The latest in the remake series of the popular anime "Space Battleship Yamato" is "Be Forever Yamato: Rebel 3199". "Space Battleship Yamato" is a masterpiece that changed the history of anime, and "3199" inherited the soul of that masterpiece. What was inherited by "3199"? We will understand it from the words of Harutoshi Fukui, the general director of "3199".
◇Yamato = Battleship Yamato = Japan during the war. Linked to reality
The first TV anime series of "Space Battleship Yamato" was broadcast in 1974, and it greatly expanded the fan base of anime, which had previously been considered "for children" and was also called "TV cartoons." It also became a social phenomenon, with the movie version becoming a huge hit. About five years after "Space Battleship Yamato" began, in 1979, "Mobile Suit Gundam" began. "Yamato" and "Gundam" greatly changed the history of Japanese anime. New works of both series are still being produced today.
"When I thought about why new Yamato works are still being made, I think the title Yamato is a big factor. Yamato = Battleship Yamato = Japan during the war, so it is linked to reality. It is something that could never exist anywhere else but Japan. It is a story about a battleship that was supposed to be very strong during the war and sank, but when the Earth is in danger, it is remodeled and goes into space. You might think that it is a story about how it plays an active role as if to vent its frustrations during the war, but that is not the case. It sheds tears of regret for having annihilated the enemy. Until that time, people in the postwar period had not really been able to understand how to accept wartime Japan. After the war, there was a movement like the student movement among young people, but after that, there was an increase in young people who were called the "Shirake Generation" and thought that it was pointless to even think about it. I think Yamato had something that attracted young people in a vacuum. The fact that Yamato is a story about Japan must have been a big factor. That is the difference with Gundam. If there had been no Yamato and Gundam had suddenly come out, I don't think it would have become a boom."
"Space Battleship Yamato" evokes war, but it is also a fantasy.
“When an explosion occurs in Yamato, even though it is in space, smoke rises up, but this is a necessary depiction to evoke Japan during the war. That is entirely staged. The scene where Susumu Kodai carries an injured comrade on his shoulders and smoke rises also seems like a war story. Before Yamato, there was a work called Animantari Ketsudan, and that texture was intentionally brought into space. It was a depiction to make the allegory of the Yamato battleship's activities in space work. If they had stuck with the initial design, which was far from the form of the Yamato battleship, it probably wouldn't have turned out that way. It may be better to think that the design was influenced by the story as a whole.”
◇The rise of social media and the crisis of democracy: Expressing the spirit of the times
The remake series began with "Space Battleship Yamato 2199," a remake of the first film, which was screened in theaters from 2012 to 2013. "2199" was directed by Izubuchi Yutaka. Fukui participated as series composer and scriptwriter in "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love," the sequel to "2199," which was screened in theaters from 2017 to 2019, and "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Voyage," a two-part series that was screened in theaters in 2021 and 2022. Fukui served as general director of "3199," and was also in charge of series composition and scriptwriting.
"The original Yamato had the theme of what the war meant to Japan, and what did we learn from it? But looking back on the war in this day and age is wrong. Since taking over with 2202, the theme has been Japan after the earthquake. It incorporates not only the earthquake, but also contemporary issues such as the rise of social media and the crisis of democracy. When I watched the original Yamato, adults watched it too. If I went to a soba restaurant, they would be showing a rerun in the evening, and the older men there would be watching it. They don't watch other anime, but something about it caught my attention. It was because it was a social issue. It featured typically Japanese people, and events that evoked the war were happening. I think that resonated with the older men at the soba restaurant in the downtown area."
Fukui has inherited the "socially conscious" spirit in the remake series.
"We aimed to create something that would resonate with people in their 40s and 50s today. We targeted people who were children when the original Yamato was broadcast. Now that their children are in their teens or have become adults, the next generation can also watch it. That's what we're aiming for."
"3199" is a work that reflects society like a mirror. It seems to depict the problem that humanity faces, where we are at the mercy of various information and no longer know what the truth is.
"The things we were going to do with 3199 had been decided to a certain extent at the time of 2205, and we had conceived it quite some time ago, so perhaps the world was drawing closer to Yamato. It made me realize that it was such a vivid story... It drew close. It's not that we had foresight, but I think that the allegorical and satirical qualities that Yamato originally possessed were what drew us in. We were drawn to Yamato. Is it possible because it's Yamato? Is it seen that way because it's Yamato? That's something I don't know."
"Be Forever Yamato: Rebel 3199" is a seven-part series, with the third chapter, "Ultramarine Asteroid," currently screening. The fourth chapter, "Light Blue Maiden (Sasha)," will be released on October 10.
