New Space Battleship Yamato movie

[ray245]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GINpo3188yk

Seems rather interesting.

[Uraniun235]

I'm not sure how I feel about the character animation. I don't think I like it. I'm not entirely sure why though.

The space battles look shiny enough, although at the same time it's a little jarring for me as all of the Yamato I've seen so far has been animation from the mid-70s through the early 80s. It still looks way better than any of the CGI footage that was done for Captain Harlock.

I don't speak moon-language so I don't know what the plot is at all, so I have no idea whether or not the writing's at all worthwhile. Someone will comment on the absurdity of having it burst out of an ice comet, but that's rather par for Yamato.


It... could be rad? Maybe? I'm still sore over Trek09, the Battlestar Livejournal finale, Babylon 5's "Lost Tales", and the most recent Captain Harlock outing, so my optimism for new space opera is pretty low these days.

[Patrick Degan]

Well... I suppose since the Earth military built the ship from the guts of a crumbling centuries-old wreck in the first place and managed to make her both spaceworthy and nigh-invincible, stitching her back together after being blown apart to stop the big tidal wave from Aquarius must have been the effort of only a few inconvenient weeks in spacedock.

From what I gather from the trailer, the new movie follows an old recipe: just add the plots from the third television series and the two later movies, set blender on puree, microwave for five minutes, and it's Off, To Outer Space...

[VF5SS]

Just remember that Leiji Matsumoto, the man arguably responsible for everything people like about Yamato is not involved. This one is headed up by Yoshinobu Nishizaki or "the Nish" to some old anime farts. He's not actually directing this like he did with such "classics" like Space Carrier Blue Noah, Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, Yamato 2520, and Legend of the Overfiend. I recall seeing him say this will be his last project before retirement. Sort of a final attempt at recapturing the Yamato magic which he's been trying to do for thirty some odd years.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Ive seen that before... A while back there was a full8min preview of the film in question, with a complete 'launch' sequence of the Yamato as well as aa battle sequence.

[Nephtys]

So um, just as a question. Why is a centuries old wreck of a torpedoed battleship being salvaged into an intergalactic killmachine anyway?

It's like. 'You know, I want my sports car to be built out of Julius Caesar's favorite chariot. I just need to dig it up from under hundreds of feet of dirt, then replace all of the steel with aluminium and carbon fiber, then replace the wheels, put in seats to replace the rotting one, adding a full car chassis, suspension, engine, etc... and we're set to go! Awesome!'

[VF5SS]

Short answer:Because Leiji Matsumoto is a WW2 nutjob.

Long answer: The original series is kind of vague about how much they reused from the original ship. In the first episode of the show the wreckage of the original Yamato is introduced as a rusted, irradiated wreck with the new Yamato being built underneath the bit that is sticking out. When the new Yamato launches for the first time it clearly busts out and destroys what remains of the original Yamato. They do mention in the series that some areas like the ammo storage room were converted to an entertainment center (so Analyzer the robot could dance in it). Like you said, not much of the WW2 Yamato could possibly remain in what they rebuilt, but I think the idea is it still contained the spirit of the original vessel.

[Nephtys]

Awesome. Next time Earth goes to war, I want our chief ship to be made out of an expensive wreck of a relic of a failed war of morally questionable conquest during a jingoistic shameful period in national history, with a ship that for most of it's life hid away from real action and was destroyed in a non-glorious event by a more modern doctrine and armament. This is the spirit we need.

Sounds like a winner!

[Crossroads Inc.]

Found the long 9min preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8llG4Y1c ... re=related

Its Interesting, at this point int , whatever timeline we are following.., Earth has a Dedicated military force and quite Massive Warships. The existence of a ship like "Yamato" is once more a relic. Unless someone says its the only ship with the Über "Wave Motion Gun" you can't tell me it still holds ANY value as a military weapon against the massive battleships we see in the beginning.

[VF5SS]

Sounds like a winner!

This is why I like the more neutral Japanese sci-fi ships like the Magellan, Salamis, La Callium, and ARMD class.

[Darksider]

Found the long 9min preview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8llG4Y1c ... re=related

Its Interesting, at this point int , whatever timeline we are following.., Earth has a Dedicated military force and quite Massive Warships. The existence of a ship like "Yamato" is once more a relic. Unless someone says its the only ship with the Über "Wave Motion Gun" you can't tell me it still holds ANY value as a military weapon against the massive battleships we see in the beginning.

No no, you see, the Yamato's been an outclassed relic since the second series, but what keeps it going is the NOBLE YAMATO SPIRIT! Because that worked so well the first time someone tried it.

does Leiji Matsumoto not realize that the Japanese were the bad guys in World War II?

[Uraniun235]

No no, you see, the Yamato's been an outclassed relic since the second series, but what keeps it going is the NOBLE YAMATO SPIRIT! Because that worked so well the first time someone tried it.

does Leiji Matsumoto not realize that the Japanese were the bad guys in World War II?

not news, a lot of japanese don't really recognize this

Awesome. Next time Earth goes to war, I want our chief ship to be made out of an expensive wreck of a relic of a failed war of morally questionable conquest during a jingoistic shameful period in national history, with a ship that for most of it's life hid away from real action and was destroyed in a non-glorious event by a more modern doctrine and armament. This is the spirit we need.

Sounds like a winner!

Well, even the original series acknowledged that it went out and got its ass kicked pretty swiftly by carrier aircraft attack, and the narration straight-up says "the battleship era was over".

Are you familiar with who Matsumoto is? Not only was he heavily involved in Yamato, he also created Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock. The former is about a boy and a woman who travel through space aboard a spacefaring steam-powered train. The latter is about a space pirate with a sword-gun who pilots a big space battleship (without the sea hull seen on Yamato, but with the tri-barrel turrets) with a giant-sized mockup of a galleon on the end and a big pirate flag that waves as the ship "sails the sea of stars". Also sometimes this lady space pirate shows up in either franchise who commands a space battleship that looks like a galleon attached to a dirigible.


I really don't think there's any pretense of these shows adhering to serious realism - Matsumoto doesn't do science fiction, he does very Romantic space opera. There are laughable elements, yes, but it's not incomprehensible.

Just remember that Leiji Matsumoto, the man arguably responsible for everything people like about Yamato is not involved. This one is headed up by Yoshinobu Nishizaki or "the Nish" to some old anime farts. He's not actually directing this like he did with such "classics" like Space Carrier Blue Noah, Odin: Photon Space Sailer Starlight, Yamato 2520, and Legend of the Overfiend. I recall seeing him say this will be his last project before retirement. Sort of a final attempt at recapturing the Yamato magic which he's been trying to do for thirty some odd years.

Oh, barf. Yeah, I'm not going to follow this one very closely either.

[VF5SS]

does Leiji Matsumoto not realize that the Japanese were the bad guys in World War II?

I'm pretty sure he was just a child at the time. Like in one of the Yamato movies we see a small kid watch the original Yamato floating off to battle. I think that kid is meant to be him. The scene is quite well done with a lot of emphasis on the sheer size of the vessel and the impressive look of the bridge. That's why all of his ships have a big bridge section. For him its like the mark of a commander. Its like an elaborate monolith flying through the cosmos.

By contrast, director Ryosuke Takahashi lost some of his family to the war so all of his works portray war in a more negative light. During the show SPT Layzner, the second half was meant to mirror Japan's occupation of Korea and as such the show caught a lot of flack for it.