SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199 Movie Update

Videos, High-Res Images and News on the Two Feature Films Author: Tim Eldred, Cosmo DNA Source: Shochiku Co., Ltd. Official Site: yamato2199.net Besides watching a fantastic remake unfold into a modern anime SF masterpiece, one of the most interesting things about SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199 (???????2199, Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199) was observing its growth as a marketing phenomenon in Japan. That growth continues non-stop with two new movies, the first of which opens today.

YAMATO 2199 Chapter 1 arrived in theaters April 7, 2012 -- noteworthy for syncing with the date of IJN Battleship Yamato`s demise in 1945 -- with an all-or-nothing campaign. Knowing that their core audience could only be fans of the 1974 original, the YAMATO 2199 Production Committee focused all the initial marketing energy on them rather than the unsold youth, and that decision proved to be the right one. After all, people of that same generation were making the new show itself with tremendous respect for the original. When Chapter 2 premiered June 30, everyone came back and brought their kids along. Positive word of mouth brought in younger viewers as well, and their numbers grew with every subsequent release. By the arrival of Chapter 7 in August 2013, participating theaters had almost doubled, a mountain of merchandise had accumulated, the series was running concurrently on TV, and an ever-expanding sphere of promotion found one foothold after another. That`s exactly how the original Yamato saga became one of the biggest success stories in Japanese pop culture history, and it was extremely gratifying as a fan to see it reach those heights again. It`s been over a year since the first run of YAMATO 2199 came to an end, but since that end included the promise of a brand new feature film for 2014 we still had something to look forward to. The next big announcement came in April of this year, when it turned out we would actually get two films: a compilation titled SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER (???????2199 ?????, Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 Tsuioku no Kokai) on October 11 and an original story titled SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO 2199: THE STAR-VOYAGING ARK (???????2199 ?????, Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 Hoshi Meguru Hakobune) on December 6. Since that announcement, the promotional machine has steadily picked up pace to quickly achieve its previous momentum. Advance ticket sales and home video pre-orders opened up as soon as the first teaser trailer appeared in May, and since they are a major source of production revenue the incentives have increased ever since. In May, buying an early ticket would get you a set of mini-art prints. If you held out until August, you could get a mini-Yamato model kit. If you buy now, you`ll score a pair of clear files with some brand new mecha art. Concurrent with this, the number of public events with a YAMATO 2199 presence has built up to a frequency not seen since the BE FOREVER YAMATO campaign in the mega-summer of 1980.

A traveling 2199 art exhibition has been on the move since April, but the pinnacle so far has been an alliance with the Japan Tourist Bureau that links YAMATO 2199 to the Japan Sankei (the three most beautiful tourist destinations), which is about as mainstream as it gets. September`s highlight was Bandai Namco Anime Camp, an enticing name for a weekend-long outdoor concert that brought YAMATO 2199`s song catalog to a live stage in Odaiba, Tokyo.

This past week saw the final countdown to the compilation film, A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER, and promotion was at fever pitch. The series is still in reruns, but the advertising promises a different experience than what the small screen can offer. This experience has been outlined in a series of 1-minute Youtube videos presented by staff members, uploaded once per day during the final week. Each of 2199`s seven chapters set traditions that VOYAGE will maintain. It will have its own line of theater merchandise, a special Premium Night for Yamato Crew fan club members (a chance to see the film one day before everyone else), an exclusive Blu-ray of the movie on sale right there in the cinema (the standard edition comes out in November), a series of staff and cast appearances and "Yamatalk" lectures, a "Secret File" freebie with insider info (three editions, only one given out per week), and more. Something else that`s particularly gratifying for longtime fans is the full awareness of history on the part of those bringing us the film. The single most critical element in the success of the original was an impromptu guerilla marketing campaign in which the early fan groups were called upon to spread the gospel. They were supplied with posters and encouraged to pester the media, and it achieved exactly what it was supposed to by boosting awareness and laying the groundwork for the 1977 compilation movie to become Japan`s first anime blockbuster. There`s no specific need to do that again, but the Yamato Crew fan club is still paying homage with a "cheerleader kit," posters and stickers meant to promote both of the new films. This kit is provided merely for the cost of postage, and fans have been asked to get photos of them in public places for the next issue of the fan club magazine. A compilation movie is one thing, but an original feature film with all its inherent production costs, is quite another. New events, products, and promotional gimmicks will only increase between now and the December 6 release of THE STAR-VOYAGING ARK -- which will undoubtedly make use of the same traditions. Speculation is high that it will also become the bridge to even bigger things, namely a remake of the second Yamato story, known to American fans as The Comet Empire. All the early signals are there and the marketing apparatus is in place. Back in the 70s, they called it Yamato Fever. Now, those of us observing the saga`s 40th anniversary have found it to be incurable.

For more information on SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: