Uchu senkan Yamato (1977)

Director:

Toshio Masuda

Writers:

Keisuke Fujikawa (writer)
Leiji Matsumoto (story)

Release Date:

6 August 1977 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi | War

Tagline:

The spectacular intergalactic space movie!

Plot Keywords:

Warp Engine | Comic | Spacecraft | 1970s | Warp Speed

Cast

Gorô Naya	...	Okita Juzo / Aruga Kosaku (voice)
Kei Tomiyama	...	Kodai Susumu (voice)
Shûsei Nakamura	...	Shima Daisuke (voice)
Yôko Asagami	...	Mori Yuki / Fisherman's Son (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Dr. Sado Sakezô / Hikozaemon Tokugawa / Fisherman / Ghetto (voice)
Taichirô Hirokawa	...	Kodai Mamoru (voice)
Takeshi Aono	...	Sanada Shirô / Berger (voice)
Masatô Ibu	...	Desler / Todo Heikuro (voice)
Osamu Kobayashi	...	Domel (voice)
Michiko Hirai	...	Starsha (voice)
Akira Kamiya	...	Katô Saburô (voice)
Kenichi Ogata	...	Analyzer / Yabu Sukeharu (voice)
Keisuke Yamashita	...	Hiss / Sugiyama Kazuhiko / Nomura Jiro (voice)
Takeshi Ôbayashi	...	Schultz (voice)
Akira Kimura	...	Narration (voice)

Also Known As:

Space Battleship Yamato (USA) (video title)
Space Cruiser: Guardian of the Galaxy (UK) (dubbed version)
Space Crusier Yamato (International: English title)

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

Japan

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:U | USA:G (theatrical rating)

Company:

Office Academy

Trivia:

This "movie" is actually the original series "Uchû senkan Yamato" (1974-1975) edited into 2+ hours and shown theatrically. It should also be noted that it was this movie that made "Yamato" extremely popular in Japan (the original TV series didn't do so well in the ratings) and its success led (so far) to two other TV shows, four more movies, and a direct-to-video mini-series.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Saraba uchû senkan Yamato: Ai no senshitachi (1978)

Wave Motion Gun!

I was delighted to find this on DVD packed with extras and in the way real anime fans like to watch it, in Japanese with (English for me) subtitles, so we don't lose any of the original voices or sounds. Did you run home from high school every day to watch this too? I did. This was probably my second early exposure to anime, the first being Gatchaman I had thought that the first movie came before the first series but the series came first, which explains things like how Yuki's/Nova's arm got broken after they land on Iscandar to meet Stasha and get the Cosmo Cleaner D.

Space Cruiser Yamato the movie is a fun trip down memory lane, back to classic anime. Very informative to see the changes it went thru after being mangled into Star Blazers by completely changing or omitting sections of the film. The WWII sequence and ideas of Japanese honor were altered so as not to offend or confuse US viewers, gimme a break! The DVD even has an alternative scene on Iscandar that really changes the pace of the show.