Space Battleship Yamato and the golden age of the Emperor.

If you're lucky, or a complete nerd you've seen the early anime series from 1973 called Space battleship Yamato, or Starblazers. It's a real classic, and paved the way for many later shows. In particular Macross (westernized as part 1 of Robotech), which was indeed in many ways a parody of Space Battleship Yamato, stylistically, thematically, and story wise - even down to the level of color schemes for heros and villains. I first saw Space Battleship Yamato when I was about six years old, and later when I was 11 - and then again as an adult. While the show certainly stands well on its own two feet, and is surprisingly little outdated, there are a few elements that fascinate me today, as a historian, that I didn't notice as a kid.

Like many science fiction and fantasy narratives there is an underlying element of romanticism in this show, but in this one the symbolism is even more potent and obvious than usual. Firstly, consider the name and theme of the series. Yamato, the legendary battleship from WWII rises out of the mud to defend Earth from invaders. Yamato is of course not just a ship, it is a term refering to ancient Japan, and the ship was given this name to symbolize the return to ancient values and traditions in a modern age.

With this in mind the scene where the Yamato rises out of the mud, guns first, it's easy to see this as a potent image of the old martial traditions of Japan being resurrected from the dirt, to provide the last ditch defense the ship also attempted in real life. The historic battleship Yamato was famously sent on a suicide mission in april 1945, but was sunk just south of Kyushu. During her four years of service she only fired her main guns once, in 1944. In the show the rebuilt Yamato rises into the air, and blows an enemy carrier into dust. The symbolic vindication of WWII Japan could hardly be more obvious. The show is in fact, rare as it might be, a resurrection of a resurrection myth. It makes the historian in me salivate. Seriously, it does.

But let's start at the beginning. The very first scene of the series depicts a battle near Pluto. Alien intruders enter our solar system, and a fleet attempts to repel them. They fail, and we are shown how the commanders of the fleet are torn between fighting on honorably, or returning to earth to defend the planet. One commander makes a futile suicide run against the enemy in true kamikaze fashion, refusing to face dishonor over losing the battle, while the admiral of the fleet turns around - wiser but perhaps not as honorable. After the battle has been lost we are shown how Earth is bombarded with meteor bombs, strikingly similar to the atomic blasts over Nagasaki and Hiroshima during WWII. We are told that the radiation levels are so high that life on earth will be extinct within a year, unless the invaders are countered and humanity finds the planet Iscander. Cue Yamato, commanded by the aforementioned admiral. Cue vindication. Cue revenge. After fighting off the attacking carrier the admiral declares "This is the Yamato we've been waiting for so long." We are then shown a fictionalised (but mostly accurate) account of the sinking of "the ship of japanese men", as witnessed by the admiral. Indeed.

So where am I going with this? Am I going to claim that Space Battleship Yamato is some sort of secret vindicationist nationalist plot to sully the minds of japanese youth by way of anime? Hardly. Quite the opposite in fact. While certainly militaristic and resurrectionist the series is also humanistic and positive in its outlook. The admiral points out that the tragedy of Yamato was that she was a ship born to fight, but that now her mission is changed. She is no longer a vessel of destruction, but on a mission to save and defend all humanity. Not just Japan.

Let's look at the psychology of this. In the early seventies the young adult generation had been born just after or just before the nuclear attack and the fall of the empire. Their parents had perhaps fought in the war, and lost. The ideology of imperial Japan had been discredited, and the country humiliated by occupation. People were faced on one side by the shame of defeat, and on the other by the shame of knowing that the Japanese emperor and his government had caused anguish to so many people, in the name of old fashioned imperialism. Space Battleship Yamato addresses both these issues. The ship repels the attackers and gives hope of victory, without bringing death and suffering to humanity. Additionally it allows the crew of the ship to resurrect a part of the humilitad Japan, and bushido, while using it for good. The survival of humanity rests on a Japanese warship. The admiral who returned to earth and faced defeat, rather than die fighting, gets to save mankind. The kamikaze mentality of his colleague is honored, but with an emphasis on the futility of his attack. Had he retreated his efforts could have proven a great deal more meaningful - and been a celebration of life rather than death. It's all very beautiful. In fact someone should write a book about the symbolism in this series. It would be voluminous, and I certainly can't cover it all here.

This sounds like a recipe for success in post war Japan, but in fact the show failed miserably in terms of popularity. First the format was cut down, then it was cancelled outright. It wasn't until the huge success of Star Wars that the show met with success, first as Starblazers and with american voices, and then as new episodes in Japanese. After that again is cast for a multitude of other shows, featuring ships flying in space, strange aliens attacking earth and so forth. Without Space Battleship Yamato, we would never have seen the legendary Voltron, G-force (american version of Gatchaman), Macross/Robotech and other lesser known series.

It's a very good show, and it deserves its legendary status, and that's my final thought on this subject. I'm not so much into anime or manga in fact, despite my nerdyness, but this series will stay with me for quite some time. I leave you with a link for part one of episode one courtesy of youtube. Enjoy. (Unfortunately embedding has been disabled.)