Anime: Uchuu Senkan Yamato

Space Battleship Yamato or : How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Warcrimes

Story : 8/10

The story is quite simple and any person with a functioning brain should be able to follow it. I won’t go into detail as I don’t want to spoil and you can read the synopsis anyway, but basically the Yamato must travel across space to reach the planet Iskandar and bring back a machine that can purify the irradiated surface of the Earth. So in short, the battleship Yamato is renovated into a space battleship and has to save the earth from an alien civilization that seeks to exterminate humanity. Thisis quite problematic since, as told in the beginning of the series, the Yamato, largest battleship of its time, was the symbol of japanese pride and japanese military supremacy. The episode that shows how the battleship was sunk at the end of WW2 stinks of japanese nationalism. The Yamato and the fleet accompanying it are shown as heroic and brave. When the ship sinks, you see japanese soldiers doing a military salute. Fortunately, this overly nationalistic atmosphere is only present in one episode, but I find it curious that the series doesn’t say anything bad about japanese imperialism, about the horrors and war crimes it committed all across East Asia. In the beginning, the Gamilas are shown as an evil alien race, but as you progress throughout the series you learn that the situation is a bit more complicated than that : the Gamilas are pretty much the same as humans, and they are not trying to destroy humanity just because they are bad. In each episode, the Yamato and its crew must overcome an obstacle, most of which are laid by the Gamilas empire, so a lot of episodes are space battles against the Gamilas space fleet or its military bases. I thought these episodes to be the most enjoyable to watch, as the space battle scenes are very well done.In some episodes however, part of the crew must go to a planet (to fix a certain problem or just to investigate). Most of these episodes looked like filler episodes and were bad and boring to watch. Luckily, there are only a few of these, and most episodes are very good, if not excellent.

Art & Animation : 10/10

One of this series' strong point. Although the animation and art style may have aged quite a bit, it's pretty easy to get used to it. The scenes where you see the Yamato move around in space, along with the music, are wonderful. The design of the enemy spaceships and buildings are very cool, too. The character design are well done and the characters are easy to identify without them wearing extravagant clothes or having weird hairstyles.

Sound : 9/10

I don’t know anything about music so I can’t really describe it accurately but the soundtrack is one of my favorites and it goes very well with the battle scenes. The opening is unforgettable, one of the best I have ever seen. However some of the sound effects (mostly the laser fires) have not aged well.

Character : 9/10

Apart from Analyzer (who is also known as the sexual assaulter robot), the crew members are very human and likeable and you get to see their backstories in certain episodes. Most of the characters aren't too complex. You know what their motivations are and they are easy to understand, without being one-dimensional. The leader of the Gamilas empire, however, is too predictable. He’s just your typical cartoonish bad guy that wants the whole universe under his boot, always has an evil plan (that fails, of course), makes bad decisions, kills his own subordinates for fun and does an evil laugh for no reason. Luckily, the Gamilas empire does have at least one good character, Domel, a true man of honor that respects his enemy.

Value : 9/10

This series is very old and has many flaws, but it is a must watch for every anime fan. The wonderful animation and music give it a really high re-watch value. Definitely a show I will re-watch in the future.

Enjoyment : 10/10

In general, classics it is classics: this is an interesting story, which is addictive with an advanced and versatile story-line written more than thirty years ago. And in some places meticulously traced tricks for that time, and paying attention to theoretical things like teams on the bridge....But this anime is replete with very unpleasant things, such as very stupid actions of characters for the sake of some spectacular moment. Or a banal salvation from a guaranteed losing position only, so as not to destroy the main character - the ship. Separately, although this was only once, it was very disappointing that after a very strong damage, magically, they found all the necessary materials in space and repaired everything to the next episode, because immediately after the battle the ship was like new....Regarding the characters: Despite the fact that part of the series the doctor tried very hard to be drunk and agitate on the drunkenness of others, I officially declare that the most stupid and inadequate person of this anime ... is the main tactician. Yes, the tactician! ... sometimes he made such an idiotic decisions as attacking a group of warships on one! reconnaissance ... the main tactician, I repeat. Of course, some things can be attributed to something like “It's an old anime, you don't need to find so much fault things”, but I take a different view: the anime may be old, but it was created by people from real World that was not old for them in that time, and there is no "exp date" or age for stupidity and a bag of silly templates prescription.

ANIME EVOLUTION SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9fUryAT8Sw

Notice: This review covers all seasons and movies of the franchise. Reading it is like reading about all of them.

Battleship Yamato (known as Star Blazers in the American dub) is an early work of Leiji Matsumoto and the first example of what a good animated series can be all about. As basic and silly as it may seem today, this series happened to be amongst the most mature titles of its era and opened the way for others to pick up the style and work on it. Anime back then were really childish and crude but this one tried its best to be serious with scientific explanations trying to reason all the weird technology in the series; even the means the animators used were top notch at that time. Thus you need to have an open mind if you want to properly enjoy it for what it is or you may find yourselves asking stupid questions such as how can you enjoy the first Star Trek series when the later ones have better visuals.

ART SECTION: 7/10
Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 1/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 1/2, Visual Effects 1/2

The setting is a space adventure regarding journeys to alien planets, plus lots of repetitive mass destruction scenes of fleets and Earth. The animation begins very poorly to today’s standards; inconsistent proportions, plain colors, crude movements and a dozen follow-up scene mistakes per episode will make most young viewers to laugh at it. Still, reading the story behind the scenes I can simply salute them for coming up with such nice tricks to create new ways of expression while experimenting with special effects. They were practically given a tight budget and just a week to create an episode to be aimed at a few hundred children and perhaps their parents. For such crummy rewards, they did wonders. The production values are also slowly improving with each new installation; giving more details to ships and less body deformities. Just like the Star Trek franchise, they build on the main idea along the way and further flavor the presentation.

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 3/4, Sound Effects 2/3

The voices have a spark in them half the time but are usually too heavy on idealism and they may sound ridiculous to the more modern audience who didn’t grow up in warring times. The dialogues can be extremely irritating since the good guys keep shoveling us with awfully idealistic monologues about hope, justice, humanity and a load of other crap no sane viewer can stand for long. The bad guys keep talking about how reassured of their great forces they are when in practice, they never win a battle. Give us a break you guys! I guess it felt cooler than corny back then, just like Star Wars felt more serious and awesome a few decades ago. Times do change…

In a similar way, the music themes are laughable for their over the top melodramatic feeling. The main song is remade a bit better in the next seasons, but the lyrics don't match with the goal of the story. They are no longer going to Iscandar! They are otherwise nice sounding ballads that fit the whole feeling of the show.

STORY SECTION: 5/10
Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 1/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 1/2, Conclusion 1/2



CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10
Analysis: Presence 1/2, Personality 1/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 1/2, Catharsis 1/2

Well, compared to today… they plain suck! They are all character archetypes, without personality coloring by today’s standards. The description below can pretty much count in all the seasons and movies of the series.

- Human males are the epitome of yasashi (kind hearted) Japanese people. You know, always kind, gentle, strong-willed… and with a permanent dorky expression on their face.
- Human women are… just there. Frail, kind, beautiful, always in love with the main characters. Generally, they are very few in numbers, have very undermined posts and have very minor roles. They hardly count as fan service or emotional support. Heck, at some point they even disappear from the ship’s crew entirely.
- Alien males are just… blue-skinned humans. Seriously, they even share the same DNA as humans. Couldn’t the animators make them more exotic or something? And as far as personality goes, they behave just like megalomaniac, imperialistic, military people. They have German names and salute like Nazis. You can imagine on which people they were based upon.
- Alien women are the Deus ex Machina solution in the story. There is always a beautiful alien babe in some far away planet that is bent on aiding Earth with an ultra powerful way.

As far as interesting characters go:
- The good guys are completely boring. Weak presence, no personality, no development, not much background story and no catharsis since they were already perfect people without any worries other than saving Earth.
- The alien leader Desler is interesting for being a paranoid megalomaniac. He even matures a lot in the following seasons. Hooray for the villains!
- And there is also Analyzer, a comic relief robot that seems to do all the work that the dorky heroes are too stupid to do themselves. Plus, it makes a lot of sexual teasing. How I wish there were more characters like Analyzer; it is a robot and yet acts more like a human than the stale and picture-perfect “robotic” humans he aids.

Again, I am sure the cast felt far more creditable back then exactly because it felt so ideal. Those times were far more black and white than they are today. But surely, for a genre that allows the director to colorize and develop its cast along the way, they don’t feel like much. They do become more colorful in later installments but never enough to be deemed very interesting.

VALUE SECTION: 5/10

Historical Value 3/3: A cult title for all the above reasons I mention.
Rewatchability 1/3: Maybe just for the battles. There is no much of a story or characters to bother with.
Memorability 1/4: A very generic series you need to remember for historical reasons and not for the cast or the story.

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10

A very generic story, with a very generic plot and a very generic cast makes most of the series a very boring watch.

On the good side, the series is full of good sci-fi ideas that prevent the story from becoming a typical “brainless invaders vs idealistic humans.” For instance, the aliens use radioactive meteors from a base on Pluto, instead of sending their army there. It makes it far more original and realistic this way. They possess reflective satellites than make their laser beams to bounce around planets. They even possess tractor beams and teleportation waves that sent enemy ships on corroding seas of acid. The Yamato has light-speed technology, wave particle engines and cannons, magnetic shield ring and laser reflection coating, all provided with a simple explanation. This parade of basic strategies and special powers makes every battle far more interesting than, lets say, most mecha series where all they do is throw energy beams at each other. And yes, I do know it caused millions of people to shed tears but I still find it very weak if I compare it by today’s standards. It may still beat most modern anime in tragedy but it simply presents things very superficially and melodramatic to the point you prefer the formula as it was in less serious mecha shows because the lack of realism was excusing stuff better.

The second season has better animation, more perplexing story, and a bit more colorful characters making it a bit more enjoyable. And not to forget to mention the new weaponry. The aliens have more terrifying weapons than the previous ones, making them far more sinister. They possess a planet-destroyer comet, moon-destroyer missiles, teleportation beams, laser reflection barriers and can even resurrect the dead! You don’t find such variety in most series.

I personally consider the retelling of “In the name of Love” to be sappy. It was made just to give a quick and dramatic ending to an otherwise ongoing series. There are many interesting events in the series that you will miss if you don’t watch it. So, I recommend to watch this movie if you found the second season to be terribly old and uninteresting. It is a fine conclusion for all of you who don’t intend to watch the third season.

The New Voyage and Be Forever Yamato are full of space battles, and dramatic dialogues. They have a very fast pace and are quite enjoyable if you are a retro freak.

The third season has even better animation, even more perplexing story, and far more colorful characters. And guess what; we get even more terrifying new weaponry. The aliens are even more sinister than the ones in the second season. They possess planet-destroyer missiles, subspace submarines and black hole bombs! You don’t find such variety in most series.

“Final Yamato” and “Resurrection” are by far the most childish parts of the Yamato franchise. They have many good scenario ideas and yet they are all wasted by terrible presentation and Deus ex Machina situations. Enough with the corny “I love you” routine between Kodai and Yuki. It got boring after the 1.000th time! And enough about the destruction of the Earth every 6 months! And of the Yamato mysteriously surviving a hundred hits when all other ships blow up with a single strike. And the ending! How terribly melo it was! At least there were several well-made space battles that war-otakus will love.

VERDICT: 5.5
The forefather of anime space operas. He is really old and senile but it is he that all the rest look upon for ideas. If only the tv series was as fast paced and action based as the movies, it would still be a title most otakus would keep around. But seriously, for those of you who were waiting for a good conclusion to a cult title in Kanketsu hen, this is far from satisfying.

SUGGESTION LIST

Uchuu Kuubo Blue Noah. Another series with a ship bent on saving Earth from aliens.
The Captain Harlock saga, the Ginga Tetsudou 999 saga, Shin Taketori Monogatari: 1000-nen Joou, Arcadia of my youth & The Galaxy Railways. Famous series, made by the same cartoonist, Leiji Matsumoto. You will notice that his characters are identical in all his works.
The first Star Trek & Dr. Who seasons. Cult sci-fi series. They pretty much have the same retro appeal.
Macross. A semi-serious mecha series and semi-space opera with a similar story.
Banner of the Stars. An intergalactic romance / war that transcends species.
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The epitome of space operas.

Space Battleship Yamato (宇宙戦艦ヤマト) aka Uchuu Senkan Yamato is a ground breaking Japanese science fiction anime series, also serving as the name of its space craft. Perhaps more commonly known as Star Blazers, at least to English-speaking audiences, what was once perceived (by some) as a trendy melodrama has served as a gateway for anime in the western hemisphere, whose influence as the godfather of "golden age anime" has ushered a respect and magnificence of historic proportions. It is the classic Shakespearean drama, serving as one of the finest examples of character-based storytelling. It is obvious that the personalities chosen by producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki were meant to instill immediacy, friendship, tragedy... all the finer points, while remaining closely relevant to 70s based storytelling. Previous attempts not as successful (Gatchaman), this was the show America had been waiting for.

The characters helped propel the show with the sheer urgency had by the english voice actors; as none of them were members of the coveted Actors Guild, they had no real employment security. It is believed that this exigency allowed each actor to perform at his or her best and remain "impressive" without losing the "genuineness" of his or her respective role. It is this approach to voice acting, outside the normalcy of collecting a paycheck or phoning in their work, that comes across with each episode.

Part of the success of SBY is driven by the sheer emotion each episode portrays, and while it is true that each episode is an island unto itself without many auxiliary plot devices, SBY proves that the best stories are often the simplest ones, ensuring the emotional takeaway lingers long, long after watching the show for the first time.

The show is completely embraceable and is graced by including the most consummate villain in all of anime up to that time: Leader Desslok (Desler), who again was fortunate enough to be well represented by both english and japanese voice casting. His role in the show's climax is nothing short of epic, and without ruining the ending, plays part to one of the great tragedies in all of Japanese melodrama.

The action, audio and animation are strong. There is, by today's standards, a hint of naïveté, but the artistic approach to space combat is nurtured at its best, well supported by the technology of the time. It won't be until later (Robotech, Nadesico and Eureka 7, et al) that we see space combat fully realized in all its 60 fps glory (yet no other weapon after viewing this show really compares to the impression left by the massive Wave-motion Gun (WMG), a device which has been emulated in countless movies and anime, and provides some of the most thrilling moments in the series). This show also featured the first employment of beveled cell placement, which provided a simulated f-stop between cell plates allowing the camera selectively focus on objects placed in the foreground or background. In addition, the sounds are clever and delectably set with all the 70s analog filters and instrumentation with which they are commonly associated in this decade. Some of the more memorable sound effects are still being used in today's mecha based anime. The score is haunting and beautiful, and often funky. A full orchestra launches the more memorable anthems, serving to provide pop-culture material for some of today's musical stalwarts (i.e. The Flaming Lips).

Some might consider this show dated, but for Gen X members everywhere, this was the penultimate television show that finally proved to mature audiences that "cartoons" need not be whimsical or understated; although the show reveres these traits on occasion, if only to counterbalance the seriousness of the story. Although being accused of being over the top, we are talking about the end of the world after all, and with very few exceptions today (Ghost in the Shell, Death Note) this series successfully showcases many of the social relevancies of today like no other anime. Consider this show to be the first important animated series of any genre, and enjoy the story as it unfolds.