Before Yamato crosses into the unknown of interstellar space, the crew celebrates the coming voyage and speaks with loved ones back home.
Summary[]
Nearing the Heliopause[]
The battleship Yamato is making its way to the outermost fringes of the solar system when a transmission is received from Project Chief Heikuro Todo on Earth. Todo, accompanied by General Kotetsu Serizawa, extends his gratitude to Admiral Juzo Okita and the crew for wiping out the Garmillas base on Pluto and giving their ravaged world relief from ongoing planet bomb attacks. Before Todo can continue, the hyperspace signal is cut off by interference from the heliopause that separates the solar system from the rest of the galaxy.
Itou makes a suggestion.
In the Yamato science lab, Lieutenant Kaoru Niimi is busily reviewing planetary data when Security Chief Shinya Itou enters. As he asks about her work, Itou suddenly moves close to her, whispering into her ear and touching her shoulder, but she coolly tells him to stop and proceeds with her analysis. He does as he is told, but keeps his voice low and conspiratorial. He takes an interest in the nearby habitable star system on her screen, and confirms with her that once the ship completes its transit of the heliopause, communication with Earth will become impossible. He suggests that Okita should grant their shipmates a chance to contact Earth one more time. On his way out, he observes with a knowing glance that doing so could hurt morale among the crew.
As Lieutenants Yuki Mori and Susumu Kodai take an elevator up to the first bridge, Mori asks Kodai about the resemblance he saw between her and Sasha Iscandar, the Iscandarian woman who died delivering the activation core of Yamato's main engine. Kodai recalls another alien who brought plans for the wave motion engine a year before Sasha's arrival. Mori tells him the alien's name, Yurisha Iscandar, before they step into the middle of a conversation on the bridge. Admiral Okita, taking Niimi's recommendation, announces that anyone who wishes to briefly contact their family may do so. At the same time, the crew will hold a line-crossing ceremony in the style of old-time ocean sailors crossing Earth's equator.
Celebrations and Connections[]
Paying the price for deceiving Harada.
Festive decorations adorn Yamato's lounges, and tables of food and drink are laid out for the partygoers. The crew pauses to listen as Okita stands at a microphone and offers a toast to their success and to the faraway world that awaits them. Okita and other officers leave the party for other parts of the ship or to await their turn communicating with home, but the celebrations continue for the rest of the day. Nurse Makoto Harada enters wearing a skimpy maid's costume. Lieutenant Saburo Kato compliments her, but everyone else who spots her is surprised and amused. Seeing that no one else is in a costume, Harada's embarrassment turns to fury as she realizes that Ensign Kenjiro Ota put her up to it as a joke. She eventually finds Ota and forces him to drink well beyond his limit. Kato, wearing a Buddhist monk's robe, tells Ensign Hiroki Shinohara that he will not use his communication time, since he expects his father will do nothing but demand that his son take over operations of his family's temple. Shinohara responds by revealing that his own father was killed in the bombing of Earth, and that he regrets never having the chance to mend ties. Akira Yamamoto starts to relax with a cup of tea made for her by Hajime Hirata. Yamamoto thanks Hirata for granting her a transfer from the accounting division to the ship's fighter squadron. He leaves the door open for her to return if she wishes, but she ignores him, distracted by Kodai stepping out of the room.
Mori gives her appreciation to Admiral Hijikata.
With numbered tickets in hand, other crew members gather outside a small room for their turn at three minutes of private communication time. Hikozaemon Tokugawa reaches his son and granddaughter, and is frustrated to learn that the family has had to rely on black market sources of food. Daisuke Shima finds his little brother Jiro home alone while their mother is out. Their mother arrives just in time to see him before the screen shuts off. A tearful Daisuke begs for a little more time, to no avail. Yasuo Nanbu is greeted not by the faces of his own mother and father, but by a photograph of a young woman whose father is the owner of a pharmaceutical company. When they also suggest the daughter of a high government official as an alternative marriage prospect, Yasuo insists that he will not take over his father's corporation as they want him to do, and that he will find a wife on his own--and that he already has someone in mind. Later on, Kato heeds his friend's advice and contacts his father, who is himself dressed in priestly robes. The two sit in stony silence for nearly the entire three minutes, but in the last moment, his father tells him, "Come back alive!" Kato answers crisply, and when the screen goes black, he whispers his gratitude. Mori takes her turn later in the day and speaks with Admiral Ryu Hijikata. The admiral asks about Okita's health, and Mori thanks him for having cared for her for a year before Yamato's departure.
Old comrades sharing time together.
Okita wanders through Yamato on his own. He visits the science lab and interrupts Shiro Sanada's ongoing study of a captured Gamiloid robot, but quickly excuses himself. He has a similar encounter with Susumu Yamazaki in the engine room. Finally he ends up in his quarters, and is dwelling on a family photograph when Tokugawa stops by with a bottle of sake. The two cheerfully sit on the floor and drink, noting that it has "already been a year" and reminiscing about their long years of service together, until Tokugawa begins to feel guilt over all the young lives that have been lost in the interim. Okita answers that the best they can do is to build a better world for the young people who remain.
Kodai and Yamamoto find something else to do.
In the vacuum of space, Isami Enomoto's deck crew tends to the extensive damage inflicted upon Yamato by the decisive engagement with Garmillan forces at Pluto. Enomoto is surprised when Kodai arrives and offers to take the place of anyone who wishes to speak with Earth--and again as Yamamoto joins them and volunteers her service. Chief Enomoto quickly nominates two members of his team who were recently married to go inside. Kodai mentions Yamamoto's distinctive red eyes as they work and correctly identifies her as a Marsnoid. She tells him that she was born on Mars but was evacuated to Earth with her family when she was an infant. Yamamoto goes on to reveal that her older brother was killed in combat against the Garmillas, and that the rest of her relatives were lost in the alien bombing campaign--very much like Kodai's brother and the rest of his own family. They talk about Kato's protective attitude toward her and why she did not join the fighter squadron from the very beginning, until the deck crew finds them lost in conversation and Enomoto asks them to help out on the ship's port side.
Crossing the Line[]
Niimi contacts Serizawa.
Life begins to shift back toward regular duties as the celebration comes to a close--although Tokugawa dozes off peacefully in Okita's quarters, and Nanbu, drunk to the point of unconsciousness, becomes the victim of one more of Ota's pranks. Warrant Officer Yuria Misaki marks the line crossing with the inaugural edition of YRA Radio Yamato, a ship-wide radio show meant to boost morale. In the aft observation deck, Kodai plays a harmonica until Mori joins him. Kodai tells her that his family is gone and there was no one to contact on Earth. Mori tells him the same, without mentioning her brief conversation with Hijikata. She confesses that she does not have any memories of her family, or of anything else before one year ago. Still in an optimistic mood, Kodai yells out in the direction of Earth that they will return.
Just before the transit of the heliopause is complete, one more secret transmission is made. In the privacy of the communications booth, General Serizawa tells Lieutenant Niimi that there are no problems, and that he trusts her to save Earth.
Analysis[]
- This is the first of several Space Battleship Yamato 2199 episodes in which no fighting takes place. It is also the first in which no alien characters, ships, installations, or locales are depicted.
- More than any other episode of the Yamato 2199 series, this episode builds character backstories and lays the groundwork for future relationships, sometimes in very brief encounters. In addition to the events described above, other notable moments include Shima telling Tokugawa that his father died during first contact with the Garmillas, Niimi seeing engineer Sukeji Yabu's bashful interest in her and possibly manipulating it for her own future purposes, Doctor Sakezo Sado offering a drink to, and being turned down by, the robot Analyzer, and Analyzer joining Sanada in studying the captured Gamiloid.
- The secretive conversation between Niimi and Itou is obviously related to Project Izumo. Also known as the Izumo Plan, it was mentioned in dialogue in the first and second episodes as a cancelled project to evacuate Earth, and not restore Earth as the Yamato Plan intends to do. Aside from Niimi drinking from a mug labeled "Project Izumo" in the science lab, her analysis of planetary data points to the logical goal of any evacuation of Earth: finding a habitable world to settle. General Serizawa's private communication with Niimi points to him being at or near the top of this possible conspiracy.
Questions[]
- What caused Mori to lose all memory of her life prior to the past year? (Answer)
- How exactly do Niimi and Itou intend to reactivate the Izumo Plan? (Partial answer) (Answer)
- Does Tokugawa know about Okita's illness?
- What happened a year ago that Tokugawa mentions to Okita? (Possible answer)
Noteworthy Dialogue[]
- YRA Radio Yamato begins broadcasting with an "oldie but goodie":
- Singer: Know that I'll return, a bright red scarf/On that day, come meet me once again/For now, I dream amongst the stars, at the end of the universe/When he travels, a man's eyes should always be full of romance/Safe travels/A bright red scarf.
Behind the Scenes[]
- The song played by Yuria Misaki at the end of the episode is titled "The Scarlet Scarf," written by Isao Sasaki as background music for the first Space Battleship Yamato series in 1974. In the episode "Farewell, Solar System! From the Galaxy, With Love!" an instrumental version of the song was used as Yamato exited the solar system.
Cast[]
(Alphabetized by family name)[1]
- Kenji Akabane as Yasuo Nanbu
- Shigeru Chiba as Sakezo Sado and Ittetsu Kato
- Yuuki Chiba as Kenjiro Ota
- Yuya Chikaki as Sho Sawamura
- Cho as Analyzer
- Keiji Fujiwara as Isami Enomoto
- Tessho Genda as Kotetsu Serizawa
- Kouki Harasawa as Shinpei Iwata
- Daisuke Hirakawa as Hiroki Shinohara
- Aya Hisakawa as Kaoru Niimi
- Mariko Honda as Maki Kasahara
- Yoshimasa Hosoya as Saburo Kato
- Fumihide Ise as Hajime Hirata
- Unshou Ishizuka as Ryu Hijikata
- Masaaki Itatori as Koji Saeki
- Ryuichi Kijima as Hideaki Kishima and Tetsuya Kitano
- Masato Kokubun as Yoshikazu Aihara
- Mikako Komatsu as Aiko Tokugawa
- Keisuke Koumoto as Ayuto Toki
- Houko Kuwashima as Yuki Mori
- Shinobu Matsumoto as Kozo Nanbu and Shigeru Hayashi
- Satomi Moriya as Miki Saijo
- Ayano Miura as Saori Shima
- Mugihito as Hikozaemon Tokugawa
- Shinji Ogawa as Heikuro Todo
- Houchu Ohtsuka as Shiro Sanada
- Nobuhiko Okamoto as Tasuke Tokugawa
- Daisuke Ono as Susumu Kodai
- Naoko Sakakibara as Tokiko Nabu
- Rina Satou as Makoto Harada
- Toshihiko Seki as Shinya Itou
- Takayuki Sugo as Juzo Okita
- Kenichi Suzumura as Daisuke Shima
- Rie Tanaka as Akira Yamamoto
- Hiroshi Tsuchida as Susumu Yamazaki
- Aya Uchida as Yuria Misaki
- Kiyohito Yoshikai as Takuya Kobashi
- Koji Yusa as Kiyoshi Toyama
References[]