built in the wreck of the original sunken battleship Yamato.

• Queen Starsha had only one sister, Sasha (Astra in the English dub), in the original series, who was sent to Earth with both Starsha's message and the plans for the Wave Motion Engine. In 2199, the queen has two sisters, Yurisha and Sasha. Yurisha was sent to Earth one year before Sasha with the message and the engine schematics; Sasha was tasked with bringing the engine's "activation core". Yurisha bears an uncanny resemblance to Yuki, leading to a protracted case of mistaken identity between them (with Yuki even being taken prisoner by Gamilas operatives who believe she is Yurisha).

• The Yamato departs Earth with a much larger crew of 999 crew on board. In the original series, Yamato had a crew of 114.

• While main weapons remain largely the same, the Yamato now has missile ports in the under keel to cover that previously assumed as "blind" spot.

• Captain Okita is much more involved in the storyline. In the original Yamato, his illness took him out much sooner and he spent more time laid up in bed. Here, he remains in command almost to the end.

• There is considerable cordial if tense interaction between Gamillas and humans, something that did not happen in the original series.

• In the original series, Kodai assumed command of the Yamato when Okita was taken ill. Here, Sanada is the designated XO and takes over when Okita cannot command. Sanada is considerably fleshed out from the original series, with much more back story and complexity to his character.

• The Yamato's main guns can fire projectile shells in addition to antielectron pulses. In the first series, she never fired shells (which turn out to be critical to the ship's survival in more than one instance).

• Yuki is no longer needed in the medical bay, as there is full medical staff on board. There are many more women compared to the original series since now one third of the crew is female, including a pilot and an intelligence officer.

• We see much more of Gamillas society. Many of its leaders are shown sympathetically to be family men more worried about their children than war. People conquered by Gamillas serve as second-class citizens, and are often looked down upon by Gamillas.

• The Gamillas military and Dessler are much more obvious Nazi figures than before. Their clothing is similar to Nazi dress field uniforms, they wear a logo on their neck that looks like the SS lightning bolts and the names of all of the admirals and generals are distinctly German-sounding, like Ditz, Goer, Hiss, Dommel and Shultz; most of whom are allegories of the top military officers of Nazi Germany.

• After surviving the Battle of Pluto and being taken prisoner, Mamoru Kodai crash-landed on Iscandar and was rescued by Starsha. In the original series, she nursed him back to health; the two fell in love, and he remained with her on Iscandar to rebuild its population. In 2199, he died before the Yamato arrived, leaving a recorded message.

• While the Yamato has an all-Japanese crew, she flies as a United Nations ship. The United Nations logo is seen on the vessel and Okita talks to United Nations officials via long range communication, not officials in Japan.

• There is a spiritual element in the 2199 series not seen in the original. One of the Hayabusa fighter pilots is from a family of priests and often engages in chants his fellow pilots find morbid. Young Ensign Yuria Misaki has telepathic powers, which is made obvious when she takes her hair down. When she wears her hair in twin tails, she is under her own influence. When she lets her hair loose, she is under another influence. Finally, Dessler has a right-hand woman named Miezela Celestella who is from the Jirel race and is a telepath. A fellow Jirel tries to take over the Yamato telepathically and puts nearly everyone to sleep but is eventually stopped and killed when Kodai realizes what is happening.

External links

• Official website Template:Ja icon
• Official website Template:En icon
• Space Battleship Yamato 2199 at IMDb

• Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia