It was an interesting first episode. Not all that much changed from 1974 to 2012 in terms of the story. Just details and perhaps motivations that make more sense in this day and age.
Spoiler for Plot 'Summary' for Episode One:
As we've seen in the Preview, The Earth Fleet got hammered. The elder Kodai's motivations for staying are more reasonable this time around. Make sure the flagship can make it home. The younger Kodai doesn't seem quite as hotheaded as before, reflecting the change to his brother.
A date is given as January 17, 2199 For Sasha's grave marker.
We see another old face on the Kirishima. Someone we didn't see until Yamato III, Hajime Hirata. He takes Kodai and Shima's finding once they arrive on ship. He's also the one that has to tell Kodai about the loss of his brother.
Yuki tells us the backstory to the war. That eight years prior to the present, Earth made contact with aliens for the first time. They welcomed the aliens, but got planet bombs in return. The Earth Defense Forces fought the aliens and managed to stop them after a costly battle over Mars. It was then that "Gamilus" resorted to heavy long range planet bombing as a means to wipe out humanity. Scientists believe Earth has about one year left to live. She is telling this to school children. However while the humans had been trying to terraform Mars, the Gamilus terraformed Pluto as a base of operations.
Next we see Yasuo Nanbu and Yuki afterwards. She's very cool and professonal. He's talking about the fleet and the distraction when Kodai and Shima arrive. Kodai wants answers. He wants to know if his brother died in vain. Yuki tells him (and Shima) off. (The shippers are going to be all over this)
Kodai drags Shima out to the Hospital to see Admiral Okita about the battle. There is of course the Admiral's private doctor. Dr. Sakezo Sado, and his nurse (the first new regular we've seen) Makoto Harada. Kodai barges in to ask question and is rebuffed by the also present Admiral Ryu Hijikata, who was one of Kodai's instructors. Okita recognizes the young man as the elder Kodai's brother and tells him more or less what happened and apologies. Kodai seems to take this a lot better than he did in the 1974 version.
Afterwards the Doctor and is nurse come out to talk to Kodai and Shima...the Sake bottle comes out (the nurse chastises the doctor) but Kodai and Shima have left already.
Later Okita reviews personel records and get a call that the capsule is being
analyzed. This scene provides dates of birth for Kodai (7/7/2178) and Shima (8/15/2178).
The General Staff (I suppose) of Admiral Ryu Hijikata, General Kotetsu Serizawa, EDF Commander Heikuro Todo gather to hear the findings on the Iscadarian capsule from anoter old face, Shiro Sanada. There is also another larger capsule in the corner being tended. One big enough for a person.
Kodai and Shima are a fighter hanger bay (I assume as punishment from Hijikata) looking over the new Cosmo Zero. They are impressed and interrupted by another familiar face, Saburo Kato, Ace pilot, who tells them a little about the fighter and to keep their hands off it. He then gets called over to one of the Cosmo Falcons. Shima gets a mischievious look just before the alarms sound. A Gamilus aircraft has penetrated Earths defenses and is scouting around the South China Sea. Kodai and Shima put on space suits and take the Cosmo Zero. Kato yells and them form a distance.
Kodai intercepts the enemy plane and manages to get a solid view in the gunsight....but in pulling the trigger finds that the Cosmo Zero doesn't have any ammunition. (Should have wonderful gun camera footage though). The Gamilus plane leaves in a hurry. The Cosmo Zero then suffers engine trouble and they are forced to crash land.
Kodai leaves the Cosmo Zero to head for a ridge to see where they are. Shima was prepared to just wait for rescue, but goes to see what Kodai is staring at. Over the ridge is a huge wrecked mass of a battleship imbedded in what was once the sea floor. We are introduced to the show's final star....Yamato. End Credits roll.
All the important musical parts are still there. The voices seem fine. The acting is slightly different, but then it has been almost 40 years and the producers today are different from those back then. Less weight from World War II and the Occupation on their shoulders.
Somehow, in listening to the song onboard the
Yukikaze, I get the impression I've heard those voices before. They sound like voices from the original show. I wonder if anyone has information of the actors that played the
Yukikaze's crew?
What I am wonderng about and what probably won't happen for a few more episodes, is how the cast will handle the character interactions. Especially the new people that really don't have a previous version to model off. But also the Gamilons...as we've not seen once yet that wasn't in a plane or a spaceship.
(Rina Sato is using her Haruka Minami voice for the nurse. I approve of this)
(There was no OP for this episode that I could see. I suppose the OP would be rather spoiler heavy. More so that the show's title.)