The inclusion of some of those characters in Tim Eldred's version of the Rebirth story made it feel more real to me than the 2009 movie from Japan. Even though I liked the Japanes film as well (aside from a personal issues I have with the music not fitting scenes from about halfway into the film to near the ending. Though I think they fixed that in the Director's Cut, I've not seen that version yet), the webcomic seemed to fit the character (at least of the Star Blazers style) better. Though I suppose having the crew of Yamato be partially generational and having pretty much anyone that survived have a high ranking position in the fleet is very Star Trekish, it felt right having (Kathleen) and Miyuki serving on the "Argo". As well as having various relatives to older crew members assigned to the ship. It felt like it should. Along with Desslok of course...can't have a version without him effectively...right?
As for 2199: it will be interesting to see what they decide to do for those middle episodes. The ones that can be altered without effectively changing the plot, nor the potental sequels in any measureable way.
I take the movies (the 1976 version of the original and the live action version in 2010) to see what the main elements of the plot that remained nearly or completely intact were so a messure of what they will probably keep come post-Pluto 2199.
Though as I've mentioned before, I'm hoping for Yamato: 2201...because with today's technology, I really want to see the Andromeda and the EDF in action against the Comet Empire's fleets. Even though that series was probably the best written and animated of the while series...there are things you can do today that you could not do in 1978.