The fifth chapter of "Yamato Forever REBEL 3199," the latest installment in the remake series of the popular anime "Space Battleship Yamato," titled "The Incandescent Galactic War," will be released on February 20th. "Yamato 3199" consists of seven chapters, and is a re-imagining of the original works "Yamato Forever" and "Space Battleship Yamato III," with new interpretations added. One of the highlights of the fifth chapter is the all-out battle between the Yamato and the Garmillan-Garmillan combined fleets as they confront the intermediate supply base, Digabras. The main visual also includes the tagline, "The last minute, everything turns upside down," which has been generating a lot of buzz. We spoke to General Director Harutoshi Fukui and Director Naomichi Yamato about the fifth chapter.
◇Total war is more spectacular than you can imagine
--One of the highlights of Chapter 5 is the all-out war.
Fukui: I was prepared for it to be difficult. However, the team behind this remake series understood what we were looking for, and they offered suggestions like, "We can do this much," or "How about trying it this way?" It turned out to be even more spectacular than we had originally anticipated.
Yamato: It was beyond our expectations. Even physically speaking, there were far more CG cuts than in the other chapters, and there were a lot more ships. It was all made possible thanks to all the staff.
Fukui: Not only the CG staff, but also the filming process played a big role. The color of the beams and the scenes where the phase field is deployed were actually done during the filming process. As I kept saying, "Please do more," they realized, "This is what is being asked of me."
-Did you envision from the beginning that Chapter 5 would be one of the highlights of the battle scenes?
It's also a highlight in Fukui's original work. However, in the original, the scene where the planet Desariam emerges from the double galaxy left such a strong impression on me that I don't remember much of what happened after that (laughs). I have a vague memory of what Yamato was doing before and after that. So, I had been thinking about focusing on the battle scenes even before I started. There is the presence of Golba, which is connected to "A New Journey," but I thought it would be weird if Golba, who we defeated with such difficulty, was defeated one after the other so easily, so I combined Golba with the intermediate supply base this time.
Yamato is shown with Golba on either side.
Fukui: Working backwards from the size of Golba, we determined that the intermediate supply base would need to be at least 70 kilometers wide.
Yamato: The background art is the basis. Designer Mika Akitaka has a good grasp of how it will look from various angles, so she gave me instructions.
◇Combine! Split! Transform!
--Alfon is also a fascinating character. In Chapter 5, he faces off against Kodai.
In Fukui's original work, there wasn't much information about him beyond his obsession with Yuki. There was an intelligence department setting, so I tried to make use of that. Desariam is conducting ruthless information operations on Earth, but I portrayed him as someone who feels remorse. He becomes a man who purely desires "love." If he kills Kodai, the obstacles will disappear, but he begins to realize that "love" means "making the other person happy even at the expense of yourself." He begins to think that Yuki would be happier if Kodai were alive. The only time he is free from scheming is when he fights Kodai. "Yamato" is a story of conflict, so in some ways he plays a protagonist-like role.
--From Chapter 4 onwards, the spotlight is also on Ram.
Fukui-san, Ram is popular. For our generation, it was impressive to see the release of a plastic model of the Rajendra. We decided from the planning stage to make the Rajendra specially designed to show it off. Bolar (the Federation) was barely depicted in the original work, but we thought we could show it well through him.
--The Witch of Uraria, created by Takeya Takayuki, will also appear.
I asked Fukui-san to help me. Oka Hideki, the scenario writer, said he had met him, so he introduced me to him. Takeya-san is amazing. The design makes it seem like it "smells." It really expresses the creepiness of Desarium when you peel back the surface.
It's difficult to move Yamato though (laughs). That's expressed in the background art.
--What was particularly difficult about producing Chapter 5?
Yamato: It's not just the amount of stuff, but the breadth of expression. If it was just a continuous series of action, people would get bored. There's also combining, doubling up, and transformation. I thought about how to show it logically, and put my all into putting it together.
If you throw a stone, it will hit you on the head
--Yamato 3199 seems to depict the problem humanity faces, of being tossed about by various pieces of information and losing track of what is true.
Fukui: Some people have said, "If I threw a stone at this work, it would hit me over the head," and I feel that the message I'm trying to convey is well-communicated. In a social media society, peer pressure and cult-like behavior occur all the time. Because it's fiction, I can depict it from a slightly detached perspective. Many anime and dramas today are designed to avoid offending people, avoid rebuttals, and prevent viewers from fighting with each other after watching, but I'm trying to move away from that. Originally, anime was a medium that could delve into areas that live-action films can't. I've layered it so much that it's almost over the top. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, before the age of social media, people might have said, "Humans aren't this stupid." Now, it's become a "if I threw a stone, it would hit me over the head" kind of thing.
--SNS is convenient, but...
Fukui: In the age of social media, we've gone back to the days of old water cooler conversations in some ways. You can choose which water cooler conversations to join, and there are a plethora of groups that believe that what's said there is the truth of the world. Everyone is anxious. That's why they follow those who assert that something is "the truth." It's easier that way. Perhaps many people don't really want to think about how they should live or what society is like. Many people just follow what's decided for them, and that's how both Japan and the US have ended up in this state.
--Nowadays, people look things up online, but sometimes the information there is incorrect.
Mr. Fukui, I would like young people today to realize that we are living in extremely uncertain times.
--The tagline "Everything changes in the last minute" has also become a hot topic.
Fukui: It was an idea that we had from the beginning. We thought that if we could do this, we could do "3199." At this point, though, I can't say any more.
