A while ago, I mentioned about the fact that "Mobile Suit Gundam Double-Zeta" mech designer Makoto Kobayashi is currently working on a remake of "Space Battleship Yamato" intended for next year. Today, Anime News Network revealed some new details on the upcoming "Space Battleship Yamato" anime.
- Title will be "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" (Japanese language title is "Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199").
- It will be a movie and not a new series.
- The anime is scheduled for release on April 7, 2012.
- Same basic plot as th first "Space Battleship Yamato" T.V. series
- Yutaka Izubuchi (creator and chief director of 2002's "RahXephon") is directing the anime.
- Nobuteru Yuki (character designer for 1990's "Record of Lodoss War", 1996's "The Vision of Escaflowne", and 2002's "Space Pirate Captain Herlock: Endless Odyssey") is working on the character designs for the anime.
- The anime is currently being produced at XEBEC and Anime International Company (or "AIC" for short).
My thoughts: I don't know if Captain Harlock's creator Leiji Matsumoto is really involved with the staff working on "Space Battleship Yamato 2199", but after taking the time to watch the trailer for it, it looks like that despite the inclusion of new character and mecha designs, this movie will have some nostalogic anime value (note the designs of the Gamilus Destroyers, the Yamato, Capt. Juzo Okita and his flagship 225, the Cosmo Zero, and the Yukikaze contained in the trailer), and there's nothing wrong with nostalogia, despite the fact that I was first expecting that all characters and mecha in the first SBY anime would get a whole different look for this new anime. I don't know when or if this movie will ever be given an official release in North America, but just in case no more SBY films and series from Japan are to given any official North American release, I continue to hope that U.S.-based studio Skydance Productions will receive the rights to work on its planned "Star Blazers" live-action film (it's planned to be based on the U.S. "Star Blazers" dub of "Space Battleship Yamato" and not on the anime's original Japanese version) as it's been long since any new "Space Battleship Yamato" stuff got distributed in North America.
2:49 PM Canada EST
