The opening day stage greeting for the fifth chapter, "The Incandescent Galactic War," of "Yamato Forever REBEL3199," the latest installment in the remake series of the popular anime "Space Battleship Yamato," was held at Shinjuku Piccadilly (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) on February 20th. The fifth chapter has been generating a lot of buzz due to the tagline attached to the main visual, "The last minute, everything turns upside down." General director Harutoshi Fukui, director Naomichi Yamato, scriptwriter Hideki Oka, and Eriko Nakamura, who plays Mikage Kiryu, took to the stage to talk about the "shocking last minute."
◇The following contains spoilers.
At the end of Chapter 5, Yamato entered the space-time nexus using a series of warps. After passing through the torrent of space-time, it was a shocking development: it found itself about 200 years into the past, above Tokyo in 2026.
"Yamato 3199" is a re-imagining of the original works "Yamato: Forever" and "Space Battleship Yamato III," with a new interpretation added. Fukui said he was inspired by "Yamato: Forever," explaining, "People are surprised when they hear it's set on Earth 200 years in the future, but it would be interesting if it was set 200 years ago. (200 years ago) is now! There were a lot of different circumstances. The final landing point came from me."
Oka initially opposed the idea, saying, "It's better not to do it. It will become a punch line," and Yamato seemed confused, saying, "When I received the idea, I was unsure if I could do it," but Fukui was confident, saying, "I will make sure that it does not become a punch line at all. It got going. It fits the theme of the work. It is the original work after all. In 'Forever,' when I see the Sphinx and New York, I think of Earth 200 years in the future. I thought it was interesting that the Earth we know and the world of Yamato are connected. That may have been the underlying theme."
The development of the sixth chapter is also of interest, and Fukui hinted, "There is one thing that Yamato was not able to do for a long time. It was not possible to make a pilgrimage to a sacred site. Since we have come to the present day, we can create sacred sites as much as we want. Various things will happen in various places. We have prepared events and gimmicks that can be enjoyed outside as well."
As this was the opening day stage greeting, in front of the audience who had seen the shocking ending, Fukui revealed his thoughts, "I wanted to see the looks on people's faces right after they saw this. This time I gave it my all. I have no more words to express." "Yamato 3199" consists of seven chapters, with the sixth chapter, "The Blue Labyrinth," set to screen from June 26th.
