On the heels of an incredibly disappointing re-cap movie, space opera epic Yamato 2199 returned to the silver screen this past weekend in Japan with Yamato 2199: Ark of the Stars—a film that is less a stand-alone story and more of a beginning for a whole new epic.
These days, anime seems to follow a set pattern. If you have a successful series, you follow it up with a recap film. Most of the time, these films have something new in them—new footage, new characters, a new side story—but not Yamato 2199. It is completely unnecessary in every conceivable way.
In 1974, before Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Gundam, and Macross, there was Space Battleship Yamato (or Starblazers as it was known in the U.S.). Now nearly four decades later the series has returned with the reboot Space Battleship Yamato 2199—a reboot that easily makes for the best space opera in more than half…
Before there was Macross, before there was Gundam, there was Yamato. Space Battleship Yamato (called Star Blazers in the West) is the original space opera anime and a cornerstone of anime popular culture in Japan. Now, nearly 40 years after its original television debut, a 26-episode remake of the original series is…
Space Battleship Yamato (Starblazers in the West) is one of the cornerstones of anime. Created by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and the legendary Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Daft Punk's Interstella 5555), it is the original space opera anime and has had a prominent place in Japanese popular culture for…
