The universe beckons! Having made their last farewells to the known world, the Yamato’s intrepid crew now set their sights starward, as they move beyond the boundaries of our known solar system. Fearsome terrors beyond our imagining surely await them, yet our gallant heroes are undeterred, and proudly bear the weight of humanity’s future. What secrets await beyond the celestial shroud? That is for our brave sailors to discover, as they chart a course beyond the horizon.

Man, I could probably write a whole essay in that voice, though I’m sure it’d get tiresome after a paragraph or two. Regardless, I’m delighted to announce that we are indeed returning to Space Battleship Yamato! Last episode offered a clear denouement for the story’s first act, as the crew’s victories in our solar system were capped off by a line-crossing ceremony that saw them moving beyond the reach of terrestrial communication. After all the action theatrics of the first act, an episode that explored the motivations and relationships of the core crew was quite welcome; but with all that foundational character-building work covered, I’m eager to see what obstacles Matsumoto conjures up next. Space Battleship Yamato embodies a spirit of fantastical possibility, fusing iconic presentation with outlandish invention to bring its audience back to the wide-eyed wonder of childhood. Its world has won me over entirely, so let’s not waste any more time, and return to the bridge post-haste!

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The Yamato is free! After unraveling Shultz’s nefarious schemes, our intrepid crew launched a counterattack on the Gamalian base, saving not just their own ship, but the innocent citizens of earth as well. At last, no more bombs will fall from our celestial neighbors. Mankind has struck a crucial blow against our oppressors, and now our great hope has broken free of the solar system, its crew buoyed up by our collective dreams. Godspeed, Yamato – where you go, so go the aspirations of all humanity.

Gosh, Yamato is almost as fun to describe as it is to watch. Whether it’s the show’s bombastic style, imaginative narrative, or crisp execution, there’s plenty to enjoy about Yamato 2199, and I’m eager to see how the story develops now that we’re out in the far reaches of space. Let’s return to the bridge for another episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199!

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Hello brave sailors, and welcome aboard. We return at a moment of crisis, as the Yamato approaches the outer reaches of the solar system, inviting the wrath of the waiting Gamilans. Last episode, our heroes found a sober monument among the frozen moons of Saturn: a broken-down vessel, and the final resting place of Kodai’s brother. With great bravery and the timely support of Akira Yamamoto, Kodai and Mori survived this ordeal, and returned to a Yamato now fully stocked with Cosmonite 90 (you know, that stuff they needed to harvest out of a moon mine). With clear hearts and shining eyes, our intrepid explorers now turn their gazes outward, towards the far reaches of known space, and beyond. Friends and crewmates, let’s buckle in for another episode of Space Battleship Yamato!

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Are you ready to journey across the sea of stars? Today we’re returning to Space Battleship Yamato 2199, a show that I am happy to report has absolutely ensnared me. I resisted its charms for an episode or two, but “Jupiter is hiding a secret floating continent full of mystical fauna, which our protagonists blow up with a giant space laser” was just too hard of a sell. Space operas aren’t generally my main thing, but high fantasy is one of my passions, and Yamato is wearing its fantasy influences with pride.

It also helps that Yamato is simply a polished and vividly executed production. Its successes embody one of my favorite art maxims: narrative is incidental, execution is everything. In another show, the first passage into warp drive might be conveyed through a quick color filter and some simulated shaky cam work. In Yamato, it’s an episode highlight, elevated through inspired flourishes like the focus on a dart suspended in mid-flight, and a vision of the Yamato sinking into a kaleidoscopic sea. With its mixture of whimsical fantasy invention and wonder-struck execution, Yamato already feels like a beloved bedtime story, a show that embodies the pleasures of a great fairy tale. Let’s get back to the bridge!

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be rejoining the crew of the Yamato, as they fly off in search of humanity’s last hope. Last episode established both our crew and our mission: to voyage to distant Iskandar, where they will receive technology that can save the polluted earth. At the same time, the Yamato must evade the grasp of the Gamilans, an alien race at war with humanity at large. It’s an ambitious plan, a task that feels more derivative of a high fantasy quest than a scifi mission, complete with a beautiful princess who bears forbidden knowledge. That fantastical tone makes for a fairly stark contrast with the show’s nostalgic love of mid-century military hardware, which in turn makes me wonder if the show is intentionally stoking that contrast, and where it might be going with all this. But either way, it’s still succeeding purely as a polished fantasy adventure, so I’m sure I’ll have a lovely time. Let’s dive into episode three!

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Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’ll be continuing a show I last watched four friggin’ years ago, as we explore the second episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199. My initial essay on the first episode offers a pretty instructive look at where my head’s at as we enter the second. While Yamato’s reverence for war machines doesn’t really move me, its status as a cross-generational tale of Japanese identity is fascinating, and in any case it’s such a confident, well-executed production that it succeeds purely as an adventure narrative. And with the first episode concluding on our hero literally discovering the Yamato itself as a half-buried relic of the past, I imagine the show is perfectly aware of its own thematic baggage. Let’s see what we find in episode two!

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