Review for Space Battleship Yamato

Introduction

Has it really been eighteen months since the last live action release from Manga Entertainment? I can’t think of any non-anime title since Gantz 2 back in January 2012. With the sheer volume of anime that they have on their books of late, you can understand why they have eased back so drastically with live action. The thing about the feature films is that they reach a potentially larger audience, those who aren’t interested in those foreign cartoons, and titles like Ichi have sold an order of magnitude more than anime for Manga. It’s also one quick hit, no need to worry about collecting a series or investing for the long term. It’s a lot easier to just try a movie and see if you like it.

Another thing is that just like in Hollywood, the Japanese summer blockbuster is just as likely to be based on manga and anime, or comic books. We line up in our droves to watch the latest Superman and X-Men movies, and the same is true of Japan, although manga offers a wider variety of stories than Western comics. Unfortunately of late, not too many of these movies are making it to the UK, although we are catered for quite admirably when it comes to Japanese niche and independent cinema. In the past, Manga Entertainment have released a few such blockbusters to the UK, films that I have very much enjoyed like K20 Legend of the Black Mask, and the Kitaro films, and I really hope that with the release of this Space Battleship Yamato, it signals the return of such movies. Tell me you do not want to see the live action Gatchaman movie on DVD or Blu-ray one day. Make it happen, buy Space Battleship Yamato.


Of course that public service announcement really only has weight if the film is actually any good. Space Battleship Yamato is a venerable and well known title in Japan, a Leiji Matsumoto manga that inspired a television series, one which is better known in the West as Star Blazers, and which spun off several feature films. This last couple of years has seen a resurgence of the property with the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 remake series itself spinning off several compilation movies. Back in 2010 however, Space Battleship Yamato took to the big screen in live action form, in what was at the time the most expensive Japanese movie ever. It’s this movie that comes to the UK on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Manga Entertainment, and I get to look at the Blu-ray part of a combo pack.

It’s 2199 and the world is coming to an end. The alien Gamilas came without warning and laid waste to the surface of the Earth, raining down meteors and overwhelming any defences that humanity brought to bear. The few survivors seek shelter deep underground, while scavengers scour the radioactive ruins of Earth, searching for enough metal to supply Earth’s defenders with the fleet of spaceships they need to battle the Gamilas. It isn’t enough, as Earth’s final fleet is destroyed, the few survivors retreating to the planet, when a message arrives from the distant world of Iskandar. The message comes with co-ordinates, schematics for a warp drive, and the promise of technology that will heal the Earth. Earth’s last hope travels with its final ship, the Space Battleship Yamato travelling further than any man has ever been.

According to IMDB, this is the extended cut of the film.

Picture

Space Battleship Yamato is presented on a dual layer Blu-ray at 2.35:1 widescreen in 1080p resolution. It’s sourced from Madman Entertainment and as so often happens with live action Blu-rays, I’m hard pressed to find anything to criticise when it comes to the transfer. The image is clear and sharp throughout, the film offers excellent clarity and detail levels, and there is a fine, discreet layer of grain that gives it a proper filmic feel. I saw no problems with compression artefacts, glitches or even digital banding (which is the one thing that is usually obvious on Blu-rays).

You certainly see that budget on the screen, with some very impressive CGI effects, great production value in the set and costume designs, and some great action sequences. There are plenty of space dogfights to appreciate here, and even when the action is at its most frenetic, it’s all choreographed so well that you always see the narrative in each scene.

The images in this review are supplied by the PR, and aren’t necessarily representative of the final retail release.

Sound

Space Battleship Yamato gets the kick-ass audio it deserves in two full-bellied surround tracks. You can choose between DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and uncompressed PCM 5.1 Surround at 4.6Mbps, both in Japanese. The soundstage is put to excellent use conveying the film’s action and effects sequences, and you really do feel in the middle of the action. I couldn’t tell the two audio options apart to be honest, and I guess it’s just to cater for various decoder requirements. Subtitles are provided in a pale yellow font, are accurately timed, and free of any typos. Like all major space sci-fi epics where the fate of the world is at stake, Space Battleship Yamato ends with a Steven Tyler power ballad. Don’t worry, this film blows Armageddon out of the stars.

Extras

Space Battleship Yamato comes with the usual ‘give all the good bits away’ animated menu. On the disc you’ll find a whole lot of visual effects goodies and promo material, with 12 minutes worth of Visual Effects Before & After, 25 minutes of Pre-Visualisations, a 5½ minute 360° Gallery, and 3 minutes worth of trailers. Most fun is the 1 minute VFX Scale Footage featurette that has the Yamato sailing through real life Japan to give an idea of how big the battleship really would be.

There really needs to be a genuine making of, and some interviews with the creative team and the talent behind the film. As it is, the disc feels a little inconsequential when it comes to the extra features.

Conclusion

One of the box office surprises of 1999 was a movie called Wing Commander. People walked into theatres in droves, watched the trailers, and walked out again before the movie even started. What do you expect when the first trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace preceded the film. I was actually a Wing Commander fan, bought the games, read the tie-in novels (tie-in novels for games!), and I went to see the film. The Wing Commander movie stank; it turned a great concept into Beverly Hills 90210 in space. Space Battleship Yamato is the movie that I wanted Wing Commander to be.

Oddly enough it has the same ingredients. Earth imperilled by an alien menace, a battle against desperate odds, spaceborne ship-to-ship action along with fighter dogfights emulating carrier warfare. It’s got drama, a little humour, and a bit of romance, and there’s some mystery to it as well. The protagonist even has a little talking computer chum to call a friend. But Space Battleship Yamato gets it all right. It’s long enough to do justice to its story, it’s fast paced, action packed, and relentless, and never once do your eyes stray to the clock.


The story is simple enough, a quest to save the Earth, a there-and-back-again mission, with plenty of death defying alien entanglements along the way. The real interest is in the character narrative, especially that of the main protagonist, Susumu Kodai. When we meet him, he’s an earthbound scavenger, hunting for metal in the radioactive wasteland. It turns out that he was once in the navy, an ace pilot, but he left following a personal tragedy. Yet it’s the combination of another personal tragedy and humanity’s last hope that coaxes him back, and it’s with mixed feelings that he joins the Yamato on its mission. He wants to see the Earth restored, but he also wants to know just why the Yamato’s Captain survived the last encounter with the Gamilas, where all others fell.

It’s his personal journey that anchors the film; his embittered attitude slowly transforms as he takes on the burdens of command, and learns the price and the necessity of sacrifice. It’s interesting that we have seen two films in two weeks from Manga Entertainment that both explore the same ideas, this and the recent Naruto Shippuden Will of Fire movie. Central to both is the conflict between the importance of duty, and loyalty to one’s friends. It’s given a far more satisfying treatment in Space Battleship Yamato.


If there is a weakness in Space Battleship Yamato, it’s one that is shared by many films of its ilk. We’re at the climax of the film, the Earth is in imminent peril, mere seconds left for the heroes to act, yet everyone finds the time to say a final, heartfelt, tearful farewell, and put in that last effort to snag an Academy Award nomination. Moments like that always strain the bounds of my credulity, but given that this film had already reset those bounds by introducing characters that could sense radioactivity by sniffing the air, I’m willing to let this particular cliché pass.

But when it comes down to it, this is really a summer blockbuster, a popcorn chewing spectacular. What it accomplishes that so many of its peers fail to do is that it finds the balance between the big screen eye-candy and mega-decibel mayhem, and quieter, character moments and the nuance of human interactions and drama, proof positive that not every summer movie has to be a Michael Bay movie. In fact, this may just be the best summer blockbuster that you’ll see this year.