As Yamato Resurrection approached in 2009, this website took on a new dimension when the Yamato saga returned to real time and there was news to report every month. The “remake era” boosted that into high gear, turning those reports … Continue reading →
Apr 29, 2022 • Subscribe
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Vintage Report 9: 1978, Part 1
As the new year began, the Yamato movie was still raking in box office profits after an incredible five months. After a slowdown in December, the New Year’s…
Vintage Report 4: 1977, Part 1
It is no exaggeration to state that the period covered in this report was the most pivotal time in all of Yamato history. The movie that would change…
Vintage Report 2: 1975
The simplest description of Yamato‘s arc in 1974 would be “a herculean rise leading to a sudden fall.” An enormous amount of effort to get the thing off…
Vintage Report 3: 1976
Of all the original production years, 1976 was definitely the leanest. Total “above-the-surface” activity was less than what occurs during a typical month in the remake years. As…
Vintage Report 17: January 1979
At the dawn of 1979, Yoshinobu Nishizaki’s Office Academy studio was on the highest trajectory ever seen in the TV anime industry, which at the time was just…
Vintage Report 6: September 1977
As summer gave way to fall, Yamato‘s fortunes just kept on climbing. The initial theatrical engagements ended just before September started, but far more theaters were picking the…
Vintage Report 11: July 1978
The final month before the Farewell to Yamato premiere was a steady climb of excitement and anticipation as film production plowed through its final stages and publicity ratcheted…
Vintage Report 16: December 1978
Stop the presses moment: in the course of writing these vintage reports, new discoveries inevitably pop up that belonged in previous reports. Sometimes they warrant special attention, and…
Vintage Report 7: Fall 1977
The events and artifacts in this account took place several decades ago, but the actual research in putting them all in order inevitably leads to new discoveries. As…
Vintage Report 26: June 1980
As Toei Studio’s animation staff labored through their final month on Be Forever Yamato, the publicity machine ramped up with major media coverage and the first live events…
Vintage Report 15: November 1978
Though Farewell to Yamato was no longer in theaters in November 1978, it continued to dominate the discourse, both in media and merchandising. But it was no longer…
Vintage Report 28: August 1980
The enormous momentum that built up in July burst wide open on the first two days of August with the hotly-anticipated premiere of Be Forever Yamato. Familiar patterns…
Vintage Report 12: August 1978
This was the month when all the suspense finally broke. Farewell to Yamato destroyed all previous box office records for anime films (including that of Yamato itself) with…
Vintage Report 27: July 1980
This was the last round before the premiere of Be Forever Yamato in theaters, and thus became the single busiest month in all of Yamato history until the…
Vintage Report 5: August 1977
The whole world changed for the better in August 1977, and that is not an exaggeration. With the August 8 premiere of Space Battleship Yamato, the entire anime…
Vintage Report 13: September 1978
The month following the incredible box office success of Farewell to Yamato was both a victory lap and the beginning of a marathon. As new media coverage and…
Vintage Report 18: February 1979
As Yamato 2 moved into its post-Telezart phase with four very compelling episodes, development continued on The New Voyage, media coverage intensified, and new books kept the world…
Vintage Report 30: October 1980
You have to push pretty hard to top the premiere of a new TV series, but the publishing community did its best with the last big wave of…
Vintage Report 14: October 1978
To understand how significant this month was, here’s a metaphor. Imagine that it’s July 1977, two months after Star Wars exploded into the world. Now, without buying a…
Vintage Report 29: September 1980
As Be Forever Yamato closed its premiere run in Japanese theaters, spinoff media became more concentrated as the first dedicated books appeared, and magazines became the first source…
Vintage Report 19, March/April 1979
The spring months of 1979 saw the first slowdown in Yamato activity since the previous summer, which was inevitable given that the intervening period was the busiest in…
Vintage Report 24: January-March 1980
The new decade dawned with the making of a new Yamato adventure that would be just one part of Academy Studio’s busiest year of them all. While the…
Vintage Report 23: November/December 1979
The fan community didn’t know it yet, but the end of 1979 tipped them just past the halfway point between The New Voyage and the next big adventure,…
Vintage Report 21: July/August 1979
For a two-month period that didn’t actually see a large amount of activity, this was a huge moment for Yamato fans. July in particular delivered a big one-two…
Vintage Report 10: 1978, Part 2
As 1978 approached its midpoint, Yamato fever was heating up. The publicity campaign was just starting to ramp up, but production was running at full speed as the…
Vintage Report 8: November/December 1977
If we were to name this specific stretch of Yamato history, the appropriate word would probably be “Afterglow.” The feature film was still burning up the box office…
Vintage Report 25: April/May 1980
The runup to summer 1980 was deceptively quiet on the surface, but momentum was building like a freight train underneath as Be Forever moved into the second half…
Vintage Report 20, May/June 1979
This stretch of time can be described as a gap, since it marked the period between the Yamato 2 finale and the broadcast premiere of The New Voyage.…
Vintage Report 22: September/October 1979
As summer merged into fall, the world of Yamato was only getting bigger in the wake of The New Voyage, and Office Academy studio was only getting busier.…
Anime (1963 - 1973)
Reference for the latest documentary "Anime and the Economic Miracle" https://youtu.be/xYZXTQX_wXE Anime includes: Astro Boy 鉄腕アトム Eight Man エイトマン Galactic Boy Team 銀河少年隊 Gigantor 鉄人28号 Hermit Village 仙人部落 Locus 軌跡…
Ninpu Kamui Gaiden, Cleopatra: Queen of Sex, Donkikko, Panda no Daibouken, Kyojin no Hoshi
S4E8 - Lady Snowblood (1973)
Hello everyone, In this episode of Heroic Purgatory, we resume our fourth season to talk about the iconic revenge film, Lady Snowblood (1973). We talk about the historical significance…
Golgo 13 (1973) review
A pleasant action-narrative that is all about celebrating the character Golgo 13
Vintage manga Twitch stream!
Happy new year, friends! This Sunday (Jan 21, 2024), I'll be doing a chill stream where I'll flip through some vintage manga with y'all and ...
Vintage Yamato doujinshi archive
The importance of doujinshi (fanzines) in the early years of Space Battleship Yamato cannot be underestimated. Thanks to a handful of fans who visited the Office Academy animation…
The Frontline Report [1/23/22]
This week: CUE! and Tokyo 24th Ward writeups. Plus Pompo The Cinephile, Gakkou Gurashi, Sabikui Bisco, and My Dress-Up Darling
CUE!, Pompo: The Cinéphile, My Dress-Up Darling, Sabikui Bisco, Tokyo 24th Ward
Space Battleship Yamato 2205 Report 1
From the moment Yamato 2199 was announced, we pretty much assumed there would be a followup. From the moment Yamato 2202 was announced, it was practically a guarantee.…
The Frontline Report [1/16/22]
This week: Ousama Ranking, Tokyo 24th Ward, My Dress-Up Darling, CUE!, and Artiswitch!
Artiswitch, CUE!, My Dress-Up Darling, Ranking of Kings, Tokyo 24th Ward
The Frontline Report [8/1/21]
This week: MADOKA MAGICA IS BACK, BABY!! As well as thoughts on Sonny Boy, Blue Reflection Ray, and The Detective is Already Dead
The aquatope on white sand, Sonny Boy, Blue Reflection Ray, Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Space Battleship Yamato 3199 Report 1
As of this writing, the debut date for Yamato 3199 is still unknown. But the series has been in production for over a year, and if the gap…
The Frontline Report [1/3/22]
This week: we finish up the 2021 stragglers Rumble Garanndoll and Mieruko-chan
The Frontline Report [1/30/22]
This week: Writeups on Princess Connect and Tokyo 24th Ward. Plus, a fond farewell to Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure
Arte Review – 74/100
With half of one of the worst years in human history finally behind us, I feel it’s about time that we look ahead at the positives which lie…
Episode 74 - The Edge
This episode ended up being too big for firmware. It’s really hard for me to come up with a funny intro to this episode. As you should know…
Yawara – 69-74 (BD)
Damn, that's one serious-looking monkey.Joint with Live-eviL.
Three little Geisha (1973) review
A pleasant but largely forgettable experience.
Kanada between 1973 and 1974
One of the most difficult periods to retrace in Kanada’s career is his early days. His first credit dates from late 1970, as an in-betweener on the Tôei…
The Films of 1973, Part 1: Cops, Crime and Kung Fu
1973 offered a wealth of riches for regular moviegoers, particularly those at neighborhood theaters. Hollywood released a ton of exemplary crime films, alternating hard-nosed cops with career crimi…
A Vintage Discovery – Death Hunter
One of my favorite hobbies is finding semi-obscure one-shot manga that will never be translated into English at second-hand stores. It’s nothing serious and I only do this…
Summer ’24 Mid-Season Report, part 1
The week of 8/11 marked the official halfway point of the Summer 2024 season, so it’s time to take a look at how various series have been faring.…
2.5 Dimensional Seduction, Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Quality Assurance in Another World
Spring ’24 Mid-Season Report, Part 1
We’re approaching the midpoint of the Spring 2024 season, and thanks to having more free time on my hands than expected, I am still keeping up with way…
The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases, The Irregular at Magic High School, A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics, Delicious in Dungeon, Laid-Back Camp