Space Battleship Great Yamato (新宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Shin Uchū Senkan Yamato, lit.: "New Space Battleship Yamato"), rendered as Space Battle Ship GREAT YAMATO, is a manga created by the animator Leiji Matsumoto.[1][2] Announced as a sequel to the original Space Battleship Yamato series, it was serialized in the April 2000 issue of Shogakukan's monthly magazine, Comic GOTTA. However, the magazine was discontinued with the July 2001 issue, leading to the end of the serialization.
Production and Background[]
Space Battleship Great Yamato was created by Leiji Matsumoto during his tenure as copyright holder for the Space Battleship Yamato franchise. His plan was to create an interwoven narrative that would connect Yamato to his other science fiction works, such as Galaxy Express 999, Queen Millennia, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock, which had been meant to cross paths with the series since its first season. In 1998, he announced that this grand storytelling journey would take another 25 years to complete.[3] As part of this project, the titular battleship began appearing in various Matsumoto works, making cameos in various Galaxy Express 999-related medias.[4]
New Space Battleship Yamato, also known by its English international title Space Battleship Great Yamato, began serialization on Shogakukan's monthly magazine Comic GOTTA on its April 2000 issue. While the manga was being published, composer Hiroshi Miyagawa and Columbia Records published the Symphonic Suite Great Yamato, the first CD set in the Eternal Edition CD series, containing music inspired by the ongoing comic.[4] The series ended serialization after 16 chapters on July 2001, with the final issue of Comic GOTTA.[5] The comics were republished in two volumes.[6]
In early 2002, Matsumoto announced his intention to retell Space Battleship Great Yamato's story in a new anime series provisionally titled " Great Galaxy Series: Great Yamato 7vs7". The series was planned for television in 2002, and movies were to be released in 2003.[5] In March of the same year, a court order in Japan blocked Matsumoto’s further use of the copyright and put the rights back into the hands of Yoshinobu Nishizaki. Matsumoto's original idea for a new series eventually became Great Yamato #0, a series of OVAs detatched from the Space Battleship Yamato franchise.[4]
Plot[]
It's the year 3199 and a millennium has passed since the Yamato saved the Earth from crisis. Believing that advanced lifeforms would no longer fight each other, the human race expanded their living space to the entire galaxy. The era of battles between large battleships came to an end, and Yamato's very existence faded from people's memories.
Suddenly, a large number mobile black holes and swallow up a fleet including the battleship Yukikaze, carrying Susumu Kodai 32 (the 32nd descendant of Susumu Kodai , the protagonist of the original Yamato series). Only Yukikaze manages to escape by warping at the last moment and return to Earth, but all the crew members except Kodai disappear. And this was just the prelude to the mysterious lifeform's invasion of Earth.
Even in the face of this terrible situation, no one in the Earth military's upper echelons feels any sense of crisis. Meanwhile, a message arrives to the descendants of the Yamato crew from 1,000 years ago. "Come to Yamato." The space battleship still exists today, and has been sleeping to prepare for this once-in-a-millennium crisis.
Chapter list[]
| Japanese title | Release date | |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 01 | 第01話 | April 2001 |
| Episode 02: "Signal" | 第02話「シグナル」 | May 2001 |
| Episode 03: "The 1000-Year Warrior" | 第03話「1000年の戦士」 | June 2001 |
| Episode 04: "The Great Underglacial Sea" | 第04話「大氷底海」 | July 2001 |
| Episode 05: "The Tiger Awakens" | 第05話「虎は目覚めた」 | August 2001 |
| Episode 06: "The Time Has Come...." | 第06話「時は満ちた……」 | September 2001 |
| Episode 07: "Journey to Infinity" | 第07話「無限への旅立ち」 | October 2001 |
| Episode 08: "Journey to Inifinity・1" | 第08話「無限への旅立ち・1」 | November 2001 |
| Episode 09: "When Life Dwells" | 第09話「生命宿る時」 | December 2001 |
| Episode 10: "Reunion with a Friend" | 第10話「友との再会」 | January 2002 |
| Episode 11: "Starsha" | 第11話「スターシア」 | February 2002 |
| Episode 12: "Departure" | 第12話「発進」 | March 2002 |
| Episode 13: "Yamato is..." | 第13話「ヤマトは……」 | April 2002 |
| Episode 14: "Meeting" | 第14話「会合」 | May 2002 |
| Episode 15: "Fellow ship Mahoroba" | 第15話「僚艦・まほろば」 | June 2002 |
| Episode 16: "Return Space-Time Cannon" | 第16話「回帰時空砲」 | July 2002 |
Characters[]
- Susumu Kodai XXXII
- Yuki Mori
- Sakezo Sado
- Mi-kun
- Juzo Okita
- Starsha
- Yo Haguro
- Daisuke Shima
- Dark Queen
- Doctor Rirei (ドクター理霊)
References[]
- ↑ "Cosmoship Yamato Part 1: The Leiji Matsumoto Manga". StarBlazers.com. http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=171. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ↑ "Cosmoship Yamato Part 2: The Leiji Matsumoto Manga". StarBlazers.com. http://www.starblazers.com/html.php?page_id=173. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ↑ Leiji Matsumoto May 1998 Interview from Comic Gon Magazine
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Leiji Matsumoto’s Great Yamato from Cosmo DNA
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 New Space Battleship Yamato on Leiji Matsumoto Encyclopedia
- ↑ Space Battleship Great Yamato on Anime News Network
External links[]
- Starblazers Official website
- Great Yamato website (Japanese)
- Great Yamato @ shipschematics.net
- New Space Battleship Yamato (including all chapters' scripts) on Leiji Matsumoto Encyclopedia (Japanese)
- Great Yamato on Wikipedia (Japanese)
- Leiji Matsumoto’s Great Yamato on Cosmo DNA
 | |
|---|---|
| TV series | |
| Original Series: Space Battleship Yamato (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato 2 (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato III (Episodes) Remakes: Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Episodes) • Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 (Episodes) Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2205 (Episodes) • Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 3199 (Episodes) | |
| Films | |
| Original Series: Space Battleship Yamato • Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato 2: Compilation Yamato: The New Voyage • Be Forever Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato III: Catastrophe of the Solar System Final Yamato • Yamato Rebirth Remakes: Space Battleship Yamato 2199: A Voyage to Remember Star Blazers 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark • Star Blazers Chronicle 2202 | |
| Live action films | |
| Space Battleship Yamato • Star Blazers | |
| OVAs | |
| Yamato 2520 • Great Yamato #0 | |
| Manga | |
| Space Battleship Yamato by Leiji Matsumoto • Space Battleship Yamato by Yuki Hijiri • Space Battleship Yamato by Akira Hio Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage • Be Forever Yamato Space Battleship Yamato III by Takayuki Masuo • Space Battleship Yamato III by Hiroshi Aizawa • Final Yamato •
Space Battleship Great Yamato | |
| Comics | |
| Star Blazers • Star Blazers : The Magazine of Space Battleship Yamato | |
| Novels | |
| Space Battleship Yamato novelizations • Space Battleship Yamato Dawn: Aquarius Algorithm • Space Battleship Yamato Dawn: The Malignant Memory Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love Side Stories • My Heart is Like This | |
| Video games | |
| The Distant Planet Iscandar • Warriors of Love • Reminiscences of Iscandar • Revenge of the Dark Nebula Empire • Collapse of the Double Galaxy Super Robot Wars V • Space Battleship Yamato arcade game • Space Battleship Yamato for PC • Space Battleship Yamato for Game Boy Space Battleship Yamato for WanderSwan Color • Final Yamato • Space Battleship Yamato 2199 BFI Chapter 2: The Romance of the Endless Sea Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Iscandar • Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Cosmo Guardian • Space Battleship Yamato 2199: The Last Hope 365 Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Hero's Record • Space Battleship Yamato 2202: A Long Journey • Space Battleship Yamato: Voyagers of Tomorrow | |
| Radio | |
| Stereo Gekiga Space Battleship Yamato • All Night Nippon Space Battleship Yamato Special • YRA Radio Yamato | |