Space Battleship Yamato 2202

[Noname Given]

Yeah, but here's the thing.

It's a retcon. It's a retcon to whitewash Dessler so people can say "but but he wasn't that bad because he has a bad backstory!"

If this backstory was in conjunction with him having some actual fucking character development, it would be more okay, but as it is? He does nothing and he gets everything back. He doesn't grow. He doesn't have some revelation that you know, just maybe he shouldn't be a dictator okay with his underlings committing genocide. It feels like they wanted to have Yamato 2 Dessler while spending the absolute bare minimum trying to fit it with 2199. Which, according to interviews with the writer, is what he was trying to do.

Maybe if they excised Kiman altogether they'd have had more time to develop Dessler lol.

Yeah, I'm well aware it's a retcon (much like Yuki not being shot dead saving Kodai as Dessler shoots him in the original); but I like that they at least give the character more of a reason for his actions then "Well hey, he's the 'Evil Villian'..." which is how he came across to me in the original (IE yes he's 'Space Hitler/Mussolini').

 

[skaianDestiny]

@137th Gebirg something you might like is that the Andromeda DX booklet gives the designers for the custom Andromedas.

The Gamdromedas were designed by Shinya Ogura and Amaterasu was designed by Takahiro Yamada. Aquarius was designed by Kobayashi, to no surprise.

 

[Ithekro]

The Andromedas were designed using what the Japanese call "the yard and pound method". Meaning she's designed to use Imperial measurements for panel lines and such (possibly why she has 16 inch guns). Basically to suggest that Andromeda and the Dreadnoughts were designed elsewhere on Earth (likely the United States, though the UK is a possible factor, if they somehow reverted to using Imperial measurements again.)

 

[eGuy]

I am still waiting on my copies of the DVDs to arrive, so this is only based on a quick view-through by “other” means, but I have now seen all of 2202.

I’ve been a lifelong fan of Star Blazers and absolutely loved 2199. It’s not perfect, but on the whole it delivered a great story and did a fantastic job of bringing something new to the world while still remaining Yamato at its heart.

I admire 2202 for being bold enough to take the framework of the Comet Empire storyline and doing something new with it. I like that the consequences of 2199 were explored and that their ramifications had real impact in how the story moved forward. There are a lot of great sequences in 2202, and moments where it touches on that old Yamato feeling.

However, ultimately I find that 2202 leaves me unsatisfied and does not feel as “Yamato” to me as 2199 did. Aside from the issues raised upthread, I mostly feel that 2202 did not carry the main characters forward in any meaningful way, and existed instead to mostly hit a number of preset plot beats.

Part of my feeling also definitely comes from my dislike of the Kobayashi design ethic that pervades this work. I fully understand his history with the franchise, so I don’t dispute its “validity” within the Yamato context, but elements like the Cosmo Tiger 1 and the power armors feel like they belong in a different anime. For me Yamato has always been “World War 2 in Space” and is at its “truest” when it is at its most anachronistic, if that makes any sense.

In all, I am happy that more Yamato is being made, and I would much rather have this flawed entry in the franchise than nothing at all. And, as stated above, I’ve already bought my DVDs, so I certainly don’t hate it. I wish the creators had stayed a little more grounded and character focused rather than using them as plot pawns, but I am glad to have this in my collection.

 

[Ithekro]

Episode 24 should be out later today/tomorrow from Funimation (basically the showdown between Yamato and Gatlantis). Its a mostly fighting episode.

 

[Ithekro]

Funimation's sub/dubbed Episode 25 should be out later today.
"Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato"

Wait...I think I saw that one before.

There is still one more episode left.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Funimation's sub/dubbed Episode 25 should be out later today.
"Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato"

Well that’s not a good sign.

 

[zakkrusz]

I've watched up to 22, I think I'll wait until Funi posts the last one and then marathon the last 4.

 

[Ithekro]

I've watched up to 22, I think I'll wait until Funi posts the last one and then marathon the last 4.

Fortune has it since the last episode comes out this weekend.

 

[zakkrusz]

Indeed. In the mean time, I've got stuff from the new season I can watch.

 

[Ithekro]

Episode 26 from Funimation will be out by now marking the current end of Yamato 2202, with the knowledge that there will be more Yamato stories at some point in the "relative near future". Meaning probably two years, maybe three.

 

[Noname Given]

Episode 26 from Funimation will be out by now marking the current end of Yamato 2202, with the knowledge that there will be more Yamato stories at some point in the "relative near future". Meaning probably two years, maybe three.

All I have to say about SBY 2202 Ep. 26 is: WTF?!

 

[Hartzilla2007]

You know I just realized something. Has a big cathedral looking spooking fortress, can raise the dead to act as minions, taking him down can lead to killing his entire army, and has ominous organ played music.

Zordar Is totally a fantasy RPG big bad.

 

[Skipper]

Just watched the last episode.

So, Yukio fullfilled the True Female Destiny: living only for Our Hero, reminding him what a Wonderful Heroic Person he is and bearing His Child.

Between this and affirming that all these genocides and planets' destructions ordered by Dessler were just misunderstandings (they really tried to redeem a character who is literally worse than Hitler?!?!), I believe that the writers' mind are very twisted and insane places...

 

[Skipper]

You know, I believe this story is somewhat relevant...
Meet Japan's first female commercial airline captain
"People, especially older pilots, weren't used to a female captain and had little idea of how to interact with me," says Fuji.
"When I got married, a year after becoming a co-pilot, another pilot said to me, 'You've become a pilot, your dream job, and got married. Why don't you quit now?' I was like, 'what?!' I guess he thought that as a woman, I was just doing this as a hobby."

 

[Ithekro]

From what I gather, Yamato 2202 is written to be directed at the "Lost Generation" of Japan. Those that were promised a bright future and had to ripped out from under them when the economy tanked. The generation that has (in general) had to work and work and work, had not time for family, and (by some estimates) is partly the reason for the declining population of Japan (they don't have the time, nor money to invest in children). Thus the ending message of Yamato 2202 is more directed at them than anyone else. The hope that there can be a future.

 

[137th Gebirg]

So, the Japanese Gen-X? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and built the web page.

 

[Blamo]

Okay, finished watching it all.

Pros:-
* It's better than the few modern anime TV series I've seen (most of which were lauded as being spectacular shows). This may just be a reflection of my very low opinion of anime in general.
* The last two episodes actually got a few sniffles out of me.
* With the exception of the song right at the end, the music has been fantastic.
* I want to see more of Captains Yamanami and Saki.

Cons:-
* The animation quality is generally pretty poor. Yuki's face goes off model a couple of times. There are lots of reaction shots, lots of close ups on the face so the artists didn't have to bother with the bodies (and when they did, there were noticeable occasions when the proportions were way off). It really gets absurd in some places where they are focused on a characters face in a fight. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if "can we have these characters sitting down behind something" was a common request for each scene.
* Some of the space battles look like they're from a mobile game.
* Dessler got away with mass genocide. I don't care about his motivations, he's a psychotic mass murderer. The treatment of Dessler reminds me of how ST6 (and TNG) treats the Klingons, in that both forget their blood filled past and present.
* A lot of the characters didn't get much development.

Between this and affirming that all these genocides and planets' destructions ordered by Dessler were just misunderstandings (they really tried to redeem a character who is literally worse than Hitler?!?!), I believe that the writers' mind are very twisted and insane places...

They're desperately trying to get things set up to somewhat match the original Star Blazers Comet Empire end. Problem is it made no logical sense originally. I wouldn't be shocked if this is part of the reason why they wanted to go their own way from now on, since there was just so much nonsense.

Hopefully the next season will be a bit more sane.

 

[Ithekro]

Logic suggests that the next project will be Dessler centric (or at least be the main plot, even if Yamato and her crew are needed to be the main Earth characters, the focus will be Dessler as a protagonist). The rapid turn of his to being minimally accepted by at least some of his people again, and Yamato letting him go with a salute suggests they'll follow his story (again) but hopefully flesh it out more this time around, rather than hear about what happened in a small flashback in a even farther away project.

 

[Skipper]

They're desperately trying to get things set up to somewhat match the original Star Blazers Comet Empire end. Problem is it made no logical sense originally. I wouldn't be shocked if this is part of the reason why they wanted to go their own way from now on, since there was just so much nonsense.

Hopefully the next season will be a bit more sane.

I admit I don't remember the original series very well. Was Its Dessler depicted guilty of various atrocities as the new one? (but I have to say that trying to eliminate all the Earth population is more than enough, in whatever continuity...)