It has been revealed that all three parts of the elusive 8mm film version of Space Battleship Yamato will be screened at the "Space Battleship Yamato 50th Anniversary Screening," the first event in the 50th anniversary project for the popular anime series. The 8mm film version is a re-edited version of all 26 episodes of the TV series, and unlike the edit used in the 1977 Space Battleship Yamato theatrical version, it is a "little known" version that also uses new narration. This will be the first time it will be shown in theaters.
The 8mm film version, consisting of three volumes of approximately 36 minutes of footage, was released around 1977-78. At the time, video tape recorders had just started to be sold, and 8mm film was released that had been edited into short versions of movies or recorded in several volumes.
The one-night-only screening event will be held at Shinjuku Piccadilly (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) at the same time on the same day in 2024, exactly 50 years after the TV broadcast began at 7:30 pm on October 6, 1974. It is planned and produced by director Hideaki Anno, known for the "Evangelion" series, among others. The first episode of the TV series, "SOS Earth!! Resurrection of Space Battleship Yamato", will also be screened.
A special talk event will also be held, hosted by Anno, with guests Izubuchi Yutaka, who worked on "Space Battleship Yamato 2199", and anime and special effects researcher Hikawa Ryusuke. The event will be broadcast live at movie theaters nationwide.
The first TV anime series of "Space Battleship Yamato" was broadcast in 1974, and other films such as "Space Battleship Yamato 2", "Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato: Warriors of Love" and "Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection" have also been produced. "Space Battleship Yamato 2199", a remake of the first film, was screened in theaters from 2012 to 2014, and the sequel to "2199", "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love", was screened in theaters and broadcast on TV from 2017 to 2019. "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Voyage", a two-part series, was screened in theaters in 2021 and 2022. The latest in the seven-part remake series, "Yamato Forever REBEL3199", will have its second chapter, "Red Sun's Sorcerer", screened from November 22nd.
◇Comment from Anno Hideaki (original text)
Japanese "anime" began 50 years ago on October 6, 1974. The year is 1974. I hope that the appearance of the TV cartoon "Space Battleship Yamato", produced half a century ago, will convey once again how it shocked us at the time, later created and established the term "anime", and influenced and changed the flow of Japanese anime and the values of the world, and that this screening event will leave a lasting impression of the greatness and fun of "Yamato" in the hearts of people living 50 years later. I would like to thank all the fans, both past and future fans, for their support. Hideaki Anno, a huge Yamato fan for 50 years since he was in the second year of junior high school
◇Ryusuke Hikawa's comment (original text)
When I encountered "Space Battleship Yamato" 50 years ago, I was shocked as if a membrane covering my vision had been peeled off. "TV cartoon" was reborn as "anime" and left its role as a children's film. It was as if Space Battleship Yamato had appeared from the rusty battleship Yamato and gone on a journey... The second shock came when I immediately tracked down the production studio, spoke with the creators, and witnessed the original drawings and setting materials in their raw form. During my second year of high school, I felt deeply that "great works have a reason to be great." As I shared that excitement with others and transformed it into an action to spread it further, 50 years passed in the blink of an eye. I hope that even greater leaps will come from here.
◇Comment from Izubuchi Yutaka (original text)
This is a singularity of the era, a work that became a paradigm shift in the history of Japanese animation. Space Battleship Yamato is the work that evolved Japanese animation into what it is today. At that time, Japanese animation certainly, definitely changed before and after "Yamato". That was 1974, 50 years ago, when the work "Space Battleship Yamato" was born. People born in that year are 50 years old! And 50 years is half a century! What a thing! It is. With gratitude for this moment to celebrate the 50th anniversary with those whose lives were richly and wonderfully turned upside down by this work, "Yamato, launch!"
