Space Battleship Yamato is a feature-length condensation of the Star Blazers TV series. Essentially, the original footage was pared down to movie length, omitting the subplots and considerably streamlining the story. The editing here is surprisingly good, and the story remains not only coherent but gripping. As such, it is an economical alternative to purchasing the entire Star Blazers series on videocassette.
Space Battleship Yamato tells the story of an intergalactic conflict between Earth and Gamilus, and remains fascinating because of the similarities between the worlds. Both are represented as dying planets and in a few of the early scenes, the Gamilians look exactly like earthlings. (The Gamilian skin color was soon changed to blue in the Star Blazers series). There is a mutual respect among the fighters on both sides, and the Gamilian menace (unlike that of alien marauders in nearly all mainstream sci-fi movies) is born of necessity, not pure evil. Unfortunately, the capture of a Gamilian (a key turning point in the series) did not make the final cut of the film. It did, however, make the video box, which is pretty misleading.
The character development during Space Battleship Yamato is not as dramatic as in the TV series, partly because we are only given slightly more than two hours to spend with the characters. Kodai's transformation from an idealistic cadet to a wise young warrior is somewhat obscured here, as his romantic relationship with Yuki, his deep mourning over his brother, and his shifting relationship with Captain Okita. Nevertheless, the overall plot is preserved, and those intrigued by the film would be well served to start renting the various episodes of the original series.
Perhaps the oddest thing to a contemporary viewer will be the cartoony drawing style preferred by the animators. This is typical of Leiji Matsumoto's designs. Space Battleship Yamato does not boast the quasi-realistic style that many serious animated films do. As it was originally created for the small screen, the animation is far from fluid when compared to other feature films. Amazingly, Yamato transcends this by drawing the viewers into the plot. Simply put, Yamato is a well-written story, and this film is highly recommended.
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