Manga Review: Space Battleship Yamato the Classic Collection by Leiji Matsumoto
It is the year 2199, and the Earth is dying. For a change, it’s not directly the fault of the Earthling humans. Invaders from the planet Gamilas have been bombarding Earth with radioactive bombs, poisoning the atmosphere. A message from a far off world, Iscandar, arrives. Their leader Starsha will provide Earth with a device to cleanse the radiation–if the Earthlings can somehow get to Iscandar to pick it up. Using an engine design that came with the message, the Earthlings retrofit a sunken battleship, the Yamato, into a spaceworthy craft and launch it. But there is only one year left before the damage to Earth becomes irreversible! Hurry, Yamato!
This 1974 animated series was dubbed into English as Star Blazers, which introduced a lot of proto-anime fans to the concept of cartoons with continuing plotlines. What did not come over at the time was the tie-in manga by director and character/mecha designer Leiji Matsumoto. It’s a condensed version of the story that omits many of the minor subplots and characters. (For example, Yuki Mori/Nova Forrester is the only female character on the Yamato/Argo with a substantial role in the anime, but there are other women on board for a while. In the manga, the other women are cut entirely.)
Good: Leiji Matsumoto was a heck of an artist, with a strong lineup of assistants. There are many well-drawn sequences of the Yamato and alien spacecraft in space, giving a strong sense of wonder. The camaraderie of soldiers and sailors at war is emphasized, as well as the honor of worthy enemies like Dessler/Desslock.
The ailing Captain Okita/Avatar mentoring rash young officer Susumu Kodai/Derek Wildstar to become a worthy leader is a classic subplot.
Less Good: The condensation means many plot points are skimmed. For example, we see the Gamilas/Gamilon base on Pluto preparing to fight the Yamato with their new secret weapon. Cut to a week later when Lord Dessler wonders why the Pluto base hasn’t reported in lately.
The comic relief of the ship’s doctor (actually a veterinarian who invited himself aboard) being a raging alcoholic gets old very fast. And then there’s Analyzer/IQ-9. It’s mentioned that this robot’s brain was designed with much more human emotions (including lust) and capability for learning than it looks, but the outer casing was deliberately made more “robotic” and old-fashioned looking to avoid freaking the humans out. Its attitude towards Yuki is honestly kind of creepy.
This volume includes all of the first storyline of the anime, and gets about halfway through the Comet Empire storyline. (A year after the Yamato returns, the recovered Earth has already moved on and isn’t interested in an odd giant rock headed their way, so the old crew has to hijack the decommissioned Yamato and go out to investigate. There’s some bad comedy relief with an inept rookie radar officer.)
There’s a chapter with this manga’s version of Captain Harlock, who may be Susumu’s presumed-dead older brother. It doesn’t lead anywhere.
Also in this collection is “Eternal Story of Jura”, a side story to the first Yamato plotline. We learn that Lord Desslar has a daughter named Jura, who is the product of his dalliance with a woman from a race of “sirens” with powerful psychic abilities. Unfortunately, his loyalty to Gamilas supersedes any personal connections, and now Jura is alone…
Content note: Quite a bit of death in battle, alcohol abuse, some sexual creepiness. Teenagers on up should be able to handle it.
Recommended to fans of the anime or its adaptation, or just fans of Matsumoto in general. Those who are new to the franchise will be better served by watching the cartoon.
