Space Battleship Yamato is a live action film adaptation of the original Space Battleship Yamato anime TV series. Released in Japan on December 1, 2010, the movie was released in English in 2014.
Plot
In 2194 AD, an alien race known as Gamilas attacked Earth; they bombarded the planet with radioactive meteors in attempt to nuke Earth until all human life is extinguished. However, humanity survived and moved its population to underground cities to protect themselves from the radiation. For humanity to survive, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) deployed fighters to defend their planet.
During this time, the Kodai brothers, Mamoru and Susumu, was part of the EDF. While Mamoru eventually elevated to command his own ship, Susumu became a Cosmo Zero ace pilot. Susumu and his Black Tiger Squadron often ran planetary defense missions to prevent further radioactive meteors from affecting Earth, but in one mission, Kodai destroyed a meteor and its fragments damaged a space station that ultimately killed his own parents and robbed his squad-mate, Shima, his wife and muted his child. Filled with guilt over the incident, Susumu Kodai quit the EDF while Mamuro continued on.
By 2199 AD, the radiation crisis continued and had begun affecting the surviving population. At Mars, the EDF launched a counter-offensive. Commanded by Captain Otika, the EDF battlefleet planned to distract the Gamilas capital ships with their fighters, just long enough for them to be in firing range. Once at range, Otika had all their ships fire; unfortunately, their cannons was ineffective against the Gamilas shield technology. As the fleet is being decimated, Captain Mamoru Kodai, captain of the destroyer Yukikaze, sacrificed his life by using his ship as a shield to cover Okita's ship for escape.
On Earth, Susumu, was scavenging for precious metals on the radiated surface (for trade) when an alien probe crashed near him; it knocked him unconscious and exposed himself to lethal levels of radiation. When he awakened, found the probe, but he fell unconscious again; he was rescued by Okita's returning ship and the crew discovered the probe contained schematics for a new warp drive and coordinates for the planet from which it came, Iskandar. In addition, the crew was surprised to find Kodai in good health after severe radiation exposure. After learning what happened at Mars, he accused Okita of using his brother as a shield and tried to hit him, but Yuki Mori (former squad-mate who always thought of him as a coward for leaving the service) stopped him, telling him he didn't know what happened.
Okita believed there's a cure for Earth's radiation crisis on Iskandar; a request for volunteers for a mission was broadcasted and Kodai (a former EDF ace pilot) re-enlisted to serve the EDF's latest ship, the Yamato (enhanced with the alien tech they found). Before the Yamato could launch, the Gamilas attacked with a gigantic missile. Yamato was launched and Okita ordered to fire the yet-untested Wave Motion Gun (the ship's most powerful experimental weapon), which successfully destroyed the incoming missile and they set forth their journey.
The Yamato crew later successfully performed their first warp test and encountered a Gamilas battlefleet at Jupiter. Since the Wave Motion Gun is powered by the same reactor as the warp drive, the crew had to wait until the engine is recharged to warp again. The Yamato destroyed their capital ships, but the battle damaged Yuki's fighter. Kodai launches to rescue her and is later sent to the brig for disobeying orders. Later, Shima (his former squad-mate and ensign to Yamato) tells Yuki that Kodai left the service because of that very incident that cost his parents and his wife. After learning the true reasons why Kodai quit the force, her opinion of him changes.
The Yamato crew later finds a Gamilas fighter adrift and recovered it to study, but the alien pilot is alive and possesses Commando Team Leader Hajime Saitō, in order to communicate. The alien called himself Dessla and explained that the Gamilas is a race with a hive mind. Kodai then stunned Saito to exorcise Dessla.
Later, an ill Captain Okita made Kodai acting-captain. Not long, the crew discovered that the captured Gamilas fighter acted as a homing beacon and attracted more Gamilas attackers. The Yamato fires its Wave Motion Gun to destroy a Gamilas ship, but a unit latched onto the ship's third bridge, preparing to self-destruct; Kodai reluctantly ordered Yuki (in her fighter) to destroy the third bridge support away moments before it detonates, saving the Yamato. Kodai later apologized to Yuki for ordering her to doom their crew-mates and the two comforted each other in romantic passion.
The Yamato arrived at Iskandar, but is met by a large Gamilas force and their Wave Motion Cannon was muzzled by the enemy; Kodai made the dangerous choice to randomly warp and ended up at the opposite side of Iskandar. It is discovered that the Gamilas and Iskandar are the same planet. The crew begins to think that it is a trap, but Kodai urged them to press on. He led an attack, down to the planet surface in the midst of heavy Gamilas opposition. As much of the assault force is killed, the remaining pilots stayed behind to cover for Kodai, Sanada, Saito and Mori as they head off to the coordinates.
At the coordinates, an alien possessed Yuki's body and explained that the Gamilas and the Iskandar are of the same race. The alien explained that their planet is dying and saw Earth as their most suitable replacement by killing humanity in the process. However, the Iskandar group did not share this view and has been imprisoned. Iskandar implanted within Yuki the solution to cure the radiation from Earth. To insure Kodai's and Yuki's escape, Saito and Sanada sacrificed themselves by destroying the Gamilas citadel, killing most of the Gamilas race.
Afterwards, the Yamato returned to Earth and Okita died. Not long, a surviving Gamilas ship ambushed them and crippled the Yamato rendering the ship defenseless. Dessla appears and states they no longer wish to invade Earth since the majority of his kind were killed, but he intends to destroy the planet with his vessel to avenge his race. Kodai had the surviving crew abandon ship and then sacrificed himself by ramming the Yamato into the ship, firing the muzzled Wave Motion Gun; the resulting explosion destroyed the enemy ship and saved Earth at the cost of Kodai's life. Several years later, Earth has been restored to its green state and Yuki is seen with her toddler son (suggestively Kodai's).
Cast
The main cast of characters has been changed from that of the original anime TV series. Yuki now has a more active fighting role, and some of the original anime main male characters are female in the live-action version, marked with "♀".[1]
Yamato Crew
- Takuya Kimura as Susumu Kodai, Mamoru's younger brother, and Space Battleship Yamato's Tactical Unit Leader
- Tsutomu Yamazaki as Jūzō Okita, Space Battleship Yamato's Captain
- Toshirō Yanagiba as Shiro Sanada, Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Science/Technology Officer
- Naoto Ogata as Daisuke Shima, Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Navigator
- Reiko Takashima as Dr. Sado♀, Space Battleship Yamato's Ship Doctor
- Toshiyuki Nishida as Hikozaemon Tokugawa, Space Battleship Yamato's Chief Engineer
- Maiko Skorick as Aihara♀, Space Battleship Yamato's Communications Officer
- Toshihiro Yashiba as Yasuo Nanbu, Space Battleship Yamato's Tactical Officer
- Kensuke Ōwada as Kenjirō Ōta, Space Battleship Yamato Navigation Officer
- Kenichi Ogata as Analyzer, AI assistant to Kodai
- ? as Mii-kun
- Jun Mizukami as Sukeji Yabu
- Miyu Sawai as Higashida♀
- Kazuki Muramatsu as Nishio
- Marika Matsumoto as M. Nishina♀
- Seiji Hino as S. Akagi
- Yosuke Asari as Andō
- Kana Harada as Sasaki
- Maki Yamabayashi as Inoue
- Tōshi Yanagi as Honjō
- Bunki Sugiura as Shimada
- Hironori Koyama
- Misaki Saijo
- Moe Tanaka
- Keisuke Kamimura
- Madoka Terukina
- Masato Yamaguchi
Black Tigers
- Meisa Kuroki as Yuki Mori
- Kazuki Namioka as Saburo Kato, Black Tiger Team Leader
- Takumi Saito as Akira Yamamoto
- Takahiro Miura as Furuya
- Keisuke Minami as Kazuhiko Sugiyama
- Koichiro Takami as Akira Nemoto
- Natsuhi Ueno as Tobita
- Megumi Shoji as Hoshino
Space Cavalry
- Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as Hajime Saito, Commander of Space Battleship Yamato's Space Commandos
- Junpei Uto as Isaoka
- Yuichiro Hirose as Segawa
- ? as Yamamura
- Kenji Motomiya
Others
- Shinichi Tsutsumi - Mamoru Kodai, Susumu's older brother, and captain of the space destroyer Yukikaze
- Isao Hashizume - Heikuro Todo, Earth Defense Force commander-in-chief
- Ryohei Aoki as Jiro Shima
- Yumiko Fujita as Saito's mother
- Satoshi Nikaido as Ryotaro Okita
- Kisuke Iida as Commander Nanba
- Saaya Ishikawa as Yuuki
- Mae Otsuka as Operator
- Masumi Amakawa as Reporter
- Shunsuke Ōe as young Susumu Kodai
- Takeru Taniyama as young Mamoru Kodai
- Yoji Tanaka
- Kenta Suga as Japanese Civilian
Voice cast
- Masatō Ibu as Lord Desler, leader of the Gamilas
- Miyuki Ueda as Iscandar
- Isao Sasaki as Narrator
Production
Logo
The Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) production company has been planning the live action film since 2005.[1] Noboru Ishiguro, director and writer of the original Space Battleship Yamato television series, confirmed at his Otakon panel on July 17, 2009 that a live action version of Space Battleship Yamato was in development.[2]
Director Takashi Yamazaki will helm the project for a planned December 2010 release.[1] The film will use computer graphics and is budgeted at over 2.2 billion yen (US$22 million). The Daily Sports newspaper reported that 80% of the scenes will incorporate the latest CGI technology to recreate the space battles from the TV series.[1]
Takuya Kimura stars as the main hero Susumu Kodai in the remake of the space opera classic.[1] Erika Sawajiri was originally scheduled to also star in the film as the female lead character Yuki Mori, but was replaced by Meisa Kuroki.[1][3]
Filming began on October 12, 2009 and was completed by year's end. Computer graphics, editing, and other elements of post-production will take over nine months before TOHO opens the film during December 2010 in Japan.[1]
A teaser trailer for the film was first shown during late 2009 at the live concert "Johnny's Countdown" in Japan, serving as sponsor of the event. This concert is a yearly event that is held on New Year's Eve and that gathers all the artists from the Johnny & Associates talent agency (of which SMAP/Takuya Kimura is a member) in a single show.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Live-Action Space Battleship Yamato Film's Cast Listed (Update 3)". Anime News Network. October 2, 2009. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5mYQOj3zq. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Noboru Ishiguro Confirms Live-Action Yamato in Development (Update 2)". Anime News Network. July 18, 2009. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5mYQIYDlc. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Erika Sawajiri loses comeback movie role as contract termination looms". Japan Today. http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment-arts/view/erika-sawajiri-loses-comeback-movie-role-after-agency-terminates-contract. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Space Battleship Yamato at the Internet Movie Database
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|---|---|
| TV series | |
| Original Series: Space Battleship Yamato (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato 2 (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato III (Episodes) Remakes: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (Episodes) • Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love (Episodes) Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Journey (Episodes) • Be Forever Yamato: REBEL 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: Voyage of Remembrance Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark • The Era of Space Battleship Yamato: Choice of 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 | |