16 replies to this topic

[Christopher]

Get a load of this:

http://www.comicsall...99-anime-video/

Apparently they're remaking the original Yamato.  The animation is a lot more sophisticated and modern in style, but the basic designs are the same (allowing for stylistic differences in how characters are drawn), it's apparently using the same score, and judging from the trailer it seems it may be practically a scene-for-scene remake of the original series.  (Hard to tell since the trailer's in Japanese, though.)

I wonder how anime fans are reacting to this.  Probably there are purists complaining about the changes, but the original show is somewhat crudely made by modern standards.  I was impressed by it when it first came to the US, since the animation was so much more fluid and less repetitive than the American Saturday morning cartoons of the day, but having just recently revisited it, I see that it doesn't hold up too well technically.  However, I think some of the modernized character designs are too much of a departure from Leiji Matsumoto's design style, although others look just about the same.

One thing that strikes me as unusual about the recent Yamato adaptations I've seen trailers for is the extent to which they apparently reuse the music of the original -- not just the main theme, but the whole score (or prominent selections from it) recreated note for note.  I don't think I've ever seen that done in any other remake (unless you count musicals).  Sometimes I wish it were done more often.

[NexusNine]

Christopher, on 21 February 2012 - 08:22 PM, said:

Get a load of this:

http://www.comicsall...99-anime-video/

Apparently they're remaking the original Yamato.  The animation is a lot more sophisticated and modern in style, but the basic designs are the same (allowing for stylistic differences in how characters are drawn), it's apparently using the same score, and judging from the trailer it seems it may be practically a scene-for-scene remake of the original series.  (Hard to tell since the trailer's in Japanese, though.)

I wonder how anime fans are reacting to this.  Probably there are purists complaining about the changes, but the original show is somewhat crudely made by modern standards.  I was impressed by it when it first came to the US, since the animation was so much more fluid and less repetitive than the American Saturday morning cartoons of the day, but having just recently revisited it, I see that it doesn't hold up too well technically.  However, I think some of the modernized character designs are too much of a departure from Leiji Matsumoto's design style, although others look just about the same.

One thing that strikes me as unusual about the recent Yamato adaptations I've seen trailers for is the extent to which they apparently reuse the music of the original -- not just the main theme, but the whole score (or prominent selections from it) recreated note for note.  I don't think I've ever seen that done in any other remake (unless you count musicals).  Sometimes I wish it were done more often.

  

I'm one of the largest Anime fans on this board, if the banner in my quote doesn't make that perfectly obvious.  I've watched a lot of anime over the year, but will never deny that it was heavily edited for TV Anime that got me into Anime back in the early 1980s.  I personally love to see remakes and reinterpretations of, well, anything to be honest.  I like seeing how other people envision some of my favorite stories or what can be done with modern film and animation techniques.  I'll more then likely give this a view.  

From the trailer, it looks like the source material is going to be relatively well respected.  Though I'm not sure if the music, in the end, will remain the same as the original.  For a trailer it's likely they wanted to keep something familiar attached to the product, something that would set the public at ease or stir up feelings of nostalgia.  While I'm sure they'll use music from the original, the final product is likely to change it up a bit, too, and add a modern twist or mix to it.

Edited by NexusNine, 21 February 2012 - 11:20 PM.

[RommieSG]

With Studio AIC doing the principal animation, I don't think it could be in better hands. With Bubblegum Crisis, and other classic series under their belts, I can only hope for the best from their care.

Also cool to see Daisuke Ono getting a top billing as a Seiyuu. With Rie Tanaka also on board, I'd look forward to seeing it. I hope it gets licensed here in the States. ^_^

[Christopher]

NexusNine, on 21 February 2012 - 11:18 PM, said:

Though I'm not sure if the music, in the end, will remain the same as the original.  For a trailer it's likely they wanted to keep something familiar attached to the product, something that would set the public at ease or stir up feelings of nostalgia.  While I'm sure they'll use music from the original, the final product is likely to change it up a bit, too, and add a modern twist or mix to it.

Even if that's true, my point remains, because they're not just using the main theme, but entire internal cues faithfully recreated note-for-note.  (And I wouldn't swear to it, but they did sound like new performances, not just tracked recordings from the original, which makes it seem likely to me that they aren't just for the trailer but will be in the actual show.)  That's what makes it unusual, because normally it's only the main theme that's widely remembered or recreated.  (A slight exception is that the Mission: Impossible revival in 1988 and most of the movies have made at least some use of "The Plot," Lalo Schifrin's leitmotif for the team's machinations, as well as the main title theme.  But that was such a ubiquitous motif within the original show that it's pretty much on a par with the main title theme anyway, and the revivals have merely used the melody in new arrangements, not done note-for-note recreations of specific episode/library cues.  Although come to think of it, I think maybe the Brady Bunch movies reused some familiar library cues from that show's internal scores.)

[Kosmokrat]

I think it's about time they do a remake of the CAPTAIN FUTURE anime series.
That would be amazing!

[Captain Jack]

Starblazers (Yamato) was one of the earliest anime cartoons that got me interested not only in anime, but in science fiction as a whole. I love the original and wish I had it on DVD, it has not aged well at all. So I am actually happy they tare re-doing it. I hope we get a decent American-dubbed version (I'm one of the few who doesn't prefer subtitles) to add to my collection.

[Christopher]

Well, as cheesy as some of them were, I'm very attached to the voices from the original Star Blazers dub (the first two seasons, that is).  The third-season dub, where they recast all the voices because it was from a different distributor (the people who'd done Speed Racer), just sounded wrong to me.  And really, the acting of the original SB cast wasn't bad compared to a lot of anime dubs.

[G-man]

Captain Jack, on 01 March 2012 - 11:58 PM, said:

Starblazers (Yamato) was one of the earliest anime cartoons that got me interested not only in anime, but in science fiction as a whole. I love the original and wish I had it on DVD, it has not aged well at all. So I am actually happy they tare re-doing it. I hope we get a decent American-dubbed version (I'm one of the few who doesn't prefer subtitles) to add to my collection.

I don't know, I think it holds up rather well.  

Yeah, some of the animation and humor is relatively crude to what we now expect; but the story line still engages, the music remains compelling, and the ship designs are still attractive designs.

I think it helped that, despite the battles du jour, storyline focused on the characters and their reactions to the events; and that the villains did actually have a compelling reason behind their actions.  IOW, it was more than simply space battles, and with the continuing storyline, it was this that helped elevate it above the usual TV animated fare that was airing in the 1980's.

/s/

Gloriosus
the G-man Himself

[Captain Jack]

G-man, on 02 March 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

Captain Jack, on 01 March 2012 - 11:58 PM, said:

Starblazers (Yamato) was one of the earliest anime cartoons that got me interested not only in anime, but in science fiction as a whole. I love the original and wish I had it on DVD, it has not aged well at all. So I am actually happy they tare re-doing it. I hope we get a decent American-dubbed version (I'm one of the few who doesn't prefer subtitles) to add to my collection.

I don't know, I think it holds up rather well.  

Yeah, some of the animation and humor is relatively crude to what we now expect; but the story line still engages, the music remains compelling, and the ship designs are still attractive designs.

I think it helped that, despite the battles du jour, storyline focused on the characters and their reactions to the events; and that the villains did actually have a compelling reason behind their actions.  IOW, it was more than simply space battles, and with the continuing storyline, it was this that helped elevate it above the usual TV animated fare that was airing in the 1980's.

/s/

Gloriosus
the G-man Himself

I meant the animation itself has not aged well. I completely agree with you about the story. The series had a lot of heart in it and it still does. I don't think we see that much of this today, at least on American cartoons. Much of the new stuff is shallow and takes cheap shots at trying to be funny. I like toilet humor, but even I have my limits. Starblazers/Yamato had substance. There were long-term goals and we saw them stumble and triumph throught the series. Like you said, it wasn't just space battles or monster of the week type of a series, it was more than that. And this is why I am happy to see them re-animating it. Hopefully a whole new generation will enjoy it along with those who remember the original version on television. I just hope they dub it in english and offer it here in the States. I also hope they fixed some of the cheesy dialogue.

[Captain Jack]

I am wondering if there is any new news on this? I know several episodes have been completed and shown in Japan. Any news of a U.S. DVD/Blu-Ray release? I hope to see a good English dub (I'm thinking Ghost in the Shell good), but will settle for sub-titles (which I don't like reading because I suck at it).



Sorry for the thread necro, but an update would be cool right about now.

[RommieSG]

[Christopher]

Interesting thing I noticed there.  In the first part of the song, the first time the vocalists sang "Uchuu Senkan" (Space Battleship), the part corresponding to "To save the human race" in the English lyrics, "Senkan" was four syllables, "Se-n-ka-n" (corresponding to "the hu-man race").  I guess that reflects how Japanese is a syllabic language and that's how the word breaks down when written in kana.  So even though they'd normally pronounce it as what sounds like two syllables to Western ears (as they do at the end of the song), they nonetheless think of it as being made up of four pieces.  (And they also sang "Uchuu" as "U-chu-u," three syllables, but that's less surprising, and they did it the same way both times.  Whereas the English lyrics had to stretch out a syllable across two notes to make it fit, "Too-oo save" corresponding to "U-chu-u.")

[Niko]

Captain Jack, on 18 July 2012 - 04:55 AM, said:

I am wondering if there is any new news on this? I know several episodes have been completed and shown in Japan. Any news of a U.S. DVD/Blu-Ray release? I hope to see a good English dub (I'm thinking Ghost in the Shell good), but will settle for sub-titles (which I don't like reading because I suck at it).

I believe episodes 3-6 were shown in Japan theaters in late June.  *Does a bit of Googling*   Looks like those four episodes are being released on Blu-Ray July 27 in Japan.

I don't know if there are more episodes planned after that.  In the current U.S. industry climate, I wouldn't expect any word of a U.S. release until it's well done with its Japan run in theaters and DVD.  It'll probably get here eventually and be given a fairly nice release when it does... but the timeline for things getting over here at all in physical format has become much more plodding.

EDIT:  Per ANN, looks like there's a third theater release of episodes 7-10 due in Japan in October, so that pushes the timeline out well into next year for any U.S. release, I'd guess.

Quote

Interesting thing I noticed there.  In the first part of the song, the first time the vocalists sang "Uchuu Senkan" (Space Battleship), the part corresponding to "To save the human race" in the English lyrics, "Senkan" was four syllables, "Se-n-ka-n" (corresponding to "the hu-man race").  I guess that reflects how Japanese is a syllabic language and that's how the word breaks down when written in kana.

Yeah, the "n" and standalone vowels are technically syllables on their own.  If someone were speaking the words very slowly for emphasis in regular speech, they would break it down that way, too.

Edited by Niko, 18 July 2012 - 09:33 AM.

[Christopher]

^Yeah, I noticed that also in Serial Experiments Lain, at a point where Lain was weakly muttering Alice/Arisu's name and it came out as three widely separated syllables: "A... ri... su."

Conversely, I've been watching a fair number of Godzilla/kaiju movies recently, and it's sometimes surprising how much Japanese speakers elide syllables when they're speaking quickly, so that a name like "Tsukioka" can be reduced to something that sounds more like "Skoka" to Western ears, or "Serizawa" to "Sezawa," and it can be hard to match the sounds you're hearing to the names in the subtitles.  Although I bet I do the same thing with names that are familiar to me and other English speakers; we know the names well enough that just hearing a "shorthand" version of them makes them recognizable, but a foreign speaker might be confused without the full, fleshed-out pronunciation.

Edited by Christopher, 18 July 2012 - 09:48 AM.

[RommieSG]

Interesting note on the theme song. It is sung by Isao Sasaki. The man who originally sang the theme song for the original series. It's not a recycle, it's a new recording for the new series.

[Captain Jack]

One of the things I miss most with many of the new cartoons is the lack of cool theme songs. I'm glad they kept as much intact with Yamato2199 as possible. They also seem to have done away with any of the cheesiness and left the good parts in with nice improvements. The more I watch whatever is online, the more I want it.

[G-man]

Well, I've been picking this up on DVD, collecting the first four volumes.

It is impressive.

Storywise, they've tightened up some things, while also expanding some other points.  For example:  The Yamato does not stop at Mars, but instead jumps immediately to Jupiter on their first Warp.  OTOH, the Gamilas/Gamilons are expanded and given some complexity; and the supporting cast on board the Yamato is also expanded and developed.

The battle sequences are ... busy, as one can now expect with the aid of CGI tracking the ships, thereby making the fleet actions more involved.

The music is pretty much a refresh of the original score, as is a number of sound effects.

Once they battle their way out of the solar system, then you get some more introspective pieces with a genuine Mind-frell episode.

Unfortunately, the DVD's I've been collecting are direct from Japan and do not have English Subtitles so I have to guess at the dialog, but overall, I am enjoying this new series.

/s/

Gloriosus
the G-man Himself