Space Battleship Yamato 2199

 For the U in the challenge, it is time for some good classic sci-fi with Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199.

I did see Starblazers as a young kid, but like Macross / Robotech this wasn't yet was the original series, with serious editing done, so let's watch this remake of the 1974 classic!

So now, it's time for the original at last!  By the way, there is also a pretty awesome real life action movie out there, go check it out!

The Gamilon Empire has attacked earth and reduced it to a wasteland.  A group of survivors are bound to set out into outer space and find a neutralizer for the nuclear damage, retrofitting the old naval battleship Yamato into an intergalactic spacecruiser.  This is due to the Earth fleet having been decimated over Pluto by the initial Gamilon attack, in which Kodai's elder brother sacrificed himself to have the commander get safely out.  

Back on Earth, Susumu Kodai is recruited for project Yamato, as the vessel will be able to travel interstellar, and set course to the planet Iscander to get a cleansing agent.  Rebuild in secrecy, even though the Gamilon did expect it's location, the mighty vessel takes off led by the famous admiral Okita and a veteran crew of the best around.  Though their rushed departure means they need to test experimental devices like the warp engine or the massice Wave Motion Gun during the journey itself.

When a medical team gets stuck on a moon, the fighters rush to their aid, a mysterious girl taking one of the planes with great skill.  When they find a wreck, Kodai realises he found the vessel of his late brother, which was sending out an automated distress call.    The girl is Akira "Rei" Yamamoto, and is transferred into the fighter unit due to her performances (btw, the launch system of the Hayabusha fighters is awesome).  During the attack on the Pluto base, Yamato gets damaged but the fighters under Kodai go to the attack, destroying their concealment field.  Yamato is more then in fighting condition, resurfacing as repairs are being undertaken.  She decimates the base and the fleet in a massive battle, as the base commander escapes.

As they leave the solarsystem, they say their last words for now to Earth, as the captain and chief engineer reflect on their days past.  Analyzer, the ship's robot, tries to make contact with "Alter", the Gamilon robot soldier they salvaged.  They get stuck in a dimensional rift together with a Gamilon vessel, as they meet an envoy revealing they look human-like.  They decide to go along with their proposal to mutually try and get out.  One of the Imperial Guard commanders on the Gamilon vessel wants to betray them, but the ships captain steps in, towing Yamato out of the rift as well and showing some faith that not all is lost between the races as he leaves his vessel in the line of fire and be destroyed to save Yamato when an enemy fleet appears, leaving the envoy on board Yamato.

As they ponder what to do with their guest Melda, to prevent anti-Gamilon feelings to take hold on her, helmsman Daisuke learns what truly happened that faithfull first contact with the Gamilon's, as the sole survivor who made contact with them as engineer on the Murasame, which his dad commanded, tells him the story he was forbidden to share.  Melda, after saving Rei, is granted her freedom.

 

 

Nearing the edge of the Mily Way, they prepare the journey to the Larger Magelanic Cloud, taking them through 130000 lightyears of unknown space.   When captain Okita collapses and needs surgery, the vessel is hunted by what seems a spacesub, a Gamilon vessel that can enter and exit dimensional rifts at will.  But Kodai disobeys an order from the XO, and his actions allow the Yamato to trace and driving off the vessel.

The Gamilon ruthless side is shown when a planet with a rebelling province is instead totally razed.  But then all of a sudden, the Gamilon Leader's vessel explodes, assassinated by the more radical persons in the council.  This episode also features an epic battle between the Yamato and a whole fleet of Gamilon destroyers, only saved thanks to the political unrest at Gamilon.  But when the leader re-appears, Yamato takes benefit of these times to reach the Larger Magellan Cloud.  Mikasi, the ship's nurse with a psychic pick-up ability, becomes a conduct with Iscander, and the captain tells her he sees the journey as the test humanity must undertake.

 

But Yamato also faces it's internal problems, as some have thrown their lot in with the enemy.   While they defeat the fleet that cornered them earlier, their commanding officer Domel uses a small ship to attach itself to the Yamato in order to initiate the self-destruct, damaging the vessel, but as the engineers got the shield up at the last moment nothing crippling, as Yurisha Iscander, through a psychic connection with Yuki, makes her appearance.  Yuki is taken by the crew of the submersible like vessel earlier.

 

Yamato and Gamilan's led by Melda's father form an alliance, to overthrow the harsh governing body and freeing the enslaved worlds.   The Gamilan government uses Yuki to declare the Great Unification with Iscander.  As Yamato witnesses a super version of the Wave Motion Gun on the Gamilan base, they decide to both disable that and save Yuki.  Arriving at Iscander, Kodai learns his brother had survived the battle and was captured and experimented on by the Garmilan, before escaping to iscander and passing away before the Yamato arrived in the presence of lady Yurisha.

 

 

The cure for Earth now onboard, they start the journey back home.   But the journey is hazardous, as they are ambushed by the ousted Gamilan leader Desler.  Yuki gets gravely injured in the attack, and passes away just as the Yamato returns to our solar system.  The Cosmo Reverse System had taken on the form of Kodai's brother, at times seen as a ghost by some of the crew, and suddenly activates as he sees his brother in pain, reviving Yuki.  On the bridge, captain Okita passes away from his injuries, having seen Earth one last time.

The original was an awesome series, and this one is just as fantastic, with great animation to boot.  One of the best series I've seen this year, and probably the best in the challenge this year!