When I first got into Anime, the recommendations from my colleagues was longer than anyone could realistically watch in a lifetime. The one series that kept surfacing was Star Blazers, or as it is known elsewhere – Space Battleship Yamato. While I’d like to think the United States of America has the market cornered on animation and comic book movie adaptations, the trailer for SB Yamato looks like it has everything a fan of the series could want.
Of course I have no idea what is being said, but the effects, set and costume design, and the feeling that this movie feels big makes it look like this movie will be a hit.
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I think it looks pretty good, I have seen a good amount of Japanese live action films, and this looks to be in the same realm as Casshern.
Historically the Yamato was the largest battleship ever constructed, it served during WWII as the Japanese flag ship and had the largest canons ever fitted to a ship. It was basically a floating piece of artillery. It’s purpose was to defeat the American navy with it’s long range which would (in theory) allow it to face multiple American battleships at once (quality over quantity).
Now the SB Yamato looks very similar to the Yamato (same name too, dah!), is literally a flying canon and it’s job is to face a much larger enemy fleet and save humanity.
Replace aliens with Americans, flying with floating, humanity for Japanese and you have a fantasy re-invention of history in which the Japanese defeated the US during WWII thanks to their flag ship… Not watching this, it’s not original and feels kinda of petty to me.
I don’t know Ricco. The idea of the Gamalons being a metaphor for Americans seems like a stretch. A race of people with superior numbers and strange skin color bombarding their enemies with radioactive bombs just doesn’t seem all that similar to America to me.
….ooooohhhhh
I get it now :)
There’s no difference with watching SB Yamato than watching Rambo II where he kills countless Vietcong and people back then gleefully taking it as Americans ‘getting back’ at losing the Vietnam war. Every culture in the world has their wish/fantasy/history rewrite – especially when they are on the losing side of history.
Everybody who knows and loves sci-fi understands that historically sci-fi has been the ‘mask’ that (SOMETIMES) hides the creator’s intent or message, be it about pollution, racism – whatever.
For me (most of the time) it all comes down to this: if it’s entertaining, I’ll see it.
Difference with Ramboo II is that I’m sorta of a WWII buf, so it bugs me, as a relatively great man once said “your mileage may vary”.
P.S.- Ramboo II had a plotline? That’s news to me…
People sometimes find meaning in works that aren’t even there. But if that’s how they feel about something –who am I to say that’s wrong?
Below I’ve included an example:
Despite the general agreement among film critics regarding these political connotations of the film (Invasion of the Body Snatchers), lead actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. The interviewer stated that he had spoken with the author of the original novel, Jack Finney, who also professed to have intended no specific political allegory in the work.
In his autobiography, “I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History”, Walter Mirisch writes: “People began to read meanings into pictures that were never intended. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of that. I remember reading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegory about the communist infiltration of America. From personal knowledge, neither Walter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrote the script nor the original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything other than a thriller, pure and simple.”
Whatever floats your boat, dude.
Yeah, I get I might be wrong about the intent of the movie (probably am), but I feel what I feel, can’t really change that.
I dont know stephen that was about as comprehensible as any action movie trailer I see in the theaters. But in all seriousness is does look pretty.
I grew up a Starblazers fan, so will definitely want to check this out.
I grew up on “Star Blazers” as well…catching it in the mornings right before school started and then talking about it during recess and lunch. This was before “Battle of the Planets” and long before “Robotech”.
I was disappointed with the live action “Gunhed”(loved the Viz manga) and Robot Jox but those were early pioneer stuff to today’s mecha filmaking.
Was never a big “Voltron” fan but would probably watch the live action movie whenever it comes out.
Is Toby Maguire still attached to the “Robotech” film?
I loved Robotech as a kid, as long as they do the Macross saga they can’t go wrong.
Just acme back from watching it. It was pretty much a downer. The Gamilions, were as uninspired as Spielberg’s WotW lazy ass ID4 alien ripoffs, and a very very big letdown, which pretty much squelched this movie for me. I was looking forward to Leader Desslar and Starsha and what was substituted were Gamilons in name only. Some of the effects looked unfinished, giving the the whole movie a small uneven TV special feel to it, not an epic motion picture which it’s supposed to be- IMHO the equivalent of Star Wars in Japan. There was too much of a BSG riff here and there, and it felt like there were 42 people on the Yamato at all times, instead of hundreds or dare I say thousands – seriously only 5 Marines? Perhaps 7 or 8 fighters? If I have to fight my way through alien occupied space and back, I’m gonna be armed with enough weapons and personnel to leave a trail of destruction that would put the Death Star to shame! Watch the anime you won’t be disappointed, watch this and you will be saying WTF again, and again, and again. This movie didn’t deliver it all for me nor my wife.