Looking back on the drama of Mr. Sanada redefined, it becomes equal."- Interview with Harutoshi Fukui & Akira Miyagawa, commemorating the screening of the special compilation film "The Age of Space Battleship Yamato: The Selection of 2202 A.D."- Interview with Akira Miyagawa!

Speaking of the milestone work of science fiction in the Japanese animation world, it is impossible not to mention the name of "Space Battleship Yamato".

It was first broadcast on TV in 1974, nearly 50 years ago, and later became a huge hit as a movie version (1977). Its sequel, "Farewell Space Battleship Yamato: Warriors of Love" (1978), is a masterpiece that has been the talk of the town, including for its shocking ending.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199" (2012-2013) and "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love" (2017-2018) are modern revivals of this historical masterpiece. And with a sequel, "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Journey," scheduled to be screened, the momentum of the series continues unabated.

In the midst of all this, a special compilation film "Space Battleship Yamato: The Age of Space Battleship Yamato, Selection of the Year 2202", which reconstructs the two series "2199" and "2202", will be screened in theaters from June 11, 2021. In addition, "Symphony Suite Space Battleship Yamato 2202" by Akira Miyagawa (Akira Miyagawa), who has been in charge of music for this series for two generations, father and son, is now on sale. We therefore spoke with Harutoshi Fukui and Akira Miyagawa, who composed, supervised, and wrote the script, about the aims of these works.

--First of all, could you tell us how you two met?

Fukui: What I was most looking forward to when I took on the Yamato project was the music. I was really looking forward to having the Yamato music reproduced, and if I became a staff member, I might even be able to be present at the recording sessions. However, just as I started working on the music for "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love" ("2202"), my work on "Mobile Suit Gundam NT," which I was working on at the time, became extremely busy (laughs), and I was unable to go to the first recording session. (Laughs) I couldn't go to the first recording session, but at the beginning, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" ("2199") and "2202" continued to be produced by the same production company, and they said they could handle the music as is, so Akira and I didn't have any meetings with them. Finally, I was able to participate in the recording of the second new song, and that was the first time I met Akira-san.

Miyagawa: At the time of "2199," I had the impression that Mr. Izubuchi (Yutaka Izubuchi) was leading everything. I felt that if I had any problems, I could just ask Mr. Izubuchi about everything, from space philosophy to everything else, but for "2202" the staff was more parallel. Among them, Mr. Fukui, the story maker, was the person who knew what I wanted to know the most. What kind of story is it rather than what kind of direction is it? What kind of story is it? or "What is the position of this? I wanted to know the essentials, including philosophical and religious matters. So I decided to ask Fukui-san about various things, and when I bumped into him in the elevator at the recording session, he told me, "Actually, I often watch the quintet with my son," which made me even happier (laughs).

Fukui At that time, it was still unclear whether "2202" would be a direct successor to "2199," and that was what Akira-san was concerned about. When he asked me about it, I told him "Yes, it is a perfect sequel.

Harutoshi Fukui

--Let me turn to you, Mr. Fukui. What was your aim in making this "Special Compilation" work, "The 'Space Battleship Yamato' Era: Selections from the Year 2202 A.D."?

Fukui: The main reason was because I was told to make it (laughs). (laughs) But I knew I had to do something like this. The "Yamato" series will continue, and "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Beginning" is already in production. But it's the third film, so you have to watch all 52 episodes of the previous animations before coming to see it. On the other hand, if we look at the "Space Battleship Yamato" content itself, there are still many people who have not seen the new "Space Battleship Yamato" compared to the old "Space Battleship Yamato" that was produced a long time ago. I wanted to provide a platform for those people to step up and down, saying, "If you take just three steps up this staircase, you can step right into the world of the new Yamato.

But if we were going to make a new film, we wanted to make a film that would appeal to young people who did not experience the old "Yamato" in real time, who might not understand why an ordinary ship-shaped object is flying through space, and to those young people we would say, "Well, this is actually a very well-thought-out work. I was hoping that I could show that the Apollo Project was the beginning of this process, and that we are now in an era where aliens are attacking us every year.

--So it is both a summary of the past and an attempt to attract new viewers in the future.

Miyagawa: Is it quite socially oriented?

Fukui It's already socially oriented. It is a fake documentary (laughs). It's an NHK special made in the year 2205 A.D. (laughs).

--(laughs) - I think you have received a lot of feedback from the viewers after "2202". What kind of response did you get from the viewers?

Fukui: This was partly our intention, but the percentage of female fans has increased considerably since "2202". To put it bluntly, the purchasing power of male fans decreases rapidly after the age of 50, whereas the purchasing power of female fans increases relatively speaking. In the case of "Yamato," while we wanted to attract a younger audience, we also thought that it would be better to attract women as well, if we wanted to keep the original "Yamato" generation in mind.

But originally, "Yamato" had a very large number of female fans. I think it was about 50-50 split between men and women. The characters Ancient, Island, and Dessler were very popular, and I think this was the beginning of what we now call the "character moe" movement. I hoped that fans of that generation would enjoy the show as if they were going to see a Takarazuka Revue show. Surprisingly, there is no content for women of that generation. Some time ago, there was talk about the strong purchasing power of foreigners due to inbound travel, but in reality, the purchasing power of women in this generation is tremendous. In fact, the purchasing power of women in this generation is tremendous, so we felt that we needed to do business with them properly. Of course, we had to keep in mind the spectacular elements that would appeal to boys, but we also had to pay attention to that as well. I am happy that we succeeded to some extent.

--What was your intention with this "special compilation" film, in which you look back on Yamato's journey up to the present, narrated by Mr. Sanada?

Fukui: I think Mr. Sanada is almost like a "Doraemon" in terms of the characterization of the original work. He seems to be able to bring out anything, and his color is blue (laughs). However, in the previous TV series, Sanada-san had lost both of his arms and legs in an accident in the past, and except for that one point, I feel that there is actually very little mention of his humanity regarding Sanada-san. As a character, he is a bit of a communicator as depicted in "2199," but he has a desire to be involved with people and the world, and like that kind of person, he follows orders from all sides, and as a result, he may have left Mamoru Ancient to die, a fact that he has held a grudge against for the rest of his life. He continues to hold a grudge. This is the character, isn't it? I have very little of Sanada-san's character image in the original work, and I am interested in that person created in "2199".

In that sense, the newly redefined Mr. Sanada starts from his childhood when he was a comic relief. Through the voyages of "2199" and "2202," he rapidly grew as a human being. The time of his growth as a human being is almost the same as the time in the play. Therefore, to look back on this play, it is equal to look back on his drama. He originally did not have much humanity, which means that his humanity was cultivated at this two-year voyage, so he reacts and speaks directly and emotionally to the things that are happening in the play. Moreover, he is a smart person, so he has a rich vocabulary. If this were ancient times, I probably would have said something like, "That was amazing," or something like that (laughs), but he speaks with a bird's eye view of the whole, and yet he is fully immersed in each thing.

--(laughs). I feel that "Yamato" is a work that has a consistent flow throughout the series. What do you think is the same for the music?

Miyagawa: I don't know everything about the music of "Yamato," but if I were to be irresponsible, I would say that it is the "melody. All the songs have melodies. This was a surprise to me. Bad people come out one after another. But when the bad guy comes out, there is a certain sequence of notes. You know the song "One Night on Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky? This is the only sound that appears in the main theme. Junichi Yaoi's UFO program music, "Theme of the White Comet," and "Theme of the Automatic Planet Golba" all use the same sequence of sounds. Basically, there are only 12 notes that can be used, and the same limited sequence of notes is used to express fear. That is how my father, Yasushi Miyagawa (Hiroshi Miyagawa), created the music for the old films. He has responded to various orders with a single bat. But all the songs are different. They are all typed differently. He made 900 songs, a mixture of large and small, which is an amazing feat. So there is no one who believes in melody as much as Yasushi Miyagawa.

Akira Miyagawa

Fukui: I am not a musician, so I can't speak too highly of myself, but compared to "One Night on Bald Mountain," which I mentioned earlier, the melodies of "Theme of the White Comet" and "Theme of Golba, the Automatic Planet" are not just "bad. There's a lyricism (lyricism) in there somewhere. In fact, the music seems to be trying to create more depth than the characters of the enemies. So, when I was involved in this project, I was hoping to express the depth of the enemies that would suit the music.

Miyagawa: I see. You are very good, Mr. Fukui.

Fukui But the music amplified the image to a great extent. The same is true of Gatlantis and the next Dark Empire, but when combined with music, it stirs the imagination and makes you wonder if there was such a drama.

--I would like to ask you something while we are on the subject of music. Star Wars" took the world by storm at about the same time as "Yamato," and the music of John Williams is known as an essential part of that film as well. In a sense, "Star Wars" is said to have a strong musical aspect, and I have a feeling that "Yamato" may have had that aspect as well.

Fukui: Actually, "Yamato" does not have music playing all the time, as one might expect, and there are quite a few silent scenes. However, the melody has a strong presence, and everyone remembers it by associating it with each individual scene, so perhaps that is why they feel that way. Fans also have chapters in their memories for each track of music, I am sure.

Miyagawa: It's true that when you get a storyboard or something, it seems as if the music is playing all the time, but in reality we don't use that much music. You also use silence well and effectively.

Fukui: Even in the case of "Star Wars," the main theme music is very strong, but there is almost no melody except in scenes where you say, "Let's go with the music here. There is just some kind of music that plays like environmental music.

--I heard that when you started working on "Yamato," you searched for your father Yasushi's workplace and found that there were no scores or other materials available, so you had to listen to the score with your own ears and rework it. Was the work itself not difficult?

Miyagawa: There was a lot of work involved. I would listen to the music I was so fascinated by back then, analyzing it in various ways to see what it actually sounded like. I would listen to the music while analyzing it in various ways, such as, "Oh, there are four trombones instead of three," and I would listen to it while distinguishing such details, confirming one by one the 48 moves that my father used to make dozens of songs in the limited time available for making various types of musical accompaniment. I would notice things like, "Oh, that's what he was thinking about! I was working alone, chuckling to myself as I realized that I had thought of that.

I also discovered that this song was very lazy (laughs). There is a song called "The Infinite Universe," which took us only about 20 minutes to write. If you look at the score, you will be shocked. The score is written in pillow, pillow, pillow, and the rest is in modulation (laughs). (Laughs.) There are only about two sheets of paper.

(Laughs) -- The way music was made in the past was different from what it is today.

Miyagawa: That may be true. I think that nowadays, directors don't demand so much melody. Perhaps the films being made today don't need so much melody. I think there are directors who like melody, but there is too much information coming in through our eyes, and the images themselves are very clear, and even in dark scenes, it is becoming possible to tell what is being shown. Especially since they started using CG, they can do whatever they want. I think that melody in films is something that turns on the viewer's imagination, but in today's films, the information itself is given sufficiently visually, so music is enough to explain the situation. Just environmental sounds or ominous bass sounds are good enough, or just a rhythm is good enough. If it's not good enough, it could be just rhythm for 10 minutes or so, with a few chord changes. There is no melody there. I think the balance between the eyes and ears is becoming different from the balance we used to like in the past, generally speaking. However, "Yamato" has a totally different balance, doesn't it?

Fukui: Animation naturally contains less information than live-action. It is done in a primitive way, by moving the patterns alternately to make it look like it is moving, so music is absolutely necessary. Therefore, I think that most of the music used in animation is still mainly melody-based. However, when it comes to Hollywood or live-action films, as Akira-san said, some people say that the music is too much.

Miyagawa: There is an atmosphere in which the music does not have to be that emotional.

Fukui: It's okay if the music doesn't go that far.

Miyagawa Yes, that's right! (laughs)

Fukui Compared to that, animation is done with a lot of deceptions, so we tend to seek melody in the music, but even so, I think the way "Yamato" is being made today is unique. The same is true of the current songwriting style, but the sound level of today's popular music is constant from beginning to end, like yokan (bean jelly). I think the original "song" as we know it is supposed to have a kind of slow and rapid progression, but there is no such thing. I guess you could call it "wabi sabi" or something like that. So the music of "Yamato" may seem a bit old-fashioned when you hear it for a moment, but this is the title "Space Battleship Yamato" to begin with (laughs). (Laughs.) I'm not saying that you should be prepared for that, but the style is unwavering. I think it's thanks to the fact that they did it right from the time of "2199" and didn't mess around with that part.

--Let me turn to Mr. Miyagawa. What were your goals for the newly released "Symphony Suite Space Battleship Yamato 2202" and what were the key points you focused on?

Miyagawa: In terms of aims, I have always had very complex feelings, like aims or resentment, that have been accumulated over a very long period of time. The old work "Symphonic Suite: Space Battleship Yamato" was a new form of musical art created by my father at the time, Yoshinobu Nishizaki (the original author and producer of "Yamato") and other directors at Columbia. Originally, there was no classical piece called "symphonic suite. There are "symphonies," "symphonic poems," "orchestral suites," and so on. I wanted to remind listeners, fans, and many others how the invention, "Symphonic Suite: Space Battleship Yamato," was something that stole our hearts. The term "symphonic suite" has been used too easily since then, but I was not satisfied with that. I wanted to leave something that would be a fine piece of music, and I wanted people to learn various things from it. That is the biggest "aim" of the project.

I had plenty of time to work on the Corona Disaster, so I spent almost 100 days on the project, and I spent quite a lot of time making it. It may sound strange to say, but this work was made possible only because of the time of the Corona disaster. Otherwise, this work might have taken a different form. I am the kind of person who never gets up just by falling down, so I think it was precisely because it was a time like this that I was able to concentrate and create a good piece of work.

Fukui But didn't the first "Symphonic Suite" sell quite well?

Miyagawa But, you know, it sold only about 200,000 copies.

Fukui I see. But after that, many "symphonic suites" of animated films came out, and when I heard them, I thought they were just a collection of background music.

Miyagawa You must have thought so, didn't you?　It really is. Symphonies are supposed to be moving. It is not about whether you like the music or not, because it is painstakingly woven together, and it is created to move you. It's a work of art all together. That's what I want to say most (laughs).

--Thank you very much!

[Film information

The Age of Space Battleship Yamato: Selections from the Year 2202 A.D.

Limited time theatrical showing from June 11, 2021 (Friday)

Original story: Yoshinobu Nishizaki

Executive Producer, General Supervisor of Writings: Shozi Nishizaki / Composer, Supervisor: Harutoshi Fukui / Director: Atsunori Sato

Script: Yuka Minagawa, Harutoshi Fukui / Script cooperation: Hideki Oka / Setting advisor: Junichiro Tamamori

Storyboard for new part, Animation: Kia Asamiya / Production: studio MOTHER / Distributor: Shochiku ODS Division

Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Beginning

Scheduled to be screened in theaters in 2021

Symphony Suite Space Battleship Yamato 2202" CD

Akira Miyagawa, who has been in charge of music for "2199" and "2202" and has created Yamato music for his father and son for two generations, is now releasing a new "Symphonic Suite," a compilation of the BGM used in the film.

While keeping in mind the "Symphonic Suite Space Battleship Yamato" created by his father, Yasushi Miyagawa, and released in 1977, Akira Miyagawa and the studio musicians who have worked together on the background music will deliver the "Yamato sound" of 2025!

Now on sale!

Price: 3,630 yen (tax included)

Item number: LACA-15855

Specifications: Newly-drawn jacket / High-quality CD "UHQCD

Released and distributed by: Namco Bandai Arts Inc.

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