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Be Forever Yamato

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Be Forever Yamato
Film poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Toshio Masuda[4]
  • Keisuke Fujikawa[4]
  • Eiichi Yamamoto[4]
Story byLeiji Matsumoto
Produced byTooru Yoshida[5]
StarringKei Tomiyama
Yoko Asagami
Shusei Nakamura
Music byHiroshi Miyagawa
Production
company
Academy Productions[a]
Distributed byToei Company
Release date
  • August 2, 1980 (1980-08-02)
Running time
148 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office¥2.5 billion[6]

Be Forever Yamato (ヤマトよ永遠に, Yamato yo Towa ni) is a 1980 Japanese science fiction anime film and the fourth film (third theatrical) based on the classic anime series Space Battleship Yamato (known as Star Blazers in the United States).[7] The film is unique for switching from monaural VistaVision (1.85:1) to Quadraphonic CinemaScope (2.35:1) when the Yamato enters the Double Galaxy.[8] It later got a remake in 2024 as Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 3199.[9]

Plot

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The Black Nebula Empire, last seen in Yamato: The New Voyage, lands a huge fortress on Earth and sends out an invasion force, while the Black Nebulan fleet wipes out Earth's space fleets. The Black Nebulans then announce that their fortress contains a bomb that can destroy all life on Earth and threaten to detonate it, forcing the Earth military to surrender. Meanwhile, Kodai and the rest of the Yamato crew discover that the Yamato has been secretly rebuilt and sets sail towards the Black Nebula to attack their home planet. However, Yuki is accidentally left behind and captured by Black Nebula intelligence officer Aphon, who grows infatuated with Yuki and tries to seduce her. However, after he realizes Yuki still believes Kodai is alive and will never reciprocate his feelings, Alphon lets Yuki go and she joins the human resistance forces.

The Yamato reaches the other side of the Black Nebula and finds a planet that heavily resembles Earth. Upon landing, they are greeted by Lord Scaldart, the leader of the Black Nebula Empire. He explains that the planet they are on is actually Earth 200 years in the future, and they sent their forces back in time to conquer Earth. He also shows the Yamato crew the history of Yamato from 2202 to 2402, culminating in the ship eventually being destroyed by Black Nebula fleet. Scaldart warns the Yamato crew that they cannot return to their own time otherwise they will meet their fated end, and offers to let them stay on the future Earth. The crew refuse Scaldart's offer and return to the Yamato. However, Sasha decides to stay behind, believing that she has a role to play as a human and Iscandarian hybrid.

As the Yamato leaves the planet, Scaldart orders his fleet to attack them. The crew is initially confused why the Black Nebulans would attack them if their fate is already decided, until Sanada deduces that the future Earth they saw was actually an elaborate ploy by Scaldart to trick the Yamato into surrendering. Realizing that the Black Nebulans aren't bluffing about their willingness to destroy Earth, they turn back to look for the bomb's control system. They decide to attack the false Earth with the Wave Motion Gun, which destroys its facade and reveals its true nature as the planet Dezarium. Sasha then contacts the crew and informs them that she can open a vent to allow the Yamato to attack Dezarium's core directly with the Wave Motion Gun, which will destroy the entire planet, but Scaldart threatens to detonate the bomb on Earth.

Back on Earth, Yuki leads the resistance into attacking the bomb. She encounters Alphon, and they both are reluctant to fight each other until another soldier mortally wounds Alphon. Yuki is shocked that Alphon has a robot body, and he admits the Black Nebulans are actually all cyborgs who lost their original bodies due to overdependence on automation, and invaded Earth with the intention of taking humans' bodies for themselves. With his dying breath, Alphon tells Yuki how to disarm the bomb, with both the trigger mechanism on the bomb itself and the control system on Dezarium needing to be disabled together. Yuki successfully disables the trigger right when Sasha sabotages the control system. The Yamato then charges into Dezarium's core, but the bridge takes a direct hit and Captain Yamanami is mortally wounded, designating Kodai as the new captain before dying. Kodai takes charges of the Wave Motion Gun, but hesitates since Sasha is still on the planet. Sasha urges Kodai to fire before she is killed by Scaldart, which finally pushes Kodai to fire the Wave Motion Gun, destroying Dezarium.

As the Yamato sets course back to Earth, they are contacted by Sasha's spirit, who bids the crew to continue protecting Earth as she ascends to the afterlife. The Yamato then returns to Earth, where Kodai and Yuki are finally reunited.

Cast

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Production

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This movie was intended to be Space Battleship Yamato III.[10][11][12]

Reception

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Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies called it a "flawed masterpiece" and stated that "this movie is epic in every way. But its length is a problem - the ending is rushed and there are some plot holes that another half hour or so could have plugged".[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ The studio went through numerous name changes, which are listed as follows for the sake of consistency with other articles listing the studio: Academy Productions (April 1973–July 1980); Tokyo Animation (July–August 1980); Office Academy (August–October 1980); Nishizaki Music & Video Corporation (October 1980–April 1983); West Cape Corporation (April 1983–August 1997).

References

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  1. ^ ヤマトよ永遠に [Be Forever Yamato] (motion picture) (in Japanese). Event occurs at 1:32. チーフディレクター - 勝間田具治 [Chief director - Tomoharu Katsumata]
  2. ^ ヤマトよ永遠に [Be Forever Yamato] (motion picture) (in Japanese). Event occurs at 1:36. 監督 - 舛田利雄 [Director - Toshio Masuda]
  3. ^ ヤマトよ永遠に [Be Forever Yamato] (motion picture) (in Japanese). Event occurs at 1:16. 監督 - 松本零士 [Director - Leiji Matsumoto]
  4. ^ a b c ヤマトよ永遠に [Be Forever Yamato] (motion picture) (in Japanese). Event occurs at 1:22. 脚本 - 藤川桂介, 舛田利雄, 山本英明 [Screenplay - Keisuke Fujikawa, Toshio Masuda, Eiichi Yamamoto]
  5. ^ ヤマトよ永遠に [Be Forever Yamato] (motion picture) (in Japanese). Event occurs at 1:32. プロデューサー - 吉田達 [Producer - Tooru Yoshida]
  6. ^ 宇宙戦艦ヤマト大事典. ラポート. 1983. p. 137.
  7. ^ "Be Forever Yamato". mania.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  8. ^ Bandai Visual. Product.bandaivisual.co.jp. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  9. ^ "Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 3199 Now Available on Crunchyroll". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  10. ^ The Making of Be Forever Yamato, Part 1. Starblazers.com (1979-10-23). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  11. ^ The Making of Be Forever Yamato, Part 2. Starblazers.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  12. ^ The Making of Be Forever Yamato, Part 3A. Starblazers.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-15.
  13. ^ McCarthy, Helen. 500 Essential Anime Movies: The Ultimate Guide. — Harper Design, 2009. — P. 46. — 528 p. — ISBN 978-0061474507
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