(L+CR) Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (movie & TV)

[MasterVampire]

Can anyone tell me how many episodes of Space Battleship Yamato 2199 have been released so far? is it 6?

[August138]

Vol. 1 contains Episodes 1 & 2. Vol. 2 contains Episodes 3-6. Vol. 3, containing 7-10 will out in November (unless one snags the Theater-Exclusive BD or DVD when the third film opens this October 13th).

[MasterVampire]

So this show isnt airing on TV then?

[Ithekro]

Nope. Not yet.

Someone decided to make this a sort of movie series (maybe a serial is the old term). It worked well for the a recent Gundam UC series.

There are seven "films" that will be released in theaters first. Then the episodes go on DVD/BD and are sold. Presently it is speculated that after the films are finished this series will get a TV release.

Best guess the theater route has given them a larger budget.

As it stands now, there will be 26 episodes. Divided into seven movies that are being released every two and a half to three months.

As mentioned, the first two "films" are out already for a total of six episodes. The next film comes out in October and will be four more episodes.

My personal hope is that they will continue on and remake all the seasons and films of Yamato in some fashion. One because I really want to see the 2201 Earth fleet in action, and I think that with a clear vision, they could "fix" the issues with the later films and the third season. The only film that really doesn't need a remake is "Final Yamato". The others only would need it if they wanted to fill in the logic holes or perhaps make a better third and/or fourth season to the show.

[August138]

Actually, the show was conceived, written, and planned as a 26-episode series, about four years ago. The state of the current Anime industry, and the success of GUNDAM UNICORN, allowed the producers to take a different route. So, they are stringing together movies out of the episodes, as they are being produced (apparently, most of the teleplays have been completed). And due to the quality demanded for each episode, they've fallen behind schedule, which has disappointed some fans — but not me — as I'd rather them take their time and not rush or compromise their vision. Unlike the usual Anime series, they are also recording the VA first, and animating the episodes to the pre-recorded dialogue — generally, this is the American style of animated productions. But, I imagine, such an approach s allowing the animators of 2199 time to get things done right, and elbow room to do corrections, since the VA is already "in the can". After the seventh film and subsequent BD/DVD are released, the series will be set for television broadcast. Due to the tremendous response 2199 has been garnering, both critically and financially, I'd say their bets were well placed.

[Blaat]

I suspected that Gundam Unicorn success had something to do with this series being released as an OVA series. I'm glad for it, the animation quality would have been a lot poorer if it were a TV series.

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

It's really a rather trivial concern compared to the realistic problem of having completely ungunned undersides...you'd think the Gamilon #1 attack plan would be to try to approach Yamato from the underside!

The same thing applies to a lot of SF vessels, too much two dimensional thinking amongst the designers
This along with "the Earth is united but all our shipnames are from one culture" are the two things what bothers me the most about SF series (that doesn't stop from loving this or Star Trek)

[Ithekro]

With the names of the entire Earth First Fleet at Pluto known, one has to wonder just how large the Earth fleet was, both before the Gamilas arrived, and what they built during the 2190s to counter the Gamilas advances.

1 Kongo type Battleship
Kirishima (BBS-555)

8 Murasame type Cruisers
Atago (CAS-226)
Abukuma (CAS-229)
Yugiri (CAS-253)
Nachi (CAS-702)
Murakumo (CAS-718)
Ibuki (CAS-741)
Tsurugi (CAS-777)
Yakumo (CAS-890)

12 Isokaze type Destroyers
Isokaze (DDS-101)
Ayanami (DDS-103)
Shikinami (DDS-106)
Shiranui (DDS-114)
Yukikaze (DDS-117)
Ayase (DDS-119)
Fuyusuki (DDS-147)
Minazuki (DDS-148)
Hatsushima (DDS-149)
Kagerou (DDS-164)
Shimakaze (DDS-172)
Tachikaze (DDS-216)

Just the hull numbers make me wonder a lot. While the Isokaze type has an over 100 ship range, we don't know when they started building destroyers of this type. The numbers seem low if this was the majority of the pre-Gamilas fleet. So I imagine these were a later design with maybe the earlier destroyers having a different type of hull designation. (Yamato having a "BBY" designation instead of a "BBS" designation might hint at this) Yukikaze is still considered a Isokaze type, but is said to be been modified. It could be its own type if was modified enough verses the other Isokaze destroyers.

The Cruisers also have an intersting pattern They are in the 200s and 700s in this fleet. The lead ship of the type (Murasame) is CAS-707 which suggests that many of these are refits to that type. The cruisers are said to have been build in 2170 and used in the war between Earth and Mars. Later they were refit to use against the Gamilas. My guess is that there were several types based on the same hull or a similar hull. The Nachi being either from a batch just prior to the Murasame being built as a new type leader, or the Murasame was finished first and given that honor.

Kirishima is the only battleship we know in this version of the story. With it being BBS-555 (instead of 225), we don't have a range for the Kongo-type battleships...only that at least one was in the 500s. No clue how many of these things they had. Some articles on this type says that it was build in 2171 and used in the war between Earth and Mars. They looked very different than they do in 2199 with a different superstructure for the bridge and possibly one less turret. And certainly no bow mounted shock cannon.

We also don't know what the other nations of Earth and Mars had prior to 2199. The First Fleet was entirely Japanese named ships and most of them were probably rather old. We know the other nations likely had interplanetary forces and were likely destroyed early in the war, as if the powers that exist today exist in the 2190s, the United States, Euroasia (I'm guessing Russia, India, and China), and European Union would have been the forefront of the war efforts. Once they were down it would be the Far East Region (Japan) and the Middle East forces holding the line. The Middle East is not known for their naval power in recent history and Japan has a well defined naval tradition...so by the end...Japan is all that is left as a military force.

It would be interesting to see how much backstory the directors and others desided to give these ships and if they thought about how much of a fleet Earth had and all that other technical fan material stuff.

[macdawson]

Originally Posted by YF19EX

I'm also curious to wonder where they keep the Seagull rescue ships. From where Boatswain was when the ship was taking on water, it looks like they are kept in the upper hanger deck with the Cosmo's? Both decks seem to be separated. I was also seeing that the main fighter deck has to be on rotating racks because the main engine is right above the fighter bay. Again can't wait to see when they animate the recovery procedures.

From artwork i've seen, those are stored in an hangar in the bow, roughly bellow that dome ahead of the gun turrets. If you look at the sides of the more detailed Yamato's you'll see a red and yellow stripe circling a large pannel. Supposedly it opens much like in Final Yamato for the Cosmo Hound, probably using the same retrieval system as the Kirishima in episode 1. Hope we get to see it on screen. On that note, i liked that they showed the inside of that launch bay with the 2 Type-100 scout craft but only one Seagul. Remember that one was destroyed in episode 4 so there hasn't been enough time to replace it. It's a small detail but its those details that make this show so good.

Back to the subject of the 3rd bridge, it's not just the 3rd bridge that would break on impact, you have those wing/antenna/stabilizers forward and behind it and the big wings in the main engine nozzle. They're a product of aesthetics at a time in wich if it looked cool it didn't have to really make sense. Removing those would make a more realistic ship but...would it be the Yamato without them? I don't think so. This remake is about fixing, beyond the animation, the blatant flaws the original had while keeping those that make up the "Yamato-ness" as they call it. Those structures and the fact they survive everything except when the plot demands their destruction is part of that. Let's explain why there's a floating continent in Jupiter and a Reflexion Sattelite Cannon in Pluto but let the Gamilans stationed there be as pink as they were in the original and explain it. Someone mentioned the Arcadia, that ship also has features on the underside that survive pretty much everything. I've learned to live with that and blame it in super advanced technology. :-D

[August138]

It is apparent, from statements made by the international reps in the second episode, that the other nations are depleted, and Japan is the last nation standing with any type of space fleet or resources to keep the war effort going. Even if barely. The ships in the first fleet are all Japanese, because they are simply all that is left of the United Nations Cosmo Fleet.

[kimpleng]

I really wish this image have high resolution up to 3000 x 2000.


Not may high resolution artwork in google image search.
Maybe needed more specific keyword.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by August138

It is apparent, from statements made by the international reps in the second episode, that the other nations are depleted, and Japan is the last nation standing with any type of space fleet or resources to keep the war effort going. Even if barely. The ships in the first fleet are all Japanese, because they are simply all that is left of the United Nations Cosmo Fleet.

Mind, it does sound like the other nations still have infer structure/resources available to them. Keep in mind the Yamato's wave motion engine couldn't power up with just the energy resources of the East Asian area.

So those other nations probably have SOME resources to construct war assets with.

[Ithekro]

All nations, by 2199, seem to be having trouble just surviving. We know the Kongo and Murasame type ships are from the 2170s so whatever Japan was using for Operation M (Battle at Pluto) was whatever they could drag out that was combat capable.

Maybe the other nations are building escape ships like Yamato was originally suppose to be. Or working on Wave Motion Technology so they can produce wave motion cores to get their new ships running. They do have two semi-viable options to preserve humanity if Yamato is late. Mars was at least partly terraformed and Pluto is partly gamilasformed. They can hole up at least some of the population in those places if needed. Niether would last very long, but it should be more than a year...if Yamato is late. Otherwise they remaining nations of Earth would need to try to build other wave motion engine equipped vessels (power them up) and find a new homeworld to settle.

The Cosmo Falcons and Cosmo Zeros seem to have little issue with smaller Gamilas vessels and fighters, so these would be enough to keep the Gamilas from directly invading Earth. Just the Cosmo Falcons were not designed as carrier-based fighters and the Cosmo Zero is brand new. So they wouldn't have had Cosmo Falcons with the fleet for engagements. Not only because they didn't have a carrier-based fighter, but they likely didn't have any carriers to start with.

Unless some of the other nations had space carriers and fighters earlier in the war. Which doesn't seem likely given the backstory of the Cosmo Zero.

One of my guesses for the Second Battle at Mars (Operation K2) is that in addition to the bow mounted shock cannons, the fleet had "air cover" based on Mars. A few squadrons of ground based Cosmo Falcons could be nasty against the Gamilas Fleet, if their antiship missiles work against the Gamilas shielding and armor.

With all the talk of Mars, I do hope that they provide flashbacks and/or a prequel OVA that shows us the Second Battle at Mars. It seems to be the main thing Okita has done to earn a fleet load of respect from all of Earth.

[August138]

In 2199, it is explicitly said that after Operation K-2 (the Second Battle of Mars), were we barely beat back the Gamilas, they retracted and were just Planet Bombing, long range, from Pluto. So, they were only biding time until the human race fell. So, this gave time for Japan to build up its fleet for Operation M, and work on the Izumo/Yamato Plan. No time frame was given (as far as I know) for Operation K-2. Supervising Director Yutaka Izubuchi, has stated that he'd rather do a prequel about the early days of the Earth-Gamilas war, rather than a sequel to 2199.

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Mind, it does sound like the other nations still have infer structure/resources available to them. Keep in mind the Yamato's wave motion engine couldn't power up with just the energy resources of the East Asian area. So those other nations probably have SOME resources to construct war assets with.

In the episode, they said "No." They were just being politicians and squirreling away their dwindling resources, until their consciences got the better of them... And they finally sent the Yamato the power boost it needed, at the proverbial last minute.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Maybe the other nations are building escape ships like Yamato was originally suppose to be.

Not likely, according to the dialogue from those UN characters. "All our hopes rest with the Yamato." Sounds pretty final. (And the Yamato was originally being build as an escape ship... and it seems it was the only one.)

[August138]

I'm interested in the set-up of building a love triangle between Yamamoto-Kodai-Yuki — or at least, Yuki becoming jealous of Kodai's bonding with Yamamoto. It's a nice play on the original, and discarded, triangle between Kodai-Yuki-Shima. And, according to some images, it seems that a handsome (currently unnamed) member of the Engineering Crew will be making eyes at Yuki in Episode 7 — until he's killed off, of course.

[mitsuganae]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

That is, if the Gamilons don't "cheat".

Heh. You know, I sometimes wonder whether a vessel approaching at warp could be detected in the Yamatoverse, given that it seems like warping is an instantaneous process (here one second, lightyears away the next). It's effectively like teleportation, and Kodai himself warped close to an enemy to attack ("Picard Maneuver" anyone?). The whole Desla teleportation schtick is basically like dropping out of warp at close range. So what's the difference? It has me scratching my head. Maybe teleportation has a greater range, which would explain its effectiveness in the original (the point of origin obviously being outside the range of Yamato's sensors).

[Ithekro]

On a guess that would depend entirely on just how accurate warping is. Yamato's first test was rather inaccurate. They arrived near Jupiter somewhere about 3.5 AU away from where they warped from Mars, but about 22.5 AU away from where they were heading (Uranus).

While in long distance work I imagine that being off by a dozen AU or two won't matter all that much. Especially when one is talking about tens of thousands of light years of travel. But for small warps? Accuracy would the the key to arriving at your destination, or warping into a planet.

[mitsuganae]

True, but as I said, Kodai himself used "precision warping" to attack. But then again, maybe such precision is only possible for close ranges. That makes warping even more dangerous, if it becomes less precise as distances increase.

[Ithekro]

Or it takes exceptional skill.

But we tend to only know of warping from the Earth point of view. The other races seem to be fairly accurate with their warps. But they might have had the technology for so long that it is relatively casual, though still dangerous. Bolar War era Interstellar Missiles that warp from one star system to another are fairly accurate considering the distance. And by 2220, Yamato can use her advanced wave motion engine to warp right into formation at the head of a fleet.

[mitsuganae]

All good points. But unless range is an issue, one then wonders why teleportation hasn't replaced warping, given the former's apparent advantage in accuracy/safety.

[Ithekro]

You can't take the teleporting platform with you. Also it might be limited range verse a warp.

Such a system might be useful inside a solar system, but unless it has massive power behind it, I doubt a teleportation device could get things from one system to another. Though we still don't know how the Gamilas got Floating Continent to Jupiter in the first place. We can assume it isn't natural to the planet. The vegitation certainly is not. If they teleported the whole thing from Gamilas to Jupiter, that would be amazing. Only slightly less amazing would be if they strapped a wave motion engine to it and warped it all they way their. (Mind you the Denguil teleported Aquarius in Final Yamato in multiple light year jumps with the teleporting vessel warping to follow it. We don't know if the Gamilas have something large enough to teleport a continent like that since the only known system they had is for fighters and small warships.)

Depending if one believes the technology path will lead to space trains in several hundred years or not.