Star Blazers and Yamato Books

Japanese Publications

Roman Albums

During Yamato's heyday, there were many high-quality picture books devoted to the Yamato TV serieses and movies. Perhaps the best of these were known as "Roman Albums".

A Roman Album is a type of softcover, square-spined, Japanese book, published by Tokuma Shoten, devoted to a particular Japanese animated TV series or film. Roman Albums began being published in the mid 1970s, with the very first book devoted to the first season of Space Battleship Yamato. The word, roman, is the Japanese loan-word for "romance", a primary theme in most Japanese animation series of the time.

Each roman album was typically divided into sections including full-colour, glossy cinematic digests, character designs, mechanical designs, set artwork, production details, staff interviews, and advertisements. Though they are all in Japanese, to fans interested in learning how to draw their favourite characters, these books were indispensible.

For American Star Blazers fans who didn't have access to commercially released tapes, the Yamato roman albums were the only way to see that portion of the Yamato saga which was not contained in the episodes that were aired on Americna television. They were, therefore, treasured possessions. Today, they have been supplanted by the many other types of spec books for Yamato.

There was a flurry of roman albums published between 1977 and 1986, each given a number, with the later ones having more material than the earlier, and given additional designations such as "Deluxe", "Extra", and "Excellent". Things slowed down after that, and the numbering system was abandoned after #71.

A complete listing of the numbered roman albums is as follows:

The roman albums devoted to Yamato are:

• Roman Album #1 Yamato TV Season 1
• Roman Album #11 Arrivederci Yamato Movie
• Roman Album #31 Yamato TV Season 2
• Roman Album #36 Be Forever Yamato Movie
• Roman Album #43 Yamato TV Season 3
• Roman Album #53 Yamato Perfect Manual #1
• Roman Album #54 Yamato Perfect Manual #2
• Roman Album #56 Final Yamato Movie

Perfect Manual #1 contains information on the stories also found in #1, 11, and 31. Perfect Manual #2 contains information found in 36 and 43, plus coverage of the TV Film, "Yamato, New Journey" (which is valuable since New Journey never got its own roman album). All of these roman albums are out of print today.

Other roman albums of interest:

Other creations of Reiji Matsumoto seem to be popular with Yamato fans. Some fans believe (though this is not given official sanction) that all Matsumoto's works are somehow linked. Matsumoto has denied that Yamato is linked to any of them, at least officially. Nevertheless, we see many similar characters and themes in the Yamato, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express, and Queen Millenia sagas. Roman albums for these stories are:

• Roman Album #24 Galaxy Express 999
• Roman Album #30 Space Pirate Cpt. Herlock TV Season
• Roman Album #45 Adieu Galaxy Express 999
• Roman Album #49 Queen Millenia
• Roman Album #52 Harlock: My Youth in Arcadia

Other Yamato books similar to Roman Albums:

   Shogakukan's This is Animation: The Select #2,
   	     All-Yamato Tribute (colour glossy)...... 780 yen
   Shogakukan's This is Animation: The Select #4,
   	     Final Yamato (colour glossy)............ 780 yen

   Cell Books:  these contain 10 to 12 foreground/background cell
   	    stills.  Resolution of most foreground cells is not
   	    too great.  (colour)
   Cell Collection #1: Arrivederci Yamato  .......... 1200 yen
   Cell Collection #2: Arrivederci Yamato  .......... 1200 yen
   Cell Collection #3: Galaxy Express 999  .......... 1200 yen
   Cell Collection #4: Galaxy Express 999  .......... 1200 yen
   Cell Collection #5: Be Forever Yamato ............ 1200 yen

   Champion Graphic's Anime Comics cover the first 3 Yamato movies
         in colour:

         Space Cruiser Yamato, Part 1 .................. 750 yen
         Space Cruiser Yamato, Part 2 .................. 750 yen
         Arrivederci Yamato, Part 1 .................... 750 yen
         Arrivederci Yamato, Part 2 .................... 750 yen
         Be Forever Yamato, Part 1 ..................... 750 yen
         Be Forever Yamato, Part 2 ..................... 750 yen

   Sun Comics: those listed below are black and white versions
   	    of TV Season 3:
         Space Cruiser Yamato III, part 1 ............. 350 yen
         Space Cruiser Yamato III, part 2 ............. 350 yen

   Rido Sha's (Lead Company's) "Perfect Memorial Deluxe #4":
         Be Forever Yamato & All-Yamato (colour) ...... 780 yen
         This small book is like a mini Perfect Manual.
         Covers all things Yamato (characters and ships)
         from TV Season 1 through Be Forever Yamato.  Also
         contains thematic sections covering love and
         battle tactics.  I always thought it was very
         interesting that the "Love" section covers the
         rivalrous relationship between Wildstar and Desslok.
         The notion that ones rival may be ones love is
         a fact much missed by today's society.
   
   Westcape Corporation Comics #1-5
         THESE ARE IN ENGLISH!!!!!!!
         True Starblazers comics using colour stills from the 
         American (Westchester) TV Season 1.  
         Dialogue closely follows the American
         Westchester translations, though at least one word
         per sentence has been changed (probably to avoid
         copyright infringment).  These are available in
         most Anime book shops today ................... $5-$10

Most of these books will be hard to find, and many are sure to be out of print, but I have found the Sun, Anime, and Westcape Comics, as well as Roman Album #36 in stock at Books Nippan in Los Angeles and in other stores. Perfect Manuals can still be seen floating around from store to store. Check with your local dealer to see what can still be ordered. Also, any of these books may appear sporadically at Sci Fi conventions. Be prepared to pay a little to get them, though. Roman Album #1 is a rare collector's item.

American Star Blazers Comics:

COMICO

Back in the late 80s, comic book company Comico produced a 4-issue miniseries on Star Blazers. Since the producers assumed that its readers would not have seen the Yamato movies that come between TV Season 2 and TV Season 3, the story's purpose was to bridge this gap. They relied on the tragic mistranslation found in Season 3 regarding the Star Force's and Desslok's battle against the Black Nebula Empire fortress, Goruba. The Goruba was mislabeled as the "Comet Empire". So, to try to cover this up, the comic's storyline introduces a home world for the Comet Empire, and has its forces attack Earth.

The artistry in this comic is typical of comtemporary American comic style, and does not much resemble the style used in Star Blazers. These comics can still be found in the "used" bins in some book stores.

Studio Go!

Now, in 1995, Voyager Entertainment licensed Studio Go! to work for its "Argo Press", producing a line of full-colour comics that doubled as the magazine for their Star Blazers fan club.

These comics (so far twelve issues) re-tell the story of each of the yamato movies using the English Star Blazers names and terminology. Some of the illustrations are close adaptations (tracings?) of stills taken from movie and TV series footage. This seems to please most fans. Others are not (note the blooper on the cover of Issue #1 that the Wave Gun muzzle of the Argo is not rammed in Desslok's flagship, as it should have been for the scene drawn). While they re-tell the traditional Yamato story, they also introduce a few new plotlines, primarily attempting to create new personal lives of the characters. Sasha, daughter of Alex Wildstar and Queen Starsha of Iscandar, gets much of this effort, and seems to be somewhat re-made in the image of the bratty teen-ish girl found in today's anime (pick a any title).

Each issue has a fairly large section on Star Blazers information, reader write-in forums, and merchandise information.

Following the news of the fall of Nishizaki's company in Japan, this Star Blazers comic appears to be on hold. The latest issue is #11 (issues started at #0), and fans are wondering if this will be the end of the series.

Starlog

For those of you who like English publications about Yamato, Starlog issue #35 (June 1980) contains a 3-page story by James H. Burns on the Star Blazers phenomenon, and is perhaps the most flattering American account of Yamato I have read. It contains 4 black & white pics from Season 2, including a nice cut-away of the Argo's interior, and one glossy colour print of the Argo, Wildstar, and Nova. Starlog is no longer in business, so you'll have to scour the web (try eBay) to find this back issue.

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