Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202

**Contains spoilers** Yamato 2199 was great, but not perfect: though the pacing could be better, some plotlines led to nowhere, and Desler was way worse than his counterparts in all versions and remakes of the original anime (except his counterpart in the 2010 live-action), the character development and animation, alongside the spectacular soundtrack remade by Akira Miyagawa, the son of Hiroshi Miyagawa, the original composer of the OSTs, plot and dialog, made 2199 a great space opera and remake of the original. As a result, 2202 was expected to be even greater, bigger, and better than 2199, given how great its precursor was and how amazing theoriginal material is. However, it would be no easy task, 2202 had to remake two different - yet complementary materials, Farewell to Yamato and the TV series Yamato 2. While Yamato 2 had to stretch the 2-hour long story of Farewell to Yamato into a 26 episode series (and make a new ending), it succeeded in many aspects and failed in others: the overall plot of the series was better and alongside the new OST and mecha, allowed Yamato 2 to feature many new facets unexplored that the original TV series and Farewell, such as villains subplots, good battle strategies, and the Yamato being unable to do anything in some situations. However, Yamato 2 failed to impact audiences with the same drama that Farewell had and some subplots were boring, e.g. Shima and Teresa's love story. With that in mind, 2202 could easily take the strong points of the originals and 2199 to craft a good sequel and remake. However, 2202 fails at it; "Soldiers of Love", except for the battle at planet 11, the presence of the space fireflies, and some other minor points, almost fully ignores the majority of the strong points of Yamato 2. No villain subplots, no iconic mecha from the series (eg. Earth's aircraft carriers), none of the battle strategies, and none of the memorable character moments. The new director Nobuyosh Haraba and scriptwriter Harutoshi Fukui chose something different: they would take the original plot of Farewell to Yamato and add their new elements to the mix. However, the idea backfired: Yamato 2202 turned out to be a mess. Firstly, the insertion of the new philosophical element into the series isn't done in a smart matter. Indeed, some might argue that it represents Nishizaki's vision of love (vision of which bothered Leiji Matsumoto so much to the point where he reportedly refused to work on the final scenes of Farewell Yamato due to his own feelings on the subject), but what one truly observes is that it, practically speaking, only serves as a way to explain plot devices and to allow Zordar to make some nonsensical and monotonous dialogs. The blaring and unstoppable talking about "love" more alienates viewers than highlights the themes of the series. When one talks about characters, the core aspect of the originals and 2199, the results are sad: almost none of them develop that much, characters that were much stronger and charismatic, such as Kodai and Kato, are incoherent to their previous counterparts of the remakes, Yuki and Akira now don't have half of their personalities, and Desler, which surprisingly gets a retcon of his version from 2199 and whose return is not explained at all, is boring. New characters also don't get any better, Zordar is a philosopher with a terrible motivation, Sabera, and all Gatlantis officers are only plot devices, Teresa, Saito, Hijikata, Yamanami, as well as the whole Andromeda fleet (which were supposed to be a big thing in this season) are underused, and the Ginga shouldn't even exist in the first place. The only character that gets some decent development here is Kiman, who is unfortunately affected by the occasionally clucky dialog of the series. As for the action, the use of CGI in the show is good, but not perfect: ships sometimes feel weightless and the Yamato doesn't get the same level of detail on its big scratches after every battle as it did in 2199. 2D animation, fortunately, is in the same standard as it was in the first season. The mecha designs are a mixed bag: while some are good and detailed, adding a lot to the series, others have a debatable quality, such as the Earth's new aircraft carriers, the Ginga with its glass dome, and the Comet Empire's new "true form", which completely obliterated the original design (the same here applies to Zordar dreadnought, although this one might have happened due to budget reasons). The direction of the action scenes is good, despite the overuse of the Wave Motion Gun (which caused a loss to its dramatic effect) the action here is one of the best things in 2202, however, given how there's little emotional attachment to being found between the viewer and the characters, especially new ones, some scenes are often very bland. As for the drama, it is even more diluted than the one in Yamato 2. Characters here die for the sake of dying, Saito's, Kiman's and Higashikata's deaths don't have a fraction of their original deaths. And Kato had a death so mediocre it was comical. The soundtrack is absolutely the best thing of the series, although Akira Miyagawa's style is somewhat different than the one from his father, being more bombastic and colorful, his additions are often amazing (cf. Tsubasa). Overall, Yamato 2202 is a disappointment for a show that had everything to be great but turned out to be mediocre as a show and as a remake. If you want modern action scenes, go for it, but if you want a better sequel to the first season, I think both Farewell to Yamato and Yamato 2 are more worth your time and investment.

Astounding message delievered from this show...Every inch and emotion in my body shivered through these 26 episodes. If you are gonna watch season 2 be prepared for a ride of joy, enjoyment, emotions and some brilliant moments. Earth again faces a new crisis and our old crew from Yamato must once again embark on a journey in the distant universe to assure a future for Earth. Each encounter and fight holds a meaning and this season gives a lesson to its viewers about the mistakes that our characters did and shows us their path to clear them and make the right choices for their future. Thecharacters are what makes Yamato 2202 the best work of Matsumoto Leij. Each character has its own spotlight and each of them manages to stir up different emotions for its viewers. Sometimes you will hate them sometimes you will love them and sometimes you will encourage them. Another amazing thing is how well this season presents us the reasons of the enemy that Yamato faces with some strong and solid base behind their actions and choices. One thing to mention is Desler's development from season 1 thourgh season 2. As you may know in the first season he was pictured as a cold-blooded dictator who sent most of his people to death to achieve victory. In season 2 they go inside his mind they present his reasons and choices, everything that made him do that and gives him a second chance, makes him a likeable character even more than the ones from the Yamato crew. Desler isn't the only one who contributes to this season, each character manages to portray the main themes of this show . Their speeches, their monologue, their own story and past mistakes, all of them provide a warning and also a lesson for us viewers. Leji Matsumoto was a man who 40 years when he created the Yamato series he looked way ahead in the future and predicted how our society will become in the near future. And damn he nailed it ! Our modern society is almost identical as the one from the Yamato series. The most amazing stuff from this show is how well the raw human nature is presented and explored, and how well the human mind is studied during a crisis situation and the decisions made by them. Our own greed for war, our capability for destruction but also our good side our creative mind , our undying will and that we cling in desperate times, our heart to hate but also love! Our possibilities and choices to create a Future for ourselves! This is Yamato Space Battleship 2202 a study about humanity about their choices their love their capability to destroy or create a FUTURE! This is Leji's Matsumoto masterpiece from almost half a century ago! Just don't miss this...you will not regret it trust me!

I’d just like to review this quickly fresh off from watching the ending. There aren’t that many reviews here on MAL for whatever reason coming off from an amazing original series. Looking back 3/4 of Yamato 2202 I quite liked a lot. A space adventure of epic proportions where the Yamato is placed in outlandish situations that it somehow manages to escape from every time. A few twists and turns here and there and I enjoyed it up until the end. The art is beautiful and the character designs are pleasing. The CGI is iffy at times, but I think the show looks great. A somewhat negativeis the enemy is faceless. It’s sad an unfathomably large race out to destroy all of humanity is represented by 3 characters at best. Even at this point I didn’t see where the negative reviews were coming from, until I watched the last two episodes. The show hints at its mystical, beyond life and death, god … whatever you want to call it themes but my goodness it is laid on THICK at the end. Yamato 2202 had no business pulling what reminded me of the original Mobile Suit Gundam merging of consciousness deal at the last possible moment. It doesn’t earn the right to do it. I mean the show is practically done and it’s busy preaching about human bonds and grasping for the best possible future … I mean … what am I even watching? is what I was asking myself. It’s like what’s the point of all of this? It all ends normally anyway. Even still, I recommend watching Yamato 2202 if you’ve seen the original. Its more of the same anyway of what you’ve enjoyed before, until the ending that is, and even then, it’s not that bad.

As I recently finished this show, I felt it was time to give it some love through a small review. This show surprised me in a good way, especially considering the fact that it's based on what's considered one of the best pieces of media in the SBY franchise (Farewell Yamato, and by extension SBY 2). The core theme of love, signified by the under-title "Soldiers of Love" is brought to life through use of clever directing tricks, an expanded scope granted to the writing of this world (Considering Gamillas survival in 2199 and some other changes from the source, this was an inevitability) bya master of Sci-fi (Harutoshi Fukui, Gundam UC). Even more beautiful scores both old and new are once again composed by Akira Miyagawa (Son of original composer, Hiroshi Miyagawa), leit motifs granted to both Zordar and Sabera among other characters, something that wasn't present in the original show. Some fan favorite characters return and are introduced, as plot threads left in 2199 (And its movies) about Hijikata, Yamanami, Saito and Gamillas are brought to full fruition, as the Gamillan-Earth cooperation gives us tense political intrigues in the aftermath of a world crafted from the cradle that was the Iscandarian Cosmo-Reverse system. My Sales Pitch: The crew of the Yamato are pushed into situations beyond the scope of their imagination, willingly heading out to save someone (Teresa) in need of help in our universe as recompense for the same favor being granted to them by Iscandar 3 years back. The Comet Empire is an entirely different enemy than Gamillas was, an intricate war machine hell-bent on annihilating the universe! Or so it seems... The promise to not use the Wave Motion Gun again in 2199 takes big focus this season, as its destructive capabilities in 2199 has left a sour taste in the crew of the Yamato, Kodai Susumu in particular. Reintroduced after the 2199 side-story movie is the White Comet Empire, and its leader who despises love "Emperor Zordar" What I love about Gatlantis as a race and enemy is their internal struggle against basic human emotions suppressed through means I won't bother to explain here, as that would be spoiling the fun. It's like watching genetically manufactured child soldiers getting thrust into war, and some of them naturally rebel against their locked away emotions to emulate normal human beings. And in the midst of all this, the Yamato has to stop the onslaught of all mankind with weapons they promised to never use again. This show has themes like sins of the father, redeeming irredeemable crimes, the pro's and con's of love and the irrationality behind that emotion, are orders always absolute? Is co-existence between different races possible? The generation after Okita, or as they're referred to in the show "Okita's children", are they capable of overturning great peril and imminent annihilation with their wits, morals and strength? In this show you'll find ethereal beings, a natural evolution to the formula that was established in 2199, a tightly knit web of sub-plots slowly progressing to their climax in one big explosion of satisfaction the closer we get to the end. As a final note I'd like to commend the new director Habara for managing to pick up the work his predecessor (Izubuchi) left off, having worked on the Clockwork prisoner and first half of the Rainbow cluster battle in 2199, he is more than well equipped to handle this task hand in hand with head writer Fukui. The new voice acting talents on all sides are mostly veteran VA's from the Galactic Heroes and Original Gundam days, so those of you who have a good ear will be able to spot some of your favorite old men and women from decades past. All in all, this show is one big celebration of Yoshinobu Nishizaki's vision of love as a tool to help make the world a better place, gathering talents in all departments form both the older and newer generations to create a masterpiece in the making called Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Soldiers of Love. Please watch this show all the way until the end before you pass judgement, I can assure everyone that the buildup will be worth it.